Eh... Well, it might be worth downloading the trial to see if you like it. Honestly, though, EQ1 is only worth jumping in now if you have friends you are bringing with you or friends already there. Otherwise, you might be happier with EQ2 or any other, newer game. If you do like it, it is a steal at $20 for the whole game with all expansions. (Trust me on that. I bought the expansions as they were released, and it cost me a little more than that. )
I love EQ1. It's all I can do to keep myself from subscribing right this moment. But I have several level 60+ characters to start out on, so it is a whole different animal for me. YMMV.
... This is where I draw the line: __________________.
EQ though I love the game does require a great degree of patience as well as a significant investment of time.
The lower levels are going to be rough there just is no way around that. Not enough new players joining up to support any sort of vibrant population at those levels and certainly isn't helped by the fact that Sony gives the game no publicity.
That being said there are a number of changes that have been made to the game to make it easier on new players. The tutorial helps you though a lot fo the basic mechanics of gameplay the new ooc regen system significantly reduces down time between fights and the general chat channels aids a lot in forming up groups. There is the LFG tool and what is still a large generally helpful population.
I would suggest trying Bristlebane and hook up with a guild called "the kicking snakes" assuming they are still at it they are a guild of new and returning players who are working together to get through the rough days and up to where the bulk of the population is.
In the end though the biggest criteria to whether or not the game would be worth it too you is how much time you can devote to it. If you can't realistically commit 3-4 hours at a time you really won't be able to accomplish much. Now that sounds like a lot of time but most people spend more time than that watching TV every night and EQ is more entertaining that most of that garbage even if your just chatting in the general channels.
So if you have the time and you are some level of patience give it a shot.
Definitely download the free trial "Escape to Norrath". It has all the races & classes minus the Drakkin race. i've recently posted regarding that issue under another Hogcaller Inn thread. You can level to (10) if i remember correctly & it is/was entertaining & pretty well done. i haven't experienced it though for a couple of years so it too might be degrading like some/most of EQ seems to be. Nonetheless it is/was a very nice introduction into EQ & even though it's a SOE marketing ploy it's still a nice offer to potential players. If you do join EQ, think long & hard about it though since it's such an aged game, definitely use the Anniversary Edition as Neschria mentioned. i'm not sure if downloaded purchases include the in-game token gifts like retail does so you may want to purchase the retail. i've been heavily considering rejoining too, but i probably wont since i cannot get a good concrete reference that SOE has allowed EQ to become more casual player friendly. So perhaps as someone mentioned EQ2 might be a good game to play. i hope by now SOE has worked-out a lot of the glitches & made it a more moderate computer system friendly since the EQ2 launch. Hopefully there is an EQ2 free trial download to figure that out. Also, i wonder what Neschria's YMMV stands for? Good luck gaming whatever game that be!
havn't played it in a few years, but in all honesty if you're diving into something new other games might be bettter. unless you know what EQ is about and like it a lot. ( i played it as my first mmo addiction, for a couple years on and off, great game for its' time, although now depending on what you're used to it might be too un-guided)
---------------------------------------- My dog barks some. Mentally you picture my dog, but I have not told you the type of dog which I have. Perhaps you even picture Toto, from "The Wizard of Oz." But I warn you, my dog is always with me.
As a person who played EQ for seven and no longer plays, I would have to say the answer depends on what you are looking for.
EQ is an excellent game for you if;
1) You have a good lead in via a friend into a well established raiding guild
2) You have a fairly large dedicated and predictable amount of time to play that matches your guilds
EQ is not a good game for you if;
1) You like the polish and relative bug free level of play of games like LotR and WoW.
2) You expect to see 60% or more of the game content within the first three years (or potentially ever)
Things to keep in mind with EQ. There is a very large content block that is effectively forever locked out from access by non-raiders due to flag and key resrictions, some of which require 40+ people in a single raid in order to unlock. Also, the game is very top heavy. There are very few people in the lower level zones, so finding groups is not easy. Often if you find lower level characters in game you'll see that they are bein power leveled, these people being power leveled are often very militant about not allowing other people to group with them, or near them as they see this as a diminishment of thier exp per hour.
