So what's there to do in Velious anyway?

[t0lkien]

Velious has loads of new gear that ramps up logically and forms a sort of pre-requisite acquisition tunnel to higher content, a fantastic setting and story/lore, and serious raid targets. There are meaningful faction choices (giants or dwarves) which directly affect available gear/items/encounters, and it's really a guild competition paradise. It contains possibly the most epic quest ever implemented - the Coldain Ring War - and just so many fantastic areas it's impossible to describe. You have to play it. I started EQ right at the beginning of Velious and it took me a long time just to get high enough level to visit it, let alone raid there. It's the best MMO expansion I've ever played through (and no doubt there is a bit of nostagia attached to that, but not much). If you like classic EQ as it is on p99 now, you'll love it. If you don't really, you probably won't.

[Hobie819]

Velious was the first expansion designed for the high level game. Every zone was created for lvl 20+. No new races or classes came with it. There were no gimmicks with the expansion (as with the cat people of Luclin). Quests were incredibly involving, such as the shawl and ring. When you stepped onto Velious, it felt as if you were a part of the storyline of EQ. Plenty of new zones, outdoor and indoor. Honestly, the storyline of Velious was the best storyline in EQ. The first three continents had storyline but it didn't really involve you. For instance, you never find out in game why Erudin was created, or why the hole was created. It's just there. Kunark is fun but again, we never really feel like we are part of that storyline. Velious made you feel as if you were a part of the storyline - made you want to learn about your environment. It made you decide between factions, as mentioned above, and the storyline associated with that faction.

Velious added a lot of new content. The content that was added was obviously well thought out with (as far as I remember at least) few glitches. It's also the last expansion where it felt like you were adventuring. After Velious was Luclin, where if you wanted to get anywhere in the world all you had to do was get to a spire.

That's my take on why Velious was awesome.

[t0lkien]

^^ and this. p99 is not going past Velious. All these reasons are why that is so. It was the last great part of classic EverQuest; it didn't break anything, but rather enhanced and added to what had gone before. There are just so many parts of it to look forward to.

[Flamewraith]

So why so much hate on Luclin? I admit the whole easy transport thing was not in the spirit of EQ, but I thought the AA's were a great idea, and I have to say that I enjoyed playing a Vahshir BL.

[Itap]

Because Luclin character models suck ass.

[t0lkien]

Luclin broke the game on several fundamental levels. I agree parts of it were good, but the first time someone linked a pair of +120hp legs in trade, I knew the glory days were past. AA's also broke the game (Fading Memories for example on the Bard fundamentally changed and trivialized aspects of the class; dumping aggro was a Monk's main ability and it gave a better version to Bards i.e. it simultaneously messed up two classes). It set precedents of class and gear and system changes that were impossible to undo. Mudflation in every area of the game - items, stats, money, general class power - took over. Insta-ports undermined the porting classes and took value away from all movement abilities. The Bazaar removed the gloriously chaotic, community driven EC tunnel cluster. It completely blurred and overwhelmed what had made the game great.

Also, it suddenly introduced psuedo sci-fi elements into what had been a purely High Fantasy game previously. It was an ugly addition thematically, and it was obvious to me at the time that it had been designed by people who no longer understood what they were doing, or why their game had been awesome. It felt as if it had been designed to keep people playing rather than extend and enrich the world.

Also, the new models/animations.

[Kope]

Most of the expansion is based off of a 2 1/2 way war. Giants are the evil guys trouncing on everyone. Dragons are kinda the neutral guys depending on which side of lore you side with. Dwarves are the underdog good guys.

You kill giants and you get dwarf and dragon faction.

You kill dwarves or Dragons and you get giant faction.

There are other factions as well but this is the main premise behind the story of the expansion. YOU get to choose which side you align with.

The outdoor dungeons are HUGE and a lot of diversity of mobs.

The dungeons are incredible (Dragon necropolis anyone?)

You have to pick up an item from each of the teleports to be able to BE teleported there.

Go through some smaller dungeons/zones and you get to Kael - the giant city. Past kael is Wakening lands, a jungle like area where there is a dragon guarding the teleporter. In the middle-ish part of WL is a tree which leads you to the Plane of Growth, hippy land of Tunare that's a pain in the butt but cool at the same time.

