LDON

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

That fake Zone wall in Oasis could end up going somewhere.

now I curious - where exactly is that?

[NegaStoat]

The fake zone wall is commonly camped in Oasis for orc highway poaching. It was intended pre Original launch of the game to connect to another zone, but it didn't pan out.

[Zuranthium]

Originally Posted by prc018100 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There is another private server called Shards of Dalaya that basically did everything you describe.

I played SoD in late 2008 for a month or so. It was exciting because the guy I was in a relationship with found it for me and I was eager to show him something akin to the classic EQ experience, but then his computer broke so I stopped and moved onto other things.

The game itself was a good attempt but there wasn't enough of a playerbase and I would prefer an accurate Norrath with added content that fits into the existing game world. Plus the mechanics could definitely be better.

They did do a good re-make of Acrylia Caverns on that server. Had better monsters than the stupid, weird Neanderthal crap that was in the zone in Luclin during live (the game world of that expansion was so nonsensical, ugh).

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

As if there was zero enjoyment out of Luclin/PoP/etc... you guys are weird [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Luclin is really, really bad for EQ. The zone designs were poor for the most part and just didn't make sense when taken as a whole. The expansion drastically hurts the game world because everyone goes up to the moon so easily, the itemization is ridiculous, and zones like Paludal Caverns turn the lower level game into EZ mode. The old zones drastically empty out and the whole game starts to feel artificial. That was definitely a massive detriment for me. Plus, the AA's turned the game into even more of a gigantic grind fest. Ick.

Beastlords were lazily designed, and as such they were unnecessary, but the different pets were cool. I was perfectly fine with them and liked seeing them in the old world zones. I was very open to having the cat race as well. That's a standard RPG thing they fit into the game world. Everquest did have the Kerra who weren't seen enough because they were placed in a completely "dead" area.

Planes of Power ruined the game. Plane of Knowledge destroys any semblance that was left of a real world. Everything just becomes a lifeless go-to. I found the Planes themselves to be terribly designed (except for maybe Plane of Torment). They weren't interesting or awe-inspiring in the least. The original Everquest "Planes" could definitely be better, but at least Fear and Hate had personality and were scary before everyone got overpowered in the expansions.

Legacy of Ykesha had the GPS maps, which is bad, and it would have made way more sense for this zone to be accessed by a raft from Innothule Swamp, but I was cool with everything else about it. Adding to the old-world zones is good thing, I was fine with Frogloks as a playable race, and I liked that this expansion actually tried to have a world-changing event.

Lost Dungeons of Norrath is the perfect idea for an expansion if implemented correctly (ie - NOT instanced and actual good dungeons). It completely sucked as implemented, though. The era of this expansion was the last time I ever logged onto EQ. When I would actually try to form groups in cool zones people would just be like "yeah, I'm gonna go to an LDoN". Ugh. Terrible.

[Scrubosaur]

Luclin : VT = awesomesauce
PoP : pretty much every boss fight was damn fun.
LDON : boring as hell, rinse and repeat instanced dungeons

[Erydan Ouragan]

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

Luclin : VT = awesomesauce
PoP : pretty much every boss fight was damn fun.
LDON : boring as hell, rinse and repeat instanced dungeons

I agree with this. In my opinion, PoP was the pinnacle of Everquest.

Luclin brought AAs which were a welcome addition for most classes and amazing for others. Wizards, rangers, paladins and druids became viable at end-game. I understand people hated raids in Luclin because of the stupid amount of hitpoints mobs had and the colossal time-sink it was to key your guild for Vex Thal, but for me, luclin was just amazing. Akheva Ruins is my favorite zone in the whole game.

Then PoP brought more AAs and classes became truly fantastic and an absolute blast to play. Divine Arbitration for clerics, Fading memories for bards, druids becoming amazing healers, blah blah blah. People on p1999 will dislike PoK and the easy-mode transportation it offered, but let's be real here; yes it made life easier, but the game was far from easy-mode even with PoK books. If you died, you were naked, lost xp and still had to get your corpse back and preferably a rez. Still very far from popping a few feet away at the spirit healer, clicking a button to respawn and another button for the repair bill.

This is why, i think, Project 1999 should eventually go up to PoP and stop there. It was the perfect balance between nice quality of life improvement, class balance improvement, and general awesomeness to play. It would offer tons of content for the casuals and hardcore people with plenty of room inbetween. It could offer the option for "classic" guilds to work their way up from hate/fear/sky -> VP -> ssra/vexthal -> planes if they should so desire.

I understand the strong desire for people to keep it "classic", but i have bad news, Project 1999 is not classic anymore. Classic is level 50 max and old world only. We're in kunark now and velious will be out eventually. Stopping at PoP without LDoN would be amazing, keep instances out of the game to keep the exploration and social aspect of the game going, but having the quality of life improvement, AAs to bring out balance and plenty of content for everyone would be so cool, i would cream my greaves.

