Biggest thing I miss from old school EQ was that feeling of wonder and terror that you got leaving the safety of your home area. I remember starting a ranger in Surefall Glade and not wanting to leave that area bc Holly Windstalker killed me the first time I tried. Heck, the first time I made it to Qeynos I felt like I had made a major accomplishment. I guess I just miss the feeling of going on an adventure.
Sort of on a similar note, Brad McQuaid just started a kickstarter for a new MMO he's trying to develop called pantheon. Sounds like he's trying to do a throwback to a more old school type mmo. Check it out if your interested. http://pantheonrotf.com
Biggest thing I miss from old school EQ was that feeling of wonder and terror that you got leaving the safety of your home area. I remember starting a ranger in Surefall Glade and not wanting to leave that area bc Holly Windstalker killed me the first time I tried. Heck, the first time I made it to Qeynos I felt like I had made a major accomplishment. I guess I just miss the feeling of going on an adventure.
I remember making a barbarian and trying to leave everfrost and getting stuck in a pitch black cave with no way to tell which way was which and eventually ditching days of progress on the character because more than an hour just trying to see where I was going with absolutely no reference to go by was not a game.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire: Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
I was lucky enough to work in an office with a color laserjet printer (that I was responsible for "monitoring" ), so I had a binder full of maps to look at while I played.
On a related note, I was eventually fired from that job for playing EQ too much
In my first year playing EQ, I logged 60 days of playtime; that's an average of 4 hours a day.
I also replayed it recently, but the endless "kill 4 X" and "collect 10 Y" quests reminded me of why I started playing DDO.
I tried EQ2, too, but it had the same problems with a watered down system and only slightly better graphics.
I always remember a RL friend of mine wanting to play a dark elf ranger ( obviously a Drizt fan ). EQ allowed him to do this, how? easy. he created a dark elf warrior and primarily used his bow in a group with myself and his brother. We spent weeks farming crushbone until he was actually friendly with Kelethin. One of my best memorys was him standing at Kelethin bank and watching every player walk past and stop to look.
Repuation and faction was one of the greatest forgotten MMO mechanic. Games still implement it, just not very well.
I don't know most of these, as I think Everquest was before I was born anyways. >.< But they seem real nice. I wish nothing was bind on equip. On one of my games, I just loved giving used clothing to other characters and alts. And all my characters would share their clothing.
Originally posted by Aradune I think EQN and Pantheon will be great. They're different enough that I see people playing and enjoying both.
I think EQN is going to be different from anything else out there.. those guys have the budget and the resources to pull off something toa level that not many other studios could even dream about
*sigh* I miss Everything about Vanilla Everquest 1 , EQ2, and WoW. Even Vanilla Vanguard Saga of Heroes that didn't run on my cheap low-end computer.
It is a shame that games have become what they are now, because they had such potential a decade ago to become something truly awesome with more technology. Now , if one can only stand the terribly archaic graphics, EQ1 remains the best MMO in existance as it has been since 1999.
I pray that Rise of the Pantheon, Pathfinder Online and Shroud of the Avatar are great games that can challenge that, but so far no one has.
WoW didn't "fix" eq1 it made it easier for casuals. There is almost no content for hardcores, and the game is pretty quickly beaten and boring. Then all it boils down to is grinding the same exact raid zone lockouts every single week for equipment and 1% drop mounts.
Sure, the polish was awesome, and original vanilla was great, but now? People quit in 3 months and then return the next expansion, then tend to quit in another 3 months when they are bored again and done with it.
Most people are fine with WoW, because they play 2 or 3 other mmos at the same exact time, or they are happily playing Playstation , Nintendo or Xbox console games. I myself play WoW while playing Everquest 1, EQ2, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Rift, or Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Unfortunately, we never get any content updates on WoW... World events are never changed (same events for 5 years etc whoot ! ), even the anniversary is the same old temporary click reputation/exp 9% item that goes up 1% a year.
Nothing really ever changes on WoW... I'm excited about the next expansion and strongholds, but it won't compare to EQ2's housing, and it will never replace or innovate on EQ1. The statistics and equipment system is far to simplistic and streamlined, there aren't enough procs and variety enchantments for equipment, crafting is mostly a worthless joke and way to easy, people can max out their crafting 2-8 hrs after the expansion releases for realm first achievement, how is that an improvement?
