Oddly enough, one of my favorite memories in EQ was when I was a new level one and never swung a weapon or cast a spell before it was easy to miss or fizzle a spell. So much so that even con "easy to kill" level one stuff such as a moss snake or decaying skellie could have it's way with you. Many-a-time was I killed early on by such "easy" mobs until I got my skills up a bit. I enjoyed those days as a non "twink" when nothing was easy, mobs were challenging and death could be around the corner at any moment. Months later I was twinking my characters and multi box power leveling them . Even though it was nice to finally afford nice stuff and level quickly, part of me missed the charm of the game when things were a real challenge and death stung.
I am hoping for a similar challenge early on in Pantheon where no battle is a given against mobs of similar level to you. I think it would even be cool if mobs could sometimes remember if you fought their kind before and could mix things up and use tactics against you that you didn't see the time before forcing you to adapt and use fresh tactics of your own.
A moss snake kicks YOU for 8 points of damage.
You have been knocked unconscious !
Pain and suffering tries to strike YOU, but misses !
You died.
Returning to home point, please wait...
LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠
EDIT: I wonder if I will ever experience being kicked by a snake in Pantheon LOL
I think EverQuest coined the phrase "working as intended", and a kicking snake would be a perfect example.
I like to say that I play today's MMO's in a recliner (and I DO) - and that I played EQ on the edge of my chair (and I DID).
Right from your first moments in EQ - where in GFay you'd start out wondering why you were killing a stupid oversized bee - until it killed you... which made you angry...
Where after you got over the anger, you suddenly had an orc pawn come flying out of nowhwere to destroy you - which now made you scared as hell that THAT was going to keep happening...
Where after you got over that fear, you tried to head out to this place called Orc Hill, only to see what seemed like 100 Orcs 3 times the size of that single Orc pawn that kept terrorizing you waiting on the hill... which nearly made you, um, dampen your chair...
Right from the word go - EQ put you on the edge of your chair.
GOD do I miss that.
+1
As a fledgling Wizard in EverQuest, on March 16th 1999...
The first 15~ 20 mobs I attacked, I had to run to the guards. Because my skills were not good enough to cast my spells, or land consecutively on mobs. As a Wizard, even 3 hits from a Wasp/Bee and you were dead. It was brutal. But if you were able to stick with it (solo play), eventually after getting skills up in conjuration, configuration, etc.. A Wizard could have enough certainty, to be able to solo without running out of mana, or running from a mob.
Starting areas were the wild-wild-west, because mobs that others couldn't kill, became opportunities for for easy EXP in a hard world. Most people formed groups & shared the exp instead of erratic solo play.
Getting owned by a sake who poisoned you.. and then figuring out how you are going to get your corpse from a snake pit.. was what made EQ fun.
Hieromonk said:
Getting owned by a sake who poisoned you.. and then figuring out how you are going to get your corpse from a snake pit.. was what made EQ fun.
Oh my God - you just reminded me of my first deaths to a poison or disease mob - don't recall which. A few times in a row I'd kill the mob in a close fight, think to myself *WHEW* - take my hands off the keyboard, and watch myself die.
After the second or third (I don't recall which) death like that - I remember frantically sending a friend a tell... The conversation went like this:
Me: Something is wrong with this STUPID game!
My friend: What do you mean?
Me: I keep killing these mobs, and after I kill them, I DIE!
My friend: What are you killing?
Me: Snakes (or whatever it was)
My friend: Do you have a DoT on you?
Me: A WHAT? What the hell is a DOT?
My friend: Not a DOT, a DoT. It stands for Damage over Time.
Me: I'm not dead anymore. How the hell would I know that?
My friend: Well, kill another one. Before you die this time, check your debuffs.
And thus, another death later - yet another EQ (and MMO) lesson was learned. That which is dead can still kill you :)
Death around every corner in EQ is still part of what makes it awesome. Even with corpse summoning via NPC, no more naked corpse runs (you retain gear and inventory on you when you die) and rezz being so common it's almost ubiquitous, EQ still has the pucker factor like no other game. Death happens so fast sometimes you never even see it coming. There's something cool about that imho.
