Whilst reading a new site I discovered about MMORPG’s, a small news article caught my attention. The article in question talks about a 10th Anniversary Everquest book which in the final chapter suggests there is another instalment of Everquest in very early development. The author of the article comes to this conclusion from a piece of text in the book which does seem to point to another Everquest based game, though it gives no details as to whether the game would be an Everquest 3 or a console spin off.
I for one would obviously give EQ3 a try should there ever be such a game, as I’m a long time fan of the world of Norrath. I played the original Everquest for a good few years and have played EQ2 from beta until now. Despite EQ2 “dumbing” down a bit to appeal more to the WoW crowd than the original would have done, Everquest 2 is still in my mind the best MMORPG out there.
There is one problem though, the text from the book talks about bringing the world of Norrath to a new generation of players. For me this means making a game more akin to WoW than the original EQ. WoW is what I do not want a 3rd Everquest to be like. Before you get the wrong idea, I’m not slagging off WoW, although World of Warcraft is not for me due to it’s graphics and easy mode gaming style, it has brought a lot of players to the MMORPG genre who wouldn’t normally even think about playing such games.
I would prefer EQ3 if it happens, to market itself towards the older MMO players, those that like a challenge. There was something to be said for real death penalties where you had to run back to your corpse, along with the fact you couldn’t just flee from creatures and always make it out alive. Vanguard promised this kind of game, but never really delivered due to it’s disastrous launch.
I still live in hope that such a game may be developed one day. After all whilst the largest market is no doubt the younger gamers amongst the MMO community, there are a lot of gamers out there that do want something a bit more difficult. Those gamers that don’t whine when something isn’t given to them on a plate, or that enjoy levelling that you can’t do from 1 to max in a short space of time. These games will in the long run make you more money as they stay with games for longer periods paying more in subscriptions than the players who jump into an MMO hit max level and leave. These games also do not have to be raiders, many in my guild would love such a game to be developed and we are all casual gamers. The level cap for those of us that played Everquest was something that took a long time to reach, but gave a great sense of achievement when it was obtained. Not all casual gamers like easy mode MMO’s.
I would like Sony to recognise this market and aim the game at those players rather than try to make the next WoW.
What are your thoughts on a possible Everquest 3? Or what are you looking for in a future MMO?
Yetian, yet again
you write another good piece. I'm thinking about reading this one in my next cast and pepper it with comments. If they did a pvp EQ3 that was based on skill gain instead of levels, I might be very inclined to try it. Why the skill gain aspect as a requirement? Cause I have enjoyed, as a casual gamer, the opportunity to log on whenever I like to Darkfall and play with my friends (regardless of how much time they have put in).
Thanks Ryan, I'l keep an eye out for your next cast.
I'm worried as well that any EQ3 is dumbed down WoW style or made for the Playstation crowd (clunky controls ahoy).
At the same time I wouldn't want to see it as a PVP game, there are a lot of them around and the problem I find with them is that after playing them for a bit things become repetitive, for me PVP should be in there but an optional side game.
With the lore of Norrath there would be so many opportunities to build it in in zones say between neighbouring Froglok and Troll zones where the pvp influences what the good or evil faction controls. But to be Everquest it would still need to have quests, dungeons and raids, something for everyone because its a lifelike world you can explore in, and not WoW's "dumb everything down so that everyone can do everything" theme park-esk experience.
Most important of all for me is its got to be different, all these MMO's since EQ1 have been the same effectively, an avatar rendered in the world with a preset number of animations. How about ragdoll physics, bone-joint animations linking up set piece motion capture moves? Proper collision detection, that for me would be the next big thing.
it should come for the ps3 controller kick as-s over crappy keyboard.
The problem I have with consoles is their hardware is dated as soon as they are released. Mmo's often progress in terms of game engine and graphics as new hardware is available. A consoles internal hardware is fixed.
Also, have you played many mmo's on the PC? An mmo is often a complex game and needs more buttons and controls than a console controller can provide.
Even for none mmo's I prefer mouse and keyboard over a controller. I rememer hearing about people with x box's complain PC players had an advantage when playing COD against them. A mouse provides faster movement and more precison, unless your flying in battleground europe.
eqoa was a great game and was on ps2 mmorpg they did it once they can do it again eqoa had 500k subs before it went down…
Man do I long for a reintroduction of my first EQ experience…
Drinal Server, Wolves of Drinal: Guild circa 1999. I an SK Erud, I liked the skirted armour, Dwarf Paladin and my favorite Halfling Ranger. I retired 2003.
I totally agree Yetian, that Sony should cater to the "older" gamers(28+)who enjoy the experiences that made them love the game in the first place. I still remember travelling Norrath with a group of lvl 10's from Qeynos to Freeport what FN fun! Giants, bears, orcs (HHK)and that one forest when you needed to pay attention to the game clock? By the time I made it to Freeport I was lvl 8 with one bar, nice.
All during the journey everyone kept in character (Our half elf ranger insisted we do not attack the animals). No nonsense speak about whats on TV and who sucks at the game.
As you can see yes I have played WOW. I actually enjoyed the game (Journeying some of the cities are pretty visual)but as stated there was no challenge and casual gamers are often shunned and ridiculed. I became a full time merchant falling victim to the screen clutter and an occasional Battlefield. That was fun. However, the guilds alone made me run from the game. Whatever happen to the casual pickup or an evening of dangerous travel to get to a lvl zone fitting? or simply to explore? I dig questing more so than Raiding. Ta hell with gear I want to see all I can see and experience. Sigh.
EQ3 with the feel and playstyle of the original? Im there!
Ahh the EC tunnel on a Saturday morning..
Selling 3 bags full at the first torch..
Thoes were the days my computer was on till the wee hours camping a needed mob
I loved EQ 1, I played from 2000 to 2006, as it changed to cater to the WOW, EQ2 crowds and such. It lost the luster….the game ability that made it fun. I was a warrior I knew I needed a healer….now you have a merc..geeesh. No challenge. I loved the EC Tunnel and luclin killed it. Yes it was rough if your a casual gamer to pick up groups and such..but that was the challenge. I had a friend who got married and all he did was bitch because he couldnt find a group…but he was a druid. He could solo…it was amazing I soloed more as a warrior then he a druid. Sad….I miss those days, my toons name was Balderson. I loved the game…I don't like how it is gone and changed. If they do an EQ 3, make it as close to EQ 1 as possible. I read up above about Queynos to freeport run….I loved those. I really did…..Not these whacked out…port crap…let alone 200 ac bp, with a gazzion stats….
agree completely
I think it was partly the fact that the world was divided into zones that gave EQ such a great sense of community.
One way to dial down today's asshat community in general chat is to go back to the zone structure of EQ. Zone-wide channels instead of server-wide made everything so much more civil, and also gave you a reason to pay attention to what people are saying. When you see someone you know in ooc, you say hi. If someone asks a question, it gets answered. It was nice. And the zoning itself is a minor detail. You have to wait a few seconds while the zone loads – so what! It's worth the trade-off.
People also complain about "forced grouping" these days. Now, I'm all for some solo content so you can get some exp while you're looking for a group, but it was the fact that you pretty much HAD to group that made EQ such a social experience. It's no surprise the community in EQ was better than any other MMO today – everybody knew each other! Well, not *everybody* but you know what I mean. The community was tighter because you needed the other players, and they needed you.
I miss the old style of EQ. Games today try so hard to cater to the short-attention-span crowd, they end up sacrificing the elements that make MMOs so special. It's a social gaming experience. Give us a world where being social and working together is not only to our advantage, but actually necessary, and we'll dive in and become immersed like we used to.
Just putting us together in a world and saying, "you need to group to do this stuff, but the rest you can solo" only creates a selfish community whose players use one another to get ahead. But if you always need other players to get ahead, it's a moot point. You group because that's the game, and if you enjoy it you stick around. If you don't, you leave. Either way, the community wins.
We just need someone to realize that MMOs should be social, and not just multiplayer; then build a game with that in mind. And I can think of no better game for it than EQ3.
hmm, i wonder if they do make an eq3, if PhysX would be worth trying? o.0
Thanks for all the comments on this.
It's good to see an EQ3 has so much interest as I'm hooked by the world of Norrath now.
We can only hope that SOE listen to the fans of Norrath and make EQ3 if it happens, the game we all want. As long standing Norrath fans however, we are also all aware of SOE's track record. So I wouldn't hold out much hope of them listening.
Good read.
I'd kill for an EQ3 that felt like all the good parts of EQ that I remember. Felt more like an RPG and less like an action-arcade beat-em-up.
Specifically… I actually enjoyed single, longer fights for chunks of experience instead of clearing swathes of mobs for a similar amount. I also like the emphasis on camps. Honestly, having 75% of things roam, kind of sucks. I'd rather chill with some friends at a camp and kill things than have to be constantly moving in a large circle within a given area to get things done. It's just movement; it's not actual content and it's not really gameplay either.
I do believe that cansoles are the way to go these days. I don't like dropping money on upgrading (or building new pc's) and i'm sure most of you don't either. If SOE did release an EQ3 of the PS3 (enough abbreviations for ya') then i do believe it would draw conciderable attention and do quite well. I am of the thinking that the game needs to be geared up to a more mature audiance if to do nothing more than to simply weed out the little kids who disrupt gameplay on most occasions. there are keyboards made for the ps3 so chatting could still be viable. The only problem i see (and i'm sure any good developer can overcome it) is the copious ammounts of skills attacks and spells that player acquire. with only 14 buttons available on a controller and 2 joysticks, the devs would have to create a whole new style of player combat.
A console game on a console, in conclusion, would be quite profitable if done correctly. The PS3 is a powerhouse and would be more than able to handle it. Plus, for tired old dads like me, i would be able to sit down in bed with my wife and play comfortably and not be up in my computer chair.
I started mmo's with EQOA, for those who dont know thats eq for the ps2, great game but dead now. Did eq1 for about 5min, graphics suck, and played eq2 for a good while also. The thing is
sony is rolling over for WoW to be in the spotlight its time for a new eq, one that incorporates pc AND console, like ffxi. Sorry to all the supposed "true" fans but no one but people with little life want to waste 2years getting to the highest lvl because the game is too complex. Im not saying eq should be as dumb and cartoony as WoW, and no…. not sorry for bashing WoW, ppl who play wow are 30 year olds with the mind set of 10 year olds….cartoons seem to lure them.
Ok my point is i love a complex games just like any of you but too complex a game, where it takes way too long to accomplish very little dosn't appeal to the masses. "True" MMO'ers are not the masses,i know it hurts to see this but SoE IS infact a buisness, if sony was to draw both console and pc players with a game you could log in, spend an hour and have fun their ratings would go up maybe giving them motivation to expand eq more and more. But with sony always with the attitude of a blind man with half a brain, WoW will probably continue to whop their ass in sales.
You say EQOA is dead? It doesn't surprise me as console gamers tend not to stick to the same game for long. I can't imagine someone playing a console game for years.
As I've said keeping the game to PC's means you can upgrade graphics as the game progresses and take advantage of new technology.
Also using a PS3 controller will begin to turn an MMO into a game that is far too simple. You have limited controls and you'd have to target with a stick. MMO's in my opinion should not be too simple.
Appealing to the masses is a mistake SOE have made with EQ2, they have made it easier as time has gone on. Sure they are a business, but just because you are a business doesn't mean every product you have has to appeal to the largest market. Appealing to a more niche market can often bring in just as much income.
Take WoW for example, yeah it's mass market but the subscription length is probably shorter than EQ2 from what I've read on blogs. It is also a game that doesn't appeal to a lot of gamers who want an MMO that's more of a challenge, just as EQ2 doesn't appeal to people that want something like WoW.
SOE are a big enough company to have more than one MMO and something like Free realms appeals to a different market to EQ2. If SOE want to compete against WoW then they should make an MMO for that market that isn't an Everquest MMO. They could make such a game a console and PC game as console gamers would probably prefer this type of game to a more complex game as can be seen from the above comments.
EQ3 if targeted at those who want an MMO that is more of a challenge than WoW will be a big success. The EQ series is already is viewed by many as being more difficult and complex than WoW. Instead of making EQ3 for the WoW crowd, make it for the EQ crowd who have stuck with the series for years now. This would also attract new gamers who want an MMO that provides more of a challenge.
