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What happened to EQ?
Iceman12321
Member Posts: 992
I've been playing since Kunark had came out and enjoyed the game the most the very first day I got it, but as time went by, as each of the expansions came out, got less and less interesting to me. I enjoyed just hanging around EC or Gfay, just looking at what people had instore for the night or what they had to sell. I think it took me nearly 3 months (or more
) just to get to lvl 10, because I enjoyed just interacting with the EQ society - a diverse group of people, many kids, couple adults, couple idiots, which is what I seem to only find nowadays. I wish Sony wouldnt had make a new expansion and give it out nearly 2 months (or so it seemed like it.) Back then, I would find 100+ people in each of the two main zones, EC and Gfay. Nowadays, with the creation of "The Bazaar", you'll find 10-20 people, if your lucky to find in each of the zones. Call me slow, but as time past by, my opinion for the game was originally, one of the best games I've ever played, then to great, good, not bad, eh only 10 bucks right?, eh only 13 bucks right?, and now I've finally realized how many other games out there are so much better than EQ (for me, of course.) I just cant stand seeing 2 people in Freeport. I just think Everquest has too many damn zones now. Back in Kunark, It was 'the sweetest game' to me. sure, the creation of PoK made it easier to get around, but I always thought of the boatrides to be one of the unique things about the game, you couldnt just pop up to where you wanted to go - You had to work your way toward the zone. More and more people are beginning to leave the game, but really I'm just saddened and miss the old days. Guess i'm just a man who isnt fond of change.
Any of you realize this earlier than I did or have yet to realize it?
why/whynot did you decide to leave/keep the game?
- just wanted a couple opinions out there
thanks
Comments
I agree.
I started playing back when Velious had just come out. I loved it when I started out, seeing people just hanging out at the East Gate of Freeport. You could sit around and just talk, ask for buffs, etc. I personally think that the addition of so many new zones, through expansions, really took the fun out of the game. I quit playing after PoP, originally because my computer broke, then because I realized it wasnt fun anymore. No one went to the Lake of Ill Omen anymore, when before you could easily find a group. What I think I miss the most was the constant chatter of 'Gfay', watching the auctions and seeing if their wasn't anything I needed. When last I went (Long time ago), their were maybe 5 people in the entire zone. I hope SOE realized their mistake, and will learn from it with EQII. Despite some of the reviews I heard, Im gonna give it a go, just to see if perhaps some of the old nostalgic settings might return. If not, Ill stick with DAoC and Planetside.
Here's to the good old days!
Having to join a large guild to see high end content
73 hour camps (without sleeping)
12-48 hour raids (without stoping)
Buggy as hell high end encounters, so buggy it we would have to wait months before it was fixed.
Amazing amounts of down time, 75% of game time is spent waiting.
Complete heal
Kill Stealing
Camping
Requiring 80 people on a raid, 35 of them clerics.
One dimensional classes
Endless exping
VT keys, PoTime flags
80 people needed to kill a mob, for 3 items.
Boats
East Karana
Vex Thule
Plane of Time
300 zones, yet only 15 with useable content
trade skills
a few encounters, for even fewer number of guilds to compete for.
15 minutes to regen manna without buffs
The "time invested" concept
I'm sure this get set to the tune of a Billy Joel song.
-=-=-=-=-
Evolution of MMORPG: EQ -> DAoC -> WoW/EQ2 -> Guild Wars
Down time, monthly fees and camping are ideas that will be forgotten, all too soon. If your not playing Guild Wars your playing with something dead.
What did you mother say about playing with dead things?
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
I just wish they wouldnt have presented us with so many expansions. sure, maybe 1 or 2, butnot 8. Yes, their main purpose is to make new quests and new classes and whatever, but it just made the world larger and larger, making each of the older (more fun imo) zones to decrease in popularity.
I'll give it a
for the old days too.
- That'd be awesome if EQII were to be similiar to the old days when EQ came out...I'd try it in a heartbeat.
-- what are the recent reviews of EQ2, any similiar to the original?
I had to finally give up EQ last year. I had gotten to the point where I couldn't advance without going on raids every day, and I just don't have that kind of free time. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
And for my 2 cents. Lost Dungeons of Norath was the best thing that ever happend to the game.
Yeah, I'd do Betty....
But I'd be thinking about Wilma.
