#Blaugust Day 22 -- My Top Memorable Locations in #EQ

Everquest, Everquest, Everquest . . . where to even begin with Everquest? It was my first MMO. I remember walking past the Boxed version of the original game, thinking "YES!" . . . then looking at the monthly subscription rate and thinking, "NO!" (All these years later, and now it's free to play! Imagine that!)

I've dipped my toes back in the world before for the progression server, but it hasn't been my main game since many of the kids who read my blog were born. I was playing this on dialup. My extended family would get mad at me that my phone was always busy. Zoning from one area to the next took ten minutes!

Ben Conrad, who used to work at KingsIsle, left us for a time to work for Everquest (he's jumped to a different game company now), and he helped put together this (you can see him at the 32 second mark)

Instead of a first 10, Everquest deserves a first 50, but I don't have time for a first 50, so here it is . . . these are the first 10 zones that I thought about when I sat down all these years later, and just thought about them.

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- Befallen!  More than just a hole in the wall . . .

I do believe Befallen is a perfect dungeon. Traps, keyed doors, necromancers, shadowknights, false floors . . . dead dwarves on hooks . . .

Befallen is legendary! I don't know many people who played Everquest and haven't stepped foot inside here. So popular it's even been translated to a pen and paper RPG, and even my buddy, Tipa, recreated this dungeon in Neverwinter!

Just look at those skeletal excavators digging new tunnels! (you'd think by now they'd have made a new wing)

I have a pretty great story myself about getting a temporary horse bridle through a quest here one night with an old friend (who I haven't talked to in years) . . . but that's another story for another time. (If you're reading this somehow years later, I miss you Makalani!!)

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- Plane of Fire (Doomfire, the Burning Lands)



Uh, yup, I think I've said enough. ;)

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- Plane of Disease bone wall. And the entrance to the land of creepy giant hair follicles is done by jumping into a sewer pipe . . . ALRIGHT!

This used to be the spot where groups would sit and soak in the glorious experience all night long. Pulls were easy. Experience was decent. and the scenery was GORGEOUS.

Well . . . it was the plane of disease . . . rats, goos, giant centipedes, mosquitoes, decrepit pus filled magicians, and did I mention giant hair follicles?

There were a couple times I journeyed even deeper into the castle in the Plane of Disease where a raid group would take down the ever-so-good-looking, Grummus. Good times. I remember it fondly.

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- Crypt of Nadox

There's a big part of me that just loves to solo in these big social MMO games. I don't know what it is . . . maybe it's just that my schedule just usually doesn't line up with my friends' schedules.  Anyway, this particular spot at the entrance of Nadox was where I had my Cleric parked for a long time.

Sometimes I'd just log her on and down these three fire elementals near the front and log back off.  It was a 10 minute or so endeavor that could result in some good loot and decent experience. I don't think I could ever forget this spot.

It also was a stop off right before Hate's Fury. The coolest pirate ship around!

There was some pet-procc'ing weapon I wanted from here that I never got. There's a sense of "Grrrrr" when I think about this place and not getting that weapon.

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- Felwithe. Starting area of the majestic high-elves!

Felwithe has the honor of being the center-piece of the sole fan fiction I penned about Everquest. It's super cheesy . . . I'm not going to link you to it.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time here with my high-elf cleric as her starting town, and I spent a lot of time here with my beastlord farming the guards for money.  Good times!  Finding the false wall that allowed you to go up on to the walkway above the town is definitely a highlight for me!

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- Karnor's Castle Wall in the Dreadlands.  SO MANY PEOPLE! JUST PACKED WITH COMPUTER NERDS!

Well it used to be at least.

Yup, it's not much to look at no matter which direction you're facing, but this used to be PACKED with groups believe it or not.  The Dreadlands was a haven for exp groups, and if your puller somehow overwhelmed the group with too many mobs, the zone to Karnor's Castle was just right around the corner. TRAIN TO KC!

