February 7, 2002: Approximately 2 years ago I started working on a Trueshot bow with my ranger. I fletched until I gave myself carpal tunnel syndrome to get my fletching skill up. I camped for hours in Steamfont to get microservos. I failed making the bow quite a few times between skill levels of 75 and 120 or so. This was long ago enough that no one really knew what skill level you were supposed to be in order to make the bow. Not too long after this I quit the game for a good long while.

Eventually I came back and transferred my rogue and ranger to my friends' server. This was because I didn't much feel like raising my faction across the world again with a rogue or fletching my way to hell again. Before I moved I sold the gear on my characters and spent the money raising my trade skills up a bit more. I ended up at about 150 fletching skill.

On my new home, Rodcet Nife, I set about getting my Trueshot bow with my new skill in fletching. I did the quests, got a wad of dwarven wire, and killed many rogue clockworks in Steamfont. I then proceeded to fail making the bow over and over again. I ran out of wire. I did the Tumpy tonic quest yet again. I killed many more clockworks. I damn near went nuts. I failed making the bow another 5 times or so. Then, down to my last microservo, I succeeded making the bow. It was almost a religious experience. Well, depends on the religion I guess. Holy ****, I can't believe I wasted that much time and effort to get this bow. However, it is pretty sweet for a level 18 ranger to use. Heck, it has a better ratio than most old world 2 handed weapons.

The real question is why did I spend so much effort on this. At first I worked on it because it was THE ranger quest way back when. After I restarted I figured it would be cake to do, and I'd end up with a nice weapon out of the deal. Eventually it became an exercise in teaching myself patience. Luckily my memory is bad enough that I've somewhat forgotten just how hellish the whole experience was. Now I just enjoy the reward from my labor. It's nice being able to solo yellows while in full banded armor. That's a far cry from what my old rogue could do at 18th in banded.

Speaking of the rogue I've managed to level my way up to 32. I'm willing to bet I have one of the lowest level primaries created in March 99 in the entire game. Of course there's lots of soloing there along with actual questing (hard to believe, questing in Everquest.) Not to mention that I'm only at like 24 days played. I think I was at 22 days played back in level 22 or so. Leveling is easy if you put your mind to it and group. It just isn't that much fun usually. I'd rather waste my time wandering, questing, or working on getting into places where I shouldn't be. Anyway, I'm currently working on my Burning Rapier. I think I have half of the drinks so far. Some were way easy such as Kaladim and Felwithe due to my many hours of faction work. Others are going to suck like Mistmoore where I am now. Last night I was one of two people in the zone. Hopefully I can get some assistance in there tonight.