In short, the road as a truely new EQ player is often very lonely, requiring a great deal of willingness to do research to learn to solo in what is essentially a non-soloing game.
Elemer, I think you really have valid points here... except;
1) You like the polish and relative bug free level of play of games like LotR and WoW.
I'm still laughing over this one, prolly will be all day. Thanks
I beta'd WoW. Then I didn't play it for about 8 months (almost a yeat). Then bought it and played for 3 months. It's an awesome game. Loved it. But it's not bug free.
Played LoTR, too. Played for about 1 month. It most definatily isn't bug free.
Everquest? No, it's not bug free. But then, I'm not sure any MMO ever is. Seems that companys feel they have to get some product out there, into the market, as fast as possible - or they are going to miss something, lose something - without ever noticing that if they held the product back for even one more month of dev time, the quality of the product they finally released would blow every other MMO off the market - on quality alone!!
Ah Well, Thanks. That'll keep me going for the day
---------------------------------------- My dog barks some. Mentally you picture my dog, but I have not told you the type of dog which I have. Perhaps you even picture Toto, from "The Wizard of Oz." But I warn you, my dog is always with me.
Often if you find lower level characters in game you'll see that they are bein power leveled, these people being power leveled are often very militant about not allowing other people to group with them, or near them as they see this as a diminishment of thier exp per hour.
I have personally found this to be untrue. For one things additional players in a group do not diminish xp per hour do to the group experience bonus. When I power level toons I'm usually more than happy to let others into a group unless I'm in one of these situations where I'm only paying half attention and afking alot do to doing laundry or other things while messing around.
On other arguments I've seen in this thread. Yes some content is locked away behind keyed/flagged zones 19 total of hundreds hardly "a very large block" of the game world and lately the trend has been to make raid zones instanced versions of normal zones so the only thing you need to key/flag for is to raid the big mobs which require raid forces to even contemplate in the first place.
And while the game has it's share of bugs it isn't as if other games are bug free. There are no "game breaking" bugs that will stop you from playing there are a few anoying persistent bugs but these are things that typically only affect you under very specific circumstances and are really hard to resolve out of the monster that makes up the EQ codebase.
Yeah the character models are for the most part dated but the environment and monster models are definitely up to modern specs.
No the only thing really wrong with EQ is the lack of new players caused to no small degree by people posting outdated biased criticism about things they have no concept of., and the not insignificant barrier to entry that 75 levels and a few hundred AA present.
The upside of which is that there is plenty to do in the game. The problem most people run into in EQ isn't running out of things to do but rather finding time to do all the things they want to. I've been playing this game for going on 8 years now and I still have things I would like to accomplish there is always something else to do. Some quest to complete some progression arc to finish or some item I'd like to have. Some mob I want to kill and some event I want to win.
You will not spend a month playing hard to reach max level and find the only thing left is to do is to raid or PVP. There are people who run out of things to do but they are a very very small minority who have litterally tons of time to devote to the game.
There are also plenty of people who tool along at their own pace doing their own thing they are a minority of the player base to be sure but they are there.
On the raiding issue. There is only a very small proportion of the games population who raid at the high end (meaning the 6day a week mandatory attendance type guilds) most raid anywhere from very casualy to full time with a full spectrum spread in between.
If you want to raid you can definitely find a force that fits your desires and schedule. If you don't you can still advance to max level and get gear more than adequate to play the game effectively. And there are many people who do exactly that. Who take pride in their accomplishments as a non-raider as much as the raiders do in theirs.
What makes an MMORPG an MMORPG instead of just a multiplayer shooter is not the graphics or bells and wistles. It's the community and the persistence of the environment . It is the interactions of the NPC's and all the things that take place even when no one is around.
