I have a few plans for Linux tutorials to write out for the site, but before I invested to much time I wanted to get some of your opinions.  So, what would you like to see a tutorial on?

The patch notes are out (EQ2 Flames)!  They have outlined some of the big changes:

• Station Voice is now available!
• Equipment changes have been introduced to improve item progression from levels 1 – 59 worldwide.
• Check out the sections below for details on these highlights and other details of “Storm Break” (GU47).

LIVE EVENTS

• “Storm Break” (GU47): Librarian Feldarn of Freeport’s Academy of Arcane Science and Librarian Dungil of Qeynos’ Concordium are looking for volunteers to help battle the onslaught of darkness from beyond.
• Qeynos and Freeport have broken ground on major construction projects just off of the coast of Antonica and Commonlands respectively. Visit the docks to see the new activity!

STATION VOICE

• A new Voice Bar will appear that provides options and indicates who is currently speaking and when you’re talking. It can be docked with any chat windows.
• A new Voice Users window will show all users in the current channel. This window can be changed to be transparent and show only active speakers if you’d like.
• Group and Raid windows have speaking indicators to show who is currently speaking.
• Voice options are available in the Options Menu under the “Voice Chat” tab.
• If you’re not currently in a voice channel, you will be placed in the first channel that becomes available. Subsequent channels that become available can be selected through a drop down on the Voice Users window, a button on the Voice Bar, or a link that appears in text chat.
• Left Control is the default push-to-talk key. You can change the key in the “Voice Chat” tab of the Options Menu.
• If you need more info, do “/help vchat” in game.

I am excited to log in tonight and see if any of my 1-59 items have increased in value and also to check out the voice chat.  I’ll make a post soon with a review of the voice chat system.

Having trouble last night with creating our guild name under the sometimes annoying naming policy got me thinking about how people come to their guild names.  I have seen some horrible ones in the past -   “Pink Poodle” over on the EQ2 flames forums made a post about horrible guild names.  I have also seen some really good names as well.  Everyone seems to have a connection (of some sort) to their guild name and believes it is a good one.  I have categorized some of the common methodologies behind selecting guild names here:

The Bad:

Type I: The Copy Cat

Copy Cats have no creativity whatsoever.  They escape to a fantasy world to play a fictional character (they most likely used the game default race, class, and appearance) since it is one of the few places were others will be imaginative for you (if you are passive).  Because the copy cats have little connection with their character and consequently the game, they depend on the real world to provide them with something that will make them unique.  They believe that using a name (like Abercrombie) that is out of place in a fantasy land will showcase how creative and original they are.  Unfortunately, they are not creative, nor cool; they are nothing more than a simple copy cat.

Type II: The Gangster Gamer

The gangster gamer is a G in real life (or so they think).  The gangster believes that their toughness and gangster pride will carry over to a game world (using names like ‘Ridin Dirty ‘); it does not carry over.  No matter how ‘badass’ or ‘crunkin’ you are in real life - none of that matters in game.

Type III: The Extreme Role Player

An extreme role playing name is similar to the copy cat, but not nearly as bad.  This occurs when someone takes some lore (maybe for LOTR or another popular fantasy novel) and transposes it on top of a different fantasy world.  I am sorry, but there is no ‘one ring’ in EQ2 - take your lore somewhere else.  There are right ways of handling role playing…see type II under good.

The Good:

Type I: The Entertainer

(opposite of copy cat) Entertaining guild names typically pull their roots from real life.  They will also include a play on words or something that will make you think for a second before getting it.  Although similar to the copy cat, make no mistake - the entertainer has creativity and originality.  Some good examples: ‘ORLY Factor’, ‘Club Fu’, etc…

Type II: The Minimalist

(opposite of Gangster Gamer) Less is more.  I have always been a fan of characters and guilds that keep things simple.  One of my favorite EQ player names I saw was “tru”.  I believe the EQjunkies (players) following that naming style - just enough role playing that you know it is a fantasy name, but it is simple enough that you could believe someone with the name.  How does this apply to guilds?  Guilds that keep things short are better imo… ‘Dozekar’, ‘Meiyo’, ‘Conquest’.

