“Cure faster, b*****s!”

I am fortunate to raid under the direction of a great main tank and raid leader (and as of last night, guild leader — congrats Gat.)  He understands the game mechanics, and he explains the encounters before he pulls.  Although I’ve heard him re-explain things through gritted teeth, he usually remains calm, even when things go to hell; I think I’ve only heard him cuss once, maybe twice.

I’ve raided with a lot of screamers and cursers.  I’ve raided with people who I picture are sitting in front of their computers, red in the face, frothing at the mouth with rabid fury over a wipe.  In general, I think it’s unwise (and unsportsmanlike and probably unhealthy, but mostly just unwise) to respond this way.  Screaming tends to make folks tune out, take off their headset, put their guildmates on mute, pull the plug, give up, guild quit.  Screaming might make someone a WoW legend but I don’t think it makes someone a good leader, and it tends not to make those around you better raiders.

Exception:  Naggash.

Much like the voice in the infamous Onyxia meltdown, Naggash had a thick Geordie accent.  Not a posh British one with which the Queen reads her New Years greetings, but a rough and “common” one, the kind with which soccer hooligans scream insults at the Spanish.  Not the accent of the Surrey gentry, but an accent from the streets of the north.  He was a mean bastard.  Lots of people hated him, but I have fond memories of Nags.  And truth be told, I think his screaming made me a better healer.  

Nags was a main tank and a raid leader.  He had “the gift” — not all tanks do — of knowing all the pathing and all the timing of the mobs (in Everquest, this took more skill and perception than in WoW as there aren’t things like DBM or Omen to warn you when shit’s about to go south).  But I wasn’t in Nag’s guild.  He raided during the day with some of the other Euros on our server.  But as he never slept, he also raided some evenings with my raid alliance.  He’d come on his brigand, and even though he wasn’t tanking or leading would typically end up explaining all the fights and assigning roles and telling people what to do and where to stand… and oftentimes, where to go, if you know what I mean.

One of the things I quickly learned as a raid healer — thanks in part to Nags — was the importance of cures.  When there’s a DoT on someone, you can, of course, just heal through the pain.  Or — and this is usually the far better decision — you can cure.  

The classic vent exchange:

Nags: [shouting] CURE!

Me: [already casting it] Got it.

Nags:  [shouting] CURE FASTER BITCHES!

K- and I joke with this phrase all the time.  I’ll tell him to “DPS FASTER BITCHES!”  He’ll tell me to “FOLD LAUNDRY FASTER BITCHES!”  I’ll respond with “GET ME THE ENGAGEMENT RING FASTER BITCHES.”   Which elicits “RAGE QUIT!!”… but that’s a different EQ2 reference.

But in all seriousness, “cure faster bitches” is the motto with which I approach healing.  Any debuff I see pop up, I try to be on it the minute it occurs.  I confess I don’t always distinguish between the holy-shit-get-Fusion-Punch-off-Yurand-now debuffs and the ho-hum-blah-blah-blah-slowed-by-Frostbolt ones.  And I confess, I’ve removed Arcane Power from mages before.  Oops?  But I pride myself on responding quickly to cures.  (Last on the healing meters, sure, but I fucking pwn face on the dispell count.)

So I’m curing as fast as I possibly can.  

Bitches.

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Bringing Whole New Meaning to the Phrase “Welfare Epics”

Sony Online Entertainment announced today Station Cash, "new virtual currency that players can buy to fund a virtual wallet.
Once a wallet has been funded, Station Cash can be used to purchase
premium in-game items through the in-game Marketplace in EverQuest® and EverQuest® II." 

RMT, or real money trade — the buying of virtual items with real money — is one of the most hotly debated topics in MMOs.  Many people argue that the introduction of RMT sullies the "purity" of a game, whereby those willing and able to spend extra cash can secure extra items that give them an in-game advantage over those who earn loot solely based on in-game resourcefulness.  RMT often refers to "buying plat," the illegal and fairly widepspread practice of purchasing in-game coin, but can also include items like "loot cards" — redeemable in-game for fun and cool, but largely non-essential items — that games like EQ2 and WoW already offer.

I can't be as melodramatic as saying that RMT necessarily spells the death of MMORPGs.  I mean, as someone who's played Magic the Gathering, I do understand the compulsion to spend a lot of cash in order to win.  And as a business, I understand why companies like Sony might try to offer something they feel their customers want:  loot for sale.  But in an MMO, seeing someone with items I know they've coughed up cash for always turns my stomach, and I don't like it when I hear of someone buying gold.  It's not really cheating, per se, but it's unsportsmanlike… Or something…

I have to wonder what Sony's decision means — both for the Everquest franchise and for the MMO industry in general.  I don't like it.  But then again, despite a nice little nest egg of virtual coin, I'm pretty damn poor IRL.

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