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stop saying its better in the old daysFollow

#1 Feb 04 2007 at 12:18 PM Rating: Decent
Ok, im really really really sick of "eq sucks now, it rocked before" like every person i tank to in-game says this, and there are dozens of posts on forums like this, if they actually made EQ like it was in the old days, every single one of you would quit, why? here is the list


1. Old eq was probably the slowest RPG ever made, it took literally 15 minutes to med your mana from 0%.

2. Certain classes, such as the warrior were basically thrown in as an afterthought, and were given NO abilities at all. i played a warrior "back in the day" and from level 1-35 he only got kick/taunt, now warriors get all kinds of neat abilities and are much much funner class.

3. There was no bazaar, which means unless you have a high level you will never find good gear at lower levels, my warrior had bronze armor in his 30's as thats the best he could find, now newbies dont even wear bronze.

4. Spell prices were insane , for some reason even low level spells costed 800pp or more, and were difficult to find as there was no find button yet, and the npcs were not Labeled at all, just a name.

5. The graphics literally looked like a pile of puke before they were upgraded to dx9.

6. Buffs all took many gems to cast and was very costly upkeep, which means you spent more time farming pp then actually playing.

7. Buffs didnt last long at all, which means you spend bunch more time medding in the olden days.

8. Original Eq the classes lacked variety in spells, there was no difference at all between cleric and paladin spells for example, now both classes get spells just for them that no one else gets.

9. There were no expansions, which means after about 3 months you would have seen almost every zone and grown bored very fast.

10. Quests were even harder then they are now, due to everyone camping the same spot, now people are more spread out.

11. No POK which means it took a long time to get anywhere.

I would go on, but i HOPE everyone sees just how horrid EQ was back in the day, if you really liked that POS go play the oldest most crappy rpg you can in the bargain bin, cause thats original eq.
#2 Feb 04 2007 at 12:53 PM Rating: Good
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I like the current incarnation of EQ, so much so I pay for 6 accounts. Well said though.
#3 Feb 04 2007 at 1:19 PM Rating: Good
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Everything either changes or dies, and in this case games are no exception. EQ in the day, was fun but for a lot of different reasons. Now things are different, but still fun. For those who don't like the game, find another one. Who in their right mind would pay a monthly charge for a game they didn't like anyway?
#4 Feb 04 2007 at 5:20 PM Rating: Excellent
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Back when I was a youth, playing D&D and then AD&D (1st ed), we used to dream about what it'd be like to have a computer game that let you play in a D&D world without needing to round up four friends and clear an afternoon or evening and hope you had a DM worth a crap.

Eventually, the first generations of graphical Computerized RPG's were released. Games like Ultima, Might & Magic and Bard's Tale provided the first taste of this. SSI released their "Gold box" games licensed with TSR as well but they didn't really feel like playing an RPG in the classic pencils & papers sense.

When Everquest was released, it became the first realization of a 20+ year old daydream for a lot of players. And most of the "flaws" simply made the world more real and immersive. Took a while to regen mana? Hell, you used to cast Magic Missile and Sleep with your magic-user and then you were a meat pole with a dagger for the rest of the night unless you had a chance to camp somewhere and re-memorize spells. Took too long to walk somewhere? It gave the world length and breadth. Faydwer felt a world away from Odus, not a skip through PoK. Paladins had the same spells as clerics? Open a copy of the Player's Handbook and wonder why no one was suprised. Trading via an "open air market" where you had to actively hawk your goods? It was role-playing. The graphics "sucked"? I spent a summer trying to solve Zork II.

Eventually, the MMORPG market increased and attracted people beyond those initial folks and the hard-core gamers and EQ became less and less a computerized version of a P&P RPG and more and more of, well, a video game. Which was probably a good thing and almost certainly required for the game to still exist. But I think the reason why so many people look back so fondly on classic EQ is that, while it might not have been the world's best computer game, it was one hell of an RPG experience.

Edited, Feb 4th 2007 5:22pm by Jophiel
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#5 Feb 04 2007 at 6:31 PM Rating: Good
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What Jophiel said.

