When do you think everquest was 'perfect/complete' ?

[dark void2100]

Like at its peak, for you ?

Mine has to be planes of power, imo by far their best all around expansion, story, raids, grouping, soloing, everytime I return to EQlive I always look forward to playing the PoP zones also I think the story ended really well, you killed the GODS, the people who created everquest, what more was there to do? felt it was a perfect ending (untill druzzil resets time then aliens attack and...ugh. /unsubscribe)

Also recently looking at shadows of luclin I noticed it has the most varied and unique zones plus the largest amount of zones added out of an EQ expansion + it had new character models(which are still used 11 years later) yet it flopped in the eyes of players, why?

I only started playing about 3 months before Luclin relased yet even with raiding it and leveling an alt during its prime I still didn't really see a whole lot of it (most of the zones just felt like run-through zones to get to the next shard/raid area and no one grouped outside of palaudal) Also people complained it was too hard to get around. Why was this? people loved EQ classic for it's lack of travel options and lucin gave that with it's meger two portal points so why did it flop, what did they do so wrong with so much effort?

[finalgrunt]

You said it yourself:

then aliens attack

Shadows of Luclin had this Mars Attack feeling.

http://www.lefrelonvert.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Mars_Attacks190610221412mars_attack_3.jpg
http://zam.zamimg.com/images/d/6/d64264a16594e6a6c0fdc51dee0ee685.jpg

[achtung]

Velious, duh.

[dark void2100]

You said it yourself:



Shadows of Luclin had this Mars Attack feeling.

http://www.lefrelonvert.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Mars_Attacks190610221412mars_attack_3.jpg
http://zam.zamimg.com/images/d/6/d64264a16594e6a6c0fdc51dee0ee685.jpg

Well to be fair, we were in out of space and it did have a massive variety of enemies :P...I was referring to gates of discord tho, ough... what a game killer that was.

[Bohab]

Velious, duh.

[Daldaen]

Planes of Power / Lost Dungeons of Norrath.


PoP was baller on all levels. LDoN was nice in a form of a dungeon crawling, with an objective that wasn't always the same... I just wish they equalized the time a kill count adventure took vs an assassinate/rescue/collect. Plus it was nice to know that if your dice sucked after 20 adventures you could still get a new shirt etc.

[envino]

I think Luclin. The Baazar was as far as I wanted to go toward convenience, just far enough. PoP took things too far and the PoK books was the first major thing that ruined the feel of the game for me.

[Danyelle]

This is a terrible question to ask the community of a Classic server. It's going to become a Classic/Kunark/Velious circle jerk and "everything Space Cats and beyond is the devil's heathen work and no one can have differing opinions from mine!"

To put in my input however, though I've said it before, Luclin was peak for me content wise. Client wise, Live as it is today.

What I mean by that is, generally speaking, the zones and mob layouts, quests, items, and over all feeling was superior between Classic and Luclin. PoP+ took a toll on that for me, and once GoD dropped, in my mind, it never truly recovered. However when it comes to the way the client itself handles. The functionalities they put in and tweaked (Pet window, Raid Window/raid system, Guild manager etc), and the design of the UI, how it handles with your computer etc etc etc. It is far superior now (now meaning if you were to log on Live today..Veil of Alaris) than it ever was.

With the EQEmu team working on chasing the Live client atm I'm going to go ahead and say a P99-like server (Velious or Luclin max expac) with Veil of Alaris client compatibility would be the best thing in the world to me.

[happyhappy]

http://i48.tinypic.com/21mzvgg.jpg

[Alarti0001]

I liked velious alot, but I think luclin and pop added something that kept me playing. Velious would have worn out eventually without the AA system.

I never much cared for alts so AA's allowed me to play in group and exp for a purpose still. Plus velious-pop raiding was the best imo.

Obv bazaar and PoK brought down the game...but excluding that....

[Danyelle]

http://i48.tinypic.com/21mzvgg.jpg

I understand the snake (Shissar) and the Cat (Vah Shir) and space...but what's the shark represent? lol

[envino]

its all about fonzie, see, "jumping the shark"

[envino]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jump%20the%20shark

[Danyelle]

Ahh I didn't even think about that. Creative lol

[Alelo]

It was Luclin. Added just enough travel ease to the other classes without completely screwing over druids and wizards, then there were AAs, a way to advance without raising the level cap, but most of all it added Beastlords. It was the class I had the most fun with. Yeah, I remember the pain of getting keyed for Thex Val, but it doesn't diminish the overall enjoyment that Luclin brought.

