Last night I log on and see the message to get to Time.  This is exciting,
because we haven't done Time in a while.  Between Thanksgiving and New
Year's is a very slow raiding time for us, as many people take breaks from
EQ around then.  This year, after New Year's, it took us longer than usual
to get back into a raiding mode.  When we finally started raiding nightly
again, Time instancing got hosed.  I'm not exactly sure of the details, but
it appears that if you pre-ordered Gates of Discord, then zoned into TimeB,
you activated the last instance instead of creating a new instance.  One
time we cleared Phase 1 only to find all the other Phases were down.  We
were actually able to go all the way to Quarm's (empty) Lair.  We mulled
around and took some screenshots - "Look!  We beat Quarm!" - but then and
killed some minor mobs.

With more and more guilds on our server become Elemental, finding targets to
raid is becoming more difficult.  For the first time since we got our Xegony
key, we've been raiding the Avatars in the Plane of Air.  One of them
dropped a Woven Steel Sash, with average Elemental stats but a focus effect
I didn't yet have - Patience of Eternity, which extends all of my buffs by
20%.  I hadn't gone in on any loot since late October, so I was basically in
a position to get whatever I wanted.  I'd been kinda saving my loot karma
for a Time BP mold (yeah, I know, dream on Mon) but I really could use this
focus effect - it's annoying having to switch out my shield for my Ceramic
Shield of Valor if I wanted a buff-extending focus effect.  So I put in my
name and, as expected, I was awarded the loot.

That was the highlight of that particular raid, the next Avatar we killed
dropped two Elemental silk arm patterns.  One we gave to a recruit, the
other we left on the corpse.  There's a loose association of people who raid
Elemental flagging mobs on Drinal; they call themselves NightRaid.  A
leftover of the famous Drinal Flag Rebellion, anyone from any guild or even
the guildless get together and get themselves various flags.  They've gotten
far enough to get themselves Elemental flagged.  It's a very nice alliance,
and allows people to see end-game content without having to necessarily be
in an uber-guild.  We let the NightRaid channel know there's loot rotting in
Air, and they got together a quick group of people to get someone up to the
mob to loot.

Anyway, back to the beginning of this post: after the patch, Time instances
seem to have finally reset themselves.  The mobs in TimeA are not
targetable, indicating that Quarm is alive.  So, finally finally, we have a
shot at Time loot.

Phase 1 is no problem.  Phase 2 is equally simple.  Phase 3 also proves no
challenge.  I keep my eye out for Elemental plate legging molds, but none
drop.  Finally, we get into Phase 4.

I check the cleric channel.  Most of the senior clerics aren't here.  We do
have a lot of clerics, although most of them haven't seen Phase 4 before.
It slowly dawns on me that I'll have to organize the clerics tonight, a job
I usually leave to the other clerics.  I run through the healing strategy on
Terris Thule and set up the Complete Healing Chain.  We run up and drop TT
easy.  We also handle the adds easily, the best I've ever seen us do.  We
manage to kill all the adds and hardly lose any people.  Nice.  Loot is
awarded and we move on to Saryn.

I explain the healing scenario again, which is almost identical to the
healing strategy we use on Terris Thule.  The key is to get into position
quickly so that heals land.  Alas, we are a little too slow getting into
position.  The CHC starts ragged and never recovers.  We lose four tanks
very quickly.  We should probably reset, I think, so I intend to say into
guildchat, "Abort?"  Alas, I hit enter too quickly and actually type
"Abort".  A few people peel off in response to my "command", so one of our
officers quickly says, "Yeah, abort."  We pull back to the tables.  I send
an apology to my guildleader, saying that I meant to ask that as a question.
To my relief, he's amused rather than annoyed.

I go over the healing strat in the cleric channel again, emphasizing the
need to move quickly into position.  Fortunately no clerics died, so very
quickly we're ready to go again.  We move in, and this time the CHC goes a
little better.  We lose a few tanks - there are some long healing pauses
that I'm not entirely comfortable with - but Saryn and the adds all die.

Now comes Tallon Zek.  This is the guy that's been preventing us from
progressing in Time.  The last time we did him, I felt like we had a
breakthrough in our healing strategy.  We simply lacked the numbers to
execute it.  That was way back in November.  This has been our first serious
attempt since then.

Again, I go over the strategy.  This time I emphasize the need for speed.
This has to be what I call a Reparm-type healing chain - no pauses, heal as
soon as it's your turn, make certain the tank is being constantly healed.  I
tell them where we're going to position ourselves - on the other side of the
wall from TZ, we won't even be in the room.  I tell my guildleader that
although I feel good about the healing strat once TZ is cornered, the only
weakness I see is the possibility that the Main Tank will die before he gets
into position.  My guildleader, a paladin, tells me he'll use Lay on Hands
on the MT if necessary.  That sounds good to me.

So, we set up.  The clerics all crowd around me on the wall.  TZ is pulled
and I begin the CHC.  Fast fast fast - and the MT is still alive after the
first ten seconds, a good sign.  I notice, however, that if I'm pressed
against the wall on my mount, I get hit by TZ's AE page.  One hit for 3600
will wake you up in a hurry; I take a step back and tell the other clerics
to make sure you're not actually *on* the wall, just next to it.

