No. The population has not gotten better. It is worse.
Yes. The game is "active" if you mean taking it off of life support and -gasp!- it sill breaths.
The developers, I think have done some cool and smart things, though:
Living Legacy (old school zones with good drops; brought back the challenge, fun, and excitement of grouping again);
Mercenaries (though I do not have a merc, and I do not even have the expansion, it has made duoing with friends, at least, 5 times easier and more convenient);
Other, not knocking the devs, it is late/early, and I am tired - perhaps I cannot think of anything else, or there is nothing else.
My style of gameplay, however, is different; I just group with friends, maybe once or twice a week. I check old school named mobs from time-to-time. Might slay a dragon. /shrug. Never was a raider, though, I was a Raid Officer (old, old school) and leader of a raid guild. I am, and perhaps always will be, a sort of explorer, grouper, socializer.... Trying to find a game that has that, and until them, I will play EQ.
Actually, you might want to check on Vanguard soon. I keep hearing good things, and I will keep following the game's progress. Besides Vanguard, really, all of the games are lacking, in my view, in imagination, depth, complexity, challenge (raiding is NOT what I mean by challenging), world immersion, customization, fascinating Questing, and social MMORPG features. I canont log-in to slay 5 things anymore to level to advance in a decision-tree for skills to raid. Where is my world? It might be Runescape, a freaking browser game - that is free.
MMORPGs must inspire. It is more than a game. It is a memory. It is the business of creating an experience that draws a person in and keeps them there (to pay 15.00). You can do this through creativity, content, and classy gameplay. Or, you can do this through a grind, artificial tiers of gear and raid content.
The mindless masses like to get caught-up in armor-tiers and raid grinds. Millions of others, and myself, like to explore worlds, build communities, customize a unique character, and have fun.
Edit: And they keep making these quest-grind, armor-tier, raid-thing and PvP-clones of WoW. When I say different, I mean different; not slightly different, better, or worse. When I say innovation, I mean new: entirely different concepts, new forms of gameplay, new player tools, etc.
I got WoW. I really do. And millions play it. Do they want a slightly different WoW? Who are running these companies? LOL.
No. The population has not gotten better. It is worse.
I agree with you declaredemer. But not because of the declining population, although you're correct on that.
But because of the relationships I had with people. Many EQ players are too unfriendly now. It's hard to build any sort of coherent community in EQ, it has lost any meaning.
EQplayers used to be recognised for a very helpfull and friendly bunch of players and most were. Now most are nothing like that aynone and most are out to get loot and will do anything to get in your way by training, KS'ing and making your game miserable.
Like this old "community"? This is a copy of an actual players post.....
That was my fave pastime.
Is the Oasis of Mar, you had a lake in the middle. In the middle of the lake was a tower with 8 mobs in it, all of them around lvl 50 or so. Now, this was an lvl 20 ish zone, so they would mean instant death for pretty much everyone.
Agro in EQ is slightly different, in so much that if a mob it chasing someone and goes past you, you will also end up on the agro list.
As soon as I hit 50 I started causing as much grief as possible.
I was a wood elf ranger. I would cast Levitate (so I could run across the water) and Wolf form (50% speed increase) meaning the mobs couldn’t catch me.
I would run over to the mobs, agro them all and head to the land. As soon as I got far enough from them I would cast Invisibility (the mobs could still see me but players couldn’t) and pull them through every single group of players I could find.
I think my best total was about 60 deaths.
Great fun!
If you have any questions please ask. I have moved on to WoW from eq and no longer have any desire to play a dead game. Thank you. (posted by another selling his account in EQ1)
It's not worth starting if you haven't been playing. It's not bad if you have been though. (I'm not playing now though. I quit pre-Seeds of Destruction. Tried EQ2 and quit that too. *sigh* I am off the EQ train for good.)
Death penalties? Pffft... Mercenaries will give you a 96% rez and you spawn with your equipment on and your spells memmed. Death has no teeth at all in EQ anymore. No merc or not high enough level? There's always guild lobby.
As a former SK who went necro, I can't argue with the gimp melee comment though.
... This is where I draw the line: __________________.
It's not worth starting if you haven't been playing. It's not bad if you have been though. (I'm not playing now though. I quit pre-Seeds of Destruction. Tried EQ2 and quit that too. *sigh* I am off the EQ train for good.) Death penalties? Pffft... Mercenaries will give you a 96% rez and you spawn with your equipment on and your spells memmed. Death has no teeth at all in EQ anymore. No merc or not high enough level? There's always guild lobby.
As a former SK who went necro, I can't argue with the gimp melee comment though.
Awful corpse runs were half the fun of grouping lol "oh god our cleric died now i gotta run half a continent!"
The mercenaries sound good though, but the only thing that would bring me back is a steady community which is apparently doesn't have and never will have again.
