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I remember my first day vividly
My buddy and I were at the store and...
Friend: "Buy Everquest, you'll love it."
Me: "PAY a monthly fee to play a game? Uh uhh, no way."
Friend: "It's a great game, I can show you around."
Me: "Ah well, if I don't like it I can always bring it back."
I remember week one. I created a Half-Elf Druid, who reached level 9 after some effort, and then I realized just how crappy that was lol. I turned to a Half-Elf Ranger, and then it was nerfed the next week.
Finally, I settled into a High Eld Wizard as my primary, to try something else out besides Qeynos Hills, and it took off for me. Four years of hammering out that game, and never saw half the content.
But when i think of EQ, I think of those heady days. Going into Blackburrow for the first time, and witnessing my very first TRAIN TO ZONE.
The Halloween Event in Qeynos Hills, that had me ticked because I couldn't do anything lol.
Orc Pawns! Crushbone, and OMG what in hell is an Ambassador Dvinn? He just completely wasted me!
The tons of newbie questions. The guy telling the zone to "If you have newbie questions, type /q to find the database." Then watching 3/4 of the zone go linkdead lol.
I remember thinking just how BIG Qeynos Hills zone was. For the longest time I didn't get to see all of it. And that was a small one!
The community was awesome. Lots of friendly people, and lots of good times to be had. My first naked Halfling run through Kithicor Forest at night hehe.
I was an old man in comparison to the community there. "Just feed me some geritol and wheel me into combat." Now I run into many more people in other MMOs that are older than me. Times have changed.
Those early days, I really miss them. MMO gaming hasn't been the same since. A year ago or so I dropped in to see how things were with LDoN, and it just wasn't the same. The community was weak. Too many expansions going in crazy directions.
Ah well, I will always have release week to remember. When I think back to that week, I am still amazed by the feeling I get imagining myself logging on. And at the end of a run, every day I took time to do a little fishing in Surefall Glade. (even near the end of my tour in EQ)
EQ just isn't the same anymore. But no game since has ever approached the wide open combat and massive content of this game at release. And no game has ever given me that same old feeling.
__________________________
"For one who seeks what he cannot obtain suffers torture; one who has what is not desirable is cheated; and one who does not seek what is worth seeking is diseased." - Augustine of Hippo
Comments
My first character was on my husband's account. It was a troll shadow knight. I have to admit, it took me a while to even get out of town, and then I died. Repeatedly. Mostly, I was a victim of interface confusion. Remember the old interface? If not, please allow me to remind you.
When I got my own account, back in September 1999, and my first character was a human enchanter. I played her a lot for a long time and made very little progress, but I was in character almost all the time, and having a ball. I made my way all over Norrath in the days when that meant taking boats and running for your life, without in-game maps to guide you. I was a girl born in Freeport who made it all the way to Toxx in one direction and as far as GFay in the other.
Then my husband made some comment about me not being a serious player, and feeling like time played with me was time wasted that he could be *doing something*... So I deleted my enchanter, made a DE wizard, and busted out a bunch of levels, surprising the heck out of him. I sort of stalled on my wizard, so I made a DESK, and realized it was the class/race I had been meant to play all along. I've been through several SKs, but I am back to being a DESK now.
EQ has changed a lot. It just keeps changing. The storyline went off in a pretty odd direction for a while, but the game seems to be coming back around to its roots, even as big changes are made.
I recently made a little DE wizard who bears the name of my old gnome SK, and I bound myself behind the guards in the tunnel to Neriak. I logged out there a few days ago, only to log in today to find a whole new Nektulos. I am the nostalgic sort, and I am sure I will miss the old Nektulos at some point, but the new one looks better, and it was fun checking it out.
EQ/Norrath has a sense of being a place, I think. It's a place you can get homesick for, and that's something that most other games I have played just couldn't pull off.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
That's it! That's the missing link I've been looking for!
When I remember those days, I remember the PLACE.
Things changed, but there were a lot of great changes to the game. The Bazaar was one of those, as well as Kunark and Velious, Planes of Power, and LDoN. I personally liked PoP because it allowed me travel as a newbie which was highly restrictive in the old game. But, on the other hand, waiting for the broken boats was always a pleasure. There was always the opportunity to say hello to the community rather than just teleport over and continue with my achievements.
I remember on Dec 30th of the that year creating my first Dark Elf Necromancer. I couldn't get over how useful Nektulos Forest was for the newbie player, how well balanced the experience was. Heck they even put Travis Two Tone in there for me to beat on for a few levels, which was ALWAYS great fun!
