Cloak of Darkness

Usually on a launch day of a MMO -- and I've done enough of these to know -- it's a lot of mass chaos as people run around trying to accomplish everything and mostly looking out for themselves. It's what I expected yesterday, so I hunkered down to get Syp through the intro zone content.

Then, toward the end of the evening, one of our guildies named Doxie called us into action. She was going to go somewhere to get something and we were all invited. Confused and insecure about leaving the safe confines of my precious tier 1 zone, I nevertheless realized that this was our first guild event in-game, spontaneously organized, but an event still the same. So I, Moxie and about 15 other guildies created a warband in Nordland for a trek into the heart of darkness.

The goal was this: there was a named mob deep into the Destruction side of Ostland (tier 2, I believe) that, if killed, would grant its owner a magical cloak. Well, not magical, per se, but really neat looking. And as a freshly-minted level 4 dwarf, I can't turn down a good fashion accessory.

With our crazed Runepriest leading the way ("Don't turn there! That's certain death! Don't touch that pole -- it's certain death! Don't get flagged for RvR, it's certain pie! After pie, however, DEATH! etc."), we trolloped along like a ragtag caravan of refugees looking for a hippie commune that would take such a motley assortment in. Our group even included two nudists, an elf and a highly disturbing dwarf male wearing the skimpiest briefs that the game engine could render. Often, we would avert our camera just to retain sanity:



It was a long trek, hampered by lowbies getting unwanted aggro, people leaving the tour to sample Willy Wonka's chocolate goodies, and a long sludge through a river that was shaped, as a guildie helpfully supplied, "all penis-like".

Finally we found the mob: a dryad named Sheen Gloomleaf. Because each of the three groups needed to be in on the kill to get the Tome unlock, Sheen had to die three times, often with a very bewildered expression. "Hey guys! I'm back from the dea-URKKK!" Yet as promised, once killed, we were rewarded with a special Tome unlock that promised our coveted cloaks.

Then it was off through a RvR zone (nobody attacked us, probably in fear of contracting some unsavory disease) and to a flight master, to Altdorf and the library. In it, we found a librarian who gave us the cloak for free -- since we had that certain Tome unlock. It was a really neat way for Mythic to create a collection-style system that will probably keep players hunting through all sorts of zones for those item unlocks that offer unique gear to set you apart from the crowd.

Here's the cloak on me:



And then we gathered as a group to celebrate our very first guild event, taking pictures from the front AND back:





Awesome. Easily the best launch day I've ever had.