Velious

[skarlorn]

Having never played velious in live I was mentally damaged when people on p99 hyped it for years and then it turns out to be succ.

Smart and ATG hitting it home here for me.

[Lhancelot]

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

Having never played velious in live I was mentally damaged when people on p99 hyped it for years and then it turns out to be succ.

Smart and ATG hitting it home here for me.

On live when velious came out, it was really exciting. I vaguely remember it, but one mental picture I have from back then was when me and two buddies were running through snow to thurgadin.

I don't remember how we got there, or why we were going there, I just remember a vast expanse of snow and happiness that we made it to the new world.

It was myself a half elf ranger, my paladin companion and a dwarf rogue who we befriended during kunark times.

Anyway, the smaller details seem so much more monumental to me now looking back at it, as I was a very new gamer and expectations were non-existent as I did not know what to expect.

I wasn't concerned about bigger raid targets or complex dungeon layouts with fatter loots, back then I just wanted to explore and that fulfilled me.

I think we as gamers have evolved so much since the early times of mmo gaming and what used to fascinate us then now hardly impacts us the way it used to.

Due to technology advancements and gaming experiences being so much more advanced now, it's hard for me to imagine a mmo ever being able to replicate the magical moments that some of us experienced during the early periods of time of mmo development which is a shame imo.

[Bardalicious]

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

Due to technology advancements and gaming experiences being so much more advanced now, it's hard for me to imagine a mmo ever being able to replicate the magical moments that some of us experienced during the early periods of time of mmo development which is a shame imo.

It's like any drug you try. You'll never succeed in chasing the feelings of that very first high.

A fully immersive VR MMORPG may come close though.

[AzzarTheGod]

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

On live when velious came out, it was really exciting. I vaguely remember it, but one mental picture I have from back then was when me and two buddies were running through snow to thurgadin.

I don't remember how we got there, or why we were going there, I just remember a vast expanse of snow and happiness that we made it to the new world.

Me too. I was there. I had the same Thurgadin/East Wastes crossing experience.

It was epic, thrilling even.

But which expac had the longevity and the longer nostalgia? Kunark. Velious was a step back, it had no legs on it as far as good feels for the long haul goes.

I don't have strong feels about Luclin or PoP necessarily. But that doesn't stop me from recognizing at the very least Luclin was a better expac than Velious for so many design reasons I won't list.

Luclin was Kunark 2.0. Big, ambitious (actually fell short of budget, had to be launched incomplete it was so ambitious) and rich and lush with all these new areas of interest.

Just like Kunark.

[Lhancelot]

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

Me too. I was there. I had the same Thurgadin/East Wastes crossing experience.

It was epic, thrilling even.

But which expac had the longevity and the longer nostalgia? Kunark. Velious was a step back, it had no legs on it as far as good feels for the long haul goes.

I don't have strong feels about Luclin or PoP necessarily. But that doesn't stop me from recognizing at the very least Luclin was a better expac than Velious for so many design reasons I won't list.

Luclin was Kunark 2.0. Big, ambitious (actually fell short of budget, had to be launched incomplete it was so ambitious) and rich and lush with all these new areas of interest.

Just like Kunark.

I mean looking back to those times, I think I found Luclin the most engaging.

I have more memories in Paludal caverns, and those weird outdoor zones too, that was Luclin right? lol.

I was on PVP servers then too, and recall Inmabelli the halfling rogue ganking people all day long in PC. One of my memories too haha.

[Jimjam]

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

Having never played velious in live I was mentally damaged when people on p99 hyped it for years and then it turns out to be succ.

Smart and ATG hitting it home here for me.

I also never played Velious in live. Tradeskill hub, diametrically opposed factions, huge swathes of Tundra with just one texture. Giants and dragons dungeon. Evil magic guy living in cave labyrinth... Gnolls...

It's like Verant looked at the Everfrost area and thought "Hey, lets just reskin this as a new expansion, except lets not actually reskin it".

Apparently the idea sold pretty well, but no thank you.

I don't think I bought the expansion until after LoY because a friend was desperate to kill names in velks with me (for unknown reason).

[Tecmos Deception]

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

Having never played velious in live I was mentally damaged when people on p99 hyped it for years and then it turns out to be succ.

