EverQuest Hoaxes

[Meiva]

I stumbled upon a video of popular video game hoaxes, and it struck nostalgia. What EQ hoax still haunts you?

I have two:

There is a single tree in GFAY that you may walk through. It will take you to an underground tunnel that leads directly to Kaladim. I admit searching hard for this tree back-in-the-day as a shortcut for CB Belt turn-ins.

Access to Plane of the Underfoot. Halfling Rogues may slip through the sealed entrance to Underfoot within the depths of The Hole. This is true, but there is nothing but a short, blocked zone line tunnel. Later expansions did introduce Underfoot, however.

Fun! I haven't seen a thread like this in some time. Excited to recognize some other hoaxes I have forgotten!

[Briscoe]

I remember Everlore, the unmoderated cesspool that it was, being loaded with fake quests and NPCs with pages of comments with people arguing over their legitimacy.

[Meiva]

I remember Everlore, the unmoderated cesspool that it was, being loaded with fake quests and NPCs with pages of comments with people arguing over their legitimacy.

I am familiar with that. There are many unfinished quests. I suppose you may need to read the code to discover any quests that have never been completed, but are fully programmed. I've always been curious if there happens to be an interesting quest or two within the trilogy that can, but hasn't been completed.

I do remember a necro on live during PoP era whom had a dagger I had never ever seen anyone else wield, and he claimed it was a quest that only he had ever solved. I feel he was messing with me, but the dagger was sick looking! Short, jagged steel with red hieroglyphics.

This was Drinal server while I was in the guild Cats in Hats. I believe the necros name began with an M. I somewhat recall him linking the dagger to me, and it had some impressive stats. I also believe it was a pre-PoP era weapon. I'll feel like an idiot if one of you simply link me to a simple quest line or boss drop for this weapon, haha. I still believe that it may have been a GM event reward, even though he claimed it was a secret quest...

[pharmakos]

I suppose you may need to read the code to discover any quests that have never been completed, but are fully programmed.

not feasibly possible. quest info is stored server-side.

supposedly there's a lot of Kunark quests that were never solved.

any unsolved quests aren't gonna be completed on P99 btw. gotta go to Live or EQMac to sleuth out old unsolved stuff.

[Morbo the Annihilator]

orc trainer would never drop the Shiny Brass Shield if he pops whilst someone is standing on the plateau of his hill. everyone has to stay on the side of the hill to make sure he had a chance of dropping it.

[pasi]

The original Fiery Avenger quest. Fuck Brad, he argued this shit for years before coming clean.

That was a mess up on our part and I take the blame. The first quest involved talking to several sphinx and figuring out their riddles. This was begun, but then devs were distracted with other priorities. So you couldn't finish the quest (or even get far on it), but we announced it worked. When later we realized it didn't work, we ended up throwing the whole initial quest idea out and put a quest in that actually worked. This was, unfortunately, some time later.

This happening was not something we were proud of, so we never talked about it. Also my mistake.

-Brad

[heartbrand]

Prolly biggest was anti camp radars or w/e that would stop a mob from spawning if you were too close to the spawn point

[Meiva]

Prolly biggest was anti camp radars or w/e that would stop a mob from spawning if you were too close to the spawn point

Oh man... That reminds me of a little something that affects me to this day. If you do not loot the corpse, it will take longer for the mob to re-spawn.

[pasi]

Najena actually had an anti-camp radius.

Source = Prathun.

[TarukShmaruk]

The original Fiery Avenger quest. Fuck Brad, he argued this shit for years before coming clean.

It's pretty cool that he tells us those sphynxes in Rathe Mountains actually had a purpose at one point though.

Also, Megaladon in Lake Rathe was a big one I remember, and of course Lord Mistmoore (he was actually in beta w/ the Maestro model tho to be fair)

[t0lkien]

The original Fiery Avenger quest. Fuck Brad, he argued this shit for years before coming clean.

Wow. For the most part I liked Brad's stubbornness over his "vision", but this stuff was the down side. He hasn't always been honest or fair - I remember one of the first players to attempt the Monk epic having their handin eaten by a bug, and then having the epic returned to him by a dev, and then subsequently removed again, I believe at the request of Brad. Eight months work lost due to a bug and Brad's inability to bend. The monk quit, as I remember.

[Somekid123]

If you had all the keys to Tower of Frozen Shadow on you at once, a mirror would appear to you and only you to the undiscovered 7th Floor.

[Noselacri]

There are many unfinished quests.