I would like to add:

1) The first times you "power up" to defeat a new mob - like I did at level 5 to be able to defeat higher level skellies in Butcherblock - it ROCKED. And it was also cool at level 9 to power up to defeat the wandering Ogres that had killed me so many times before (Greenbloods I think). And at level 15 and 19 and 25 and 32 coming into OT and 39 and 45 and 51 etc etc etc. All of these were cool. And being able to play in NC at level 65->70 was more "power up" fun, getting stronger and stronger to beat ever tougher mobs. Well the law of diminishing returns has set in and powering up to defeat mobs is losing some of its thrill. Afterall, at some point killing big mobs is just higher numbers (multiply everything by 10 or 100 or 1000) as compared to killing small mobs. There is no solution to this problem. Its just an issue with keeping RPGs going after an extended period of time (like 8 years for example!).

2) The viciousness of the Raider vs Casual civil war destroyed a lot of the charm of the game. Sony chose a hands-off attitude towards it, and IMO this is one of the biggest reasons why 32/33 MMORPG players choose WOW over EQ (assumption - 8 million WOW customers vs 250K EQ customers). The Sony developers made a big point that - It is NOT our job to protect our customers from verbal abuse levied at them by other customers. Well only protect the customers you want to keep. Apparently Sony was ok with keeping a small number of customers.

3) It was a lot easier in the old days. Log in, zone into OT, do an OOC "35 shaman lfg", get an invite in 2 minutes usually, 5 minutes max. Groups nowadays have 1/3rd the number of ppl that they used to (often 1/6th), but our toons are only 2x as strong. Duoing is somewhat less effective than full groups from the past, and soloing is substantially less effective.
#6 Feb 04 2007 at 11:01 PM Rating: Excellent
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1. so what? you didnt know any better, it was the way the game was

2. so what? you didnt know any better, it was the way the game was

3. That was the fun of the game, I remember getting a polished bone bracer at lvl 12 from someone who was well into their 30s and I was over the moon. Armor overall was a lot less then it is now, and some items , for that time, rocked.

4. Ridiculous, I played a druid and a necro at the time and none of my spells ever costed 800PP

5. You think they looked like a pile of puke now, because you got something to compare it to. At the time the graphics were very nice.

6. Again absurd, some spells did cost gems to cast, mostly chanter ones. As a druid I never needed a gem to cast anything

7. noobie buffs nowadays dont last very long either

8. This I honestly cannot remember, but then the classes I played had very distinctive spells that were quite class specific

9. So? it took a lot longer to get anywhere too,and zones were a lot harder to get through. The 1st expansion arrived around October 2000 (Kunark) and the game wasnt that old then.

10. Well it was fun! Things didnt come as easy, but once you had an item you were sure proud of it.

11. Travel was fun! Alliances where made, adventure was found along the way and friendships born that have lasted 6+ years.


Please dont go on, EQ was not horrid at all. It was fun, and very different then it is now. it's like saying "poor sods who were born in 1534 they had no micorwaves!" Times change, things change and in the world of EQ cannot be compared. So some of us miss the old EQ of the very first expansion, nothing bad in that. And there are many good reasons why at times EQ 1999-2000 was a lot more fun then it is in 2007.
#7 Feb 05 2007 at 5:47 AM Rating: Default
its pretty fREAKING obvious Direchaos NEVER PLAYED back in the day and you can tell from his idiotic ramblings. All he did was make himself look like a fool. If your gonna feel bad about missing out on the real good days of EQ , at least try to get your **** straight, son.
#8 Feb 05 2007 at 6:50 AM Rating: Decent
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Maybe there should be a forum to reminisce about EQ days of old. Smiley: tongue
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#9 Feb 05 2007 at 7:36 AM Rating: Decent
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Some things are better now, some things are worse.

Some things that I think have gotten better over the years: Graphics, travel, availability of spells, soloing for all, the regen system.

But what I miss about EQ from years ago are the people. And that's partly my fault, because instead of seeking groups I spend alot of time 2boxing now. I really miss grouping with friends and the friendships you could make in game, but its alot easier now for me to just log in 2 toons and start killing without spending time looking for a group. I miss alot about the "old" EQ, but I wouldn't really want to go back to the old game mechanics.