[Cyrano]

The lore, faction, quests, and setting of Velious was it for me. It all just seemed to fit perfectly together.

[Alukit Vassago]

simply put, luclin for the same reason many have stated here

[porigromus]

Velious, I didn't care for the change of theme in Luclin. The world felt in-cohesive. New character graphics with different world graphics? Aliens? Traveling in Space? Cats? Beastlords? The whole thing sucked.

[Rist]

I enjoyed everything in PoP except the Pok books.. I like everything Luclin gave us, AA and the Bazaar mostly, but I think I enjoyed the depth that Velious had the most. So it is hard for me to say.

[Harm]

Luclin right up until we found out Vex Thal was a shit hole. Everything else, including keying for VT and the Bazaar, was awesome in Luclin. And by the way, the vocal minority who favor standing in EC for hours on hours over the Bazaar are idiots, and also a vocal minority.

Edit: Ok not everything in Luclin, that's an exaggeration. Cats and alien-looking mobs were bad, very bad. Any "2001" type project that includes Luclin but nothing beyond I hope doesn't include cats on the moon.

[batkiller]

I liked it up to and including Velious. Then it all started going wrong.

[Palemoon]

I think Luclin. The Baazar was as far as I wanted to go toward convenience, just far enough. PoP took things too far and the PoK books was the first major thing that ruined the feel of the game for me.

I agree with this. PoK books and PoK itself killed the game world with its "one stop shop". Almost all spells, tradeskill stuff, trainers, etc. in one zone. Hate Plane of Knowledge with a passion.

Luclin was better then a lot of people give it credit for. Added a ton of "underdark" type zones (paudula, the Deep, Fungus Grove,etc) that was lacking in the rest of EQ. It also added a good new race and class (vah shir and beastlord) that did not take away from the rest of the game.

Oh and how could I forget AAs. AAs breathed new life into character progression. Could continue working on your main in new ways.

I would not mind at all if this project went to Luclin.

[RahlaeRuffian]

Probably Planes of Power. That should have been the end in my opinion.

[Scavrefamn]

Planes of Power / Lost Dungeons of Norrath.

[Orov]

http://i48.tinypic.com/21mzvgg.jpg

I literally lol'd so hard my wife came in to ask what was so funny. She doesn't get it. I think she's going out to file divorce papers now.

[Gringo]

PoP

[Ryba]

Kunark and Velious were such perfect additions to classic EQ that anything after would receive an unfair level of scrutiny and criticism. Luclin's only major failings were inviting furries to the party and making the endgame a repetitive 5 hour farming experience.

But Ssraeshza was great. Luclin itemization was at least interesting and in some zones, the peak of loot design before the onset of "mudflation" and augmentation . Character and beast models were middling, but if you were willing to accept that events are taking place on the moon, then a zelniak shouldn't shock you. But sentient cats are never ok, just like they weren't on Kerra Isle. Beastlord, to my surprise, was a mostly functional addition to the class list, unlike Berserkers who performed like what warriors who weren't tanking always should have.

PoP was the gilded age of EQ and the last expansion worth mentioning. Obviously this is my opinion but it is also right in an absolute sense. I love that someone will have a problem with that and I will never know because I'm not going to read this thread after I hit post.

Finding ports was not enjoyable for anyone but wizards and druids and high ranking guild members. It is old-guy, classic EQ snobbery to imagine the PoK books did anything but improve the game for the majority of players. The same goes for the bazaar. Just because you are nostalgic for painfully boring hours in the EC tunnel doesn't mean they were "the good ol' days." It means you gradually developed Stockholm syndrome to rationalize your brutally dull reality. If you rank challenges in gaming in direct proportion to the category on the autism spectrum that most aptly performs the task, EC trading without item linking is full-blown seeing dead people. Allowing binding in PoK was regrettable, but passive translocation was inevitable and at least they made an attempt to fold it into the scenery and storyline.

