15 Years Ago Today...

[Weekapaug]

...I purchased the game and made my first toon in EverQuest. :)

Started as a human pally in Qeynos with some friends who had started the week before. One in beta. They wanted to start over with all of us together on one of the "new" servers that got added as the game gained steam population-wise. We started on Bertoxxulous on about the 3rd day the server was live. Walked out into the newbie area and saw people smacking bats and snakes with clubs and thought "This is the stupidest shit I've ever seen." LOL

Back then, you played a game for a month and went on to the next thing. Maybe 6 or 8 weeks if something was really good....Longer if moddable into something you would rather be playing...Or pretend to. There were a couple of turn based strategy games from the early 90s we played for a couple years off and on, but those were the hall of famers. A month for most games was the norm. If you told me on April 11, 1999 that I would still be playing this game in 15 years I would have thought you were insane.

Started the pally and got to level 8. Took a week or two. Fished for days on end for the money to buy a full set of storebought leather, an imported Minotaur Axe and a Greater Lightstone from a player. My friends heard of this land of milk and honey called Freeport. With orcs and dervs and aligators and exp that flowed like wine. So we spent a day or two researching the run across Antonica and went for it. Took a wrong turn in Highpass and I was the one that ate the gnoll train...Human night blindness was a major factor in that incident.

Corpse rotted because my friends couldn't find it. We didn't know, then, that you could just make a level 1 halfling rogue and hide/sneak around to drag. Took a break from the game for a few weeks due to RL. Came back made a mage that I played into the teens...Didnt care for it. Then made my first real main...A gnome wizzy. Played EQ like crazy that first year. Had, literally, 90 days /played when he hit his first birthday.

But as time went on, I missed that first toon. Kunark was annoying for playing the wiz. So around the first anniversary, I rerolled the pally as a SK...Reborn evil to reap revenge on those who abandoned him in highpass!....this is the extent of any roleplay I've ever done in any game, btw. lol Was my first twink. Full set of darkforge. Mithral 2 hander. Simply badass!

Eventually became a blacksmith during when the first cultural armor went in....Was the first character gamewide to make Bertoxxulous Plate Armor, as far as was known on EQ traders at the time. I used to keep a bag of the imbue spell scroll in the bank in the event I found a cleric that could scribe it. And would search high and low for Black Sapphires for sale, and players to imbue them...I think I located 2 actual bertoxx clerics on my server to help me. Failed several attempts before making the first piece...A collar. The stats were completely screwed up for the classes that could use it and they had to fix it in a patch. But I was ALL ABOUT this at the time. Being a dark knight of Bertoxx, and on the Bertoxx server, I was really proud of being the first.

Played as my main for years 'till about mid PoP when I switched to a rogue. I still play this toon live when I go back and play my box crew once a year or so.

/salute EQ! I'm 44 years old and have been gaming since I was 7 or 8. In a lifetime of gaming, I've loved a lot of games. Truly loved. But EverQuest is the one.

Rerolling that SK again today on p99 just to commemorate the day. Melyodas D'Illuria....Named after one of the heroes from one of the strategy games I played for years.

/salute P99! It's not said enough, but sincerest thanks to the folks who make this project happen. Thanks for indulging my nostalgia. :)

[Swish]

http://media.giphy.com/media/MpajEjKeok5nW/giphy.gif

Good post! ...and I particularly like the evil turn with that story ;)

[Scikala]

My first time in EQ was after Christmas at a friends house. My family didn't have a computer yet, so I made a human SK in Qeynos. This was after weeks of studying races/classes/gods on their webpage.

I also have to add...that every account name he tried to make got rejected, so he ended up slamming a bunch of random keys into the keyboard/enter and it took it. We had no idea how to log in after, and given the holiday customer service was closed. Was a very frustrating weekend.

I remember being blind at night and confused as fuck about everything going on.

[Swish]

My golden noob moment was at the West Freeport gates after installing, and having to ask a fellow player whether I should move around during combat (to dodge attacks etc) or to keep still :D

[Weekapaug]

http://media.giphy.com/media/MpajEjKeok5nW/giphy.gif

Good post! ...and I particularly like the evil turn with that story ;)

Thanks, Swish.