I loved these drachids btw . . . (they used to be a lot uglier btw -- this is the improved model)

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- Butcherblock Mountains -- the chessboard.

Butcherblock is a big zone mostly known to be the starting area for Dwarves, like this fine lady

Gotta love the beard on her.

Most of my cleric's young life was spent hanging out at the Chessboard! If you killed enough skeletal pawns, eventually higher-ranked boss skeletons would appear . . . even an UNDEAD KING!

I wish I could remember the name of the Dwarf I used to hang out here with . . . I liked that dude . . . come to think of it, I like most people that played dwarves.

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- Golra Island in Timorous Deep

If it sounds like an esoteric memory, it is.  I highly doubt many EQ players made it out to this remote island in Everquest. Maybe a few tradeskiller people who were looking for chunks of ice to craft rootbeer floats, but not many others.

These Golras look hilarious when they're chasing you.

Stingite spent a lot of time hunting these down for fun. It was a super quiet spot for soloing . . . but let's be honest . . . dying out here and getting your corpse back would be a pain in the keester . . . and that's probably why it was so unpopular. I can't remember if that ever happened to me. If it did, I'm sure I was ranting about it for days.

I guess Golra island is kind of like the antarctic of Everquest . . . remote, vacant, and hard to convince a cleric to come res you there.

BONUS SCREENSHOT FROM TIMOROUS DEEP!!! PARROT PEOPLE!!!

. . . that's all.

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- Tenebrous Mountains, on the way to Katta Castellum.

So, there was a big +20 wisdom shield that I got for my Cleric back in the day--the Shield of Bane Warding, in fact. I had to spend a long time in this particular zone hunting down Vah Shir skeletons for the quest.

It's kind of a cool zone . . . up on Luclin, the moon of Everquest! Here's a view from in front of a vampire tower looking down on Norrath.

The nearby town of Katta Castellum was a pretty great place too. I used to take a rag tag group of friends there to hunt down Lcea Katta, who was a raid boss that held a piece you needed to get into another raid dungeon (A scary place called Vex Thal -- which strangely didn't make it on to my top ten)

Too many memories on Luclin.

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And finally (speaking of Luclin) . . . The Ssraeshza Temple in the Grey.

Ahh, the Grey. It's a very barren zone that is devoid of oxygen. You had to have some kind of water-breathing device attached to survive here for too long; although you could usually sprint and make it across to the Ssraeshaza Temple in the middle.

Once inside it was full of SNEEPLE! (Snake people reference for the Crystal Gem fans out there.)

This was mainly a raid zone, and I spent several nights here with my guild killing a metric ton of Sneeple. It was pretty much the last zone you needed to visit before you went to Vex Thal. Later on it became a fun soloing zone for Stingite. I had fun destroying the entire thing the other night.

Those sneeple didn't stand a chance!

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Whew . . . that was exhausting to write and take screenshots for, but I hope not too exhausting to read. If you know the zones, you'll relate and probably have tons of stories of your own. If you don't know the zones, you'll probably be reading mostly gibberish there. You know it's a good game if it sounds like mostly gibberish when people are talking about it. :)

Again, logging in and wandering around made me think of a ton of other zones that were amazing. It's pretty easy to see most of my memories center around the first few expansions of Everquest . . . Strange that I didn't think about any of the Omens of War, Depths of Darkhallow, Gates of Discord, or (insert the name of any of the past 20 expansions I missed).

I did have the thought that it would be very very strange to have this be your main game now and be in a raid guild . . . how weird would that be? I wonder what end content is like now?

Happy Dueling!

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This post is part of the Blaugust challenge -- Thanks to Belghast from Tales of the Aggronaut for hosting. 

#Blaugust Day 21 -- How Charming: why there's no memorable locations post today

YO! So, I had full intentions of posting another "Memorable Locations" post today for Everquest, but instead I have a funny story that I just have to share.

These Memorable Locations posts are really time consuming and have taken much more effort and time to put together than my other posts.