PoP story line was epic because planes-travel had skipped two expansions and killing gods still seemed special. PoP also destroyed the specialness of god-slaying. The planes had unique environments and seemed truly massive, but the aura of the experience occasionally collapsed under its own scripting--at times it felt more like a console game with checkpoints. This was the expansion where alternate advancement began to show it's twisted side, telling us in no uncertain terms that we will never get to stop grinding. Even though it was the first expansion with enough high-level raid content to keep everyone occupied for the interim before the next release, PoP mined out the last of what we loved from the franchise and marked the beginning of EQs long circling of the drain.

Discussing what came after PoP is like talking about Beanie Babies or the XFL. Even if you make a valid point, the last person who cared already died in a masturbatory asphyxiation mishap, just like EQ. There are only two flavors of partial failure in EQ and they are Luclin and PoP. Draw the line at either, but nothing past the planes even resembles EQ orthodoxy.

[Danyelle]

Kunark and Velious were such perfect additions to classic EQ that anything after would receive an unfair level of scrutiny and criticism. Luclin's only major failings were inviting furries to the party and making the endgame a repetitive 5 hour farming experience.

But Ssraeshza was great. Luclin itemization was at least interesting and in some zones, the peak of loot design before the onset of "mudflation" and augmentation . Character and beast models were middling, but if you were willing to accept that events are taking place on the moon, then a zelniak shouldn't shock you. But sentient cats are never ok, just like they weren't on Kerra Isle. Beastlord, to my surprise, was a mostly functional addition to the class list, unlike Berserkers who performed like what warriors who weren't tanking always should have.

PoP was the gilded age of EQ and the last expansion worth mentioning. Obviously this is my opinion but it is also right in an absolute sense. I love that someone will have a problem with that and I will never know because I'm not going to read this thread after I hit post.

Finding ports was not enjoyable for anyone but wizards and druids and high ranking guild members. It is old-guy, classic EQ snobbery to imagine the PoK books did anything but improve the game for the majority of players. The same goes for the bazaar. Just because you are nostalgic for painfully boring hours in the EC tunnel doesn't mean they were "the good ol' days." It means you gradually developed Stockholm syndrome to rationalize your brutally dull reality. If you rank challenges in gaming in direct proportion to the category on the autism spectrum that most aptly performs the task, EC trading without item linking is full-blown seeing dead people. Allowing binding in PoK was regrettable, but passive translocation was inevitable and at least they made an attempt to fold it into the scenery and storyline.

PoP story line was epic because planes-travel had skipped two expansions and killing gods still seemed special. PoP also destroyed the specialness of god-slaying. The planes had unique environments and seemed truly massive, but the aura of the experience occasionally collapsed under its own scripting--at times it felt more like a console game with checkpoints. This was the expansion where alternate advancement began to show it's twisted side, telling us in no uncertain terms that we will never get to stop grinding. Even though it was the first expansion with enough high-level raid content to keep everyone occupied for the interim before the next release, PoP mined out the last of what we loved from the franchise and marked the beginning of EQs long circling of the drain.

Discussing what came after PoP is like talking about Beanie Babies or the XFL. Even if you make a valid point, the last person who cared already died in a masturbatory asphyxiation mishap, just like EQ. There are only two flavors of partial failure in EQ and they are Luclin and PoP. Draw the line at either, but nothing past the planes even resembles EQ orthodoxy.

While I agree with most of what was said here. What I bolded kills the validity of your post and your right to hold an opinion. particularly the part that I not only bolded but underlined and italicized.

[Weekapaug]

Personally, I've played EQ off and on (mostly on) since 2 weeks after release....I've seen most expansions up to one before the current live one, and I've raided up to PoRish, if memory serves. And while every era has it's plusses and minuses, I've enjoyed them all, personally, so answering the OPs question isn't so simple for me.

I think, as a stand alone game, the original classic era is just fine. So is going thru Velious and stopping. While I love classic, I think going to Velious and stopping as we are here is more than appropriate and makes more sense than just staying at classic. Although a purely classic server would be pretty cool, IMO.

Stopping at PoP or maybe LDoN would make for another great server, I think. I really enjoyed that era of the game, even though it put classic behind us and things started getting inflated.

