What would it take for a new mmo to recapture the feeling of eq?

[Malik_Gynax]

I just want to weigh in my 2 cents on the nostalgia discussion.

I played EQ in 1999. I was 13. I was really into UO at the time and hated EQ. I played it to about level 30 and quit. I found it really boring and really punishing. I didn't play it again for more than 10 years.

When I gave it another try here, I loved it. I had no positive nostalgia for the game, other than a thought of "I really don't remember anything about this game other than being really frustrated by it. I may as well give it another shot."

I agree with the sentiments about community. I've never played another MMO besides here on P99 where people are grouping everywhere constantly and everything I do ends up involving other people. Even in solo adventures I end up meeting other players and exchanging buffs and information or anything like that. This just doesn't happen enough in other MMOs and I couldn't even tell you why not. But this element is what keeps me playing now and is why I can say EQ is my favorite MMORPG now.

I want to emphasize that it's the actual COMMUNICATION with other people that makes it. In a lot of games you can automatically queue up and end up in a group of people for an instance or something and play together that way... but most of the time they may as well be bots. Otherwise, there's some extremely rude guy barking orders and expressing irritation at the whole group. Then the instance ends and all of those people are never to be seen or heard from again. Communication in EQ actual feels like building community, which I appreciate very much.

I could get into any number of other elements about the game that I find superior to other MMOs I've played, but I feel that comes down to personal preference and isn't relevant to the discussion. I feel the appeal of this game boils down to the extent of community interaction.