Death from falling, death from drowning, zonewide aggro that never leaves you, guards aggroing from a mile away because of race/faction/religion, and of course, snakes that kick. Let the game be hard. Let people die, and often. Best games are the ones that make an accomplishment feel like an accomplishment.
Venjenz said:
Death around every corner in EQ is still part of what makes it awesome. Even with corpse summoning via NPC, no more naked corpse runs (you retain gear and inventory on you when you die) and rezz being so common it's almost ubiquitous, EQ still has the pucker factor like no other game. Death happens so fast sometimes you never even see it coming. There's something cool about that imho.
Death from falling, death from drowning, zonewide aggro that never leaves you, guards aggroing from a mile away because of race/faction/religion, and of course, snakes that kick. Let the game be hard. Let people die, and often. Best games are the ones that make an accomplishment feel like an accomplishment.
No other game in history had trains like EQ...
I think trains were some of my fondest moments, because even something like Crushbone, was about player keenness and skill. Breaking in, and staying in, were two different things. Groups that got to the back, were lucky or good. I think I have seen some trains that might even of been legendary, had we had FRAPs, or YouTube.
Dvinn kept thousands of players over the years, from getting exp... but it was NEVER dull and you learned every bit, along the way.
Finding a corpse was a bonus early on. And loosing a lvl was ultra common.
Hieromonk said:
Venjenz said:
Death around every corner in EQ is still part of what makes it awesome. Even with corpse summoning via NPC, no more naked corpse runs (you retain gear and inventory on you when you die) and rezz being so common it's almost ubiquitous, EQ still has the pucker factor like no other game. Death happens so fast sometimes you never even see it coming. There's something cool about that imho.
Death from falling, death from drowning, zonewide aggro that never leaves you, guards aggroing from a mile away because of race/faction/religion, and of course, snakes that kick. Let the game be hard. Let people die, and often. Best games are the ones that make an accomplishment feel like an accomplishment.
No other game in history had trains like EQ...
I think trains were some of my fondest moments, because even something like Crushbone, was about player keenness and skill. Breaking in, and staying in, were two different things. Groups that got to the back, were lucky or good. I think I have seen some trains that might even of been legendary, had we had FRAPs, or YouTube.
Dvinn kept thousands of players over the years, from getting exp... but it was NEVER dull and you learned every bit, along the way.
Finding a corpse was a bonus early on. And loosing a lvl was ultra common.
I agree and we even had this in VG to some extent with APW Druid invuln trains from Shiver to X99 lift and also past Zaygius to Kotasoth etc. plus some awesome KDQ/SoD trains with wyrmlings and hounds/bugs :)
I hope to see this back too, it was great fun and challenging content at the same time and it scored many laughs and many deaths, I still have a lot of great memories from trains and death runs as I am sure many of you do too lol
Kilsin said:
Hieromonk said:
Venjenz said:
Death around every corner in EQ is still part of what makes it awesome. Even with corpse summoning via NPC, no more naked corpse runs (you retain gear and inventory on you when you die) and rezz being so common it's almost ubiquitous, EQ still has the pucker factor like no other game. Death happens so fast sometimes you never even see it coming. There's something cool about that imho.
Death from falling, death from drowning, zonewide aggro that never leaves you, guards aggroing from a mile away because of race/faction/religion, and of course, snakes that kick. Let the game be hard. Let people die, and often. Best games are the ones that make an accomplishment feel like an accomplishment.
No other game in history had trains like EQ...
I think trains were some of my fondest moments, because even something like Crushbone, was about player keenness and skill. Breaking in, and staying in, were two different things. Groups that got to the back, were lucky or good. I think I have seen some trains that might even of been legendary, had we had FRAPs, or YouTube.
Dvinn kept thousands of players over the years, from getting exp... but it was NEVER dull and you learned every bit, along the way.
Finding a corpse was a bonus early on. And loosing a lvl was ultra common.
I agree and we even had this in VG to some extent with APW Druid invuln trains from Shiver to X99 lift and also past Zaygius to Kotasoth etc. plus some awesome KDQ/SoD trains with wyrmlings and hounds/bugs :)
I hope to see this back too, it was great fun and challenging content at the same time and it scored many laughs and many deaths, I still have a lot of great memories from trains and death runs as I am sure many of you do too lol
I had a disciple, could work my way into any dungeon... solo. Create unbelievable trains and run threw mobs paths, etc. It was brilliant.