Beyond that, I think DoN would be a great stopping point. The inflation and trivialization started with luclin, ramped way up in GoD and most seem to agree that expansion was not good for the game, but OoW fixes a lot of that, and DoN fixes a lot of OoW. I really dig AA and loved this era of the game, personally.

For me, it's not a question of "perfect." The game has always been fun. Just depends on what era you like, I guess.

[Danyelle]

Personally, I've played EQ off and on (mostly on) since 2 weeks after release....I've seen most expansions up to one before the current live one, and I've raided up to PoRish, if memory serves. And while every era has it's plusses and minuses, I've enjoyed them all, personally, so answering the OPs question isn't so simple for me.

I think, as a stand alone game, the original classic era is just fine. So is going thru Velious and stopping. While I love classic, I think going to Velious and stopping as we are here is more than appropriate and makes more sense than just staying at classic. Although a purely classic server would be pretty cool, IMO.

Stopping at PoP or maybe LDoN would make for another great server, I think. I really enjoyed that era of the game, even though it put classic behind us and things started getting inflated.

Beyond that, I think DoN would be a great stopping point. The inflation and trivialization started with luclin, ramped way up in GoD and most seem to agree that expansion was not good for the game, but OoW fixes a lot of that, and DoN fixes a lot of OoW. I really dig AA and loved this era of the game, personally.

For me, it's not a question of "perfect." The game has always been fun. Just depends on what era you like, I guess.

You're now my best friend because this is pretty much exactly what I think. <3

In terms of what expansions did what (in my opinion):

Everquest Classic - God tier
The Ruins of Kunark - Middle tier
The Scars of Velious - God tier
The Shadows of Luclin - God tier
The Planes of Power - Middle tier
The Legacy of Ykesha - Middle tier
Lost Dungeons of Norrath - Middle tier
Gates of Discord - Absolutely filthy disgusting tier
Omens of War - God tier
Dragons of Norrath - Low tier
Depths of Darkhollow - Low tier
Prophecy of Ro - Middle tier
The Serpent's Spine - God tier
The Buried Sea - Middle tier
Secrets of Faydwer - Middle tier
Seeds of Destruction - God tier
Underfoot - Low tier
House of Thule - Middle tier
Veil of Alaris - Low tier

[Ciel]

+1 for Gates of Discord raiding scene. BEST

Planes of Power was great, besides PoKnowledge. I didnt main a wizard or druid in the 'before' time, but I REALLY felt bad for them when PoK was implemented (Nexus (from SoL) was good, imo). PoP 'dumbed' down EQ for the casual, but group/raid content was excellent

[Kevlar]

Velious was the last gasp before the game got dumb.

Granted I liked Planes of Power and the theme. I think they could have added some of those "Outer planes" type zones but on the level of fear and hate. PoK, PoT were horrible and killed immersion.

They should have tied everything into the old world but they ignored it. I guess they figured the graphics were too dated and unsalvageable.

[Herpa Derp]

PoP. My favorite raiding.

[SamwiseRed]

dunno about raiding cuz that was always gay to me. i guess kunark because i didnt do anything in velious.

[Harm]

While I agree with most of what was said here. What I bolded kills the validity of your post and your right to hold an opinion. particularly the part that I not only bolded but underlined and italicized.

Those are all the parts I lol'd at and agreed with the most.

[Munyo]

For those of you who are knocking PoP and Luclin for fubaring transportation and trade, you are pretty ridiculous. You have to realize, at least for me, that I am not a sophomore in high school on summer break anymore and wasting 12 hours of my time trying to make 500 plat just isnt the same that it used to be. There were plenty of good features AFTER PoP. GoD was horrible because the content was scaled for a new level cap of 70, but it was never introduced, making encounters and events cock-block-tacular. Anyone remember Uqua, the ocean god's chantry and guild killer? Most of you have not experienced any of it, so I have a really hard time taking a lot of things seriously on this thread. P.S. 11 year live veteran and still going.