EQ is as active as a dying cat. Why are MMOs so scared to merge servers? EQ is so large I bet you could merge 5 servers together, and popular zones would still be empty(1X5 is still only 5). I came back for SOD. I love mercs. Love 'em! Leveling is ridiculously fast. I got a lvl 54 rogue and lvl 62 mage on my week of vacation. Both started at lvl 1. Even though I had a good time for one week I cancelled, and never played again after my vacation. The world was just dead. I don't mean slow, I mean dead. No one around, nothing for sale in bazaar. Just sad.
I miss EQ so much, but without other people to group with, trade with, and just compete against its worthless.
I think if SOE would just chalk it up as a F2P game, you'd see the population explode. Merge all but 5 servers. The world of EQ is so massive, over crowding might occour in a few of the high traffic zones but otherwise I got money it would be just about perfect.
Ah, who am I kidding. I just wanna revist my old stomping grounds without paying for it
Exort, we would love to hear how it goes. Does it "feel" the same? How differnt is it?
I am in the same boat. I have been mulling coming back to EQ, but I hear it is nothing like it used to be... and I don't want to go back if they have "WOW'd" it.
It's not worth starting if you haven't been playing. It's not bad if you have been though. (I'm not playing now though. I quit pre-Seeds of Destruction. Tried EQ2 and quit that too. *sigh* I am off the EQ train for good.) Death penalties? Pffft... Mercenaries will give you a 96% rez and you spawn with your equipment on and your spells memmed. Death has no teeth at all in EQ anymore. No merc or not high enough level? There's always guild lobby.
As a former SK who went necro, I can't argue with the gimp melee comment though.
Awful corpse runs were half the fun of grouping lol "oh god our cleric died now i gotta run half a continent!"
The mercenaries sound good though, but the only thing that would bring me back is a steady community which is apparently doesn't have and never will have again.
Exort. Great topic.
Could you resize your signature...
Played (more than a month): SWG, Second Life, Tabula Rasa, Lineage 2, Everquest 2, EvE, MxO, Ryzom.
I think if SOE would just chalk it up as a F2P game, you'd see the population explode. Merge all but 5 servers. The world of EQ is so massive, over crowding might occour in a few of the high traffic zones but otherwise I got money it would be just about perfect.
Ah, who am I kidding. I just wanna revist my old stomping grounds without paying for it
Needless to say I believe this game should go F2P soon. OR at least lower the 12.99 monthly payment that's just a crazy. Yes the game is good but there's gotta be an end to the money.
I think if SOE would just chalk it up as a F2P game, you'd see the population explode. Merge all but 5 servers. The world of EQ is so massive, over crowding might occour in a few of the high traffic zones but otherwise I got money it would be just about perfect.
Ah, who am I kidding. I just wanna revist my old stomping grounds without paying for it
Needless to say I believe this game should go F2P soon. OR at least lower the 12.99 monthly payment that's just a crazy. Yes the game is good but there's gotta be an end to the money.
Yeah they could make it F2P and just make money off the station store. Nerds love to buy digital items for money.
Comments
No. The population has not gotten better. It is worse.
Yes. The game is "active" if you mean taking it off of life support and -gasp!- it sill breaths.
The developers, I think have done some cool and smart things, though:
My style of gameplay, however, is different; I just group with friends, maybe once or twice a week. I check old school named mobs from time-to-time. Might slay a dragon. /shrug. Never was a raider, though, I was a Raid Officer (old, old school) and leader of a raid guild. I am, and perhaps always will be, a sort of explorer, grouper, socializer.... Trying to find a game that has that, and until them, I will play EQ.
Actually, you might want to check on Vanguard soon. I keep hearing good things, and I will keep following the game's progress. Besides Vanguard, really, all of the games are lacking, in my view, in imagination, depth, complexity, challenge (raiding is NOT what I mean by challenging), world immersion, customization, fascinating Questing, and social MMORPG features. I canont log-in to slay 5 things anymore to level to advance in a decision-tree for skills to raid. Where is my world? It might be Runescape, a freaking browser game - that is free.
Good review but it made me cry
Spent alot of time on EQ and im sad it cant be fun anymore.
As for vanguard i haven't played that yet but i'll try it.
I would cry, too, if i did not laugh!
MMORPGs must inspire. It is more than a game. It is a memory. It is the business of creating an experience that draws a person in and keeps them there (to pay 15.00). You can do this through creativity, content, and classy gameplay. Or, you can do this through a grind, artificial tiers of gear and raid content.
The mindless masses like to get caught-up in armor-tiers and raid grinds. Millions of others, and myself, like to explore worlds, build communities, customize a unique character, and have fun.
Edit: And they keep making these quest-grind, armor-tier, raid-thing and PvP-clones of WoW. When I say different, I mean different; not slightly different, better, or worse. When I say innovation, I mean new: entirely different concepts, new forms of gameplay, new player tools, etc.
