Reminiscing EQ

[Noah]

Starters, if you didn't like EQ, or you didn't play, I'm afraid this isn't the thread for you.

And while I'm well aware that this game had a lot of flaws, it was my first MMORPG and I still like to view my nostalgia through rose tinted glasses.

So what were your favorite parts that you remember about the game?


Mine was the actual sense of wonderment that I had. I actually got lost, and kind of worried about where the hell I was. I got lost once in Butcher Block mountains at night as a noob and stumbled across the chess board, and was pretty damn amazed.

I got lost dungeon crawling the old Cazic Thule and getting lost in the water ways underneath the temple. I was alone, but luckily I had my halfling leather raiders cap that had one charge of teleporting me to west commonlands. I burned that sucker like no tomorrow when those alligators started closing in. For as dangerous as it was to die, I took a hell of a lot more risks in that game than I did in any other.

When they added the sneak and hide ability for rogues, it was a contest for me and a couple other rogues to see just where we could go without dying and do corpse retrievals. I managed to do a corpse retrieval from the Crypt in Sebilis and from the King in Sebilis. I was really proud of that. I managed to pull them all the way to the entrance too with just teensy bit of Z-axis exploitation.

[chady]

Teleporting melee guildmembers to PoH and ditching them afterwards

And having your name shouted out all a cross a zone by a God and then getting instantly killed. A mechanic that would be bad in today's mmo's since raid sizes do not allow for arbitrary deaths anymore

[Garthilk]

I'm sorry but for some reason hunting caimen on the beach in SRO, Sand Giants, East Commons. Man, those are some memories.

[drunkmime]

Chessboard
Chessboard
Chessboard

[Devica]

Mine was the actual sense of wonderment that I had. I actually got lost, and kind of worried about where the hell I was. I got lost once in Butcher Block mountains at night as a noob and stumbled across the chess board, and was pretty damn amazed.

Me too! That happened all the time in Everquest for me. I still get lost in other games, but it isn't the same. I find a new zone but my heart doesn't race like it use to and I certainly don't fidget in fear.

I remember when I first rolled my wood elf rogue and I was wandering around Kelethin and got lost in the woods. A friend I had made from a previous group told me to be wary of the white unicorn. (I thought he was kidding.)

The only light on was the glow from my monitor and I had my headphones turned up. I could hear every little detail and perhaps my imagination caused me to panic, but I swear I heard wild foot steps and the whinny of a horse.

When I came upon a brush, there he was... staring coldly at me. I 'eeped and took off for safety only to get even more lost. I was sure he wasn't following me, but I could not shake this creepy feeling. After looking at my map and sorta figuring out where I was headed I ran across a black unicorn. Needless to say, I logged off.

I still have no idea if those guys were friendly or not.

[Ruinx]

Starters, if you didn't like EQ, or you didn't play, I'm afraid this isn't the thread for you.

And while I'm well aware that this game had a lot of flaws, it was my first MMORPG and I still like to view my nostalgia through rose tinted glasses.

So what were your favorite parts that you remember about the game?

What if I both loved and hated EQ, in equal measure?

What I loved about it and remember:

The feeling of freedom just wandering around Qeynos, talking to people, getting killed by accidentally attacking a guard, chatting to players, and so on. I remember the first day I played (it hadn't been out long), I was wandering around, and some bard came up to me, chucked my character some alcohol, and we chatted whilst drunk and jumping in and out of the fountain.

The feeling of terror when I was first run to Freeport, seeing, with wide, scared eyes, all sorts of monsters that'd eat me in a heartbeat, travelling cross-country. It was totally awesome.

The awe and feeling of importance of first joining the Bloodsabers in their secret lair beneath Qeynos, a lair I had to locate myself (this was long before I knew of guides on the internet, if there even were any back then). I really liked the way you were actually part of an evil organisation with it's own goals, rituals, and so on, not just Paladin #10663 or Warlock #13474 as one feels one is in, say, WoW. More MMORPGs need to do this, and I sincerely hope WAR does.

Getting lost in Qeynos' sewers when I was a lowbie was pretty exciting and scary too.

Later the game's "fun levels" kind of tapered off for me.

Negative things I remember were:

Constantly being "sexually harassed" because I had a female character. I had no idea so many guys were such creeps, and nowdays I'm glad I got the opportunity to find out, but back then, I was just creeped out. People were always trying to give you "presents", or "help you out", because you were female. As I've related before, one guy even tried to get me to not tank because it was "unladylike" or something to that effect (I mean, wth dude, really? Unladylike? Are you my grandmother?).

Angry Japanese people screaming in all-caps Romanji at me because I dared to attack mobs within 30 yards of them. There was a lot of that on E'ci. None of them admittedly to speaking a word of English,

The mind-bending tedium of corpse-runs and trying to level up solo. Oh well, at least I was an SK, I knew most other people had it worse. I liked to group, but the Japanese players wouldn't group with non-Japanese, and a lot of other people seemed to refuse to group SKs at that stage in the game.

[Grimfell Gromgear]

I had trouble getting into Everquest. Probably because to me it fealt less like a game and more like a world simulator, or something of the sort.

