Thank you Sarlona, A moment to reflect.

[Taimasan]

I just wanted to start a thread to say much the people and the community mean to me at Sarlona. I have tried other MMOs, the usual suspects and did well. But the community was something that no other MMO could match, it was a elusive perk in the grand sea of things to stimulate our reward centers...anyway, back on track.

I would like to see the things in the community that touched you in a way that made it a little bit more than "Just a game.". I would like to hear your story and your moment which decided that Sarlona was the home for you.

For me:

I was a up and coming monk. It was free-to-play and it was new, at a time when I needed a escape more than ever. I didn't have any DnD background(and still don't!), so I just played, and monks had it rough back then. But it wasn't until my very first shroud of August 2009, when at part 4, I was excited, about to complete my first raid ever; DDO being my first MMO. Eager to please I willingly took off my armor and held the great responsibility of clicking the portal for the group. Long story short I immediately wanted to log out and not even face the group for killing everyone. It was a perfect play. I click the portal. *DING*. --silence--, then the joking commended. Thats when I knew that I was a Sarlonian.

[elraido]

Tommygunz keeps giving the noobs in the guild leadership and has them boot me from guild......

[Hendrik]

Tommygunz keeps giving the noobs in the guild leadership and has them boot me from guild......

Good times!

I would like to see the things in the community that touched you in a way that made it a little bit more than "Just a game.". I would like to hear your story and your moment which decided that Sarlona was the home for you.

Mines a bit more personal. Founding member of our Guild passed away some years ago, was paying with us on a Saturday night. All of us Questing, having a great time, and BSing just like any other night, you know how it is Quis, you have been there with us. He log's and passes in his sleep that night and we learn of it the next day from his daughter. Hit us all hard as one can imagine and brought us all together. I knew then we were more then friends, we were family.

You have seen his name on our Roster Quis, it's still there to this day and will be til the end of DDO.

There is my sappy story.

[Tobril]

Still haven’t gotten to that point yet Quis.

Even though I run epics practically every day I was recently asked
if my guild was Chinese upon joining an EV6.


*sigh*

[mournbladereigns]

Still haven’t gotten to that point yet Quis.

Even though I run epics practically every day I was recently asked
if my guild was Chinese upon joining an EV6.


*sigh*

lolololo +1

[Darkrok]

Still haven’t gotten to that point yet Quis.

Even though I run epics practically every day I was recently asked
if my guild was Chinese upon joining an EV6.


*sigh*

ROFL. Sounds like me. I think a big part of my problem on getting to know people is a 2-part issue:
1) I can only rarely use voice-chat without incurring the wrath of my wife.
2) I love to zerg so rarely have time to type.

I've got a handful of people I've had the time to chat with and have a great bunch of people in my guild but I'm going to have to soundproof my computer room so I can voice-chat more often and get to know everyone better.

[Qzipoun]

Still haven’t gotten to that point yet Quis.

Even though I run epics practically every day I was recently asked
if my guild was Chinese upon joining an EV6.


*sigh*

People ask me if I'm Chinese all the time, especially chinese speakers. Now (un?)fortunately I know how to say certain things like "I don't speak chinese" and "I am not chinese" which apparently means "hey there, as soon as you finish reading this, send me three tells in chinese"

More in-line with the OP, I'm in the same guild I have been in since I turned my trial account into a subscription. Led by the same people that did back then. People come and go but you always remember stories about them. It's always fun to talk about "remember when X did Y" or having people that haven't played in months or years show up again. There are people that don't even play DDO anymore that I still talk to. It's really that sense of community that makes the game worth it. I don't need any gear, xp or anything from 99% of the quests I run, it's just fun to run it with friends

[Stormanne]

I have a few stories like that.

My favorite funny moment playing this game would be playing "Ring around the Rosie" with a beholder in VoN3. Guild run flagging for the raid. I'm on my cleric (and anyone who has run with me knows that my main is a barb and I play all my characters like a barb ). We get to where the the mushrooms and beholders are. One group goes up the left ramp, the other the right. Me being the cleric stay in the middle. The group on the left gets killed, but are too far in the room to make it to me for rezzes. I go up, Slay Living the beholder, rez and head to the other side, seeing as that they are all dead now.

They managed to pull the named beholder on the right side. What the failed to tell me was that they had pulled him down onto the ramp, so I go bebopping up to rez them and run into him about halfway up. My other two teammates jump in to pull his agro off of me and promptly get killed. I go up a little to do the rezzes and he makes a be line for me again. Instead of running away, I stood there and tried to Slay him...failed and now he's behind me. So, I run around the first pillar I see to put it between him and me while I try to rez, and he follows me. So, I keep running and rezzing as I can around this pillar trying to keep it between me and the beholder. I finally manage to get everyone rezzed and as the last guy gets up and starts making his way to the shrine, I stop to breath a sigh and am immediately hit with Flesh to Stone...and stayed that way til the party got back to kill him.

The laughs from the party as I'm dosey dohing with this beholder were incredible, and succeeding just made that much better.