I'm not slagging WoW off, it's a big success but just isn't the MMO for me. There is enough interest in MMO's to make a few games that target different types of MMO players, rather than one that tries to cover them all.
Many WoW-players got their first taste of MMO's in WoW, but as all MMO's goes, many players will eventually move on to try something different.
If you look at SoE's effort to have EQ2 be "the game to try next", it is clear that they aren't the least interested in getting former WoW-players to subscribe. The developers of EQ2 might be shooting for this crowd, but the sales-people are only targeting current players…and that targeting is mild and weak at best.
For the life of me, I can't come up with one single thing SoE upper management has done to try and move this game forward sub-wise. I am puzzled…absolutely puzzled as wo why there isnt a single advertisment out there. Now chances are that I'm just a stupid git, who has no clue as to what makes a company rake in $$$ on a solid product, AND that I simply am not intelligent enough to comprehend the utter genious of SoE marketing and strategies…but in my wildest dreams I can't come up with an understanding of how SoE run their MMO's.
Free Realms might become a huge cashcow, but I have my doubts. Not that the game isn't any good, but the company behind makes no sense to me. None. Zip. Nada. Unless they moved EVERY ressource to develop The Next Big Hit ofcourse. Could that hit be be EQ3? I can't even imagine.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a disgruntled former SWG-player, and I think both WoW and EQ2 are great games in their each and own ways.
Good luck finding a game that by design excludes the largest market of gamers, children. The reason everquest changed wasn't to be more like wow, it was because design in wow exposed improvements (many of which I'm sure some of you had complained about at the time) that could make the game play more natural and flowing.
You may remember how new you were to the game and how good it made you felt, but that exists for every game. You soon improve and learn the score… that's when the maxing and raiding, etc. starts occurring. And don't you dare even try to tell me that you didn't want to punch a hole through your computer monitor after spending 12 hours in the game and having an EXP debt to show for it (not to mention going to sleep with a corpse you know will expire while you do so).
what I remember when i played warcraft was "wow, all of those things which drove me nuts in everquest have clearly been addressed", and i'm sure this was no mistake. I think the downfall of warcraft wasn't it's appeal to children: skilled players could still find the like and attempt more difficult content. the downfall was when the unskilled wanted to see this content also and the difficulty was reduced. now there's no refuge for mature gamers in that world. The reason most everquest players feel this way about warcraft is because they never graduated past the childrens content into the adult content. Now what does that have to say about the maturity of EQ players?
As far as healthy design cycle, you can't deny that even everquest has had it's lulls, this probably to do with the lack of attention from it's parent company. I am sorry to say that any new content in EQ2 is likely only to continue carrying the subscription costs of the players. I believe WoW is also this way.
By the way, before pigeonholing me as a wow player, please know that I was an eq player for years before playing warcraft, and an EQ2 player before playing and after quitting warcraft.
I think there's too much fond remembering in this thread and not enough realism… if you want underground, go play a MUD! (this isn't an insult, i'm dead serious!)
Thanks for the comment.
I along with a lot of my guild liked a lot of the things in EQ1 that are on longer around. I agree that there is not much for the more mature gamer (in thinking not age
).
Not sure what you mean by not seeing adult content in EQ1.
As for the biggest market? Well yeah it's children but if you take any market area in the world today are you trying to tell me that each product within that market is made for the majority?
When you go to market you pick which demographic you want to market to, not always the largest. Sometimes aiming for a niche can earn you more than going for the mass market. The mass market is divided up much more than a niche area.
Vanguard tried to aim for the more mature gamer but due to reasons Brad McQuaid set out in his blog, it failed. Vanguard didn't fail because the market wasn't there or the market wasn't big enough, in fact everyone I've spoken to who likes more challenging MMO's wanted Vanguard to be a great game.
The market is there and if someone else tries it, maybe they will succeed where vanguard failed.
Vanguard failed because you needed a beast of a machine to even play it at launch. and the storyline was just lacking.
EQ2 was amazing in the begining, then they dumbed it down and did all that locked in combat and restircted movement. and did away with some of their best ideas like how classes progressed with sub and arch classes.
EQ1 game play was perfect. I liked training and kill stealing and PVP. The game was so free to do anything. I think the lvl’ing was crazy and thing lvls should stop at around 20 and focus afterwards on AAs
Game should be designed around pvp for class balance even if there are non pvp servers its much easier to balance pvp first in design and then scale pve afterwards. this keeps from nerfing classes or making some godly one min just to make them useless the next.
Some things i disliked about later eq1 was the crazy time sinks that were really useless. Im all for some time sinks to promote social part of them game but needs to have balance.
eq1 was great up until the trip to the moon… kunark was amazng and velious was the greatest.
keep lvls the same just add new AA with expansions.
Balance the ecomony… easier said than done in game and real life.
gear… dont go too crazy on stats on effects keep it mild. would rather the game be more about player skill then what gear you have
Great article!, you hit on some points that have been lost over the MMO years that began with EQ1. I was an avid player of EQ1, I never achieved the max level (alt-a-holic here) – but you hit it right on the nose when you mention having to run for your corpse or even the satisfaction of reaching a new level (max level characters held a certain respect). These "pain-in-the-butt" design details were what gave the game the sense of the "I cannot die" spirit, adding a tension and emotional involvement in EQ 1. The new MMOs merely make death a small annoyance.
Anyways, as much as I would love to see an EQ3 based on EQ1 (design wise), I don't feel it could happen for the fact of intent of business. Business's intent is to make profit (thats why people go into business). This will lead them to go with popular demand and WoW (and clones) have produced a new subgenre that is popular with not just the new casual crowd.. but the farming gold/platnium crowd. Which if you think about it – the MMOs have caved to make gold farming easier.
Thinking about my days with EQ1 are a great memory, but alas I think it will only ever be a memory… because business would not take the risk to run an MMO that follows the old rules. Those rules are not popular with the "new crowd.
a very sad – anon
Sony will never be able to pull off a game as good as EQ1 was, after all it wasn't Sony that made EQ1, it was a company known as Verant Interactive. Essentially every part of what made EQ1 amazing is now diluted over the various MMORPGS we have today.
I will never understand why they ever called it Everquest. When i started playing it back in 1998 there were barely any quests to do, and how you went about doing them was a complete mystery to most, there certainly were not any HUGE yellow exclamation marks over NPC's heads to help you.
The appeal of EQ1 was simply the raw harshness of the enviroment. Death could come from anywhere, if you were a human you were effectively blind at night and chances are if you went outside into the woods it is very likely you could be killed.
That was what kept EQ1 exciting and corpse runs, oh yes. None of this namby pamby Ressurection at a soul healer or something where you simply dusted yourself down and went about your merry way with your armor slightly damaged.
EQ1 was harsh and lethal, when you died you lost 10% xp and left behind a corpse containing your weapons and armor, getting this back from a camp that was nearly at the end of dungeon and nowhere near the entrance, was an absolute nightmare and many EQ1 early day vets will be nodding thier heads when i mention about the requirements for a Cleric to RES you so you got back the 10% xp loss. What made EQ1 good and gripping was a REAL sense of fear going into a dungeon with a very real chance that your character could die and you could lose everything your character has. remember Sol B, Lava duct crawlers? Lower Guk, King Room? All classics
such a shame it is no longer the same.
You did not blunder in blindly, every pull of mobs was calculated because the loss if you got the pull wrong was staggering. Bring back the fear guys, i want corpse runs, i want harsh penalties for death.
Seeing a level 50 ( max level at the time) was a sight to behold and the sense of awe that surrounded them was great, because level 50 was an awesome achievement.
This is what i miss. If they re-released EQ1 with only Kunark and Velious i would play it today.
Man.. if they made an Everquest 3 I would be all over that. I always wished they would re-release Everquest 1 with just Kunark with a whole new graphix engine. Retool the classes, but maintain that same feel. Keep the death penalties, keep the corpse runs, that's what made the game fun to be honest. I tried WoW for a brief stint.. after I realized I could die to get back to where I wanted to go faster.. well that was the end of that. I loved EQ 1, and I would love it again if it were re-released, or a third installment was done with the focus of what made EQ1 such an awesome game.
Some of the things i liked about eq1 where the penalties on death. The long corpse runs in ToV, the 3-4 failed attempts on ct in PoF. Breaking in to hate and standing at your bind point for hours waiting on the second grp to get everything cleared for a rez.On second thought dont guess i liked it at the time but that was what made the game memorable.
The best things about eq1 where the first epic quests where everyone in a guild of 40-50 people would help 1 person obtain one item. Lets see that happen in wow? And then the since of acomplishment when you finish that epic quest after working on it for 3 months or even years for some. ( as a warrior it took me 2 years to complete my epic, Damn green scale!)
I really wish eq3 if there is such a thing would add those long horrendous quests the sense of danger and your hands shaking when you get a raid boss down to 10% after 5-6 whipes on him and the sigh of relief when he finally falls.
The fealing you get after a 8 hour exp grind and not realizing its been that long because of all the great conversations going on around you.
I do hope though that eq3 doesnt bring in annoying flag reqs for new exspansions and expansions that leave out the casuals. IMO eq was on its downfall at POP. It was a great expansion for raids but to do so many raids over and over for reflagging killed the game. And there was no loot in pop except raid gear!
I would love to see a progression eq1 up to velious with new and improved graphics and let em ad new content that actually works instead of the expansions that failed em so many times.
I would like to see expansions every 10-12 months instead of 6 months and a since that not everyone has the money to upgrade a pc for ever expansion.
Its a lot to hope for but maybe one day they could get it going if so ill see you guys there.
Denallron 9 years innoruk server ( nameless )
snafued test server alt
Well said Soulblight. It was the penalties for failure that made things so interesting. Time spent getting corpses back, even when a CR was easy just the time wasted getting back to where you were could be enormous. The shere scale of the game compared to everything that had come before it was amazing.
Where things have moved on is that for most games you can now be a casual player. Many of us no longer have the time we did when EQ came out and the ability to progress without spending months locked away on the PC is the flip side of the dumbing down. For me EQ was the best but I could never dedicate the time now to play another game like it.
Aurela Swordtongue
Ranger of Brell
I remember doing the FP to Qeynos runs (they were sweet). My biggest gripe about the original EQ is that a single mob of equal lvl could toast my warrior and the fact that I only regened what was it 4hp a tick? Balance it out and allow my war to regen hp, so he could at least do some solo work would have made the experience more enjoyable.
They need to promote grouping without using retarded game mechanics (like making mobs of equal lvl own your toons ass). They should have a death penalty. I always remembered being able to get good pick up groups in EQ, but in WoW half of the people you get are complete and utter morons, because the game coddles them.
Hardcore games appeal to a very limited crowd of people. Hardcore gamers generally clear content very fast and are the first to cry wolf that there are cock blocks set in place on endgame content if they can't beat it, cause not being able to beat an encounter hurts their ego. These kinds of games can't afford large staff to create content as fast as hardcore gamers can clear it. Hardcore gamers cry there is not enough content. Game fails cause the already small population starts leaving due to the low number of staff not being able to keep up with demands.
This is why there are no 'omg WTF I died! Now I gotta blah blah blah to get my corpse back and get the xp back this group sucks /groupquits' games out there. They aren't sustainable. Get used to it, or create one yourself.
I was wondering how long it would be before we got another "it's like this so get used to it" kind of post.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and just because we choose to voice it doesn't mean we can't hope it will come true. If you thought a bit more about mmo history you'd see that companies who don't listen to what people want often make huge mistakes. Take SOE and the Star wars galaxies famous combat patch that basically killed the game.
Maybe someone making an mmo will read the comments on this post. Maybe they will take note, maybe they won't. Will i lose sleep if they don't? Of course not it's just my opinion as the comments on this post are the opinions of others.
I don't remember anyone who agreed with my post saying they wouldn't play a game that doesn't have all the features spoken about.
As for your "go make one" comment? All I can say is thanks for making me laugh.
I was in love with EQ for a long time, but after a while it seemed like every quest I had required me to camp something forever. That killed the game for me. The excitement the game gave because of imminent danger seemed paper thin, once you knew a zone you knew where the spawns were, so the excitement died as you learned the zone. IF there is an EQ3 please get rid of spawn points.
main: Drakthorin Justiceblade, Barbarian Warrior lvl 51 E'ci since may 1999 (started the day it hit the shelves but those older characters got deleted and replaced along the way)
I'm one of those players who can never stick to one character in an mmorpg.
