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

[batkiller]

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

[Palemoon]

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

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]

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

Planes of Power / Lost Dungeons of Norrath.

[Orov]

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

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

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]

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

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]

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

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