1. My thought was that if at all possible, I wanted to grab a recent screenshot from within the game, and this requires logging in and re-orienting yourself to the controls of the game.
2. I'd like to avoid wiki use as much as possible, right? Of course I would! Taking a trip down memory lane is more fun without a map.
3. It's Blaugust! That means I need to get a post out every day! Normally I'd take a while longer with a project like this or not feel bad if I missed a day.

So my next Memory Lane post was to be Everquest. It's a huge world--HUGE! Navigating that is a pain, even with the wonderful port stones and shortcuts hidden around the world (remembering where to go for said shortcuts is also an interesting endeavor)

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On my list of first-thought-of locations for Everquest was the Plane of Fire. A year or so ago Everquest offered a promotion to instantly upgrade one of your existing characters to level 85 to help get people back into the game and cut down on the leveling time. I had a level 70 something Beastlord (ahhhh, Stingite), and decided to get him the free levels.

When Plane of Fire was released, the top level in the game was upped to 65. So, Stingite the Beastlord is 20 levels higher than the zone and when I took him for a spin in the zone grabbing screenshots, everything melted in front of me.

I was killing spiders and fire elementals and multiple mobs that might have wiped a raid force (or at least caused massive delays) back in the day.

It was a lot of fun to just throw caution to the wind like that. WEE!

I finally came to THEE raid spot I remembered.

On any given night back in 2002-2003, this spot would be covered in players, anxiously awaiting the monks pulling back a boss.  When the boss got there, the main tank would establish agro and positioning. The clerics would begin a "complete heal" chain on the main tank.  When the tank felt he had solid agro, he'd yell out for the 40 other people to jump in and start hammering on this thing . . . it was quite a production, and we loved it.  Now it was just devoid of life. Empty . . . and my playground.

I looked over at the first raid boss, Criare Sunmane . . .

He con'd light blue, which means you wouldn't get much, but you'd still get some experience from defeating this boss. "HA!" I thought. LET'S DO THIS!

I cast a slow debuff on him, and I was instantly pulled toward him where I got a couple swings in and actually took his life down fairly quickly, but then this charming firebird charmed me! Now, I'm maxxed out with 700 magic resist . . . apparently that doesn't matter, because, HAHA, I was stuck!  I was the puppet of this firebird, who would charm me every two minutes and not let me go. He wasn't damaging me.  He just held on to me in his talons and kept charming me.

I tried taking a few swings in between charms . . . too much regen on the boss.

I tried clicking the X in the top right hand corner of the game to shut it down. THE GAME WOULDN'T LET ME!!! LOL!! I literally had no control, and it wouldn't even let me shut down the game. So instead I pressed Control+Alt+Delete and shut it down the hard way.

I came back a few hours later, and yup . . . I was still in the clutches of the bird. I was terribly afraid I was going to have to use "/petition" and get a GMs help to get me unstuck. Oh man, embarrassing!  I wonder how many old noobs they have to save like this?

I wasn't quite ready to give up, so I'd wait the two minutes while charmed, and then use that one second window between charms to mash a few buttons to see if it'd buy me any time.  To my surprise, I found that I was able to run away for a few seconds when I hit my "Foray" ability. INTERESTING!!  I figure it must have a slight stun component to the ability.

I wait another two minutes, hit the foray skill, and just started booking it over the sea of lava. I WAS OUT OF HIS CLUTCHES! FREEDOM!!!! In fact, I made it all the way across the sea of fire and up on the mountain side. 

I instantly hit my Origin gate button, which is a skill the ports you back to your home instance where you first opened your eyes in the game. For Stingite, that's Cabalis. I couldn't wait to see my scaly old Beastlord trainer! YES! GET ME OUT OF HERE!

Nope.  As the countdown for Origin was running, guess who was flapping right toward me?  . . . and I was charmed again, right before Origin fired. NOOOOO!!! I was so close!!! He began dragging me back to the original spot, and I was following him. Before I knew it, I was right back in the same spot, and still held in his clutches.