No there aren't. Maybe a handful at most, but more likely none. Whoever originally said that there were x unsolved quests was full of shit and just trying to nerdbait people. Pretty much all lore items are accounted for, being either for an identified quest or known to have no purpose. Every NPC has been hailed and all of its dialogue options thoroughly tested. It's really much like a puzzle: try every combination of everything and eventually you'll have gone through every possible option. There aren't hundreds of unidentified quest items in EQ, nor are there NPCs with mysteriously uncovered quests.

[liveitup1216]

When I first started playing my cousin told me we couldn't leave Faydwer until we defeated a dragon. I scoffed at people trying to get me to go to Freeport with them, I wasn't about to get eaten by a dragon and lose my precious bronze armor someone gave me.

[Pringles]

No there aren't. Maybe a handful at most, but more likely none. Whoever originally said that there were x unsolved quests was full of shit and just trying to nerdbait people. Pretty much all lore items are accounted for, being either for an identified quest or known to have no purpose. Every NPC has been hailed and all of its dialogue options thoroughly tested. It's really much like a puzzle: try every combination of everything and eventually you'll have gone through every possible option. There aren't hundreds of unidentified quest items in EQ, nor are there NPCs with mysteriously uncovered quests.


Actually there are, because the quests were broken heh.

[Meiva]

Actually there are, because the quests were broken heh.

True. And SOE made an official statement years ago, but they may have exaggerated/been screwing with us. This was OoW era I believe, and something like 2,000 quests that are uncompleted.

[Gadwen]

No there aren't. Maybe a handful at most, but more likely none. Whoever originally said that there were x unsolved quests was full of shit and just trying to nerdbait people. Pretty much all lore items are accounted for, being either for an identified quest or known to have no purpose. Every NPC has been hailed and all of its dialogue options thoroughly tested. It's really much like a puzzle: try every combination of everything and eventually you'll have gone through every possible option. There aren't hundreds of unidentified quest items in EQ, nor are there NPCs with mysteriously uncovered quests.

Unfinished, not unsolved.

Games riddled with half done quests that they either never got around to fully implementing or never fixed the bugs stopping them from being completed or continued.

[Myth]

Clockwork dragon. One if the gnomes just inside Ak'anon would talk about it.
What was the container from cracktusk for?

[Myth]

Oh and silent faction hits with Druids for killing bears...

[fuark]

I remember rerolling to a bard when EQ first came out, because everyone in Gfay was saying that when you hit 15 the bard guildmaster gifted you a set of bronze.

Was convinced it was true.

[SamwiseRed]

Oh and silent faction hits with Druids for killing bears...

ye i was told killing animals will set my druid to kos.

another one was negative cha helps fear.

[Atmas]

I was told once there was an unseen "luck" modifier that impacted resists and such depending on how close you were to level/delevel. Would make it more likely for you to die.

[Ryba]

Intent to deceive is a major part of a hoax. A lot of these are just misconceptions.

The one that affected me most was the idea that Raster's spawn was anything other than a random roll with a low multiplier. Think I was letting all frogloks despawn and keeping all minotaurs cleared.

There was also tons of bullshit about AC in sro and Pyzjn, which actually do have specific ph's and schedules.

[bled12345]

That the spectre tower in oasis had a portal to plane of fear. This was in the very early daya when someone over level 30 was super rare, and spectres seemed invincible lol thus the tower, nobody would be able to get into.

[pharmakos]

No there aren't. Maybe a handful at most, but more likely none. Whoever originally said that there were x unsolved quests was full of shit and just trying to nerdbait people. Pretty much all lore items are accounted for, being either for an identified quest or known to have no purpose. Every NPC has been hailed and all of its dialogue options thoroughly tested. It's really much like a puzzle: try every combination of everything and eventually you'll have gone through every possible option. There aren't hundreds of unidentified quest items in EQ, nor are there NPCs with mysteriously uncovered quests.

there might not be hundreds, but there are a bunch

just one that i stumbled on earlier today: http://wiki.project1999.org/The_Whistling_Fists

there's a lot more if you peek around.

[heartbrand]

That the spectre tower in oasis had a portal to plane of fear. This was in the very early daya when someone over level 30 was super rare, and spectres seemed invincible lol thus the tower, nobody would be able to get into.

I always heard this rumor as it was a port to hate

[koros]

Wow. For the most part I liked Brad's stubbornness over his "vision", but this stuff was the down side. He hasn't always been honest or fair - I remember one of the first players to attempt the Monk epic having their handin eaten by a bug, and then having the epic returned to him by a dev, and then subsequently removed again, I believe at the request of Brad. 18 months work lost due to a bug and Brad's inability to bend. The monk quit, as I remember.

Uh, one of the first players to attempt the monk epic and 18 months of work lost? Well that just doesn't work.