My 2 copper pieces.

[Zuranthium]

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

Stopping at PoP without LDoN would be amazing, keep instances out of the game to keep the exploration and social aspect of the game going, but having the quality of life improvement, AAs to bring out balance and plenty of content for everyone would be so cool, i would cream my greaves.

Exploration? LOL. PoP absolutely kills it. The whole game except for very specific "chosen" leveling/raiding zones becomes dead 99% of the time.

Social aspect? LOL. People just sit in PoP. There are basically never any more interesting encounters of meeting people and interacting out in the field. Everyone gets SoW/Clarity from a random person standing around and then just goes and teleports around to wherever they want.

AA's are NOT needed to balance classes better. That's something you can do by tweaking the skills and game mechanics themselves. AA's are simply a massive grind. Wow, there is some serious Pavlovian dog shit going on here.

[Xer0]

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

Exploration? LOL. PoP absolutely kills it. The whole game except for very specific "chosen" leveling/raiding zones becomes dead 99% of the time.

Social aspect? LOL. People just sit in PoP. There are basically never any more interesting encounters of meeting people and interacting out in the field. Everyone gets SoW/Clarity from a random person standing around and then just goes and teleports around to wherever they want.

AA's are NOT needed to balance classes better. That's something you can do by tweaking the skills and game mechanics themselves. AA's are simply a massive grind. Wow, there is some serious Pavlovian dog shit going on here.

Not really.POK only put these pedestals in areas directly outside of major cities. Yes it made it easier to get around, completely killed the travelling/exploring? nay.

[pasi]

Wheres my Luclin copypasta when I need it. Either way, Luclin and PoP were awesome additions to this game.

LDoN was a bone for non-raiders. I'd say casuals, but the people who were draped in 220/100 LDoN BPs were the most hardcore motherfuckers playing the game - they just didn't raid... or they knew how to exploit clay bracelets.

The LDoN raids were also a nice preview to the rape city that was Gates of Disco. I still have my alteration rock and frosty gem, fuck going back for another in this lifetime.

[Zuranthium]

Originally Posted by Xer0 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Not really.POK only put these pedestals in areas directly outside of major cities. Yes it made it easier to get around, completely killed the travelling/exploring? nay.

For the original game world it VERY much did. Largely the same for Kunark as well. Those areas of the game were already ridiculously obsolete and the easy-mode travel made the zones altogether barren. Most zones it was only you there, despite it being primetime hours. That is a travesty. Plus, aside from the books, everyone was sitting in PoK, so it was extremely easy to get a random Wizard or Druid to teleport you to the other non-book destinations.

When nobody is on Norrath, or a large percentage of people aren't, Everquest is dead to me. I don't want to freaking stand around on the moon or in some random plane. I want to partake in a living, breathing high-fantasy world.

Adding the moon and a ton of planes is a terrible thing for the game. More content can be added to the game by improving existing zones and by adding new zones that connect to existing Norrath zones. When zones are interconnected and all zones are worthwhile, it keeps people flowing through them. That is necessary for Everquest to actually be alive.

You can easily add 5 new outdoor zones and 5 new dungeons to Faydwer, all of them being zones that completely make sense with the lore and geography and most of which are actually depicted on the world map to begin with! You can easily add more content to the western side of the world (Odus/Qeynos/Halas areas), which would significantly improve the game world because because those areas are CRIMINALLY under-represented and underutilized. Plus you can add more to southern Antonica (another zone southwest of Feerott; Innothule Swamp connecting to the Broken Skull Rock zones) and you can add a bunch more the Netuklos and Misty Thicket areas while also interconnecting them with the new zones.

There's SO much extra potential without straying from the original continents.

[apio]

Look I see how some people can hate certain expansions, but the implementation of those does not force you to play those expansions. A guild like <Vintage>, who limited itself to classic, then kunark, then velious, etc. worked just fine.

Yes, Luclin had its problems, but so did Kunark. So did Velious. Taking Paludal as an example of why the expansion sucks is pretty silly. Nobody says Kunark sucks because people started going to Kurn's. Nobody said Velketor's lab sucks because people stopped doing Kunark content whatsoever.

I am perfectly OK with people limiting their content, and nobody is stopping you from doing that. Just join or create a progression guild that stops at a certain expansion level... Just because YOU personally dislike something, doesn't mean you gotta ruin it for everyone who does [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I was a part of Vintage on EQMac, and it was amazing - We didn't use the PoK, and other new stuff, and tried to beat Velious content without Luclin gear (something that barely happened in the original timeline). People had a blast doing it. Having the choice certainly opens up new and alternative ways of playing. I think implemented correctly different people and opinions can co-exist. After all, the reason we are all here is NOSTALGIA, and you CAN have that feeling for Luclin and PoP content as well. I know I do, and just because you don't doesnt make everyone else wrong [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]