EQ2-Compendium is a new utility program that was launched for use with the game earlier this year. As it's a new program vieing for your attention, I contacted the guy behind it - Limoj, and asked a few questions to learn more about the software, and what it does.
Grimwell:
When did you get the idea for EQ2-Compendium?
Limoj:
I got the idea in early December 06. My character on Vox (Limoj) had just hit the level cap and I wanted to outfit him. After a few very annoying, frustrating and not very fruitful days of searching the message boards I decided there “had to be a better way.”
From that point on the idea consumed me and much of my time until I had mapped out a basic architecture. With the help of a few people with rather large log files...the idea was born.
Grimwell:
What is the basic goal of your program?
Limoj:
First and foremost EQ2 compendium exists to save people the experience of trolling forums looking for someone to point them in the right direction. It will and has saved people massive amounts of time in getting the equipment their characters need.
This will be ESPECIALLY useful when expansion packs / adventure packs come out because the equipment drops will be automatically populated. So we take your small slice of drop information added with the slices of the other users, and allow you to search vast amounts of items and monsters to tailor the character that fits you!
It also helps you enjoy the game more. I remember a few times camping mobs until the early morning hoping he would drop a certain item for my Monk. This was fruitless because after studying the data, I found that he doesn’t even have the chance to drop the item I was looking for. Personally I don’t enjoy farming the same mob over and over again; I enjoy adventuring and socializing with my friends. So by minimizing the amount of time it took me to locate the items to outfit Limoj the way I wanted to, it allowed me to hang out with my friends more leading me to a more enjoyable game experience.
Grimwell:
What was the biggest challenge in getting this up and off the ground?
Limoj:
The software architecture of the product. There are quite literally over 20 methods of adding data to the collective database, whether it be from my end or yours and endless numbers of ways to view the data!
In business terms EQ2-Compendium would be a year to a year and a half project but with a lot of late nights my first alpha release came just 3 months after the original idea.
My other major challenge was the site “Marketing”. It is very not much of a strong point of mine and I’m sure you can see that at this point. As this grows I will be bringing people in with more expertise to fill areas I am deficient in.
Also the response to this point has been so great that I’ve had trouble keeping up with issue resolution from end users. Gokol from Vox has stepped up and is helping me administer the site.
Grimwell:
How has the response been so far?
Limoj:
Phenomenal! I started out with 100 Alpha / Closed Beta users. These were mostly my guild mates on Mistmoore / Vox; then in February I moved it to Open Beta. I have not advertised outside my signature in the forums to this point and currently have 615 users. So I on average pick up 120 users per month on word of mouth alone which is extremely positive.
Grimwell:
What new features are you working on?
Limoj:
I’m adding a section where you can create your own characters and have EQ2-Compendium suggest equipment based on whether you solo, group, or raid. It will also give you a “mob hit list” of the mobs you should be on the lookout for. Any feedback or suggestions for features I will definitely try to work in, so feel free to post on the forums or email them to us.
Grimwell:
Do you work on this full time? If not, what do you do in your day job?
Limoj:
This is a tough one to answer! I do work on EQ2 Compendium for about 4-6 hours a day after my normal day job…so I consider it a second full time job. I am very passionate about the project and the data it provides so it doesn’t much seem like work to me.
At my day job I direct a team of developers in a publicly traded company in the Fortune 1000. I am responsible for architecting all the companies new software and managing the people that code it (yes I have a blackberry).
I think I love the Compendium project so much because it lets me keep my hands “dirty” and get a feel for the latest and greatest techs instead of just falling into a typical management role at work.
Grimwell:
Tell us about you, the guy behind the program. Where do you live, what do you do, married, pets, cake/pie, etc?
Limoj:
All about me eh…I come from a Suburb of Pittsburgh named Level Green and now live in a suburb of Philadelphia. I’m currently engaged to one lovely and awesome girl named Adrianna. I love playing EQ2 but honestly now I code more than I play. As of this writing I’m 26 years old and as you can imagine terribly handsome.
I'd like to thank Limoj for taking the time to answer my questions, if you have any of your own, please ask them in this thread in the EQII official forums. You can also check out EQ2-Compendium at it's official website.