[heartbrand]

Brad was a stubborn faggot which is why no one was shocked when VG was an unfinished piece of shit that brad avoided taking any responsibility for until Sony rehired him years later

[Aabdel]

I remember my older brother telling me that 1) the dead dwarves in the Feerott were originally players that had been killed by ogre guards, and 2) there was a seamonster that lived in the lake at the entrance to Halas. I remember always taking the raft across instead of swimming because I was afraid it would kill me and I'd never get my corpse back. It's kinda sad that so many of these things are proven/disproven now, the mystery was a huge part of what sucked me into EQ as a young lad. The nostalgia felt now is great, and the challenge is still there (at least compared to other MMO's), but it will never capture me quite the way it did back then.

[myriverse]

I still believe the angle your facing affects your chance to hit a mob. And you'll see me constantly turn back and forth slightly, just to find that sweet spot.

...

What?

[Aabdel]

I still believe the angle your facing affects your chance to hit a mob. And you'll see me constantly turn back and forth slightly, just to find that sweet spot

haha definitely did this too, but it was more about distance to/from the mob. and i still do it out of habit. i always look like i'm humping my target's leg

[t0lkien]

Uh, one of the first players to attempt the monk epic and 18 months of work lost? Well that just doesn't work.

Oops yes, I meant 8 - fixed now (and even that might be too much). I've looked for the original link about this, but can't find it.

[Meiva]

Oh and silent faction hits with Druids for killing bears...

Ugh... This isn't true?.. Rolled a druid for some fun this past week and I haven't killed any bears/wolves for fear of this.

I am far more gullible than I had thought...

[t0lkien]

BTW, this is probably not what you were looking for, but it was still a quite famous "hoax":

http://www.salon.com/2000/11/21/virtual_suicide/

[Meiva]

BTW, this is probably not what you were looking for, but it was still a quite famous "hoax":

http://www.salon.com/2000/11/21/virtual_suicide/

You are awesome! This inspired me to post. I first watched a vid on console game hoaxes, and then googled EQ hoaxes. This is pretty much the only thing that showed up :p

*Edit* Cnt' taalk twsingt... Probably my favorite sig (yes I get it).

[Ryba]

there might not be hundreds, but there are a bunch

just one that i stumbled on earlier today: http://wiki.project1999.org/The_Whistling_Fists

there's a lot more if you peek around.

Maybe you already know this, but Whistling Fists eventually made it into the game. That may have been a placeholder for step 1 of the quest that was later redesigned as a continuation of the shackle quests.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=10340

Sort of shitty item, but it was an awesome quest. One of the saddest facts about p99 is that the iksar demi-epic quests fall outside the timeline. I thought I was so cool in Luclin with my epic fists, robe of the whistling fists, shackle of tynnonium and whistling fists. I was, however, not cool at all.

[pasi]

If you're checking out unfinished quests, go on a live server and tell Sontalak 'The King is Dead.'

[Messie]

this thread is very cool. loving it . never heard the kelethin tree one...thank god, would have been running into trees all day.

My favorite was definitely the ToFS secret floor. I used to camp that place on all floors on live. it was my favorite zone because it was the first time i heard about a "unsolved secret" of EQ that I could make an effort to crack. Although ive read places that they say it doesnt exist in the code or whatever, i still believe, man.

[uygi]

The idea that new mobs couldn't pop unless you looted the old corpses.

Then there were the early days when the passages through the sewers of Qeynos and Freeport were virtually unknown. I couldn't convince people there was a back way to North Freeport that bypassed the Freeport Militia.

I remember doing jewelcraft very early on... I had to actually explain what the stats did or people wouldn't buy. This one guy in GFay very loudly kept proclaiming that increased INT/WIS wouldn't increase your mana pool because only starting INT/WIS gave mana. The idiots believed him and I couldn't sell any more that day.

I started playing live in beta and don't really remember exactly when these were really believed.

While not a hoax/confusion/misconception, also have to remember the days of /corpse giving loot permission- it's probably the single biggest classic element of the game that P99 missed. I think I only got scammed out of all my shit one time.

[foldupmonk]

It might have later been finished....IDK really but this zone shall play a part in this server. Plane of Mischief anyone?

[Clark]

Biggest hoaxe I remember is when Halfelf posted a picture of his "girlfriend", but everyone knew it was a man.

http://s2.postimg.org/ajr8lcaax/austin_powers1.jpg

[kotton05]

haha +1

that is one of the greatest of all time

[Sirken]

A+ thread.

i love the old EQ Rumors.

sea monster was always my favorite

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

No there aren't. Maybe a handful at most, but more likely none. Whoever originally said that there were x unsolved quests was full of shit and just trying to nerdbait people. Pretty much all lore items are accounted for, being either for an identified quest or known to have no purpose. Every NPC has been hailed and all of its dialogue options thoroughly tested. It's really much like a puzzle: try every combination of everything and eventually you'll have gone through every possible option. There aren't hundreds of unidentified quest items in EQ, nor are there NPCs with mysteriously uncovered quests.


lulled at "nerdbait". Gonna steal that, thnx ;)

[Rhambuk]

I still believe the angle your facing affects your chance to hit a mob. And you'll see me constantly turn back and forth slightly, just to find that sweet spot.