But mostly I remember the first night there. I spent the rest of the night absolutely blown away by Neriak. The place actually gave me a strange feeling of dread. It reminded me of a sickness, but done so beautifully that I couldn't take my eyes off it!
The new cities that came later, like for the Iksar, just didn't have that same feel for me. Luclin I just didn't like at all, except for the Paludal Caverns which was a night's fight from 15 to 26, what a crazy place.
When the new looks arrived for the characters, I tried them several times but I just did not like sacrificing the processing power to look...different. I STILL like the old characters better!
As far as the interface goes, I was perfectly satisfied with the old one until I tried a new one and saw the advantages. Though that old interface looks highly intrusive to the game play, you were used to it from the get-go, and there was nothing to really compare it to hehe. If it never changed, I would have had no problems with it.
One of the things I find to be disturbing is just how SOE has perverted all this in EQ2. It's about the art now, more than the content, and it doesn't provide the same feel.
It's that PLACE, that FEEL that is missing today, in ANY game!
__________________________
"For one who seeks what he cannot obtain suffers torture; one who has what is not desirable is cheated; and one who does not seek what is worth seeking is diseased." - Augustine of Hippo
I started as a Necro in Nek forrest. My daughters friends turned me onto the original game, no Kunark or Velious. I was so lost, I hung around the newbie log until level 10. I actually cuaght my breath many times when a decaying skeleton ran after me or a beetle. Getting to the tunnel that sperated Nek and the EC was quite an accomplishment. Being a Dark ELf, I couldn;t just pop in to Freeport where all the trading was being done, I had to sneak through the WC sewers to do any buying. The feeling of being discovered by a guard was very scary.
I gave up being a Necro and switched to Druid. When I finally got my port spells, I was getting paid by high end guilds to transport them to different places. I loved this game, quadding Othmers and Spirlocks, being accused of KS, etc. There will never be another game like this, ever.
When i first started i was a dwarf warrior. I can still remember leaving morridim (or kaladim?) And seeing the hills with goblins, skeletons, bats roaming everywhere. It was my very first mmorpg so i did not know what to expect. I solo'd until around level 12 i believe but somehow it was deleted.
So then i made a barbarian warrior. Was a tough time tring to figure out how to leave the city! But when i did i came across everfrost. Wolves, Goblins, Bears roaming around. I also met many new people.
I created many other characters including a Erudite Necromancer, Dwarf Paladin, and a Elf Ranger or bard. I got increadibly drunk on my elf which gave me a headache.
Unfouchantely, a few weeks later my computer crashed and i was finished with Everquest
.
Achiever 60% Socializer 53% Killer 53% Explorer 33%
I remember it. Took all the classes into consideration at the beginning. Friend told me about the ones I asked about, but I wanted to be a high elf paladin. I knew it. I made the guy and on my way out of felwithe a level 52 clerc is there and he's like hey. I got some stuff you could use. Out of the blue. Nicest guy I've met in EQ to date was the first. Gives me like 3 bags of stuff I can and can't use and like 200 plat. That's better than any tutorial. Friend goes to sleep while I'm still there clawing and scratching my way to level 3. I die....multiple times. No maps, didn't know about /loc, no tutorial. I lost all the stuff and orcs continually had their way with my corpses strung out around the Fay. Poor ol' Avethar
I finally get my own copy of EQ and start an account, remake the paladin and level him for a while. I still love this class.
Well, I get my Paladin to like level 25 eventually and make a monk alt. He was naked until level 17. I thought he was pretty cool, but played my paladin mostly to 30. Around this time Luclin comes out. I go to Japan and drop the game for a while. But then after about 6 months decide that I need something to do when I don't have money to go out and paint the town every night. I get EQ again, but had to download the game (only got classic). My characters were all (except for the monk) in Luclin. So I log the monk on and end up dying. Turns out he, too was bound in luclin. Dear god. I email my guildie from my paladin's guild and give him my info so he can log me on and run back to my corpse. He even gets me a rez and bind in High Keep.
That guy is my best friend on EQ and has been for about 3 years now. Turns out I switched to my monk as my main once my paladin got to 35 a few weeks before PoP release thanks to a monk who used to play a warrior in my guild. He helps me out and gives me some old gear, teaches me some pulling and monk tricks. Helps me out, gets me into my monk. PoP release hits. Monks get nerfed right as I hit 35 on the monk. Remember that with Luclin and PoP paladins got a lot of upgrades while monks got ... the shaft. I stayed with my monk. I took a chance and I guess I really do enjoy it. Dunno if I'd enjoy the paladin more. But I'll always remember that night at my friend's house when I picked it. And I still keep the character around out of nostalgia. He's now level 40, but stripped and never played.
