Anecdotes, Experiences, Advice for introducing complete newbs to EQ

[ryachart]

Hi all,

I'm considering trying to get some of my friends playing on p99. They are guys who grew up on World of Warcraft, and so they have some misconceptions about MMOs that might be super hard to break through.

I'm wondering if anybody has any stories or advice, or has had any success at bringing new people to EverQuest through P99. Things to say, things to do, things to try to show them that this is a game worth investing in and having fun with.

Thanks ahead of time!

- Darrga

[azeth]

i would suggest downloading the titanium client for them, and setting up their UI for them. Not via step by step instructions, but literally sitting down and building their UI then handing the controls over.

You won't find many people who aren't already EQ lovers that will suffer through the download and HORRENDOUS default UI to actually level up and enjoy the game.

[milsorgen]

You can just copy your EQ folder via flash drive or what not. Just remember to set up a shortcut so they don't go clicking around all willy nilly.

[Riotgirl]

Better still, invite them over, put EQ on, and let them watch you play (since they have previously played WOW) so that they can decide if EQ is something that might interest them.

I remember visiting friends (at the time), watching them play for hours, studying the in-game map, then next day, going to the store to buy EQ, set it all up, then start playing.

Oddly enough, even though we all were on the same server, we hardly met in-game. In fact, I stayed on the server, and they both transferred to different servers. Year or two after that, we all moved on in different directions in our lives and ceased all contact with each other.

Don't worry. I'm sure you'll all be fine. It's when you nearly come to physical blows in a bar in Bangkok, that your friendship is f**ked (true story).

[ryachart]

Thanks for the responses.

I have an install setup for them that will come with a configured UI. I'll ask them to rename the UI file to their character after they get it created.

I expect them to get hung up on a lot of things like:

- The graphics are bad
- There are no quests
- There are no maps.

Things like that. EQ is missing a lot of the convenience stuff that other games they've played has. And I think it's missing it for good reason. Hard to get them to understand that travel being such a pain makes it all that more meaningful to have friends who can SoW and Port.

Also - I can't invite them over. We live on opposite sides of the country. Online games are how we stay connected >.<

[Swish]

Thanks for the responses.

I have an install setup for them that will come with a configured UI. I'll ask them to rename the UI file to their character after they get it created.

I expect them to get hung up on a lot of things like:

- The graphics are bad
- There are no quests
- There are no maps.

Things like that. EQ is missing a lot of the convenience stuff that other games they've played has. And I think it's missing it for good reason. Hard to get them to understand that travel being such a pain makes it all that more meaningful to have friends who can SoW and Port.

Also - I can't invite them over. We live on opposite sides of the country. Online games are how we stay connected >.<

If they can survive level 1-5 they might get into it :)

[Loke]

Tell them to solicit advice from people. This will cause them to meet new people and get invested in the community, as well as make them better players. I rarely offer unsolicited advice since some people get touchy when they realize theyre bad at elf sims, but like many people on this server Ive either played or know the ins and outs of every class in the game, and usually am more than happy to give someone a quick crash course.

In college I had a friend who was studying material science. Dude was like an encyclopedia of useless concrete knowledge. One day I was bitching about a weekend project I had coming up that involved concrete and said something to the affect of "I dont even think I know how to mix concrete. Are there instructions? How much water do I use?" My friend basically fell out of his chair with excitement because normally no one gave a fuck about his concrete expertise. I think most EQ players are the same. 99.9% of the time no one cares that they are boss at slaying dragons, so when someone genuinely wants advice on the subject they'll jump at the opportunity.

[ryachart]

Tell them to solicit advice from people. This will cause them to meet new people and get invested in the community, as well as make them better players. I rarely offer unsolicited advice since some people get touchy when they realize theyre bad at elf sims, but like many people on this server Ive either played or know the ins and outs of every class in the game, and usually am more than happy to give someone a quick crash course.

In college I had a friend who was studying material science. Dude was like an encyclopedia of useless concrete knowledge. One day I was bitching about a weekend project I had coming up that involved concrete and said something to the affect of "I dont even think I know how to mix concrete. Are there instructions? How much water do I use?" My friend basically fell out of his chair with excitement because normally no one gave a fuck about his concrete expertise. I think most EQ players are the same. 99.9% of the time no one cares that they are boss at slaying dragons, so when someone genuinely wants advice on the subject they'll jump at the opportunity.

