To think or not to twink...

[SiouxNation]

What is your experience with twinking? Do you have more fun when you twink or do you prefer to forge your own path? Share your insights into the pros and cons of twining a warrior.

[beargryllz]

Leveling up the first time is an adventure

Doing it again and again is pain. Twinking helps dull the pain, like heroin

Do heroin

[Cecily]

You get diminishing fun returns every play through regardless of your gear. Twinking gets past the initial struggle which is in reality most of the fun of EQ. It gives you a sense of fictional accomplishment to help you find solace and escape in whatever you're ignoring IRL to make that happen. Intentionally not twinking is an attempt recreate that struggle, but it's artificial and not the same as your first time through. I'd just stop rolling alts and work on that making that big kid job you had your eye on a reality or other goal you could be using this wasted time working towards.

[SiouxNation]

You get diminishing fun returns every play through regardless of your gear. Twinking gets past the initial struggle which is in reality most of the fun of EQ. It gives you a sense of fictional accomplishment to help you find solace and escape in whatever you're ignoring IRL to make that happen. Intentionally not twinking is an attempt recreate that struggle, but it's artificial and not the same as your first time through. I'd just stop rolling alts and work on that making that big kid job you had your eye on a reality or other goal you could be using this wasted time working towards.

Cutting open a vein here eh?

[Lhancelot]

You get diminishing fun returns every play through regardless of your gear. Twinking gets past the initial struggle which is in reality most of the fun of EQ. It gives you a sense of fictional accomplishment to help you find solace and escape in whatever you're ignoring IRL to make that happen. Intentionally not twinking is an attempt recreate that struggle, but it's artificial and not the same as your first time through. I'd just stop rolling alts and work on that making that big kid job you had your eye on a reality or other goal you could be using this wasted time working towards.

Wow, this is extremely cynical. And 100% true. Couldn't have expressed it better than this lol.

[SiouxNation]

So you guys think you can only play this game one time and have a true sense of accomplishment? That I do not buy.

Each character can be an individual story that you mold and build. Each time presents unique challenges, there will be some overlap but I do not agree with the grim picture being painted regarding alts.

[SiouxNation]

Are you actually a prairie ******?

Are you actually going to vote for Trump again?

[Argh]

Untwinked warriors aren't bad, and can solo pretty effectively to 45 with a Staff of Battle, if you stick to vanilla mobs.

[Rang]

You are getting responses from forum trolls that have spent years of their lives enslaved to an emulated version of an elf simulation released in 1999 (and associated forums), so take their comments with that context.

An untwinked warrior would be pretty tough, but very doable. You could join Auld Lang Syne or however it is spelled - they have a set of rules that doesn't allow you to equip anything you don't loot, craft, or quest. I recently thought about doing this with a necro or SK and I think it would be a fun challenge as a side project.

[SiouxNation]

I tried that route and found it to be a bit much for my liking.

[fastboy21]

twinking is fun and part of the game on p99. with some classes it is even generally expected to be useful.

[Cecily]

Rogue with NToV gear at level 4 was fun till 52.

[SiouxNation]

yeah I agree. can't even answer a simple fucking question


I answered your question already, can you not read? 3%

[Bboboo]

Levels 1-30 are pretty boring after the second/third time. Twinking just reduces the down time to pretty much 0 for those levels for most classes.

Twinking get less effective after those levels the higher you go if you are soloing

[skarlorn]

The game is hell once you hit your fifties again. Most of my fun after doing raiding has come from fucking around on alts, but I swear to God no matter how much you like that class or the gear u buy it, once you start the fifties grind it is not worth your time.

[Lhancelot]

The game is hell once you hit your fifties again. Most of my fun after doing raiding has come from fucking around on alts, but I swear to God no matter how much you like that class or the gear u buy it, once you start the fifties grind it is not worth your time.

My favorite classes have all gotten to 55 lvl and then I stopped. Wish I could press through to 60 just aint been able to do it. :(

[SiouxNation]

Filbus, are you speaking specifically about warriors?

[skarlorn]

Well, my warrior was my first toon on p99 so I had nostalgia driving me through the hell. It was cool when I got discs but actually leveling to 60 sucked. Basically you auto attack and that's about it. People will lie to you that the game is hard and complex but it's not. You auto attack one mob then the next at the same camps for maybe a hundred hours in your fifties. I may not have achieved 60 if chardok AE hadn't helped me get a couple levels.

Since then I have played numerous alts, all of whom had much better solo skills. I basically soloed all the way to 55 on my enc, a class whose mechanics I love very much


But at the end of the day,to go from 54 to 60, you are literally repeating the same actions on the same npcs for so long that its only fun if you are sedated by narcotics, depressed/escaping something IRL, or actually an obsessive autistic person.

[HalflingWarrior]

But at the end of the day,to go from 54 to 60, you are literally repeating the same actions on the same npcs for so long that its only fun if you are sedated by narcotics, depressed/escaping something IRL, or actually an obsessive autistic person.

That's basically a summation of that "Kunark Problem" article from way back. It takes about as long to go from 51-60 as it does to go from 1-51.