While I'm reminiscing, I thought of some other nostalgia, speaking of evil..... lol

One day that first year a buddy of mine came to visit. Had been telling him all about this game EverQuest for months. Even though he's not a gamer, he wanted to check it out.

So I loaded it up, showed him how to make a character and then my GF and I ran out to do some errands for a couple of hours.

I was all excited to see how he liked the game and what he had gotten into. Get home and there sits my fat, bald, sweaty friend, James, playing a hottie female wood elf. Except he's not playing. He's still level 1, hasn't killed a thing, sitting on the ramp in G Fay cybering some random dude. Had been the whole time since we left.

Perv lol

[Weekapaug]

My first time in EQ was after Christmas at a friends house. My family didn't have a computer yet, so I made a human SK in Qeynos. This was after weeks of studying races/classes/gods on their webpage.

I also have to add...that every account name he tried to make got rejected, so he ended up slamming a bunch of random keys into the keyboard/enter and it took it. We had no idea how to log in after, and given the holiday customer service was closed. Was a very frustrating weekend.

I remember being blind at night and confused as fuck about everything going on.

I was super duper patriotic about Qeynos being my hometown in EQ. Still am, kind of. lol Felt like I earned it, or something. Always wished we could get full helms that covered your face like the Qeynos guards.

Yeah that night blindness was insane. Like, couldn't find the EF zone in BB....or around BB for that matter....without jacking the gamma up, but that washed out the whole game and where's the fun in that? Still couldn't see shit.

We were truly geniuses, weren't we? Rolling human hybrids back then. LOL

[Pringles]

My golden noob moment was at the West Freeport gates after installing, and having to ask a fellow player whether I should move around during combat (to dodge attacks etc) or to keep still :D

I used to also juke left and right. I was convinced it helped me take less damage, until my buddy told me otherwise.

[Scikala]

I was super duper patriotic about Qeynos being my hometown in EQ. Still am, kind of. lol Felt like I earned it, or something. Always wished we could get full helms that covered your face like the Qeynos guards.

Yeah that night blindness was insane. Like, couldn't find the EF zone in BB....or around BB for that matter....without jacking the gamma up, but that washed out the whole game and where's the fun in that? Still couldn't see shit.

We were truly geniuses, weren't we? Rolling human hybrids back then. LOL

When my family finally got a Pentium 2 computer...(BIG STYLIN) I bought my own account and F'd around with other stuff since I had already been on his account. RoK came out and I made an Iksar...SK

Now that's true genius....especially since I got it to 60 before the hybrid penalty drop.

[Kika Maslyaka]

too many memories...

http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67541

[Whirled]

When did the Plague of Bertoxxulous start up in W Karana? Them beetles would just drop from the sky and people would run for their lives... ahh good times

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Awesome thread OP.

I first experienced eq when I went over to a friends house. He played a bunch of Druids on the Cazic Thule server. I thought the open world concept was amazing and the fact that you could slowly build your empire by selling snakes eggs and skins captivated me.

Hearing the old midi music now brings back waves of memories. My characters and where I remember them dying out:


Newtman - totally gimped male human necromancer with all pts into strength. L15.
Tacktonia - (single) human female warrior L22.
Ugtacious Dirtydiapers - 47 male troll warrior.
Lemonspoon Spoonspoon - 65 male wood elf rogue. Last character I played on live.

Cheers to the good times!!

[jaybone]

...I purchased the game and made my first toon in EverQuest. :)

Started as a human pally in Qeynos with some friends who had started the week before. One in beta. They wanted to start over with all of us together on one of the "new" servers that got added as the game gained steam population-wise. We started on Bertoxxulous on about the 3rd day the server was live. Walked out into the newbie area and saw people smacking bats and snakes with clubs and thought "This is the stupidest shit I've ever seen." LOL

Back then, you played a game for a month and went on to the next thing. Maybe 6 or 8 weeks if something was really good....Longer if moddable into something you would rather be playing...Or pretend to. There were a couple of turn based strategy games from the early 90s we played for a couple years off and on, but those were the hall of famers. A month for most games was the norm. If you told me on April 11, 1999 that I would still be playing this game in 15 years I would have thought you were insane.