Hah, this has been my experience on P99. I never played a cleric on live, and there have been a lot of very helpful clerics willing to give me advice =D

[oblexsis]

Thanks for the responses.

I have an install setup for them that will come with a configured UI. I'll ask them to rename the UI file to their character after they get it created.

I expect them to get hung up on a lot of things like:

- The graphics are bad
- There are no quests
- There are no maps.

Things like that. EQ is missing a lot of the convenience stuff that other games they've played has. And I think it's missing it for good reason. Hard to get them to understand that travel being such a pain makes it all that more meaningful to have friends who can SoW and Port.

Also - I can't invite them over. We live on opposite sides of the country. Online games are how we stay connected >.<

Graphics are the biggest hang ups for my friends I would love to have playing here . As for quests explain to them that there are quests but its not like WoW where the game literally runs on them. As for the no maps in game , zones are easy enough to learn and remember ( i walked through qeynos after 15 years and didn't skip a beat )

[tizznyres]

Everquest is about as "old-school" as an MMORPG can get -- 3D era at least, and not just in terms of graphics, but rather gaming concepts. If they have any interest in the gameplay mechanics of pen-and-paper games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and enjoy video games that are extremely challenging, but equally rewarding, chances are they can overcome the game's shortcomings. Most of these shortcomings are simply related to its age and archaic netcode, but to be honest after playing for a few weeks or months, players enjoying the experience will probably forget all about the little problems with the game. It hardly needs to be said, but it also helps tremendously if new players have other real-life friends who are making the journey with them.

To address your 3 concerns:

Graphics don't make a game. That's been pretty clear since video gaming began. If they get hung up on "bad" graphics, there's not really much you or anyone can do about it. If this is the case, and you really want them to play, try to make them understand the graphics aren't, and never were bad, rather they are just charmingly aged in 2015.

There are quests. Thousands of them. The game is literally named after them. That being said, it is pretty obvious that the game in its current state does not revolve around questing, at least at the low level. One of the beautiful things about EverQuest is that quests aren't handed to you on a silver platter. You discover the quests, you discover how to progress and complete them, and you discover the rewards. The emphasis here is that everything revolves around the player's own ingenuity and personal drive in terms of questing. If your friends are fully acclimated to the modern style of questing, popularized by games such as World of Warcraft, where questing is simply a light stroll through the park while the game holds your hand, then show them why the old system is (or at least can be) better for serious players. If this doesn't work. Show them the wiki, allakhazam, and other classic-era questing resources. If they enjoy other aspects of the game, I'm sure they can overcome EQ's style of questing.

There are no in-game interface driven maps. To me this is a huge, huge plus to EverQuest, it encourages player learning and world interaction. It forces you to learn maps, not just follow guides. You'll quickly create mental maps driven by familiar landmarks, and end up knowing a zone so much better than if you had simply followed a pregenerated map every step of the way. If they can't overcome this, there is of course dozens of variations of every classic EQ map in existence. EverQuest is a light-weight enough client that keeping a browser open with maps is pretty trivial. Honestly though, I'd encourage them to go without using maps whenever possible. It's amazing how much more intimate and personal a zone can feel when you learn it and mentally map it yourself.

Some final words I use to encourage my own friends who enjoy MMO's, but haven't necessarily played classic EverQuest:

EverQuest is a game that revolves around you as a player, and how you interact with the world, and the other players that inhabit it. It rewards players for their own ability, and very, very rarely holds your hand along the way. Few other MMOs that I've played, and I've played most all of them worth their salt, focus so heavily on social player interaction. This is one aspect I heavily relate to pen-and-paper style gaming. Your party / group dynamics are extremely important, and creating balanced, well-rounded parties, with other players who are interactive and cooperative is incredibly fun and rewarding. This is even truer for new players who aren't just rehashing content, but exploring areas for the first time. I don't mean to say a min-maxed "holy trinity" party is essential, but rather that a party (and the players in it) cooperate and interact well, and are able to adapt challenging situations.

The death penalties are cruel, corpse recoveries can be long and arduous, and leveling is an absolute crawl through the sludge compared to modern MMO's, but all of these things make conquering the game and achieving your own personal goals that much more rewarding. I encourage anyone who feels like they will like the game, but find the very early content too punishing, to push on and try to overcome. Consider it a challenge to overcome rather than punishment to simply suffer through. If someone is enjoying the game in general, but about to quit because they can't get past the early levels, give them a nudge in the right direction with some starter gear or help in getting a few extra levels.

