After today...

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Vicus, Apr 16, 2020.

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  1. Vicus Augur

    While this might give you some sense of victory it still doesn't change the truth or make me a liar. I graduated boot camp at the age of 17. I spent all by the last 11 days in boot camp at the age of 16. But in the Marines and other branches your career start day on your DD214 starts the day you went to bootcamp. So for a little over two and a half months I was in the military legally at the age of 16.
  2. Vicus Augur

    "Every branch of service has a maximum age limit to join the military. However, the age to enlist is not black and white. In fact, it is quite grey with different rules, regulations, and waivers to be accepted for various jobs at a wide range of ages.

    The federal law that can be manipulated in a case by case basis states that the minimum age for enlistment in the United States military is 17 (with parental consent) and 18 (without parental consent). The maximum age is 35."

    Like I said, they found a loop hole, got a regional level waiver (1 star general) and I went to boot camp. I had to write a one page letter to the CG of my case and why I wanted to be a Marine (I wrote it and the recruiter changed most of it).
    https://www.thebalancecareers.com/us-military-enlistment-standards-3354001
  3. code-zero Augur

    That link points to a site addressing maximum ages for enlistment in various branches of the US military. There is nothing in that article that would allow you to verify your claim
  4. SmoochyOfWolfington Augur



    A big majority? From my view point, the big majority wanted EQ like it was for Classic. They may wanted new content (if they wanted it at all), but they did not want their races and classes or basic mechanics nerfed, which is what made Everquest Everquest. Half the player base now does not know any better, as they were not graced with being born or having played EQ back then and they are so used to leveling up ridiculously fast and having everything basically given to them that they have become pampered and would not want it any other way.

    The problem is just about every other game does it the same way, so where is the niche or driving force to have the players come here? They can just log into any other countless MMORPGS. I know the devs back then saw the other new kids on the block and thought if they changed more towards their faster style of game play that maybe they could compete. Maybe if they had not, there would be no more Everquest at all, although I highly doubt that. But what they ended up doing, for the better or for the worse, was change the game so much that in a lot of instances, it is not even recognizable of it's former self, but only kept the name sake so to speak. And sadly, the name Everquest unfortunately does not carry the same prestige and weight it once had.
  5. SmoochyOfWolfington Augur


    I am not sure of the exact context for this, but t
    his is not the first time someone has mentioned lost work/gameplay from these forums, with no recourse/compensation from the developers and the person bringing it up must just be a whiner.

    Did you pay for those two days? If so you are entitled to those two days.

    How many people would not sweat a cashier not giving back the exact change? "Oh it's just fifty cents. No reason to sweat the small stuff, right?" You know very well most people would be, if not the first or second time, especially after third and so on, "Ummm... where is the rest of my change!?"

    Same if you go to a fast food joint and they give you the wrong order or missing the french fries from out of the bag and you did not have time to check before you left. Or you did check, but the person at the window/counter just walked away from you when you brought it up? You'd be in a hissy fit or at least not back again.

    Same if your internet provider kept shutting down. You would be so upset and calling them ranting and raving. So please stop acting like paying for something and not getting what you paid for, but complaining about it is a bad thing. Of course if you are a free loader and the servers go down, you can't say much. ^^!

    That is what those who yearn for Classic EQ have been saying all along and those during the Classic EQ era have said on the upcoming changes.
  6. SmoochyOfWolfington Augur

    From memory you have to be at least 18 years old to join on your own and 17 with a parent/guardian approval with in the last few decades anyway. At least for the US ARMY where I was at, this was a sticking point. A recruiter could get into some serious deep poo doo if they were found to be allowing for anything else. Kind of like having a star under 18. You just don't do it. The rewards for recruiting someone younger is not worth the risk.

    Now there is something where you can be put on hiatus, so they are continually talking to you, explaining what is expected of you, attempt to give advice to start/keep you in shape, "grooming" you so to speak to become a good soldier, etc. But you can not be brought under the full wing of the US military under those conditions of being too young. Although who's to say some do not fall through the cracks? There are some shady characters out there. But my recruiter told me EVERYTHING that was going to happen. And I was very well prepared for the BS before it even started. ^^!

    What's upsetting to me is, you can join the military at such a young age and die for your country, but you are still not allowed to drink. Now that is pretty screwed up. You are at that age deemed adult enough to take responsibility for not only your own life, but your squad mates and the government's equipment. But you are not old enough to take responsibility in terms of drinking. And this is coming from someone who does not even drink or rarely drinks anyway.
  7. Vicus Augur

    I explained in detail how I got in. If you think that there are no legal loop holes in ..any system for that matter then don't believe me. Recruiting is a cut throat aspect of the military. For recruiting sub-station commanding officers, making quota is everything. If a CO (always a Captain in the Marines) doesn't make quota during their 2 years duty tour, then they don't get selected to Major and their career is basically finished. I was considered a Tier 1A, which means high school graduate with a near perfect ASVAB score, no legal issues, no medical or mental waivers, and no weight waivers. At the end of the month (when quota's are due) and they haven't reached it yet, they pitch any idea to their highers they can. I don't have the exact article of the SOP that the CG at Parris Island used to get me in, but I got in.

