And the Winner Is?

What makes someone, who plays on any server but my own and does not participate in the high end raid scene of Everquest 2 think that they have any idea what that scene actually looks like?

Honestly, everyday on some message board there is new person who hasn't even gotten to level 70 telling one of the high end guilds how much they suck or how bad some other high end guild on some other server owns them. Why do these people think they even have a clue or for that matter, that their opinions are worth more than the garbage on the side of the street?

The latest in this uninformed, ignorant babble, and what prompted this post can be found here: http://eq2.ogaming.com/data/4160~NPUinterview.php

This is Ogaming's very own Tamat doing a fully biased, flattering, and ass-kissing interview of an NPU member. Who the fuck is Tamat? Does anyone know? I heard that he was a member of the guild Drow over on the Unrest server.

You may be thinking to yourself, why does the name Drow sound familiar? Oh that's right, that's the guild most of the devs and their cronies (Curt Schilling) play in! If this rumor is true, that would certantly explain the infatuation with NPU, SOE's little love child.

Anyone in one of the upper echelon guilds knows that there is no guild that is heads above the rest. There are 5 guilds or so that are all of comparable skill and talent that routinely are among the first around to kill any and everything relating to the high end raid game. Anyone who says otherwise is full of shit. Of course each individual member is going to say, well I think is better than but they know that they are pretty much on the same general level. At any moment that competition could get the next world first or whatever (less so in the case of guilds that get to beta test over everyone else). So, if the players who are actually out there and experiencing this content know this, surely some random fuck who has no part in the game would pick up on it right? Oh no, I bring to you the dumbest fucking interview question eq2 has ever seen:


"Tamat - Ne Plus Ultra has arguably dominated most of the Kingdom of Sky expansion. What do you think helped put NPU above the rest in this expansion?"


Wait, what the fuck did he just say? I think I know quite a few guilds that may take offense to that statement, and for good reason. Did he miss out on the fact that NPU beta tested more of KoS than any other guild? Or how about that they in no way, shape, or form dominated the expansion on a world wide scale at all. I think Snarks of Eternal Chaos said it best:


"Gorenaire-NPU
mutagenic-npu
Talendor - disso
harla dar - vagabonds
MoA - arirang
princes - disso
hurricanus-ec
claymore/tarinax-disso

seems like more of a spattering of guilds, and noone seems to be able to lay claim to 'most' of kos"


Just for completion's sake, lets add Vyemm to NPU and deathtoll access to Dissolution. I would also like to add Cruor to that list since he was another notch on the belt, and I believe the rights to that one go to Second Dawn (correct me if I am wrong, it might have been EC). I still fail to see how NPU dominated the expansion. Of those now 10 or 11 benchmarks of the raid game, I count only three to NPU. 30% = dominated? You know what a 30% winning percentage gets you in sports? Fired.

I wonder if Tamat took the time to even ask ANYONE in the high end raid game about what really has transpired before he made such an ignorant remark. His idea of a "Born to Raid" series of interviews had a chance to be informative and entertaining, and possibly even a useful tool for the developers to see what the major raid guilds are thinking about their game. Instead, with the very first inclusion of the series, Tamat has turned it into a joke. I have learned that next he plans on interviewing Vagabonds, followed by Eternal Chaos, and then more guilds to follow although I do not know any specifics of that.

In his own words, Tamat says, "I'm interviewing the best of the best." Take that how you will guilds on his interview list. It is quite clear he considers NPU to be in a league of their own, not sure what he feels about the rest of you. I know I would have a hard time fielding his questions when in the back of my mind I know he is thinking NPU owns you.

My opinion on the guy? He's a misinformed dumbass who has a real future working for a tabloid since obviously facts matter very little to him and he has lost all journalistic integrity already.