I don't get why people feel that EQ is hard. It's less forgiving than other newer games but really it was only so slow and painful the first time around for me because it was also my first game of this type. Concepts like trains and pulling and crowd control were just being learned and a lot of fuckups were had by all.
Compared to Korean games, even tame ones like Aion, the EQ grind is laughable. While I am admitedly not in the know when it comes to how to level from 1-60 in games like WoW in 1 week, as some people claim to do... I would estimate playing normally for me it would take me the same time to hit 60 in vanilla WoW and 50 in EQ.
The biggest differences in my opinion are how much time is "wasted" in Everquest. In a typical 6 hour WoW playing session if I die 5 times I am probably like 5-10% less efficient than in a similar session where I died not at all. In Everquest a death or two in the wrong place can have you spending a couple of hours enjoying a CR rather than enjoying progress. I think this lends to the illusion that it actually takes way longer to level than it really does. It also generates frustration you don't typically experience in newer games as not only have you lost exp, you have spent a good deal of time on zero progress. Again creating the illusion that EQ has ridiculously slow levelling.
On top of that you can powerlevel in EQ in ways you simply cannot in most newer games. Druid/Mage DS style PL, Pet PL, Monk FD PL, Memblur PL, /qing or zoning PL, etc etc all used effectively can get you to max level with a quickness. Some of these things aren't even possible in newer games but in classic EQ can really cut through the grind. *shrug*
I guess I just don't understand why anyone would want it even faster. It's fast enough, if anything make it harder to level. Give me a /exppenalty switch so I can experience the troll SK love without having to play a character that looks like a giant walking turd. Thx!
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