Type III: The Role Player

I love to see players use the lore of the world to build up their guild name.  It shows a certain amount of creativity, respect for the game, and environment you would want.  They are centered on the game they exist in - I can respect that.  Names like ‘Veeshan’s Fury’, ‘Champions of Norrath and All’, ‘Norrathian Elders’, etc.

—-

Where do the EQjunkies land in all of this?  I am not sure (I am horribly biased), but I would like to think it is somewhere in the good arena.  Greldor coined the term (that I know of) ‘EQjunkie’ shortly after we began playing in ‘99.  i don’t know exactly how he came up with it.

What do you think?  Is there another set of categories I missed?  How would you categorize your guild?

Last night Xailia, Landuran, Myclawz, Greldor, and a random 6th (alt of a retired player) created a new guild: “Eqjunkiies” on the Oasis server.  We tried to create “EQjunkies”, but SOE doesn’t allow the word “junkie” in the naming policy.  Anyways, we plan on having a casual guild for now - working up the guild level and populating our guild bank.

If you are a follower of eqjunkies.com and have an active EQ2 account look us up in game.   Are play time is kind of sporadic, so if you don’t see us online, just leave us a comment here.

The EQJunkies have been in quite a few guilds with very complicated DKP systems - Dragon Kill Points, for the uninitiated.  Basically, DKP allows people to be rewarded for attending raids by giving them a currency of sorts to spend on items that drop.

There are many commonly-accepted DKP systems in existence, and most guilds tweak these systems into something unique.  From what I’ve seen in the past, there are common problems that often arise despite what DKP system is being used:

1. Since points are usually awarded frequently (such as once per hour or once per raid), and because items usually have a set DKP cost, inflation occurs when guild members bank their DKP.
2. New guild members often have to play “catch up” for a long time before they can even hope of competing for items against long-standing members.
3. Alts and secondaries create drama when people’s alts are frequently winning items over other people’s mains.
4. Guild members become confused as the DKP system becomes more complex.

In direct response to these problems, I give you:
The Ubar-ly Simple Dragon Kill Points System (usDKP)

1. DKP is earned whenever a DKP rolecall is taken. This occurs approximately once per hour when raiding.  You must be in-zone and present when the rolecall is taken to earn DKP. For guild-first kills for progression bosses, an additional DKP rolecall may be taken as a bonus at the end of the fight.

2. When an item drops that you want to loot, you may choose to bid for it with your DKP total. Once all of the bids are in, the character with the higest current DKP wins the item, and that character’s DKP is reset to 0.

Notes:
a. If there is a tie between DKP totals, the winner will be decided via /random.
b. You must be logged in and raiding with the character that you are bidding for.
c. A character cannot bid for another character - this includes winning and then defaulting the item to another player’s character, or bidding with your main’s DKP total and then defaulting the item to your secondary.

3. Secondaries and alts earn DKP at the same rate as mains via DKP rolecalls. If a player chooses, they may transfer the entirety of their alt or secondary’s DKP total to their main when raids are not in progress.

I’ll be following this post up with a more detailed description of what my methodologies were in creating usDKP.  But for now, feel free to post any comments.

Tonight I was installing Ubuntu 8.04 on an old PIII system when I came across an odd error:

ata1.00: exception Emask 0×0 SAct 0×0 SErr 0×0 action
0×2 frozen

After some googling, I found that I was not alone. After looking through a bunch of sites I came to this one (Ubuntu forums rock!).

It turns out that having your jumpers/cables setup the wrong way will cause this error. I unplugged my CD Drive and my HDD. I then changed my HDD to be master and my CD Drive to be slave. I replaced the IDE cable and what do you know…everything worked!

Hopefully this helps others! Be sure to visit the Ubuntu forums often. They are a great source of information sharing.