The MT dies and we switch to the next warrior.  He dies and a couple of
clerics get summoned and killed.  The rest of us switch to the third tank.
The CHC is more ragged than I would like but is still holding on despite the
dead clerics.  The third tanks dies and we switch to the fourth.  TZ's
health is going down.  Reports start coming in... 20.  15.  TZ enrages.  10.
5.  The fourth tank dies.  We cast about for another tank to heal.  By the
time I find one, TZ is at 1%.  Before we can even get a CHC established, TZ
dies.

There is a lot of cheering.  TZ has been a thorn in our side for months, an
obstacle in our way to the really really really nice drops in Phase 5.  The
cheering continues unabated for several minutes while I help rez the dead.
I'm feeling pretty happy myself.  For about the first time ever, I feel like
this raid would not have succeeded without me - we were missing our senior
clerics, so I was needed to educate our new clerics and get them set up in
the correct manner to heal the tank effectively.  Maybe it's too much of a
conceit - maybe the officers would have managed to get the clerics organized
without me - but at the very least, I made things a lot easier on the
officers and increased our chances of success.

The awards are listed - two bracers, one pair of boots, all three very nice
drops.  Officers are debating loot when, suddenly, my screen goes black.
YOU HAVE BEEN DISCONNECTED.  This happens to me once in a while, but rarely.
I hadn't noticed the usual signs that I was going linkdead, like sudden
silence in guildchat.  I try to reconnect, but when the list of servers
comes up, there is something horrifying next to Drinal:  DOWN.

Oh my God.

I go to the chat channels, which are flooded with Drinal players.  Many of
them are my guildmates, who are complaining vociferously.  I add a few
choice comments myself.  There's a good chance we're going to lose all the
progress we made in Time.  The thought of logging back on to find all the
Time Phases fully populated makes me feel ill.

It occurs to me, as I wait for Drinal to come back up, that this is the
quintessential EverQuest moment.  We beat a difficult raiding target for the
first time, giving us one of the best feelings you'll get out of EverQuest.
Then the server crashed, with the possibility that all our progress and
newly-won loot will be wiped away, giving us one of the worst feelings
you'll get out of EverQuest.  Back to back, within the span of minutes,
we've experienced both ends of the emotional EQ spectrum.

Drinal comes back up and I'm one of the first to log in.  I find myself back
in Phase 4.  TT, Saryn, and TZ are nowhere to be found; only Vallon Zek is
up.  This is a tremendous relief; we're not going to lose our progress in
Time.

TZ's corpse is nowhere to be found.  We petition and, very much to my
surprise, quickly get a response.  A Senior Guide talks to one of our
officers.  Did we /report the loot that had dropped?  Uh... no.  Never
really occurred to us to /report a mob's drops just in case the server
crashes before we can loot.  The Senior Guide says he'll escalate to a GM.
So there's a chance we'll get the loot back, although I'm not hopeful.  I
make the comment that perhaps the officers should make it a habit to /report
loot on all of the major mobs we kill.  No response, so no idea if they'll
follow up on it.  Anyone else's guild do this on a regular basis?

All that stands between us and Phase 5 is Vallon Zek.  I have absolutely no
idea what to expect or what our healing strategy is.  It's explained to us
that VZ has a proc that forces the Main Tank to Feign Death and be stunned.
Also, at 50% he spawns two copies of himself, but those can be drawn off and
rooted.  We decide to set up a CHC but to try and constantly switch targets
whenever the MT get FD'd.  This doesn't work so well and we get VZ to 70%
before all the tanks are dead and we abort.  For the next attempt we decide
to forgo the CHC and just try /assist healing.  This is even worse and we
don't get VZ below 90.  We finally call it - it's about 12:30am anyway.
This is a whole new healing challenge for us, but I don't think it will be
too difficult to overcome.

Afterwards, our guildleader asks who is a good writer.  I chime in along
with a couple of other people.  He states he's looking for someone who's
better at writing than he is to update the web page.  I have to agree.  My
guildleader - Madrone - is one of the most knowledgeable EQ people I have
ever met.  I'd rate him right up there with Furor on the amount of stuff he
knows about EQ.  He works at it - he browses *all* class boards, trying to
understand every nuance of playing each class.  He researches strategies and
then adapts them for our guild's particular talents and weaknesses.  At the
drop of a hat he'll launch into a lecture of the game's mechanics,
explaining in minute detail how damage works, how aggro bounces around, the
exact effect resists have, etc.  And for all that, he still can be
incoherent when trying to talk, with numerous misspellings and fractured
sentence structure - his mind tends to run faster than his fingers.  In one
famous instance, one of our other officers lamented, "God, tell Madrone to
stop typing with his toes."  So the fact that he wants someone else to
update the web pages is understandable.  I chat with one of our officers for
a bit about updating the web page.  I'd enjoy doing that.

So... a major obstacle out of the way.  Beyond-uber loot is tantalizingly
close.  EverQuest is exciting again.  If we can avoid the server crashes.

-Richard

Monual Lifegiver
Archon of Rodcet Nife
Silent Tempest

Marrtuk
Knight of Mithaniel Marr

Drinal server