What Made EQ Great? Tell your stories to a filthy casual

Vaclav

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
Original EQ with some degree of fake instancing (i.e. Vanguard's system where stuff was open world but while "locked out" you couldn't interact with a mob - probably that and Diplomacy were the only real good concepts of VG to ever reuse) would be a wonder to behold for damn sure. Possibly with a few other minor modernizing tweaks - but really the only thing that bums me out when I play it is the stupid drama over raid content sharing early on pre-instancing, and then post-instancing basically everyone is in their own bubble and you can't show off and/or witness people downing something.
 
Sylverlokk

Sylverlokk

Golden Knight of the Realm
1,554
492
First Log in. High Elf, could not see shit, turned around and fell in the moat of Felwithe, drowned immediately. Laughed my ass off.

Beta character, Zben, started out as a beta write up, but a cross country journey to get my enchanter the uber rare Spell tashan, which at the time was ONLY for sale in Qeynos and Freeport. So I decided to go at level 7 to freeport. When I got there I decided to join a guild whose entrance requirements was getting a drink in a pub in Halas or Erudrin. I headed to Halas at level 7, thru Rivervale.
The story is the here with pictures if anyone is interested.

http://www.rutan-guild.com/silverloc...bensworld.html

In release I did the same thing at level 4, Ak'anon to Qeynos, going thru the Beholder maze and seeing the King Beholder, using a combination of invisibility, and stealth. Was awesome. A huge world, awesome and varied starting cities, factions that made the world feel like it had real politics going on and good versus evil, and tight knit groups and cities (before all the gates) made EQ awesome.
 
T

Torrid

Molten Core Raider
926
611
Frenzied Wombat_sl said:
but how the hell did you do it without a cleric and bard/monk? From my experience you needed the bard or monk to pull the train and the Cleric to shield every one pre-pull and possibly save a wizzy or chanter during the AoE firestorm. I could see how the two chanters should mitigate more damage than one with the chain stuns, but in my experience if a few mobs resisted the stun your chanter was instagibbed without the cleric to save his ass until another stun could hit.
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He either boxed a cleric out of group/logged one in to res or he's a liar. You don't do repeated large AoE pulls without dying, I don't care how good you are.

Since I still play the game, and actually did this last week, I can speak to this. First, 4 wizards is redundant. 3 is the most you'd want, (I prefer 2, as it allows a tank + cleric; if you have 1 ench then you'd want 3) unless of course you have out of group help; the reason why is the opportunity cost. The hard part is actually the pulling of the mobs if you're doing large pulls. You want somebody who can do that well, and those people tend to wear platemail, or in extremely large pulls, cast DA. Keep in mind, the pull is going to slam into the puller and do a round before they get stunned. Also Kunark wizard PBAoE spells were really powerful, so 2 wizards is enough. There is a reason no focii worked on them and they never got upgrades until after GoD. (I'm assuming they did after GoD, I quit then)

Since this is the future, I can actually show non-EQers what this looks like:



Now keep in mind that dark blue mobs in this game are actually difficult (relative to WoW anyway) to solo, if not impossible for some classes, and that is me killing 126 of them at the same time.

Basically I would say that EQ's fest 'feature' would be that it rewarded skilled and creative play far more than other games. People who were good at the game were rewarded for it greatly, and people who were bad at the game were punished. A lot of the EQ hate is from bad players, really.

Also the mobs were tough in this game, but every class got something overpowered that often did not in and of itself make the class a solo machine. CH was OP for example, but it didn't help the cleric solo everything in sight; ensnare lasted FOURTEEN minutes; shaman slow made mobs hit 1/4th as much, etc. Put these all together in a group of players and mobs suddenly don't seem so tough. There was a great deal of synergy.
 
Ryoz

Ryoz

<Donor>
831
181
Haha, the run through skyshrine. If you knew it perfectly and had sow it still took you over 10 mins iirc.
 
S

Sithro

Molten Core Raider
1,493
196
supertouch_sl said:
I wouldn't want to go back to camping mobs because it's already been done, but you can probably recreate some of the magic by incorporating a lot of EQ's elements.
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I think this is true. It would be a niche MMO, but it doesn't really need to set the world on fire. Hell, I think Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are the most EQ like games in a long time, and a lot of people love those games (me included).

I think one thing that made EQ memorable is the element of fear. Norrath was a scary place when you were new. You could be in a zone for your level, and get raped by something completely out of the blue (I'm looking at you, Kizdean Gix). You really had to learn the area to get around without getting roflstomped. Friends think it's amazing that I can still boot up EQ, and navigate zones by looking at the ground.