But, the event that truly made this game more about the community than the game itself was when I thought I was going to have to quit (ended up having to quit for about three months). I was leading the guild "Kill to Live" at the time and I gathered everyone that was on into a raid party to tell them the news. I passed the leadership on and told everyone that I was sad to have to leave. While I'm doing this; Metalhealth, who I passed leadership to, is setting up a guild facebook account so that we can all stay in touch. So here I am, thinking that I won't be able to play, and won't be able to get in contact with any of these fine people, many of whom I'd spent my entire DDO career with ( Looking at you Kitt ), several of us are getting teary eyed and weepy. This is when I knew that it was the people that kept me logging in.

And, after a little more than three months, the problems that had kept me from playing passed and I surprised everyone by logging back in, even though I had managed to stay in tough via facebook, I didn't tell them I was going to be coming back to the game. The guild had changed names and split into two, The League of Extraordinary Ham and Nine Drawn Swords, which was a bit depressing, but, the welcome back I got was equal to any warm reception I've ever gotten in real life. These people weren't just strangers on the other end of the internet, these people are my friends.

[Tobril]

One of these days I’m just going to break down and learn mandarin. (how hard can it be? )


Of note, I’m not bashing any of you Asian kids out there. It’s just frustrating to be
declined for stuff like normal shroud by pirate fail-PUGs that you’ve dragged through
6-man epics.


Typical epic quest kill list:

Me: Half of the dungeon on my monk
Guild member 1: The other half of the dungeon
Guild member 2: None, but CC’d everything and kept us all healed
Fail PUG 1: None, but did manage to become deceased several times in new and interesting ways
Fail PUG 2: Killed a stray monster that had a broken leg and a cold
Fail PUG 3: None, found the quest after much prodding and then got all the scrolls/seals/shards


Later that evening:

You have been declined by Fail PUG 2
tell: Fail PUG 2 tells you – Sorry, we need DPS and monks are lame, I got one up to level 5 and it sucked

[Taimasan]

Wow too much to quote, almost makes me want to extend a invitation to other server's now. Im sure they have stories that are equally as touching. Sometimes is good to every now and then take a look over your shoulder and smile. Im sure im not the only one with a dry eye reading these posts.

[Hellllboy]

And, after a little more than three months, the problems that had kept me from playing passed and I surprised everyone by logging back in, even though I had managed to stay in tough via facebook, I didn't tell them I was going to be coming back to the game. The guild had changed names and split into two, The League of Extraordinary Ham and Nine Drawn Swords, which was a bit depressing, but, the welcome back I got was equal to any warm reception I've ever gotten in real life. These people weren't just strangers on the other end of the internet, these people are my friends.

Storm is a great example of what makes Sarlona a fun place to game! We missed you and are very happy to have ya back!

[Darkrok]

Not a heartwarming story...more the opposite but I know we had fun with it.

Have an ex-guildie that was a bit whiny from time to time. Didn't really fit in with the guild (who are a bunch of middle-aged guys that drink a lot of beer for the most part).

One day he starts complaining about how he doesn't feel very good because of the meds he's on. We get bits of pieces of the story until it finally becomes clear...

He was 'maimed in the face' by his housecat. Not kidding. Somehow he managed to get his housecat to attack his face and scratch him up. Not badly enough to need stitches or anything but bad enough for someone that was normally a bit whiny to crank the whine up to 11.

Now in a more sensitive and caring guild people would have probably stroked the poor guy's ego or something like that. But we're a bunch of beer-swilling middle-aged MMA fans. When your housecat maims you...well, there are gonna be jokes. Lots of them. Thundercats. Catnip. Catcalls. :P I don't think the guy lasted another week after that.

Are we bad people? Probably. But we still laugh about it to this day.

[Samiusbot]

Still haven’t gotten to that point yet Quis.

Even though I run epics practically every day I was recently asked
if my guild was Chinese upon joining an EV6.


*sigh*

The answer to this question is yes, and start zerging your heart out.

[ballsz]

Still haven’t gotten to that point yet Quis.

Even though I run epics practically every day I was recently asked
if my guild was Chinese upon joining an EV6.


*sigh*

With the increasing influx of new players they still don't know everybody. Really it's not you... it's them. LOL

[Taimasan]

bump, I know there are more people they want/can/why not share please.

[Tobril]

The answer to this question is yes, and start zerging your heart out.

Sounds like you have the fight answer for once.


Also, bump for more positive stories.

[itslex1]

Ahh, the stories one accumulates after so many years in a game. Hard to believe my youngest starts preschool soon and I have characters with a year or more on her.

Some people I'll never forget and always wonder what happened to... I use to have a guild mate years back who had quite a bit tougher of a deployment than I did. He had some serious problems, PTSD, flashbacks, etc, but was a genuinely nice guy. Due to his anxiety meds he was known to pass out mid-quest, sometimes he'd come to and catch up with us (several runs down the line). I remember this happened at least once when we had a PUG along and someone politely explained our guildy had some issues, and the PUG kindly rolled with it. If I remember correctly, I had that PUG in my friends list for years with a note that says "owe a Tor run"...