Interesting discussion. I'm another EQ vet (99-06) that is still looking for something new. It's been mentioned here a few times but for me the missing element nowadays is fear. The manifestation of that fear might have been frustrating at times (getting wiped at the the LDCs in SolB or falling down the well in Befallen wasn't much fun for anyone) but it didn't diminish the feeling before the inevitable disaster occurred.
There were genuine adrenalin rushes to be had as you tried to pull the mobs back off an over-eager healer, knowing if he went down you'd all go with him.
Instancing removes another layer of fear, the fear of making a fool of yourself. Training Lower Guk and killing 20 people outside your group was a terrifying prospect but it's under those conditions that reputations and ultimately communities are built. How many lasting friendships in the game stemmed from one group helping another recover from a disaster in a bad place?
Help was often asked for because help was often needed. Genuinely needed though, not just to cheat a bit of experience using a high level player, but to ensure you still had a character to play tomorrow.
I'm not too confident we'll ever see it again. It will take someone who's in it for everything but the money not to just take the easy route. I'm at the point now where they could just remake EQ for 2009 and I'd play that from the start again. The game itself is still in there.
I would play EQ3 no doubt about it. Especially if it was like EQ1 with better graphics. Like the post above I wish they re-released EQ1 classic with just Kunark and maybe Velious. That was when the game was at its best. Back when the only thing easy to attain was embarassment when you messed up lol. No gameplay will ever make my heart jump or have a real feel of loss like this one did. D'Vinn to zone!!!
Oh the fun of staring at a spell book while meditating and the delights of receiving a SoW on my cleric.
It was tough and you earned your levels. In the early days there were no maps or walkthroughs it was an adventure into the unknown.
Everquest I was about the journey not about arriving at the destination. Good friends and big emotions along the way.
Just so you know EQ fans…WoW has 100 times the fan base that EQ ever had and ever will have with its crappy combat system. The reason WoW works is that people have the opportunity to level chars and see the end zone. When a game is not so focused on leveling but badge collecting and progress through ranks with an eye on actually seeing the end zones then yea people flock to it. A small majority of you want a game that is hard as hell and only the lucky gets the rewards…while a massive majority of us WoW players want to enjoy doing other things in the game other then leveling. EQ is dead, EQ2 is right behind it. If EQ3 comes out with a closed mind then it will have the typicall same players and not have any chance of the WoW success. Sorry to tell you but I am sure Sony is looking at the bottom line and they see theirs a lot smaller then Blizzards.
Lol that last comment doesn't really need a reply but here's a short one.
In one foul swoop you have managed to pin point the exact reason that some of us don't play WoW and you probably don't even realise it.
The community makes the game for a lot of people.
I played EQ1 for almost 6 years. I've played WoW from launch until now. I would love a "WoW" version of EQ. That's just my opinion. I would love a version of EQ where I could solo as any class, or log in for 30 minutes and get something productive done.
I've never had a problem solo'ing any class in EQ2, especially with the AA specs allowing 1 solo and 1 group setup.
I can also log on, use a guild portal and be somewhere questing for 30 mins happily.
Just so you know WoW fan, WoW has nothing like 100 times the fanbase unless they've hit the 50,000,000 subscriber mark. They have not.
I'd also bet any amount of money that EQ's average sub length is much longer than WoWs.
WoW has it's place, but you could satisfy the majority of WoW players with a 'max level' button they could hit the first time they logged in. Why bother with all that effort?
There is a market for a longer, harder game. We're well aware that the target group is small, but small on a global scale isn't small in real terms. There's no point in making WoW clones when WoW is still around, you won't get their customers. Someone needs to come for the fans of the genre that found WoW an amusing way to kill a few months but then wondered why they ran out of game.
I played EQ1 from almost the beginning,I left to go to EQ2 the graphics were amazing.I left this year because I was frustrated with what I feel was the destrustion of crafting.The final straw was being able to buy armor.I miss all the friends I had there and am thinking of trying again.What I would like to see is a carafting that is a working force in the game (woodworkers making parts for new buildings,Alchemist makeing ingredents for other crafters,amoung just a few).Homes built by crafters simular to vanguard.I am a older player and would enjoy a more mature crowd.I tried WOW,LOTR and some others but really none compare to EQ 2.
Back in 99 EQ1 was a must. Every zone had personality, every journey was dangerous and the more you got into the game, the more you would be sucked into it.
Items mattered, every little piece of armor as you were leveling up was precious, bazzars in ECommons were the place to sell and buy things, you would spend hours running on foot, selling your items or finding that extra rare weapon for a good price.
I think what made EQ1 special was 2 things: novelty and the sense of achievement.
It was hard to explore a map, hard to gatter a group to do something that was impossible to do alone.
Guk had a soloable entrance and the further you got in you couldnt just make it alone. Same with other zones. The game had a sense of danger and adventure all over it, i still remember when i would get lost in Everfrost, being chased by iccy spiders or bears… it was a world apart that i didnt want to leave.
My most remembered gaming moments were in EQ1, people could enter a dungeon, camp a room, tell jokes meanwhile while i would run alone to pull a mob into the room (i was a Warrior).
The game had a very strong community and people accepted it's faults, even turning them into must features – you would enter a dungeon and knew some rooms were camped, that was the rule and you would get in line to get into where you wanted, while camping another room or soloing a bit at the entrance.
Although EQ1 was good, over this past 10 years of mmorpg playing, i cant imagine myself running again through the frustration of spending 2hours trying to recover my corpse, or spending 45mins alone to cross 3 zones, or running on foot everywhere wasting 3 hours of running, 1 of fighting just for the sake of good old days….
The mind gets bored quickly, EQ1 was new, fresh, hard and many times frustrating and although i laugh at my frustrating past moments i hardly imagine enjoying them in present days, it had its time and the good aspects should remain untouched in future releases.
Alas things changed, EQ2 started off well, but soon Thundering Steppes became a kindergarten along with so many other zones. The game began to be dumbed down to outside soloers and inside raiders, there was no other way around it and still is like this.
Solo content is needed but not in exccess, group content is needed but not only for big raids. I hate when i come in Karnor's Castle alone (yes, it's always empty there) and there isn't a single soloable mob at the entrance inside.
Im a dungeon crawler myself, either alone or in a small group, that's where you will find me happy. Dark Age of Camelot had wonderful raids, but so did have progressive solo dungeons.
The game is becoming a desert in player-base and i do hope the next expansion changes a bit of this with the new mentor method (you can mentor a npc) – this way i can re-visit low-level zones with my Zerker and still gain a bit of exp and loot (trying to re-live a bit of EQ1 good old days), who knows even dungeon-crawling again either solo or in small groups.
I do hope EQ2 gets better, cause if has more substance than WOW, somehow it attracts me more in terms of RPG elements.
A EQ3 somehow scares me, since i feel that EQ2 still has a lot more to give if they change philosophy and graphics are still top-notch compared to other mmorpgs (although i admit wide-open areas in WOW can be addicting).
Halas in being made in the next expansion and i cant wait to visit it.. EQ2 or EQ3 i do hope the rich world and lore of EQ never dies. Although i loved WOW for some years, it's in EQ2 that you will find me again, don't ask me why.. perhaps its the old EQ1 feeling in me.
I for one loved everquest 1, pre Luclin. I would love to see them combine the best of everquest 1 with everquest 2. For me EQ has always been the adult MMORPG game, where wow is more for the younger playrs. WoW does not require as much thinking as EQ does.. its to eazy street.
I loved lost dungeons of Norrath in EQ1 where u did not have to have a huge party in order to go inside.
I did not like the long spawn times you had for some mobs in EQ 1 (Its been along time since i played this game, so maybe this have changed)
I did not like that you could loose a lvl because you died. I liked EQ2 way of handeling the dieing and the "loss" of exp better
I loved how the tradeskills was build up in EQ, and also the housing system.
It was a little to hard to kill an elite mob. If a mob were the same lvl as u, or even a couple of lvls under u, but were elite , you had a really hard figth. And sadly when you came higher up in lvls, the mob would not drop any loot cause it was grey.
I gave up MMORPG quite some time ago, because there was nothing out there that meet my needs. If Sony launch a EQ3 i deffinatly have to give it a try
I completely agree with Yetian on the controller issue on consoles. I played Half life 2 on computer and a few FPSs on consoles.I think that the mouse is extremely better at aiming. The controller however is a lot more jumpy so I can never get the crosshairs where I need them.
It is an absolute joy to read these posts. I played a warrior, Pawnee, in EQ1, my first character and stuck with him until he got 60; changed to my favourite, a ranger, and levelled Warcloud to 70 on the FV server, again, in the same small guild. Switched to EQ2 and had another high level ranger.
The best part was making friends; I live in the UK and fortunately, was able to go to LA and meet a few guildies; I loved the early hours of the morning doing corpse runs, was amazed the first time I saw my druid friend kite a Hill Giant in the Commonlands and I felt so accomplished when I eventually kited a Hill Giant in N Karana; Orc 1 camp, spent forever killing Highland Lions in Karana for that elusive High Quality lionskin for the fleeting quiver, farming pelts was great fun too to earn a few plats; Kunark was amazing with the threat of death and those darn spiders, Oh the memories. I can't see EQ3 being as much fun but here's hoping.
Have SOE confirmed anything about EQ3? Since there are SO many of us who would love to see it happening, maybe they would listen and make one
Hey Maria,
As far as I know it's only been mentioned by a SOE developer who did say they had people working on concept art for "Everquest Next".
One interesting comment I remember in the post was that they wanted to bring any new Everquest to new audiences as well as keep the loyal fans of the Everquest series.
This does suggest it wouldn't be console only as that would push out most of the current fans as they have played it on PC's all along.
Lovely post. I also cannot agree more with the forced grouping that created the tight knit EQ1 community. Be nice, get a group. Be an ass and watch the rest level away from you. Simple and effective training for the socially challenged.
EQ is the best MMO franchise in my book too. I´d definetly try a new one. (As long as it comes on a proper PC not a platform.)
I have too disagree with some of the other posters here no offense. A little bit of background, I started MMO's with Ultima Online, Then Everquest for several years, Tried SWG and AC and really wanted too play Everquest 2 when it was first being launched. What drove me away from the game and into Warcrafts arms was the very fact that it was anti-solo playable at the time of launch. I have since tried Everquest 2 for a while and I must say it has improved from launch but as a personal opinion I dont like the storyline of it being in a parrall universe but thats just me.
Any MMO that comes out that is not casual player friendly is doomed too have sub-par subscription numbers and struggle from the get go. Casual players are the bread and butter of any MMO, ignore that at your peril. Now dont get me wrong I dont mind a challenge (Ive played Eve Online also for a 2 years on the side) but PvP should be optinal not manditory, GROUPING should be optional for grinding not manditory. Players need too have the ability too log into the game, do a few things and log off and feel like they did something.
All that being said I would leave Eve, Wow or whatever game Im playing at the moment too play a Everquest 3 if it came out and was casual friendly mainly but with some really hard stuff I'll never do. I would want the world too be alot larger however then Everquest 2 had at launch. One thing I did like about Warcraft was it's worlds size. I would kill too have a Norrath that size but with Everquest 2 graphics.
Well Im rambling and thanks for listening.
To start, I played Everquest from 1999 to 2005. I saw the game change completely from Everquest – Velious to Luclin and all the expansions after. Most of the loyal fans stuck around through Luclin hoping that it wouldn't change too much after that. The Planes of Power expansion and those following is what made a lot of people want to leave the game because it was not the same game anymore. By trying to appeal to the masses as new games came out, they ultimately created their own demise.
There is a market for those that want a challenging game where grouping and working towards a common goal is the focus for the players. For instance, there are many servers that have tried to re-create the classic everquest. EQ Classic for instance has a few thousand people on their forums that are waiting for them to come out with this server (might happen within a year or so). That is just a small percentage of those that loved classic everquest and would jump at the opportunity for Everquest 3, if it was closer to the old everquest. If it is closer to what WoW, etc. are then it would probably last as long as EQ2. I really believe that there is a large market that is looking for an up to date game that has to offer what the original Everquest offered.
EQ Classic (in the working) already had to deal with legal stuff of using the Everquest name because it was drawing such a large crowd. Because of this, I again think that they would be smart to listen to what the fans want.
My 2 cents.