...

What?

I swear this is true! Anytime im meleeing and get a few bad rounds of quad miss's i figure im in a dead spot, strafe and turn and start hitting again.

[gotrocks]

I thought there were seamonsters everywhere, because fay ate me once in TD when i was headed for the pot room. i was scared shitless to go into other areas of water after that !

[Rhambuk]

I thought there were seamonsters everywhere, because fay ate me once in TD when i was headed for the pot room. i was scared shitless to go into other areas of water after that !

Wasn't the lake rathe monster in during beta? or alpha? but the mob was too big and players could reach its hitbox from land without it being able to attack and they just scrapped it. I was looking a few weeks ago because I am almost positive that I saw a screenshot someone posted of "A Kraken" in lake rathe, i couldn't find it though.

One of my favorite "Hoaxes" more of a rumor but was proven true. Prince Thirneg DT's, our raid almost wiped because half of us were spamming Give me phat lewts our first time in PoG. what a blast

[Nial]

No there was never a "kraken"

It was a fable. People wanted to believe but it never spawned.

[t0lkien]

No there was never a "kraken"

It was a fable. People wanted to believe but it never spawned.

It must be released first...

[Kagatob]

Well they did later add the water dragon in Dagnor's for the Berserker epic.

[Ambrotos]

Brad visited us on a VP raid and talking up all the loot. He said once Phara Dar is killed, Firona Vie would spawn and be released. After she despawned all the chests you see in the dragon's rooms would "spawn" and you could open them and pick your loot.

[Kagatob]

Brad visited us on a VP raid and talking up all the loot. He said once Phara Dar is killed, Firona Vie would spawn and be released. After she despawned all the chests you see in the dragon's rooms would "spawn" and you could open them and pick your loot.

Was that a rumor? I thought there was a FV event where you had to escort her across Kunark, through butcher and to Felwithe that actually happened, or are is that something else entirely?

[liveitup1216]

They did FV protection events as GM events before. I recall that for sure but don't remember the details or what zone(s) they ran it in.

[Ambrotos]

No idea. I'm guessing it was one of his binge nights and decided to fuck with us.

[Frieza_Prexus]

No idea. I'm guessing it was one of his binge nights and decided to fuck with us.

http://i.imgur.com/7oC6RPh.jpg (http://imgur.com/7oC6RPh)

[Halfelfbard]

Pfftt I woke up holding TITS! I Lol'd, great pic of austin powers.

[TarukShmaruk]

I'd be lying if I said that Brad's involvement in EQ Next didn't concern me.

Then again, a lot of what was great about EQ could arguably be attributed to that douchebag.

[Gadwen]

I'd be lying if I said that Brad's involvement in EQ Next didn't concern me.

Then again, a lot of what was great about EQ could arguably be attributed to that douchebag.

But Vanguard was so awesome!

[Rhambuk]

But Vanguard was so awesome!

it is...

[Raavak]

Having a plains pebble in your inventory made you consume less drink.
Harmony helped mana regen.
The clear corpses to make faster respawns was a common one.
Druids not being able to kill bears too. Wonder if that started with that NPC in Qeynos Hills that attacked you if you fought a bear near it.
People would time mobs and sometimes they would think they were late and say "named is going to pop"

[webrunner5]

The crazy don't kill the Bears thingy in Surefall Glade and Blackburrow. I have never ever killed one to this day LoL. :eek:

[Khaleesi]

But Vanguard was so awesome!

Conceptually speaking, Vanguard is arguably the most innovative MMORPG after Meridian, EverQuest and AC/UO/WoW.

The problem was not McQuaid, it was Microsoft for not respecting the project.
Smedley involved with EQ Next is far more worrisome than anyone from the original EQ team. I'd rather have a Verant customer service rep helping out than Smedley.

I don't remember any specific hoax; however I remember telling people about the glitch at the Dagnor's Cauldron entrance from Butcher Block, and how it would teleport you to Kaladim's entrance. I often got told it was a hoax and a lie.

[Gadwen]

Conceptually speaking, Vanguard is arguably the most innovative MMORPG after Meridian, EverQuest and AC/UO/WoW.

