What makes EQ1 such a great game?

[R Flair]

OP quote basically saying EQ good cause it created a world instead of just creating a game.

I agree. Slow pace, immersion, need for other players (community) sets it apart and eq has a great landscape for pvp competition. Other games with better pvp mechanics generally get boring cause theres nothing worthwhile to fight over.

[Tradesonred]

You had these huge raids on Dethecus (My wow server) to cities, like 100 players from alliance would invade the throne room in the undead city with 50 of us defending it.

They could have gone down that road of putting more emphasis on gameplay like that, putting raid loot in the open world instead of instances, but im guessing probably too many players crying about PVP on PVP servers so decided to funnel everyone into BGs.

Warhammer online, after promising open world PVP, went this route and it failed miserably because if people wanted to play WoW they could just played wow.

The next team to make a good sandbox is going to roll around in money, people are just throwing money at kickstarters now, fed up with bullshit corporate games like CoD5: military camo hats edition.

[R Flair]

i remember when we used to hold our breath thinking they might actually make faction wars mean something on WoW. instead they just disconnected the world more adding more instances, simulated pvp scenarios (battlegrounds) and queues for everything so no one actually has to interact or travel... ever

[Eslade]

Wow = Dota with persistent equipment.

[Tradesonred]

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

i remember when we used to hold our breath thinking they might actually make faction wars mean something on WoW. instead they just disconnected the world more adding more instances, simulated pvp scenarios (battlegrounds) and queues for everything so no one actually has to interact or travel... ever

Yeah thats pretty sad, warhammer was worse as you could queue from anywhere IIRC and you could gain xp from BGs from level1. It was really painful to see all these nicely designed layouts zones for PVP in the open world and have them be ghost towns because the rate you gain xp in BGs was like 10 times faster. It was fun for a while to be able to level up in BGs but after your 200th round it becomes unbearingly boring.

I think they did that because their servers couldnt handle the fort raids and all the players runnin around in open zones so they just said fuck and cranked up the xp rate in BGs to 11.

Theres a genre waiting to be born there though i think (if it doesnt exist already), instead of wasting all these dev resources on trying to make a MMO, just concentrate on making an arena game. With loot drops, raid bosses inside arenas. Sorta like Dota a bit but with permanent characters. With alot of variety in maps, id totally play a game like that.

[Kergan]

Can't remember who had it linked in their signature, but it was a great article on how EQ was different and why people got sucked in.

It basically boiled down to your relative power compared to mobs. Your strongest relative to NPCs at level 1 and it drops quickly from there. Most classes using legit gear have trouble solo'ing an even con mob starting at like level 10-15. At level 60 a full group is challenged by an even con mob in a lot of cases, and mobs above 60 take a raid force. This design forces players to come together to be efficient and accomplish tasks, building a community. It also starts training players on how to play their class effectively very early on.

Compare this to WoW where you can steamroll shit to max level with garbage quest gear, a horrible build and spamming a couple buttons - all solo. Then all of a sudden you're dumped into a 20 man raid expecting to execute with perfection and do within 10% of your maximum potential damage/healing to pull your weight.

[thugcruncher]

too short, did read

eq 4 lyfe

[slizzy]

Marry aion pvp/sieges with eq1 pve and you have yourself the next home run.

[georgie]

Cliffs?

[Tewaz]

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

Can't remember who had it linked in their signature, but it was a great article on how EQ was different and why people got sucked in.

It basically boiled down to your relative power compared to mobs. Your strongest relative to NPCs at level 1 and it drops quickly from there. Most classes using legit gear have trouble solo'ing an even con mob starting at like level 10-15. At level 60 a full group is challenged by an even con mob in a lot of cases, and mobs above 60 take a raid force. This design forces players to come together to be efficient and accomplish tasks, building a community. It also starts training players on how to play their class effectively very early on.

Compare this to WoW where you can steamroll shit to max level with garbage quest gear, a horrible build and spamming a couple buttons - all solo. Then all of a sudden you're dumped into a 20 man raid expecting to execute with perfection and do within 10% of your maximum potential damage/healing to pull your weight.

That is a great article. It is called something like the "EQ Paradigm", but I can't find it right now.

I think EQ provides a roadmap for making insanely fun games that last longer than the lifecycle of a modern game.

Make a game that is very hard, but also very deep. Make it a true sandbox.

Then add items that break many of the harder aspects: Sow, Jboots, Ports, Complete Heal, Charm, Clarity, Items with Regen, Snare, Root, mem blur, fear, FD, etc., etc., etc.

I think people love EQ so much because of two main things:

1. The power you feel when you defeat the mechanics that make it so hard (Fear kiting a mob solo as a necro or defeating a dragon with a perfect CH chain)

2. The enjoyment level you feel when you reroll a new character and use new game breaking spells/items that make the game feel completely new.