I guess it didn't have the 'confines' of a path to help me along where I needed to go. There was always a palpable feeling that I was lost and didn't know what I should be doing next, and while some people like that open endedness it sort of dragged on me when there were other games that gave me more focused attention. Plus, it started to seem like I needed more and more to team up with guilds and 'set' my playtimes to play with groups I needed, and I have to be able to play when the mood hits me. As soon as a game tells me 'play me at 10pm on friday'... it's almost guaranteed I won't want to play at 10 on friday. It's like my mind fights against it for some reason.

[silex]

Hehe, the first MMO wonderment feeling. For me, that was UO, but I still have some good memories of EQ.

Probably the funniest was making a level 1 Erudite Shadowknight starting in Paineel and trying to make it all the way to Faydwer. What an adventure. Started out by traversing the Toxx forest, slipping by the Erudin guards, avoiding the guard patrols in the city, stowing away on the boat to Qeynos, diving into the water before reaching the Qeynos docks, swimming to the underwater entrance of the sewers, somehow sneaking through the sewers... eventually met my end in Highpass. It was just too narrow to maneuver around.

[Noah]

Another thing I completely forgot, but that was I played EQ in first person a lot. Not all the time, because I was one of those compulsive camera changers when I was running anywhere (I liked looking at myself haha). But when I was fighting, I was in first person. When I was exploring a city, first person. I have NEVER done that in DAOC and beyond. For some reason I just do the third person now, and I'm beginning to get the feeling that because of my preference for first person back then really impacted the way I viewed the game as a whole.

I remember my first level 4 halfling. I had just gotten level 4 and went back into Rivervale to train up. I was wandering around, and then I saw this nook in the back of the town next to a farm. I ended up in Kithicor Woods. I got lost in a hurry! I finally found a path and me and my friend (who was sitting right next to me, and this was his first time playing too) were glued to the screen. We followed the path and ended up in the West Commonlands. We were amazed with just how new everything felt, so we cracked open the map that came with the game and figured out where we were, and then we said "Lets go to Freeport!" and so we started out on a path and came across some huts next to a lake. That was pretty neat, so we went inside, poked around, and then came out to see what was the most MASSIVE monster I had ever seen. A hill giant (which nowadays to me is nothing haha) but back then, holy crap! We both actually made a "EEP!" sound, and thought we could hide behind the huts and he wouldn't see us. We were safe, because the guy was way off in the distance, but still, we were like "LETS GO BACK TO RIVERVALE, AHHHHHH!" so we tried to run off back to Kithicor, and suddenly a puma came out of no where and ate us. We both kind of sat there in horror as I respawned back in Misty Thicket. "I don't think I'm gonna get my body back..." I said. My friend shook his head and agreed. "Now scoot over, its my turn!"

And that started us on our weekend all night adventures. Ah memories.

[Wordor]

Ahhh EQ...The good Ol days.

I remember logging into my very first character ever, a barbarian warrior named Bobanos.

Man, the sense of amazment and awe I got from those first few days cant compare to anything I've played yet. I remember the first time someone buffed me with "the boot" that made me run supa fast...

As time went on, i learned more n more about the game and made different characters. I fell in love with a Barbarian Beastlord named Wordor (which i still keep the name today i nany mmo). My most fav times HAD to be in everfrost though. Killing helpless Baby Mammoths, then seeing the momma mammoths and running away as fast as i could. At higher lvls, grinding Ice Giants was one of the bigger ways to make money, and i loved it. Its actually where i met one of my best internet friends to this day..(when eq faded off we went to WoW together, plan on doing war now too)....Then of course, just raising hell with friends, all the way from two hand blunting everything as a beastlord in Lower Grok*?* (the zone with the frogs that dropped the haste belt, and the Dark elf illusion mask) to sitting in front of the PoK main bank with 2 ogres blocking the entrance....Man did we make some enemies.

Then again, I love grinding, so when i finally got my beastlord planes flagged, i spent all day in BoT and PoV....then of course Sony had to let every body in no matter the flag, but whatever...

Good times good times

[ImixZinz]

My Fondest memory by far is on the first weeks of Rallos Zek when Dark Elves invaded North Ro.

Beyond the newbie first time fun, like High Keep , running around on my Druid and "ganking" people spawn camping was my main hobby, places like the GBS in Qeynos Hills, or running up and down Guk checking the spawn points for unsuspecting victims.

When Kunark was released i spent literally months JUST at Karnor's Castle waiting for people to zone out at low life, while constantly dodging a dual Wizard team that would drop Ice Comets like it was out of style.

Beyond Velious my interest stared to wane and i started playing DAOC, iv gone back a few times but could never recapture the feeling i used to get.

[Jinsei]

My favorite moment was probably the first night in Ssraeshra(sp? been so long...) Temple with my guild. I was a first time applicant and there were no monks on so I, a shadow knight, was tasked with pulling the way to one of the bosses...I forget which.

I was able to pull flawlessly that night and ended up maintanking a different boss because the MT warrior disconnected midfight. Needless to say, I was tagged after that run and became the full time puller/offtank. Very fun times :cool:.

