What's your motivation in this game? Pixels vs the experience

[sox7d]

and I don't mean "exp."


Why did you come back to EQ? Most people I talk to say that their favorite part of this game was the harshness, player-dependency, fear and wonder you don't get from modern MMOs. They often mention that modern MMOs suck because there's no player interaction anymore and it's just a solo-grind to max level.

But it seems like a significant portion of the player base is only interested in getting to 60 as fast as possible and getting the best gear and that every other aspect of the game is just a chore. I'm not saying that people shouldn't want to progress and gain levels, but with all the powerleveling, purchasing MQs and refusing to group/denying exp penalty classes because of an exp dip, it seems odd that you all play a game that you don't enjoy playing. If grouping sucks so bad that you'd exclude others or pay for powerleveling to make it go slightly faster, why are you here? We all want to level up, but compared to when we played back in 2000, I feel the overall community has shifted on the spectrum between pixel-hording and sincere enjoyment in playing very much towards E-Peen. Maybe the MMO trend of the last decade of viewing 1-60 as a chore has changed us. (E.g. WoW's consistent updates lowering the amount of experience between 1 and max and especially their "instantly make a character max level" feature of their new expansion.)

I feel like we all used to view Everquest as more of a world-simulator than a game as far as MMOs go. It's different. We came back to it after 15 years despite huge strides in graphics and combat mechanics elsewhere. But when I see all the people gaming their way to max level like all the other WoW clones, I think why? I guess the fear and wonder died a long time ago. And that's why I envy the newbie in patchwork armor and a Short Sword* over the fungi twink claiming wall + slaver pits.

Just some thoughts over my morning cup of tea.

tl;dr Why do you play?