Yeah the magic of early EQ was largely in how unknown everything was. I remember full groups of naked barbs teaming up to take down wooly mammoths in everfrost, which would be unheard of today cause it's an insanely inefficient way to get loot or xp, but we just didn't know better and it was fun as hell. I remember everyone being horny for minotaur axes, which are horrrrrible weapons lol. It was a magic time though.
I know what you mean about a lvl 20 seeming like a high level player. It probably took me a month on my barb warrior to get 20, and I thought long and hard about what I wanted my surname to be cause it was a BIG deal.
I remember forming a pickup group in EC, and we were deciding where to go, and somebody was like "I heard there's some lizard temple a few zones away" (CT), so we ran all the way there as a group and it was packed to the gills with players. Sigh... I miss those days.
It's sad too because even somebody who's never played EQ before can't get that experience really, because they'll be playing in a world where everyone else knows every single thing about the game. There's not gonna be any wooly mammoth assassination squads for them to join.
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When I think about it though I was really just insanely lucky to be the age I was (15) when the game launched and to have played it through planes of power. Not some TLP, it was the real shit. I kinda feel bad for people who can never experience how fun that was.