Dhakkan Dharktouch
Necromancer on the Xegony Server
I agree with most of what you wrote, and they are indeed opinions and ideas that I like. However, we are talking about SoE here. If you look at every single one of their previous moves, it leads to a WoW gameplay for EQ3.
Star Wars Galaxies, did they listen to anyone? No… Did they make the game way too mainstream? Yes.
EverQuest 2, you know… EQ2 was about what you're saying EQ3 should be if I read correctly. EQ2 was different, and very challenging in the beginning. Did it succeed? Relatively, but not at release. They mainstreamed it, and if I recall correctly, gained more players.
EverQuest 1, they added so much stuff since… LoY that made the game so much more easier. Be it through patches or expansions, if you buy an expansion you get to level faster than someone who doesn't (thinking of Mercs here).
Vanguard, ….nah let's skip that one, it's like beating on an injured animal… you just don't do that.
To sum it up, I can't expect anything from SoE anymore really. They always disappointed me, and many people, that the good just really doesn't cut it. To me EQ3 seems like a huge gamble and it only depends on 2 things: The quality of the product at release, and the timing of the release.
Since WoW, an MMO's success only, only depends on the release. And I just fear SoE aren't able to deliver. Too many of their clichees have to be changed (such as their laggy/not that stunning graphics engine(s)) and they just can't listen to their subscribers!
I started playing eq1, i want to say 2002, i was fairly young then but for some reason i was so hooked on EQ, i loved it all soo much. Meeting people, merry making, really…questing with your best mates..after spending a while thinking about it, i tried to anaylize why EQ1 was so great..
I came to the conclusion that it was so great because it literaly was its own world. i would spend, sometimes 8 hours straight playing the game..literaly..( bad i know ), you truly had a sense that you were alone, in Norrath, and you could do anything, at least thats how i felt.
SoE needs to make EQ3 for sure, and combine that "world" feeling with eq2 graphics.
my very first adventure with an mmo came from eq 1. Back when kunark was brand new. I was a kid back then and played until eq2 came out. What i loved about eq1 was its sense of reality. you couldn't just go into say the crushbone orc place and kill everything. you had to get a group, you needed people to help you. In all honesty if that were a real situation(just roll with me on this one) do you think a person could walk into the throne room by himself and take on the all the guards, the emperor, and that dark elf dude (dvinn?) no they would get their ass handed to them. so i guess my point is i loved the community that it built.
i've played wow for a while now too and i can't tell you how many people i meet that are complete assholes or morons. i can't remember ever meeting someone in eq that was not pleasant and willing to help when you asked a question or wanted to group. You didn't need to be a know it all in eq you just wanted to have fun. I look at wow now and everything is all about gear and achievements. you can't join my group unless you've already done this content…. well how is someone new ever going to be able to do something if you will only take the experienced people.
Another thing i loved about the eq world was said in a novel set in Norrath called Rouge's Hour. in the introduction, R.A. Salvatore talks about his first adventure in eq. how he could write a novel about his run from halas with his barbarian all the way to freeport to group with some friends. EQ had that awesome power where everything you did felt like an epic adventure, some kind of story. Where as imo wow is just endless grinding. i'll admit i never had a max lvl character in eq, hell i never got past 60; and i still enjoyed every minute of it. in wow i maxed out my paladin do raids with my guild(who are full of the non ass-holish people) and now i cant stand to go back to leveling, its to much of a solo grind. good luck trying to find a group to do low level dungeons with. at least on my server. Its a long solo grind to 80 and i hate it.
plus wow is just to cartoony for me, ive played it for a while with some friends but ive always wanted more realism. if there was an eq3, your damn right id play it. most likely even if they sacrificed some of what made it great to make it more mass appealing. I really hope they do make it, or somebody makes something that can beat wow. Wow has it coming you just wait and see.
Eq1 from launch to velious was no doubt the greatest MMO experience for myself and countless others who enjoy true gaming. Forcing players to group gave the game great appeal because of the necessary interaction. The dungeons and camping the boss's in hopes of the rare drops, priceless. At lvl 46, access to the planes was also badass and lastly the epic quests brought it all together with Kunark. Most players these days will have no idea how amazing it was for someone to get an epic. It took me like two years and there was alot of BS along the way, but looking back I wouldn't trade those feelings, even reaching lvl50, for any other game. Dueling cost you an item of the victors choice and having to trust other players with items and coin when giving to an Alt..hah! WoW doesn't do any of this for me and I feel Eq2 went wrong with the instances as well.
Everquest was IMO the best MMO ever created. My main character was a monk on emar. Many of you have said this already, if they recreated EQ 1 with up to date graphics, I would cry. Coming from a monk point of view, for the most part, we were needed for almost any situation. Pulling mobS for a group or a raid was fantastic. The best part was the fact that mobs were "splitable". You do not see that at all in any mmo that I know of. Sometimes feign death would fail…. Rofl! Loved to hear those crushing sounds as the wyvern in tov obliterated me!! Good times! I also liked the idea of buff s outside of you r group lasting for an hour. Paying for C3 or fort…. Things like that made the game.
I played a ranger on fennin ro starting early 2001 and bard on firiona vie starting 2002. EQ1 is the only MMO that kept me coming back for years with pre-luclin being the best content. No other MMO can compare (including eq2).
There is a huge market for the reinvention of an early eq1 style game as NOTHING is out today to fill the niche. Appealing to the WoW audience or the many clones is pointless isn't it? Play WoW/lotro/aion/etc.
Give me
-difficulty/complexity
-epic (EPIC) quests
-unique items
-unique classes
-death penalty
-corpse runs
-trains to zone!
Dont give me
-quest markers and guides for EVERYTHING
-mass amounts of easily found solo adventure content
-non-player teleportation to every area
-class 'balance' to the point where they are all the same
-all mobs chained
-every craft recipe purchased or dropped
-easily accessible automated auction hall/bazaar/marketplace
-maps to the entire world
-instanced zones
Bring back the exploration, the excitement, the danger, the sense of accomplishment, the community. Remember the slogan "You're in our world now!". We wanted to be and we'd like to be again.
Here's hoping…
I played EQ1 from 1999 to approximately 2005, and I have to say, that was the time i "grew up", going from that annoying 11 year old girl running around barely grasping the games etiquette (because we all know the majority of kids that young in a game can get annoying) though thoroughly enjoying the challenge of my first epic quests, and so on, up through to a high school graduate with a good grasp on almost everything there was in the game.
Ive played WoW, and admit i had fun, but i couldnt stick with it without getting nostalgic for that old not so dumbbed-down gameplay, though by that time Eq1 itself had gotten to be a different game without much enjoyment left for me, so it wouldnt last long either. Ive played aion, which was fun for a little bit, but too repetitive and it didnt seem like there was much to their world.
But my ultimate solution –
Take EQ1, revamp the graphics (not like the revamped zones that became just the simple one-way-to-go paths like nektulos and probably others were made into) change a few minor details to improve on the world, though not making it easier and to increase exploration, remembering what its like to stumble into that wrong area in a not often seen corner of a newbie zone.
Now I know this is just a bit of rambling on, and its all already been said, but hey, just my 2c of reminiscing, and we would all like to do it all over again if given the change (that change preferably being an EQ3 bringing back all the aspects we loved that cant be found in any other mmo)
EQ1 was my first real mmorpg experience, some friends talked me into playing and I was hooked. My only complaint at first with it was that if noone had been there to show me some of the finer things I would not have played long, like yhere shouldn't be any places in your starting city you can accidentally wander into and get killed within 2 minutes of starting out without leaving your own city.
EQ2 was next because EQ1 was really outdated by EQ2 and the "I can get every AA that exists" thing was just crazy. EQ2 made some big strides over EQ1 in a lot of areas. I then moved on to WoW because my friends moved and recently quit WoW because of the lack of challenge thing.
Both MMOs had big pluses and minuses comparitively. EQ2 had way too much specilization, way. It was a great idea to cut raid partys down so much, I hated waiting on numbers 70 and up in EQ1 to get organized to go take down MB or whatever. But in making so much class specialazation, and so many of them really necessary – Brigands come to mind. So instead of waiting on the 70 plus people you were left waiting for the one max level brigand to get online so you could go raid. Comparitively I really like the way WoW does that with the 3 trees, and dual specilization, you are short a tank for this instance, of Ill swap specs to tank and were good.
Playing with friends however, EQ2 leaves WoW in the dust; A) there are soooo many servers on WoW it is near impossible to wind up on the same server as your friends or family by accident and even if you do, you need to have a lvl 20, 30 , 40 and 50 character laying around to play with them as they level up. EQ2, invite to group, right click mentor, done.
So whatever and whenever it comes out I hope they take the best of both games, simplifying class specilization for easier group/raid party making but definately keep EQ2s slick mentor system, oh and WoW does win by a long shot on the tradeskills front, get the stuff for 15 combines, go. I don't want to have to concentrate and click buttons to offset every table I make.
Hi, I agree with you Lauralan,
My perfect EQ3 would be pretty much EQ 1 with some better graphics – i'd love to re-visit the zones with the same size feeling but newer crisper graphics – imagine EC/WC with glow effects and smooth edges
Iksar and other models containing the original spirit, but a lot nicer looking !! 
Perhaps streamed loading of zones so the world really feels like one big land (this is the one envy of wow I really have!)
Changes:
I would however perhaps like EQ3 to challenge more in crafting as I remember it being a bit pointless in EQ1!
I would think soloing would need to be possible in EQ3, I don't think I would enjoy the same ammount of time /LFG as I once did
I do think though folks should be encouraged to group!
My guild has played since the start of EQ, through WoW, and back into EQ2. I really hope SOE keeps Norrath alive into another more updated MMO. I haven't heard anything yet, but it would be absolutely wonderful!
I played everquest for a few years. When I quit I had a 70 shammy who I raided on. I play wow now and I have an 80 mage and pally. I've played EQ2 and Aion, didn't really like either of them.
Reaching max level in wow doesn't mean it's over, and yes it is very very easy to do. I read a recent article about wow, in which 1 of the lead designers said "it really sucks when you spend months designing and tuning a dungeon with detailed encouters that less than 1% of your players will play through." Keep in mind the lead WOW designers met through EQ. I agree, it would suck to spend so much time on such a small percentage of your audience.
I do miss old EQ, but the game really started to suck for me around the time PoP came out. I would definitely take a look at EQ3 if they decide to release it. I also enjoyed reading this article.
I am currently aware that a Planetside Next is coming out. I know this because SOE sent out e-mails to all the old vet's of the game asking their opinions on what to put into the new game. So I would expect SOE to be working on that for a while, so I would not be expecting another Everquest for atleast a few years.
But honestly, I think that they will make another Everquest, despite what the developers say. They gained way to much money and respect from that series and would be stupid not to make a second sequel.
I played Eq2 for about 3 1/2 years and loved the game. Got myself a lvl 80 SK/Brigand and loved the game, but unfortunately had to end my subscription due to various reasons. But, if I had to place money on it, I gaurantee we will see another Everquest in the next few years.
I honestly think that if someone is mentioning the word AA, or anything that has to do with level 60+ stuff pertaining to Everquest, they have truly not experienced the beginning days when EQ was utterly amazing. The days when your corpse could be looted by other players when consent was given, the days when northern ro had the dervish going around (dorn) the days where oasis croc's where the place to be hunting, and last but not least, when east commonlands tunnel was the buying/selling market manually as apposed to the horrible bazaar that started the fall of EQ. I wish only that some could have experienced the beginning days, and they truly would be haunted forever in a sense that they will never find that feeling in an MMO again.
Ron I totally agree I miss the tunnel SOOO bad and hunting in the oasis in croc groups gah those were the days even having to wait 5 min to zone because I was on Dial-up, and going to get your corpse lol ohh those long runs at 3am to get your corpse, it dident matter it was so totally worth the wait and the run because it was awesome! Man Its unfortunate that we may never see a day like that agin because everything has been made so easy.
You can play Everquest 1 like it used to be and for free as well. look up Project 1999. 300-500 players online simultaneously at the moment. I only started a few days ago, so much fun
Good ol' memories.
hi I played EQ1 in early years and seen EQ1 be ruined new exspansions that everything was better items and mobs to kill.
My Idea EQ3 bring back old EQ ways no level requirment/level cap of items. Allow you to exsplore as you do in EQ.do away with plains of power bring back the cities. hot zones make them all that way so you can see your grind of leveling orgeting that aa you needed to be obtainable but not to easy.like to see more races factions like old days.
