Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormhowl
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Cats on the Moon was the beginning of the end; that much is obvious from step one, when the expansion was named "Shadows of Luclin" (SoL = Shit outta Luck).
AAs, the Bazaar, The Nexus, and the updated graphics all killed the game. Maybe many of us were too young for it to have realized it at the time, but looking back I think many of us can see that this was the expansion, not PoP, that killed the game, because it killed the community by reducing the reliance on Druids/Wizards for ports and eliminated the need to interact with people to trade. Things like AAs, which added never ending progression at 60 and created a schism between fresh 60s and veterans, and the updated graphics engine which forced many people to upgrade their comps when previously there was not a need for such a thing, only added insult to injury.
Even if everything was left as is; new zones with one or two connecting points (e.g., only allowing travel to Luclin via the Dreadlands spires where the Combine originally left from), the graphics engine was left alone, AAs weren't added, Shadow Haven wasn't some "one stop shop" for all your basic needs, and the Bazaar was absolutely obliterated from all memory, I still think Luclin was an absurd expansion. How many of us can actually pronounce the names of many of the higher end monsters? How many felt this diverged from both lore (the combine empire was supposed to be long gone, was it not?) and common fantasy archetypes?
Game would've been fine if we expanded some of Odus, Antonica, and Faydwer (look at a Kunark-era world map; notice a lot of places that were never in the game until like the 12th expansion?) and if they added Kerras as a playable race starting on the island west of Toxxulia.
There, I discussed. :P
|
I agree with pretty much everything here. For me personally, EQ <i>completely</i> died when LDoN came out, but yeah, just up through Velious is enough unless only some of the things mentioned above can be implemented (no Bazaar or porting stones, etc.).
I loved Luclin when it came out, but looking back on it I realize that it was just the beginning of a big flame-out. It was relatively short-term satisfaction.
I don't know that the population on the P99 server is large enough for that much expansion anyway. Some guilds would be happy about new raiding spots, but there sure would be a bunch of abandoned zones out there.
A lot of MMOs that followed EQ borrowed from stuff implemented post-Luclin, and it's a big reason why I play here and not there.