Meditation made EQ great

[Anesthia]

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

I liked that GU comic where the caster was medding and the cyclops was tapping him on the shoulder.

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[Lagaidh]

I love most classic EQ, but the book just never made sense to me. I can agree with it encouraging social behavior in groups like the original poster said. However, EQ being a pioneer in its genre and influencing all MMOs that followed it, there are some things they just got "wrong" out of the gate.

I just feel like you should always be able to monitor yourself and your immediate surroundings in a video game. This is opinion, but it seems to be shared by the masses. EQ was (and ... is) a visual treat. I always hated staring at what amounts to a user interface menu for major tracts of my casters' lives.

I can get the pro arguments fully, and even agree with them on some level. For instance, the notion that regenerating magical energy might take a trance-like concentration from the individual, and as such, he or she ISN'T aware of the immediate surroundings. In my perfect world, this would be handled in some other way visually. Think warped graphics kind of like being drunk, but the warp flows from your avatar in 3rd person view. Meh I dunno. Blahdee blah!

[maahes]

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

Soloing was a lot less common back in the day. Meditation used to require starting at your spell book (until level 35); and I think this encouraged casters to group. It also got people to talk; staring at the spell book = boring. Removing that aspect of EQ caused people to socialize and group less.

It also prevented a lot of nerds from /q'n. Can you image what the nerds on this server would do if you had to stare at your spell book still?

[Danth]

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

I can get the pro arguments fully, and even agree with them on some level. For instance, the notion that regenerating magical energy might take a trance-like concentration from the individual, and as such, he or she ISN'T aware of the immediate surroundings. In my perfect world, this would be handled in some other way visually. Think warped graphics kind of like being drunk, but the warp flows from your avatar in 3rd person view. Meh I dunno. Blahdee blah!

I agree with this idea. Meditate was bad as a gameplay mechanic, yet on some level it had some positive side effects. Downtime sucks, yet that downtime is largely why I'm still playing this game as opposed to newer alternatives--I can do other stuff, even go AFK, while my character meditates. Three hours online, here, isn't really three hours when over half of it is AFK. I can't really do that effectively in most newer games because they require almost 100% attention.

Whatever the pros or cons of meditate as a mechanic, book-in-the-face was a bad idea. It would have been better if the book was rendered as though you were holding it in your lap, while still able to see over the top.

Danth

[Snagglepuss]

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

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Thanks for finding that! I remember feeling like that in South Karana. I'm diggin the Oracle Robe too!

[Houdiny]

I thought that was just a chair he was sitting in.

[Lagaidh]

For that guy's art style, the caster is crouched. Knees out to the side, shoulders above. Hmm. Sounds like a good night with Mrs. Smif.

[Striiker]

Well, this has always been a weird spot for me.. This whole, changing a mechanic because it's classic. There are changes made which I really dislike and feel that we could do without. In the end, I accept it (obviously as there's no choice) and I just tell myself that this is how it was in classic and it's always been their stated goals to replicate it all.
Personally, I'd hate to see item linking go away, group loot messages go away, etc. I'd hate to see the spell book requirement return as well. It sucked to see target rings removed and XP penalties for race / class put in. I played live from release for years and can remember when these annoyances were removed and enhancements put in. People were overjoyed because these changes really did seem like it should have been this way from the start. Yet, I am fine with the hell levels as it's a sort of rite of passage through levels and I guess the spell book requirement was sort of the same.. There was an elation of finally hitting the level to remove this need. It was just a crappy requirement as it blocked out so much of the game.
As is always the case, people adapt to these changes and soldier on or leave the game.

[Valiant]

medding with book open was horrible, no thanks

[Danyelle]

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

medding with book open was horrible, no thanks

BUT IT WAS CLASSIC. ARE YOU INSINUATING SOMETHING LUCLIN+ WASN'T SHIT?????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????

CAPSLOCKSARCASM