Started the pally and got to level 8. Took a week or two. Fished for days on end for the money to buy a full set of storebought leather, an imported Minotaur Axe and a Greater Lightstone from a player. My friends heard of this land of milk and honey called Freeport. With orcs and dervs and aligators and exp that flowed like wine. So we spent a day or two researching the run across Antonica and went for it. Took a wrong turn in Highpass and I was the one that ate the gnoll train...Human night blindness was a major factor in that incident.

Corpse rotted because my friends couldn't find it. We didn't know, then, that you could just make a level 1 halfling rogue and hide/sneak around to drag. Took a break from the game for a few weeks due to RL. Came back made a mage that I played into the teens...Didnt care for it. Then made my first real main...A gnome wizzy. Played EQ like crazy that first year. Had, literally, 90 days /played when he hit his first birthday.

But as time went on, I missed that first toon. Kunark was annoying for playing the wiz. So around the first anniversary, I rerolled the pally as a SK...Reborn evil to reap revenge on those who abandoned him in highpass!....this is the extent of any roleplay I've ever done in any game, btw. lol Was my first twink. Full set of darkforge. Mithral 2 hander. Simply badass!

Eventually became a blacksmith during when the first cultural armor went in....Was the first character gamewide to make Bertoxxulous Plate Armor, as far as was known on EQ traders at the time. I used to keep a bag of the imbue spell scroll in the bank in the event I found a cleric that could scribe it. And would search high and low for Black Sapphires for sale, and players to imbue them...I think I located 2 actual bertoxx clerics on my server to help me. Failed several attempts before making the first piece...A collar. The stats were completely screwed up for the classes that could use it and they had to fix it in a patch. But I was ALL ABOUT this at the time. Being a dark knight of Bertoxx, and on the Bertoxx server, I was really proud of being the first.

Played as my main for years 'till about mid PoP when I switched to a rogue. I still play this toon live when I go back and play my box crew once a year or so.

/salute EQ! I'm 44 years old and have been gaming since I was 7 or 8. In a lifetime of gaming, I've loved a lot of games. Truly loved. But EverQuest is the one.

Rerolling that SK again today on p99 just to commemorate the day. Melyodas D'Illuria....Named after one of the heroes from one of the strategy games I played for years.

/salute P99! It's not said enough, but sincerest thanks to the folks who make this project happen. Thanks for indulging my nostalgia. :)

90 days /played is pretty low for a character on its first birthday on this server. You generally have to put our 300 days played if you want to amount to anything.

[drktmplr12]

90 days /played is pretty low for a character on its first birthday on this server. You generally have to put our 300 days played if you want to amount to anything.

lol

[-Globox-]

I used to go to a friend's house and play with his family.





Even when he wasn't there.

Great post, OP. You done good.

[Lisset]

90 days /played is pretty low for a character on its first birthday on this server. You generally have to put our 300 days played if you want to amount to anything.

I'm pretty sure the sever wasn't even up 300 days that first year. It sure seemed like it anyway.

[Tzeriel]

I got EQ before I got a computer that could run it. I played the tutorial at least 100 times. My first character was Soandso. Played from 2000-2006. What's funny is though I loved it, I never had much nostalgia for the early days. Didn't care for Kunark. Enjoyed Belious bit not much more. Luclin/PoP were my favorite expansions.

All my MMO nostalgia is for vanilla WoW. Best days of my gaming life, with EQ being a close second.

[Scikala]

Luclin/PoP were my favorite expansions.

Dem words liable to get you stoned around these parts.

[Messianic]

I got EQ before I got a computer that could run it. I played the tutorial at least 100 times. My first character was Soandso. Played from 2000-2006. What's funny is though I loved it, I never had much nostalgia for the early days. Didn't care for Kunark. Enjoyed Belious bit not much more. Luclin/PoP were my favorite expansions.

All my MMO nostalgia is for vanilla WoW. Best days of my gaming life, with EQ being a close second.

Early wow PvP > all.

[Scikala]

Early wow PvP > all.

Tauren Mill.

Once BG's came in, no ty.

[Messianic]

Tauren Mill.

Once BG's came in, no ty.

Tarren Mill was a lot of fun but it did get boring after a few weeks of zerg seesaws.

Honestly, the BGs were a very impressive creation and amplified PvP. I don't understand why people hate them so much. Defined objectives made it more than just an insane melee/spamfest.

[Halius]

Early wow PvP > all.