The problem was not McQuaid, it was Microsoft for not respecting the project.
Smedley involved with EQ Next is far more worrisome than anyone from the original EQ team. I'd rather have a Verant customer service rep helping out than Smedley.

I don't remember any specific hoax; however I remember telling people about the glitch at the Dagnor's Cauldron entrance from Butcher Block, and how it would teleport you to Kaladim's entrance. I often got told it was a hoax and a lie.

Yeah, Vanguard was great before it actually got released.

[Dostarr]

Best Hoax in EQ? hmmm....that time someone told me rangers were good so I rolled one. *ba-dum-tsshhh*

[Droog007]

I was, however, not cool at all.

I think we all came to this conclusion at some point in the last 13 years...

[Lagaidh]

haha definitely did this too, but it was more about distance to/from the mob. and i still do it out of habit. i always look like i'm humping my target's leg

Here on P99 the effect is alive and well. It's max melee distance. As a paladin, I can root a mob and if I place myself just at the point where I can hit a mob, but I'm too far a way to attempt a disarm, then I connect a lot more often, and for a higher average damage.

I was in some other thread about old misconceptions and I mentioned that I always wanted to be uphill of the mob I fought and this topic came up. I tried it and have had more fun with my 2h weapon!

[Lagaidh]

Oh and another Plains Pebble one I used to hear was: Having a pebble in your inventory increased your chances of getting the rare forage for the zone you were in.

And my favorite:
/who
There are 87 players in East Commonlands.
You shout, "Cool! The /ex command shows your experience in numerical format!"
/who
There are 71 players in East Commonlands.

[Raavak]

Petitioned for griefing! :P

[Frieza_Prexus]

I used to, and still do, a /random right before I know the server's about to make a RNG check. For example, if I'm about to kill a PH I'll fire off /rand right before it does to "purge" the crappy number from the system so that the next number used will be used because I made it so. I feel like maybe if I "participate" somehow the result will be better.

Old habits die hard.

[Targobaath]

God, I love this thread.

[tenkakahn]

My favorite EQ hoax was that when /consent ( when allowed others to loot your corpse ) if the other person would pick up one item from your corpse then you would be able to be ressurcted again for another full exp restore.

Then after it didnt work the item would "disappear" lol.

I will admit I lost an item because of that but I gained at least 12 items lol Brell was a curt throat server at release!

[chtulu]

I made my money on live selling distilled mana to people and claiming that it improved mana regen. this was, of course, when the game first came out and no one knew anything.

[Meiva]

PoP era, but a popular rumor was how to gain entrance to Plane of War. The one stone in PoTranquility that didn't take you anywhere. Because of the graphic on the stone, it was rumored to be a raid zone, but all became PvP flagged upon zoning in. I want to believe that SOE scrapped it because it would cause too much grief. Too bad :(

[Kagatob]

PoP era, but a popular rumor was how to gain entrance to Plane of War. The one stone in PoTranquility that didn't take you anywhere. Because of the graphic on the stone, it was rumored to be a raid zone, but all became PvP flagged upon zoning in. I want to believe that SOE scrapped it because it would cause too much grief. Too bad :(

IIRC the original plan was to have Tactics simply have Vallon and Tallon with a bunch of minis leading to them kind of like Tower of Sol Ro, PoWar was supposed to be the big pit pvp enabled with RZ overlooking the chaos.

[kotton05]

PoWar sounds pretty badass.

[Meiva]

IIRC the original plan was to have Tactics simply have Vallon and Tallon with a bunch of minis leading to them kind of like Tower of Sol Ro, PoWar was supposed to be the big pit pvp enabled with RZ overlooking the chaos.

Amazing! So Plane of Tactics currently houses Tallon, Vallon, and Rallos Zek. Rallos was meant to be a part of Plane of War (possibly). For those whom haven't raided PoTactics; this plane housed Tallon, Vallon, and Rallos Zek. Rallos was fought within an arena (at least during the early strats). This raid was incredibly stressful at the time. :)

I must know more hoaxes (preferably launch through Velious, but other eras may be exciting too)! I already have thought of another popular one. Please share your hoaxes!

*edit* I also don't recall any official mention of PoTactics only housing Vallon & Tallon. I still feel that makes incredibly too much sense... One was an archer, the other... I forget. Vallon and Tallon were demi-bosses to beat before Rallos. I recall Rallos being the toughest of Plane of Time bosses to defeat to finally reach Quarm. Rallos Zek certainly deserved his own zone, Plane of War. After Zebuxoruk's release, we only then realized that time has since been reset, and the release of Zeb has not since happened.

