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Question...

DarkRanger65DarkRanger65 Member Posts: 83
in Everquest

I played EQ from 1999-2001 which included the first expansion, the one with the lizaed people, I had to stop playing because my PC was old and I was financially strapped back then.

I keep hearing references that the game was 'ruined' when the Luclin expansion came out....could someone elaborate on that?

 

MMO Played-EQ, EQ2, WOW, DDO, GW, COH, Vanguard, WAR

MMOs Playing-LOTRO

Comments

  • declaredemerdeclaredemer Member Posts: 2,698
    Originally posted by DarkRanger65 
    I keep hearing references that the game was 'ruined' when the Luclin expansion came out....could someone elaborate on that?
     

     

    Everquest, by far, provided the most extraordinary MMORPG experience pre-GoD.  It was a seriously flawed game, but its excellent features far outweighed its flaws.  A heavy thumb on the scale, in my view, was world immersion that included features such as:

    • unique, different classes
    • dangerous, unpredictable combat (what is combat if not dangerous?)
    • group-cooperative gameplay (you needed friends, family, a guild)
    • exciting content such as named mobs, Castle Mistmoore, vast swamplands
    • sense of exploration, travel felt "real" (you felt like you were traveling through a forest at times or walking-through a city)
    • community (east commons, log-in to chat and "fool around," community guilds)

    The game was not ruined with Luclin, in my opinion, but with a consistent focus on "raiding" through a series of expansions that:

    • undermined casual gameplay (log-in, at this time, three times per week)
    • heros became gods (geared-up, AA'd-out, soloing named dragons - sad)
    • raiding was the focus
    • raiding became predictable



    What happened?

    • Casual people had to become raiders to develop their characters.
    • Community guilds had to become "raid" guilds to "progress."
    • Groupers had to "box" to just, basically, play the game.
  • buzzzxbuzzzx Member UncommonPosts: 41

    Agree with all of the above. The focus on raiding forced the casual gamer away, and the gear just went completely out of control.

  • brostynbrostyn Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 3,092

    IMO, the decline came with Velious, and worsened as more expansion came out. I think the final straw was PoP, and everyone basically gave up hope that SOE could make EQ great again.

    In every expansion raiding became more and more of a focus. PoP and GoD were the two worst expansions ever. GoD was a complete screwjob to the fanbase. I will say this they did abandon their lunacy and subsequent expansions were much better thought out.

    People who didn't raid were, and still are, treated like 2nd class citizens in EQ. The game is balanced with raid gear in mind. Instead of only raiding content being balanced for raid gear "group" content is also balanced with 30K HP tanks in mind.

    The more expansions that are released the more lopsided the game gets. People are running around with 30K HP. Its impossible for a new player or returning player to catch up, because you have to raid old content to be able to raid new content. There are keys/flags you have to get to enter new zones, so guilds won't just invite any body. The mid tier and low tier guilds are almost all gone leaving it nigh impossible for people to catch up.

    IMO, the devs have stopped caring about new and returning players. They've done very little to allow people to catch up in terms of gear. No one is going to invite a bazaar equipped player into a group(you're damn lucky to find any groups nowadays), and it'd be real hard to get a guild that is worth a damn.

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