Those things which ignite those first day feelings!

[Jimjam]

I admit, I am no young eel, BUT I beleive this thread belongs in this space.

For the past few months I've been largely disengaged from the high level game, almost completely neglecting guilds, raids and so on.

I've been on a nostalgia trip revisiting the parts of the game that gave the impression of a new world to explore.

Of course, these feelings aren't always prompted by experiences we partook in our first few days or weeks - sometimes they came when a new expansion dropped or we discovered some new lore text by casually chatting up obscure NPCS.

I want to report one of my recent experiences that prompted that huge new world feeling - and use that as a jumping point for you to share yours!


Running through the southern sands of Ro, a puma is caught unaware by my passage. My soundcard rumbles into action to emulate the kitty's suprise, "Wow!" calls the cat!

Splendid.

[shovelquest]

I was IVU back in the old days of 99 and me and my friend (who was at my house at the time) walked up to a mummy in so ro.

I walked right up in his face.

The sound of his mummy noises. His red con. The fear of IVU dropping. I was trembling like a chihuahua.

Scariest environment imaginable. That's all I have to say. Scariest environment imaginable.

https://i.imgur.com/keu4ZQ7.gif

I can't have that fear in game anymore, but I do enjoy squeezing the grass between my druids toes in East Karana.

[Swish]

Getting my ass kicked by a level 1 mob because I don't have the melee skills yet and having to run the guards until I get a few points in piercing/1hs :D

[shovelquest]

I really enjoyed learning the in's and out's of leveling in the Qeynos area from level 1+

Mastering the sewers' was something I'd never be able to say I was able to do!

Wearing +1 wis quest reward rings.

A fully geared Qeynos level 1 through Qeynos hills quests is like, oh boy.

That's pure EQ mojo imo.

[WarpathEQ]

Try picking a starting location that you never have before. I personally tend to gravitate towards Faydwer but personally have never started in Qeynos or Erudin, nor am I that familiar with the latter as its not a commonly traveled area.

But for me nothing quite does it like not being able to afford backpacks and only having 6 slots to pick up loot to sell for copper pieces (2 slots taken up by starting food/water).

Having to constantly run to guards for safety is a close second.

[strongNpretty]

On Live during Kunark phase, i was so young, had only 1 character during my entire tenure, a gnome mage.. Listening to all those clock works ticking in Ak'Anon, and hanging out near windmills in steamfont are for some reason my go to memories everytime i think of EQ

[Duik]

Following roads in gfay taking the long way all the time as a <5 woody druid. After I figured out how /loc worked and tried to shortcut a diagonal run in Gfay watching numbers so closely i ran onto a bunch of orcses.
Woodelf was on the menu that night ill tell ya.

[Jimjam]

You guys are giving me some great nostalgia hits.

I'll be rating this thread 5 out of 5 stars.

*Obamaawardsselfmedal.jpg*

[Georgeharrison]

My very first character, after leveling up a little in Qeynos, had outgrown the area and I found a slightly higher level player who said Freeport was the place to be, and offered to lead me there.

As I had never seen any other zones, running through the Karanas was magical (specifically seeing the chain-linked bridge in East Karana. Breathtaking).

When we got to the gorge she told me to follow her closely and started leading me up the right wall in hopes of staying out of the aggro range of the muddites and minotaurs.

It was a long corpse run.

[vossiewulf]

I remember when the boats were totally unstable, so everyone would put all their hard-fought newbie gear into the bank before taking the boat, so you'd see a boat from Faydwer to Freeport with 50 naked people onboard.

And it was a smart thing to do also, because our first boat trip crashed at the BB/OOT zone and it dumped everyone in the water. GMs came to rescue, but one of my friends swam to one of the islands, grabbed a canoe, and paddled his way across OOT.

[shovelquest]

One of my favorite memories was being lost in Gfay on my level 7 first character. I realized.. I had no idea where I was. All these tree's looked the same. The dark fog, was everywhere. Kelthin, or another player hadn't been seen in I have no clue how long... I was just exploring!

I knew if a random orc jumped out at me, I'd never see any of my loot again. I was petrified.

[Goregasmic]

Made an erudite wizard. Man, I was super ecstatic getting my first port spells and hella nervous to use them not knowing what was gonna wait for me on the other side.

Dungeon crawling in places like Sol A where random stuff could see invis was very nerve wracking too if you weren't massively overleveled. It still does it to this day with my enchanter but the toolset they have to manage getting found out is ridiculous. Zoning into HS as a solo wizard was... interesting.

Now today there is so much data available you can track the BIS gear and make an efficient leveling route before character creation. Back then you'd just wing it and discover the existance of new gear all the time. Hell when I came to p99 and used the wiki I found gear I didn't know it even existed. Back then the overall knowledge level was much lower and while it is nice in a way, it does take some of the magic out.

[shovelquest]

Make it so on p99 - there is a 1% chance your character and loot is auto deleted upon death on p99... and we'll be all walking around scared all the time again maybe.

[Jimjam]

Make it so on p99 - there is a 1% chance your character and loot is auto deleted upon death on p99... and we'll be all walking around scared all the time again maybe.