*edit2* Quellious informs us after Zeb's release, during PoP, that time has been reset. Verrant had only written through Planes of Power... SoE took over after Velious... My Gods! Verrant wrote the expansions through PoP (the story line) and SoE fucked it up after SoE took over during Velious expansion. Luclin, and PoP, need some work, but may be AMAZING expansions! End to PoK and PoK stones! The end to the Bazaar! The end to the Nexus porting (aside from a Wizard whom may port you up)! The end to mounts! This may (in my unhealthy imagination) the formula for the BEST gaming experience ever!!!

[kaev]

...
*edit2* Quellious informs us after Zeb's release, during PoP, that time has been reset. Verrant had only written through Planes of Power... SoE took over after Velious... My Gods! Verrant wrote the expansions through PoP (the story line) and SoE fucked it up after SoE took over during Velious expansion. Luclin, and PoP, need some work, but may be AMAZING expansions! End to PoK and PoK stones! The end to the Bazaar! The end to the Nexus porting (aside from a Wizard whom may port you up)! The end to mounts! This may (in my unhealthy imagination) the formula for the BEST gaming experience ever!!!

There's my favorite hoax / false rumor / whatever right there. I find it mind-boggling that there are still people insisting that Verant was somehow not actually an extension of SOE from the day it was spun out until the day it was reeled back in. The same people created stupid shit like hybrid experience penalties, classic Warriors inferior to Rangers in pretty much every way, Kunark Rangers inferior to every other class in pretty much every way, Velious era Monks as simultaneously best xp group tank and 2nd best melee DPS and best puller, Velious era Warriors inferior to other classes at every role they could fill except raid MT, the abomination that was Luclin, ...

Seriously, get a grip. Verant was every bit as terribad as they were brilliant. Verant was the SOE EQ team all along. Your idols don't have only feet of clay, they are clay thru and thru just like the rest of humanity. Your uncritical worship of their imaginary greatness doesn't just border on mindless.

[Frieza_Prexus]

Your uncritical worship of their imaginary greatness doesn't just border on mindless.

http://i.imgur.com/nMn3WaG.png

[Meiva]

There's my favorite hoax / false rumor / whatever right there. I find it mind-boggling that there are still people insisting that Verant was somehow not actually an extension of SOE from the day it was spun out until the day it was reeled back in. The same people created stupid shit like hybrid experience penalties, classic Warriors inferior to Rangers in pretty much every way, Kunark Rangers inferior to every other class in pretty much every way, Velious era Monks as simultaneously best xp group tank and 2nd best melee DPS and best puller, Velious era Warriors inferior to other classes at every role they could fill except raid MT, the abomination that was Luclin, ...

Seriously, get a grip. Verant was every bit as terribad as they were brilliant. Verant was the SOE EQ team all along. Your idols don't have only feet of clay, they are clay thru and thru just like the rest of humanity. Your uncritical worship of their imaginary greatness doesn't just border on mindless.

My feet are always in clay. This is how I remain grounded...

Please provide resources for your criticism. I honestly (f**king honestly) love criticism.

[pharmakos]

its not really that hard to find sources about how Verant was a Sony brand

[Meiva]

its not really that hard to find sources about how Verant was a Sony brand

Source?

I apologize if I am being ignorant... This is sincerely what this thread is not about...

Any others have an EQ hoax to share?

[t0lkien]

There's my favorite hoax / false rumor / whatever right there. I find it mind-boggling that there are still people insisting that Verant was somehow not actually an extension of SOE from the day it was spun out until the day it was reeled back in. The same people created stupid shit like hybrid experience penalties, classic Warriors inferior to Rangers in pretty much every way, Kunark Rangers inferior to every other class in pretty much every way, Velious era Monks as simultaneously best xp group tank and 2nd best melee DPS and best puller, Velious era Warriors inferior to other classes at every role they could fill except raid MT, the abomination that was Luclin, ...

Seriously, get a grip. Verant was every bit as terribad as they were brilliant. Verant was the SOE EQ team all along. Your idols don't have only feet of clay, they are clay thru and thru just like the rest of humanity. Your uncritical worship of their imaginary greatness doesn't just border on mindless.

I've read so much conflicting stuff (interviews, not player opinion) on this, and I'm still confused, so I can't blame others for being so. All I know is that as a player it was clear there was a shift between Velious and Luclin and beyond, and that was around the time Brad left SOE and Verant was absorbed.

SOE is a strange company. My feeling is the corporate stuff gets in the way all the time, whereas with EverQuest/Verant it didn't for a while. It was, in the beginning, just a few no-name geeks making what they loved and wanted to play without any over-arching corporate/fiscal plan. It was visionary, and creative, and given the freedom to be that even if it meant failure. As a gamer, and as a developer, that is what I dearly want the industry to get back to.

