How to regain a classic game experience?

[Roth]

I'm low level currently, and I was duoing with my girlfriend from level 1. However, I've kind of lost all motivation to play. She is a full noob to the game and playing more by herself lately but I think I'm just losing my own motivation to play the game. I get frustrated every time she makes a mistake and I find myself focusing on exp entirely more than I should.

My main issue is the community. Not that anyone is bad, but I feel like everyone just knows way too much. Everyone is too leveled, there's too many people handing out gear and plat, there's too much porting going on, etc etc. Even I feel like I know way too much now... experience in other mmos has made me a much better gamer than I was 10 years ago. Now I can run to queynos from freeport as an iksar in less than an hour. It's convenient but I feel like the part of me that wants to win ruins the game for me.

Basically, I feel like everything is too solved... I know when I get to 60 there won't be anything new to discover(and I haven't even been to 60 yet, but just from past mmo experiences and reading the forums that's the feeling I get). I want to find some way to play the game as like an adventurer again. I want to feel more immersed in the world and my character. I don't really know how to regain this though. Is it just time to move on or is there a way to get in touch with my inner casual gamer?

[Swish]

I'm going to stick my neck out here... haters will hate underneath.

If you want the hardcore start from scratch, no ports, no help... the only place to find that is on the P99 PvP server (R99, Red 99, P99 Red etc). The population is lower, you won't find too many twinked up characters - although there are a few that will log in on well geared alts to kill you because they're not very good at PvP and need that "win" feeling by stomping ungeared people of the same level.

Blue is twinked to hell, inflation is rampant (according to the forums at least). I was a server jumper on Live - new server? I moved! I hated the twinks - started on Prexus, moved to Lanys when it came up, Luclin, Tholuxe, and onto the EU servers when we got our own (Antonius Bayle, then onto Venril Sathir).

If the red server really isn't your thing, I would say try to ignore what's going on around you and play as if you've been given nothing in terms of help or financial assistance :p

[fuark]

I would say try to ignore what's going on around you and play as if you've been given nothing in terms of help or financial assistance :p

This. It's all there really is to it. No one can help you find your inner casual, you can only do that yourself grasshopper.

Find the fun in messing around with your girlfriend in newb zones. Stop focusing on exp per hour.

If someone gives you money, don't accept. Don't ask people for ports. That's all you really need to do to make the game much more difficult. Try playing a less utilized class/race combo, one that isn't lolwtfubereasy solo mode. (not saying you do)

[Tecmos Deception]

You're over 9000% wrong in thinking that you'll have discovered everything there is on p99 just by making level 60 once.

[Tecmos Deception]

Seriously. Go look at a listing of zones and think about how much you know about each one. Quests available, good items to camp in each, good spots to xp in each, hell, even just how to get across each zone safely (even if you DO use a map!).

Personally I've leveled from 1-50 on this server 7 (8? I forget) times, and 50-60 3 times; I've been in leveling guilds, roleplaying guilds, raiding guilds; I've killed every raid boss in the game, grouped in all the main zones, solod the great item camps, xped all over, PLed, been PLed, etc...

... and I basically know nothing about 3/4 of the zones on the server except how to get from one side to the other. Every time I spend more than 20 minutes in EC, I see an item in /auc that I NEVER remember having seen before. I am constantly amazed at the number of clicky items that I never knew existed, let alone personally owned and knew how to put to good use. I learn new tricks to use solo, grouped, or in raids every week. I've spent most of my time on my enchanter over the course of 3 months trying to solo most of the level 50+ mobs in the game that are worth killing, and I'm not finished, and it has been incredibly fun. Even though I've played a TON on this server, I don't know the tricks of classes other than the ones I've taken to 60, and even then I don't know all of those tricks.


You don't need to play dumb to feel like you're adventuring in EQ, even this long after we were MMO virgins back in the day. You just need to look a little closer, think a little harder, etc. Being able to run an iksar from qeynos to freeport without dying doesn't exactly mean that you've run out of adventures to have in EQ. Lol.

