Adun

Every now and again, I get nostalgic and remember how amazed I was when I first began playing this game.

The first time I clicked on the icon and was met by quiet orchestral music that took me to the character select screen for the first time.

My very first toon (a scout) rolled on Ogguk instead of Lucan D'Lere because I clicked on the wrong server... and spending an hour trying to figure out what evade did, what aggro was and why I'd want to reduce it.

Stepping out into Antonica for the first time and actually seeing "things" out in the distance. Everything was redto me and I actually remember being nervous (like heart beating faster and stuff) whenever I ventured too far from a path. I got lost once.... I never get lost in video games but I got lost in Everquest (once... it was just the one time ).

The first time I played Adun in a pick up group and worried about people dying. I kepy thinking "Hey, lets do those easier mobs over there, mm k?" but not wanting to seem like a wuss.

The first time I realized that there was actually day and night and the sun and moons set and rose.

The first giant I ever saw was Ott Stompgut chasing the last member of a group that wiped, all the way back to the Antonica Gate in Thundering Steppes.

Going to Everfrost (one of my favorite zones) for the first time at level 42 because I couldn't find a group to do the access quest before then, and my first trip into lower Sol Eye and just being astounded by the design. The semi transparent bridges overlapping each other...

The DoF came out and I was wow'ed but not as much as before.

KoS came out and it was kind of neat... the Bonemire was a dangerous place and I liked some of the music in the Barren Sky...

I liked EoF. Some of the Wow was back. The Fae (I know) and the racial trait "glide". Kelethin and all that was just great. The day I discovered that New Tunaria was Felwithe and that I could tie it in with my rp back story... that was cool (damn shame I can't move there though).

RoK was just more of the same (except solo).

Raiding is raiding, grouping is grouping, it all seems to be about loot and stats and DPS... What happened to the "wow" factor? Sadly, though I've tried many other mmo's the "wow" only seems to happen once. Many I login and really wish I could recapture the newbie feeling again.

With all the shit happening in the general gaming section (Snark, LFG, etc.)... I think I was much happier when I didn't know what was happening. Just living in ignorant bliss.

No point to the post really. Just bored.

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Valarye

The game is all rinse and repeat now. Any game will become like that once the new has worn off. I think the only thing that keeps people coming back now are the online friendships that have developed.

I too remember my first character created on lucan. I created a fighter because when I first started playing D&D the fighter was the easiest class to learn so I thought it would be the same in an online game. I was stunned by how pretty the game was and how vast the landscape was. I know I spent a month just outside of Antonica's gates killing rats and other random mobs.

The game has lost it's original luster and no amount of expansions or the likes will bring it back. Doesn't really give me a sense of awe anymore. i still play because I like the people I play with.

Karel

When the game came out it was a brand new world to explore. You had huge overland zones that were plagued with dangers which helped immensely to provide that feeling of being in a hostile world. Getting to the Commonlands or Nektulos for the first time was a great feeling, there were dangers everywhere..you couldn't run around the place watching the goddamn rainbow because you'd get gangbanged by true heroic mobs~.

When DoF came out, you only had two overland zones. And one of them was 80% solo oriented (Sinking Sands)~.

When KoS came out the "overland" zones were a joke and you were moving from island to island and it gave me a feeling of being confined to very tiny zones; the feeling of being where I shouldn't be (like the one I had when I went to Lavastorm, Zek, Rivervale or Nektulos) was completely gone.

EoF gave us a couple big overland zones but the feeling of danger, the feeling that you were adventuring in a brand new world was gone. There's no sense of adventuring when you are threading amongst things that don't pose a threat to your life.

Then Kunark came out and well...it's clear that danger isn't going to be something we will feel ever again. Because SoE catters to a niche that simply doesn't care about that kind of hassle. As a result RoK is nothing but a guided tour through pretty zones filled with lots of quests and lots of quests rewards. Sebilis and Chardok are the only redeeming thing of RoK, shame most people skip it for CoAs, Chelsiths and Maidens~.