Early Everquest is my all-time favorite game, and is responsible for most of the truly memorable experiences I've had in gaming. It's pretty hard to see or explain why the game was / still is such an amazing experience unless you really play it.

Hope this helps, and I'm always willing to provide some advice or starter gear in-game, especially for all new players.

[ryachart]

Wow this is a very thorough analysis and I agree with pretty much everything. =)

[Baa]

I have had more success getting people who have never played EQ back into than those who were new to it.

I found the time old tactic of roll a char new and start with them always helps, start up a voice chat and go from there. Agree with the above posters helping them get the game setup and UI configured is a big one and have found assisting them to be the best way to do it.

It took forever to learn what I needed to about the game, but that was half the fun - I try not to spoon feed them too much and let them have fun learning stuff out, sure they will make mistakes (binding at in dalnirs right under goblin spawn, falling asleep while grouped in unrest and deathlooping) - but these are the things you look back on and laugh about.

I just tell them if they are worried just let your groups know that you are new to EQ, most if not all would tell them what it expected and how to get the most out of their class.

[Sixpence]

I work in I.T (Firewalls) & our office is your typical Gamers haven of Nerdage.

Most of the guys here play/have played WOW/COD etc, but not One of them has played EQ.
Sure, they've heard of it from their Dad's neighbours Dog, but they give me the sceptical squinty eyes look when I mention it...
I showed them some of the Ragefire footage recently & they just didn't get it.

Eq really is about the Community (RnF may have you believe otherwise) & the Harsh, beautiful mistress Norrath. It always was.

Pixelcount be damned. Get them over & make a night of it.

[Portasaurus]

Tell them to go into their kitchen and get the dullest knife in the drawer and stab themselves in the hand while punching themselves in their private parts. It's hard to pull this off with only two hands (pro-tip: get a friend to help, this is a social game after all) but if they can do this for two minutes straight, then they'll know they are well prepared for the road ahead

[fiveeauxfour]

I tell friends that EQ is the methamphetamine equivalent of MMORPGs

[dafier]

If they can survive level 1-5 they might get into it :)

I disagree.

More like:

When they die, will they be able to understand that a CR is part of the game?

[Danth]

I tried to introduce a few of my friends to P1999 who had "grown up" online with newer games. None of them stuck it out (and a couple made a fair effort of it, sticking with it into the mid/upper 20's). EQ's not perfect, and its newbie experience is utterly wretched. The graphics are dated, the interface is a mess at first, and some of the mechanics (meditate!) are a big turn-off to folks accustomed to newer games. The game play experience just isn't very consistent. The things EQ does well it does *really* well, but at the other end the bad is really frikking bad.

P1999 is a nice lifeboat for us folks who feel left behind by the newer online games, but it'll never grow past being a niche game for a small community. Perhaps that's allright.

Danth

[symbi0nt]

EverQuest is a game that revolves around you as a player, and how you interact with the world, and the other players that inhabit it. It rewards players for their own ability, and very, very rarely holds your hand along the way.

Well said man! Great sentiment in every corner of that post.

[kaev]

...
P1999 is a nice lifeboat for us folks who feel left behind by the newer online games, but it'll never grow past being a niche game for a small community. Perhaps that's allright.

Danth

^^ So incredibly very much this!

[captnamazing]

tell them it is the pinnacle of role playing atmosphere in an MMORPG setting. that always makes the panties soaked.

[phacemeltar]

when u die, instead of wasting time typing sad things... type /loc

[Voland]

when u die, instead of wasting time typing sad things... type /loc

/loc doesn't work when you are dead, it's best to bind it to movement key, so you always know your location.

[Swish]

/loc doesn't work when you are dead, it's best to bind it to movement key, so you always know your location.

That was nerfed, it used to :(

[Celedor]

If your friends are fully acclimated to the modern style of questing, popularized by games such as World of Warcraft, where questing is simply a light stroll through the park while the game holds your hand...

NPC Cleric: First, you must find the Armandahl of Nuxinor.
Marge Simspon: All I see is that rock.
NPC Cleric: You have found it!