Although I thought that Alterac Valley was really fun, I have to say that DAoC pvp still was the best in my opinion. Was so much fun.

[Scikala]

Tarren Mill was a lot of fun but it did get boring after a few weeks of zerg seesaws.

Honestly, the BGs were a very impressive creation and amplified PvP. I don't understand why people hate them so much. Defined objectives made it more than just an insane melee/spamfest.

Because most of the people PvPing didnt respect objectives and were just kill farming. At least in AV.

Basin...unless you went in with a bunch of people on vent tended to be a shit show.

[Kekephee]

I don't care what everybody else on the planet says, the fact that there were AV battlegrounds that lasted for days at a time was fucking awesome

[Halius]

Because most of the people PvPing didnt respect objectives and were just kill farming. At least in AV.

Basin...unless you went in with a bunch of people on vent tended to be a shit show.

That was one of the irritations that I faced when doing PvP in WoW. I would get to an objective in AV and be like one of the only 3-4 people on my team trying to advance, others were just looking for enemies to kill. However, when your whole team was able to work well together it was a load of fun.

[Fame]

I don't care what everybody else on the planet says, the fact that there were AV battlegrounds that lasted for days at a time was fucking awesome

[Weekapaug]

Although I thought that Alterac Valley was really fun, I have to say that DAoC pvp still was the best in my opinion. Was so much fun.

QFT

DAoC wasn't my first mmo love like EQ so lacks that magic, but it was definitely my second. Like that woman on the side. You know you can't leave the wife for her because she just isn't her, but she's younger, sexy, and does things for you the wife just can't. :p. And there will always be a place in your heart for her just because she's awesome.

Been playing daoc emu again, actually, since you mention it. So freaking fun.

[Kekephee]

I felt so much pain seeing what AV had become the last time I played WoW. Both teams just bumrush for the other's base and it's just a zerg race. Which would be fine if there were some real pve in AV that the teams would have to fight past, but it's seriously just 80 people running across a zone and seeing who gets to the other base first. Totally stupid.

[Samoht Farstrider]

I built a PC just to play this game back when it launched.

Human blindness was ridiculous. My first character was a human ranger. I could not get out of that stupid tunnel between QH and Surefall. Kept getting turned around because I should not see a damn thing.

[Scikala]

I don't care what everybody else on the planet says, the fact that there were AV battlegrounds that lasted for days at a time was fucking awesome

In theory sure, but when you've done AV a hundred times. You want it over. I was hardcore raiding then, so after S-Thurs 7:30-11:30 PM, then farming for repair gold/pots - Didn't need day long AVs =P - Especially because they hadnt added the afk kick yet.

[Halius]

Although I thought that Alterac Valley was really fun, I have to say that DAoC pvp still was the best in my opinion. Was so much fun.

QFT

DAoC wasn't my first mmo love like EQ so lacks that magic, but it was definitely my second. Like that woman on the side. You know you can't leave the wife for her because she just isn't her, but she's younger, sexy, and does things for you the wife just can't. :p. And there will always be a place in your heart for her just because she's awesome.

Been playing daoc emu again, actually, since you mention it. So freaking fun.

DAoC castle siege pvp ftw. I am debating starting on an emu for that game.

http://i61.tinypic.com/14b2brk.jpg

[Weekapaug]

Speaking of hardware. I originally played EQ on a 386 with a 64 meg (?) Diamond Monster Voodoo video card. My friend was really uber...Had a 486 with 2 of the same card running in tandem.

When kunark came out the fucking lag from the trees (that they insisted didn't exist) got me killed so much. Probably mostly why I came to hate playing a wiz. Lag + robed caster in kunark = no bueno.

Had to upgrade for daoc. First thing I did on the new box was log into eq and run around kunark lag free.

[Scikala]

Does tree lag still exist? I thought I read somewhere that people disabled the trees here on P99? Would explain some oddities in BW for me.

[Weekapaug]

DAoC castle siege pvp ftw. I am debating starting on an emu for that game.

http://i61.tinypic.com/14b2brk.jpg

Come play Alb on Genesis with me. Have made some friends but always good to start with other starters.

One of my buddies that I grouped with a bunch wound up in the same guild. Turns out he plays here, too, actually.