[somnia]

DMT

[Growlers]

DMT

[Destan]

What Tecmos said. I've been playing this game since 3 days after launch and only just recently realized that Kerra Isle is a dungeon on Odus. This entire time I've always thought it was just a location in Erud's Crossing. And I still haven't even been inside there...so there's more to see!

Stop thinking you know everything about the game and you'll quickly realize that new adventures are still to be had.

[Byrjun]

DMT

[nilzark]

... Velious.

[Tierael]

Play a solo class and go where you want to go. Stick with it and you'll have fun. Been here just over 2 months and I haven't even touched 4% of the content.

[Silo69]

lvld to 60 once, lvld to 50 twice

about to make another alt

love this game been here since it opened, will be playing it till the server closes or i hand my account down to my kids

you dont know what your talking about or missing

ps i started here with rusty weapons and no ports, you got it easy, in a good way

[Kagasumi]

I get frustrated every time she makes a mistake and I find myself focusing on exp entirely more than I should.



Somehow I think this is the most important thing you said, out of all of it.

You gotta relax bro. If that is "getting in touch with your casual gamer", then be sure to do it. Games should be fun and enjoyable. If you get frustrated at your girl, she isn't going to play games with you. You surely don't want to lose that.

You can take breaks from playing, wait until Velious hits P'99. All things in moderation.

[Toredan]

I get frustrated every time she makes a mistake and I find myself focusing on exp entirely more than I should.


When I started on Fippy when it launched my Fiancee started playing EQ for the first time and let me tell you, I was exactly the same. I tell her something then expect she should remember it and get annoyed when she makes stupid mistakes. Just have some patience, get her (and yourself) into a guild so she can explore the game at her pace and you can find others that you can play with at yours.

As for the feeling of everything already being discovered pick a class you haven't played. Go for alternative leveling zones you've not been in before, ignore commons/gfay and go for swamp of no hope, tox or kaladim. There are lots of ways to bring back the explorer feel. Don't read forums for the best place to hunt and just enjoy the game. Visit some old zones that aren't in the game anymore like Oasis. Pick some older quests and try to solve them without reading the forums/zam. Introduce your girlfriend to quests and see if together you can solve it so you both feel you've achieved something.


Make friends, be sociable and you'll see the need to max XP per hour decrease as you enjoy playing with friends more and more.

[Swish]

Actually, talk of Kerra Isle etc.

If you want to work as a duo without much sight of anyone else, role a pair of Qeynos starting humans, or Erudites...and start on the quiet side of the world. I might give this a try in the summer - just level through the Karanas, which I religiously avoid and have done since live due to their far off location.

[fishingme]

level up in mostly unused zones. More and more I find myself travelling through eastern karanas these days and i actually see people trying to level there, makes me think classic especially in comparison to what i started here with.

[Briscoe]

If you want to work as a duo without much sight of anyone else, role a pair of Qeynos starting humans, or Erudites...and start on the quiet side of the world. I might give this a try in the summer - just level through the Karanas, which I religiously avoid and have done since live due to their far off location.

This is a very good suggestion; this was essentially the approach I took when starting on P99, and you can see from my quote below that leveling up alone on the Qeynos side of the world yielded much fun for me:

Some of my best memories on this server involve me being a poor, undergeared newbie scratching and clawing for everything I could get, such as selling rusty weapons to buy leather armor for myself, stockpiling gnoll fangs to turn in, or camping and soloing Dyllin Starsine at level 16 to get my ToV (I still remember my heart beating when root broke and I was afraid I would aggro the red-con smuggler!).