R.I.P. Avethar Soulforge
lol
you guys making me sad
ahh...
you ARE making me miss the old game, and i never even got to play the old game
i started around the time luclin was released. few weeks before i think
the game has changed a lot. for the worse IMO. i remember my first night in faydark. a grown man actually freaking out walking thru the woods. running like a sissy back to the guards at felwithe! LOL
the game has changed. it's too easy now. my paladin is now 68 and there are few places i'm still "afraid" to go. with LoH and heals and sow and gate potions, i can usually get thru just about anywhere.
but reading your posts, i started remembering myself
i think what i miss the most are the friends ive made. the unique personalities of the real people behind the toons. i remember that the community was much friendlier back then. i remember being in awe when my friend Rosella would come charging in on her horse to save me and my friends. when she had time of course. but she always came if she could. i dont see a lot of that anymore. the old players are largely gone. the ones that remain are in hardcore raiding guilds and raid non-stop. that is all great, but it doesn't invite much opportunity for the new players - albeit very few new players now i think. eq has just lost the reputation i think it must have had when i started and before - to meet the awesome veterans. i miss that.
now days dragons and giants are fodder for the uber mobs of eq's current world. i think SOE has done you guys - and me as well - a huge disfavor. and in the end themselves. i think the writing is on the wall for EQ. there are too many choices out there now, and IMO, eq just isn't one of the best ones
i thank you guys for posting your memories here. i know it's just a game, but for me it was a thrilling experience for the first year. after PoP, i think eq just began to go down the drain. it's very sad in a way.
i'm looking forward to the release of Vanguard now. i hear the Verant crew is at it again
ive spent MUCH time investing in eq. i'm sad to think that in a year or so i may never play it again. ive made many friends and memories.
thanks for helping me to remember them
Qendiil - 70th Paladin of Tunare - 7th Hammer
When I was around 11 I would watch my friend's brother play. One day I went to the store adn decided to buy it. I created a mage and remember being so excited about my level 4 pet. I don't really remember much but it was soo fun back then.
great make me /cry
. I to remeber the good ole days in everquest running around, not having a clue what im doing. My friend is also thinking the same thing he wants to go back but dosen't know if it will be the same. I would love to go back with a few people who feel the same way about the game as i do, and just run around as a group and collect cloth and leather armor, go get lost in kurns, get LT'd by the burrows, then after a bit head to the great divide and and kill the giants there. just basically hang out and do some killing, play a few hrs a day, not be twinked and have fun.
Your making me get all teary =(
I too remember the good ole days, falling from the trees in Gfay because you had a lag spike and spending 2 hours trying to find your courpse
OH, and seeing higher lvls fighting ice giants and being completely amazed at how strong they were compared to you.
Getting lost in perma frost and accidently waking up vox
First time going to crushbone
I could go on, but il just make myself feel bad
sorry one more, stumbling onto alakazaam's for the first time
It does seem like my newbie times were my favorite
I remember it well....release day. I was overwhelmed that I might actually find a game world/experience that would rival Meridian 59. Now, M59 wasn't able to compare in any way to even the concept of EQ...but it was more immersive than anything else at the time. Making the switch was heady stuff..no doubt.
After messing around with 4 or 5 poorly thought out toon concepts, I finally stumbled on to a cute lil necro girlie that just did SICK damage everywhere. My husband, who also played, wanted me to be more group oriented, but I really liked having the ability to solo even in areas that would be inappropriate for a toon of my lvl. At the time there was no thought of mana batteries ar any such thing, so I just went on my merry little way.
Big fun, and I could play and lvl at a much faster pace than most.
Then Nerfs...pesky career...baby number one etc etc., which added up to more or less quitting almost two years ago, but to this day I still look back at the ridiculously good times we had in that game world...
...AND...I still have and update my account/client...so i could pop up in world any old time.
HEE!! I think I'll do that right now!
My first day I remember creating a high elf wizard. First the game didn't work for me until I ended a process under task manager. At that age im suprised I even got it to work. I remember being in the starting area and trying to learn how to swim. After looking around the first zone I went to sleep. The next day I remember creating a half elf ranger. It seems alot of newbies make half elf rangers, my friend started EQ about the same time as I, and he made the same class and race before we even talked about the game.
I probably was level 10 for a month, with about 10 other alts. Even though I was such a noob, the game was still fun as hell and I have alot of good memories from it. I wish I could get that feeling back with some of the newer games, but of course that will never happen.
