Lake of Ill Omen was super freaking classic lol.

[Wakanda]

Does anyone disagree with this?

I remember being low level and grouping around windmill, and the getting higher level and grouping around the beach. Even though I couldn’t SEE them there would be like 200 people in the zone so I would stare at the ground most of the time to not lag. I remember the Sarmak Fort having every nook and cranny camped / there being multiple groups at the entrance and everywhere you looked.

Even remember “back door” groups, and deep Sarnak Fort groups that were close to where the chancellor spawned and groups debating on whether or not they should try to kill him based on whether or not he had a spear in his hand [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] remember high level melee trying to camp the sarnak station earring. Spent an entire summer break doing this myself and still never saw it drop. (Apparently they are more common on p99? Wouldn’t know since no one groups there).

Also remember a goblin tunnel area in LOIO that people camped, and Tower groups for the tower area of the sarnark fort area that was closer to Overthere.

I remember you had finally made it when you could leave LOIO and go to the giant fort in Frontier Mountains [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] none of this is a thing on P99. Would be kind of cool if it was, if for no other reason than nostalgia.

I frequently tell my younger friends who I play WoW with that LOIO was the original barrens chat. Was just lost to time.

[Arvan]

most zones were populated because the servers were populated

[Ciderpress]

Originally Posted by Arvan [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

most zones were populated because the servers were populated

It's both that and the ignorance and naivete of the player base at the time. Even if p99 had 2500 players at peak hours this wouldn't be happening like op remembers.

I remember it too, consider yourself one of the lucky ones if you got to be there for it

[Trexller]

Originally Posted by Ciderpress [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's both that and the ignorance and naivete of the player base at the time.

Exactly. LOIO was just straight up open world fun, it didnt matter if the ZEM was like -1000, nobody knew better and nobody cared.

the exact opposite of the psychotic min/max data driven mindset

[Wakanda]

Originally Posted by Ciderpress [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's both that and the ignorance and naivete of the player base at the time. Even if p99 had 2500 players at peak hours this wouldn't be happening like op remembers.

I remember it too, consider yourself one of the lucky ones if you got to be there for it

IDK if we were really that naive, at least my friend group. We were the level 9 players who were always pushing the limit to the point it scared most normies. Doing Unrest Trash at level 8, even solo if we had to etc. and remember a lot of people tell us we're nuts when we asked them to join us.

LOIO was just dramatically faster exp and the easiest way to level as far as we knew (granted, we weren't Necromancers, we were like Rogues, Warriors, Clerics etc.)

I don't think P99 experience is classic honestly and I think it misleads people about how fast leveling was 20+ years ago. I remember Unrest generally being a ghost town (no pun intended) once Kunark launched, and the exp being relatively bad compared to the LOIO > Frontier Mountains > OT > DL > KC > Sebilis train. Which is my fondest memories of classic.

[Jimjam]

I feel it took a lot more effort to break out the lower levels, and people were likely to try put a few different classes without getting that high on any particular character. There was less focus on blasting through content and more on adventure.

This all made the loio the perfect storm for levelling.

[Reiwa]

Originally Posted by Wakanda [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Also remember a goblin tunnel area in LOIO that people camped

My friend's friend got the staff from there and ran a dwarf warrior up super quick in levels. He probably had a fungi too but I didn't know that at the time. I was jelly anyway.

[Lune]

Originally Posted by Wakanda [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Does anyone disagree with this?

I remember being low level and grouping around windmill, and the getting higher level and grouping around the beach. Even though I couldn’t SEE them there would be like 200 people in the zone so I would stare at the ground most of the time to not lag. I remember the Sarmak Fort having every nook and cranny camped / there being multiple groups at the entrance and everywhere you looked.

Even remember “back door” groups, and deep Sarnak Fort groups that were close to where the chancellor spawned and groups debating on whether or not they should try to kill him based on whether or not he had a spear in his hand [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] remember high level melee trying to camp the sarnak station earring. Spent an entire summer break doing this myself and still never saw it drop. (Apparently they are more common on p99? Wouldn’t know since no one groups there).

Also remember a goblin tunnel area in LOIO that people camped, and Tower groups for the tower area of the sarnark fort area that was closer to Overthere.

I remember you had finally made it when you could leave LOIO and go to the giant fort in Frontier Mountains [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] none of this is a thing on P99. Would be kind of cool if it was, if for no other reason than nostalgia.

I frequently tell my younger friends who I play WoW with that LOIO was the original barrens chat. Was just lost to time.

LOIO was my absolute favorite back on live, to the point I always made sure to stop by when leveling a char on P99, even though it was always a ghost town after early Kunark. All of Kunark was lit like this back on live, you had groups all over Overthere and on every wall and corner of KC's exterior in the Dreadlands. Man.... it was the shittiest XP on Earth.

[Wakanda]

Originally Posted by Lune [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

you had groups all over Overthere and on every wall and corner of KC's exterior in the Dreadlands. Man.... it was the shittiest XP on Earth.

The EXP was bad, but I think that was just classic and that these emulators have created a false idea of how fast exp was in other zones.

I'll give you an example. If you level on TLPs instead of P99, groups still regularly form in OT and DL doing the exact same camps. Nothing has changed. LOIO significantly less though.

[Lune]

Also that harrowing fucking gauntlet from Firionia Vie if you were goodteam, following your EQAtlas map along a creek in a forest swarming with red con spiders, some of whom see invis, root you, and run at sow speed.