Quote:
Originally Posted by azeth
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The sole-killer of EQ was itemization. All arguements can be boiled down to this.
To be honest, the only expansion hat didn't suffer from poor itemization after Velious, was surprisingly Luclin. (given I quit the moment my guild killed Quarm, like within 25 minutes of it)
Luclin, however, introduced us to the first hints of pussification - The Nexus and Bazaar.
edit:
In hindsight, we ignore the fact that Kunark class armor was outdated the minute Velious opened. Somehow, early EverQuest didn't suffer. Whereas when PoP opened we really began to question the direction of the game.
I remember clearly thinking the first time I saw Plane of Fire loot, "So I've raided enough to have geared myself out in VT and Ssra gear, in addition to having spent a hundred or more hours gathering key pieces... for what?"
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I gotta agree with this
Basically anything I could say or any argument I could make has already been made (and in fact I may have already posted earlier in this thread and forgot lol) so basically let me boil this down as best I can.
Flames aside, most people that assume Luclin killed EQ are either jumping the gun, or mad about the graphics change. Plain and simple. The ONLY difference (again...graphics aside) that Luclin introduced was AAs, Bazaar, and Nexus. Now I get a lot of crap for liking Luclin so let me lay out my reasonings in detail and maybe, just maybe, people can understand my thoughts on the matter.
The Bazaar I didn't like, I liked the convenience however it killed several aspects of trade in EQ. A good example would be you could no longer barter prices down on someone. It also became a little harder to buy low and sell high, which is one of the primary methods of dosh attainment in EQ. The Nexus I wasn't bothered by. Why? Because there was one spire per continent (which, with the sole exception of Faydwer and Odus, required you to make a long and/or dangerous trip to reach) and then it also wasn't instantaneous. There was quite a long delay between arriving and getting ported, unless you got lucky on arrival time (which the same could be said for boats...). AAs didn't bother me either. In fact having something to shoot for besides the level cap, not to mention the debates over which ones to get and when to get them or what level to start grinding them, added a bit more substance to EQ imo. Long story short, the only thing I didn't like about Luclin was the Bazaar. That's it. And, in my heart, Luclin is still Classic. This is of course an opinion but whatever I'm entitled to state it as much as I am to have it.
For me Planes of Power was the actual start of EQ's decline. A decline that finally hit rock bottom with Gates of Discord. Every once in awhile a good expansion still shows up (I for one actually liked Seeds of Destruction, and The Buried Sea brought back boats..despite the fact that it doesn't really matter because lolPoK but still..) but ultimately the "magic" as earlier referenced could not be recaptured by GoD...it was gone. It was still very much a good game...but it was not the same. By any means. They began to stop putting new things in that benefited the game, and instead put things in that casualized the game (*COUGH*corpse summoners*COUGH*) until eventually there was no challenge. It became a WoW-clone grind fest.
That's my 2 cents