VideoGameNerd
My first character was a wood elf druid I started on my friends account lol he let me play for a week this was during the beta then told me I had to get my own account. So I bought my first computer (which I upgraded this year lol) I remade my druid and got my gear from my friends account and she is level 60 today i still play her sometimes but after learning to heal on her. I allowed a friend to roll a cleric on my account for him to try we both played her but i fell in love with the dark elf cleric. Today she is 65
.
My first day was actually recently in around this year... I was huge into Star Wars Galaxies. And I saw the station all access pass and I've heard friends talking about everquest all the time so I decided to get the station pass and every game (Yes EQ1/2 Planetside / *Not matrix Bleh* / SWG)
But, I've alwasy been a fan of the close combat warriors / and i'm a fan of king arthur times (Mideval)
So I decided to make a Barbarian (sort of like the Highlander i guess)
And I was playing in the new tutorial zone for quite some time... And I'm so used to todays version of interfaces and gameplay, I was almost fustrated (Seeing as i'm a stubborn child *16 years old*) at the game but, I gave it a chance, and I grew to start liking it but... I had serious problems getting Into the game... I was so used to todays games like Everquest 2 / Star wars galaxies / Dark Age of camelot
That I couldn't get adjusted / adapted / into Everquest... It looked like fun, but I couldn't get into it.
I was also extremely lost as you all were..
I had started in the great land of Queynos... And I (once again being so used to games where you get quests and go do them) That I was looking around for a quest giver, but I gave up and went to go kill things but I felt I wasn't doing the right thing...
I"m not sure.. but It was fun i'll give you that... I'll keep playing it but i'm such a noob at it.
MMO Addict
dont worry lol we all felt like that at one time or another
good luck with your game hun.
First Moment in EQ: made a half-elf rogue, walking around checking out Qeynos, then BOOM, thunder and lightning and I see the text "It begins to rain" I was like omg!!! sooo cool!!! Instantly fell in love right there.
Then I stumbled onto the docks where I met my first player character. He was a Erudite headed for Erudin, he gave me a Dervish Cutthroat Ring, Yeah...it was all over for me then lol. I have never had so much fun in a game or met as good as friends as I did in EQ. (staying up till 730am killing aviaks and diving off their high platforms in the rathe mountains) Rolflmao'in all night long.
The sheer emersion of the game cannot be equaled, the only thing that comes close for me was my first venture into the PvP realms of Daoc.
One thing I loved to do(just a few times), even though it was mean, was to get a Mage to summon one of those wands that changed hp into mana...cant remember the name of the item. I would then take the wand to the newbie zones and give it to a lvl 2 or 3 character and told him that if he gets into trouble, right click the wand and it will help him out. SOoo...I would sit there and watch him go fight some bats and rats, and sure enough when he got into trouble, KABOOM, a burst of blue sparkes and a dead newbie, I think it sucked like 200hp or so for the conversion, and the poor guy only had like 50 some hp. But, I would only do it w/ my DE warrior, so I was kinda RPin...Lol...I feel bad but it was so damn funny!
Im fixin to go home right now and start-up the free 21 day trial and take a stroll through memory lane...
Modulation rod If i am correct. The upgraded version sucks out 400 hp hehe.(65 mage here)
Hi! My name is paper. Nerf scissors, rock is fine.
MMORPG = Mostly Men Online Roleplaying Girls
http://www.MichaelLuckhardt.com
lol o man..i was 14..and a friend at school said i should play everquest..i said something like how long does it take to beat....and he said it was ever..quest lol...so my good friend bought it first,i gues he had the money and i watched him a bit, then when he was done i made a dwarf palladin on his account..made it all the way to GFay because i decided to go on an adventure(i havent really grasped the concept of killin to lvl,it was my first mmorpg) i was lvl 5 tho...so im killin bats in gfay and wind up getting lost in the trees lol..i cant find my way out..i didnt wanna die and loose my stuff lol..so i just made a new guy.lol..then i remember geting my own account on my old old computer..my first guy was a human monk..i remember being in freeport and when it lightened my computer just super lagged..so i got a new computer and took my new monk to meet my friend from school at the docks in Freeport..he gave me a BO STICK..i was sooo happy..i was the best ever lol..i think i even got my monk to lvl 18.lol..then i guess i wanted to try something else..so i made me a half elf ranger...and got him i think 2 kodiak claws..his name was surj..cant remember what happed to him..i think i deleted him later and reused his name..my first real main was ...o yeah a barbarian warrior named ellassar( i think lotr came out about that time or was fixin to.....but he was awesome..still have him on my account...had a halfling druid named kykingwyng..and a gnome magician named Baskyn..even tried those new lizard people when they came out lol..sure was wierd and scary to run through the dreadlands..lol....those were the days....now everything just suks for some reason..or at least its not as good as it once was......
i could be getting older tho...who knows?
