These posts are archives of forum / blog entries I made on my EverQuest guild website. The website won’t be around forever, and I wanted the posts all in one place so I didn’t lose them, this blog seemed like as good a place as any.
This is a long post, stick with me 🙂 It’s also a little early, we usually write something at the start of the year, but I’ve had a couple of questions about TNF and the SoF release prompted this a little earlier than normal. So, here we go …
Wow, another year has passed. It’s hard to believe it was only the start of 2007 that TNF made it into the Plane of Time. A lot of hard work in zones that offered little reward during 2006 to get everyone flagged, and then a few happy romps in Time for some fun clickies. At the start of 2007 I wrote a post on what we thought would be coming up in the following months (you can read it here). I said, and I quote,
We have no plans to get flagged for Anguish
And then,
if you have some spare time and wanted to, go pick up a few Anguish signets, you never know what he future will hold.
Well you went and got your sigs. We had no plans to get flagged for Anguish, but hell, beating the MPG trials was just so much fun it kind of just happened by accident. We’re in Anguish, we’re kicking Anguish Ass and we’re enjoying it. I wrote this half way through the year, to cover our progress at that stage, and since then we’ve surpassed all our plans. I wanted to take the time to write another note, let you know where TNF is, and where myself and Siddhaya see us going in 2008.
But first of all, I want to talk about ‘the wave’. TNF has been riding the wave for a couple of years, we’ve been just ahead of major gear inflation since we started. Three major gear advancements in 2006/2007 were a cause for concern for TNF. Firstly, the loot from DoDh / PoR group encounters was better in some cases than you could get in the Plane of Time. It was ok, not everyone had it, and the Plane of Time had fun factor and useful loot still. Then we broken into Qvic, but the armour from TSS powered molds is actually just slightly better than the Qvic armour. Again, it wasn’t easy to get, not everyone had it, and so Qvic / Inktu`ta still had something to offer. Finally, we broke into Anguish, and around the same time the single group armour from The Buried Sea turned out to be better or roughly similar to Anguish armour for some classes.
TNF doesn’t only raid for the loot, in fact, the loot isn’t our primary reason for raiding. We raid to show you guys new content in EQ that you might not otherwise see. For some raiders in TNF, loot upgrades on raids have always been rare, due to either being well geared before joining TNF or doing a lot of group work outside of raids to upgrade past the content we were killing. For many however, TNF has been a source of great loot upgrades.
With the release of the Secrets of Faydwer there can be no denying that the wave has broken, TNF raid targets will be behind the loot curve. Gear dropping in Dragonscale hills has 250 hitpoints and various mods, loot from further in SoF is even better. Armour you can buy in the bazaar (well, if you’re very wealthy) is better in some cases than Anguish armour. If there was ever a time where it was easier to get group upgrades than raid upgrades, for many of our raid force, now is it. I want to reassure you that TNF strategy will not change. We want to show you stuff in EQ you might never otherwise see, and that means that despite the loot we will reward the effort of working through Kod`taz, Ikkinz, Uqua, Qvic, Inktu`ta and Txevu and we will go to Tacvi and beat Tunat’Muram Cuu Vauax.
And that brings us to 2008, TNF’s fourth year. Four years of casual, once a week raids. Four years of hard work. Four years of loyalty, dedication and fun!
Gates of Discord and Omens of War
I promise 2008 will be no different. We will defeat the two heads of the Muramite army. Tunat’Muram Cuu Vauax in Tacvi will fall before us, and Overlord Mata Muram in Anguish shall lie at our feet, a broken wreck. I can not say how soon these things will happen, we still have challenges in Txevu to beat, and you have seen the trouble Overlord Mata Muram has given us, but I can promise you they will happen. TNF will beat both the Gates of Discord and the Omens of War content.
Dragons of Norrath
Yar`lir is our bitch, Rikkukin is our foot stool and Tirranun is beneath our contempt. Kessdona may well suffer a swift defeat one day, to say we went, but the real target left amongst the once mighty Dragons of Norrath is Vishimtar. TNF will be paying the beast a visit, and we expect to come away with our arms full of trophies.
Depths of Darkhollow and Prophecy of Ro
It’s time to band together in groups again, and to begin working on your raid zone access. Just as with GoD and OoW, there are single group tasks that must be done to gain access to the most powerful content in DoDh and PoR. Some of you already have access, some have been working on it and others still haven’t started. We need you to get access to Dreadspire Keep, Razorthorn and Theatre of Blood. There’s a lot of work to do it, and we’ll all need to work together to achieve access. As well as the single group stuff there are raids (like Matriarch Shyra) which provide flags, and in between GoD and Omens, it’s these targets we’ll be looking at in 2008.
The Serpents Spine, The Buried Sea, The Secrets of Faydwer
We’ll look at the targets in these three expansions and see if there’s anything we can throw in for some fun, but we don’t expect to be making any major progress or attempting anything significant.
Summary
It’s been a fantastic year. I’m proud to have reached Anguish the right way, with friends, having fun. I’m proud to be knocking on the door of the final zone of the Gates of Discord. I’m proud to be at the stage where we can beat Vishimtar and draw a line beneath yet another expansion. In 2008, TNF will beat GoD, OoW and DoN. We’ll do that because you guys work hard, turn up and continue to improve every time. We can’t do it without you. In 2008, TNF will step further into the Depths of Darkhollow, beating the most challenging raids we’ve ever seen, and we’ll look to the Dragons in Relic to offer a challenge.
A year ahead, a year of challenge, of mystery, of blood and fire. A year of dragons and demi-gods. Step up, be bold, show no quarter. We’re asking more of you than ever before, maybe everything you have to give. Here, now, this is where we make our stand, where we draw the line. Tunat’Muram Cuu Vauax can not be allowed to live. Overlord Mata Muram must die to pay for his crimes. Vishimtar the Fallen has crossed over and must be sent back. Tsikut, Shar`Drahn and Ashenback blight the very world with their presence and will be sent back to the ninth plane of hell from whence they came.
Be bold.
Show no quarter.
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.
