I had a WOW moment

[seitil]

So long story short, when I played live I played an Iksar which basically meant I rarely got a chance to see much of the old world and sticked to Kunark and Velious for most of my existence. EQ has always had that sense of real exploration which (for me at least) you don't get in many games, and since there are no maps or real compasses it forces you to learn about your environment in a much more real way.

Since playing on p99 I rolled a Bard and finally got a chance to run around on the old continents, and while its a bunch of simple textures I had an incredible WOW moment. I was headed to Highpass Keep for the first time to get some of my Bard songs and while running through EK I found the long pathway up to Highpass Keep. The scale was just immense! I really felt like I was on some epic journey despite it just being a simple run to pick up some songs. Once I hit Highpass Keep I was scared to run through the gnolls because I had no idea where I was going, and despite the mobs being green cons to me I had this sense that I was really going to get myself in trouble. I made it to Highpass Keep just fine and picked up my songs while exploring this whole new area that I never got to see in Live.

I realized for the first time in a long time that I could really enjoy just exploring and not focus so much on min/maxing and constantly leveling up. It really brought me back to my fledgling Iksar days when I was 10 and had no idea what I was doing, just learning the game through trial and error and trying to figure out every little detail of my surroundings.

Anyway I am sure everyone has had these little moments but I just thought I would share mine. These kinds of things are what keep me coming back!