Good,Bad, I'm the guy with the gun!-Ash
I think I was 12 when I was playing Starcraft Broodwar when my friend said you should try out EQ. A couple days later I went to the store and looked at the game and I fell in love with it. I asked one of the people working there if this game was all online. He said yes and it requires a monthly fee. I looked at my mom and told her about it and she of course said no because of the monthly fee.
About a year later or so after palying some other games I got my mother to let me play the monthly fee game. I bought the EQ Evolution bundle which had the original EQ and 5 Expansion packs.
I logged in the world and created my first character. A Barbarian Warrior. I loved walking out to Everfrost and going to the south dungeon(forgot name) and killing monster after monster just hacking away having all the fun in the world.
After gianing a few levels I looked around for somewhere else to go and found myslef at the planes of knowledge. I walked around saw another Barb warrior and started to talk to him. He was max level and really helped me out and got me some modivation to get to the level he was at. He showed me around and gave me some cash and invited me to his guild. It was great but after a while i started to look at other games and found myslef quiting EQ and playing DAOC. I didnt get really high in EQ(was lvl 20 or so) but I had a blast playing it. Its been a year or so and ive tried out EQ2 and just dont like it really. There something about it and how you have to choose between good and evil. Just didn't like the concept the split the community into 2. Don't feel like going into details.
I do have one quick question though. I have grown tired of playing DAOC and was looking at another game for Xmas maybe. I am just wondering. What has become of EQ. Has it taken a turn for the worse or has it kept that same EQ feel. Or is it even still alive? I know this game has HARDCORE players that will never let it die but if i joined now will i be on my own becuase every1 else has been playing so long that they know exactly what to do and where to go. I am really thinking about going back to play this awesome game but i don't know if i should just leave it sit on the shelf or go back to the world of Everquest.
Any thoughts on this subject?
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)
-_-...First experience was back Feb 2001 where my Human char was dropped into the plaza area outside the arena in Qeynos...Totally sucked because it was raining, nighttime, and my gamma was turned to 0 so I was bumping into walls not knowing half of what to do with "HUMAN" night vision.blech..lol.
Hi! My name is paper. Nerf scissors, rock is fine.
MMORPG = Mostly Men Online Roleplaying Girls
http://www.MichaelLuckhardt.com
Neriak was a blast. My DE Necro on Drinal spent many many days on the newbie log running from spiders, beetles and Skeletons. Fortunately, it was heavily traveled area for higher ups who would occasionally would stop by and buff us and tell stories of the great Eastern Commons just through the tunnel. Getting there for lowbies like us was horrifying. Also, in those days, Freeport was the trading area and Dark ELves had to sneak through the tunnel outside of WC and trade through the sewers. To me, that was immersion, despite the simplistic graphics, it was all about the game play. Best game ever, then and still to this day.
My first day was wandering from Freeport with my human wizard and following the path in West commanlands to see where it went, then getting jumped by a load of orcs.
I remember visiting Orc camp 1 by mistake and in shock seeing so many people battling orcs, was fab.
Next day it was the giant spiders with a female warrior (most likely a bloke) who I was grouped with.
Then I started an Iksar Beastlord, fell in love with Kunark, rest is history.
Now playing: VG (after a long break from MMORPGS)
Played for more than a month: Darkfall online, Vanguard SOH, Everquest, Horizons, WoW, SWG, Everquest II, Eve
Camp Check , Orc1? I finally managed to level a Druid to 49 and learned the fine art of quad kiteing Spirocks in Timerous Deep (I think that's the name). One day I was there and I hear in chat a guild preparing to get a Druid his Epic. I cannot remember the quest, it was close to the last piece he needed. The guild was so well organized.
Ahh I remember my first character. It was a human mage, I managed my way all the way to level 4, when my friend pointed out I was on the roleplaying server. Ah. Next came my half elf ranger, which I managed to level all the way to 49 without ever owning a bow. And finally my half-elf druid who went all the way to 65, getting her epic at 51. Ahh I was proud of that. The game just stagnated though by the time they released LDoN. It's a pity, since I never found another game I enjoyed so much as I used to enjoy Everquest.