Past WL is Skyshrine the dragon city and as you have said deathmaze if you are not aligned with dragons.

Then you get to the high end of the expansion - Cobalt scar (basically a beach with ledge above, the beach has otter people and a dragon that swims in the waters). Past that you swim into the water and in a side cave randomly leads you to the Sirens Grotto which is kinda a crazy zone that you have to get through to get to...

Western Wastes. A huge outdoor snow zone that is literally FILLED with dragons...and a woolly mammoth?

From Western Wastes you get to the 2 higher end raid dungeons (not counting Velk's Labyrinth) 1) dragon necropolis which is awesome for groups and 2) TOV which is the high end raid dungeon. At the end of ToV is an odd zone you can find that's a half secret called Plane of Mischief.

The expansion really gave you the power to experience it how you wanted. You had choices, and your choices altered how the main factions acted towards you. Want an easy way to get to WL? Go giant faction. Want to get through skyshrine easily? Go dragon faction. Want both? Have fun grinding faction multiple times.

You have the power to do what you want, the game doesn't force you to play any single way.

...Sorry I think I just got nostalgia all over the forums.

[SCB]

Haters gonna hate but there isn't a zone in classic EQ that's as cool as Ssra Temple, imo. Everything to do with Akhevans aside from actually fighting Akhevans was awesome, also, but I've always been a sucker for interesting bad guys/schisms.

Luclin has a bad rep in these parts that I think it doesn't totally deserve. If you go play in the neighbor kid's basement, you can't get mad that he wants to play what he wants to play, but I think it honestly gets more hate than it deserves.

Velious excites me for one reason over any other - factions that really define your character and your playstyle. The factions really gave you the sense that the world existed before you and would survive if you never came back. There is very little I enjoy as much as an immersive world in any game, and Velious delivers that more than any other MMO I've played, IMO, even prior/later EQ expansions. Edit: Dragon Necropolis is also cool as can be.

[Shivilian]

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

I didn't mean to say it with an attitude, much more with a tone of curiosity. I see how it looked coming out, but what I really wanted to know was what features it has. For instance I like how it adds Kerafyrm as an unkillable boss, that just boils my blood that they made something impossible, but I respect it as well. I just wanted to know what else there is to do since leveling isn't a key aspect like in Kunark.

I also didn't mean to say that you had an attitude [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] only that you cannot look at Velious as just a gear hunt. Or expect there to be a lot of changes. Because there wasn't. The Scars of Velious expansion introduced immersion at a level never seen before. While they certainly did add gear, Lore, fantastical zones (if you can look past low resolution textures, even today they should allow a certain level of awe when exploring them), Epic quest lines that require a lot of time and effort in all areas of everquest... the list goes on. They added something for everyone. You can complete most of these epic quest lines (ring war comes to mind) without a huge "poopsock" guild. Back in the day, if you were ready to start the ring war... all you did was advertise when and where you were going to start it and people came. It was just something for everyone to get involved with, regardless of guild ties.

All levels and play styles had something to do with Velious. It was just, fun and filled with stuff to check out.

[Shivilian]

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

Haters gonna hate but there isn't a zone in classic EQ that's as cool as Ssra Temple, imo. Everything to do with Akhevans aside from actually fighting Akhevans was awesome, also, but I've always been a sucker for interesting bad guys/schisms.

Luclin has a bad rep in these parts that I think it doesn't totally deserve. If you go play in the neighbor kid's basement, you can't get mad that he wants to play what he wants to play, but I think it honestly gets more hate than it deserves.

Velious excites me for one reason over any other - factions that really define your character and your playstyle. The factions really gave you the sense that the world existed before you and would survive if you never came back. There is very little I enjoy as much as an immersive world in any game, and Velious delivers that more than any other MMO I've played, IMO, even prior/later EQ expansions. Edit: Dragon Necropolis is also cool as can be.

I agree with one exception... AA points. The invention of AA points was the start of the downfall in my opinion. I loved Luclin and SSra temple for sure. However, they bottlenecked the hell out of Xevra or whatever the end raid zone is in Luclin. If they removed the end zone and the AA points. I would totally get into Luclin again for sure.