Getting people to play P99

[MikeXG]

So most of us are here because we used to play on live years ago. The game is amazing but part of the allure is nostalgia.

I am wondering if anyone has had success convincing friends or family to play who have not played EQ before. I have several MMO fans in my life, but they are apprehensive to try such an old game. I am fairly confident that if they actually gave the game a try they would be into it. But that initial few hours of play is where I struggle to get them excited.

Any tips or tricks? great videos? huge selling points I am missing?

Thanks in advance!

[loramin]

huge selling points I am missing?

If someone just isn't into old games, it's doubtful anything you say will convince them. It's like trying to get someone to play Monkey Island 1, Space Quest 1, or Fallout 1: if they're already against the idea they'll just see outdated graphics and won't understand how much fun they could have.

But if they are at all interested in "oldies but goodies", I'd really play up the "it's a goodie" angle. There's a reason people used to call this game "EverCrack", and you should emphasize that it wasn't just the first MMO, it was also the best for a long time (for years, up until WoW).

[Zabbix]

As someone who never played EQ before p1999....good luck. If red wasn't legitimately fun back in the day and I had no crew I rolled with zero chance I would still be playing.

[Jlpstrtkng]

The only reason any of us are here is because of nostalgia from a different era. The people that play this have to go decently out of their way to do so. You’re just not going to “stumble” onto this game like you could have back in 1999

[Jimjam]

The first 4 hours of EQ are the best! Trying to find that rusty 2 handed sword for those 1 hit kills; scrabbling together a full set of cloth armor; getting started tailoring your own set of armour, working towards that first pet for mages. Finding your first friends to go wreck some gnolls, goblins or orcs!

After that, the content you do struggles to actually provided upgrades you can use, and instead many find the game starts to drag, becoming an xp farm so you can plat farm to buy the pixels you couldn't earn yourself.

[TheSurgeon]

It will only be nostalgia until we start a fresh server and progress to Velious again. That's when you can recruit people, not when every group has 300k geared group mates.

[Octopath]

Had a dream one of my co workers started playing. Was pretty disappointed when I woke up

[Murri]

Monkey Island and Space Quest ruled

[aaezil]

Everquest was not the first 3d graphical mmo tho

[Zabbix]

Meridian 59 crew representing

[kaluppo]

The first 4 hours of EQ are the best! Trying to find that rusty 2 handed sword for those 1 hit kills; scrabbling together a full set of cloth armor; getting started tailoring your own set of armour, working towards that first pet for mages. Finding your first friends to go wreck some gnolls, goblins or orcs!

After that, the content you do struggles to actually provided upgrades you can use, and instead many find the game starts to drag, becoming an xp farm so you can plat farm to buy the pixels you couldn't earn yourself.

There is no experience like the first character you made here. As a Druid I remember looting every corpse I killed and looting other corpses that were abandoned just so I could afford all my lvl 5 spells even though I was still using the starter club and wearing a cloth shirt LOL.

But then I noticed something. By the time I was 60 and decided to play a Cleric my bank account for the Druid had 10K PP (which is nothing on this server). But even with that modest amount I was able to buy cheap wis gear for the cleric, a decent weapon and all his spells were in bags waiting for him to hit each new spell level.

It wasn't the same. I don't think my Cleric even bothered to loot a corpse till he was in his 40's when the mobs were finally dropping PP coin and items.

[kaluppo]

So most of us are here because we used to play on live years ago. The game is amazing but part of the allure is nostalgia.

I am wondering if anyone has had success convincing friends or family to play who have not played EQ before. I have several MMO fans in my life, but they are apprehensive to try such an old game. I am fairly confident that if they actually gave the game a try they would be into it. But that initial few hours of play is where I struggle to get them excited.

Any tips or tricks? great videos? huge selling points I am missing?

Thanks in advance!

The biggest selling point is you. You can look up youtube videos on waking the sleeper or some guild killing a big raid mob to try to get them excited about an ultimate end game. But at the end of the day you have to convince them that playing this game along side you will be fun and exciting.

Problem is those first 6-7 levels can be a boring XP grind as people don't normally start grouping till after that. What might be a good start is look for a newbie quest that the two of you can do. Walk them through the quest and let them receive the item or XP that is rewarded. Then take them out and XP grind with them. Tell them after a few levels you can do a better quest with a better reward. Gives them something to look forward to.

