User:McJeff

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name      =  Jeff|<!-- (optional) your name-->
gender    =  Male|
guild     =  Socii Equitis|
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==On this wiki==

I decided to get active here a long time ago when I was hanging out in [[Rivervale]] and noticed how sparse the content, especially in regards to screenshots, was.  I took a few and wrote some articles.  Then I had computer graphics problems - see below - and wasn't active for a long time.

What I started with was writing monster articles and upload screenshots of monsters.  Generally I decide to work heavily on one zone at a time.  Which zone, basically depends on which one I'm in at the time I get in the mood to do some wiki-writing, although I give more attention to zones where the content is sparse.  [[Kylong Plains]] for example, had about 10 articles when I started attacking it.  

I'm a compulsive completionist.  If something gets my attention about a zone, I'll start poking at it, hunting into the rarely traveled corners to see if there's any kinds of monsters that people don't realize exist.  Or I'll get sidetracked trying to spade out how to flush out the rare spawn namers, and that can take a long time.  I've only gotten [[Slumber Paw]] to spawn once in like 2 weeks of sporadic messing around with the bears that spawn him.  And as of GU61 there's a lot of reitemization to be done.  And most of the tradeskill recipes haven't been touched since GU52 (or was it 51?  I'm too lazy to check) changed the way they worked.  So basically I have wiki-ADD and I work on whatever I feel like when I start working.  That's also why I prefer old-world content - the new world stuff is just linear and comparatively boring.

[[Ruins of Varsoon]] was the first zone I finished the monster articles for. And I ''think'' [[Zek, the Orcish Wastes]] is the second, but there might be a rare spawn namer somewhere that I don't know about.

By the way, 99.5% of the images I contribute are done in MS Paint.  Copypaste is a wonderful tool for those who are too impatient to learn photoshop.  

I'm a lot less active than I used to be.  I bought a new computer that was supposed to be an upgrade to my old one, and despite having far superior hardware and capabilities, it runs like garbage.  I could play EQ2 on higher specs on a 8 year old machine, and this thing barely handles facebook games.  As it turned out, the problem was a power source about half as powerful as it ought to have been - a new one and the computer runs fine.  But loud as a jet engine.  In conclusion, if you ever consider buying a CyberPower PC, '''don't'''.  

Oh yeah, I have a [[User:McJeff/Sandbox|Sandbox]] and a [[User:McJeff/To do|To-Do List]].

[http://eq2.wikia.com/index.php?title=King_Tormax_(Epic)&diff=prev&oldid=545516 My Ten Thousandth edit!]

[http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Steamfont_Mountains?oldid=546222 Before McJeff]/[http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Steamfont_Mountains?oldid=588878 After McJeff]

===Current projects===

*None

===All time highlights===

*Designed the page for [[DoV Fabled Sets]] (though it's been expanded a lot since I first made it - I quit raiding just after Drunder came out)
*[[:File:Bouncer Fug (Feerrott).jpg]]: First image I uploaded to the wiki.
*[[:File:Zaashka Bradagan.png]] - I wanted a clear image of her.  I finally got one by climbing to the railing above her, leaping down to my death, and taking the shot while dead.  That's why her name doesn't glow with aggro.
*[[:File:Sullon Zek rear view.png]] - I never quite figured out how to use this one on the wiki, for obvious reasons... but if SOE designed it it needs to be shared, right?
*[[:File:Slumber Paw.png]] - I had a hell of a time figuring out how to spawn this guy.
*[[:Category:The Mystic Lake Monsters]] - this was ''completely empty'' before I tackled the zone.
*Aviaks in the Barren Sky.... you do NOT want to know how long I spent trying to figure out the shared spawns.
*[[:Category:Ghoul]] - SOE should thank me for straightening this all out.