For example the other day while working on my alt shammies epic I was running through echo caverns to fungus grove. Even though I was the only player in the zone I find a guard killing one of the little alien guys. It's stuff like this that makes a living game as opposed to a midevil combat simulator.
EQ isn't a perfect game but it is not unique in that respect. It's greatest impediment to play is also its greatest asset. The volume of things to be done is way beyond anything any other game on the market has to offer.
EQ1 is like your 15yr pet dog named Rusty.. He was great in his prime, but as he gets older, the slower and thinner he gets.. One of these days you need to made that final decision.. You will always have the memories, but you can never relive the youth.. bye EQ1.. RIP.. lol
EQ1 is like your 15yr pet dog named Rusty.. He was great in his prime, but as he gets older, the slower and thinner he gets.. One of these days you need to made that final decision.. You will always have the memories, but you can never relive the youth.. bye EQ1.. RIP.. lol
Eventually maybe, but it's not dead yet. It's still one of the best MMOs around if you take the time to learn the controls and features of the game. You also have to get past the aging graphics. It's more difficult to level up now due to low-level populations suffering, but if you can get to the higher levels, there are plenty of folks to play with.
graphics don't bother me at all.. Hell, I prefer WoW graphics over all others I have played.. You did mention the magic keyword tho, IF.. IF you can get to the high levels.. The problem is, that game is a ghost town from 1-60.. I just don't see the fun in PAYING to play ALONE..
graphics don't bother me at all.. Hell, I prefer WoW graphics over all others I have played.. You did mention the magic keyword tho, IF.. IF you can get to the high levels.. The problem is, that game is a ghost town from 1-60.. I just don't see the fun in PAYING to play ALONE..
WoW noobie zones are also ghost town now. With BC out everyone is in Outland
Originally posted by mindw0rk Originally posted by Rydesongraphics don't bother me at all.. Hell, I prefer WoW graphics over all others I have played.. You did mention the magic keyword tho, IF.. IF you can get to the high levels.. The problem is, that game is a ghost town from 1-60.. I just don't see the fun in PAYING to play ALONE..
WoW noobie zones are also ghost town now. With BC out everyone is in Outland
WoW is also a load of crap.. i have been playing it for about 6 months.. maybe not that long... but its just a typical run of the mill mmorpg where they guide you throughthe game so easily there is just no fun in it.
and yeah.. everyone is in outland and the only low lvl chars are twinks that are just soloing and dont want to goup unless you can help them... helping others is out of the questiong for them.
As for soloing.. when iplayed EQ I was a druid, we got a bonus for soloing and a reduction for grouping (dunno if thats still the same) and i tell ya it was a load of fun to solo the giants when whole parties were having trouble, or quad kyting wyrvens, when people could hardly handle one on there own.
If you gotta play alone, be a class thats good at soloing, such as Druid, or Necromancer... hell from memory even mages were not too bad with there AOE's... and Shadowknights... they were pretty awesome as soloing too.. fear kiting with a giant 2h sword.. ahh yeah!
Was that a thought I just had, or and echo of a thought I was thinking of having? -------------------------------------------- http://www.soundclick.com/wizard-sleeve -------------------------------------------- I produce music, DnB, Trance, Metal Fusion, RaP and whatever i feel like. You might like it -------------------------------------------- http://www.nexusradio.co.uk - Online radio promoting unsigned artists
You cannot solo in EQ 1. A few classes can solo, but you will get bored fast. If you are just starting, and if you do not hack, you will never ever catch up. It is impossible. You might consider buying an account on ebay, but I honestly think it is a ripp off.
The only way to join this game hack-free, gold-duping free, and zerg-raid free is the free and private server. You get all the classes, all the races, all of the best dungeons, a better PoK (so the porter classes still can port in a meaningful way) and other benefits. The death penalty has been modified, so you do not drop a corpse; but you do receive a 10 percent debt penalty. However, you cannot lose your level, so you never go below 100% death penalty debt. It works great. A great community. Very happy people. All the old stuff in EQ 1 that many of us loved.