[Messianic]

I don't care what everybody else on the planet says, the fact that there were AV battlegrounds that lasted for days at a time was fucking awesome

This.

I had a very poorly but strategically geared hunter (hp/crit) and the best AVs were the ones where they'd pushed you back into your base and somehow your team managed to fight out of it and capture behind them and push them back, we'd get them to the bridge and then it would go back, etc. It was absolutely ridiculous but it was definitely epic.

BGs were best when you could team up with a few RL friends and have a sick hit squad.

[Kekephee]

This.

I had a very poorly but strategically geared hunter (hp/crit) and the best AVs were the ones where they'd pushed you back into your base and somehow your team managed to fight out of it and capture behind them and push them back, we'd get them to the bridge and then it would go back, etc. It was absolutely ridiculous but it was definitely epic.

BGs were best when you could team up with a few RL friends and have a sick hit squad.

That feeling of "They're in our base! Our towers are destroyed! All is lost!"

"Oh my GOD someone from our team has ninjad their tower, GO FORTH MEN, GO FORTH, WE CAN STILL WIN THIS IF WE HOLD THEIR TOWER AND SUMMON KAZZAK THE BLOODTHIRSTY. ON TO VICTORY"

[Kekephee]

Also, guild raids on AV games. Get 40 guildies together and just wreck the pugs... and by "just wreck" I mean "it only took 4 hours"

[Vandlaetari]

My first real character was Chiznat Thebombdiggety, I was too scared to leave Everfrost and spent three months "banking" for ice giants and killing mammoths.

Finally reaching the 28th level i decided it was time to explore so I went into permafrost, got popped and quit. Good times

[Khaleesi]

This would be nice for the new comers section.

[Rhambuk]

When kunark came out the fucking lag from the trees (that they insisted didn't exist) got me killed so much. Probably mostly why I came to hate playing a wiz. Lag + robed caster in kunark = no bueno.

Velious killed my pc, but i didn't explore to much kunark content when it was endgame.

The day i installed velious, it took me 10 minutes to get from server select to char select assuming it didn't crash then another 10 minutes from select to in game assuming no crash.

Once in game it was simply unplayable couldn't even move really, hold down forward nothing nothing nothing 30 seconds later id take a few steps.

The only cool thing though was sometimes i would get put into slowmo mode where everything on the screen just moved slower im sure it was the same serverwide but it was great watching my dorf do rolls in slowmo

[-Globox-]

Because most of the people PvPing didnt respect objectives and were just kill farming.

Some things in WoW are still classic it seems.

[Halius]

Come play Alb on Genesis with me. Have made some friends but always good to start with other starters.

One of my buddies that I grouped with a bunch wound up in the same guild. Turns out he plays here, too, actually.

I'll have to take a look at this when I get home from work tonight. Would be fun to get that game up and running again.

Velious killed my pc, but i didn't explore to much kunark content when it was endgame.

The day i installed velious, it took me 10 minutes to get from server select to char select assuming it didn't crash then another 10 minutes from select to in game assuming no crash.

Once in game it was simply unplayable couldn't even move really, hold down forward nothing nothing nothing 30 seconds later id take a few steps.

The only cool thing though was sometimes i would get put into slowmo mode where everything on the screen just moved slower im sure it was the same serverwide but it was great watching my dorf do rolls in slowmo

Velious didn't slow my computer much, but I remember when Luclin came out and my comp only had 256 RAM. I remember being jealous of my friend who had 1GB and was able to load all the new models, I was limited to picking 1 or 2 new ones.

[Champion_Standing]

http://olivethepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/applause-gif.gif

[Voland]

I first started in 2004, after hearing some guy say
"I played EQ for 1 year and got bored".
It made me think - "wow, if it takes someone a year
to get bored with a game, it must be awesome!".

Back then, there weren't many lowbies around, so leveling was kind of
tricky.. fortunately there were friendly high levels around
to show me the ropes.

Once I got to lvl 20, I got the "mysterious voice" message
and nobody would tell me what it is.
Eventually I figured out how to play LDON and did most of
my leveling there.

Later, a Morden Rasp server started, with the free trial
offer. Lowbie population exploded and I discovered how fun it
is to group from level 1... seeing Misty Thicket and Greater Faydark
full of low levels was awesome!

