So I have returned to the game I once loved, grabbed some gear and ran off to Crushbone. Fun times! I was invited to a group, and it was fun just running around, dying etc. This is when I realized the new loot system was creating a problem. It turned out someone was just looting up all the loot. It took the Shiny Brass Shield drop from that mob to realize this as it was the only item I needed on. I’m a bard, it didn’t matter, but I was definitely not going to group with them. Fast forward a few minutes into my new group. I received a tell from a 47 necro in the hole. She tells me that I don’t need to worry about loot like that because it’s low level, and she couldn’t believe I would act like that to her 7 year old son. I was like, uhhhhh, I thought I left on good terms, so of course the argument ensued. I put her on ignore rationally thinking this was just some mama bear protecting her cub, no problem. Then, some guy messages me about the loot and trying to give it back, who happens to be in the hole in the same group as someone I was talking to in my brand new guild with said necro. I was thinking, wow, all this attention over a shiny brass shield? Granted after she sent me a tell telling me I shouldn’t worry about that [insert fun word here] loot, I literally said, “screw off.” Yes, I will tell you to screw off if the first tell you send me is offensive when you don’t even know what happened. She was acting like I got KS’ed or something, and I needed to basically go away because it was her 7 year old. Anyway, husband (presumably) is willing to help. I told him it wasn’t about the loot, but the necro came at me some type of way which was pretty upsetting. He said, well, I saw what you said, and I said yes, it was after what she said. He goes into telling me how I’m wrong about this loot, and sure if it was sebilis it might be a different conversation (which I repeatedly told him wasn’t about). Finally, I put him on ignore, left the group, and I played on my SK with my hubby cleric for the rest of the night. Well, welcome back to EQ! I hope it doesn’t stir up a lot of crazy, but I am hoping to commiserate with fellow players who may have the same experiences on TLP servers. Heck even tell me I am the jerk! Lol, good times!
Gotta love text based communication and it's near total lack of ability to convey empathy and emotion. Also people in this game who go from zero to eleven about everything. Don't let it get you down. When I came back I had a situation similiar to yours. I was gathering TS items with my old main a month after returning after hearing about some new epic tradeskill quest. I was trying to forage up some rare materials in a deserted zone in expansion area no one was in. Typical these days. To pass the time I was murdering the local populace as a rogue is want to do. When I notice another player in zone, and a druid to boot! Aren't they good at foraging? Being bored of the grind, I strike up a chat in /ooc and find out we can help each other. Turns out this person is after a certain drop and I've been committing genocide here for hours. We strike a deal and I get a nice 20 stack of the rare forage I need for 3 of the 5 rare drops this person needs. Awesome interaction, win/win, added to friends list. Next day I'm back doing the same thing in the next zone. No one around for hours, piles of bodies, just a mindless bloodbath with some metal soundtrack in the background. Some tells roll in in my chat window from my new friend asking how long I'll be around suppressing the locals. Problem is: I didnt realize I was already dead in this person's eyes. You see, I had forgotten to scroll chat to tell bottom earlier, and this first tell was just one of several. No idea how long this person had been trying to get my attention, but they were already hot. When I did reply they unloaded a wall of text and slammed the /ignore before I could even explain. So much for my new friend. Interactions like this are the bane of a chat based mmo. This is the reason emogies even exist. Text chat just falls flat when you are trying to efficiently convey your own humanity to someone who may already be affronted. It's hard to see the human when it's filtered through some poor typing skills, and first interactions are less than ideal. Rant aside, welcome back. I hope you find the game as great as you remember it. As someone who came back and fell in love all over again. I recommend you find a few reliable friends and embrace all the changes ( especially /Advloot even with its crashing bugs that they can't seem to fix.) Once you realize the benefits, it will save you days of time. Remember this returning perspective if you do decide to binge play up to max level, you might get a chuckle later.
A 7 year old shouldn't be playing a teen rated game anyway, if they are they should be supervised properly & in that case the parents would have known the situation first hand, they clearly didn't. So in my book those parents are being irresponsible to start with, their actions following whatever happened seems to support that conclusion too. Not to sound like some radical helicopter parent but I have 3 children who game & while they are all adults now while they were kids I never let them play anything without having already set up a bunch of filters etc. and none of them were playing ANY MMO until they were 13 simply because I know the kind of stuff that gets chatted about pretty much everywhere in these type of games. All that said we only have your side of the story to go on and they may have a completely different take on things. Still, 7 is far too damn young to be subjected to a lot of the content in this game any way that you slice it. Anyway, welcome back to EQ.
TLP servers can get pretty toxic I gave it a shot one time many years ago and decided it wasn't for me. Now as to everyone sending you tells and what not about loot I think (this is just my opinion) that people in general, and people on the internet in-particular have a real issue with accepting that they, or someone they know, behave in a less than ideal manner. Advanced looting is both good and bad for the game in different ways. It certainly speeds up the looting process, it is manna from heaven for boxers and I make heavy use of it. I have seen it used effectively many times. It is also important to note that there are detriments to using advanced looting as well the one you experienced is the most glaring and that is whomever is the master looter controls all the loot. I think a lot of players have had this experience. My experience with an inconsiderate master looter was back a few years ago. I was running my, at the time, 4 man team and a guild member was LFG so I thought hey why not I don't group with people that often and I should probably change that so I invited them. Now this player wasn't a 7 year old like the people you encounter claimed this player was in their late 30s. I get them in the group and they immediately notice that I have advanced looting turned OFF. This was mostly due to me not really knowing how to work it at the time. After some pestering I turn advanced looting on but I don't really know how to work the tools and didn't want to take the time to figure it all out so I told them if they want it on I will turn it on if they will set it up. Well I make them master looter and EVERY TRADE SKILL ITEM THAT DROPPED THEY TOOK! When I noticed we had been killing for about 2 hours and I had not grown my stack of 'conflagrant silks' even though that was one of the items I chose that camp for. When I asked the guild mate I invited to join they told me that they had been looting them all since I was a boxer and could come back anytime to get more. Needless to say I never grouped with that guildie again.
Ouch! I’m sorry that happened. I didn’t realize there were still those that look down on boxers. I usually forgo loot if it’s nothing serious just because I get awesome exp and the friendship. The loot is secondary.
Sometimes it is just a matter of making it all clear from the get go. If you become the Master Looter in a group of strangers or even guildmates, try to find out what others are after. Some might just want that rare drop, others a piece of gear for them or their alt. And still others for TS items. It is a tough balancing act, but if communication is there, usually there are no issues. Last night I grouped with two guildmates, a husband/wife team. They seemed to just want the experience but not the achievement drops. I kept the ach drops and most of the TS items. But in return I passed to them all of the high plat gems (that alone put them in the plus financially) and the other medium plat items and also any gear that we came across. I probably went overboard making sure they were "happy" but I truly enjoyed the company while completing my achievements. Don't let this group you were with get you down. Just chalk it up and let it go. And learn the Advanced Looting system a bit. Even if you aren't the Master Looter, you need to know what is going on so that you are not short-changed in the future.