The server is really a blessing for many of us, especially those that want a classic but better than classic server. It does exist.
i like it still play some times whene i get bord with wow,uo,oblivion(sp)=( lot of zones not to may new toons bl or neckro r cool u can solo all the way to in game and grp if u find one race ant big deal any more slower then wow but lot more to do lot of skills to work on to
Comments
Eh... Well, it might be worth downloading the trial to see if you like it. Honestly, though, EQ1 is only worth jumping in now if you have friends you are bringing with you or friends already there. Otherwise, you might be happier with EQ2 or any other, newer game. If you do like it, it is a steal at $20 for the whole game with all expansions. (Trust me on that. I bought the expansions as they were released, and it cost me a little more than that.
)
I love EQ1. It's all I can do to keep myself from subscribing right this moment.
But I have several level 60+ characters to start out on, so it is a whole different animal for me. YMMV.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
EQ though I love the game does require a great degree of patience as well as a significant investment of time.
The lower levels are going to be rough there just is no way around that. Not enough new players joining up to support any sort of vibrant population at those levels and certainly isn't helped by the fact that Sony gives the game no publicity.
That being said there are a number of changes that have been made to the game to make it easier on new players. The tutorial helps you though a lot fo the basic mechanics of gameplay the new ooc regen system significantly reduces down time between fights and the general chat channels aids a lot in forming up groups. There is the LFG tool and what is still a large generally helpful population.
I would suggest trying Bristlebane and hook up with a guild called "the kicking snakes" assuming they are still at it they are a guild of new and returning players who are working together to get through the rough days and up to where the bulk of the population is.
In the end though the biggest criteria to whether or not the game would be worth it too you is how much time you can devote to it. If you can't realistically commit 3-4 hours at a time you really won't be able to accomplish much. Now that sounds like a lot of time but most people spend more time than that watching TV every night and EQ is more entertaining that most of that garbage even if your just chatting in the general channels.
So if you have the time and you are some level of patience give it a shot.
Definitely download the free trial "Escape to Norrath". It has all the races & classes minus the Drakkin race. i've recently posted regarding that issue under another Hogcaller Inn thread. You can level to (10) if i remember correctly & it is/was entertaining & pretty well done. i haven't experienced it though for a couple of years so it too might be degrading like some/most of EQ seems to be. Nonetheless it is/was a very nice introduction into EQ & even though it's a SOE marketing ploy it's still a nice offer to potential players. If you do join EQ, think long & hard about it though since it's such an aged game, definitely use the Anniversary Edition as Neschria mentioned. i'm not sure if downloaded purchases include the in-game token gifts like retail does so you may want to purchase the retail. i've been heavily considering rejoining too, but i probably wont since i cannot get a good concrete reference that SOE has allowed EQ to become more casual player friendly. So perhaps as someone mentioned EQ2 might be a good game to play. i hope by now SOE has worked-out a lot of the glitches & made it a more moderate computer system friendly since the EQ2 launch. Hopefully there is an EQ2 free trial download to figure that out. Also, i wonder what Neschria's YMMV stands for? Good luck gaming whatever game that be!
It does not require a credit card, however it does require a station ID, which can be set up for free.
Edit: More info
Thanks Chandos for the helpful information.
Here we have Escape to Norrath the EQ1 Free Trial
Newark
Portable DESK
Druzzil Ro
----------------------------------------
My dog barks some. Mentally you picture my dog, but I have not told you the type of dog which I have. Perhaps you even picture Toto, from "The Wizard of Oz." But I warn you, my dog is always with me.
As a person who played EQ for seven and no longer plays, I would have to say the answer depends on what you are looking for.
EQ is an excellent game for you if;
1) You have a good lead in via a friend into a well established raiding guild
2) You have a fairly large dedicated and predictable amount of time to play that matches your guilds
EQ is not a good game for you if;
1) You like the polish and relative bug free level of play of games like LotR and WoW.
