"Purest" Everquest Start

[Jimjam]

like EQ and EQ Next?

[t0lkien]

Oh sorry, yes I misread. GW1 was ok, but not really an open world MMO in the same way EQ is. I played it a while, but was never interested by it.

Classic EQ is up to and including Velious, and it allowed twinking and most items were not level restricted (via No Drop). These freedoms are core aspects of the EQ system, and affect so many other things than just the things you don't like. There was twinking and PLing during vanilla and Kunark anyway! I don't see how you can separate them.

I had to level up in Faydwer same as everyone else, since I started as HE. That was old world, and old school. It took me weeks to earn just 1pp, I remember it very well. I was twinked in my late teens with some Lambent Armor and nice mid-range weapons though, and I was sincerely thankful at the time as live was a brutal game at low level. I remember thinking how awesome it was that you could do that, and it greatly added to my enjoyment of the game.

BTW, with this:

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

It's not what anyone wants. Nobody truly finds it rewarding to sit there and buff the group with a spell, full med, buff them with another couple spells, full med, a couple more buffs...and THEN starting fighting...and THEN start the buffing rounds again another 30 minutes later. If you ask anyone for a top 10 list of things that made Everquest exciting, memorial, and special...this process I just described would never be mentioned as one of them.

... you have pointed out the very reason that this dynamic creates the game that is EQ. People would choose otherwise if they could (though many enjoy that process you just described; it's what I call "slow burn" gameplay and has a pace and reward that modern games have lost), and so they find things that mitigate it e.g. flowing thought items and buffs. Those things then become incredibly important and desirable within the game as a result, which feeds directly into class abilities. You remove the first "difficult" part and you lose and undermine the value of the second, and the depth and breadth of gameplay it generates. This is why I say you think you don't want this stuff, but you want the things it gives. You can't have it both ways - and the mess of games that have changed it and lost the deep feedback loop that EQ (and other great games) has prove that.

But anyway, we aren't going to agree. Peace out, and I'm just glad p99 is as faithful to Classic as it is, for all these reasons - continual complaints about all this stuff notwithstanding.

[Zuranthium]

Originally Posted by t0lkien [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Oh sorry, yes I misread. GW1 was ok, but not really an open world MMO in the same way EQ is. I played it a while, but was never interested by it.

What GW1 has is the best combat system ever for an MMORPG (although you need to PvP to understand it and see how it can apply elsewhere). Pairing that with the concepts of Classic Everquest and properly tuning it all = best game ever.

Originally Posted by t0lkien [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I had to level up in Faydwer same as everyone else, since I started as HE. That was old world, and old school. It took me weeks to earn just 1pp, I remember it very well. I was twinked in my late teens with some Lambent Armor and nice mid-range weapons though, and I was sincerely thankful at the time as live was a brutal game at low level. I remember thinking how awesome it was that you could do that, and it greatly added to my enjoyment of the game.

In other words, you needed level-appropriate equipment to fully enjoy the game and Classic Everquest wasn't TUNED well enough, because it didn't properly allow melee classes to earn level-appropriate equipment at the lower and mid levels.

Originally Posted by t0lkien [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

...you have pointed out the very reason that this dynamic creates the game that is EQ. People would choose otherwise if they could (though many enjoy that process you just described; it's what I call "slow burn" gameplay and has a pace and reward that modern games have lost), and so they find things that mitigate it e.g. flowing thought items and buffs. Those things then become incredibly important and desirable within the game as a result, which feeds directly into class abilities. You remove the first "difficult" part and you lose and undermine the value of the second, and the depth and breadth of gameplay it generates.

Slow burn gameplay does not require buffing at all, nor is buffing needed to have excellent class distinction.

Do you really understand breadth of gameplay when you completely advocating twinking, which destroys tradeskills (unless you allow tradeskills to create equipment equally as good as what the best drops in the game are)?

Do you really understand depth of gameplay when you believe the Classic Everquest combat model of "fire and forget" buffs, melee classes just sitting there hitting autoattack and pressing Kick on recharge, and healers doing nothing more than "make red bars go up" with static skills, is the epitome of MMORPG combat?