[Weekapaug]

I'll have to take a look at this when I get home from work tonight. Would be fun to get that game up and running again.



Velious didn't slow my computer much, but I remember when Luclin came out and my comp only had 256 RAM. I remember being jealous of my friend who had 1GB and was able to load all the new models, I was limited to picking 1 or 2 new ones.

If you are into it PM me if you want. It's easy to get set up.

At a point where I'm about to roll an alt, so good timing.

[Weekapaug]

More nostalgia where machine limitations are concerned....

Was away from the game for quite a few months and came back....The first moment I log in my rogue in the safe room in BoT, a guy starts talking to me about joining his guild. I explain, I haven't been around in ages and was just getting back and he's like "that's all of us...join us." So I did.

Basicly the plan was to start raiding in luclin then work up from there. After a couple of weeks, while we grew and people were getting their shards done, we had a rotation of targets we would regularly hit.

One day this female enchanter joins....Is very nice but explains that she was on an older computer and her zone times were ridiculus. No worries....Sure it will work out.

Later that day, raid gets called. Ssra cursed cycle. So we all head that way. Like an hour later we are in the basement just about to engage the mob, she /shouts "I'm at the zone in, finally. Where do I go?"

Guildleader asks her what happened. She says, "I have 8 min zone times on this old computer." It's, what, 6 or 7 zones from PoK to Ssra? lol

He says in guildchat "Nothing personal but that's not something we can indulge in this guild. When you upgrade you are more than welcome to re-app." Disbands her. lol

Dude was a great raidleader but, man, what a dickhead.

[-Globox-]

No CotH? For shame. :(

[Shea]

MT, good read :)

[cries4hardcore]

It's funny how quickly the topic can derail into something completely different. Everyone reminiscing about eq(relevant) then someone says they liked wow more then someone loved wow pvp then the thread basically turns into a pvp debate... Where's the adderal?

[Morlaeth]

All my MMO nostalgia is for vanilla WoW. Best days of my gaming life, with EQ being a close second.

Same here, raided hardcore on Vanilla on the Alexstrasza server.

[Hylinth]

Same here, raided hardcore on Vanilla on the Alexstrasza server.

I bet you did! Hola bro.

-Hylinth

[Fame]

Everquest

[Clark]

Good post. Welcome!!

[Xer0]

Also, guild raids on AV games. Get 40 guildies together and just wreck the pugs... and by "just wreck" I mean "it only took 4 hours"

BS. I played WoW from Closed beta-Mists launch, and it organized AV was not a thing until the end of that stretch of time. And by the time it was implemented, no AV last more than 15 minutes. As mentioned above, it had devolved into a stupid ass zerg rush.

[nilzark]

I heard Everquest is addicting.

[Ahldagor]

its effects wear off and dependency too with age.

[nilzark]

its effects wear off and dependency too with age.

I have a feeling many of us will still be playing this game in the old folks home, dependent on access to a Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP/VISTA/7/8 or some kind of MAC Unix shit that can run dem graphics.

[Champion_Standing]

Everquest

stop

[Krycek]

I started playing some time between kunark and velious, was at a friends house and they were talking about EQ and I thought it sounded interesting. Gave it a look and made a monk at his house, remember saying to them, man I could play this kind of game for hours....lol.

Went out and bought the game, didn't have a computer at the time so I went to my sisters and installed on hers. I worked midnight shift at the time so I would stop by her house after I got off work and played all day til I finally bought my own comp. Have been playing off and on on live ever since then, and now I play here every now and then. Good times.

[nilzark]

I started playing some time between kunark and velious, was at a friends house and they were talking about EQ and I thought it sounded interesting. Gave it a look and made a monk at his house, remember saying to them, man I could play this kind of game for hours....lol.

Went out and bought the game, didn't have a computer at the time so I went to my sisters and installed on hers. I worked midnight shift at the time so I would stop by her house after I got off work and played all day til I finally bought my own comp. Have been playing off and on on live ever since then, and now I play here every now and then. Good times.

Noob. ;)

[Ahldagor]

I have a feeling many of us will still be playing this game in the old folks home, dependent on access to a Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP/VISTA/7/8 or some kind of MAC Unix shit that can run dem graphics.

hehehe yup. hook up our comps to big screens with surround sound too.