It was a game where you had to know your stuff, and pay attention. A world where the wrong move could get you killed.
 
F

Furor Planedefiler_sl

shitlord
6
0
I could probably fill a book with all of the things that made EQ interesting/great, but there is one moment that I think encapsulates it nicely for me. One of my fonder memories, anyway.

It was during the Kunark era. We (FoH) had cleared everything for the week and I was online just chatting with the guild when I received a message from a random, frantic person. He told me that his guild had tried to do the Plane of Fear and failed hard. They'd spent the last 12-15 hours trying to CR and had only managed to make things worse. Now I believe at that time the corpse deletion timer was 24H, so these guys were in dire straits. Now I'd done this a thousand times. Most guilds used monks or rogues to CR but in FoH, I did the majority of our CRs. I told the guy to calm down and that I'd be there in 10 minutes. I checked my bags, had everything I needed. 20 fully charged Staves of Forbidden Rites, all my insta-clickies, etc... I got a ride to Feerott and headed over to the portal. When I got there I saw a good, solid 30 naked people, all freaking out. I calmly walked up and said "Hello." They said hi back and then asked when the rest of my guild was coming. I told them I'd handle it alone. They sighed in disbelief. Undeterred, I asked them all to consent. I made a res. corpse outside, gave them specific instructions as to what I'd need and began.

The whole guild waited for me outside the portal. Every time another person was CRd they'd cheer. Over the course of the next 4-6 hours I CR'd every single one of those guys, some of them with 10+ corpses and got every single guy and girl out safely. Not a single corpse was lost.

When all was said and done every single one of them thanked me and offered me all kinds of ridiculous things. Their gratitude, though, was enough. More than enough. We all knew the stakes at hand and what a lost corpse could mean at that level. To me, it was gratitude as true as any gratitude that you would receive in the real world.

Not a dry eye in the house that night.

*It was a game with real, often high, stakes and consequences.
*A man could be a legend in that world -- in the truest sense of the word

Good times.
 
D

Dumar_sl

shitlord
3,712
4
That kind of gratitude can't exist now. The mechanics won't allow it.

You saw that same level of feeling everywhere, even at the lower levels. How grateful was I to that druid for getting my corpse in Befallen after 10 hours in panic mode. How a friend and I CR'ed deep in sola for a rogue attempting his burning rapier quest who begged us for help (no one ever zoned into sola), and it ended with us helping him with his quest and a new guildmate and friend.

The mechanics drove those interactions and created that community.
 
S

Sithro

Molten Core Raider
1,493
196
Dumar_sl said:
That kind of gratitude can't exist now. The mechanics won't allow it.

You saw that same level of feeling everywhere, even at the lower levels. How grateful was I to that druid for getting my corpse in Befallen after 10 hours in panic mode. How a friend and I CR'ed deep in sola for a rogue attempting his burning rapier quest who begged us for help (no one ever zoned into sola), and it ended with us helping him with his quest and a new guildmate and friend.

The mechanics drove those interactions and created that community.
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Haven & Hearth has it, but for different reasons (could die at any moment).
 
Fight

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,581
5,404
Uhh... Furor pop? Holy shit, I wonder what kinda loot he drops. Let's kill him and find out.
 
N

NadikOne_sl

shitlord
37
1
Raiding with BoW on Torv was fun getting our shit pushed in on SoE failures with PoP and GoD was not. Pretty much left after that. The game prior to that was amazing for the most part.
 
Vandyn

Vandyn

Blackwing Lair Raider
3,656
1,381
Hey I remember being in those kind of situations where my guild tried to break PoF and of course all wiped. Had to wait hours for a friend to bring his guild to help us out, took hours (I was bound in Velious and was stuck staring at walls, naked). It was frustrating but also relieving. The game really did put you in situations where you were forced to rely on other people. Reputation went a long way and server drama was something else. I think that forced interaction, being reliable on someone else, in some cases people you don't know is what people remember the most. I just don't see how you would recreate that now, I can't see any developer making a game today where you're so dependent on another player, and not just in a raid setting either. Dark Souls gets referenced alot but that's a single player game, you are ultimately in control of how good you can be. Not the same in Everquest.
 
Adebisi

Adebisi

Clump of Cells
<Silver Donator>
27,679
32,721
Are there really any other games out there with real death consequences and high stakes these days?

Only one I can think of right now is Day-Z
tongue.png
 
Hekotat

Hekotat

FoH nuclear response team
12,064
11,554
Adebisi_sl said:
Are there really any other games out there with real death consequences and high stakes these days?