It didn't stop me though, every two minutes I hit my Foray skill and would see how far away I could run . . . It was like he learned from my previous trick, and it just wasn't working like it did that one time. 

Then one time I got pretty far out over the sea of lava, he charmed me, and suddenly I was stuck on some geometry! I decided to kill my game again with Control+Alt+Delete. I was still very close to the Boss. Probably close enough that he might charm me again, but I thought if I even had a second before I agro'd him, I could hit an Invisibility potion (yup, I was smart all those years ago, and had a supply of those ready to go in my potion belt), and maybe it'd save me.

I logged back in. Hit the potion, and  . . . It worked! I was invisible. I was free. YESSSSSS!!! I ran back away from the area to a safe spot, kissed my invisibility potion and clicked the origin button. 

Whew.

. . . and that's why Everquest is a great game, and that's why you don't have a memorable locations post about Everquest today. I was too busy building a new memory while seeking old ones.

:)

Happy Dueling!

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This post is part of the Blaugust challenge -- Thanks to Belghast from Tales of the Aggronaut for hosting. 

#Blaugust Day 20 -- My Top Memorable Locations in #DDO

Yesterday I was talking memories from DCUO, but today I'm talking memories from DDO! It's a lot of D's and O's, but much much different . . . Dungeons and Dragons Online.  EPIC!  It's been a long time since I put my little halfling feet into the world of Eberron, So long, in fact, that it took me a good while to patch this game up into a playable state, but it was still safely sitting on my computer just waiting for a time when lightning would strike.

Like that! (That's coming from me, not toward me FYI)

DDO used to be my Sunday Night group's game before DCUO . . . about 3 years ago. Unlike DCUO, I actually did write a nice-sized compendium of my adventures there.

Anyway, three years is a long time, friends! In fact, I was playing DDO before I got my job working for KingsIsle, so let's tax my inner cortex, shake off the cobwebs from the DDO portion of my brain, and see what falls out.  Shall we? Onward to the memories!

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- Staging spot for the Kobol excavation missions in Cannith.

Before the world of DDO went delving into the Forgotten Realms, one of my last memories of really playing this game was when I was hitting the Cannith Challenge Missions over and over for experience, loot, and challenge. They were grindy little instances that were short enough you could complete a couple on lunch time, and for a sorcerer who liked to solo things, and stay one step ahead of the rest of the group, they were perfect!

Plus there was a giant ghost dragon you could fight if you were super crazy! (I was super crazy)

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- The bridge leading to Remembrance Plaza from Lordsmarch Bank in the Marketplace.

There's nothing particularly neat about this bridge other than its view.  It wasn't like I spent a lot of time hanging out on this bridge just passing the time or anything -- it's just a place that comes to mind for me when I'm thinking about DDO . . . um, did I happen to mention it has a really cool view? Onward!

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- Risia Ice Games Ramp in the Harbor.

I had to go to my old DDO blog for this picture.  The Ice Games is when the normally sunshine-filled Harbor goes all Frozone on you, and there's this big, terrible ice ramp where you can rent a pair of ice skates and fulfill your Olympic dreams. I must have made that jump hundreds of times. Such dreams.

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- Gianthold. Yeah, our little group spent far far too long in Gianthold for me to ever forget it.

I remember kiting around giants through Firewalls for hours, and our group had THEE WORST time with a particular instance called Gianthold Tor. We were getting our butts toasted by three dragons for what seemed like two months. *Shudders* But what a cool way to get your butt toasted! Dragons, Giants, and purple rock textures for miles!

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- The Crazy beholder instance, AKA The Reign of Madness. Um, so the only picture I have of this currently is one from my old blog where I must have been in a kind of a strange mood and photo shopped Barbara Streisand into all of the pictures. You can read the blog post here. *scratches head*

If you love beholders in D&D, you'll love this instance . . . and I happen to be one of those that think Beholders are pretty freaking amazing. How could I ever forget being transported into the belly of one.

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- The Waterworks . . . Yup, it's the kobold sewer instance way back at the beginning of the game.