Hieromonk said:
Kilsin said:
Hieromonk said:
Venjenz said:
Death around every corner in EQ is still part of what makes it awesome. Even with corpse summoning via NPC, no more naked corpse runs (you retain gear and inventory on you when you die) and rezz being so common it's almost ubiquitous, EQ still has the pucker factor like no other game. Death happens so fast sometimes you never even see it coming. There's something cool about that imho.
Death from falling, death from drowning, zonewide aggro that never leaves you, guards aggroing from a mile away because of race/faction/religion, and of course, snakes that kick. Let the game be hard. Let people die, and often. Best games are the ones that make an accomplishment feel like an accomplishment.
No other game in history had trains like EQ...
I think trains were some of my fondest moments, because even something like Crushbone, was about player keenness and skill. Breaking in, and staying in, were two different things. Groups that got to the back, were lucky or good. I think I have seen some trains that might even of been legendary, had we had FRAPs, or YouTube.
Dvinn kept thousands of players over the years, from getting exp... but it was NEVER dull and you learned every bit, along the way.
Finding a corpse was a bonus early on. And loosing a lvl was ultra common.
I agree and we even had this in VG to some extent with APW Druid invuln trains from Shiver to X99 lift and also past Zaygius to Kotasoth etc. plus some awesome KDQ/SoD trains with wyrmlings and hounds/bugs :)
I hope to see this back too, it was great fun and challenging content at the same time and it scored many laughs and many deaths, I still have a lot of great memories from trains and death runs as I am sure many of you do too lol
I had a disciple, could work my way into any dungeon... solo. Create unbelievable trains and run threw mobs paths, etc. It was brilliant.
Loved my VG Disc ! I had one of each healer I maxed out and it was the only healer I actually enjoyed soloing on. Speaking of VG and trains and such, well, this isn't really a train but I loved charming things with my Psi and then parking the charmed mob by afk people that had given me grief in the past and then activate mass amnesia (making all mobs forget about me) and watch the formerly charmed mob kill the afk people *innocent grin*
I do miss the games that have a good balance of risk vs reward. I remember cheering at finding my first piece of cloth armor or first cracked stave that helped me save for my first weapon.
One of the most remember-able noobie moments for my brother and I would be when we were in the beta. We(one computer) were playing a Barbarian warrior running through the mountains of Halas. We had ventured too far from the safety of the guards and got lost in the maze of white mountains. Though we were young and didn't know any better at the time; we continued on in search of the familiar camp fire and guards just outside of Halas. After a short while of dogging skeletons with musical like names, and several goblins. We came upon an npc Barbarian standing near a tree outside of a massive cave entrance. We were unsure of proceeding any further, though we didn't know which way to go. Then it happened! We turned around to face the cave and we spotted another Barbarian running down the ramp with this massive looking curved blade swinging to and fro as he moved. It was the coolest looking weapon we had ever seen! We instantly started messaging the guy inquiring about said weapon. He said he found it in Black Burrow, which was the cave just ahead! We instantly thanked the guy and started running up the ramp. That excitement lasted all of about 2 minutes as we approached the top of the ramp we were met our doom from the gnoll guards that were waiting for us. We were clearly no match for them at our level. Can you say hello loading screen! It turns out the blade he was hold was a scythe and was rather common, in the Burrows, though for those few minutes we were in pure amazement. It felt like such an accomplishment to make our first leather armor piece or get a full set of cloth armor and those accomplishments happened throughout all the levels not just the max level.
All the bad parts about the game made the game worth playing. Forcing the majority of the players to band together was the reason why the community thrived in my opinion. The reason why jackasses and trolls didn't exist for the most part is due to the fact that you needed people and they needed you. You had to depend on them just as they had to depend on you. That's what I think made the game special for us.
We also remember early in the game that there were gm events where orces raided Freeport. We got slaughtered, but man it was sooo fun!
I like the never knowing of EQ...if it wasn't spell fizzles there was always that one blue that ate his wheaties that morning and is criting the hell out of you...while you just killed 8 of his friends at the same level with no problems. I enjoyed the fact you were never sure and that's one of the many reasons I loved eq.