#10 Feb 05 2007 at 10:43 AM Rating: Default
OK..i read origional post ..and laughed..i must say.

The poster has no idea what it was like back then and just assumes newer is better.

1) EQ was the FIRST!!! large scale MMO ( i know there was UO, sorry) It was the pioneer of online gaming.

2) the game wasnt slow, it was well paced. The regen time made you only use the spells you needed to use, not just burn everything till you run out of mana, sit then get back up in 3 min. You actually had to worry about mana and health. **now days if you dont get a level ever 2 hours you complain and go somewhere else and such**

3) there was no Bazzar?? Dead give away the guy never played old school. The EC tunnel was amazing, shout you have 5 backpacks of gear, people hail you, you show in trade window,they look, decide if they like anything, then you haggle for a pric. That right, it required PLAYER INTERACTION!!!!
4) spell priced....yea...lol..wrong

5) Graphics were good for the time, very good actually

6) yes, the buffs did take time and mana to cast, but it was worth it when you saw your stats double. Spells that cost gems were there fro emergency only...YOu couldnt sit and cast Rune all day, only used it when you needed it most. (yes rune still takes a cast, but money now days is easy to getand prices are cheaper)

7) yea buffs were a gift..notNot a right or something you get and dont have to worry about for 2 hours. Had to do with them what you needed to do quickly. heaven forbid you have to recast or go ask the friendly shaman (o lawd player interaction again)for a re-buff.

8) All the spells were different ...O, a palidans spells were the same as a cleric..hmm paladin is a tank/CLERIC. how dare they give them cleric spells!!

9) You didnt need expansions...remember, everthing was new, huge world..getting to North Qeynos from Butcher Block was a hike that allowed you to see the game. * it wasnt just a click away*.. the first players couldnt enter a zone and go ..** o yea ok ive been here 5 min and done everything lets move on**

10) lol QUESTS!!! yes those were always fun, the items were actually good for the time and doing a quest was fun. Now it is all about the grind to 60 or 70, only quests most people do are Mission and Epics.

11) NO POK..omg..i just wonder what would happen if POK crashed and all the new ( last 4 years) players had to WALK!!!! or ..get a PORT!! Wizards and Druids could spend all day porting for cash and make good money, making frends. always wanted to be friends with a druid ro wiz lol..thats right you had to TALK to someone to go ACROSS THE GAME!! to a new city/Continent .. This displayed the Scale of the game

12*) OK next time you decide to do some bashing, make shure you know ANYTHING about what you are talking about. You points make no sense for the time.

yes EQ has changed and evolved, completely different game now than it was "back in the day" . back then You got in groups within 10 min of being logged on if you wanted, there was player interaction, which today the only interaction you see is **give cleric 50pp, get temp,bye**

Just my thoughts.

^^anyone else remember GM run events?? i remember when a GAINT Fippy Darkpaw attack North Quenos..droped a Blade of Carnage.^^

FYI, EQ changed to much, been playing since beta, done it all ect. ect.
Just started vanguard, fun game although the lag brings it down a bit $$saving up for a new vid card>>then another Gig of RAM>> and a new motherboard$$ its a mix of all MMos that have come out, all i can say. Loving it so far
#11 Feb 05 2007 at 11:09 PM Rating: Default
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stop saying its better in the old days


Everquest was better when it first came out in 1999.

That is my opinion.

