I quit live eq and abandoned any desire to even consider TLPs right around the time they revamped the common lands and Freeport. It upset me to know that I could never again go back and visit those zones and experience them (at least visually) the way they always were. It was the straw that broke the camels back.
I legitimately loved the game and each of the first half-dozen or more expansions. I personally feel the game peaked around PoP but still had a ton of fun through OoW. From there it slowly declined.
As EQ expansions marched onward, the game felt smaller and smaller and less complex/interactive. Travel was too fast. The game was too easy. The communities and players became more insular. Everyone boxed. Mercenaries really killed the grouping game.
In my last year or 2 I ultimately entertained myself by using Macroquest2. I copied my characters to test server so I could play for free on as many accounts as I wanted. I wrote some pretty complex macro scripts to automatically play all but my primary character and could load 6 instances at a time to have my own custom built group that always played/reacted perfectly. Novelty wore off and I logged in less and less.
I know we may all be tired of p99 since it’s stagnated forever at Velious … but this project is truly a magnificent thing. The aggressive stance on policing basic things like no hacks and no botting was icing on the cake. As tempted as I have been at times to load a 2nd instance to do something as simple as buff, rez or port myself … it is the fact that I can’t/shouldn’t that makes this server so great. It’s the reliance on others to get what you want/need or achieve certain goals that keeps some of the original eq magic alive.
First time I logged into p99 and made my way to EC tunnel to see the vibrant hawking of goods - nearly brought a tear to my eye.
#nostalgia
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