Yes, I’m still playing EQ2 along with Warhammer at the same time.  Both satisfy something I enjoy.

Grimwell posted something similar to what I’m going to say here, but I’m just going to rant about a specific bit - cherry picking harvesters!  Stupid idiots obviously do not grasp how node spawning works and think that just taking what you need is A-OK!

Let me explain - there is currently a repeatable quest you can do to help “build” the guild halls that are going to be added to the game soon.  It’s an awesome quickie quest that nets status points, a neat certificate (after 10 quests), a house item (after 20) and a title (after 30) for those taking part.  It’s a world event that anyone can take part in and you can grab the harvesting quests based on your level.  I’ve gotten my title on Darema but felt like getting one for SoulRider as well.  Since she’s all of level 20 and has never even been to Nektulos, I figured I’d grab harvests out in the Commonlands.  That’s the easiest way since the quests are on the CL docks after all.

Four quests - ores, metals, wood and roots.  Animal traps and bushes (both food related, more or less) aren’t needed, so what do you think I can find when I head up the path to start gathering?  Tons of animal dens and bushes all over the place.  Why is that?  Because someone gathering wood just runs around and grabs only the wood nodes and nothing else, meaning that when another person goes to gather wood, those picked nodes only had a 1-in-6 chance of respawning as wood.  It’s got to be one of the most annoying things I’ve ever had to deal with.

And before you say “it’s just for some silly quest” I’ll admit that’s true… except it happens all the time normally as well.  You get teh dedicated harvesters who go through a zone or area and completely pick it clean and then you get the people who are looking for one particular resource (usually one that is in chronic short supply) and then grab those, leaving everything else alone and skewing the respawn rates for everyone else behind them.  It’s just so rude.

Besides, I’ve made some damn good coin off selling anything I can’t use, including lower level rares and general foodstuffs.  Sure most if it only sells for a copper each, but sell enough and it all adds up eventually.  With the broker system that EQ2 has (OMG!  I love this system so much more than auction houses!) it’s not like it’s time consuming to drop items into sales crate, double check pricing, set price, finished!  No more maintenance from then on out.

Oh well, it’s not a difficult concept to understand and it’s not like explaining why cherry picking is bad is going to work with any of the prime offenders.  But sometimes you just need to vent a bit.