==My characters==
*[[User:McJeff/Auorali|Auorali Lunaria]] - lvl 100/342 aa Barbarian Mystic (Halls of Fate Server) - my main/former raiding char
**Auorali's name is now against the TOS because it contains a character string that was added to the blacklist after she was created.  Au'''oral'''i.  Heh.  Because of this she can't be transferred to beta server or name her pet Auorali for the sake of neat parsing.  Annoying, but the name dates back to 2000, I'm not changing it.
*[[User:McJeff/Leiros|Leiros Unfriero]] - lvl 90/306 aa Human Assassin (Halls of Fate Server) - main alt
*[[User:McJeff/Jeeffff|Jeeffff Ffffeej]] - lvl 70/207 aa Halfling Conjurer (Halls of Fate Server) - my alt whose name people can actually pronounce
*[[User:McJeff/Ieros|Ieros Friono]] - lvl 70/281 aa Human Beastlord (Halls of Fate Server) - because Beastlord
*[[User:McJeff/Tyranna|Tyranna Ka'Zaam]] - lvl 46/249 aa Dark Elf Bruiser (Halls of Fate Server) - apparently my new second main alt
*[[User:McJeff/Auorafury|Auorafury]] - lvl 29/121 aa High Elf Fury (Halls of Fate Server) - might as well make a druid
*[[User:McJeff/Auoric|Auoric Macbaird]] - lvl 76 Barbarian Inquisitor (Halls of Fate Server) - on lockdown until I get my second EQ2 fixed
*[[User:McJeff/Lesthinkin|Lesthinkin Mo'Axes]] - lvl 28 Erudite Berserker (Halls of Fate Server) - as above
*And Raykor and Laszk, who will be continually deleted and recreated 

<center><gallery>
Auorali.jpg|Auorali Lunaria in 2008
Auorali Lunaria 2011.png|Auorali in 2011
Leiros Unfriero.png|Leiros Unfriero modelling [[Phantasma (Armor Set)]]
Jeeffff Ffffeej.png|Jeeffff Ffffeej, in the Feerrott for some reason
Auoric Macbaird.png|Auoric Macbaird, not impressed by the Halls of Fate
Auorali and Anash'ti.png|Auorali meets [[Anashti Sul (God)|Anashti Sul]]
Ieros and Sir Lucan.png|Ieros chilling with Sir Lucan D'Lere
Tyranna Ka'Zaam.png|Tyranna in front of DFC in blood ore armor she made herself
</gallery></center>

==My story==

===EQ1===

I started EQ1 back years ago, maybe around the turn of the century.  I started just after the release of Ruins of Kunark.  And I bought the original because it was on sale... then since RoK wasn't sold by itself, only bundled with the original EQ, I ended up wasting $20 instead of saving it.  Great start to my EQ career.

My first character was a human warrior named Ieros.  After getting frustrated playing him as I couldn't find any armor or decent weapons (EQ was NOT newbie-friendly back then), I started a new character, a girl barbarian shaman.  Shaman because back in those days Spirit of Wolf was literally essential, Barbarian because I didn't want the exp penalty that ogres and trolls got, and girl because honestly female barbarians in EQ1 were hot and I was also a teenager so that ''really mattered'' back then. And I discovered that I liked playing a shaman much better than a warrior, so Auorali ended up as my main character.

I made it to the rank of Guild Officer in a guild called Nightwatch of Norrath (Saryrn server).  Unfortunately when the Shadows of Luclin expansion came out, I had to quit.  My computer had a crappy old Intel Celeron processor, the folks wouldn't spring for a new one, and I missed a year and a half.  By the time I got back, my guild had imploded, all my friends were 30 levels above me, and I couldn't level quickly enough to keep up with them.

I could never level quickly in EQ1, and I eventually gave up on playing it.  The average level was practically the maximum level, and I was next to useless in a group because I would be the only non-twink, with everyone else prepped with gear their lvl 70 alts had transferred to them.

The thing that killed EQ1 for me was spending 1000 plat on a spell that turned out to be useless.  It was an "upgrade" of my summon spirit companion spell, that turned out to raise the thing by one level.  Grr.  I don't remember exactly when this happened, but it was what made me give up on EQ1.  And in 2006 I decided to check out EQ2.

I went back to EQ1 for a little while in 2013.  It was fun as long as the nostalgia lasted.  Then I re-decided I liked EQ2 better on account of in EQ1 if you're playing a shaman, for every minute you spend doing anything you spend two minutes meditating.