From the first time you wander into the instance and hear the dungeon master say, "The strong smell of sewage permeates the air around you," you know it's going to be a good time.  And by good time, I'm talking about traps, kobolds, and miles and miles of dreary sewer.

In fact, the very location I'm standing in is a recreation of the very first screenshot I ever saw of the game.  My buddy Tony had jumped into DDO when it was new and sent me a screenshot to show me what it looked like . . . I'm standing in that same spot. Good times. I'm glad he shared it with me.

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- Smuggler's Rest . . . the Pirate event. This picture actually comes from the Press Release about the Smuggler's Rest unveiling for the fifth anniversary of DDO.

I ran around a lot in this instance in search of a really awful banana-yellow pirate hat that I wore proudly for several month's afterward . . . what was I thinking?

- Bogwater Tavern

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany . . . Actually it seems like one of the nicer pubs! It's open air with plenty of nice NPCs around and even a small amphitheater.  Hmm, maybe it was just the bouncer that made me always think this place was sleezy. For some reason it's always stuck in my mind.

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- The Eveningstar -- Wait, are you sure this isn't LOTRO?

Well, it could be LOTRO! It's made by the same company after all, right? I still have content here that I've never seen, and I think that's why it's in my head today. I wanted to explore this area . . . I really did, but my group of friends was ready to move on, and I wasn't in the mood to stick it out alone. My character is still level 20, and this world made the levels in DDO go up to 25.  Maybe someday I'll get to fully check it out . . . it'd be nice. (Too many games, too little time)

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- The Den of Obscurity.

What I remember about this instance was that it was like running a maze in the dark, and it was the definition of insanity. I pull the picture above from my blog post about it. This instance kind of lives on in my nightmares. I think if I ended up in Hell . . . it'd be running this dungeon over and over for all eternity.

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- The Cerulean Hills -- It's that open area off to the side of town. Remember that spot? I do!

Well I decided to stop in last night and revisit this place that was haunting my memories. Sure enough, it was still the same ol' Cerulean Hills that I remembered. Bugbears and Orcs a plenty jumping out of you from behind bushes and around unseen corners! The giant walls of Stormreach in the background like a big comfortable line of security. It's pretty too! I can see why it stuck in my mind for so long.

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. . . and that's my "first" ten memorable locations of DDO. I wrote them all down before entering the game again, and the same thing happened to me like it did when I explored DCUO the other night . . . a flood of memories and places came back to me. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF LOLTH AND THE SPIDER WEB BRIDGES?! Why didn't I think of this bridge, or this rock, or this mailbox? Why didn't I think of the Butcher's Path?  . . . All good questions! It's just what came to mind first. :)

I'm happy I logged into DDO and took another look around. What a great game and what a lot of good memories! 

Happy Dueling

~~

This post is part of the Blaugust challenge -- Thanks to Belghast from Tales of the Aggronaut for hosting. 

#Blaugust Day 19 -- My Top Memorable Locations in #DCUO

I had a thought the other day (yes, I know this is dangerous). If I just stop and think about certain games in my past that I played a lot of, there are certain areas that seem to come mind faster than others. I'm not exactly sure why. It could be that I spent a lot of time in that one location or perhaps I have a strong emotional memory of that spot, or maybe it's just really hard to forget. I'm pretty sure my top memorable locations are not going to be the same as yours, but I'm going to log into these games as I think about them during the last half of Blaugust and revisit the sites (if I can) or search my screenshot folders to see if I have a picture of that location.

The first game I'd like to do this with is DC Universe Online. This was a game I played a lot of last year. A lot of my old writings and thoughts about the game (which, I didn't write a lot about) can be found here.

And now . . . the list.