At release the game was and felt like a world. Ever since the first expansion the game is nothing but a conglomerate of zones where you'll farm and / or quest. Of all the instances that have been released I've yet to see one come even close to DFC or Nektropos Castle (v1). Both were claustrophobic mazes with the right atmosphere to make you feel trapped and fighting for your life. Unrest wanted to be the new Nektropos but it fell short, it was too easy and it turned out to be nothing but another loot pinnata. In the end, that's what happens with most of the content in this game~.

Mind you; my best in game experiences are that crazy run in DFC we had in 2k5 when the zone was a raid and Fyst didn't have a x2 tag as a mere adornment, a few instances that I duo'ed with a necromancer and a few with a defiler that gave me a feeling of accomplishment like we were doing something that wasn't to be taken lightly and of course...anything that was boat quest related. Lavastorm's boat quest is up to this day my favorite one, shame most missed it because it was actually lots of fun~.

In the end, the game lost all sense of impending danger. Since money lays with the most laid back crowd I doubt we will ever see it back. So at the end of the day, you keep logging in because it's a cheap alternative for entertainment (playing EQ2 = cheaper than going out during the week) and / or because you have commitments to fulfill (guilds, raiding, etc)~.

arieste

EQ2 was never a "Great" game. I've been playing it since beta and since the day I bought it, I've pretty much been waiting for a better game to come along.

The problem (from day 1) with EQ2 is that it's not meant to be world. It's meant to be an elf-flavoured theme park. Nothing you do in the world matters in the least or has any effect. Nothing changes. (oooh, guards appeared in cities at some point.. like oMGz!)

EQ2 came on the heels of a few MMOs (SWG, Horizons, few others) that had been mainly criticized for "lacking content". By "content" what was meant is "set tasks, with set rewards". EQ2 has no shortage of this and never has. There are thousands of quests of all varieties. There are instances that allow you to put in your 1hr or 2hrs and get something specific done. As far as content goes - EQ2 (same as WoW) is 100% perfect.

The problem is that in the mad rush to make all this content, the fact that there still needs to be an interesting and interactive world was forgotten. Immersion doesn't and never has existed in EQ2. So you have your Quest#19845 which you do and which is plenty of fun and then you get your Reward#98745 which looks cool and you enjoy wearing, but once you're done that particular piece, you're basically stranded in nothingness until you start doing the next thing.

Every day, I log in to complete a task or to talk to a friend. I do not log in to experience norrath, because there is no norrath to be experienced, at least no more norrath than there was a month before launch back almost 4 years ago.

That's the problem. But hey, the raids are fun... (for me)

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Tristen

I used to log in to get some RP in, which can make up for some lack of emersion, but that doesnt help when almost all RP is gone....

Mellody

Great Thread! Besid all the drama nice to have some memories!

I play since launch and I remeber well those moments - beeing a low lvl noob at lvl 16 or so and try with a group to explore Thundering Steps - Everything was heroic and gnolls very nasty bastards wiping us.

And I remember gaining my first Gold Piece and feeling SO rich with my secon GP :D Oh and not to forget when I asked that dwarf where he got his LEGENDARY Boots from when seeing him on the Round in TS !!! I was like WOOOOW LEGENDARY!!! So uber!! Gotta go to needle in Antonica and gather those damn ores - oh, that's what you call a Heritage Quest?

I had REALLY some great time in the early days and Norrath was for sure a place to explore. As my first MMO I couldn't beliebe how wonderfull the landscape was and how much fun it is to go to some undiscovered places (as Varsoon) and do my best as a Templer to keep everybody alive. Then wiping way waaaaay deep within and have to travel there once more to retrieve Soul-Shards at any cost.

Then I created my first Twink, an Ogre Beserker and decided that he is vegetarian and therefore not welcome to Freeport ^^ and he had to do the nasty nasty early days betray quest without guiding of a Wiki or stuff. After several deaths trying to travel throug Nek Forest as a lvl 15 toon where RED HEROICS crossed streets, no griffons I was so happy some lvl 20 guy trained with me... Then I found my first Guild, some people who stood around the first Ogre they EVER faced in their live in the middle of antonica, beeing an atrraction ^^ They helped me and invited me to join them, which I did.

