People that never played classic EQ

[Velerin]

I was just curious about people that play p1999 but never played classic EQ back in the day (too young, never tried, etc.).
What brought you here? What do you like about it? How different was it going from more ez mode MMOs to this. "An even con monster! That should be an easy solo!"

I played eq from 1999-2004/5 or so. Never really could get into another mmo, stopped playing anything for years, and then found this server last year and loving it.

[Xorekle]

Yeah, other mmo's are kind of...junky. Darkfall is ok, EVE is ok, rest so far, are all EZ mode. Some are fun for a while, but still easy.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

I brought a friend of mine here. Never played classic.

Say hit to Dubecrisk, 36 Mage.

[Shortin]

Hit

[Esheon]

I started just after Ykesha came out, so I technically never played "Classic". Even so, it was still a lot harder than any MMO I've played since. My start time is probably why I hate Luclin so much, though... Soooo much time spent in PC.

A couple of games came close to post-PoP EQ at the beginning, but got knocked down real fast... EQ2 and Vanguard had group content in the newbie zones & more difficult travel at launch, and Commonlands/Antonica had more group content than solo content... now it's all solo & all fast travel. (Well, Vanguard was until it closed down.) The last expansion I played in EQ2 (Odus), I soloed to cap, never grouped except in instances, and could tank most of those instances on a frickin rogue (Ratonga Swashbuckler).

Other MMOs never even tried to be difficult... WoW, MxO, SWG, SWtOR, LotRO (even though I have a lifetime sub I never play anymore), they all started easy and stayed easy.

Project 1999? I have my fair share of "d'oh" moments (especially in forgetting to re-mem spells after death), but I'm lovin' it.

[Eliseus]

Originally Posted by Esheon [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I started just after Ykesha came out, so I technically never played "Classic". Even so, it was still a lot harder than any MMO I've played since. My start time is probably why I hate Luclin so much, though... Soooo much time spent in PC.

A couple of games came close to post-PoP EQ at the beginning, but got knocked down real fast... EQ2 and Vanguard had group content in the newbie zones & more difficult travel at launch, and Commonlands/Antonica had more group content than solo content... now it's all solo & all fast travel. (Well, Vanguard was until it closed down.) The last expansion I played in EQ2 (Odus), I soloed to cap, never grouped except in instances, and could tank most of those instances on a frickin rogue (Ratonga Swashbuckler).

Other MMOs never even tried to be difficult... WoW, MxO, SWG, SWtOR, LotRO (even though I have a lifetime sub I never play anymore), they all started easy and stayed easy.

Project 1999? I have my fair share of "d'oh" moments (especially in forgetting to re-mem spells after death), but I'm lovin' it.

Please show me all your characters in all of those games that have completed all of the end game (which is the majority of the game). Thank you. Apparently auto-attacking the majority of content is hard.

[Esheon]

Originally Posted by Eliseus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Please show me all your characters in all of those games that have completed all of the end game (which is the majority of the game). Thank you. Apparently auto-attacking the majority of content is hard.

Snark aside...

In WoW and MxO, I mostly just did PvP, though I did tag along in a few raids. In SWG I was a crafter with property on most planets in the game.

In EQ2, there wasn't much raiding to start, but my Conjuror did have a prismatic. Guild fell apart in DoF (drama, ugh), so some friends and I went to WoW for a while. I came back shortly before TSO came out, and got Conjuror/Paladin/Shaman/Swashbuckler with Mythical epics. During TSO, I was single-grouping WoE and handing the loot out to guildies to get them ready for the 4-group raids. Then when SF came out you pretty much had to drop a lot of your previous raid loot and get the SF heroic stuff so you had the new stats they'd added. As stated, I was tanking high-end SF group instances on a Swashbuckler, and we had gotten through about half of the SF raid content. I took a break from gaming in general and did some John Denver hippy stuff for a while, and I haven't been back to EQ2 since (though I keep meaning to log in and see what they did with Velious).

LotRO didn't have much in the way of raid content either. Well before MoM, the Balrog was a regular farm for us... We could single-group him, so much like I later did in EQ2/WoE, we brought a second group of under-equipped guildies and let them loot everything. My main, Eshwulf, was considered to be one of the best Minstrels on the Elendilmir server around that time. When MoM came out, we did the whole "race to the top" thing again, and I hit The Watcher a few times before the guild died off (drama strikes again).

Vanguard had no raid content at all until after I left the game. I did however have a capped paladin and shaman, both in full Ichta armour, which was as end-game as it got back then.

In SWtoR, I currently have a capped Operative (heal spec) in a mix of Arkanian & Verpine gear. I've done all 55 HMFPs and a several of the HMOps. I haven't gotten very lucky on the gear drops so far, so I've bought Verpine instead of looting Underworld... I'm at the point now where if I replace any more of the Arkanian I'll lose my set bonus, so the only decent upgrade is for me to win some raid loot rolls. Of course, I've been letting SWtoR slide in favor of P99 now...

So, while I may not have completed "all" of the endgame content (why go back and raid Faydwer when I have VP and epics to finish?), I have been just behind the hardcore guilds in most of the games I've played. I think I'm qualified to say which games are easier than others.

As others in this thread have stated, "hard" or "difficult" aren't really the best words to use, but they're the ones that come to mind. The game itself is not difficult to PLAY (In fact, I find it kind of relaxing compared to other, faster-paced games). Primarily, when I say the EQ is "hard", I'm primarily talking about two "game mechanics"...

1.) Limited Soloability
In just about any game on the market, you can easily solo to cap level on any class in the game. Some games even give you a pet or mercenary to follow you around and HELP you solo. Also, in many games only instanced content is group-required.

In Classic EQ, this just doesn't happen. Sure, a few classes can solo very well, but even then they're mostly doing outdoor zones with room to run around. If you want to explore a dark dungeon deep within the earth, you need some friends to come along.

2.) Penalty for Failure (or Stupidity)
Most games have little to no death penalty. In SWtoR and LotRO, I have no problem suiciding my character just to get somewhere faster... all it costs is a little cash for repairs. Back when I played WoW, you ran back to your corpse as an invincible ghost. In games like that, I do stupid stuff without even thinking of it. It's a feeling of "what the heck, it doesn't matter if I die".

By contrast, death in EQ has consequences. Even in the easiest circumstances (epic clicky cleric standing behind you), you still lose some experience and have to wait for rez effects to wear off. Most of the time people aren't so lucky... maybe your group's cleric only has a 50% rez, or you're being healed by a shaman who has NO rez, or you randomly died while running from one place to another and you can't convince a cleric to go out there and rez you. The mere fact that these consequences exist promotes a different style of play.

Oh, and 3.) The Endurance bar keeps impatient idiots from jumping around constantly when they get bored.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

"Hi"

[Stormlight]

I began playing after Luclin, and love classic. I love the giant world where everything isn't less than 5 minutes away. There is still content completely unknown to me, and I love that. For example, Kithicor Forest. About all I know about that place is it's freakin scary at night, and there's an epic fight there. So much to still explore. And the game doesn't just hand you stuff, and it's unforgiving. I have to work to progress, and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment while still enjoying the experience. Class/race restrictions, size restrictions, deity restrictions are all great. I could ramble, but I'll stop.

[captnamazing]

Barely played during luclin to PoP time cause i was a wee lad
I came back cause this is the best MMO