===EQ2===

[[Image:Graphics_problems.jpg|right|thumb|226px|EQ2 isn't much fun when the graphics look like this.  That's (a now deleted incarnation of) Laszk in the picture.]]

When I started EQ2, I remade Auorali and Ieros as closely to their EQ1 incarnations as I could.  I liked it better in just about every way.  (Years later when Beastlords finally came out and I didn't have an open character slot, I deleted Warrior!Ieros and remade him as a Beastlord.)

I lost interest in MMORPGs and took a long time off, probably a couple years.  The thing that got me back was the Rise of Kunark expansion, and being able to play as a Sarnak.  The Sarnak's weren't as cool as they were in EQ1 though, I didn't think.

Then I got a new videocard and it never has worked right.  It worked right for about a month, long enough for me to resubscribe to EQ2 and a day later, boom, not working any longer.  I've uploaded a screenshot of my video card problems just for the hell of it.  Long story short I got a new computer.

====Socii Equitis era====

In the late spring/early summer of 2010, I made my guild's main raid force by complete accident - a dramabomb had half the raid force leave and since I was max level I got put on the raid force.  Knowing absolutely nothing about how to play a raiding char.  So as I was climbing my levels I ignored all the potency, crit mit and crit bonus gear because I didn't want to lose Bane Warding from my T3 shard armor.  So I got moved to low priority backup raid force for sucking.  And then put on the alt raid force.  And then the alt raid force closed because the guy who was leading it quit the guild without telling anyone why.  So I worked really hard and improved my reliability and made a few friends and finally made main raidforce in mid October 2010 after one of the four full time raid shaman ragequit in the middle of a Waansu pull and I got his spot.  Then I ''almost'' lost it again because an old guildy returned, but he decided he'd rather be MT Shaman on our second raid force.  

I became the caster group shaman. Our troubador loved me because a well timed Ritual of Alacrity and Stampede of the Herd and he was usually around #6 on the raidwide DPS parse.

On November 15, 2010, we made our first hard mode kill, putting Waansu down.  It was an insane rush, but... let's just say that we've got a lot of work to do before contemplating getting a flawless over him.  Next up, Maalus Imbued.  We dropped him on 12/1.  Penda & Kendis United and Toxxulia both down sometimes in late December/early January 2011.  Also, flawless victory over every easy mode mob except Theer, Perah'Celsis and <s>Haraakat the Seer</s> got Haraakat in Jan 11.  As of February 11, moved into Underfoot Depths and have dropped the first three (Ritualist Squilak, Master Syfak, Rathgar).  We got Uthgar and co a few days later, and on the last raid of the expansion got 3 Sages Hardmode.

Destiny of Velious raiding turned out to be kind of boring.  We cleared all the easy mode stuff, and haven't been able to make much headway into hardmode because we're having trouble with raid attendance and raider turnover.  And as of late September 2011 I had to step down from active raiding because real life is being stupid and annoying.  Full time again as of early 2012.

====Primal Vengeance era====

[[Image:Ducks in the raid.png|right|thumb|226px|Ducks! In the raid!]]I decided to take a try at hardcore raiding.  I got accepted by Primal Vengeance.  The first raid I went on, a bored Guide followed us into Hall of Legends Challenge and turned all the giants into ducks, then turned Primus Pilus Gunnr into Roehn Theer.  But I absolutely couldn't handle four raid nights a week, so after only 2 weeks I deguilded.  My sincere intention is to never raid again.  My alts never left Socii.  Primal Vengeance and everyone in it (including one of my friends from Socii who helped get me in) left for a different server because of too much competition for the contested spawns on Everfrost.

====Post-raiding era====

Retiring from Primal Vengeance was the end of my serious EQ2 playing. Socii Equitis collapsed in 2012 over some drama and the active raiders mostly joined Core and Blood Oath.  Because BO was run by one of my mentors from back in my raiding newbie days I joined it - even went on a raid with them once when they were shorthanded and I was online with an evening to waste - but for the most part I haven't done anything besides solo randomly. I always go through spells of enthusiasm where I can't wait for my double exp bonus to regenerate, and periods when I don't feel like playing at all.

Also, after all these years I'm starting to get the hang of playing my bruiser. Huh.