BTW the things you point out as being bad design decisions I wouldn't necessarily agree with totally. There is an obsession with "balance" in design now that is homogenizing all the asymmetry, synchronicity, and fun out games. "Balanced" isn't necessarily best, or even good... IMO.

P.S. Some (apparent) information here: http://www.graffe.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-20484.html?

[pharmakos]

Source?

I apologize if I am being ignorant... This is sincerely what this thread is not about...

Any others have an EQ hoax to share?

like i said, its really not hard to find sources on this, but i'll google it for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verant_Interactive redirects to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Online_Entertainment

"Sony Online Entertainment's history can be seen as starting with Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA), an internal game development studio of Sony that formed around 1995. In 1996, John Smedley was put in charge of SISA's development of an online role-playing video game that would evolve into the MMORPG EverQuest. Smedley hired programmers Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover who had come to Smedley's attention through their work on the single-player RPG Warwizard.

In April 1998, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) was formed by merging parts of Sony Online Ventures with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Within a matter of months after this change, Sony Interactive Studios America was renamed 989 Studios.

Towards the end of 1998, 989 Studios shifted its strategy to making PlayStation console games only. The company's computer game/online development branch spun off, initially calling itself RedEye Interactive and then soon after Verant Interactive.

EverQuest launched with modest expectations from Sony on March 16, 1999 under its Verant Interactive brand and quickly became successful. Numbers continued rising at a steady rate until mid-2001 when growth slowed. As of 2004, Sony reported subscription numbers close to 450,000. In March 2000, Verant released EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, the first in a long list of expansions for EverQuest."

more detailed history as told by Aradune himself: http://otherworlds31279.yuku.com/topic/1391/background-to-Verant-as-told-by-Brad-McQuaid#.UdUGYzs3v3M

[fuark]

BTW the things you point out as being bad design decisions I wouldn't necessarily agree with totally. There is an obsession with "balance" in design now that is homogenizing all the asymmetry, synchronicity, and fun out games. "Balanced" isn't necessarily best, or even good... IMO.

Just wanted to quote this because I think it's COMPLETELY true, often overlooked, and understood by few. A lot of games are made better by the lack of total balance. Across the board vanilla balance is something that I find most great games are lacking.

Everquest (classic)... not balanced.
Dark Age of Camelot (classic/SI)... not balanced.
Warhammer Fantasy (the tabletop game, pre 8th edition)... not balanced.

They are also the best games I have ever played, and the non-vanilla feel has a lot to do with that.

[Dalron]

In the very beginning when not much was known about anything, it was rumored on Luclin server that if you clicked your tradeskill recipe book open and kept it open while doing your tradeskill it would increase the chance of skilling up and/or making a successful combine. This was back when if you had the wrong ingredients for the recipe in your container you would lose them upon combining - which makes perfect sense, if you use the wrong ingredients to bake a loaf of bread you don't get your cup of flour back, you have to use new ingredients for your next attempt! It also made using containers like large sewing kits instead of bags very risky since if you accidently hit combine instead of close you lost everything in it. I think when they changed this to not losing your ingredients to make the game easier, because of player complaints, it was the first change on the way to these hand-held monty haul mmo's we have today.

Dalron - Healer of the 24th Circle of Light

[pharmakos]

just realized i didn't even need to look up sources, almost forgot that...

Qeynos spelled backwards reads "Sony EQ"

[Freakish]

I'm sure everyone had their own South Ro AC explanation.
You had to kill the ghoul in the tower while the sun was at a right angle on the day a blushing lass has her first bleed.

[pasi]

If I remember correctly from the days of Luclin-PoP on EQemu, Plane of War was a really big desert field with a wall that separated two fields. The terrain was like that in the pit of Plane of Tactics with random garbage everywhere.

[Circu]

Yes, Plane of War was actually just the Rallos Zek event, in its own plane. I forgot the reason it was scrapped, possibly due to time (since they were always horribly behind schedule making PoP.) There have actually been leaked screenshots of PoWar. But in the end they just scrapped it and put the Rallos event in the arena of PoTactics

[Jeffari]

Ugh... This isn't true?.. Rolled a druid for some fun this past week and I haven't killed any bears/wolves for fear of this.

I am far more gullible than I had thought...

I think this whole "can't kill bears because it will ruin some ranger/Druid/animal faction" originated from new players who were druids and rangers starting near Surefall Glade, I seem to recall that killing the bears and other animals (are their others besides bears there?) in sfg would indeed lower faction with residents of Surefall. Perhaps the rumor started here. Ah who knows.

