This has been an interesting thread to read through and I thought perhaps I might add my experience as a genuine newb to P99 and what I've found with my first experience re-acquainting myself to classic EQ. I'm not making any requests or asking for any changes, it's not my place.
Short background, I played from Beta to early 2003, almost certainly too much, I was never in a top guild, endured public raids till my midlevel guild was large enough to do their own raids late Kunark into Velious. I love going back to old games, I even play an emu of the Amiga classic Colonial Conquest at least a couple of times a year. I first tried returning to relive EQ with the Daybreak servers a couple of years ago, hated it, didn't like the shared newbie city and lack of unique starting cities, the new landscapes (those I saw) were terrible. It wasn't EQ.
When I found out about P99, I was genuinely excited about being able to go back to the graphical world I remembered. I want to stress that, graphical world. I wanted the look and feel of EQ back in the day. For me, this is where the enjoyment and nostalgia of going back to an old game comes from, you can feel yourself transported back in time just by the visuals in front of you.
Spawning back in Halas was magical, it felt amazing trying to remember the layout (didnt even google it), I really loved getting stuck in the water for 10 minutes trying to work out why I couldnt get back out, cos, well, that's what really happened back in '99. (I did have to google how to get out).
I really wanted to dive back in, level up my Shaman, then build a Monk and Wizard for a fun little three box I could explore the world with. I never multi-boxed when levelling back in the day, so I was really looking forward to seeing how it went for that portion of the game. I spent nearly two hours going through the Wiki, re-familiarising myself with the options, the things to look forward to.
I'd only logged in to see the world again and maybe play a few levels. But now I wanted to play.
Then I went out to start my adventures.
Died three times before I killed a mob. Yeah, sure, lack of prudence on my part, noobishness, not respecting the challenge. But boy, that's a steep first step. Pretty sure it didn't happen when i first played, when my initial character was levelling, the newbie grounds were kill stealing sprees in the madness of the first few hours of live, maybe I did in Beta. But you know, it made the first kill sweeter, it was rewarding in many ways and completely different to every other game these days (online or off).
But then I started trying to level. And it was slow. Level one was not quick. Level two felt like a hell level. I'm not the same person I was in 1999. I don't have 40 hours a week for several months. I don't have a network on the service to twink and powerlevel me. Levelling in Everquest is just not something I am prepared to do.
Which is a same, because there is so much depth in the class design in this game, and there is a lot of content to explore once you get to a decent enough level (and if you refuse the easy teleports). But that content is just not accessible. In '99 I had no idea what was out there, it was worth keeping going by persuading myself there was a golden rainbow at the end of the slog. But I know what's at the end now. And a lot of it is pretty fun. But it is not worth the effort required - at least to me. And I think an awful lot of others.
So I won't be sticking with it. I'll definitely try and find the time to get to Level 9 so I can do the run from Halas to Kelethin. I did it back in '99, on a Friday night, on the third day of live. It took about 10 hours with three corpse runs. But it was the most fun I ever had in Everquest. In over 3 years of heavy play, that 10 hours on the third day of live was the best experience I had. I know that now, I didn't then. It's why I just can't bring myself to go through the levelling and the time requirements to get the less enjoyable (but still reasonably fun) stuff at 50+.
Everquest is brutally punishing on its players.
For me, the game isn't hardcore, its unfair. And that's the nub of it. In this thread I noticed there seem to be two sides, those completely committed to a version as close to 99 as possible and those who want to build a larger player base. I don't know if those are as incompatible as people think. As I said at the start, the heart of the nostalgia from playing Project 99 is reliving the sights and sounds of the old game. But there is no reason at all that levelling four times faster (yes four times not 20% more XP in unpopular zones) would reduce that nostalgic enjoyment.
In any case, it's not my place to ask for changes or tell anyone what to do. That's my experience, please take from it what you will
|