[Harm]

For those of you who are knocking PoP and Luclin for fubaring transportation and trade, you are pretty ridiculous. You have to realize, at least for me, that I am not a sophomore in high school on summer break anymore and wasting 12 hours of my time trying to make 500 plat just isnt the same that it used to be. There were plenty of good features AFTER PoP. GoD was horrible because the content was scaled for a new level cap of 70, but it was never introduced, making encounters and events cock-block-tacular. Anyone remember Uqua, the ocean god's chantry and guild killer? Most of you have not experienced any of it, so I have a really hard time taking a lot of things seriously on this thread. P.S. 11 year live veteran and still going.

You mean this place: http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac357/JagwarVenCo/Harm0033.jpg ?

From what I remember it sucked, I only played it because despite being horrible, EQ was still the only MMO worth a crap around. I was all too glad to quit EQ (Live) forever and play WoW 5 months after that screenshot was taken.

That said, I agree with your points on Luclin. PoP wasn't terrible, but if you're going to stop someplace, it should be at the end of Velious or somewhere in Luclin, IMO.

Stockholm Syndrome affects us all it seems, but some of you have it way worse than I do.

[Scavrefamn]

GoD was also trash because it was a staggering 98% raider-only content.

And don't tell me that there were lots of groupable named.
The people grouping those named were already wearing raid gear that made the encounter trivial to them but not the non-raider.

[Zaneshion]

GoD was also trash because it was a staggering 98% raider-only content.

And don't tell me that there were lots of groupable named.
The people grouping those named were already wearing raid gear that made the encounter trivial to them but not the non-raider.

I agree with this. The GoD expansion was just rude to non-raiders, much more than the PoP zone lock-outs unless flagged. The best 'grind' zones in both PoP and GoD were locked out to most non-raiders, and many of those zones weren't even the "high-end" raiding zones, if you will, and those who payed for the expansion but didn't raid basically paid for more AA's and a few starting zones--not very cool =(

The fact that they opened some of them up (such as BoT) felt kind of insulting, too, for both raider and non-raider alike.

However, at least for me, the wall to wall raid battles in Tacvi at the end of GoD were some of the best MMO fights I've ever seen and I enjoyed that content a great deal.

[Danyelle]

I agree with this. The GoD expansion was just rude to non-raiders, much more than the PoP zone lock-outs unless flagged. The best 'grind' zones in both PoP and GoD were locked out to most non-raiders, and many of those zones weren't even the "high-end" raiding zones, if you will, and those who payed for the expansion but didn't raid basically paid for more AA's and a few starting zones--not very cool =(

The fact that they opened some of them up (such as BoT) felt kind of insulting, too, for both raider and non-raider alike.

However, at least for me, the wall to wall raid battles in Tacvi at the end of GoD were some of the best MMO fights I've ever seen and I enjoyed that content a great deal.

- Many keyed zones from the Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious, Shadows of Luclin, Planes of Power, Gates of Discord, Omens of War, Depths of Darkhollow, and Prophecy of Ro have had their key/flag requirements modified. All players that have obtained the key/flag will still be allowed entry into the zones, as will players that have met minimum level requirements for the zones. The zones and minimum level requirements are as follows:

- Required Level 46 -
The Howling Stones
Old Sebilis
Skyshrine to Cobalt Scar

- Required Level 55 -
Sleeper’s Tomb
Veeshan’s Peak
Vex Thal
Locked areas of the Temple of Ssraeshza

- Required level 57 -
Bastion of Thunder
Halls of Honor
The Temple of Marr
Tower of Solusek Ro
Drunder, The Fortress of Zek

- Required Level 60 -
Plane of Water
Plane of Air
Plane of Fire
Plane of Earth
Ikkinz
Uqua
Yxtta
Kodtaz

- Required Level 62 -
Plane of Time
Inktuta
Qvic

- Required Level 65 -
Txevu
Tacvi

- Required Level 68 -
Anquish

- Required Level 70 -
Dreadspire
Demiplane of Blood

- Required Level 72 -
Theater of Blood
Deathknell

[Kevlar]

GoD was trash because it devolved even further from high fantasy, into some made up random name generator random encounter generator garbage.

There was no more vision or coherent game world. Just a bunch of pixilated garbage and easy hand outs. Glad I sold my mains when I did, at the end of pop, before WoW hit and the EQ for RL cash market crashed.