- Although not a huge fan of LDoN, id probably have the say the same thing only because it provided lvls 20+ for a place to hunt and each of the LDoN camps were placed in the Old World, which was somewhat nice because EC would be a little bit more populous, but only because of this expansion - not too spam and shout that you were selling 2 or 3 bags of weapons at 2nd torch. ha...
Heh.. it's always funny to hear people complain about how much they hate EQ after they've played it 20 hours a day, every day, for 3 years straight.
Maybe EQ wasn't "ruined", maybe, just maybe, you guys actually just got bored with a game after playing it for thousands of hours?
Nah, it must be SOE's fault.
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"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
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"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
Games Played:DoAC, EQ, CoH, Lineage 2, Planetside, and Shadowbane.
Games Playing:None:(
Waiting For:WoW, EQII
In a nutshell...
In the end, after Planes of Power came and went...The average player of EQ was one of two things.
1. Infrequent player or new player. These people made up the lesser guilds, coming and going as they found out how EQ worked. These people are not addicts and can quit whenever they want, and generally make the EQ community better. ..unfortunatly they cannot stand number 2.
2. Long Term player. Playing for 3+ years, online for 8 hours a day, never late for raid, etc. These people ruined EQ. You cannot ...I repeat CANNOT... sit infront of your computer for 2-3 years 8 hours a day and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Whether its for work or entertainment, your attitude, health and success greatly diminishes as you sit in one spot that much of your life. Well, EQ is full of those people. They are in essence losers holding onto the one thing they have left. Any community with that high a % of zombie people will be bad. Thats why so many people complain about EQ. Its because they do it EVERYDAY.
EQ is supposed to be a game, not a lifestyle. If people actually used it as the game it was supposed to be played as, it would not be frowned apon as much.
Oh, and if you want to flame me for this point of view stop for one second and think about this...
If you are someone who played EQ for more than 40 hours a week...What will you do in 5 years when the EQ servers turn off. For all that you have forsaken a spouse, a college degree, a job....
-Personal Website (A Work in progress):
http://www.geocities.com/xplororor/index.html
-AC, AC2, AO, EQ, SWG:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor
-More SWG:
http://community.webshots.com/user/captain_sica_xol
-EverQuest II:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_eq2archives01
-EQ, Dungeon Siege, Diablo II, *UXO*:
http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01
-EVE Online !!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/sica_xol_archives01
You mentioned L2 but not L1? Tsk tsk. Especially since L1 was the biggest MMORPG ever, having probably the same subscribers as the 5 most popular MMORPG's in the west combined.
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didnt exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didn't exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"If a mother can kill her own child, what is left before I kill you and you kill me?" -Mother Teresa when talking about abortion after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
-=-=-=-=-
Evolution of MMORPG: EQ -> DAoC -> WoW/EQ2 -> Guild Wars
Down time, monthly fees and camping are ideas that will be forgotten, all too soon. If your not playing Guild Wars your playing with something dead.
What did you mother say about playing with dead things?
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
ROFL, no kidding ... and it's like this guy just returned from a long trip around the galaxy in bio stasis. I mean .... gee, the game has only been out 5.5 years ... how in the world did all the people get so high level and how come there are so many zones and why isn't there anyone in the newb zones and why is the sky blue and ..............
I really needed a good laugh while I wait for the GW beta to open up here. "Too many zones" .... lol ... Blizzard !! Sony !!! Did ya hear this ... we don't want too many zones ... this is just all too confusing !!! We want LESS ZONES or we will boycot your games !!!
It has just GOT to be Sony behind this conspiracy to destroy civilization by making too many zones ... right ?
(sorry poster, I just can't stop myself on this one)
Actually you could give a fairly correct description of a known evolution of fairly Popular and known MMORPG's by writing something similar as folllows, "M59->UO->EQ1/AC1->AO/DAoC."
Then mention some endless myriad of cookie Cutter EQ clones. Which I've personally felt AO & DAoC were, with DAoC being the lesser with involved RvR content.
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didnt exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didn't exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"If a mother can kill her own child, what is left before I kill you and you kill me?" -Mother Teresa when talking about abortion after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
Most Gen 2 games are clons of EQ, save the space based games.. but even those are very EQisk. EQ was hugely profitable, and in true free market fashion people will clone the leader before others take risks on new ideas.
This is why the GW and it's predecessors are fairly exciting they are finally breaking away from the Brad McQuid ideals of "time invested" and milking it's user base out of every dime it can get.