[Jeffari]

BTW, this is probably not what you were looking for, but it was still a quite famous "hoax":

http://www.salon.com/2000/11/21/virtual_suicide/

Haha in that article when it explains marriage in everquest it says, "an actual wedding ceremony after which the two characters’ game assets — gold, armor, weaponry and the like — can even be combined into one bank account, if they so desire." Ha was that really true about stuff being combined into one bank account? All I recall about eq weddings was the shared surname, I don't recall any type of shared banking system until, what was it, LoY? LDoN? Ah well it is an old article and that's typical with these weird outside articles trying to explain aspects of eq. "You can be a dwarf, swordsman, elf, even an enchantress!" Haha.

[kaev]

Did I miss this gem earlier in the thread?

Burnt Woods
https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/old-school-everquest-humor-the-burning-woods.185716/

[Rhambuk]

Did I miss this gem earlier in the thread?

Burnt Woods
https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/old-school-everquest-humor-the-burning-woods.185716/

Definitely one of my favorite stories

[Troze]

I thought for years that the Greenblood quest was broken or just a story, back before it was ever actually completed. I remember reading on Allakhazam everybody's theories and ideas like it was Atlantis. I had a puny little low-teens Iksar SK and it was my lifes goal to complete the quest before anyone else. . . I never even finished the first one.

[trukk]

Wasn't the lake rathe monster in during beta? or alpha? but the mob was too big and players could reach its hitbox from land without it being able to attack and they just scrapped it. I was looking a few weeks ago because I am almost positive that I saw a screenshot someone posted of "A Kraken" in lake rathe, i couldn't find it though.

One of my favorite "Hoaxes" more of a rumor but was proven true. Prince Thirneg DT's, our raid almost wiped because half of us were spamming Give me phat lewts our first time in PoG. what a blast

No there was never a "kraken"

It was a fable. People wanted to believe but it never spawned.

So here goes my first post.

I played from Beta 2 through the release of Velious, then quit.

Back in beta 2, they had just opened up Ogres and Trolls as PC's, so I rolled up a troll shammy (thak). Exploring around a bit, I went to lake raitheer, and a giant floating shark was to be seen (magaladon) just above the waterline. My understanding is that the pathing was all jacked up, so it got removed some short time later.

My recollection was at that point, they hadn't implemented any ranged weapons, and I was very low level (probably less than 10), so any firepower I had spell wise wasn't going to kill that thing, so I have no idea what he/it dropped.

Attached is the only screenshot I could find on my old computer. Looks kind of like those old grainly bigfoot or loch ness monster shots.

-Chris

[Frieza_Prexus]

Yeah, the Megalodon was definitely in the beta as your SS shows, but it never made live.

What happened is that someone took an elephant's head from South Karana and Photoshopped it halfway into the water and titled it "A Kraken" and posted it to Everlore which touched off years of debate and theories.

[Lagaidh]

Just wanted to quote this because I think it's COMPLETELY true, often overlooked, and understood by few. A lot of games are made better by the lack of total balance. Across the board vanilla balance is something that I find most great games are lacking.

Everquest (classic)... not balanced.
Dark Age of Camelot (classic/SI)... not balanced.
Warhammer Fantasy (the tabletop game, pre 8th edition)... not balanced.

They are also the best games I have ever played, and the non-vanilla feel has a lot to do with that.

I agree. You haven't played Final Fantasy Tactics until you've completely raped a map with an overpowered, all-classes-mastered Orlandu.

[Meiva]

Haha in that article when it explains marriage in everquest it says, "an actual wedding ceremony after which the two characters’ game assets — gold, armor, weaponry and the like — can even be combined into one bank account, if they so desire." Ha was that really true about stuff being combined into one bank account? All I recall about eq weddings was the shared surname, I don't recall any type of shared banking system until, what was it, LoY? LDoN? Ah well it is an old article and that's typical with these weird outside articles trying to explain aspects of eq. "You can be a dwarf, swordsman, elf, even an enchantress!" Haha.

You're very much correct. Simply a surname change that required a GM. EQ weddings were simply a celebration with the community.

I'm still curious what the necro I knew was wielding. It was a dagger. Black blade, red hieroglyphs, and the only blade of the like that I had ever seen. PoP era, but had had the blade since at least Luclin. It was beautiful!

[Nirgon]

Glowing Black Stone being for a quest.

It wasn't.

Thank god I know this now.

[Meiva]

just realized i didn't even need to look up sources, almost forgot that...

Qeynos spelled backwards reads "Sony EQ"

Undeniable. I always remembered the Verant team being associated with Sony. I imagine it required a LOT of funds to bring EQ to the world in '99. Sony most-likely had their paws in the mix. Verant still, supposedly, had written the lore through PoP. Then the game ended. Impressive to write so much lore for a PC game during that era.