[Jimes]

I didnt main a wizard or druid in the 'before' time, but I REALLY felt bad for them when PoK was implemented

I've never understood why people say that. It's not as if people were making a living porting people at 50p a pop. Why were we feeling bad for porting class? Because they didn't have to haul the entire guild to raids anymore? Sounds great to me.

[Raden]

Personally, I think PoP and its 2 auxiliary expacs LoY/LDoN were the golden age. Raiding was was entrenched in the already established lore. There are a few downsides including armor dyes and pok books being instant. I think people would have complained less if there was only a few spots that ported to PoK and they left on timers like the port up to the nexus.

The bazaar was better for the economy in the end because after 4 expansions worth of stuff you didn't want be endlessly searching for obscure items.

What I miss the most is Right clicking spell gems to learn spells. Also the PoTime music.

[Daldaen]

I've never understood why people say that. It's not as if people were making a living porting people at 50p a pop. Why were we feeling bad for porting class? Because they didn't have to haul the entire guild to raids anymore? Sounds great to me.

Yea... Druids have much better ways of getting moneys. This is just 1 less thing people send me tells about now.

[astuce999]

I think Planes of Power was the pinnacle.

Content: Groupable areas with really good xp and themes, some very interesting unique items, a whole set of droppable (molds) armor set for all classes that did not have a secondary market, thus impeding mudflation.

Raid: I think this was the best mix implemented in a long time, there were different levels of raids for a types of guilds, from the mini-bosses in BoT towers to excruciatingly painful hard-core guild only events like Corniav in PoWater or PoEarthB, with everything in between for all tastes.

Classes: To me, that is one point about PoP that is often overlooked. I love classic EQ (vanilla/kunark/velious) to death, but the classes were severely imbalanced. It started in Luclin with AA's, but it wasn't until PoP that all the classes were rounded, with unique abilities that helped define and refine their roles.

As a Bard, the only ability that I've ever gotten which completely changed the game and "completed" my class was Fading Memories.

cheers

'Stuce

[jimthayner]

Luclin, with added playability. It was an era when Epics were still relevant (somewhat) and there wasn't too much weird storytelling about killing gods.

[Ciel]

It's not as if people were making a living porting people at 50p a pop.

Maybe I remember different. I definitely wasnt end-game anytime before PoP, but I'd take a buddy's druid and port people (pre-nexus) for tons of monies. Hrm.... Maybe I didnt feel AS bad for them because how easy they could make money before...jerks

[Barlimen]

Maybe I remember different. I definitely wasnt end-game anytime before PoP, but I'd take a buddy's druid and port people (pre-nexus) for tons of monies. Hrm.... Maybe I didnt feel AS bad for them because how easy they could make money before...jerks

It was a good way to make some money while leveling up but it wasn't great money by Luclin era for those porters that had been around a while.

PoP/LDoN was probably my favorite time. Loved the old stuff a lot too but I started just after Velious' release so I didn't catch up for raid content until late Luclin.

[Scavrefamn]

As a Bard, the only ability that I've ever gotten which completely changed the game and "completed" my class was Fading Memories.


Ironically, Fading Memories completely broke Bards.

And further irony is that Fading Memories was originally slated to be an Enchanter skill...
Epic fail Sony.

As others have said, and I as well, PoP/Ldon were the perfect time.

[Koone]

velious era

[astuce999]

Ironically, Fading Memories completely broke Bards.

And further irony is that Fading Memories was originally slated to be an Enchanter skill...
Epic fail Sony.

As others have said, and I as well, PoP/Ldon were the perfect time.

Care to elaborate? And please also mention which class you played at that time to give some context.

[Scavrefamn]

Care to elaborate?

Tell me which part confused you and I will explain it as simply as possible for you to understand.

It also helps if you tell me your class, level, server, credit card information and sexual orientation.
For context.

[somnia]

PoP

The lore of planes kicked ass.
So much raiding.
Was awesome.