I got WoW. I really do. And millions play it. Do they want a slightly different WoW? Who are running these companies? LOL.
I agree with you declaredemer. But not because of the declining population, although you're correct on that.
But because of the relationships I had with people. Many EQ players are too unfriendly now. It's hard to build any sort of coherent community in EQ, it has lost any meaning.
EQplayers used to be recognised for a very helpfull and friendly bunch of players and most were. Now most are nothing like that aynone and most are out to get loot and will do anything to get in your way by training, KS'ing and making your game miserable.
EQ like some of us knew it is gone.
Like this old "community"? This is a copy of an actual players post.....
That was my fave pastime.
Is the Oasis of Mar, you had a lake in the middle. In the middle of the lake was a tower with 8 mobs in it, all of them around lvl 50 or so. Now, this was an lvl 20 ish zone, so they would mean instant death for pretty much everyone.
Agro in EQ is slightly different, in so much that if a mob it chasing someone and goes past you, you will also end up on the agro list.
As soon as I hit 50 I started causing as much grief as possible.
I was a wood elf ranger. I would cast Levitate (so I could run across the water) and Wolf form (50% speed increase) meaning the mobs couldn’t catch me.
I would run over to the mobs, agro them all and head to the land. As soon as I got far enough from them I would cast Invisibility (the mobs could still see me but players couldn’t) and pull them through every single group of players I could find.
I think my best total was about 60 deaths.
Great fun!
If you have any questions please ask. I have moved on to WoW from eq and no longer have any desire to play a dead game. Thank you. (posted by another selling his account in EQ1)
It's not worth starting if you haven't been playing. It's not bad if you have been though. (I'm not playing now though. I quit pre-Seeds of Destruction. Tried EQ2 and quit that too. *sigh* I am off the EQ train for good.)
Death penalties? Pffft... Mercenaries will give you a 96% rez and you spawn with your equipment on and your spells memmed. Death has no teeth at all in EQ anymore. No merc or not high enough level? There's always guild lobby.
As a former SK who went necro, I can't argue with the gimp melee comment though.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Awful corpse runs were half the fun of grouping lol "oh god our cleric died now i gotta run half a continent!"
The mercenaries sound good though, but the only thing that would bring me back is a steady community which is apparently doesn't have and never will have again.
Screw it, christmas is soon....im gonna ruin my life and waste money to give EQ another shot....I just love it so much
Even if its all soloing ill still play
EQ is as active as a dying cat. Why are MMOs so scared to merge servers? EQ is so large I bet you could merge 5 servers together, and popular zones would still be empty(1X5 is still only 5). I came back for SOD. I love mercs. Love 'em! Leveling is ridiculously fast. I got a lvl 54 rogue and lvl 62 mage on my week of vacation. Both started at lvl 1. Even though I had a good time for one week I cancelled, and never played again after my vacation. The world was just dead. I don't mean slow, I mean dead. No one around, nothing for sale in bazaar. Just sad.
I miss EQ so much, but without other people to group with, trade with, and just compete against its worthless.
I think if SOE would just chalk it up as a F2P game, you'd see the population explode. Merge all but 5 servers. The world of EQ is so massive, over crowding might occour in a few of the high traffic zones but otherwise I got money it would be just about perfect.
Ah, who am I kidding. I just wanna revist my old stomping grounds without paying for it
Exort, we would love to hear how it goes. Does it "feel" the same? How differnt is it?
I am in the same boat. I have been mulling coming back to EQ, but I hear it is nothing like it used to be... and I don't want to go back if they have "WOW'd" it.
Ah, who am I kidding. I just wanna revist my old stomping grounds without paying for it
--- same here
Awful corpse runs were half the fun of grouping lol "oh god our cleric died now i gotta run half a continent!"
The mercenaries sound good though, but the only thing that would bring me back is a steady community which is apparently doesn't have and never will have again.
Exort. Great topic.
Could you resize your signature...
Played (more than a month): SWG, Second Life, Tabula Rasa, Lineage 2, Everquest 2, EvE, MxO, Ryzom.
Tried: WoW, Shadowbane, Anarchy Online, Everquest, WWII Online, Planetside
Beta: Lotro, Tabula Rasa, WAR.
Needless to say I believe this game should go F2P soon. OR at least lower the 12.99 monthly payment that's just a crazy. Yes the game is good but there's gotta be an end to the money.
<a href="http://www.lolbase.net/us/Baneli"><img src="http://www.lolbase.net/us/Baneli/signature/626ffffff.png"; alt="Signature for Baneli (us)" /></a>
Needless to say I believe this game should go F2P soon. OR at least lower the 12.99 monthly payment that's just a crazy. Yes the game is good but there's gotta be an end to the money.
Yeah they could make it F2P and just make money off the station store. Nerds love to buy digital items for money.