2) You expect to see 60% or more of the game content within the first three years (or potentially ever)
Things to keep in mind with EQ. There is a very large content block that is effectively forever locked out from access by non-raiders due to flag and key resrictions, some of which require 40+ people in a single raid in order to unlock. Also, the game is very top heavy. There are very few people in the lower level zones, so finding groups is not easy. Often if you find lower level characters in game you'll see that they are bein power leveled, these people being power leveled are often very militant about not allowing other people to group with them, or near them as they see this as a diminishment of thier exp per hour.
In short, the road as a truely new EQ player is often very lonely, requiring a great deal of willingness to do research to learn to solo in what is essentially a non-soloing game.
Boycott EA Games. RIP Sim City.
Elemer, I think you really have valid points here... except;
I'm still laughing over this one, prolly will be all day. ThanksI beta'd WoW. Then I didn't play it for about 8 months (almost a yeat). Then bought it and played for 3 months. It's an awesome game. Loved it. But it's not bug free.
Played LoTR, too. Played for about 1 month. It most definatily isn't bug free.
Everquest? No, it's not bug free. But then, I'm not sure any MMO ever is. Seems that companys feel they have to get some product out there, into the market, as fast as possible - or they are going to miss something, lose something - without ever noticing that if they held the product back for even one more month of dev time, the quality of the product they finally released would blow every other MMO off the market - on quality alone!!
Ah Well, Thanks. That'll keep me going for the day
----------------------------------------
My dog barks some. Mentally you picture my dog, but I have not told you the type of dog which I have. Perhaps you even picture Toto, from "The Wizard of Oz." But I warn you, my dog is always with me.
It is a lot like classic. There is raiding but capped number, items like jboots and stuff like that. Lore is better than live too I think.
It is a lot of fun but we try to keep it a tight community to not overpopulate our server.
Boycott EA Games. RIP Sim City.
Often if you find lower level characters in game you'll see that they are bein power leveled, these people being power leveled are often very militant about not allowing other people to group with them, or near them as they see this as a diminishment of thier exp per hour.
I have personally found this to be untrue. For one things additional players in a group do not diminish xp per hour do to the group experience bonus. When I power level toons I'm usually more than happy to let others into a group unless I'm in one of these situations where I'm only paying half attention and afking alot do to doing laundry or other things while messing around.
On other arguments I've seen in this thread. Yes some content is locked away behind keyed/flagged zones 19 total of hundreds hardly "a very large block" of the game world and lately the trend has been to make raid zones instanced versions of normal zones so the only thing you need to key/flag for is to raid the big mobs which require raid forces to even contemplate in the first place.
And while the game has it's share of bugs it isn't as if other games are bug free. There are no "game breaking" bugs that will stop you from playing there are a few anoying persistent bugs but these are things that typically only affect you under very specific circumstances and are really hard to resolve out of the monster that makes up the EQ codebase.
Yeah the character models are for the most part dated but the environment and monster models are definitely up to modern specs.
No the only thing really wrong with EQ is the lack of new players caused to no small degree by people posting outdated biased criticism about things they have no concept of., and the not insignificant barrier to entry that 75 levels and a few hundred AA present.
The upside of which is that there is plenty to do in the game. The problem most people run into in EQ isn't running out of things to do but rather finding time to do all the things they want to. I've been playing this game for going on 8 years now and I still have things I would like to accomplish there is always something else to do. Some quest to complete some progression arc to finish or some item I'd like to have. Some mob I want to kill and some event I want to win.
You will not spend a month playing hard to reach max level and find the only thing left is to do is to raid or PVP. There are people who run out of things to do but they are a very very small minority who have litterally tons of time to devote to the game.
There are also plenty of people who tool along at their own pace doing their own thing they are a minority of the player base to be sure but they are there.