Each time you take a port there is a 1% chance you get dumped in Ocean of Tears where the boats zone in instead of your intended destination.

[Swish]

https://i.imgur.com/LdCm8tR.gif

[shovelquest]

charms max duration was only 8 minuets in classic :o

[Duik]

Make it so on p99 - there is a 1% chance your character and loot is auto deleted upon death on p99... and we'll be all walking around scared all the time again maybe.

Originally ports in AD&D had a % chance to come in high or low if i recall correctly. Ill check my players handbook when im home from the wheel. Dependimg on the casters relative knowledge of the destination.

[WarpathEQ]

I remember when the boats were totally unstable, so everyone would put all their hard-fought newbie gear into the bank before taking the boat, so you'd see a boat from Faydwer to Freeport with 50 naked people onboard.

And it was a smart thing to do also, because our first boat trip crashed at the BB/OOT zone and it dumped everyone in the water. GMs came to rescue, but one of my friends swam to one of the islands, grabbed a canoe, and paddled his way across OOT.

Do the canoes work in P99? every once and awhile I see one and want to take a ride but I can't remember how to make them function. Some good nostalgia for sure!

[Jimjam]

Do the canoes work in P99? every once and awhile I see one and want to take a ride but I can't remember how to make them function. Some good nostalgia for sure!

Right click and “you have the helm, captain”!

[shovelquest]

I was just thinking that the "old days" of p99 were just fun, not, not repeatable.

Like, I knew this guy that used to talk about VZTZ all the time, and it sounds like "those were the good old days" of emu eq.

Although I wish I could be on p99 during that time when nobody knew how to spawn quillmain....

I have a feeling there will be another mod that years gone by people will be bummed they didnt hop on earlier (quarm??!)

[cd288]

Make it so on p99 - there is a 1% chance your character and loot is auto deleted upon death on p99... and we'll be all walking around scared all the time again maybe.

I would throw my PC off the roof lol

[cd288]

charms max duration was only 8 minuets in classic :o

Source?

[shovelquest]

I would throw my PC off the roof lol

Now THAT'S classic :D

https://i.imgur.com/2XBVwIB.gif

[Homesteaded]

Making your own set of armor, first backpacks, first spells. What a game

[Moll]

This decaying dwarf skeleton sure is scrappy ... wait ... it's a dwarf skeleton! OH GOD! OH NO!

[neonspacedolphin]

I remember getting EQ like, WAY back in 1999. You know, when I was still wandering around strip malls with my friends and heading to Blockbuster to rent obscure RPGs on super nintendo to play all weekend staying over at my friend's house. Using JUNO to email my friends crap for the novelty of it. Screwing around on Sierra's The Realm, not really knowing what I was doing as a little kid... I remember Diablo coming out, I think everyone does, and it being such a big deal. I remember getting ICQ to chat with online friends...

Anyway, I remember my dad taking me to the mall to get EQ shortly after we got a cable internet modem. I remember the big, geeky guy that looked like something from the Simpson's standing behind the counter at the game store picking up the EQ box and saying "Everquest huh? Well, it's healthier than crack!" and tossing it into a bag for me.

I was about 16 at the time.

I remember loading up the game, making a ranger that started in qeynos, and struggling to wander around and see anything. I remember it was so dark; i was probably human. I remember being so confused about spells and what the heck I was doing. I was in a general teen haze at that point... I remember going to Blackburrow. I remember a druid coming into Qeynos with a Glowing Wooden Crook from Lockjaw in Ro, and everyone in the zone swarming around the druid to see the glowing weapon. I remember people calling out to form full groups just to travel, on foot, from Qeynos to the next city over.

I think, beyond playing, the thing that is most nostalgic though is reading this webpage... I don't remember the name of the site, but it was like an EQ player's journal, sort of written in first person. I remember spending a lot of time reading those journal entries about the dangers of traveling between cities, and encounters that the guy had.

The whole thing was so apropos, though... You know, I had been growing up on Enya and the jazz station's new age morning music playing around the house, going camping with my two brothers and my dad over the summers and wandering around the beaches in the dark at night, reading magazine articles about Diablo for months and sucking it right off the tap when it came out. Getting lost in Sierra's The Realm and dealing with a whole new level of weird internet creeps who played female characters...

ANYWAY

[WarpathEQ]

I remember people calling out to form full groups just to travel, on foot, from Qeynos to the next city over.


So good, true classic right there. Something about the early days of a new game when nobody knows anything and nobody has anything yet. EQ has always been a very unforgiving game.

[Duik]

Making your own set of armor, first backpacks, first spells. What a game

This man knows how to play. Fully agree dude.

[Swish]

Rusty short sword ---> Tarnished short sword

..and then doing that for fellow newbies for that sweet -2 delay.

[Gustoo]

Nothing like the journey in EQ. Untwinked going through the game, good times. For me I never leveled 1-35 in kunark really. So that will be a fun journey.

Spent a good amount of time in most of the other areas at this point.

It's a good game boys.