Thought Provoking

Some interesting things happened this past weekend, but probably none so much fun as the allied guild Player-versus-Player Capture the Flag contest. It reminded me a lot of the Team Fortress Classic game I used to play with my co-workers over our lunch break, way back in the day.

Probably what reminded me most of TFC was the prolific number of ways in which my character died. Fortunately, death in the PvP arena doesn't cost your character anything. But, some of the ways in which my character died were rather spectacular. Especially the way Trinarius became the unwitting victim of a Phantasmal Killer.

Hmm...

It's definitely something I have to bring the right character for.

Since Trin wasn't lasting very long, I decided to bring Aequinox into the battle.

He fared better than Trin, but not significantly.

Though, it was fun using Destruction on the opposition.

And Greater Command...

Alas, my record in the PvP arena was 1-2-1. Not a great score, but that goes to figure, for the kinds of characters I play.

Perhaps Obsydiian will fare better, once he's been developed to an appropriate level...

At any rate, my weekend didn't revolve around PvP Capture the Flag in DDO. In fact, I spent the better part of my weekend trying to move guild bank items from the old banker to my characters. And trying to do so amongst all the many chores I had to do around the house.

Needless to say, it wasn't my idea of a great time.

In fact, I don't have five spare characters to use as bank characters, so I've spent a lot of time shuffling things around, auctioning items and giving items to various members of the guild, in a desperate attempt to make use of the items, rather than lose them. Not an easy task.

In discussing the problem with a fellow player who wondered why the inventories on *all* of my characters were so full, he commented that *every* MMO he's ever played has had a dedicated guild bank that wasn't attached to any given character.

Why, after all this time, doesn't DDO have such a thing?!?

Because it doesn't, none of my characters have any bank or inventory space left. I'm back in the same position I was in when I first started the game... I'm going to have to start tossing items just to have enough room to pick up loot in the various quests.

Ugh!

Yesterday, when I arrived at work, I began my work-week in typical fashion, downloading the most recent episode of DDOCast to my iTunes and listening to it while attempting to quell the masses of architects who decided to work over the weekend.

(I honestly cannot understand how so many folks can work every day of every week. Don't they ever get burned out?!? I know I'm sick of seeing them after *two* days. Working a whole five-day work week is a very trying excercise. I couldn't imagine having to put up with these people over the weekend, too! Jeez, people, take some friggin' time off, would ya!?!)

Anyway...

During the podcast, I managed to catch Alex Haddox' segment, Inside the Monestary, where he talks about all things Monk within the game. This week's segment was a rant on how many people are playing Monks who shouldn't. People who have no idea how to play a Monk properly, and are therefore giving Monks a bad reputation. I can honestly say that I've been a victim of that problem. Especially my Clerics.

It's also a big reason as to why I haven't tried to play a Monk. I'm not into abusing my fellow players. Not on purpose, anyway.

But, it made me think... How many players out there run Clerics when they shouldn't? Or Rogues, or Fighters, or any other given class?

I know there're days when I shouldn't be playing any of my Clerics.

For whatever reason there're those days when I'm just not in sync. with the game, and trying to keep my fellow player's character alive is a futile gesture.

Playing a Rogue, though, is something I'm pretty good at. Especially since a Rogue is supposed to stay relatively out of the way, to let the other members of the party do their jobs. Until it comes time to finding and disabling traps, anyway. Or opening locks. It's one of the few classes I truly understand. Even if I don't play my Rogues the same way everyone else might expect.

But, to each his own.

Still... How many people are playing characters they shouldn't?

Okay, perhaps it isn't fair to pass judgement on what kinds of characters any given player *ought* to play.

But, I've come to realize that, for myself, there are certainly those classes I'm just not any good at playing. And, as a result, I don't have much fun when I play them. So I steer clear of them.

I would think that if you find a given class frustrating to play, it's a pretty good indication that you might want to consider playing something else.

I mean, the game isn't about frustration, right!?!

Not for me, anyway.

At any rate...

Keep it fun!