On the raiding issue. There is only a very small proportion of the games population who raid at the high end (meaning the 6day a week mandatory attendance type guilds) most raid anywhere from very casualy to full time with a full spectrum spread in between.
If you want to raid you can definitely find a force that fits your desires and schedule. If you don't you can still advance to max level and get gear more than adequate to play the game effectively. And there are many people who do exactly that. Who take pride in their accomplishments as a non-raider as much as the raiders do in theirs.
What makes an MMORPG an MMORPG instead of just a multiplayer shooter is not the graphics or bells and wistles. It's the community and the persistence of the environment . It is the interactions of the NPC's and all the things that take place even when no one is around.
For example the other day while working on my alt shammies epic I was running through echo caverns to fungus grove. Even though I was the only player in the zone I find a guard killing one of the little alien guys. It's stuff like this that makes a living game as opposed to a midevil combat simulator.
EQ isn't a perfect game but it is not unique in that respect. It's greatest impediment to play is also its greatest asset. The volume of things to be done is way beyond anything any other game on the market has to offer.
Eventually maybe, but it's not dead yet. It's still one of the best MMOs around if you take the time to learn the controls and features of the game. You also have to get past the aging graphics. It's more difficult to level up now due to low-level populations suffering, but if you can get to the higher levels, there are plenty of folks to play with.WoW noobie zones are also ghost town now. With BC out everyone is in Outland
WoW noobie zones are also ghost town now. With BC out everyone is in Outland
WoW is also a load of crap.. i have been playing it for about 6 months.. maybe not that long... but its just a typical run of the mill mmorpg where they guide you throughthe game so easily there is just no fun in it.
and yeah.. everyone is in outland and the only low lvl chars are twinks that are just soloing and dont want to goup unless you can help them... helping others is out of the questiong for them.
As for soloing.. when iplayed EQ I was a druid, we got a bonus for soloing and a reduction for grouping (dunno if thats still the same) and i tell ya it was a load of fun to solo the giants when whole parties were having trouble, or quad kyting wyrvens, when people could hardly handle one on there own.
If you gotta play alone, be a class thats good at soloing, such as Druid, or Necromancer... hell from memory even mages were not too bad with there AOE's... and Shadowknights... they were pretty awesome as soloing too.. fear kiting with a giant 2h sword.. ahh yeah!
Was that a thought I just had, or and echo of a thought I was thinking of having?
--------------------------------------------
http://www.soundclick.com/wizard-sleeve
--------------------------------------------
I produce music, DnB, Trance, Metal Fusion, RaP and whatever i feel like. You might like it
--------------------------------------------
http://www.nexusradio.co.uk - Online radio promoting unsigned artists
You cannot solo in EQ 1. A few classes can solo, but you will get bored fast. If you are just starting, and if you do not hack, you will never ever catch up. It is impossible. You might consider buying an account on ebay, but I honestly think it is a ripp off.
The only way to join this game hack-free, gold-duping free, and zerg-raid free is the free and private server. You get all the classes, all the races, all of the best dungeons, a better PoK (so the porter classes still can port in a meaningful way) and other benefits. The death penalty has been modified, so you do not drop a corpse; but you do receive a 10 percent debt penalty. However, you cannot lose your level, so you never go below 100% death penalty debt. It works great. A great community. Very happy people. All the old stuff in EQ 1 that many of us loved.
The server is really a blessing for many of us, especially those that want a classic but better than classic server. It does exist.
Boycott EA Games. RIP Sim City.
i like it still play some times whene i get bord with wow,uo,oblivion(sp)=( lot of zones not to may new toons bl or neckro r cool u can solo all the way to in game and grp if u find one race ant big deal any more slower then wow but lot more to do lot of skills to work on to
Since luclin carebear expansion that killed the PvP -- no it not worth it.
Unless your friends are all playing right now and all starting over, probably not.
However, if I had six friends starting out gearless playing only the oldest content (even if only on weekend mornings) I would do it in an instant.