17manning Terris Thule back when PoP was relatively new was also a highlight of mine.
I think we had a maximum of 7 actual people. There was some 2-3 boxing going on :p

[Kharlene]

What if I both loved and hated EQ, in equal measure?

That's exactly where I am... I mean, I was on Rallos Zek server... wasn't the easiest place to level up at all, especially with the added bonus of dying enough times you can de-level. Which often ticked me off to no end, especially when I hit the 50+ range...

Fondest moments? Traveling around the Planes of Power with my guild on my DE shadow knight or wizard, and just kicking back with my drood wood elf farming ice giants for coin... The pvp on Rallos Zek was... interesting at times... if not both annoying and comical... :rolleyes:

But you know, it was my first MMO experience and on the whole, it was a fun one, though that deleveling stuff after working so hard to get those higher levels really really really ticked me of to put it VERY lightly. But I miss a lot of my old friends and guildies there, played it for two years until I at last left it for DAoC.

[Noah]

For the life of me, I can't remember if you could lose or get experience from dying from other players, but I remember some fun memories were me and a bunch of friends invading the Team PVP server Valon Zek and making dark elves and going over to West Freeport and using our level 5-8 guys to attack the low level people, and then running away when the higher levels came to ruin the fun.

I also remember having my dark elf warrior in all patchwork leather armor getting jumped in an Alleyway in Freeport, and they looted my shoes! How ghetto is that?!

[Gumbercules]

WTS Centi LS 2nd torch :D

I remember before the bazaar was in and the eastern commons were the place to sell stuff, I'll never forget the spam.

I got lost so many times before there were in game maps lol I remember paying rangers to track and find me in order to lead me back to safety.

Good times.

[silex]

I also remember having my dark elf warrior in all patchwork leather armor getting jumped in an Alleyway in Freeport, and they looted my shoes! How ghetto is that?!Hahahahaha

WTS Centi LS 2nd torch :D

I remember before the bazaar was in and the eastern commons were the place to sell stuff, I'll never forget the spam.UGHHH. Whatever did we do without automated merchant systems. Kind of puts the evolution of MMOs into perspective.

[mongoose]

<has a brief flashback to the Vanguard boards>

/looks around......oh good this is STILL the WAR forums :rolleyes:

[Despoiler]

I played on Rallos Zek so I've got tons of pure pwnage moments from me and my buddies.

Who played EQ long enough to remember when a full set of bronze armor was pure pimpin?

[Ruinx]

<has a brief flashback to the Vanguard boards>

/looks around......oh good this is STILL the WAR forums :rolleyes:

You can tell it's not the Vanguard boards because no-one is directly comparing doing a PvE dungeon to performing oral sex and recieving plaudits for it, instead of being called a "creepy nerd", as any right-minded folks would say.

Still so scared of the Vanguard community <shivers>.

I can't even imagine what it must have been like for that Mythic guy. The terrible things he must have read, the scary PMs/e-mails he must have recieved. Compared to the "dumb drunk fratboys" atmosphere of the WoW boards, the Vanguard boards were like being locked in room with one hundred clones of Gollum.

[Noah]

Some of my biggest gripes of EQ weren't the mechanics. I'm a natural explorer. I love poking around and going places that are out of the way and hidden behind corners of landscape. EQ had tons of random, neat stuff. Like broken decrepit towers, empty huts in the middle of the woods, just neat random stuff like that. But I always wanted something else to be there. Not even something uber rewarding, but maybe just like an NPC with a crazy story, or a quest for something aesthetically pleasing. Something to really liven the atmosphere.

I also kind of wish EQ settlements outside of cities were a tiny bit bigger. I always had a hard time believing that one lone house in Qeynos Hills sufficed for 4-5 merchants. Farmsteads in the Karana's had two houses, and either no one, or crammed full of merchants. Though this persisted to other games, it hit me the most in EQ.

I also wished that houses were actually safe. I remember running into a house in the plains of karana because a lion was nearby. Well he just decided that no walls can stop a lion, and ate me. I was pretty confused at the time (I was probably 12?) Lions can't go through walls!

[Devica]

Still so scared of the Vanguard community <shivers>.

...the Vanguard boards were like being locked in room with one hundred clones of Gollum.

*Begins to gently pet you with a creepy far away look in her eyes.*





We aint all that bad, some of us are a little bit more sexy than say... Gollum. AND some of us made it out alright. (well those of us who didn't work for Sigil)

[Noah]

at my local mall there was a night called Game Night, which was the last thursday in the month. It was sponsored by the local game store in the mall, and we took over a section of the food court. I heard a pretty hilarious story from one of the older, fatter, creepier dudes who sold magic cards to kids there. It revolved around his group in South Karana at the Aviak tree. They were pulling from the top of the tree, the really tough stuff, that was red to everyone. They were hacking away at the toughest one, when they noticed they weren't getting any heals. They started shouting for heals, and the cleric says "OOM". Now, everyone in the group was befuddled. How the hell are you OOM?! And the cleric responds "He kept resisting my smite!"

Oh my.

[Noah]

Come on guys!


pain and suffering tries to hit you, but misses!
you die.