MMORPG's will only get better as time goes one. Here's to looking down the road.
-=-=-=-=-
Evolution of MMORPG: EQ -> DAoC -> WoW/EQ2 -> Guild Wars
Down time, monthly fees and camping are ideas that will be forgotten, all too soon. If your not playing Guild Wars your playing with something dead.
What did you mother say about playing with dead things?
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
-=-=-=-=-
Achievers realise that killers as a concept are necessary in order to make achievement meaningful and worthwhile (there being no way to "lose" the game if any fool can "win" just by plodding slowly unchallenged). -bartle
Bartle: A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50% The Test. Learn what it means here.
Ummm i see sum inconsistancies in the EQ bashers.
First, if someone is talking about how much time they spent raiding and camping for the best gear, acting like EQ was so terrible for it, how the hell did they get high enough to even experience that stuff? I'll tell you how. They spent years playing it, have multiple lvl 50+ characters and hate the game for their own problem in burning themself out. As someone else said, alot of the jaded players are the ones who played EQ as a lifestyle, raiding EVERYDAY, and then they blame the game
If for every player that liked EQ, there were 5 others playing something else, are you implying other games did better subscriptions? Since the only game you can make a case for that did better than EQ was Lineage, and that was basically Asia, everybody in the US was playing EQ. And how can you compare SWG's success to EQ's? EQ was such a huge influence to the mmorpg genre, that it influenced many other mmorpg's after it in so many ways. It was as revolutionary and unique to mmorpg's as UO was, nor do i want to hear the MUD argument since in my miind 'mmorpg's' as i know them started with UO
I dont know how people can downplay EQ's influence on the genre. And for the record, i didnt start playing EQ until after Kunark. People at the time couldnt believe there were actual newbies playing EQ, and i remember having to swear more than a few times i was a true newbie. I didnt go into it trying to have the best gear and racing everyone else to be on top, in fact i had one of the best noobie experiences in EQ that i've had in any game trying to make it through Qeynos Hills then thru the Karanas. Sure i'd see uber players every so often, but EQ did/does a good job of separating high lvls from the really low lvls for the most part. Lets just say i rarely saw lvl 50's anywhere around Qeynos, Karanas, and by the time your out of those zones your like lvl 25 or something. Nowadays with how huge it is i imagine there are many zones where people will have it all to themself.
Also, i didnt have a huge problem with how they did merchanting where you parked your toon in a spot to sell. I remember just being happy they put that type of bazaar in the game. I'd also like to complement EQ for putting a 'universal bank slot' where you can transfer items between your characters w/o having to use a 3rd person or dropping it on te ground.
Also, what mmorpg tradeskills isnt based on time played? Is there an mmorpg where a noobie can be the best trade skiller? As far as i know, trade skills in every mmorpg is ALL about redundancy and time online devoted to it.
Last but not least, i have yet to play a PvE game that challenged groups to be disciplined in knowiing their aggro, and having such a learning curve in how to play a class, than EQ. In fact alot of the grouping mechanics in most mmorpg's are downright lame compared to EQ.
Not to say it didnt have its problems, but i'd take EQ w/ todays graphics over most of the dumbed down mmorpg's coming out these days(mean up to this point, not sure about WoW or EQ2 yet).
[quote]Originally posted by jimothypetro
[b]Heh.. it's always funny to hear people complain about how much they hate EQ after they've played it 20 hours a day, every day, for 3 years straight.
Maybe EQ wasn't "ruined", maybe, just maybe, you guys actually just got bored with a game after playing it for thousands of hours?
Nah, it must be SOE's fault.
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ice i couldnt agree with you more. I started playing before kunark came out and it was a good expasion but everything went down hilll from there.
I'm in the same shoes as you are alerum. what sort of mmorpgs are you/have been playing?
I think too many zones is a good argument. New zones encourage players to travel to these, and a continual stream of new, further away zones, encourages players to just keep going.
So for example if you have...
City 1 (starting city) - Zone 1(three miles away) - Zone 2 (another 3) - Zone 3 miles away) and then so on up until like zone 20, its hard to think that people will be hanging around city 1 all the time. They will either find a city closer to Zone 18, or just hang out at a relatively empty spot.
This is also not an exclusive Everquest problem, the same thing has/is happening with DaOC with its multitude of areas. You HAVE to start in the Shrouded Isles starting city or be subject to an area with few to no people (on the more populated servers).
