Anyone else started EQ in P99?

[Midoo]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice the vast majority of people on here are 30+, tried EQ around the time Kunark/Velious was live, and play on P99 today for nostalgia. It takes a bit of time to come across people who are genuinely new to this game.

I myself started two years ago out of sheer curiosity, because unforgiving old school games are the only thing that could quench my nerd thirst. Now I'm pretty much comfortable with my main class and my alts and can navigate the world swiftly. (Tips and guides from veterans helped massively, and I hope to one day contribute to the community in return.)

Do you have any idea how rare games like classic EQ are these days? Seems like modern MMORPGs are designed for people with short attention spans who aren't interested in the genre in the first place.

Anyway, I'm not sure how the forums work but I'm interested in seeing if anyone else plays classic EQ purely for its vintage style and mechanics, and is experiencing the world of Norrath for the first time.

[DinoTriz2]

I'm kind of in that category.

Yes, I played back in '99, but I was a stupid kid and played maybe a week on my friend's account (at his house).

I never got past level 14.

However, the game had a massive impact on me and nostalgia hit me hard.

[enjchanter]

Honestly I'm kinda in the same boat. I played everquest some when I was very very young (7 maybe) and around PoP I never saw the game again until many years later I was just reading some random wiki stuff on everquest and thought to look it up and found out it was free to play on the live servers. Downloaded it , bumbled around modern eq for a bit, met a guy who was doing a progression guild on a dead server (this was before TLPs and was like an artificial TLP) and I learned alot about old school EQ from that until one guy mentioned the p99 server to me (which is what the small bits of the game I remember mostly consisted of) so I left modern servers, rolled on p99 and never looked back [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Sonark]

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

Do you have any idea how rare games like classic EQ are these days? Seems like modern MMORPGs are designed for people with short attention spans who aren't interested in the genre in the first place.

If you want to play the game and be bad at it, then yes.

The meta game of Live destroys p99 in every way.

Most people that play on Live are god awful players, because they play like it's p99.

[Tuurin]

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

Honestly I'm kinda in the same boat. I played everquest some when I was very very young (7 maybe) and around PoP I never saw the game again until many years later I was just reading some random wiki stuff on everquest and thought to look it up and found out it was free to play on the live servers. Downloaded it , bumbled around modern eq for a bit, met a guy who was doing a progression guild on a dead server (this was before TLPs and was like an artificial TLP) and I learned alot about old school EQ from that until one guy mentioned the p99 server to me (which is what the small bits of the game I remember mostly consisted of) so I left modern servers, rolled on p99 and never looked back [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Honestly have no idea how someone could play EQ at age 7. Seems like it would be massively confusing and frustrating for an average kid at that age. I have an 8 yr old who is frustrated all the time just playing Wii Lego games where there is literally NO penalty for death- instant respawn, no lost progression, etc.

Granted, I don't really let him play vids very much, so he's not a real "gamer" etc. but jeez it seems like EQ might be the most non-kid friendly game I could think of. Cheers for making it work I guess.

[FungusTrooper]

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

If you want to play the game and be bad at it, then yes.

The meta game of Live destroys p99 in every way.

Most people that play on Live are god awful players, because they play like it's p99.

I don't think he's specifically talking about Live. While, yes, Live is a "modern" MMORPG, I think he's more talking about actual newer MMOs, which, yeah, do seem built for very focused short bursts of play. They gotta "appeal to everyone", etc.

[DromalPhrenia]

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

If you want to play the game and be bad at it, then yes.

The meta game of Live destroys p99 in every way.

Most people that play on Live are god awful players, because they play like it's p99.

I think he meant more like how MMO's have things like fast travel, group finder, instances etc. If I log onto a modern MMO, I can teleport to basically any major spot (and often some minor ones) or at least travel there very quickly, I can press a button to find a group for me, and press another button to instantly zone into a dungeon that is populated solely by, and solely for, my group.

That's not to say they're EASIER per se, raids in FFXIV can get really complicated, but there's a lot less time investment. EXPing in p99 means finding either a group or an uncamped solo spot and spending hours at it, the time investment is much longer.

That said, it does sound like some things in live have been trivialized - mercs apparently make soloing things far easier and more viable for all classes. The little I've read does indicate that modern Live raids are much more complicated than tank swaps and CH chains though.

[Danth]

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

Honestly have no idea how someone could play EQ at age 7. Seems like it would be massively confusing and frustrating for an average kid at that age.

I played on P99 a little with my daughter when she was 6. I stuck her on a Cleric, since they can melee decently enough at low levels (knowing she wouldn't make level 20, let alone high level), have useful spells, and are fairly straightforward to play. She picked up on the basic functionality of the game soon enough, meaning the ability to melee, target things and consider them, heal/buff other players, etc. Her reading was poor (understandably, given her age at the time) so she couldn't effectively read spell descriptions or chat. Overall she liked the game, although it was scary for her at times. She then discovered Minecraft, which better suits her desire to play around and build things than the combat-oriented EQ.

-----------------------------------------

I was an adult when EQ originally came out, but I've done a lot of things on P1999 that were new-to-me in the sense of never having done them the first time around. P99 is NOT merely a nostalgia trip. Maybe that helped bring me here, but nostalgia alone sure hasn't kept me here for the past ten years. Game has a lot of good to it, in spite of its faults.

Danth

[DromalPhrenia]

I'm not new to EQ but I have at least one friend who is brand new and it's cool trying to strike a balance between helping him and letting him learn things on his own.

I wouldn't throw full thurg on a brand new player but I'd at least show them strafe-running so they don't get murdered quite as often at low levels.

[kjs86z]

I played Asheron's Call in the 99-04 era, hopped on the WoW train w/ everyone else in '05 and did vanilla / BC / little bit of wrath.

Took a long break from MMOs due to the way the whole industry was going.

RL buds kept harping on me to try p99. Said fk it, what class do we need?

Almost 3.5 years later I'm still here and loving it.


edit: sorry folks, but AC is still the best game ever made....no contest...EQ is a good enough substitute.