Why You Should Play EverQuest in 2022

Should you play EverQuest in 2022? If you are a fan of the MMO genre, EverQuest offers a unique experience that’s largely been lost over time.
Chapter 1 Introduction
Many other channels have covered EQ’s origin story. I don’t want to beat a deadhorse here. But EverQuest was significant. This game was released in 1999 and it laid the groundwork for all the major MMOs that people play to this day. It became the template of do’s & don’ts in this genre. It proved the commercial viability of the MMO genre. It was a major blueprint for development of World of Warcraft, the biggest MMO game. EverQuest was very popular in its time. It was one of the first 3-D games that you could play online with friends. That was mostly unheard of back then. The internet was more of a luxury service than a norm as it is today. So why play EverQuest now when there’s newer games that look prettier and have smoother combat? I would say just because the games are new, does NOT mean they are better. Fun but lacking something. You could make a strong point that many new MMOs are just a rehash of World of Warcraft. A game that came out 2004. Progression has been slow in this genre. But, EverQuest had novel features that were pushing this genre forward. Many of these features were abandoned in new games perhaps a little too soon.
BARD ULTIMATE GUIDE $4.99. Please email [e-mail] with the subject line: Purchase Bard Ultimate Guide.
What is included in the guide? See this video: • The Ultimate Bard Guid...
Main Channel: • ONE WAY - Ion Blaze [MV]
Spotify Page: open.spotify.com/artist/4EkCz...
Bandcamp: ionblazemusic.bandcamp.com/ [Free Music Downloads]
Viewer Discretion Advised: EverQuest is rated "T" for teen. But Discord & In-Game Chat may contain material not suitable for minors. Cursing is kept to a minimum when possible.
#EverQuest #EQ

[@IonBlaze1]

TLDR: Time commitments. EverQuest will always be my favorite game. I just don’t have the free time to play as I’d like to anymore. The older I get, the more time I have to spend on work & family. I will miss EverQuest & the community at large. All of you have made making videos for this channel so special & rewarding. I deeply thank you all for the ride. I feel sad about leaving EQ and all of you. But, my plan: I want to make videos on another channel but about different topics. Topics I feel have a greater reach & importance. I use the lessons I learned from making EQ content.

[@Melchior11]

Like any good addiction, EverQuest eagerly awaits your return

[@bequakynskagroupie3751]

You’ve been my fave EQ content creator for a long time, and our journey through the years are similar, even tho I still haven’t played in a while.... still am a hardcore follower tho

[@storbokki371]

The good news is that at some point you will find that you have more time to play. I played from early 2000 to 2004, and now at 61, I'm starting back.

[@XellenEverquestTestServer]

Great video. I understand totally as I went through the same experience a few years back. I'm going to guess I'm about 10 years older than you. I returned to the game after years and years off and treat it like a single player game now with a chat. I have a great time playing again and I'm able to give back to the community with my videos. Good luck in whatever is next for you!

[@nicolasmartin224]

sad to see you quit. all your videos were great!

[@davidwholly5209]

I got my first PC back in '99, specifically so that I could play EQ. It was the talk of the town... or at least every gaming store... back then. My favorite class was the enchanter. Traffic control, buffing, debuffing, handing out clarity to random healers, I did it all. My shining moment as an enchanter was mezzing an entire train in the Estate of Unrest. People were running towards the exit (we were in the outer courtyard at the time), when I mezzed all the mobs in the train. I then shouted "train mezzed, pick one and take them out. I got this!" The train was completely "derailed" as the players dog piled on them while I periodically kept the ones they weren't killing mezzed. But the most fun I ever had as an enchanter were the illusions. I'd go to a newbie area (usually West Freeport) drop a plat coin on the ground, cast minor illusion, pick up the original coin and watch how many people would try to pick me up (this was before they removed the ability to drop coins. Later, I used an empty bag). Then I'd tell them that I was a "magic coin", and cast buffs on them. Another fun trick was to cast minor illusion by a carpet in one of the shops, then travel around the area as a "flying carpet", baffling the newer players. If I was REALLY feeling mischievous, I'd go to the Oasis, where there were occasional drybone skeletons. I'd cast the "Drybone Skeleton" illusion, set up a macro that said "Time to die !", find some low level players and cast "Shallow Breath" on one, which sounded identical to a drybone's attack spell, that came complete with a sinister cackle. The poor newbies had no idea that I couldn't actually hurt them (blue server). They just saw some crazy, named high level drybone skeleton attacking them and they'd run for it, me chasing after them while casting "Shallow Breath". Then I'd do the laugh emote, wave, bow and cast the "invisibility" spell disappearing with another cackle (skeletons cackled when they cast spells). Most of them had a pretty good sense of humor about it. Ah, fun times.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for those stories. Mezzinh big trains, trolling newbies, & the illusion trick. Didnt know you could do that.