Don't laugh but my dwarf was proud to get his first suit of plate at lvl 23 and his fine steel sword could not hit magic creatures. cap was level 50 back then EQ1.you worked for what you got and did trade skills or payed someone who had them.Poeple ran from Kaladim to qeynos took 4 hours real time with out spirit of wolf.At low level that was tough.thoose was the days of everquests beginnings. Like I said that what I would like of EQ3
Well I was looking for information about an Everquest 3 and I cant find anything even hinting at a new one, and this is the most recent post ive found about it, so here goes. @ Ron Lefleur, I feel you man, I had a macro made if i remember correctly that spammed in shout, INC DORN BDYNN TO PLATFORM , and correct me if im wrong I think that was Dervish camp number 2, or was so labled on my server. I remember hunting in crushbone and then running the leather, shoulderpads i think, all the way back to the dwarf city by foot. I can remember giving patterns and mats for Patchwork armor on my rogue, to a guy at the inn in north ro. There is so much more I could mention about old school EQ but ill get on with my point. I Think that , like some, EQ 3 should be a new EQ 1. No other game has ever made me feel , like Eq 1 did. I want challenge. I cannot stand easy mode mmos. With comes a certain type of people I just dont enjoy playing with. I could go on and on , but lastly I will say that I , among who knows how many, would be very very happy about an EQ3 (1).
Ah, reading all these old EQ stories really brings me back! EQ1 is #1, imo their is only one game that I was as addicted to and that was DAOC (Dark Age Of Camelot) best pvp game ever, and pretty darned good pve. WoW basicly took DAOC's pvp system and flourished from it,because wow never always had the BG's. But I am with all the old eq vets, big world, hard to lvl, alot of items. I've played pretty much all the mmos and none have compared to EQ and Daoc.So my advice would be to keep it simple, and big, up the graphics a little, add some more Pvp,although the Pvp events in eq1 were fun as heck!
Eq1 was my first real mmorpg experiance as well. I had played a few other games, and was a huge final fantasy fan.
What I find is a very huge part of keeping players playing, is actually the in game music. Music made specifically for a game means it's unique to that game, and gives the player unique feelings towards that game. Which could be why I was so into the FF series.
What made me enjoy everquest 1 for 6 years (my entire highschool experiance, 6 hours a day – very unhealthy) was that I started out when the game was new, and got to watch it develop over time. The first few new expansions were incredible improvements. They eventually revamped the graphics, and levels and items just got plain f-in silly.
I played eq 2 for a year, only got a mage to 45, then 2 years later played it again, and with determination, in 1 month got a necro to 80 with amazing gear and wealth.
I hate games that are over crowded because it just makes you feel ordinary and boring,
I found groups and soloing to be both very exciting to be in, but those 80 player raids were just plain stupid. It's like… you get to kill a few bosses who drop a couple items, good luck if you get anything. It was a good online social experiance though.
I really enjoyed eq2 as well. The part that I hated the most was people exploiting the game. (or the fact that i had dialup)
In eq3, I am thinking it should be a brand new world to explore, keyword EXPLORE. Exploring and adventuring is where the fun is at. Not sitting there for 12 hours camping a stupid frog for a mask that doesn't make you any better, it just changes your skin colour. (but still kinda cool).
More dynamic aspects of the game should be added, ie: random factors – like the weapon system in borderlands – take that method and use it everywhere – ie: to maps, to clothing, crafting, spells, etc.
The game itself doesn't have to be a complex monstrosity of bandwidth hogging, super graphical intensity. As long as the gameplay/music/graphics/experiance is enjoyable and "new" for the user, it'll sell.
quality over quantity.
Personally I'd like to see more enticing story lines, and more videos. It could be totally different, ie: more futuristic and not so much in old mystic wood elf tree forts.
What I would like in EQ3
… Beside the teknic part that it has to support multicore, and 64bit.
…
Less classes then in EQ2. Yes it's nice with a lot of classes to pick from, but it's to hard to ballance them all.
Public quests. That is one thing I like about WAR.
Big zones/ Zoneless world.
Not to big world to start with.
I like a big world, but if you start with a to big world. people will be spread all over the world, and it will be hard get get groups up and running without waiting 20-30 min for all to get there.
AA points. I like that, as it is a way to get better without just getting more levels.
No camping.
I hate it when you get a quest where you need to kill a mob that is on a spawn time. and sometimes it's the place holder that will spawn.
And when you are sitting there with 20 otheres waiting and see who gets it. It's just a pain in the #"¤%
Quest locations shown on map.
A thing I liked in WAR was that it showed you the general location of where the quest object can be found.
Sure it makes the make more easy. But 99% of the players just look up the location on the web if they can find the object with in a few minnuts.
Henrik go play WoW. There's a charm to working for things in a MMORGP. It's not about beating the game because you can't. It's all about the journey.
I agree with most of you guys, make EQ 3 a completely updated graphics wize of the old original EQ, make the npc's talk to you like in EQ 2, also please bring back the original uber "train to zone" shouts that i miss so much. I do realize that alot of you dont like zones, but mobs running you down unless you zone was always a bunch of fun.
It is my opinion that the original EQ experience will never be duplicated. When EQ first arrived there was little competition in the mmorpg genre. The result was that the player base thrived. Times have changed with all of the other mmorpgs out there, now even with a lfg interface it is possible to be waiting for several hours for a group. In my opinion, the creation of EQ2 split the EQ franchise in a negative way. EQ2 isn't WoW, and many people who would have stayed with EQ decided to switch to WoW when everyone else began trying the new game. For EQ3 to have any chance of regaining its prior glory, WoW would have to split its own player base(perhaps by creating WoW2), and at the same time EQ3 would have to invest money in a marketing plan. SOE could have a better player base for certain if it did invest in marketing by bringing more of the younger population into the game. Still though, SOE would be taking another risk by farther splitting its player base in EQ and EQ2 by releasing a third title. If I had my way, SOE would advertise its new expansions for EQ and bring back some newbie population to its still successful original title.
An EQ1 remake would be awesome. I too have played EQ1 and WoW. I only stopped playing EQ1 because it became so raid based and there was nearly no one to group with. I love challenges and WoW does not really provide that sense of accomplishment. Absolutely loved my shadow knight and would love to level one again. Although I like not zoning… I think "trains" made it more of a challenge… and I do miss them. If someone is being a complete jerk, you had ways of taking care of that with feign death
. Also, having a penalty for death is good, too. Sure it sucks when you die… but that was the point! People actually tried to do their best. Sony make a challenging game for the market share that has not be obtained by Walmart WoW!
AHHH
I remember the good old days of Eq where having a skull shaped barbarutte and a Horn of Hasagra made you a King twink. Killing sand giants In the desserts Ro and PVPing on Rallos Zek in kurns tower was the thing to do on saturday night. I say revamp eq one with better graphics , control style and long end game and I will play.
One of my fondest memories of EQ was of the Oasis when EQ had been out a few months…
I was helping a friend level in Oasis with my Druid, when all of a sudden I saw a named giant and quickly cast snare on him; my spell failed (I was so excited that I hadn't realized that Hattar [or some name along those lines] conned red…oops). So I tried to outrun him heading south so that my friend (a ranger) would not have to run back for his corpse from GFay. I made it to the zone, waited about 5 minutes to get through (dial-up), and later learned that apparently Hattar nearly wiped the zone after I fled! He worked his way back up the beach, stomping on everyone in his path, on his way back after my friend, who didn't realize until almost too late that the giant was coming back after him and barely made it out of the zone to the north…
Apparently, according to my friend, it was amazing, hilarious and terrifying watching the giant clear out the zone…
And I officially felt like the biggest jerk of all time…until people started to intentionally train the spectres just so that they would have better "hunting" …
If you guys are looking for that original EQ experience, check out http://www.project1999.org.
Ahh good ole Everquest. This is my first MMO ever. It was really amazing to me to enter a world where you can really interact with people as you can see them. Basically you get a dagger a tome of discord a few spells. That's all you got! Then here you are one lonesome hero who's trying to make his way in the world. It's just like real life. Like a kid put out on the street and trying to find his way around and get familiar with everything. No map.. nothing. The game didn't give you too many hints. You really had to make friends and learn your way through everything. To learn your way around, you really had to get familiarize with your surrounding. THe curve on the trail, turn right where you see the 2 large trees, going past the so called Newbie log and there you are back in town. You had to remember landmarks to get around. This game was challenging. I wasn't only another necromancer. I was Azpin K'Raiden where reputation was important. You screwed up your reputation then everyone would know. There wasn't such a thing as Paid Name changing. You screwed up, you'll be remembered. Also, the GM.. WOW! the first time I saw a GM it was like seeing God for the first time. There she was name in GREEN standing there with a bunch of damn newbies surrounding her, inspecting her, probably pinging her out of the game. She's standing there with the Oh My God! full suit of Armor and a glowing some kind of Sword WOW and and she talks!!!!!! then POOF she's gone. (One day I will be like that GM) I know how most of you feel about EQ1. I don't think you will ever get that feeling again. It's kinda like your first pair of Nike, your first bike or even your first umm you know. It will never be the same. It will only always be cherish in our memories.
Ron,
Your post nearly brought a tear to my eye (not sarcasm). I often day dream of roaming around Nek Forrest or the tunnels under Freeport or the long trek from Freeport to Qeynos or camping the GBS. At 25 I feel like an old man who knows the good old days are behind me. I don't think anything has ever felt as magical as the original EQ when it was still a living breathing world. EQ is the reason I still game. I feel like I'm searching for that first rush again but I've never found it. EQ2 was fun too though just not as… /em weeps feverishly
I miss EQ1 days, doing naggy raids
and everything else omg i wish they would remake the original eq with better graphics
i remember my guild hosting a freeport to qeynos run… seems like there were 100 brand new level 1 characters that tried, but i don't think any made it… The server was new and EQ wasn't even 3 months old at the time (no twinks).
EQ1 is still the best mmorpg i've played. i would love to see the game graphics updated and new servers for all players to start at level 1 again. only that would bring me back to the EQ universe.
oh, and Mosttasteless… i remember when yak's from lower guk were uber! i bet if i reinstalled EQ1 right now i would see newbies with yaks…
as for camping/raids… yeah, i hated going to 10+ raids and never getting my rez stick until the epic quest was changed… seems to me if you are an active part of a successful raid, quest items should be given automatically. when i left EQ, the original 2 dragons could be soloed.
as for character progression, i would like to see a game where a level 1 character is NOT determined by the player automatically. i would rather a new character have access to all the lowest level skills/spells. those skills that are used can advance. so your not really advancing the character level, but the skill level. For example, if a player is constantly using a low level healing spell they would eventually be able to cast the best healing spells or raise dead. This of course could lead to a character having ALL the skills, abilities and spells available in the game, but this could be balanced by the gear a character uses… Think for a minute about this, you could always play your favorite character for any purpose simply by switching the gear your wearing.. I think it would also be so much easier to find groups!
i just left atlantica so i anxiously await whatever is coming next!
Matt, my guild Jesters of Norrath on AB server did a Qeynos to FP naked ogre race, I won.
We also did fishing, drunken dwarf racing round Kelethin and other things I can't remember. A server Olympics.
I played Phatasy Star Online (dreamcast), EQOA (PS2), FFXI (PS2), WoW (PC) on and off for several years, FFXI (PC) again in anticipation of XIV, and some other online games that are further from this genre…
I find WoW way too casual friendly and easymode in a lot of ways. At the same time, I find PvP and very serious endgame far too 'skill based.' I don't want to play an MMO where my ability to push the most buttons the fastest gives me the highest DPS. I WANT TO USE MY BRAIN. I'm yet to find such a game, but will be extremely loyal should such a game develop. I play chess sometimes just because it is opposite of the current 'button masher' mmos.
WoW brought MMOs to the masses and kids, someone needs to capitalize on those who want something with more substance.
Couldn't agree more Simaril.
Maybe someone should get a game dev to read all these comments.