It seems like a good idea at first, adding more content, making the game ever evolving, etc, etc.
But I think that its just as effective to localize content addition. Improve on cities (catacombs, sewers below/around the city) rather then add new ones, add more quests, etc. I don't think it nescessarily always has to be "Lets add an area further away then our alst one!"
It becoems like... what was the point of even putting in all this stuff if after the main wave of our pbase sweeps over it (the vets) that it will be rarely used ever again, or become stale and useless in a year or so.
Are there any games out there that just have their original game and only have 1 or 2 expansions? I'm sure there are a couple out there, right?
I was in EverQuest from before Kunark, through to Lost Dungeons of Norrath, with a few breaks in between. I was one of those people who would wake up, turn on the computer, play EverQuest, finish, go to bed, repeat. The problem was, I was in the UK and my raiding guild was in America, so my wake up times would be around 2-4pm, and my going to bed times would be like 7 in the morning. Not good.
It took me a while, but I finally realised this just wasn't good for me, and moved to a Euro server so I could get at least my times sorted out. That was when you transferred with nothing, so suddenly I went from uber-monk to 'level 65, 60 AA monk running from hill giant'. I realised I had to get cash to get more equipment, and it was about that time it suddenly hit me: This game is ridiculous. My character isn't good, its just the equipment that is. Sure, I can take out an Orc Pawn in one hit, but jeez, my power level just dropped 20 levels.
So thinking about the time I would have to invest in getting equipment again, and the whole point of doing it, then looking at myself in the process, I took the 2+ years of work that went into my 65 monk and pressed delete on it.
Why am I telling you this? I don't know, I guess its so you have some backstory on my EverQuest experience. Or maybe I needed psychiatric help and typing all that out was somehow theraputic.
Maybe not.
Well, anyway, I found that EverQuest from the start was awesome, but it got crowded so adding Kunark was like a breath of fresh air. Its like a fat person unfastening their belt and having the flab roll out.
Uhh, right.. so then we had Velious, and that gave some more space, but things were still fine.. then along came Luclin, where I think the perfect balance had been reached. Movement was a little easier with the spires, and the central 'hub' was a good place to stand around and chat with people while waiting for your port. But after that, things went downhill. Only LDoN was a good idea after that.
With the interest in the game fading, all the zones started to empty as players went elsewhere, so it got quieter and quieter, and only the high level raiders really remained. So thats all SOE decided to make new expansions for. New players to were met with this huge universe that was so loosely populated it sometimes felt like a single player game.
Personally, I think SOE had their minds set on EQ2, and were in the process of basically 'killing' EQ1 so they could focus their attention elsewhere. I've no doubt they still make money from EQ1, but I'm sure the plug is going to be pulled on it in the next few years at the least, because once they stop making expansions and the high level raiders have done it all.. who'll be there to play it?
* EVE is just now releasing its first expansion. [Released: 5/6/2004] [1 Expansion in under a year]
* Final Fantasy Online just released its second expansion (Chains of P-something being the second, and Rise of tHe Zilart being the first). [Released: 10/28/2003] [2 expansions in under a year.]
* City of Heroes is still in original content (minus patches) with the first expansion to be their capes addition which doesn't add much, and the major first expansion being City of Villains (for August of 2005) [Released: 04/27/2004] [1 Expansion in just over a year]
* Lineage II doesn't have any expansions per se, but its released its quasi-expansion (Chronicle 1, which allows for sieges) with Age of Splendor (chronicle 2) slated for november. [Released: 04/27/2004] [2 Expansions in just over 1 year]
* Star Wars Galaxies is on its first expansion. [Released: 07/09/2003] [1 Expansion in just over a year]
This compared to the larger of the industry:
* Everquest: On my count has had eight expansion packs, though I may be incorrect. [Released 2/28/1999] [8 Expansions in just under 5 years]
* Dark Age of Camelot: Debateable here. They have Shrouded Isles, New Frontiers, and Trials of Atlantis as their major expansions, but then the content adding Foundations. So that puts the count at 4, with the next "Catacombs" Slated for a december release. [Released: 10/8/01] [That will be 5 expansions in just over 3 years.]
So some games have done good by not flooding their games with new content, though most seem to be sticking to a pattern of at least 1 expansion a year.
AC has released one expansion and is working on their second.
I've heard pretty decent reviews, any other games or comments on AC?