Why EQ?

[Danth]

This game provides combat pacing which won't ruin my hands or wrists in 6 months. I'm too old to play the button-spammy video games anymore. Everquest also provides some degree of sensibility in its world environments (bad graphic quality notwithstanding)....places built by Humans are Human-size; places built by Ogres are Ogre-size, etc. One of my pet peeves with a great many modern role-playing games is how it seems as though every last building, even mud huts, have vaulted 20 foot high cathedral ceilings. Dungeons are often confusing and maze-like, as they should be. Linear "Dungeons" composed solely of a series of straight hallways with little to no deviation even possible rapidly bore me.

This game has its faults as well of course, but I'll take the bad with the good because the good is good enough to be worth it.

Danth

[Dezante]

Addendum

I totally neglected the sandbox element. This rail-road quest lining from beginning to end that seem to be the coerced primary source of XP and loot in most of the new games irritates and bores me to no end. EQ has some optional quests and some complex quest lines, which are great, but apart from those you can log in and then decide "hmm, where will my feet take me today?" without feeling like you're missing out on something you ought to do to keep up.

EQ doesn't force you to follow a story tailored to your race/class combo, rather it lets you write your own, thus allowing you immersion through self-wrought fantasy instead of a pre-written package. EQ isn't "you should", it's "you decide".

[Ahldagor]

just running around the zones is fun. that simple thing is a wonderful groundwork.

[Hamahakki]

I'll add, the combat is slow enough that you can actually talk to people while fighting.

[Aborath]

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

P99 is everything right with what EQ was. Meanwhile, everything right with EQ was watered down and smashed into baby food by modern MMOs.

This, exactly.

[Voland]

1) Communication.
EQ is the only game I've played where people actually talk
in groups. Without talking, I might as well play a single player RPG.

2) Camping/grinding.
When I first started EQ 10 years ago, I thought they should
have had more/friendlier quests.

After playing EQ2/WoW/etc I realized that:
1. Quests are not that interesting, for the most part.
2. Quests separate people: "Ok, I got my 10 wolf tails, see ya!"

Finding a good spot and spending few hours there with a good company
is just perfect for me... I do miss LDON though [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

3) Need for teamwork.
Having to know what you are doing and depending on others (tank/healer/cc)
is great to keep you focused on the task and gives a sense of
belonging. In new games you can mostly zerg your way thru and still
get your rewards.

[Halius]

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

1) Communication.
EQ is the only game I've played where people actually talk
in groups. Without talking, I might as well play a single player RPG.

2) Camping/grinding.
When I first started EQ 10 years ago, I thought they should
have had more/friendlier quests.

After playing EQ2/WoW/etc I realized that:
1. Quests are not that interesting, for the most part.
2. Quests separate people: "Ok, I got my 10 wolf tails, see ya!"

Finding a good spot and spending few hours there with a good company
is just perfect for me... I do miss LDON though [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

3) Need for teamwork.
Having to know what you are doing and depending on others (tank/healer/cc)
is great to keep you focused on the task and gives a sense of
belonging. In new games you can mostly zerg your way thru and still
get you rewards.

^^

The teamwork/social part mostly. WoW drew me in after I lost interest in EQ (around PoP time). Vanilla WoW and even TBC was cool because it wasn't complete easy mode and the scripted raids were fun (like Karazhan, loved that one). But after TBC I got so bored with the game, new levels meant more mindless quests, cross server groups meant I didn't know anybody, and raid finder was just complete crap.

Anyways EQ has always been amazing because each class has a specific role. You can't just change on a whim to something else, and you actually have to interact with everyone. It makes it important to have people to group with because groups really matter.

[nilzark]

The Tunnel.

And <Forum Quest> mostly.

[Velerin]

I love the fact there's no boxing on this server. I really think boxing killed a lot of the player interaction on EQ. It was a vicious cycle, people say they need to box since they can't find a group, then those people no longer need to group and force others to box.
Also the first thing I loved when I logged on p99 for the first time was walking around old cities and there were actually people in them doing stuff. I quit after PoP and hated that everyone just sat in PoK, cities were bare.

[billpaleq]

My buddies and I started playing in early 2000. This was our first MMO(some of us played UO). We all played up to GOD then left to WoW,SWOTR, and a few others. Now we are all back here. These are the reasons why I love EQ:

1. Fear of death (no other game made you so pissed)
2. Community(early WoW had this during raids where our guild would shoot the shit during easy bosses)
3. Gear. UBER gear takes a lot of time. A single spell may be a quest that takes 6-8hours of game time to get.
4. Risk Vs Reward. EQ got this right. You want to lvl fast? kill higher level mobs or go to a dungeon. Push your luck and you just wasted 4 hours...
5. Nostalgia. My buddies and I still talk about or 35+hour camp in Lguk for us all to get a FBSS