I have played EverQuest since 2000 and I love it.. But I miss the good ole days. running thru 5 zones to collect your corpse, waiting at the zone in with the rest of the raid cause you wiped and now you have to wait for the one shadowknight or necro to summon everyones corpse to the zone in for rezzez.. waiting by the docs for the boat to come just to miss it after waiting for 20 mins cause you realized you had to pee. running thru north freeport to get to the bank friendly to everyone except for that one mean dwarf who would run out and kill you if you got to close to his store. standing in the tunnel in east commons clicking on people to buy stuff. I miss the time when flayed skin armor was the most awesome stuff you could get for a Sk and the mace of shadowed souls was beast, spending 3 hours in the oot searching for your corpse cause you went LD on the boat and died cause you was kos and your invis broke lol dont ask.. no maps, yes i like maps but when eq first came out no maps was great, it made you explore and take chances and learn the game, the graphics were crazy funny looking.. i remember when rogues were shunned my hubby played a half elf rogue, couldnt get a grp to save his life, he would turn on anon and put a bow in his hand and pretend to be a ranger running thru north ro chasing dervs lol.. good times…good times.. now those were the days i miss. EQ is becomming to easy to play, i wish soe could go back and erace some of the things they have added. or make a server that only goes to lvl 55 and has everything up till Luclin that would be awesome! graphics and all. and thats my 2c
OMG..
EQ 3 could and should be the game of the ages.
Take into account the total content of both EQ and EQ2 and do the things that need to be done in the updates of technologies.
A- a "must" have the ability to be played on anything from PC & Consoles, even phones(not adventuring, but access to stores and trade, chat and ingame mail).The tech is there now just put it all together.
B- take the farmers out of the loop by opening up real SOE supported stores and as the farmers engage on the markets crush them with your own merchandise. Why let farmers dictate SOE's gameplay. So many players buy plat and gear illegally it wouldn't be to difficult put an end to them.
C- New Age – has to be done that way because the other 2 games are not going to shut down any time soon.
D- New Age players give your old players in EQ and EQ2 the opertunity to move over to the new game with some kind of bonus vet quest either for a treasure trove of relics or unlockable gear, Stuff they either found or are unique to there toons from the first games they played. Take into account the years they have played and have the ability to reward them as you unleash the new world.
E- Take current garghics that are exspandable and work from there, do not try and get the latest and greatest out there and develop to it. It hurt EQ2 in launch because players had to go out and upgrade there computers to start playing.
F- Take the crafting to that next level, along with unique stuff you can design yourself. Don't limit the crafters but unleash them. You want a rooty-tooty smoothy that grows hair then you get a crafter to invent it. Or a sword crafted with dragons blood that shimmers like the dragon breath. Take it there. A colored camafloge set of armor, or a sleek gown made for the ball.
G- Battle Fields – Awesome idea / all servers all the time.
H- Guild Halls / Islands / Territories – yes players still want to build the SWG style communities.
I- Fully intigrated Guild / Player tools – everything from websites to voice chats to email to search engines built into the game. Oder dinner online, or make travel plans to Fanfair while ingame.
J- Yes and all the content from the first 2 games joined into a new MMO that will not only make the bar but set it so high that it won't be worth playing anything else.
It's SOE-mass and these are the things I want to see under that box cover.
EQ3!? Now im sat here at work, and I have just subscribed to EQ 1 again ( 6 months off after a move to a house with terrible internet problems, sorry Guild please accepty my appologies! ). I was searching online and noticed in google as I typed everquest, I noticed the suggested search of Everquest 3! hence how I am now here.
I joined EQ 1 just as they released the Expansion pack for Ruins of Kunark, Velious and Shadows of Luclin. I remember the Tunnel trading, South Ro Cutthroat bandit camps, running from Freeport to Qeynos at level 15 was a damn close call, especially if you ran through ithicor forrest at night with the undead.
I would absouloutly LOVE to play EQ 3 if it was VERY similar to the old original EQ 1. As have many other people mentioned here, keep it simple, but keep it hard. Advertise on the TV, internet, newspaper and get the hype up as WoW did.
I still love to play EQ 1 but the time it takes to get a group has become so stupidly difficult, if your not in a guild with a 100 people or more it can take a very long time.
I enjoy raiding even if I don't get any loot, its just fun, but make it so you don't need 72 people, maybe 36 player raids would be much better.
For some epic quests make it ever so easier to get some of the items, waiting for hours and hours for a place holder to spawn is a damn nightmare.
I enjoyed planes of power, but not planes of Knowledge, it removed the whole running issue. Its so sad, before i moved house I actually ran the old Qeynos/Freeport route with a new character I had created just to see how hard it was, still just as hard if you don't cheat with corpse summoning!
I think make it slightly easier to get AA's, but make it so you need more AA's for each reward. The sense of satisfaction as you get AA's is nice, but if it was slightly faster, then the constant grinding in camps wont become so tedious.
All in all I would easly pay £20-£30 a month just to play EQ 3 how EQ 1 used to be.
Please Sony, if you read this, PLEASE make EQ 3, and PLEASE make it just like Eq 1. I love running for my corpse, training and dozens of people in the newbie zones. Bring it all back please!
I noticed pretty much everyone here has tried a new mmorpg, many of you, WoW. I'm sure in the EQ developer's minds, WoW has outdone them, I wish they would just realize all the people who use to play would go back in an instant. My conditions on playing though are simple but necessary, DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING BUT THIS, improve the graphics, remove all expansions after Planes of Power, actually, including Planes of Power. It was a sad, sad day once I was finally able to afford my porting spells, and was starting to make some money. Log on one day, use my /yell port macro, and someone messages me, laughing at me, saying there's no need for ports anymore, PoP is awesome. Not quite, I quit soon afterwards. Someone should make a petition, show that the playerbase is still there, we're just waiting.
If they did EQ3 I would love to see it just like EQ1 was, but with graphics update and maybe a few new mechanics thrown in there. I never felt like I was part of a "computer family" except for on EQ1. Which everyone from my guild still talks to each other and tries out new games.
Games that make you work for something and depend on people is what I really miss since EQ1 was really the only game that kinda hit that on the head.
I remember my first EQ toon…I just came from AC (Asheron's Call) and it was easier than EQ because monsters would not follow you to the zone. I was highkeep pass or something like that and I was on a castle wall and I had my shaman cast a spell and he the npc. I was like this is going to be easy and the damn thing came up there and whacked my butt…dead. I was so pissed because i had to run all the way back there just to get my darn body, but it was fun. My 2nd toon in EQ was an elf…and who remembers this…accidently running off the elf city platform and falling to your death…I was like OMG…this sucks…but in the end…I had the most fun then because when you did achieve something, you were proud of it…even if it was a leather item and didn't mean crap to the higher levels, it showed that you were playing the game and you were learning.
I look at WoW and think you have the best gear oh grats for you but there really isn't any surpise to it, because we who have played know that it is pretty much easy to acquire.
I just hope someone brings a MMO out that will go back to the hardcore rules of game play…some ppl will play and some will not…however I think MMO's are ruined for the time being because of Blizzard…when you start selling items for the game then mostly all the kiddos are going to flock there and that will have an impact on the more mature games.
i started playing EQ1 when i was 10, 9 years later i am now 19 and still remember the first hour in the game, The loading music was great although back then i would be listening to it for 8 minutes before getting into character select although the music always got me exceited. My first character was a human enchanter starting out in Freeport after getting lsot running around the city looking for the exit (Having no map was great it gave a real sense of advanture) when i finaly made it out i tryed to kill large rat but died shortly after because one of those pesky deathfist orc pawn came up behind me, Was like dam i might need to be carful next time. After killing a bunch of mobs and dieing in the process i finaly hit lvl 2 where i was greated with a nice DING sound and a real sense of achievment. Every level in Everquest one i felt a great achievment in reaching it and i couldnt help congratulate all those people shouting DING in chat knowing that they have the same feeling i had for each level. Even today i still remember almsot every lay out of every zone ive been in and even some of the people i met on my adventures across norrath even though some of them i only ever played with them once. Anyway i hope Everquest 3 follows roughly the same principle that Everquest one was built around, i hope that it is a long term game where you can hit max level in a couple weeks like every other game even EQ 1 is liek this now sadly. I hope they make EQ 3 difficult like EQ1 was in its golden years (I dislike how the planes of power expansion made traveling easier)It would be nice if they gave player more freedom than that was given in everquest 1, maybe allow player to build cities and stuff.
I, too, started out with Ruins of Kunark. I've come to realize just how precious those many long hours in Norrath were.
I agree that if they make a eq3 they should appeal to the older gamers who love a challenge I never got a chance to play EQ but I played EQ2 when it first came out and I loved it untill younger kids started playing and complained about every little fucking thing I played EQ2 for 3 or 4 years be4 I lost interest in the game it got to easy even at the lvl cap I felt no challenge in it after people complained but EQ2 when it first came out was the best mmorpg I had ever played I tried wow but it was to easy.
If they do make an eq3 I would like to see zones bigger, more puzzeling and more challenging monsters I would also like to see that it not change so much and become just like any other easy mmorpg out there… I mean come on for the oldschool gamers that loved working towards something instead of being handed everything
Reading all of this,I had forgotten so much of what made EQ such an amazing time. I remember my original Froglok and how I almost couldnt escape my own swamp areas in the beginning because of those annoying as heck social kobalds. They left many of my corpses to rot in the bottom of the swamp. Ah good times. My more funny memories were of my dragging my friends corpse down a flight of stairs and watching her head bounce down each stair. It always gave me a great laugh. Running from that huge spider in the sands (and I mean HUGE!). And finally making it to the center of everything where you could see and meet everyone and get buffs. It was a proud moment. But I did LOVE Trains. I cannot remember the name of the zone from EQ anymore but it was a cave near the sonic wolves and Owl bears. I remember a zone wide scream "Train" and then everyone ran up high on the cave walls so we could watch some poor unfortunate fool pull the entire cave as the ran by screaming. That was a fun zone. It has been many years since I have wandered the original EQ worlds but these memories linger.
For EQ3 I would like EQ2s playing style. The thing I disliked with EQ was the "I hit… wait 3 seconds.. they hit… wait three seconds… I hit again." It got very tiring. I like being able to hit run, turn jump hit sometimes before the enemy can even get a swing in.
Better graphics for character design (honestly I love Aions character creation – could spend an hr just playing with the dials). Something with those kind of options. I want my character to look like an individual. The EQ and EQ2 Humans and elves are just ugly. I play mostly Frogloks, Kerra, Vah Shir,Iksars, Ratongas, just because the people I cant stand to look at. And please… no painted on armor!
Most important… and I can only beg for this over and over. Please Multi-platform EQ3! There is nothing that says EQ has to be PC only. I would love to have EQ3 on the Mac. And Im not talking that separate game for mac and pc crap they pulled with the original EQ Im talking both together. If WoW can do it, then obviously it can be done. It is honestly not a hard thing to do, many games do this now and I believe it would open up a larger number of willing players if they didnt have to add bootcamp to their computers just to run your game.
Nice to see so many folks, that also miss that first EQ experience… I lucked out, being able to work from home, in my mid-20's, as a recruiting consultant (basically a headhunter, paid well to find different candidates for recruiting clients), so I was able to play for hours and hours, day after day… The girlfriend got used to it after a while too, which rocked, although I would still have to sneak outta bed at likem 3AM, to play! *LOL*
I played from the Spring / Summer of 1999 until about sometime in 2002… then came back every so often and also enjoyed EQ-2, and played that for about 8-9 months, before I had to get a different job, and hardly ever had the time.
I agree with many of you though, that they'll never be that EQ-type of experience again. There may be another game down the line, that does something similar, but back in 1999 and 2000, it was like the invention of the telephone. LOL!
My first character was a Barbarian Warrior, and I went with that character, thinkin' it would be great at soloing… WRONG!!! LOL!! At least I learned my role in group quickly and became friends with so many fantastic people over the years.
I'll never forget EQ, and if there IS indeed an EQ-3 coming out, I'll definite give it a try!
(I also played EQOA for the PS2, and although that was basically a very simple, arcade-like version of EQ, it was still pretty fun for a while)…
1. They need to create something that is COMPLETELY revolutionary. They should have a JJ Abrams interdimensional tear in Norrath space time where Star Wars jedis/sith lords are pouring out attacking EQ players! You have the ability to take your EQ shaman into a Star Wars MMG game and vice versa. Raid Darth Vader.
2. Why not have an EQ spin off where the main protagonists are gnolls bent on distroying Norrath! Raid Qeynos like you would BB. Just flip everything around and make BB a starting city and all current playable races are mobs. Now that would be fresh and new.