By the time Mists of Pandaria was out for less than half a day everyone had already achieved their realm firsts, and then all of the 90's started marching in a congo line.
Above all, they don't do level scaling content like The Shadow Oddysey (EQ2) or World event quests on EQ2, and most content on WoW is max level blocked forcing everyone to be 90. You can't even finish world event metas unless you are level 89 or 90, and there's simply no reason why content can't scale to your level. Everquest 2 did it, and it is the best idea ever.
In fact the ONLY RAID people do on WoW is Siege of Orgrimmar , every single week 1 or 3 times per a character lockout. You can do it on LFR, Flexible, and Normal or Heroic on every single character and that is it. Otherwise , its all about mount runs that never drop mounts, and farming for gold or companion pets.
Many people don't do scenarios or dungeons at all anymore, and are never online. The game is kept alive by the pvp battlegrounds and the fact that most people happily play casually along with many other games at the same time.
Worst decision ever, to replace every single dungeon and scenario, and then every launch expansion raid with only 1 raid zone. Which, even though it is fun , it is the *ONLY* raid you can do for the gear... Then you have lockouts to keep you from cancelling your subscription, so yeah some improvement over Everquest 1, huh? Lol ).
Above is why I hate pvp ruining my pve, we lost a lot of vanilla content and should have had more variety, now everything is homogenized for pvp. It makes the entire game generic and boring, just so everyone can be equalized and have fair pvp battles. What if we only want to pve? Can't pve servers just have a different set of class abilities than pvp servers? Can't pvp bgs and arenas just disable your spells and abilities that are op?
I'm so sick and tired every single time a game update patch has to "nerf" a class because they were op in pvp, instead of disabling that ability and nerfing it when they engage in pvp activities. Everquest 2 has it on tooltips that "when in pvp" this ability isn't usable or is weaker and lasts for a severely shorten duration (cc's) than when used in pve. Same as when you use an ability on an Epic x 4 and not a Soloable or Heroic group mob, just make the ability severely nerfed , without ruining the PVE fun and role-playability.
Also, please let us fight on mounts in these new games and please let us resurect the fallen in combat. Having your team dead, and being unable to rez more than 1 or 3 people (usually the tank and healers), makes a fight incredibly dull and boring for everyone else once that rez limit has been reached, simply terribly game design right there. So, you die once and go afk for another 5 or 10 minutes? Wow, that sure is fun.
Everquest 1 we could rez and rez the entire battle, and clerics had a rez epic, just so they could rez in the middle of combat. It allowed us to have very hard and challenging battles, where most of your raid could wipe and you could still survive if all of the clerics rezzed the raid back. There was a rezzing/buffing station, in the middle of the fight!! Same as Karnor's Castle training, people would rez on the left and train on the right.
Nailed it! I've tried to explain to my fiance how great EQ was when MMOs were still new to us all. She started playing MMOs with WoW so she missed out on all these points.
I especially miss points 8 and 10. I'm always complaining that I miss having to work my way to my destination. The difficult journey was part of the fun. Now it's... well it's an instant queue. And dungeons and zones are so simplistic now.
Sure, raids require "knowing" the raid. When the boss does this, stand here. When it does that, stand there. Now do that for 15 minutes.
I'm one of those directionally challenged individuals and even i have trouble getting lost in newer MMO's. I miss the ability to do so more than i can state.
Also all fast travel should be player driven. Need to get to a spot that'll take 30min to get to on foot? Better find someone that can teleport you or start hoofing it.
I love EQs base, but after being gone for so many years I have a hard time going back simply due to all of the systems they implemented. So many currencies, stats, mercenaries, flags, imbuements, etc.
Unfortunately, Pantheon is the only game in the near future (and not entirely sure if it's even going to get off the ground) that seems to be going in the EQ direction. EQ Next is the EQ name slapped onto a GW2 crafting sim. Kind of sad.
Great trip down memory lane - played EQ for about 8 years, and nothing has ever taken it's place in my affection since.
