Where did EQ Live go wrong?

[Autumnbow]

Luclin was when things started to go wrong. I guess the teleporting in those 4 areas was okay, because you still had to a wait a while and it was only those 4 places. But including the bazaar was a bad idea, and the worst part was that there was no pvp in the Nexus or the bazaar. The new graphics were bad for some races (short races), and not too terrible for others, but their introduction meant that no one would ever get cool and unique armors like in Velious ever again. I really liked the vah shir, and the beastlord class; don't really get the whole "Omg cats on the moon is so dumb!" argument.

Luclin did have some very great raids, and I have mixed feelings about AAs. To me, as a very casual player, it kind of felt like a slap in the face. I was like level 50 when Velious released, and level 58 when Luclin released, it was like being max level had become literally unattainable. They introduced some great and arguably needed skills, for casters and hybrids, but I don't understand why they couldn't have just given the classes those skills. I suppose they wanted to keep people playing, and it gave the more hardcore a reason to continue playing their mains, which was good (but not for the low level population).

PoP is where everything but the raiding scene died. Instant ports in every city, to a zone where pvp was disallowed. Just terrible.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

Luclin was when things started to go wrong. I guess the teleporting in those 4 areas was okay, because you still had to a wait a while and it was only those 4 places. But including the bazaar was a bad idea, and the worst part was that there was no pvp in the Nexus or the bazaar. The new graphics were bad for some races (short races), and not too terrible for others, but their introduction meant that no one would ever get cool and unique armors like in Velious ever again. I really liked the vah shir, and the beastlord class; don't really get the whole "Omg cats on the moon is so dumb!" argument.


PoP is where everything but the raiding scene died. Instant ports in every city, to a zone where pvp was disallowed. Just terrible.

They were suppose to re-do the Velios textures using Luclin engine, and the point of a new engine was : ability to add new texture faster, easier and in great quantity, per official SOE statement.. Which they never did of course=)

PoP was the gold era of EQ raiding - it improved raiding 10000% No more tank and spank fights, and plenty of targets to choose from even for non uber guilds.

[azeth]

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

Instant ports in every city, to a zone where pvp was disallowed. Just terrible.

Damn if PoK and PoTranquility were PVP enabled that'd have been intense.

[Autumnbow]

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

Yeah you're right, there wasn't a giant fucking arena in the Bazaar.. Oh and the giant fucking arena in the Bazaar wasn't one zone over from the Nexus either.

Don't blame the developers for being terrible because you were terrible at EQ1 back in the day. Just because you weren't 60 when Velious came out or when Luclin came out doesn't mean it was anyone else's fault but your own. Some people had the required amount of gameplay, some people didn't maximize and group up with quality groups, either way the game was never designed for everyone to be at max level before the next expansion came out, until Velious hit. Even then, future expansions weren't always dependent on you being at max level. PoP had zones a sub-60 could exp in that were some of the best exp spots around.

There's no reason to be rude, honestly. The arena in the bazaar was a nice touch, but it didn't make up for the bluebie hand-holding that took place there and in the Nexus. I don't understand how a red player could ever substitute real pvp with an arena lol.

And I said I had mixed feelings about the AA system, not that it was all bad. Being a casual player does not translate to being terrible at EQ, lol. It was nice getting into the upper 50s, and thinking "Almost there!" I was excited about not needing to level anymore, and it discouraged high levels from making alts. For most higher level people, I'm sure AAs were a good thing.

[Slave]

There is a giant nebulous monster in the room whenever MMORPGs are discussed, and it is an absolutely vital mechanic that can change the entire course of a game, yet it is nearly never referenced. This problem has been alleviated and partially solved by some more modern games, but I'm not sure that EverQuest could do it except by having a radically lower population.

The problem is this: the entire multiple server paradigm.

What people love about EverQuest anymore isn't JUST that there's only one Vox on your server. Right now, SHE IS THE ONLY VOX IN EXISTENCE for a cool, Classic EQ experience.

When resources are limited, they are more valuable. When they are absolutely UNIQUE, their value is almost impossible to overestimate. The awesome thing about EVE Online was this:

EVE Player 1: Oh man I was in this amazing battle last week in Curse region where like 8 carriers jumped in and saved a Titan.
EVE Player 2: DUDE I WAS THERE!!

WoW Player 1: Oh man I was in this awesome dungeon last night...
WoW Player 2: Cool! What server are you on?
WoW Player 1: Broken Skull, it was wild!
WoW Player 2: Oh ok, I'm on one of the other 100 servers. Never mind.

EQ Live went wrong even before they launched the game, in the multiple server model. There's really no coming back from that... it needs to be a fundamental part of game design from inception.

[Kika Maslyaka]

ehem, I really want to know how you plan to fit 100k players with pre 1999 tech into a single server?
Zones were laggy and crashing with 40-60 people in it allready, and servers were only at 3.5k max

[Slave]

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

ehem, I really want to know how you plan to fit 100k players with pre 1999 tech into a single server?
Zones were laggy and crashing with 40-60 people in it allready, and servers were only at 3.5k max

Wire graphics, I don't care. Give me the world to play with.

[Kika Maslyaka]

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

Wire graphics, I don't care. Give me the world to play with.

there are text based mmos still out there where everyone in the same world. maybe you should try those out, see how popular they are [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
EQ wasn't the first mmo neither, but it was the first one to use best 3D graphics possible for MMO to support hundreds of models.
Thats why it killed all the previous text mmos and Ultima

In the same way WoW brought this to a next level they gave you more bang for your buck, allowing people with older PC play a modern game (compare to EQ2 that still lags at max setting on modern PCs today).

Visual and ease of access are what brings people in (specially today).
Of course its the content that makes them stay, but its always starts with visuals.

[Slave]

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

there are text based mmos still out there where everyone in the same world. maybe you should try those out, see how popular they are [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
EQ wasn't the first mmo neither, but it was the first one to use best 3D graphics possible for MMO to support hundreds of models.
Thats why it killed all the previous text mmos and Ultima

In the same way WoW brought this to a next level they gave you more bang for your buck, allowing people with older PC play a modern game (compare to EQ2 that still lags at max setting on modern PCs today).

Visual and ease of access are what brings people in (specially today).
Of course its the content that makes them stay, but its always starts with visuals.

Three of the most successful MMOs of all time were 2D graphics. Runescape, Diablo, Ultima Online. I'm sure I don't even know half of them. Mostly 2D. What brought people in was the gameplay. What created gamers in the first place were the games you mentioned. Text games. ASCII games. MUDs that began to bring people together in a way that they'd never experienced. It wasn't the graphics.

There was a time when people preferred content over visuals. That may have changed for the bulk of humanity, but I was there, man. I was THERE. And we are still the greatest generation.

The Arch Mage

[SCB]

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

Three of the most successful MMOs of all time were 2D graphics. Runescape, Diablo, Ultima Online. I'm sure I don't even know half of them. Mostly 2D. What brought people in was the gameplay. What created gamers in the first place were the games you mentioned. Text games. ASCII games. MUDs that began to bring people together in a way that they'd never experienced. It wasn't the graphics.

There was a time when people preferred content over visuals. That may have changed for the bulk of humanity, but I was there, man. I was THERE. And we are still the greatest generation.

The Arch Mage

For someone who claims to have been THERE, you have a weird tendency to remember Diablo as an MMO when it most assuredly was not. Also, apparently Runescape is something other than a laughing stock?

Weird.