[Brimacombe]

First of all, I would like to state that I am worn our from raiding. I could give my reasons, but to keep a long story short, it feels like recruiting into the military so I can sit down to kill the same 7 mobs over and over and over for enough DKP to buy a whatever degree upgrade to a single slot. After the rush of killing the mob the first 5 or so times, it is just masochism to me. Those of you who enjoy this, more power to you. Just not for me.
With that in mind, I think Luclin was the last best expansion of EQ. POP sucked all the players out of all the towns and turned a single zone into a "Base". Although this is convenient, it doesn't feel to me like a world anymore, just a central point to a collection of zones. The "l00t d00dz" loved this, but for those who log in to play pretend that they are in another world, it pretty much handed the game over to the powerplayers.
Cats on the moon, well, it was a fun story. The grey was interesting, and although being in space, mmmm... it's not like we were flying around in spaceships or wearing bubble helmets attached to air tanks firing beam guns. Frankly, I don't understand clearly what upsets people about Luclin. The Bazaar was certainly much better then watching a movie hitting a sell macro every five minutes. The travel path through Luclin took about as long as it would take to find a druid and organize a port, only newbies could afford it without the awkward "I am new and have 2 plat to my name" explanation. I have a druid I rolled for porting to twink my enchanter, and honestly, porting really isn't "that" much money.
So, in conclusion: Luclin. Most of the content after that was for grind raiders and I would much rather do other things with my life.

- Brimacombe

[astuce999]

Tell me which part confused you and I will explain it as simply as possible for you to understand.

It also helps if you tell me your class, level, server, credit card information and sexual orientation.
For context.

Wow, I'm sorry you took it that way it wasn't my intention. It's just that you made a bold statement about my favorite class without any explanation. If you were a bard and you thought fading memories broke the class, I would love to hear your reasoning behind that. If you weren't a bard, and you thought it broke the class, then I would still want to hear your reasoning, but also would like to know what class you played and how it affected how you played the game and why you think it broke the bard class.

cheers,

'Stuce

[falkun]

Ironically, Fading Memories completely broke Bards.

And further irony is that Fading Memories was originally slated to be an Enchanter skill...
Epic fail Sony.

As others have said, and I as well, PoP/Ldon were the perfect time.

No, Feign Death and the "belly caster" concept broke Bards. I could explain everything to you, but Thott's already done the work for me:

http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/FD.php
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/Fading_Memories.php

As for the OP:

I was leveling through Kunark and Velious. I thoroughly enjoyed grouping and raiding in Ssra, but the rest of Luclin left a sour taste in my mouth. Paludal was nowhere near as fun as Crushbone. I hated the new models (my HIE lost his kilt, started running like he had a stick up his ass, his chest got stupidly poofy, and he started swinging his 2HS like an axe instead of over the shoulder). VT, what little I saw of it, was stupidly grindy. I did feel the game took an uptick with PoP though, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bertox and Saryrn fights.

[Lagaidh]

From my seat, the time I enjoyed the most was Velious. I was still very young and had the time to really get into it and my ability to smoke pot and still function at that time made it a blast.

If I pretend some of the expansions in between Velious and OoW don't exist... my strongest raiding times were of PoP when L70 from OoW, but it became so work-like that I do not recall it as my "perfect" point in EQ time. That is always reserved for Velious: my favorite expansion in my favorite game. The creators hit a grand slam with that expansion. I'll always love it and I highly anticipate it on p99.

[Artah]

I liked all expansions except for anything past PoP, that's when it got retarded for me.

[Hitchens]

Didn't like the Luclin zones at all and I didn't like the new models but the Beastlord class was a nice addition. Planes of Power was a pretty fun expansion.

[mwatt]

There is no right answer. I'd say Velious but there were too many good things in Luclin to simply overlook (certain zones, AAs). On the other hand, the thematic destruction of the game in Luclin is simply unforgivable and was completely unnecessary. Aliens and Orcs should not mix. The fact that SOE would do this proves that they had no respect for the child that they mid-wifed.

For me, Taking the whole thing up to Velious, adding AA and throwing in some or the zones from Luclin, sans aliens, would be the perfect EQ.

[falkun]

I have to agree with mwatt. AAs were game-changing for some classes, especially before they became "you must have 500 of them". EQ+AM3 changed rangers forever. Fading memories returned the bard class to the pullers they were designed to be. MGB forever changed the raid scene. However, other AA broke the game. MB wizzies dominated Kunark content. Horses made SKs, pals, and other rich people 99% as fast as bards, and removed medding.