Also way back in the day it was so hard getting started and doing anything - getting wiped out at orc hill every few minutes, trying to find your corpse if you ran off into the woods and didn;t have a bard handy to find it......happy days
Comments
Biggest thing I miss from old school EQ was that feeling of wonder and terror that you got leaving the safety of your home area. I remember starting a ranger in Surefall Glade and not wanting to leave that area bc Holly Windstalker killed me the first time I tried. Heck, the first time I made it to Qeynos I felt like I had made a major accomplishment. I guess I just miss the feeling of going on an adventure.
Sort of on a similar note, Brad McQuaid just started a kickstarter for a new MMO he's trying to develop called pantheon. Sounds like he's trying to do a throwback to a more old school type mmo. Check it out if your interested. http://pantheonrotf.com
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
I remember making a barbarian and trying to leave everfrost and getting stuck in a pitch black cave with no way to tell which way was which and eventually ditching days of progress on the character because more than an hour just trying to see where I was going with absolutely no reference to go by was not a game.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
I was lucky enough to work in an office with a color laserjet printer (that I was responsible for "monitoring" ), so I had a binder full of maps to look at while I played.
On a related note, I was eventually fired from that job for playing EQ too much
In my first year playing EQ, I logged 60 days of playtime; that's an average of 4 hours a day.
I also replayed it recently, but the endless "kill 4 X" and "collect 10 Y" quests reminded me of why I started playing DDO.
I tried EQ2, too, but it had the same problems with a watered down system and only slightly better graphics.
Here's hoping EQN gets it all right.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Brad McQuaid
CCO, Visionary Realms, Inc.
www.pantheonmmo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
brilliant post!
So simple but made a huge difference to a game.
I always remember a RL friend of mine wanting to play a dark elf ranger ( obviously a Drizt fan ). EQ allowed him to do this, how? easy. he created a dark elf warrior and primarily used his bow in a group with myself and his brother. We spent weeks farming crushbone until he was actually friendly with Kelethin. One of my best memorys was him standing at Kelethin bank and watching every player walk past and stop to look.
Repuation and faction was one of the greatest forgotten MMO mechanic. Games still implement it, just not very well.
I think EQN is going to be different from anything else out there.. those guys have the budget and the resources to pull off something toa level that not many other studios could even dream about
Main Game: Eldevin (Plat0nic)
2nd Game: Path of Exile (Platonic Hate)
*sigh* I miss Everything about Vanilla Everquest 1 , EQ2, and WoW. Even Vanilla Vanguard Saga of Heroes that didn't run on my cheap low-end computer.
It is a shame that games have become what they are now, because they had such potential a decade ago to become something truly awesome with more technology. Now , if one can only stand the terribly archaic graphics, EQ1 remains the best MMO in existance as it has been since 1999.
I pray that Rise of the Pantheon, Pathfinder Online and Shroud of the Avatar are great games that can challenge that, but so far no one has.
WoW didn't "fix" eq1 it made it easier for casuals. There is almost no content for hardcores, and the game is pretty quickly beaten and boring. Then all it boils down to is grinding the same exact raid zone lockouts every single week for equipment and 1% drop mounts.
Sure, the polish was awesome, and original vanilla was great, but now? People quit in 3 months and then return the next expansion, then tend to quit in another 3 months when they are bored again and done with it.
Most people are fine with WoW, because they play 2 or 3 other mmos at the same exact time, or they are happily playing Playstation , Nintendo or Xbox console games. I myself play WoW while playing Everquest 1, EQ2, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Rift, or Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Unfortunately, we never get any content updates on WoW... World events are never changed (same events for 5 years etc whoot ! ), even the anniversary is the same old temporary click reputation/exp 9% item that goes up 1% a year.
Nothing really ever changes on WoW... I'm excited about the next expansion and strongholds, but it won't compare to EQ2's housing, and it will never replace or innovate on EQ1. The statistics and equipment system is far to simplistic and streamlined, there aren't enough procs and variety enchantments for equipment, crafting is mostly a worthless joke and way to easy, people can max out their crafting 2-8 hrs after the expansion releases for realm first achievement, how is that an improvement?
By the time Mists of Pandaria was out for less than half a day everyone had already achieved their realm firsts, and then all of the 90's started marching in a congo line.