    But I understand why you don't believe me and that's fine. Heck my drill instructor didn't believe me. One of my Drill Instructors found out I was 16 when they were assigning first firewatch for the night and were asking everyone's birthday to get the youngest recruit to go first.. I got pulled out of training for 9 hours and while the Drill Instructor contacted my recruiter and his superiors to see if I was a fraud. Try going back to your unit the next day being the "baby recruit" for the next 2 months.

    If there weren't legal loopholes then lawyers would not be a really profitable profession. The military is not immune to this.
  8. Tarvas Redwall of Coirnav, now Drinal


    Your typical American 18 year old isn't an adult other than by the legal definition. A 18 year old US soldier is no different than anyone else in their age cohort when it comes to maturity. The only thing that makes a 18 year old soldier different than his or her age mates is training in a narrow set of skills that allows them operate in environments of high stress. Outside of military matters and even then, they still by and large make all the dumb mistakes every other 18 year old makes. I think the science is pretty clear that the teenage brain is still developing at 18 and heavy alcohol consumption can cause irreversible damage. Have you seen soldiers drink? They drink a crap ton even though they are not supposed it. It ain't good for them or even for all the folks over 25.
    Nennius likes this.
  9. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    Thanks. Been running Lions since I created the guild Dec 99 after several months of playing in other guilds. I still find it a little mind blowing that I have been playing this game so long. :).

    I would probably say I am more dedicated to the people though I do love the game too.
  10. Requiesce Journeyman

    I just skimmed to this part. Sorry but I'm really not interested in your life story Mr. Internet Stranger. I just want to see if you're lying. I read the relevant OP and your following responses and I'm not interested in your ideas.

    Lockheed is a publicly traded company so all of their acquisitions are public as well as the exec board from which they came. I'm asking because I've been an employee at LM for a little over 6 years and our aircraft coms systems are not classified. They're called IFDL and we've been using a similar system since the early 2000s. They are so top secret that we have them on our website.

    You made a mistake making grandiose claims that you can't prove.

    P.S. You wouldn't use Kickstarter to fund anything meaningful. It is not investment money -- it is classified as income and thus taxed to oblivion. I'm sure the prodigal entrepreneurial son of the USMC knows that though.

    P.S.S. Sorry to everyone else for keeping this trainwreck thread alive.
  11. MysticOne Augur

    There 14 character slots possible on just one account. If you have 14 characters on a one server, do they all get to be level 115? I'm struggling to get just one of my characters to level 112 since ToV came out and I'll be lucky to get that one character to 115 this year and that's my goal just one character. The other 13 characters now get zero play time. I have to solo and box or I'd have to quit playing there be no point. I only pay for one account and box 2 others free to plays so I have a group. Praying they don't add any more levels.
  12. Xyphen Maximum Augur

    Jesus man. You overshare way, way too much.

    You already told everyone you sold a company with over 300 employees to a major aerospace contractor, which is available to anyone with a free Crunchbase trial. You also disclosed that it's involved in radio communications, which would be in the press release of the acquisition. You then made it easier by telling everyone you were in the police force for at least 8 years after that, which gives a narrow timeline of the acquisition date.

    LM would only purchase a company for a product if they had IP protecting it, which would mean your name or someone involved with you would be on a patent. Before that, you disclosed that you were in the USMC, which can be verified via the Freedom of Information Act.

    All anyone has to do is look up LM's acquisitions (public), read the brief summary of the nature of the business, pull up the Articles of Incorporation for those businesses (public), then file an FOIA for the USMC enlistment names found in either of those (public). What's worse is you could then look up the tax records for the business on the Articles to find out where it was, which one then might assume was where you were a detective.

    It goes on and on. You tried, you failed. Take it in stride and move on.
    Herodotus and code-zero like this.
  13. enclee Augur

    This thread is amazing.
  14. PW-- New Member

    What a train wreck.. Love the we went to war. NO ONE CARES, you're not special.
  15. Vicus Augur

    Yep, because that is exactly what I said. A 16 year career between the military and my company all happened in the 90's.

    But you should crack a history book sometime. We did go to war in the 90's, just wasn't the one I served in yet because I was in high school.