3. Need an EQ movie directed by Ridley Scott or James Cameron.
Everything about EQ 1 was awesome. I liked it more then EQ2. The only change I would take to EQ 1 is updated graphics over all and melee skills for the melee classes. Im talking more then a Kick, Taunt, Backstab. It did get boring to just auto attack while caster classes had 100s of spells to play with. Id also be tempted to get away from the spell book bubbles and have all skills at your disposal whenever. No scribing necessary.
Hello!
I've had a wonderful time reading the comments of experiences from EQ vets!
I agree with many of you about a possible EQ3 utilizing:
- updated zones and graphics overhauls
- Skills vs. Leveling
- Crafting, Sandboxing and Player controlled areas.
Unfortunately, I managed to join the game about three years after the beginning—sometime around the release of the trilogy. I absolutely loved the lore…the story and colorful zones inndulated me into a fantastical world that no other game has come close to matching.
I would spend hours sometimes, exploring…trying to find things I'd never seen before. The "Cauldron of Hate" was The primary instance that got me looking for secret areas/zones…monsters and dungeons. And I had heard of another mysterious zone that was supposed to exist underneath Ak'Anon (a zone that even the Bertoxxulous Gnome Necromancers and Shadow Knights knew nothing about, save an elite few).
Someone has even suggested a great start for returning to the basics (actually many of you have). I think lorekeepers of the original game could work with the notion of a type of mass extinction issued by the gods. Perhaps each diety and minor diety (including tribunes) issued a pact to eradicate the better part of norrath, with each God(dess) either publically or privately stationing races of their choosing to survive in unique places or create new races entirely.
Have any of you considered making an EverQuest "3/next" futurist page dedicated to supporting a game that should rightfully return EQ to its glory days? Hehe "EQ Nostalgiks" could be appropriate ^)^. Perhaps if we started a page with links/info/forums we could use the site as a "petition" to show the support for a Hardcore/sandbox EQ game to take the new mantle of MMOs.
If anyone has the resources to construct a fanpage for a theoretical game please leave a post!
I was so addicted to EQ 1 before all the expacs started coming out. Since then ive not felt the pure fun of just running around with no purpose expoloring the world. After Luclin, i had to buy a new comp to play and the feeling of the game just went downhill. I miss the old EQ, a world of mystery where everything isnt just handed to you. Man..I think about it all the time…and i miss it.
Reading these memories of days long past in for me what was the greatest MMO ever, brings back so many of my own fantastic memories. I started playing EQ1 just after the Kunark expansion, I remember the display of a central screen with surrounding menus and statisitics. My first character was an erudite wizard, travelling from my home town meant a long sea voyage to Qeynos; a voyage I repeated numerous times until someone told me about 'Binding your soul' to a new location…lol.
The game was challenging, running naked for your corpse and belongings before they disolved away, screaming for the services of a Shadowknight / Necromancer to help locate your corpse or summon it, and the scarey hour+ long runs from Qeynes to Freeport.
As the new games have come out I've given most of them a trial and as yet have not found a game that has grasped me with such an addiction as EQ1. EQ2, WoW, Vanguard, EvE, LOTRO & AION; all good games in their own right but none of them offered up the gameplay and compaionship set by EQ1.
I finally ended up playing a druid on FV server where I stayed for the majority of my EQ1 experience. Growing with the character as you slowly levelled them helped you appreciate the strengths & weaknesses of the class you played. I remember how I learnt to kite, the 25 minute battle with my first Hill Giant in North Karana; running a huge square path of run/sit to gain mana/cast a DoT/cast a snare/ run. The game made you think hard to survive, work hard to level yet allowed you to enjoy what MMO's are really all about to most people who played them initially; escapism from the constrants of the real world.
These days the latest MMO's are all about levelling up as fast as you can since the rewards for the quest provide you with the basic armour/weapons to keep you alive. I was so proud the day I received my 1st magic item, a +10hp choker…lol. The recent games trend towards the younger generation of player who wants everything now and can't wait or doesn't want to work for it.
Even if they do create an EQ3 I believe that there will never again be a game like EQ1. A key factor is the price/availability of both broadband and computers. When both of these were expensive the majority of people gaming were serious experienced individual's who worked hard during the day and then came home to relax in the land of make-believe. Now both are readilly available to all and sundry the gamers have become younger, less responsible and more emotionally unbalanced; lets face it teenage hormones are unpredictable. Still I suppose they do add a little entertainment when you read through the griefing in the general chat channels…hehe.
I would play EQ1 still except as the player base for MMO's gets spread out across an ever-growing number of games it becomes harder to find the regular groups/companions to travel, hunt or generally just sit and chat with. I still miss it today, maybe one day soon I'll give it another go for sentimental reasons.
I do hope that if they decide to create an EQ3, they review what the soul of EQ1 was before they ripped it apart with countless silly expansions providing overpowered rewards for little effort. All the current games have decent aspects that could be built upon; AION character creation (awesome way to generate individuality, well done guys), EQ2's seemless world (excluding towns), LOTRO's housing and tradeskilling (well I liked it) & WoW's offline aution housing. Please, please do not follow suit and make it so damn easy to obtain new armour / weapons as quest rewards. Either increase the quest difficulty or improve tradeskilling and open up the games internal marketting/trade system.
If the price was not too steep I'd gladly try out EQ3. Remember your main competitor is about £9/month!
EQ1 was the very frist mmorpg i ever played and god i loved and still do to this day but all the changes to keep up with WoW now i played wow when money was tight cuz they offer free severs my gf got into wow and has never played EQ i tell her all the time EQ in my back is WAY better then wow now was is good for the ppl that dont like a game that would make you realy try to get that quest or that realy sweet peace of armer like eg gives but now haveing to compet with simplness of wow EQ is like ive seen said here dumding down alot if they would up grahpics and go back to the much better older eq ways i think they would see a big raise in there player numbers i know i for sure would be there but hey thats just my thoughts
I have never played EQ or EQ2 my only MMO experience is WOW but I would also like to see most of the suggestions being made here in any new game being released. Unfortunately the reason WOW has the numbers it currently has and the reason I don't play anymore is that it is dumbed down. For me and it would seem alot of you there is no sense accomplushment when you run down the same road as everyone in front and behind you. Though SOE is in this to make money and I don't believe that they will intentionally turn off a large portion of the MMO market by not following in the footsteps of WOW. I feel the best the rest of you and myself can hope for is a select set of servers that would be configured differently. Similar to the PVP servers in WOW but with much more drastic changes in gameplay.
EQ3 IS DEAD!
LONG LIVE RIFT!
man, this is bringing back memories. i was an EQ1 junkie way back in phase 3 BETA!!! just to add to the list, remember when…
-You did NOT EFF with the hippies that wandered outside of Qeynos?
-what would you like your tombstone to say?
-how do skeletons laugh when they don't have vocal chords?
-the dervish camp WAS the original bazaar, I almost forgot about that!
-Griffawns and Griffons can attack you THROUGH the houses!
-if your connection was better, you always seemed to run a li'l faster than your friends across the continent
-the ocean shark could jump up and attack you from the boat!
-that darn pirahnna in Rivervale!
-seeing a RED player for the first time and thinking that it was badass!
… even with all of those memories, my favorite thing about old school EQ was that all of the developers, fansite runners, and famous characters actually showed up in game. i ran into Aradune on two occasions, and met so many infamous characters back on Fenin Ro: Jythiri, Ozymandius, Banegrivm, and every once in awhile a Norrathian god would show up and there'd be a big battle. the sense of community was amazing. you didn't need to raid, you would just form a group, hunt some lions, and eventually form good friendships and have some good role play, which is what these things should be about anyways…
your full of it you couldnt make macros back in the day u had to use shift /up and hit enter and yes they did annoucne eq3 even had some pics.. go tot he eq player site and look at the fanfair video
looks preety badass but my question is will there be raids if so what size ? i want 32 man raids at the top and smaller raids with corruspondingly less powerful but not a whole lot ltess powerful gear
would like to see some rts conquering stuff in it to make the commonlands a battleground neriak vs freeport or somethin maybe orcs invade
Who's full of what exactly quseio?
As for your comment about announcing EQ3, my psychic powers failed me back in August of last year which is the date this post was written.
I actually think EQ1 was the best MMPORG it was my first one and after spending 7 years playing it i can say that theres no other game that i have played for that long.
I remember in unrest the challenge it was the first time i went there it was just a challenge to get into the zone trying to avoid those nasty goblin and once there all the train it was scary haha you had some train that was so bad that everyone in the zone where dying
Anyway every zone felt a bit the same it was exciting i actually think the system to have people to group together instead of soloing was what made EQ1 one of the best game. Most of the games now these days are made to allow people to progress faster soloing but in EQ1 you needed an actual group to be able to gear up.
I hope they do Everquest 3 and i think that it would have a very good chance to be one of the best mmporg if they try to base it more on the EQ1 with better graphic i actually would love to see some kind of copy of EQ1 with much better graphic but with the same zone and same content that they have in EQ1 since this game has probably 200% more content then any other game.
I couldn't aree with youse twoes anymore. I have played Eq on and off for the last decade. Ive played just about every mmo out there and none of the have the magic or the back bone the original eq had. And I emphasize HAd.
It was the challenge and the skill needed to play that made it great b4 they went all cookie cutter and gutted it. Skilled players could kill higher lvl mobs… now if its the right color u can kill it, and ifs it not u cant. where is the fun in that!!! DEATH… death used to mean soemthing. Now it means a couple minutes nothing more. Hell lvls (bitter sweet)… lvl 50,60.70… used to mean something now anyone who can mash buttons can level up.
I understand there need to sell to the lost common denominator… unfortunatley that is where the money is. They have had a decade to learn from there mistakes. I hope the get back to the roots. they dont need to make the same game. They have the chance to make a great game with the best that has been developed over the years. BUt, PLEAse, please give it a spine. Make it a challenge. Eq up through Velious was the best gaming experince ive ever known. Bring that back.
Completely agree with what Ewoy has said,these games are so much more easy and more targeted to the end game than they used to be.
What i would like EQ3 to add is a heroic server what is hard from the start,players must grp to be successful,much like a heroic instance.This would also be targeted to the more experienced player who can get straight into the action.
make it pvp from the get go .
i would love a eq3 im 19 and have been playing since eq1 but i agree with making it for "older" having to think for the quests is one of the best part of the game. and i also dont think it should be centered on pvp.
I agree with what I have read here. After playing EQ1 for
. When I couldn't find a group I would just sneak
@6 years and trying most of what has come since…we need another
EQ. The game was hard… some times it fustrated me but it was all
the more rewarding because of it. I usually played a rogue or rouge
if you prefer
into higher level zones or do a bit of soloing. Sure it took a much
longer time to solo than the other classes but it was fun. Any new
game in this vein would earn my money…heck if Vanguard got the
support it deserves I would go back to it.
If only the developers listened Eric.
it took time, it didnt require stressfull fast reflexes, Bigger challenges required groups But still took Time. The Universe was Huge Phenomally so it made u feel small and half or perhaps most part what made u feel the weight of the huge land scape Being "huge" was the fact that the monsters were so hard, and took time to kill. Its like it forced disciplin on u to form bonds with other players in order to Kill this time and feel the weight of the reward u Just spent ur life doing. Therefore U had a much more mature and Layed Back Atmosphere More so then any other game out there.
I remember my first experience with the origional EQ. Norrath made for a great world to play in. I only hope they make EQ3 in a similar manner. I loved going to hot zones with a group of friends, as a rogue, and actually having roles to play. The dumbed down worlds they have now in games such as WoW you can get to max level almost by yourself anymore. When I played EQ there was a friendly player base that you would never have a problem finding people to quest with. I remember being able to put together snap raids of total strangers just because.
Right now I'm in Afghanistan on my 2nd tour. When I found out about this new EQ coming out was right before we left, I had high hopes that maybe it'd be out soon after I get back. Whichever way they spin this game I'd love to get in and play again.
Keep safe out there and hopefully you will be able to play this new eq before too long.
I am pretty much of the same feeling as you about current games.
In the meantime I am enjoying rift though.
I think Aion was the newest one I tried, heard good things about Rift, never got around to tryin it though…but they've all followed the cartoonish gameplay after WoW…it sort of drives me nuts.