Above all, they don't do level scaling content like The Shadow Oddysey (EQ2) or World event quests on EQ2, and most content on WoW is max level blocked forcing everyone to be 90. You can't even finish world event metas unless you are level 89 or 90, and there's simply no reason why content can't scale to your level. Everquest 2 did it, and it is the best idea ever.
.....
In fact the ONLY RAID people do on WoW is Siege of Orgrimmar , every single week 1 or 3 times per a character lockout. You can do it on LFR, Flexible, and Normal or Heroic on every single character and that is it. Otherwise , its all about mount runs that never drop mounts, and farming for gold or companion pets.
Many people don't do scenarios or dungeons at all anymore, and are never online. The game is kept alive by the pvp battlegrounds and the fact that most people happily play casually along with many other games at the same time.
Worst decision ever, to replace every single dungeon and scenario, and then every launch expansion raid with only 1 raid zone. Which, even though it is fun , it is the *ONLY* raid you can do for the gear... Then you have lockouts to keep you from cancelling your subscription, so yeah some improvement over Everquest 1, huh? Lol ).
Above is why I hate pvp ruining my pve, we lost a lot of vanilla content and should have had more variety, now everything is homogenized for pvp. It makes the entire game generic and boring, just so everyone can be equalized and have fair pvp battles. What if we only want to pve? Can't pve servers just have a different set of class abilities than pvp servers? Can't pvp bgs and arenas just disable your spells and abilities that are op?
I'm so sick and tired every single time a game update patch has to "nerf" a class because they were op in pvp, instead of disabling that ability and nerfing it when they engage in pvp activities. Everquest 2 has it on tooltips that "when in pvp" this ability isn't usable or is weaker and lasts for a severely shorten duration (cc's) than when used in pve. Same as when you use an ability on an Epic x 4 and not a Soloable or Heroic group mob, just make the ability severely nerfed , without ruining the PVE fun and role-playability.
Also, please let us fight on mounts in these new games and please let us resurect the fallen in combat. Having your team dead, and being unable to rez more than 1 or 3 people (usually the tank and healers), makes a fight incredibly dull and boring for everyone else once that rez limit has been reached, simply terribly game design right there. So, you die once and go afk for another 5 or 10 minutes? Wow, that sure is fun.
Everquest 1 we could rez and rez the entire battle, and clerics had a rez epic, just so they could rez in the middle of combat. It allowed us to have very hard and challenging battles, where most of your raid could wipe and you could still survive if all of the clerics rezzed the raid back. There was a rezzing/buffing station, in the middle of the fight!! Same as Karnor's Castle training, people would rez on the left and train on the right.
I used EQ Atlas, I still have those binders kicking around as well, one for each continent.
Nailed it! I've tried to explain to my fiance how great EQ was when MMOs were still new to us all. She started playing MMOs with WoW so she missed out on all these points.
I especially miss points 8 and 10. I'm always complaining that I miss having to work my way to my destination. The difficult journey was part of the fun. Now it's... well it's an instant queue.
And dungeons and zones are so simplistic now.
Sure, raids require "knowing" the raid. When the boss does this, stand here. When it does that, stand there. Now do that for 15 minutes.
you know there WAS mmo's before EQ, it wasn't the first, neither was WoW lol
UO .. thats what i miss
I'm one of those directionally challenged individuals and even i have trouble getting lost in newer MMO's. I miss the ability to do so more than i can state.
Also all fast travel should be player driven. Need to get to a spot that'll take 30min to get to on foot? Better find someone that can teleport you or start hoofing it.
I love EQs base, but after being gone for so many years I have a hard time going back simply due to all of the systems they implemented. So many currencies, stats, mercenaries, flags, imbuements, etc.
Unfortunately, Pantheon is the only game in the near future (and not entirely sure if it's even going to get off the ground) that seems to be going in the EQ direction. EQ Next is the EQ name slapped onto a GW2 crafting sim. Kind of sad.
Everquest 1 and Dark Age of Camelot.
That is where my love for MMOs was left behind.
Great trip down memory lane - played EQ for about 8 years, and nothing has ever taken it's place in my affection since.
Also way back in the day it was so hard getting started and doing anything - getting wiped out at orc hill every few minutes, trying to find your corpse if you ran off into the woods and didn;t have a bard handy to find it......happy days