    P.S. love the edit where you corrected yourself.
  16. Vicus Augur

    While I am impressed that you know where some of the public doctrine can be retrieved above, I am not giving my name or my business to passively protect myself from some local street gangs, not the NSA.

    I do agree with you. I would like this thread to be locked (dreamweaver?). I already realized I failed two pages ago and did move on. I haven't bumped this thread for anything other then defending myself from mostly people making new member accounts to call me a liar. It is far from the original topic and while I over shared because my qualifications were questioned, I did not belittle or attack anyone who discussed the topic even if I disagreed with them.
  17. Nylrem Augur

    I have absolutely loved reading this thread...

    Don't know Vicus at all, seems like someone I wouldn't mind getting to know, though.

    But dude, seriously, way overshared. Very much surprises me would do that, especially someone that is so conscientious about it that don't own social media accounts.

    Personally, I did 25 yrs Army. 5 tours in Iraq. I absolutely went to combat with 17 year olds, so whoever believes that's not a thing in the U.S. is wrong. Most the time, it went something like this: First Sergeant and Commander come out in front of formation, and ask if anyone is 17 (never heard of a 16 yr old in Army, but absolutely believe it would be possible with waivers... darn near everything has a waiver, if get someone with enough rank to sign off on it). For all the Soldiers that raise their hands, they ask them something like (in front of the whole unit) "You goin' to war with us, with your fellow Soldiers, or you gonna stay back here until your birthday?" "If you goin' with us, come up here and sign this waiver. If not, fall out and go back there and see the Rear Detachment NCO." Or something pretty similar. Never once saw a Soldier that didn't sign the waiver, and deploy with my unit.

    I can't believe many that say they're veterans, don't believe there are many ways to get out early. There are so many ways...

    "Convenience of the Government" discharge, for anyone claiming can't get out early. Easy to look up. Can absolutely get out of your contract early, with exceptional conditions.

    Pretty fantastic life story, though. Kinda crazy.

    But... there's always a but, right?

    I hate your original idea about EQ getting redone. I don't believe DPG has the willingness/funding, or could create the funding, to get it done. I don't believe, no matter how well it was done, it would get enough subscribership to justify the costs. It would be exactly like EQ2, and only pull subscribers from EQ1 and EQ2, and not actually create enough long term additional subscribers.

    Not a fan of your updated ideas about EQ getting redone either. I fully believe 3 million isn't that much, heck, even double that, IF they could prove it would gain a lot of interest, subscriptions, etc. I don't believe it would. I don't believe the investors/company executives would be sold on the idea that it would. It seems to me like your updated ideas, on my end of the screen, just makes graphics a bit better, but probably costing me to upgrade my graphics card again, if I want to continue to 6 box.

    Content would be the same thing that there already is, just polishing it and slapping a new coat of paint on it?

    No thank you. IMO, if it's not new content, don't even waste time, money, and resources on it.


    I get a bit irritated with same zones reused now, honestly. I get it, and understand the development time required, and appreciate the time needed to redo mobs, populations, quests, etc.

    I want new content. I want new zones. I don't want old stuff redone. I don't want to TLP. Could do that now, if I wanted.

    I can do without bloom lighting, and moving, updated sky and water models, etc. And the smoke particles effect... If they hadn't have made that able to be removed on my end, I probably would have quit already.

    I really, highly doubt, even if made an original eq type game, with updated systems, to make it 'better' for us, smoother mob pathing, easier to manipulate UI, etc etc. It still would not increase many, if any, long term subscribers.

    The 2 main things to consider, when making any kind of decision going forward, IMO, for the EQ team are:

    1. Will this increase our subscribership enough to account for the development time?

    2. Will this add to the QoL for already long term subscribers, to make it easier for them to justify the time to play the game. (seriously, for the majority of the population, the COST of this game should be almost no consideration, for most of us, it's justifying the TIME dedicated to play it/not do something else)

    EQ players are 'older' than the target market for computer/console games. People our age, in general, don't play games as much as younger market does. And the ones that still do, are particularly hard to please. We're generally a cranky old bunch :)

    I believe EQ will be around for several more years, continuing as it is, but yes, it will eventually stop making enough money to be viable to sustain.

    When that happens, I will be perfectly content to play some other game, or work on many other hobbies that are neglected, for EQ play time.
    code-zero, FawnTemplar and kizant like this.
  18. Kurage_of_Luclin Augur

    @Vicus you may have good ideas, but "less is more". You posted a multitude of paragraphs to support your idea, but this is not that type of forum. Write for your audience in 3 sentences or less.
  19. dreamweaver Community Manager

    Thread locked at OP request.
    Zunnoab, Laronk, Duder and 1 other person like this.
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