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1. Defusing those stupid amazon bombs in Gotham under Siege. Unfortunately I don't have a particular picture of this area, but I do have a vine of me freeing an Amazon in the same location (which looks more like I'm helping her braid her hair)

I hated this quest with a passion. there's nothing more mind numbing than clicking on an object and bringing it back to a basket . . . and why this one particular location in Gotham Under Seige was so FULL of landmines.  That's MMOs for you though. *shrug*

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2- The Hive Base, aka the area in front of the Metropolis Metrodome, which you visited during A Black Dawn, a Tier 4, 8-player Alert. Again, really strange that this location sticks out to me in my mind, but it does.

 When I was going back through my screenshot archives, I found that I was particularly fond of taking screenshots of my achievements. Maybe that's why this area sticks out to me . . . I had to spend an evening there destroying these buzz bomb guys to get a feat, which I felt pretty awesome about at the time because soloing them at the CR I was at was pretty difficult. It made me feel epic. (I went back there last night, and apparently they one-shot now at CR 110+.

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3- ACE Chemicals in Gotham. It's a fun little stop off on your way to Arkham Asylum!

This was another area I spent a lot of time flying around thanks to a daily quest that happened in this location and the need to finish them all for an achievement. It was covered in mutated clowns and a couple cool instances were found here as well. Maybe this one was in my head for sheer cool and creepy factor.

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4- The Park in Gotham -- AKA The Forum of the 12 Ceasers.

I know exactly why this one is in my head.  I spent FAR too long circling here trying to collect exobytes. Many players knew it as the best spot around and there was an easy path to follow to get those precious little glowy bits.

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5- The Batcave, and particularly being tossed around by the Batmobile robot.  Sadly I didn't have any pictures of this instance, but the DC Universe Online Wikia page did (Thank you DC Universe Online Wikia for the use of this picture).

It was perhaps the most confounding encounter in all of DCUO. It was not unusual to find yourself stuck in a remote corner of the room or just at very strange angles because you would get tossed around and knocked back like you were a potato bug in a jar with a very shake-y 5-year old.

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6- PvP by the bank in the JLA Watchtower.

This is perhaps locked in my brain because it was just fun and I *cough* ruled over the other members of Team Spode in PvP. They pretty much hated me every time I'd throw that invite to a friendly PvP match. Stingheal! Why you gotta be so rude?

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7- Gotham Courthouse Instance.

Although the picture I have here is the regular PvE version of the courthouse. In my mind I remember running this a ton when the Legends PvE version of this instance came out -- you could play as stock heroes and villains instead of your own character . . . again, for achievements and marks.

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8- The Minotaur near the Metro station building, which was conveniently located next to my home "the Mojo Dojo"

I've killed The Minotaur countless times . . . because he was right there by my house.  At first I felt epic when I could solo him.  Last night when I took him on he just melted in two hits . . . I felt bad for him.

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9- The Shady Nightclub Duo.

SADLY . . . I don't have any pictures of this duo, which is super strange! I logged on both of my DCUO accounts and discovered that neither of them had actually purchased this episode? What?! Gotta love it when your yearly subscription runs out and you hit that pay gate . . . not. I must have run this particular duo with my partner in crime, "Clever Clara," about 100 times.  Why I never thought to take a screenshot is beyond me.  It's a great instance just packed with super-villains!

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10 - Last but not least . . . The Vault, which is accessed from the On Duty menu and shares a bit of the same environment as the Joker's Funhouse Tier 1 single player instance.

Yup . . . I'm blaming this memory location on sheer repetitiveness. It's one room with a whole lot of presents that you crash through daily. Not much more to say about it.

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So there's my ten.  I don't know if I'd even call them my "Top" ten, but the "First" ten that came to mind, which is strange going back through all of my screenshots.  There's a lot of other amazing environments like the Gotham Wastelands, Superman's Base, the Brainiac Bottles, Holiday event locations, Races, and just too many other good locations. It's a bit strange these were the first that came to my mind? *shrug*

If you've played DCUO and you have some locations you'd like to give a shout out to in the comments, please do!  I'd love to hear about 'em.

Happy Dueling!

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This post is part of the Blaugust challenge -- Thanks to Belghast from Tales of the Aggronaut for hosting.