Hey, don’t blame me — blame the incomparable Jeff Rimer…
And you already have the title: 5 MORE Ways You’re Playing EQ Wrong.
— Jeff Rimer (@Jeff_Rimer) May 23, 2020
The newbie zones on Mangler, the previous “True Box” TLP server, are as full as they have been since the server went online a year ago; filled with people getting ready for Aradune’s launch this coming Wednesday.
They’re setting up their guilds, rolling their new mains, and getting up to the start of the race, toes on the starting line, waiting for the gun. I know the feeling — I’ve been doing the same for a week now.
Aradune (like Mangler) will be a “True Box” server. You’re welcome to play as many characters at a time as you like, as long as each one is running on a separate computer.
I’ve been thinking that a boxed bard could be helpful for us while we’re leveling
I do have a second computer, my laptop… problem is (for purposes of playing EQ, anyway), is that it’s a MacBook Pro. It used to be that SOE had a native Macintosh client, but they abandoned that years ago.
Until recently, Mac owners could play EverQuest using the WINE Windows emulator, but recent operating system updates removed support for legacy 32 bit applications, including EverQuest.
Two options remain for someone who wants to run Windows applications on the Macintosh. Apple’s Boot Camp, which allows Macintosh computers to boot either into OS/X or Windows, is preferred by a lot of people. It’s a pure Windows environment, so the speed matches that of any other Windows computer with similar specs.
The other is to use a virtual machine (VM). When running a VM, as far as EverQuest is concerned, it’s running on a Windows computer. Some players run several virtual machines on one computer, with a copy of EverQuest running on each one of them — I’d imagine this is the case for a lot of multiboxers.
I only want to run one copy of EverQuest on it, though.
I downloaded Parallels VM for the Macintosh. The trial run installs with a click and also installs a trial run of Windows 10 — I have two weeks to see whether or not it works for me.
I installed EverQuest on it, patched it up, and there it was, running like it was on a Windows laptop.
The real test was whether I could actually manage to two box, and whether it would actually be worth the hassle.
I made a half elf bard starting in Qeynos, and ran her through the Erudin-to-Qeynos mail run a couple of times to get warmed up (and to figure out how to run EQ on a machine with only a trackpad and no mouse buttons).
On my Windows desktop, I made a half elf ranger starting in Surefall Glade, and met up with the bard outside the North Qeynos gate.
I’d set the bard to playing the Song of Battle, the song bards start with. It gives a strength buff (I believe). It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. I made an assist key so that if I attacked anything on the ranger, I could press a key on the laptop and the bard would begin attacking as well.
Things went fairly well. I died a few times trying to take on things beyond my level, and to a gelatinous cube when I unwisely ventured into the Qeynos sewers.
My largest obstacle was the advanced loot window. Loot would just be left sitting on the corpses. I eventually got it to where after ten minutes or so, I could force it to random the loot to both the characters?
Eventually I had built up a bank of a couple plat on each character. I bought some cloth armor and leather boots for the both of them and camped them out of town.
Lessons learned:
- Chords of Dissonance, the AE pulse direct damage song, is hilariously dangerous to use. I mean, I knew that, but tried it anyway.
- Blues and whites, no yellows. At least not with no armor and the useless starting weapons. (Once I had armor and had upgraded to rusty weapons, I could take on the occasional yellow)
- I’m not sure, yet, that I personally can two box well enough to make it worth the experience hit. I picked bard for the box because I figure the passive songs would be enough of a benefit, but now I’m not sure. Clearly, lots of people box and consider it the best way to play the game — just not sure it’s for me.
I have two weeks trial period on Parallels for the Mac to decide if it’s worth a couple hundred bucks to me (for the full license, and for a Windows license) to use it. There’s also the potential issue in that Kasul and I will be playing evil characters, and we might be going places that bards cannot go…
I guess I have a little time to worry about that, though, before I have to make a decision.