You can not intimidate people with yours.
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#12 Feb 06 2007 at 4:38 AM Rating: Decent
I honestly couldn't tell you about the gaming experience of EQ "in the old days" but. I would always go over to a friends house and he would be playing, telling me about the fun he was having, (he had a druid) he told me that groups were easy to come by. I was playing UO at the time, :) thats right!, And that game.. was awesome back in the day, but anywho.. i've been playing EQ for about a year n a half, grouping is horrible.. horrible. But i was ina few raiding guilds.. just figured out that having fun was much more well fun than trying to get "ubber". So now all i do is group with friends, throw back a few beers, and have fun.
EQ was good in the old days, but it's good as well now.
#13 Feb 06 2007 at 7:15 AM Rating: Decent
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Not that is matters, but I like them both. Not to rehash all the above, but the old game ( was on first week Vallon Zek opened) was great, and the game back then was hard.
I love the way the game has evolved since then. With each step the game has become more fun for me, and the things I liked about the old world I still involve myself with ( ie...Kunark dungeons, Upper and Lower Guk, Befallen, and sometimes I just roam the Karanas for the heck of it)
#14 Feb 06 2007 at 9:00 AM Rating: Decent
No, eq graphics were never good, even when it was released, Quake 3 (or was it 2) was out at roughly the same time, and it made it EQ Look sad. Eq graphics now are still horrid, but better. good thing i only care about gameplay hehe.

also, as far as "the game felt bigger" i still think EQ feels that way, there are 450+ zones, it would take you hours to travel through all of them. I just wish they would make zones Bigger then they are, but it good enough as is.


And yes i did play old "skool" eq, /shout is not the same as a bazaar, it was 1000 times harder to get gear back then, also me and my friend both played eq back then and we quit for years cause the game sucked so bad, however eq has fixed many of its problems and is a solid title now.

If you dont believe me i played eq years ago, how the hell do i know so much about it? Unlike most people, i do not have a web of lies to spew out, everything i said is true, or opinion, if you think im a liar, too bad cause im not.

Also eq and UO were not the first MMO's there have been many, text-based, Meridan59 and probably some other games all came out before those 2. I have been playing Video games since i was 4 years old and started with Atari, so dont think i know nothing about these things. I even have ran player-run Ultima server, so i even know about the Gamemaster and scripting side of these games, in fact the only way i could know more is if i had programmed them my self.

Edited, Feb 6th 2007 12:11pm by Direchaos
#15 Feb 06 2007 at 9:03 AM Rating: Decent
Also, people keep saying it hard to find a group, after level 40 i didnt really have trouble finding a group ,all i do is head to hot zone, and do a /shout LFG, sometimes ill get in a group within 2 minutes of being online, if im camped in right spot.

THere are no people below level 40 cause you ding so fast, no one is there to group with if you a new player, in old eq it took forever to get to 40, thats why it was easier to group. Besides, its like a zillion times easier to solo now so just do that til you are higher, then it easy to find groups, assuming you dont play on a low pop. server
#16 Feb 06 2007 at 9:19 AM Rating: Decent
Also to prove i played old EQ, for a level 30-40 player, the best way to get PP was Hill giants in rathe mountains. At least that was the best way i knew of lol.
#17 Feb 06 2007 at 9:19 AM Rating: Decent
I miss the abundant variety of groups that were available at low levels when I first started (2001).

I also miss that thrill from doing first time things and just making it alive (that first run from gfay to Kaladim so I could turn in my belts to Canloe is something I will never forget). The thrill of seeing new zones is just not as cool as it once was. My first time running through Dagnor's Cauldron knowing I could die and never find my corpse, seeing the waterfall in Stonebrunt for the first time, etc, etc.

But I know that those things are gone. So, now I enjoy the memories of times past, and now look forward to other aspects of the game that I enjoy, and I look forward to creating new memories that I can talk about in another 5 years.

EQ is only what you are willing to make of it, and I look for it to continue to be a great place to adventure with family and friends.

#18 Feb 06 2007 at 10:03 AM Rating: Excellent
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Direchaos wrote:
Also eq and UO were not the first MMO's there have been many, text-based, Meridan59 and probably some other games all came out before those 2.
No one said they were. They were, however, the first real graphical MMORPGs. And Everquest was made all the more immersive with its first person perspective (vs the 3rd person view of UO).

Not that 1st person perspective was new either, of course. Hell, the old AD&D game on the Intellivision had it. It was how EQ put all the elements together.

But, meh. It's an unwinnable debate (if you even want to call it that). It's not as though anyone will make you feel what they felt back then and it's not as if you're going to convince us that we didn't really feel that way. You think EQ is the bee's knees today vs 99/00. Noted.