Only one I can think of right now is Day-Z
tongue.png
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I believe it's the only one and I think many people are going to be surprised at how well the stand alone is going to do. There IS a market for games like this and I'm still at a loss for why companies ignore them, all it takes is word of mouth for a game like that to become hugely successful.
 
Pasteton

Pasteton

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,608
1,718
Someone else here must have died to the Kly in Dalnirs? Talk about a death trap. Was having a blast clearing the zone with someone when I was around level..30 I think, and then this guy shows up like a whole bag of rape.
That deep in Dalnirs, I think I had a panic attack. Luckily my friend knew a friend who knew a bunch of 'high levels' ( I think they were 38-40) and the dudes showed up and cleared for almost an hour down to our corpses. I remember how blown away I was seeing such uber leveled chars and how thrilled I was to be getting my corpse back.

You really appreciated the help you got in eq, especially when you were starting.
 
E

etchazz

Trakanon Raider
2,707
1,056
Furor Planedefiler_sl said:
I could probably fill a book with all of the things that made EQ interesting/great, but there is one moment that I think encapsulates it nicely for me. One of my fonder memories, anyway.

It was during the Kunark era. We (FoH) had cleared everything for the week and I was online just chatting with the guild when I received a message from a random, frantic person. He told me that his guild had tried to do the Plane of Fear and failed hard. They'd spent the last 12-15 hours trying to CR and had only managed to make things worse. Now I believe at that time the corpse deletion timer was 24H, so these guys were in dire straits. Now I'd done this a thousand times. Most guilds used monks or rogues to CR but in FoH, I did the majority of our CRs. I told the guy to calm down and that I'd be there in 10 minutes. I checked my bags, had everything I needed. 20 fully charged Staves of Forbidden Rites, all my insta-clickies, etc... I got a ride to Feerott and headed over to the portal. When I got there I saw a good, solid 30 naked people, all freaking out. I calmly walked up and said "Hello." They said hi back and then asked when the rest of my guild was coming. I told them I'd handle it alone. They sighed in disbelief. Undeterred, I asked them all to consent. I made a res. corpse outside, gave them specific instructions as to what I'd need and began.

The whole guild waited for me outside the portal. Every time another person was CRd they'd cheer. Over the course of the next 4-6 hours I CR'd every single one of those guys, some of them with 10+ corpses and got every single guy and girl out safely. Not a single corpse was lost.

When all was said and done every single one of them thanked me and offered me all kinds of ridiculous things. Their gratitude, though, was enough. More than enough. We all knew the stakes at hand and what a lost corpse could mean at that level. To me, it was gratitude as true as any gratitude that you would receive in the real world.

Not a dry eye in the house that night.

*It was a game with real, often high, stakes and consequences.
*A man could be a legend in that world -- in the truest sense of the word

Good times.
Click to expand...
i remember dying at an early level (around 20 i think?) in lesser fay to the fucking brownies. me and 2 other friends saw what looked like a smurf village and said "shit, let's check this out." of course we died within 10 seconds and we were fortunate enough to get a level 40 druid and bard who were nearby and helped us get our corpses out of there (and i think they both died at least once themselves). i was so grateful, that when i hit a higher level, i started going back to starting areas like felwithe and kelethin and helping out other lower levels with CR's, items, plat, teleports (i was a wiz) and whatever else i could do. wound up earning a great reputation for myself and my guild. i thought that sense of community and the fact that you could have a direct impact in the game on what kind of rep you had (good or bad) was a great feature.
 
Borzak

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,682
32,074
Itlan_sl said:
^^ Genius. Wow.

I just remember soloing Gorenaire. God that bitch was a joke.
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I managed to solo Sont during the Velious expansion when it was hotly contested for the talisman to get into Sleeper's Tomb. Of course it was a short duration bug that was introduced on patch day and they brought the servers down to fix it but I kept my loot. When servers came up and bosses started popping I was in WW fear kiting wolves on my ranger. Someone posted on a forum that there was no range limitation to archery now. So I started shooting wolves from outside of aggro range and they would just stand there and die eventually. I went over to ToV and started on Sont so far away I literally couldn't see the dragon and the health bar never went down from that distance. It ook so long my archery disc popped again (60 minutes I think) but eventualy she died and I looted. I don't know why they weren't regenerating, maybe it was because I was out of aggro range. Shortly after the servers came down and they patched it. At the time there were probably 15 people or less on my server who had access to ST and I was unguilded lol.
 
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