3 ms·

I can get past the somewhat clunky UI and extremely dated graphics, but what always throws me when I try to get back into EQ is the controls. After years of pla

by snuxoll 10y ago

I can get past the somewhat clunky UI and extremely dated graphics, but what always throws me when I try to get back into EQ is the controls. After years of playing EQ2, Guild Wars 2, FFXIV, etc. I've become so accustomed to controls 'just working' out of the box including the ever-present RMB camera controls that going back to the jank that is EQ drives me nuts. It really stinks, because no modern MMO gives me the thrill I had playing EQ as a teen. Maybe to an extent it's the rose-tinted glasses, but I really miss having a real penalty for dying (and as much as I love this in EVE every time I resub I quickly lose interest due to the time sink of refitting ships, flying to a dozen different systems to pick up parts, etc.) and I think that was the key. Oh, and not having NPC's just throw up a wall of text or a cutscene to introduce a quest (SWTOR handles this well, and as much as I love FFXIV's great cinematics I really wish they had any interactivity) - having a conversation with an NPC to discover a new quest instead of having a marker over their head made discovering new content actually feel like that, a discovery.

euyyn 10y ago
For those of us who never played: What made dying in Everquest different?
- snuxoll 10y ago
  You didn't just suffer a minor penalty on EXP gained and durability loss, you actually lost EXP (which was significantly harder to grind, losing a level could happen and could set a high level player back days). Before some of the mid life expansions you also lost your gear and had to make the dreaded "corpse run" to retrieve it before it despawned (which took a long time IIRC, 24 hours or more). They later gave you the ability to have an NPC summon your corpse before removing the gear loss entirely. Death in EQ was very serious in the old days as a result, and it was always wise to have at least one other player that could drag your corpse to a safe place if you were entering a challenging zone.
  - Fjolsvith 10y ago
    Ha, the corpse run. I forgot about that. We used terrain to try to get close enough to our corpse to get it without attracting the monster's attention. Basically, without your gear you could get beat down with a wet noodle.
    - snuxoll 10y ago
      As such it was always a wise idea to keep a spare set of gear in the bank, even if it was objective "worse" than your main set - trying to run back to your corpse naked is always scary, I still remember more than once having to ask a high level guild mate to go drag my corpse out of areas I shouldn't have been in at my level. Oh, and one thing I forgot, while they added the corpse summoners in Planes of Power (I think?) they weren't cheap at the time, costing anywhere from several plat to close to 100 plat - so it was still usually a good idea to just make the corpse run unless it was literally impossible for yourself or a friend/guild mate/cheaper merc to get to your corpse.

by snuxoll 10y ago

euyyn 10y ago

For those of us who never played: What made dying in Everquest different?

snuxoll 10y ago
You didn't just suffer a minor penalty on EXP gained and durability loss, you actually lost EXP (which was significantly harder to grind, losing a level could happen and could set a high level player back days). Before some of the mid life expansions you also lost your gear and had to make the dreaded "corpse run" to retrieve it before it despawned (which took a long time IIRC, 24 hours or more). They later gave you the ability to have an NPC summon your corpse before removing the gear loss entirely. Death in EQ was very serious in the old days as a result, and it was always wise to have at least one other player that could drag your corpse to a safe place if you were entering a challenging zone.
- Fjolsvith 10y ago
  Ha, the corpse run. I forgot about that. We used terrain to try to get close enough to our corpse to get it without attracting the monster's attention. Basically, without your gear you could get beat down with a wet noodle.
  - snuxoll 10y ago
    As such it was always a wise idea to keep a spare set of gear in the bank, even if it was objective "worse" than your main set - trying to run back to your corpse naked is always scary, I still remember more than once having to ask a high level guild mate to go drag my corpse out of areas I shouldn't have been in at my level. Oh, and one thing I forgot, while they added the corpse summoners in Planes of Power (I think?) they weren't cheap at the time, costing anywhere from several plat to close to 100 plat - so it was still usually a good idea to just make the corpse run unless it was literally impossible for yourself or a friend/guild mate/cheaper merc to get to your corpse.