Edited, Feb 6th 2007 10:04am by Jophiel
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#19 Feb 06 2007 at 1:30 PM Rating: Decent
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For me, here is the difference between the old days and now...

In the old days, EQ was a game that gave me sense of accomplishment. The game was an adventure. I was immersed in the development of my character.

Now, EQ is just a game.
#20 Feb 06 2007 at 10:43 PM Rating: Decent
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Heh, I hate reading all the tales, talk, complaints, and comparisons that involve the EQ of old. Why you ask? Because I never got to be a part of it, and it really does sound like it was just as some have said, much more epic and much more of an adventure. A world very much immersive and grand than what we have today.

A shame really, but I think it's something that can never be gotten back. Stinks, it really does sound like it was one interesting world...

Edited, Feb 7th 2007 12:45am by Saeel
#21 Feb 07 2007 at 5:49 AM Rating: Decent
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Heh, I hate reading all the tales, talk, complaints, and comparisons that involve the EQ of old. Why you ask? Because I never got to be a part of it, and it really does sound like it was just as some have said, much more epic and much more of an adventure. A world very much immersive and grand than what we have today.

A shame really, but I think it's something that can never be gotten back. Stinks, it really does sound like it was one interesting world...


Yes it was a lot of fun, maybe more then anything because it was new, and as such much much harder.
EQ is still fun, but all feels much easier, I played quite a lot when I started and still it took me 3 months approx to get to lvl 20 (did die a lot too) and I started on Zek (PVP) that made it more exiting too, and scary. If you got killed you lost all the money you carried and one item which was not a bag.

I remember that I was one of the first to have a Coronet of Zaharn ( thank you Glazed), and it was one of the best items around. Then I went on a "raid" (LOL) in Crushbone, was hurt and a PVPer killed me and stole my Coronet ( I still remember his name) I was devastated, But he payed for it *evil grin* he got ambushed by my then guild everytime he came to a zone we were playing in .

Ahhhhh what a satisfaction.

But remember that although it sounded like fun, I guess the new EQ is just as fun, just different.
#22 Feb 07 2007 at 12:32 PM Rating: Decent
One word... Boats.



Smiley: glare
#23 Feb 07 2007 at 1:30 PM Rating: Good
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Hah, I did have one experience with boats long ago when I tried EQ for about 2 months on a friend's account...this was just before they were completely taken out if I remember correctly (right after the release of PoP?)...


...anyways, I got on the boat in Butcherblock I believe, then of course, went LD while zoning at some point and popped up in the water, lost and confused on my poor lil 20ish pally who wasn't much of a swimmer to say the least. I quickly picked a direction and hoped to find some land, getting harassed by the occasional shark that was fairly dangerous, struggling to even kill the things.

After a while I spotted an island and headed straight for it, only to notice a very large, red, and scowling giant (cyclops, didnt know it at the time) on the beach and decided against that, I think another 20 minutes passed before I finally found a safe island where the boat eventually ended up passing through again on its route, Not quite the most enjoyable experience, but it did leave me with a very exciting story ( to me at least ) to tell to my friend...
#24 Feb 12 2007 at 9:46 PM Rating: Default
I was going to list "your an idiot" for items 1 to 11 but i didn't want to say that out loud and offend you. Something tells me you came into the game around GoD or so. The reason i believe this is simple.

If you had played anytime close to launch you wouldn't have posted something that makes you APPEAR TO BE LESS INTELLIGENT THAN YOUR MOUSE.
And while some people may not get too offeneded by what you have said, alot will. Many, many people take alot of pride in the time and effort they put into this game. They take pride in their accomplishments, the friends they made,and the adventures they had. None of which came easy because nothing about EQ was "handed" to you in the "Old Days". It's kind of like a slap in the face to hear someone talk negatively about the experiences we had in the early days of EQ. They were our experinces not yours, that was our game not yours. If you don't like hearing about how alot of people think it was better in the old days fine, im sorry. But alot of us old souls may like to toss around a few tales of our adventures and reflect on a game that was very close to us. If that's ok with you.
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