You can also take them to see something cool like the wood elf city in the trees or go fishing in a lake to show them the game has other things besides just killing mobs. Buy them an ale or stout at the bar in east freeport.

Get creative.

[Hrothgar]

I'm a high school AP Literature and Psych teacher. I've considered starting up an extra-curricular MMORPG club next year as an anti-club, as my school is nationally ranked in just about every competitive academic club out there.

My goal, of course, is to establish a love for communal gaming, as so many of the online games my students play are, well, you know, the reason why I play p99 exclusively...

I'd love to have all of my students in the same guild, doing ridiculous 14-person newbie raids on Crushbone, the Warrens, etc. and twitching the experience the whole time - or whatever that 'live streaming gamer cam' thing is. I doubt any of my students would have the wherewithal to actually commit to 60, but it'd be super fun to have a two-group raid of toons in the 30s to go hit some of the goofy content. Holding down Royals in Sol B, or breaking into BR in LGuk, would probably be harder for them than anything they're currently doing in gaming... haha.

[sox7d]

Get to level 2, take them on a journey to kaladim to turn in cb belts to level 4. Get them a sword of skyfire or something. Hit crushbone a bit, have them help you find a port to WC but tell them to be careful. Say you guys need to stop at EC to buy something real quick. Take boat back to kaladim.

Just dungeon master that shit.

[Dillusional]

Why would you do something as depraved as addicting family and friends to classic everquest? what kind of monster are you?

[turbosilk]

Get to level 2, take them on a journey to kaladim to turn in cb belts to level 4. Get them a sword of skyfire or something. Hit crushbone a bit, have them help you find a port to WC but tell them to be careful. Say you guys need to stop at EC to buy something real quick. Take boat back to kaladim.

Just dungeon master that shit.

I've found that you need to schedule time with friends and family and they will play. Don't expect then to do it all alone. This is a social game, soloing is a lonely boring life. Also severely restrict handouts. The game doesn't start are 60. It's the journey and upgrades they get along the way with the RL groupthat will keep then coming back.

[Ennewi]

To incentivize them, provide a list of non-op items and let each person choose one. Nothing that will trivialize the early content, just enough to differentiate themselves with style and have a fighting chance should they venture out on their own later. (Ex.: Robe of the Oracle, Ebony Bladed Sword, Brown Chitin Protector, Skull of Jhen'tra, Fighting Baton.)

Arrange schedules so everyone plays together once or twice a week.

Agree on a location and commit to it, accommodating those who want to play a specific race. Kunark or the Qeynos/Erudin side of Norrath would be ideal imo, as there will be more than enough mobs/camps to choose from regardless of your play time.

Assign a specific target for the group to kill, like a named. Once that target is killed, the group receives a new list of slight upgrades to choose from. Upon reaching a certain level, they get that item.

Something to that effect. Get creative with it though. Act as a quest-giver and send them out into the world.

From there they should have a handle on how the game works and can take the training wheels off by creating alts and testing out new zones on their own time.

[F00]

either way... it's hard to get people to try the game when the login servers keeps messing up.! kk thx bye

[Vapos]

The only way to get someone into EQ who's never played it before is to twink them out from level 1. If they're starting the game fresh with no gear, they won't get attached to it. Level 1-20 sucks ass when you're naked.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the struggle...but that is 100% nostalgia. A modern gamer who's used to hand-holding MMO's won't enjoy it.

[Aerumnous]

I find my general crew of gamer-pals just can't get past the box graphics. Even the DnD circle won't give it a shot.

Best way to get them into the game? Honestly? Threaten the life of their orphan puppy or closest relative. Infect their computer with viruses. Make an auto running BATCH file that deletes all their other games, leaving Project 1999 as the only remaining game available.

Even then most people will just switch to their console to be spoon fed huge firework explosions of "ZOMGGG" after a level with a new 'roller coaster' of quests to turn all that level 7 green gear into level 9 green gear, with that juicy additional +2 <primary stat> that flexes depending on which spec you're playing.

As noted in many posts above: if you didn't play before and don't have the nostalgia, you probably aren't playin' now. And if you're into this sort of game and didn't play before, you're probably already around or you're playing something similar so you don't need to convince them.