Only when going from 51-60, you're basically relegated to Karnors, Seb, HS or Chardok; only four zones for dozens and dozens of hours of XP grind. This is much worse on P99 where you only find PUGs in KC/Seb while HS/Chardok require bringing your own group. Finally, Karnor's is godawful xp once you're 55+ so now you're stuck in 1 of about 4 camps in Sebilis.

On the other hand, when you're leveling from 1-50+ you have the choice of about three or four different XP zones/dungeons at any given level. You could easily XP in a couple dozen different zones on your way up which GREATLY reduces the monotony.

[SiouxNation]

But at the end of the day,to go from 54 to 60, you are literally repeating the same actions on the same npcs for so long that its only fun if you are sedated by narcotics, depressed/escaping something IRL, or actually an obsessive autistic person.

What sort of things do you think people come here to escape?

[Jimjam]

What sort of things do you think people come here to escape?

Autism, sobriety and the 21st century.

Please like and share if you want to see more comments about escapism.

[skarlorn]

What sort of things do you think people come here to escape?

I personally used EQ as an escape when I was physically ill and unable to socialize normally. Or when I was a poor college student. Mostly, EQ fills a void for people who lack a community IRL; people who find their community through MMOs are the ones who play for years and years after achieving the usual 'goals.' This game gets you hooked when you love watching the guild chat feed and you have a few close friends on your list with whom you chat for hours every day. It feels like you're missing out on life when you don't log in.

At least in my experience :)

PST for details on how to escape this.

[solleks]

"This game is like a black hole it sucks you in a ***** you up" - Brad

Jk it's super fun come autoattack with the freaks!

[SiouxNation]

How do you find a community in the “Real world”?

[solleks]

Any other of the numerous meaningless human activities should probably do the trick. If that doesn't work you could try getting an app on your cell phone, I hear they make those

[d3r14k]

How do you find a community in the “Real world”?

This may not be any better than EQ by many people's standards but:

I found a pretty good subset of friends by going to my local game shop and playing Magic: The Gathering. It's a fun community to be a part of. It's similar to the situation skarlorn referenced in the sense that it is really an escape for most people, but it's face to face so I guess maybe that makes it better? I'm not sure, but I know I'm grateful to have used it as a vehicle to meet several people I wouldn't have met if I've have stayed in my office at home.

[skarlorn]

Face to face is better for mental health. I did something similar by creating a D&D group and participating in that for 6 months as a form of oxycodone to the heroin of EQ.

Your first step to freedom is logging out of EQ and not logging back in for as long as possible. Do not message your nerd friends. Your EQ friends are the hooks that drag you back into the pixel.

As you continue not playing and not logging in, your life will become very boring and bleak. You must go through this withdrawal period as your neurochemicals are too out of balance for you to experience pleasure through normal means. This is where you'll probably fail.

Eventually, the agony and boredom will drive you to start looking for other outlets/ways to interact. The absolute worst thing you could do here is start drinking and doing drugs. The best thing would be to join start exercising 5 days a week and meditating for 10 minutes after you wake up and before you go to sleep.

Keep talking to people. Go outside. Make small talk. All of this will slowly re-wire your brain to experience a level of pleasure that you currently only get through the RNG lottery of pixel paradise.

If you have the money, go to a tropical paradise for 4 weeks during this process. When you return, the challenge is not to log back in. but let's face it, if you're an EQ addict your life is probably in tatters.

It may be hard getting started, seriously EQ is a boring game so you'll thank me later when your dick is 10 feet long and you can bench press your ten daughters

[gizmo]

A lot of these replies sort of hinge on how compelled you feel to treat the game like a hobby and strategize about gear and quests and goals.

There’s a lot of little communities that welcome with open arms people who are enthusiastic and not jerks (aka nice people). That Meetup website comes to mind. If you’re not interested in some kind of financial success or notoriety there’s a pretty exhaustive list of stuff available that I’m sure you can find groups for. Hiking, camping, fishing, college classes, working out, karaoke, book clubs, bible study, creative workshops for writing or painting, community gardens, biking, cooking classes, pottery, environmental cleanup, volunteering, underground (aka not successful) music/poetry.

It’s not quite as easy as /ooc’ing LFG but it’s not as hard as people who’ve never tried make it sound.

[skarlorn]

underground (aka not successful) music/poetry.

solid dunk dude

[solleks]

I mean by definition this game quite literally is a hobby.

And skarlorn you are coming back buddy, you're timer is almost up.

[skarlorn]

I will play Everquest again if I am paid no less than $100 USD per hour.

[gizmo]

solid dunk dude

Lol thanks. I also forgot about motorcycle clubs- some friends are into that and they’re surprisingly welcoming. Often they’re more about nerding out about gear and riding around than meth and imitating Sons of Anarchy episodes.

[Muggens]

Great posts by Cecily n skarlorn - addiction of any kind is a struggle - mmo's n computers in particular - id rather be a drug addict, atleast you get to go out and meet people. Yo I know both types and the latter is in better shape

[SiouxNation]

It appears that the message here is moderately playing P99 is not possible.

[beta]

It appears that the message here is moderately playing P99 is not possible.

Its a game sure it is.... some people are just fucked just like RL! :)