Smart and ATG hitting it home here for me.

Eh. I never experienced much of Velious on live, and I was hyped for it here too. Now that I've actually run around in some of Velious (though I've yet to even set foot in Thurg or DN or kill any raid mobs), I'm kinda meh on it. Crystal Caverns is great, Velks isn't bad, SG is goofy but a really cool-looking zone with some puzzles for small groups to figure out, POM is goofy as fuck but pretty cool and entertaining at least in the short run. Outdoor zones seem very bland and boring as a whole. The three factions are a neat idea.

There's solo and duo/trio and group content. There's upgrades for any level of casual or hardcore. There's new places to see and things to kill, etc. Not bad, but not jaw-dropping.


If TOFS key system hadn't been designed as it is, it'd have been cool. If POM had a spot for melees to bind and shorter respawns, it'd have been great. If SG had more loot for groups or was less gimmicky for solo/duo/trio, it'd have been great. No experience with DN yet.

[skarlorn]

Not to mention, Veeshan's Peak is about 10x cooler than Temple of Veeshan.

[fan D]

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

Not to mention, Veeshan's Peak is about 10x cooler than Temple of Veeshan.

curious to hear your thoughts on this?

not sure i feel one way or the other,

[skarlorn]

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

curious to hear your thoughts on this?

not sure i feel one way or the other,

1) ToV is essentially a reskin of VP. VP was introduced with Kunark and it changed the architecture of Everquest. VP was the first time we had a "home of dragons" that we could conquer. So this puts VP way ahead in terms of overall cool and originality.

2) VP has a very cool quest to get access. Not only do you have to find these super rare undead, pieces of shit in swamps, etc., but you have to kill Trakanon and personally take one of his fangs (Fuck MQ). ToV you can just walk in. VP key puts you into the Elite Elf Dragon Slayer Friend Club. Any scrub can walk into ToV.

3) VP immediately puts you in danger upon zoning in. If you're unlucky you could draw wurm aggro, and those fucks hit for what, 1500 ? And have a chance to split on death like jade reavers? It's awesome. So awesome that on p99 we avoid fighting them to this day. When you zone into ToV you're totally safe. You can zone in and go afk, beat off, then tab back over and you still aren't dead. And guess what? In VP you zone onto a cool looking portal pad that's surrounded by a lake of lava. ToV is just a room. VP wins again.

4) Comparing WW to SF as zones that lead up to the end game raid zone, I'd say they are about equivalent in terms of cool. WW has more relevant mobs, but it's just an inverse of the Skyfire idea (a wasteland of fire and brimstone mountains : a wastelane of ice and ice valleys). It always feels more epic to me to run thru SF than WW, but it's cool to kill those named dragons in WW...

5) VP and ToV are both "home to dragons." But VP really seals the deal, whereas ToV feels sort of empty and not very plush. Dragons are loothoarding greedmongers who love beautiful things and vanity. ToV is almost austere in its designs (I will grant you that I haven't been to spawn points of ToV dragons so maybe I'm wrong). VP is ultra-mega-cool and beautiful zone. There are paintings on the walls that depict how Veeshan came to Norrath and scarred its face with her claws. These are shots from the EQ promo video itself. VERY cool. Dragon rooms in VP are literally giant rooms with locked wooden doors and massive piles of gold and gems. Gems as big as a dwarf. Gems you can click that levitate and spin. Does this exist in ToV? not that I've seen. Plus, VP dragons literally have slaves. This is extremely cool. On the basis of aesthetic, enslaved elven dancers, massive pillow rooms, levitating gems and puddles of gold, plus the overall art and poshness of VP, I give VP a +5 at LEAST.

6) ToV... who are they worshipping? Veeshan? OK, well.. PROVE IT. I don't see much that indicates any worship, other than the fact that a lot of Veeshan's children hang out in their lame old rooms of marble.

7) Entrance to PoM gives ToV a point over VP for sure. This is definitely a cool feature!!

Overall, ToV is just a ramped-up, reskinned VP that doesn't deliver the same level of Awesome. It feels cold and dispassionate; sure the raid mobs are bigger, harder, and drop cooler loot... but VP did it first.

Thanks for your consideration. I will reply.