Still makes me smile when I think of that moment I took resident in Baubleshire and standing in the bank, while all those gnomes and halflings where staring at me like I was a Rockstar ...

Sad all those WOW Moments are gone forever!

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arieste

i would say that in large part the lack of immersion is the reason WHY almost all RP is gone...

sure, you can RP without any world support at all, but honestly, you do just as much RP over MSN Messenger... that can't be right.

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rorion

Hehe yeah I remember when Adun and I both got in the game and got in our guilds Team Speak server, we pretty much had no idea what we were doing.

Also remember when the whole guild betrayed, 6 shards later and freaked out running through Nek forest with no map...

I agree, you really only get that wow factor when you first start playing, it is hard to keep it going when a game has been out for as long as EQ2 has been.

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Will

It's like Christmas after you've figured out Dad's Santa. Presents always rock of course, but the magic is gone.

Ah, to be young and noobish again, to see the Ferrott through unjaded eyes . . .

But Karel's equally right when he says the fear is gone too. New zones used to be uncharted wilderness filled with danger and mystery. Not any more. OSHA inspected Norrath and issued fines. Unsafe conditions were cited, protective gear was mandated, sharp edges were dulled, corners were padded. Heaven forbid anything dangerous be allowed to exist--except in carefully segregated, well marked areas far off the beaten path. And yes, every path now is beaten. They might as well pave them. And add lights. And signs. (Teren's Grasp 1200 meters)

wtb danger

Jalathan

I still remember the days where I used to threaten to eat Oma for various things (Shaydroth was a Kerra paladin who HATED Erudites ;)). I remember the day that Rorion (Omaplata) and Adun joined the game.

And yes, I remember that betrayal... Think it took us like 2 hours to make it across Nektulos and like 6 deaths, we only made it the last time because I figured out how intercept worked and kept our healer alive while we ran through the last leg of the zone :D And our immense relief when we made it to the docks at the thundering steppes.

They have simply removed too much 'fear' from the game, they've removed almost all of the risk and thus the accomplishment do not feel as powerful as they once did. It is the whole risk vs reward concept, they didn't tone down the rewards but they dropped the risk by an amazing amount. No more corpse runs, no more group debt, no more risk in zones, no more exploding chests that would wipe out the entire party and loot drops like candy... So, in that way, I agree with Karel (ok, everyone can get up now ;))

But I also agree with Arieste as well. Norrath doesn't feel alive, even back when we were wiping time and time again making our way across Nektulos for betrayal, the world didn't feel alive. Nothing we've ever done has really made a difference in an outcome, everything that has happened would of regardless of what players did. Think about it this way, the game has been out what? 3.5 years and the cities of Antonica and Freeport are still under seige by gnolls and orcs??? With all the powerful 'heroes' around, these measely creatures continue to be an issue to these powerful cities??? There is nothing living in the world. So while the stunning graphics (for its time) and staggering amount of content are nice at first brush, these are things that will eventually lose their luster and the core of the game is exposed. EQ2's core has been exposed and it has been found somewhat lacking (granted it is still better than alot of games out there today, which is another issue entirely ;))

Tristen, I think the reason RP has kinda died in the game is because the game changes in such radical ways that it is next to impossible to create a backstory that will stand upto the changes in the game mechanics. I wrote a HUGE backstory (along with another person) for my main (Jalathan) and it wasn't long after we wrote it that they completely changed a major aspect of the game (betrayal), underwhich a large portion of our backgrounds were based. Made our story so full of holes that swiss cheese was getting envious... Then came the gods and the idiotic decision to not allow certain alignments to worship certain gods. My main was a teir'dal paladin who fully acknowledged that he was a child of Innoruuk, but yet I couldn't take him as my diety because of some silly restriction on ridged alignments. So there was yet another hole in my backgrounds story and it kept going down from there to the point where I just gave up What i the point in RPing if the rules of the world change so dramatically each and every month.

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Paladin of Antonia Bayle