Where did EQ Live go wrong?

[ArumTP]

Guildwars 2?^

[Zuranthium]

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

Guildwars 2?^

I very much doubt Guildwars 2 will be like what I describe. A lot of their design choices - ie a plethora of mechanical technology - strays from the classic fantasy feeling to begin with. I don't think that game is going to have any dungeons either (or at least not any that even come close to the brilliance in Everquest). I doubt the World as a whole is going to be as overtly dangerous and mysterious as it was in Everquest. Part of that is because it's going to be too soft in terms of non-PvP character interaction; everyone is on the same side and always works together. They are also going to be breaking the flow of the game with cinematics. They are going in the right direction with the dynamic content and character storylines, but I don't believe it's going to be a wholly immersive experience.

[MissingNo]

^^ What this guy said; I like it.

I can give firsthand experience for this. I played classic through PoP. When Luclin came out I went with the leveling path described above because the exp. in fact did flow like gravy over biscuits. I could have chosen not to, but the gravity of the benefits would have given me dissonance if I avoided them.

When PoP came out and the world became smaller, the adventure aspect went away. There weren't any more level 1 gnome races from ak'anon to .. Odun?(erudite city).

One of the reasons that this game was great was the journey (character leveling), and in the time of achieving that you become part of the community through the people you meet. Giving faster exp and less travel time shortens that journey. Sure, there is end-game content, but I spent 95% of my eq life sub-max level.

[ArumTP]

Id like to point out that server population dictates where it is viable to hunt. There has always been too many newbie zones in this game. Give everyone a PoP travel book on character creation for all I care. The world needs to be "small" for a small server population.

[Zuranthium]

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

But, this is the thing that pisses me off. Build up before you branch out. Check out East Commonlands these days...the number of alts there begging for buffs off high levels. From all races, Iksars, Erudites, Wood elves etc. Races that don't even start remotely close to EC.

So they get a port, bind and SoW in 10 minutes and that fear is lost and they all just congregate to the fast exping of "buff me with all your druid buffs thanx"

It was pretty rare to see a non-barbarian/erudite/half-elf/human in Blackburrow. So too was it pretty rare to see a non-gnome/dwarf/high-elf/wood elf in Crushbone. But it happens all the time in P99 cause people know that if they just get a SoW/Bind/Port from a friendly druid they can go wherever they want and not fear travel at all. And thats what most resort to. Sending people like myself tells for ports, binds, and sows.

Yeah, these issues need to be addressed if the original quality of Everquest is ever to be recreated and maintained. Don't allow characters to get a teleport until they reach a certain level. Don't allow buffs to have an effect on a player that is vastly level inappropriate. Don't allow equipment to give players stats that are vastly level inappropriate.

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

As for the go to where people exp argument, if you add more zones, there is no way the existing zones + new zones will hold a population and sustain it unless more people join the game to fill those new zones.

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

Id like to point out that server population dictates where it is viable to hunt. The world needs to be "small" for a small server population.

I don't agree with this, however. I mean to a certain extent, yes, there needs to be a high enough base line amount of people in the area of the game you start out in for it to be viable to hunt there (if your class can not solo very well). Otherwise, though, there is no reason for zones to go extinct or for everyone to flock to a couple choice zones. It comes down to (1.) The zones being balanced properly in terms of risk vs. reward, (2.) The player profession and content design of the game being balanced properly such that a wide variety of class combinations form into strong parties, without any specific class ever being absolutely essential outside of epic encounters (3.) Content not being static and every single character needing to go to different places in order to fulfill their "quests".

[ArumTP]

Cats on the moon was a problem because it created yet another need for newbie/low/mid/mid-high zones that we didn't need, in a time we already seemed spread thin.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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[jainiseq]

EQ went wrong when they started replacing content instead of adding new content. Instead of oasis...there was Pauludel Caverns. Instead of Overthere... there was Netherbian Lair.
I'm sure we can all come up with more examples... but that's the bottom line if you ask me. They kept fixing things that need not be fixed.

[Vexxar]

Changing all the zone models killed it for me, just wasnt the same game after that

[Kevlar]

Luclin was bad but I played through POP. POP was well done, it was interesting battling all the EQ gods. Then the cheaters became rampant and the monsters with even worse names than the ones in Luclin came out in Gates of Discord. What a crappy expansion. Lost Dungeons and Ykesha were pretty bad too, getting rid of the cohesive world and replacing the game with instances. I guess they tried to out WOW world of warcraft, but it ruined the game and ruined what made EQ fun.