I have decided though as a gamer who's been around MMO's forever, I'm working on my own idea. It's been years in planning, I just have to find some people capable of helping me put together what I'm wanting to do. If I can put these ideas into action though, I daresay it might have the ability to blow even EQ out of the water.
Well if you wanting to talk about mmos we are always looking for new authors.
Ya, who's we? I got my ideas and all but at the same time I'm not sure I want to just go passin them over to someone else to wind up butchering the whole aspect I've been building you know?
hehe yeah no problem. Just keep commenting here.
Was thinking more along the lines of posting regarding general mmo related stuff, rather than making the ideas for your game public.
Heh, well, I'm not much for writing reviews, I play/have played more than my share of MMO's but I'm such a casual player (mostly when my social life fails me for a night) anymore that I can't really write too much about them. I can always drop my opinion on other peoples writing though.
I will admit the only reason I found this spot was cause I'd heard about EQ Next and was getting curious so I did a few google searches to find what I was looking for. Maybe I'll see ya on there when it comes out eh?
Hehe np.
Yeah I will be trying it regardless as it is norrath and I am attached to the world now.
On the bright side, I think it will be one of those few games where I could be one of the first ones to start playing it and actually enjoy it enough to continue past a month LOL
ive been a loyal eq fan since 1999 never missed a day playing and to me its only gotten better each expansion , the most content i beleave ever in a online game the most options now of how ya want to play group/raid / solo / tradeskills , the list of things to do fer casual or dedicated die hards never ends , i just cant see why it has any problems at all except ….advertisement… you never see it on a tv add
I have played EQ since the beginning. I remember going to unrest and risking everything over the chance to get a bronze bracer that had about 7 AC and that was it. It wasn't uncommon for players into their 20's to still have empty inventory slots.
EQ was hard as hell and when I was 20 with no family I had the time to invest. I am still playing EQ now, House of Thule is an awesome expansion. I can tell you what I don't miss.
Spending all night just getting my corpse back, running everywhere and all the rest. For those of you that wish for the classic EQ there are now progression servers.
Three is also this option. Go back to EQ and play it the way you used to and see how much fun it is. You can still run everywhere. You can play in the original zones and not have a merc to help you out. That kind of play was a novelty that I don't miss.
The new expansion is challenging. Even with all of my AA'a and armor the mobs hit for 6 to 8k and believe me if you make a mistake in these zones you will get your ass handed to you fast. To all of you who long for a difficult game EQ is still here and the players like me that have tried WOW and the others are still playing the original.
Just a once-upon-a-time EQ player throwing in my two cents. I just watched a bunch of videos of EQ on YouTube tonight for the first time in several years and was overwhelmed with nostalgia–the sounds of the spell effects, the postures of the characters, the cities and their surrounding regions, and all the memories that came with those things–without a doubt the best and most influential game I've ever played in my life. Tried WOW and felt, like a lot of EQ players, that it was rather watered down and appealed to a younger audience. Lost interest after a couple months and have since quit gaming for other interests.
I played on Tallon Zek and can still remember, with one of my first characters, that these two level 19 dark elves would camp the zone between Greater and Lesser Faydark and pick off the newbies within range. Their names were Iaer and Uaer–and this was 8 or 9 years ago. Anyhow, although it was frustrating, I admired that they had found that niche and were using it to their pvp advantage. I later brought up a Troll Warrior along with my cousin and we did the same thing (albeit at a higher level) running through Greater Faydark with weighted axes and dropping spellcasters in one or two good hits. Point of the story being that there was some magic there, that the game was structured and evolved in such a way that I still have these memories a decade later.
Forgive me that I've neglected to comment on any of the actual mechanics of the game itself, but I only meant to say that if a future EQ were ever released and came up from the ground roots, raw, despite all the problems that come with years and years of patches, I hope to play it again some day.
Focuss Pocuss was my level 65 High Elf Enchanter and primary character before I quit.
Best to you all.
I have played most of the MMO's out there and each of them has some area that is unparalleled by the others. The best EQ3 possible would be a combination of the best that each of these has to offer.
EQ1: I agree with the author that EQ1, from a content perspective, was the best MMO ever made. The "corpse runs", finding help dragging the body back to you, massive planes raids, camping a rare spawn with a super rare item drop, items that werent just labeled as "Fabled", but were ACTUALLY fabled like a cloak of flames, etc., these were all things that made the game an awesome (and addicting) experience. Crawling through a dungeon or finding a good place to camp were rewarding ways of spending an evening. The art of pulling made the players more important than the classes they played, and the composition of the group was critical. Someone HAD to split the spawn. Someone HAD to snare, you needed a good tank and healer.
Everquest II: This is by far the best interface for MMO i have seen. The spell casting and control over the character, the utilization of the cities and guild halls, personal housing are good. Solo play is easy, but too easy I think. Mentoring is a Fantastic solution that allows friends to play together more.
Dark Ages of Camelot: This is the best PvP setup I have ever seen. Most of the adventuring areas are strictly PvE, but as you get higher in level there are benefits to adventuring into areas where PvP encounters are possible. The Keeps that can be taken down and claimed by your realm, the Relics that can be captured (giving combat bonuses to everyone in your realm). The best thing is that PvP and PvE exist so well together so your preference is never really an issue like it was in PvP EQ1 servers.
Star Wars: This was the best crafting system hands down. No two items by two different crafters were the same (for the most part). Raw materials had several different types of qualities, and they were different from place to place. Also, they changed from time to time, so it really benefitted crafters to know where "the good stuff" came from at any given time. Combinations of these crafting materials, the skills that the crafters developed all made a big difference in the quality of the blaster or armor, etc.
If EQ3 is anything like this, I will probably continue to game for many years to come.
Oh yeah, and Genkin, thank you for your service! I hope all is well and you make it home safe, swift, and victorious.
Man, I fully agree with ya. I'm actually in my last year of High School but I've been an EverQuest fanatic since I started school in 2000. This game is what actually got me hooked on computers and MMOs.
I retired from EQ1 in 2009, SW Galaxies in 2010 and EQ2 in 2010 because of finances but if EQ3 comes out, I'll find a job just to play it!
I know my generation is constantly complaining about how hard games are or play WoW and think that's even difficult, I remember the great old days of EQ where you were in Freeport and had to run all the way to the Oasis of Marr just to get your corpse and had to do so by sneaking around mobs that were twice your level. If they bring back these golden moments that made EverQuest the magical game is was, then I think I'll definitely play it in college and years after.
Just don't tie in my entire generation as wanting games like WoW, there are some of us normal kids still left that absolutely love the challenges of the classics.
I feel sick at the thought of any MMORPG coming out on any console other then pc, would hat to see the raid quality and the hassle of zoneing lol. PC, Mouse & Keyboard, = King of any game under the sun… HANDS DOWN there is nothing the PS3 can do that the PC cant do PC takes over every and any console… i loved playing EQ" but all this talk of EQ on ps2 is crap i hate consoles with a passion they are easy easily bored of quickly i meen if you dont want to play on a game on PC then you can sit and use photoshop, Z brush all sorts of software and you can update your system whenever you likwe, no waiting around for ps4 lol
I have played every modern-day MMO including WoW,RIFT,Aion,EQ,EQ2,SW:Galaxies,SW:KoToR,and even EQoA for the PS2.In all honesty,I have to say all of you that play PC games only’ are giving off the ol’ selfish vibe to me.I think they that this new EQ game (III or whatever it may be named) should either’ be: a PS3 only remake of EQoA with better graphics,way more add-on content,trophies,more playable races or let us even create-a-race.The 2nd option i think should be to make a new game that has the attention-to-details from EQ2,more and way better in-depthed storylines and background data/quests than there was in EQ,and have better graphics than Dead Island/Assassin’s Creed series.And either not’ be subscription based (15 bucks a month) and instead charge us a one time fee to buy each explorative area (like in Wizard101).Or be a one time fee of per say 150.00 to nonstop play.(premium paid membership)The playability of a wireless controller,with a wireless usb keyboard for typing and/or movement control and even a wireless/bluetooth headset for voice chat PWNS anything you get in computer-based gaming.For those of you who disagree,play Everquest Online Adventures on the PS2 and try not’ to think “wow…if only they had voice chat this game would rule them all.”If the new game is not any of which i stated,then i hope they at least do one of the mentioned methods above for the EQoA fans like me and millions of others who want less loading screens and the ability to play at a faster pace…or even just have a ps3 disc of it to play period.I myself just got back from kabul,afghanistan on my 3rd tour and was hoping to hear more about this new EQ-ish game that was supposed to be out sometime in the summer or late-fall of 2012.Gonna hop on RAGE so hit me up if you guys hear anything else. >>~~~Peace~~~>
EQ1 befor Luclin was perfect.
Caps lvls at 20 and keep them there even after expansions, focus on AA and alternate means of advancemnt.
Possbile of dual classes. Major class and monior class mix?
Balance class design for PVP first even if for blue servers. Its much easier to go back and rebalance PVE afterwards than to monkey with class balance with nerfing.
The most balance of the classes in EQ was at lvl 39, everyone had a chance and skill played a big role.
Let me say again even if you dont like PVP, balance classes first for PVP and then do the adjusting on PVE afterwards
Dont constantly revamp the game, eq2 has seen wave after wave of ups and downs ons and offs of changing how the game play works.
Dont make it a FPS, MMO is not mean to be one shot kills in PVP it should be a battle and you should have the choice to move and fight and it should take time.
Hey I read ur text and I like say the part u say u like how u die u got to run back is gay like in wow and wow a good game use to be a good 1 but now gay as hell LOL and I love EverQuest game are much fun then wow ever be LOL I be happy when it be on ps3 becall I like ps3 and I got 1 but that all lol
I have to say I havnt seen many gay characters in either game, maybe in modern times that something that is missing. I wouldn’t say running back for your corpse has a bearing on your sexuality however.
I got into EQ a couple of years after the launch. I stopped playing about 2 years ago. The extreme challenge of the game… including worrying about your corpses rotting after a wipe on a raid. Paying a Necro to summon them. The game got way too easy where you weren’t as dependent on other classes for things like skills, platinum became cheap and plentiful. The game had meaning when you could buy a million plat online for like 800 dollars (not that I am an advocate of buying plat), but it was worth something then. I am seriously thinking about starting it up again, but I don’t know what the game is like now. I know that the servers are merging and my once top 100 Bst is not on the server it used to be. I would love to see a game with cool graphics, but the challenge and teamwork required of the original EQ. no maps, learning to swim, building your character up in several ways was exciting and meaningful. My only complaint is that it was like a 2nd job to keep my toon up to the level I wanted to play at.
I’ll never forget EQ, or EQ2. I’ve played WOW. There’s something disturbing about leveling from 1 to 80 in two weeks with no real effort.
I remember having to to a do corpse runs when i was teleported into the lava. I remember the massive raids in velious.
I remember being the tag guy to go bring the mob for the pure enjoyment of the group watching an iksar shadowknight titled dragonbait running back to the group with a group of mob on my heels.
I remember the achievements the time and pain and luck put into gaining fame items and the sense of accomplishment when a boss went down.
The gaming community there was some of the best I’ve ever experienced. Its a bittersweet taste looking back now, because even if they release one like it (EQ3), it won’t be the same.
That said, would I be excited? Yes. Would I play? Yes. Would it capture the former glory I remember? If it was done well, most of it.
I only got into Everquest after Luclin. I played through till EQ2 and then played EQ2 from start until 2008.
I’ve played Vanguard, Shadowbane, MUD’s (immortal builder), Guildwars, Neverwinter Nights, Asherons Call, DDO, Warhammer Online.
The times I remember most, had the most fun, the most sense of accomplishment, had the closet group of friends/guildies, and will have the longest lasting impression was EQ and EQ2.
“The times I remember most, had the most fun, the most sense of accomplishment, had the closet group of friends/guildies, and will have the longest lasting impression was EQ and EQ2.”
THIS.
In my mind, every other MMO I’ve played has been a stopgap, with the possible exception of Rift, between EverQuests. I really hope SOE don’t royally screw up EQ3 with all this “Streamlining” nonsense that seems to be an industry trend nowadays.
I played the original everquest for a good many years and really liked it but always found getting around the game kind of clumsy. Along comes wow and its game style and i switched. If EQ3 does come out and keeps their original play style but makes it easier to get around the game then I am sure I will switch back to everquest. The characters they had are lots better than what wow offers. I cant wait to see if they really come out with an EQ3. keeping my fingers crossed