Congrats SA in server first 50's

Well said Elaida as I have pointed out in a few threads a lot of us are older 30 to late 40's I know people that still game hard core in there 70's. This stigma that people are neck beard college students is pretty silly. There have been a few studies that show the core demographic for online gaming is mid 30s+. Back at release playing with Fires of Heaven we had our GM get banned for heck I can't even remember the issue. We had to power lvl his new character Kunark era with the old crap exp took 3 straight days no sleep, but our team pulled it off. We got all kinds of mixed reactions from the haters to the people that saw the commitment that it took back then with hell levels and the slower exp it was quiet the accomplishment. I really wish they would lighten up the exp as a ex hard core player I just can't put in the time to hit 50 if I'm going to always be behind the curve. As much as I want to relive them some things are best left in the passed it seems. Good luck with all the fun ahead of you guys hopefully the devs see the light that they made an unnecessary change that really cut at the heart of what this server was supposed to be.

Listen, if poker tournaments deserve a slot on ESPN and ultra-marathons are legit then e-athletes deserve the same respect.

Man.. posting from your phone is an auto correct nightmare.

I'm not sure I quiet agree with that Code-Zero next your going to say elite gamers deserve the same respect as Special Forces. A real athlete puts in so much more time and work to prepare over just sitting in place gaming. I'm a disabled veteran, former pro bowler among other things I've done in this life and gaming as far difficulty ranks at the very bottom of the list in comparison. I've gamed with the best back in the day and still play competitive Call of Duty with a couple of local pro players. I never once thought that this was even in a close 2nd to those other things. I'm not trying to say there isn't a level of commitment there certainly is, but not the level your emplying for all fareness.

Real athletes sleep, as much as possible. I dunno how much any of you know about health and fitness but sleep is a key ingredient to proper training. So the comparison fails there.

What I'm saying is that poker tournaments have all the visual appeal of watching paint dry and that ultra-marathons are genuinely unhealthy and abusive to the body.

Yet both of those activities get respect in some quarters, probably completely different quarters, as sports

What is SA..I assume it is a guild?

Current iteration of TL.

As an ultra runner who also enjoys gaming marathons like this I can say there are a lot of similarities. There is a certain mental/emotional exhaustion you feel during and after a major undertaking like this. The ultra marathon involves much more physical pain but the gaming marathon is much harder where lack of sleep is concerned.

Poker and ultra marathons are orders of magnitude harder than Everquest. Classic everquest, while time consuming, is in no way shape or form difficult.

OK..what's TL lol

don't worry about it.

Some reason the only thing running through my mind is Buds training and that Hell Week where they average less then an hour of sleep per day. Anything in excess is bad for the body generally speaking. The longest gaming marathon I've done without sleep was 56 hours of continuous EQ. It was the first time we did Veehsan' Peek back during Kunark. It was rough I like my sleep, I slammed Coke/Dr. Pepper like it was going out of style. Luckily I've always been an athlete even now at my advanced age of 41.... I still ride 60+ miles a week, lift weights 3 days a week, and swim + elliptical about 10 miles combined. The one thing that gaming has really screwed with is my Neck is jacked up bone spurs + premature degeneration I think from all the long nights leaning over at the keyboard. I've always preached respect your body you only get one. If I had anything to pass on to current gamers is make time to work out sitting in place for long sessions isn't good for the body.

Welcome back.

try doing this grind while being trained 247 by clerics on dummy accounts for the last week /wink. I can't for the life of me figure out who would want to do such a thing to me!

I'd say speed leveling is a relatively minor achievement these days

Honestly just about any achievement in life is relatively minor. There is always someone who thinks its amazing and there is always someone who thinks its worthless. Who cares. It's a game. I had fun spending 4.5 days with a group of people I would consider good friends now. The fact that we stuck it out together without fighting really at all is the real achievement. Listening to other groups screaming at each other and breaking up over what are relatively minor things boggled my mind.

I don't care about server first anything honestly. I am here to have fun and I can honestly say that I had atleast 3 days worth of fun.

I almost would have been happy with trains. It would have broken up the monotony and kept people a little on their toes. We spent more time training ourselves as we got tired than we did getting efficient exp later on. I am glad to see that my guild isn't hated enough that someone is going to dedicate hours of their life to training us though.

You say that as if you were someone who hasn't made tons of enemies on both RF/LJ.

Additionally, people don't seem to understand or take into account the level of group cohesion, organization, and individual skill that plays into what this group did on the whole trek to 50, especially with slow XP rates where mistakes are magnified in both lost XP efficiency and criticism. As Mwapo said, we were both witness to quite a few groups breaking up over numerous issues, usually small stuff as well. So as a neckbeard basement dweller congrats to you boys, also, I am jealous, etc.

Congrats on the accomplishment, but I can't compare an athlete to an EQ player. I have gone round and round with some of you on this, so I am going to be brief. To be a top notch athlete, you need to be born with it, train hard, and get lucky by being in the right situation(on the right team, with the right coaches, avoid injuries and things like that). EQ is two of the three. I was a top notch basketball player, but could never get over the hump because I was born a short, slow, unathletic white dude. I am 6 feet tall, could run a 4.6 40 and had a 30 inch vertical jump. Mashing a button every 2 seconds, even if it's the correct button, isn't really the same thing as being an athlete. Some of the best EQ players I ever saw were two finger typists.

So to sum up, first to 50, impressive? Yes. Can anyone do it if they could put in the same amount of time? no. The planning, both IRL and in game is impressive, as was learning the changes to xp and pets on the fly. If you think anyone can do it, then certainly you aren't capable of doing it, but lets not put them on the Wheaties box just yet.

I'm curious whats so great about the lives of the jealous haters that drives them to the forum of a 16 year old video game to talk down to people playing the same game? You don't know anything about any of these people but make biased speculations about their life(or lack thereof) simply because they accomplished something that you couldn't.

I didn't take any time off this time around - but I certainly have in the past and have always thoroughly enjoyed it when I did. I also have a wife, a family, a demanding professional career, a house I own in an affluent suburb neighborhood, and a neatly shaven beard. I also have enough respect of others to recognize there are all sorts of people from different walks of life with different playstyles that make up this community and pretending like I am better than them simply because they happen to have more free time to enjoy a hobby, would be pretty shallow.

I challenge any of you coward haters to divulge all your personal life details since you obviously know so much about everyone else, so we can scrutinize and condescend all your shortcomings. I'm willing to bet even if you did, half of it would be made up simply to try to make yourself look or feel better about your pathetic existence.