So... How classic do you want it?

[Mblake81]

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

Yes, it was bad, they changed it because it was bad, and the game was better for it. If it's so great then why did they remove it?

They changed a lot of things that soured players who were into it for reasons like this. They added autoteleporters because having a couple classes that could teleport people around in the RPG setting just didn't cut it for high speed raiding video game. Far more convenient to click a pedestal.

Anything else?

[Wurl]

Blind meditation was likely added in because in a lot of Diku MUDs you are "blind" while sleeping or meditating. If you're interested, these are from the Diku MUD that Brad McQuaid played on:

< P: std (AFK) > WAKE REST SIT STAND KNEEL RECLINE ALERT

As in the real world, your character will eventually get tired and run
out of energy or get injured in the line of fire.  When this occurs,
you may wish to sit and rest or sleep for a quick bit.  You recover
more quickly when sleeping than when resting, and more quickly resting
than standing.

Persons who are magically put to sleep may be awakened with the "wake"
command.

The new position/status system commands are as follows:

         Command               Does

          stand                 stand up and become alert
          sit                   sit down
          kneel                 go to your knees
          recline               lie down
          rest                  relax, and sit down if you're standing
          alert                 pay attention, doesn't change position
          sleep                 go to sleep, doesn't change position
          wake                  wake up, doesn't change position.

At some point your character may end up standing and resting.  If you are
standing and unable to do much, try "alert".

See also:  SLEEP

< P: std (AFK) > MEDITATE
Applied/Reflexive skill.

Syntax:        Sit or rest, then meditate
Aggressive:    No
Class/Level:   Enchanter/Invoker/Necromancer/Elementalist/Shaman/Cleric/Druid,
                Illusionist/Psionicist 1st

"Meditate" allows the player to memorize/pray for spells with a chance
of halving the time.  A single proficiency check is made at the half
way point for each spell.  If successful, the spell will be memorized/
prayed for at that time.  If unsuccessful, the spell will take the
normal time before it is memorized/prayed.

Meditation is automatic for casters while praying or memorizing spells.

Psionicists and Yuan-ti can use the meditate skill to regenerate spent psp at
a slightly faster rate.

[GhostCow]

We all know the game went to crap around Luclin. That's why were here. We are discussing a mechanic that was changed in Velious era. You know, the time when EQ was at it's best?

[Mblake81]

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

We all know the game went to crap around Luclin. That's why were here. We are discussing a mechanic that was changed in Velious era. You know, the time when EQ was at it's best?

Green starts in the original game, which that UI is part of. It is changed some during Kunark then finally in Velious. Green is not starting in Velious, this is what we are talking about.

Edit: My personal opinion is EQ didn't go to the trash can during Luclin but started with Kunark. The original game was the best, rounded and complete. They started tossing whatever after this but still kept some semblance which started fading faster with each expansion before finally being bent over the table with Luclin. It went from an RPG with a fairly deep background of influences before it to just another raiding game competing with other titles on the market. EQ lost its identity at this point.

[Mblake81]

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

Blind meditation was likely added in because in a lot of Diku MUDs you are "blind" while sleeping or meditating. If you're interested, these are from the Diku MUD that Brad McQuaid played on:

< P: std (AFK) > WAKE REST SIT STAND KNEEL RECLINE ALERT

As in the real world, your character will eventually get tired and run
out of energy or get injured in the line of fire.  When this occurs,
you may wish to sit and rest or sleep for a quick bit.  You recover
more quickly when sleeping than when resting, and more quickly resting
than standing.

Persons who are magically put to sleep may be awakened with the "wake"
command.

"Meditate" allows the player to memorize/pray for spells with a chance
of halving the time.  A single proficiency check is made at the half
way point for each spell.  If successful, the spell will be memorized/
prayed for at that time.  If unsuccessful, the spell will take the
normal time before it is memorized/prayed.

Meditation is automatic for casters while praying or memorizing spells.

Psionicists and Yuan-ti can use the meditate skill to regenerate spent psp at
a slightly faster rate.

/\ yea, that stuff. Which other people just called 'Downtime' and it was rejected later. Other games didn't have these influences and were fast paced.. "Look I click this melee attack and it sets up a special then a super special attack" and they never sat down or had reason to. RPG can be defined in different ways, those games had the marketing brand to benefit. Turns out, who really cares about RPG elements in a MMORPG.. the RPG just got in the way.

Edit: The racial visions, part of the RPG setting, were later stripped out to give everyone decent night visions as an improvement. In madcows mind, "those RPG elements were so terrible they took them out. If they were not bad why didn't they leave them in?" .. because they started catering to people who didn't care or give a damn about any of that, They just wanted to raid and anything that didn't facilitate that end were rendered pointless. I personally think it was cool as a wood elf seeing things tinted reddish-orange glow at night and dark elves having things tinted violet and could see a long ways in the dark. Certainly added to their flavor. But you know, they eventually made player cities pointless for an all in one XP starter zone.. because why have player cities in your RPG?.. lol that's dumb

[soronil]

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

We all know the game went to crap around Luclin. That's why were here. We are discussing a mechanic that was changed in Velious era. You know, the time when EQ was at it's best?

I don't necessarily think the game was at it's best at Velious. Itemization went to shit for one. Other than simply more content (cultural tradeskills are cool) i can't think of many reasons I enjoy the velious expansion. I don't really care about having 4 more hotbar buttons THAT much

[Wurl]

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

I don't necessarily think the game was at it's best at Velious. Itemization went to shit for one. Other than simply more content (cultural tradeskills are cool) i can't think of many reasons I enjoy the velious expansion. I don't really care about having 4 more hotbar buttons THAT much

I don't know if I'm in a minority, but I LOVE Velious zones. They're some of my favorites in the game!

[Jibartik]

Originally Posted by Chortles Snort|eS [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don’t remember combination grey ui vs Velious transparency
My memory remembers the toggling UIs [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My memory is so spotty, like honestly, I had no memory of what the transparent UI looked like at all, and I played in it as exclusively as possible.

But when I frst linked those marble bags my thought was "Idk wtf these are but they just feel right to me."

After seeing it in the other screens, its like the memories are coming back to me.

That's why I keep harping on finding a tracking window in the transparent UI screen. I cant be confident about any of my memories from back then. ugh.

Its wild what I cant remember. Do you ever binge really hard, accomplish so much, help so many friends, have so many laughs, drama's, high's low's, and then after the 3 or 4 day binge is over... you go back to work. And like remember zeeeeero of it. I bet there are some crazy adventures and fun ass nights that I had that I cant remember at all, and I bet while I was having them I was thinking "don't forget this its the greatest!"

One of these days we're going to find out the brain processes our emotions playing this game the same way it processes DMT or something. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[GhostCow]

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

I don't know if I'm in a minority, but I LOVE Velious zones. They're some of my favorites in the game!

I agree the Velious zones were pretty great. The best parts for me though were the new UI and removal of hybrid XP penalties. They also added a lot of spells that helped some classes be more useful. Honestly it was criminal for them to make those spells expansion only.

[Fammaden]

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

One of these days we're going to find out the brain processes our emotions playing this game the same way it processes DMT or something. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think its pretty well established that its the same as gambling addiction, man.