When did Everquest start to really decline in quality of experience?

[jolanar]

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

For me it was when dungeons changed from this:


To this:


Everquest was a WORLD. Going into a dungeon was terrifying. You could get lost anywhere. It never cared if you were receiving a "fair challenge." You were entering a dangerous dungeon!

If you died, you may never find your body again. At some point it stopped being a world and turned into a playground where you go from room to room boss to boss.

One of the coolest things about the early dungeons was 3D level design. It took a lot of skill to craft such cool places. Later expansions just went fully 2D and boring. It's a shame.

I wonder how much of that had to do with in game maps being released. The maps were notoriously bad for zones with any verticality.