[Mblake1981]

You can also take them to see something cool like the wood elf city in the trees or go fishing in a lake to show them the game has other things besides just killing mobs. Buy them an ale or stout at the bar in east freeport.

Go to Neriak, to the bar that has two dark elven strippers that dance for gold.

I'd love to have all of my students in the same guild, doing ridiculous 14-person newbie raids on Crushbone, the Warrens, etc. and twitching the experience the whole time - or whatever that 'live streaming gamer cam' thing is. I doubt any of my students would have the wherewithal to actually commit to 60, but it'd be super fun to have a two-group raid of toons in the 30s to go hit some of the goofy content. Holding down Royals in Sol B, or breaking into BR in LGuk, would probably be harder for them than anything they're currently doing in gaming... haha.

Maybe.

I find my general crew of gamer-pals just can't get past the box graphics. Even the DnD circle won't give it a shot.

Ocarina of Time still gets played, perhaps for the same reason.

As noted in many posts above: if you didn't play before and don't have the nostalgia, you probably aren't playin' now. And if you're into this sort of game and didn't play before, you're probably already around or you're playing something similar so you don't need to convince them.

Inclined to agree.

[mattydef]

Start them off with a fungi and some decent weapons and all of a sudden the game feels like WOW.

[Hrothgar]

Yeah, they might find p99 too hard - Regardless, I feel like a ragtag group of my 15-18 year olds playing p99 would be pretty funny. I like the idea of rewarding them with incrementally better gear by completing hilarious sub-quests, like a raid on Blackburrow, or waiting through a spawn cycle until the rare spawn pops (and is killed).

I'm also in the process of making my classroom themed after D&D/Viking Raids, where groups of 4-5 have to score above a certain point value in order to inflict 'damage' on the 'raid boss' (the essay). Groups scoring the highest damage get to deck their little South Park-esque character in shiny raid loot, unique to each raid boss. It's a work in progress.

[wagorf]

The only way to get someone into EQ who's never played it before is to twink them out from level 1. If they're starting the game fresh with no gear, they won't get attached to it. Level 1-20 sucks ass when you're naked.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the struggle...but that is 100% nostalgia. A modern gamer who's used to hand-holding MMO's won't enjoy it.

i think you should let them explore and xp naked for 2 to 3 hours, THEN you twink him

this should get them into the mentality of what ifs. what if i level to xx? what if i acquire this and that? what if i get into groups or raids? what if i go to dungeons?

[Hibbs]

I had a buddy and after months and months of trying to get him to play he said okay come install it. He made a Halfling Rogue (prob thinking wow rogue) wandered around Rivervale for a few fell in the water and died to a large piranha. After he spawned in Misty Thicket and found his way back into Rivervale he died a few more times. After he found out how hard the game was he logged and hasn't been on since.

I had another buddy that finally let me install P99 on his computer. He made a Half Elf Bard and ran around Qeynos for a few hours killing bats, gnolls, and fire beetles. Died a few times to guards while he figured out how not to leave his songs on while in town. He asked some question and I answered the best I could. He is still running around playing now.

I don't have a final statement but its very tough to sell a game from 99 and say oh its the best ever and have people just jump on the bandwagon and immerse themselves in Norrath. Some people will run around and just fall in love with it, and then some people will just be like this is the lamest game I've ever played. But I really feel like they have to experience the game on their own in the first few hours to see if they like it or not. Having a buddy join EQ and being like "lemme give you a bunch of bad ass armor and a weapon" or "let me power level you through the first few levels" is pretty lame..
YOU DONT GET OFF EASY LIKE THAT! You die and you figure it out!

This post is getting long. I wish I could be someone figuring out EQ for the first time. Running around not caring if I was leveling, getting gear, factioning.. whatever it is. I could log on and run around for 5 hours exploring Akanon and log off feeling like I accomplished something for the day.

No matter how much you talk about the game or tell them all this cool stuff unless they find that spark they wont dig it.

TL: DR Show them some sweet dragon pictures

[aaezil]

Its gotta be some form of cruel / unusual punishment to get people hooked into EQ

[aaezil]

Also running around empty cities with empty noob zones isnt all that enticing. Part of the magic of early years eq was that most people were lvl 1-35 ish, not 50-60.