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That first mmo thrill - where'd it go?
ralliiart
Member Posts: 18
I'm sure that like a lot of people trolling these boards, I got started playing MMOs on Everquest around 1999. Before that it was whatever RPGs I could get my hands on...
Shortly after starting EQ, I joined the military, (which limited my playtime obvisously) but I eventually reached the 'end game' around 2002-2003 when Luclin & Planes of Power were new. When I first played EQ, I spent a few 48 hour periods just playing non stop - I couldn't get enough. From about 2003 to 2005 I spent all my EQ time raiding -- I was never really interested in PvP. I'm pretty sure my first raid was in the Temple of Veeshan, or some other high end Velious zone. Any ways, I spent those couple years having all kinds of fun raiding and eventually leading raids, until I stopped playing around late 2005, since it was just taking away too much time and starting to interfere in other things. I also sold my main characters just to make sure I stayed away.
I'd say I've had a pretty 'exciting' real-life thus far, but I can't remember feeling more excitement than when our guild finally defeated the Rathe Council and Coirnav (PoP Bosses) and we became a Plane of Time guild -- lame as it sounds, but true. We had spents weeks and months practicing and planning various strategies, and they finally paid off on those eventual successful runs.
Needless to say, since I quit EQ, I have taken it up again a couple times, but it's just no longer the same. Obviously, it's not the same because I have had to build up a new character from scratch, and my old guild no longer exists. And of course I have no desire to buy $100 worth of expansions to catch up. That's not a rip on EQ - I'm just saying.
I've tried just about every mmorpg I could, whether it was a US-released retail box, a lame korean-game download, or whatever else I could find. Nothing has even been as much fun as EQ was for me the first time - not even close.
We all have our theories about why it's just not the same, but there's one thing that people seem to overlook in situations like this.... It was nearly 8 years ago -- I was 18 or 19 at the time -- and it was the first mmo I had ever played. I don't have the same mindset as I did back then, and I would expect that I don't enjoy the same things as I did that long ago.
Aside from that, just the fact that I am looking for that first EQ experience guarantees I won't find it again. The MMO community as a whole has changed and evolved. I'm not a hardcore RP-er, but I did appreciate the fact that when EQ was new, RP-ing was much more common. I remember some dark elf and an ogre wouldn't group with me because I was a dwarf. I'm not not trying point out the the RP-ing aspect of it, but rather the community mindset. There weren't all sorts of expectations and pre-made ideas of what we were looking for, and the community was still that group of nerd / rpg-ers. Now everyone is an expert, everyone knows best, everyone is trying to one-up everyone else, and the community of the past is nowhere to be found.
After trying just about every game available, I play WoW occaisionally now and then, when I'm bored enough -- although I can't manage to get any character above Lv 45, and I can't stay interested for longer than a single instance run on any given day of playing. I also play EQ2 from time to time, although the previous statement applies to that just the same as WoW.
I'll most likely create yet another EQ character and play it for a while, eventually.
I don't think that 'waiting for the next big game' is worthwhile, even though I continue to do so. I doubt I'll ever find that next big game, no matter what comes out, because I'm just looking for that first EQ experience again.
Comments
I haven't experienced something like that again, but I think it was just that fact that it was my first real MMORPG. Before that there was PSO, but that doesn't count. AC2 had a WORLD, the first MMO world I had seen and I think that added alot to the excitment of foolishly running cross country.
They came from the sea and they came from the sky, Captain America is going to die!
To me there is no longer a sense of discover. I remember with early ultima online the stats on weapons and even some types of armor were for the most part hidden from the user. If you found a piece of magical equipment you had to experiment and learn for yourself if it was better then your other armor and weapons rather then breaking out the calculator. I really don't think that will ever come back, but that was just one of the elements that made it seem like a world rather then a game.
Likewise there isn't that sense of self discovery, with raids for example you must going into the raid knowing the stats of every boss, their weaknesses, and the layout of the entire area, if you don't you aren't going to get invited back. Or how many times do you enter a massive instance in a game like WoW only to have 3-5 people in your group knowing what things they want to kill in what order for what items. I honestly wish they would bring back more random drops into MMORPGs where you kill things for the acomplishment, not because you know they have a .04% chance to drop uber set shield tier 2
Mmorpgs have become work...
Have played:
UO, WOW, COH/V, EQ2
Currently playing:
Age of Conan (EU)
They came from the sea and they came from the sky, Captain America is going to die!