Halas, Everfrost, Blackburrow, Qeynos, and the Karanas are great because collectively they comprise a huge expanse of land with a plethora of monsters and quests, while at the same time NOT being overcrowded by other newbies and/or high-levels. That being said, it isn't always a barren wasteland over there and if you play during peak hours you'll usually find enough people so that you could start a small Blackburrow group if you wanted, for example. I recall grouping up with a few people when I was about level 10 and we ran a circular route through Blackburrow for a couple of hours just rampaging gnolls, stockpiling gnoll fangs, and just exploring and having our way with the zone. That was fun.

And as Tecmos noted above, this fun doesn't have to fade away once you reach a higher level. My heart was beating during my aforementioned Dyllin Starsine encounter at level 16...and it was similarly pounding last night when a necro and I tried to duo a pair of summoning sarnaks deep in Chardok last night because one of them may have been holding a SoS. The feeling of not knowing how the pull would go, the risk of failing, the reward of succeeding, and the general experience of attempting something new made it exciting.

[Invurnus]

My 2 cp...

If it's starting to feel like work, just stop doing it. Do some actual work. Do something that improves yourself, or builds something, or whatever. No sense in doing something that is supposed to be fun but feels like work.

Don't force it.

[Toehammer]

I'm low level currently, and I was duoing with my girlfriend from level 1. However, I've kind of lost all motivation to play. She is a full noob to the game and playing more by herself lately but I think I'm just losing my own motivation to play the game. I get frustrated every time she makes a mistake and I find myself focusing on exp entirely more than I should.

My main issue is the community. Not that anyone is bad, but I feel like everyone just knows way too much. Everyone is too leveled, there's too many people handing out gear and plat, there's too much porting going on, etc etc. Even I feel like I know way too much now... experience in other mmos has made me a much better gamer than I was 10 years ago. Now I can run to queynos from freeport as an iksar in less than an hour. It's convenient but I feel like the part of me that wants to win ruins the game for me.

Basically, I feel like everything is too solved... I know when I get to 60 there won't be anything new to discover(and I haven't even been to 60 yet, but just from past mmo experiences and reading the forums that's the feeling I get). I want to find some way to play the game as like an adventurer again. I want to feel more immersed in the world and my character. I don't really know how to regain this though. Is it just time to move on or is there a way to get in touch with my inner casual gamer?

From reading your post I took away three things:
1) your girlfriend wants to play EQ with you, and now even BY HERSELF
2) you don't find the game fun because you "know everything" :rolleyes:
3) you want to play the game relaxed and have fun

First of all, if all our wives/girlfriends wanted to play EQ with us, you would hear NONE of us complaining. Second, you don't know everything... unless you have played every class to around level 50 and leveled in every zone... I doubt it.

If you want to play casually JUST DO IT. Most people who play this game for min/max purposes (max exp rate, best in slot gear, etc.) don't actually challenge themselves in the game. Can you and your gf down a level 10 monster as a level 6 duo? Or are you just like "No Jane, we have to plow through dark blue mobs to get to level 9 because I get blahblah spell which will increase our kill rate by 6%." Just focus on making the game fun as opposed to a grind.

Instead of leading your girl around through the game, present her options and let her figure them out. For example, at level 15, suggest hmm, I hear about an estate infested by undead in the land of the dwarves/elves, or there is a frozen tundra to the north to explore, or we can hunt animals out on the plains. Give her some choices. Explore zones like Runnyeye or Gorge of King Xorbb, etc.

I would KILL for my wife to want to play with me. And if she did, I would let her experience it like she wants to the first time. Also, a couple carefully placed cues from you could also steer her away from truly boring stuff. For example, if she really wants to roleplay and run mail across continents, just be like, oh, we will only get a 1 platinum reward or something.

Careful steering/cues while letting her take the reins will maximize the pleasure for both of you. (this can also be applied to... other things just an fyi...)

in fact... 1) 2) & 3) become:
1) my girlfriend wants to get it on a lot, but I get bored, and now she does it by herself
2) I am Casanova, know it all, and now it is boring :rolleyes:
3) you want to get it on again and have it be interesting, but you don't know how... poor you!

Seriously, let your girlfriend choose your own adventure.