For as long as I've been attending Fan Faire, there has been the EverQuest Best of the Best, which was held this year on Friday in good ole Las Vegas. Over the course of the day 10 groups of players attempt to individually qualify for the final round by winning one of the 10 preliminaries. Rounds typically take 15-20 minutes to finish and usually require the spawning of Tigers, Lord Nagafen and sometimes even the Avatar of War to help speed things along. This year was no exception, with players doing anything needed to survive certain doom; within the rules of course!

The final round started like the 10 others before it. Players selected their character which consisted of a slew of pre-made level 50's. After everyone logged in, contestants waited for Alan "Brenlo" Crosby, who is always the master of ceremonies at this event, to shout "GO!!", which is essentially code for ‘kill or be killed'!

Alan, who constantly taunts the challengers, does a fantastic job of giving everyone enthusiastic play-by-play announcer style updates throughout the fight. Unfortunately for the players, being taunted over the big speakers for all to hear isn't the only challenge that they face. The battle is waged in a huge Arena that sometimes makes it hard to find someone to kill. Personally this is one of the things I've never liked about the process. Sure, it usually makes it so that the battles are 1v1 duel style; but it also makes it very easy for friends who may have both made it to the finals to gang up on individuals - not much skill in that. Additionally, as much fun as it may be to watch tigers, dragons and giants run after players, the Best of the Best should be a test of skill, not a game of chance; that's just my opinion however.

One of the earlier casualties was Mobmezza of Sol Invictus (Tribunal). I asked him what his favorite part of the competition was and he replied, "Being able to play well. I haven't done PvP in years and this is the first time  I've ever enjoyed it". After a few more deaths and some tasteful trash talking, there were only three still alive; Triangles of Club Fu (Bristlebane), Louie of Louie's Pub (Drinal) and Nizgog of Legion of the Forsaken (Erollisi Marr). It was nice to see the great sportsmanship that the players of this event display. It didn't take long after the champion was crowned for the others to come over to congratulate and joke with the victor. After all, there is more to this competition than fun - the prizes are generally pretty good. This year Sony Online Entertainment had some awesome cash prizes for the winners as well as some other cool stuff.

I pulled the winner, Triangles, aside to ask him what lead to his victory. He said, "Having a buddy - it's all about the team play and ... Spirit of the Wolf!" Alan Crosby ran off to find Felicia Day at this point (I don't blame him, I went to go talk to her myself) so I pulled Lydia "Zatozia" Pope aside to ask her first hand what her favorite part of the process is. She grinned evilly and said "I enjoy spawning the tigers, dragons, etc. to entertain the bloodthirsty crowd watching the event!" - Zatozia really is a ‘Torturess' after all! Congratulations winners - see you next year!

Winners from left to right : Triangles of Club Fu (Bristlebane), Louie of Louie's Pub (Drinal) and Nizgog of Legion of the Forsaken (Erollisi Marr)

Andrew "Tamat" Beegle
Editor-in-Chief
Allakhazam.com