Oct

29

Update: Back to Everquest

October 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

Four weeks ago, some friends and myself decided to dust off our Everquest subscriptions from days gone by and try to take back Norrath from whoever it is that thinks they own it now. I must say that I am having a blast playing it again and I am finding it much easier to overlook its “problems” and just enjoy it as a pleasant one night a week diversion. But the new Norrath isn’t quite as we remember it. Not only is the game sporting 15 total expansions (holy crap!), but there have been some significant mechanics changes to the game which greatly impact the play.

1. No more corpse runs.

Now, when you die, you simply respawn with all of your gear feeling pretty tired for a bit of time. Of course, you are still penalized some experience points and still need to have a resurrect spell cast on your body if you want to get a portion of that experience back. I am probably the only one who, kind of, sort of misses the naked corpse run. I met a lot of really cool people because they either a) needed help to get their body, or b) were willing to help myself/friends recover ours. The naked corpse run was a community building vehicle which made people be somewhat reliant upon each other from time to time. It was one of those things which I felt defined EQ (for better or worse). The change was such a shock, such a reality twisting event that I was inspired to break out my litle drawing tablet and draw a cartoon memorializing it.

Back in my day, we had to run naked in the snow

(you can click this for a slightly bigger version)

2. Mercenaries are another new addition to the game.

If you like to solo, these guys (and gals) are great. Simply pay some money to have a partner in your group. You may choose either a tank, or healer of most any race you wish. They come pre-geared with all their spells and level up with you. Each fifteen minutes of use, you pay an upkeep fee for your rent-a-friend. At lower levels, the mercenaries are almost over-powered. I am wondering how people who have chosen clerics and warriors to play as their class feel about the mercenaries, but when I asked in the general chat channel no one answered. So, I am guessing they are indifferent?

3. OR the lack of response might be because the game population is incredibly low.

On the Luclin server, most times our group is completely alone in whatever zone we have chosen to stomp around in. It is like playing on our own personal server. Without having to deal with other players in the way of what we want, it makes the game much less stressful. We kill lots of named monsters. We don’t even think about sitting in one camp waiting for respawns. The level “grind” doesn’t seem so grind-y. But then again, we are playing the game with a full group ready to go each time we log on. It probably isn’t the same thing for most people who still log in and have watched their friends gradually move on to newer, shinier games. I imagine that the two changes I mentioned above are directly related to this reality. Few people means no help getting corpses. Few people means no groups. Few people who can’t get groups and can’t get corpses means even fewer people who are going to remain interested in paying every month for a frustrating decade old game.

For now, I’m having a lot of fun, more than I have had in any MMO since leaving EQ four years ago. It’s probably 50% my nostalgia, 25% my insanity and 25% the actual game. Hopefully it’ll last a while before the shine of this old game starts to wear off again.

In the meantime, any ideas for a cool guild name?


 

 

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2 Comments so far

  1. Gravatar Katryna on December 27, 2008 12:42 pm

    Dear Mr. N00b,

    It has been ages since you last updated us on your adventures in EQ.

    What gives? Did you get lost in lost in Permafrost? Perhaps you were eaten by a dragon?

    Katryna

  2. Gravatar noob on January 6, 2009 12:57 pm

    Well funny you should mention that! I was, in fact, killed several times by dragons and actually consumed/ingested/swallowed whole by a rather large turtle named Tortugonne.

    I am still playing EQ as of the start of 2009. I am still having fun also. You should look me up on the Luclin server sometime ;)

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