[@deathknizzle]

King

[@Rectanglesful]

You are a Legend

[@Steezy_Method]

You can traffic control? I'm sold. Lol

[@jimlthor]

Lol. I sat at the Oasis docks for DAAAYYYS as a Shaman. I'd just regen, sow, and Stat buff all the noobs. There was always some a-hole that would do the random "Shout" message that the specters were hitting you. You'd see everyone scramble. Them, after a while it became a "cried wolf" thing and people would actually die to a train of specters I always enjoyed the crowd control classes though. The shit would get intense, and was always fun when you had a good group that could just fight nonstop Then there was always the dingus that casts a DOT or AoE and breaks all the mezzed/rooted enemies

[@nl1724]

Whenever I see the Everquest box it gives me extreme nostalgia. Not because I played but because when I was a kid I seen the box in my uncles room and it made extremely interested in Fantasy and D&D . And until this day I can see the box and it sends me back to that moment where I was so excited to learn about the world 😁💯

[@tren380]

Every class has a purpose, something newer MMOs lack. If everyone can do everything then you aren’t needed.

[@Puschit1]

That's mainly because of PvP. Those games try to balance for PvP which is very different from PvE. You could see this perfectly in WoW where in the early years classes were vastly different but when they introduced arena fights and rankings etc. they also began to changed classes to be more or less the same. It's not JUST PvP, though. Unfortunately players also complained about things like classes like priests being hard to level because they take longer to kill mobs. In the end, players are always to blame. When roleplaying became mainstream, a lot of "players" entered the scene that want vastly different things than you and me.

[@goblinphreak2132]

Preach my brother. Modern MMOs are so watered down and boring

[@pnmoreno]

Nailed it.

[@driklol]

@@pnmoreno Truth, then there are bards...not a single fucking mmo since original EQ has made a bard class that even comes close to being as amazing. I wasn't even a bard main back then and have always waited for another game to bring something like that back.

[@seanheisey8645]

Just joined p99 a couple weeks ago. So much fun!!!! Life happens. I quit playing a long time ago, and now with much more freetime, im BACK! 🙌

[@garrett3117]

WB, wish you had got to enjoy classic, kunark etc. Better late than never friend. If you're on Blue add Overrated (60rog), Horribad (60 shm), Fahlen,(52 nec) Alleged (48 SK) & Fail (51 Rng). Currently doing a 2 group+ box team on PEQ due to burnout. Oh, add Haplo, & Darkdusts. Tell him you're a friend of me. Gl, have fun if you're still playing.

[@TheColdbrews]

Everquest p99 is pretty brutal.

[@garrett3117]

@@TheColdbrews It was, for years. Too much inflation of X items, in fact I want to see what Sks, Encs, and Shamans can solo now. Tranix and Hierophant were fun, didn't feel like blowing the $ on Puppet Strings for the Solo Achievement Award thing some kind soul did before green was around. Enjoy the difficulty while you can. If I ever saw first chars in a grp or running through a zone I'd always hook them up with weapons/armor. Haste items even, prob gave away 100k between plat and gear over the yrs. Cheers.

[@codyhurlbert1763]

Hey how did you do it. Will it work on my hp notebook it's about two years old.

[@michaelj6392]

I was 14 years old when this game came out and like many people, was totally obsessed with it for the next year or two. Nostalgia level 100.

[@dennisbestii6942]

built my first comp to play this game when it came out ...

[@cici39177]

I have been playing FFXIV since day one and although I do LOVE it to pieces, no experience will ever be the same as EQ1 was for me. It really was a whole different game compared to any other MMO. If they could make something similar that didn’t suck up so much time I would be fully on board. I had to stop playing because of annoying adult things like work, a social life, and health goals ugh. Great video! Covered all the major things that made EQ something really unique and special.

[@nickr689]

Man I love coming back to this game now and again. It’s still one of if not my favorite game of all time

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah it's really fun to play with others

[@krozareq]

Reason #4: The dungeon design is just too cool. They're mazes and don't feel like amusement parks. Easy to get lost in them and that's part of the fun.

[@gozzar8232]

especially if you can't see in the dark.. cant count how many times i got lost from Qeynos to Halas because i couldnt see in the dark .. good time

[@Urothewarrior]

I’m sorry maze like level design is a good thing?

[@ProfessorShnacktime]

@@Urothewarrior If you like a dungeon to be actually like a dungeon and not a hallway with monsters, yes.

[@NickEnlowe]

​@@Urothewarrior The dungeon designs in EverQuest were literally my most favorite thing about the game. They were dangerous, risky to explore, loaded with secret passageways, and incredibly interesting. Here we are 23 years later, and it's almost impossible to find dungeons with designs as interesting. Dark Souls did a good job with dungeon design, but I'm having a hard time thinking of anything modern that did it as well as EQ.

[@Hayseed1976]

I think you nailed it. I always liked the role faction played in the game. You could be hated or liked based on what you killed or simple by the deity you chose. This dictated where and who you fought. The game had consequences for everything. You became your character.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for adding that. Completely forgot about faction, diety, & race.

[@beebsdarr]

and Karana forbid you ever kill a bixie.

[@joejackson3091]

Nah, the consequences largely disappeared after the introduction of the Plane of Knowledge.

[@deathknizzle]

@@joejackson3091 this video is suggesting you play p1999, which does not have the plane of knowledge.

[@select20]

The catalyst that led into the golden age of MMO's. I still play this from time to time today. I still love it

[@abbynormall207]

That EQ Intro music takes me back. First day I logged in back in the day my jaw hit the desk. It was amazing. I played it for about 11 years.

[@jamesbell9863]

Thank you for the memories. I have not played this game in years and have many fond memories of playing my Shaman Zarma for hours on end. The versatility it offered, the skill that it required and when played well, the crazy things that you could do solo or in group were super fun. I remember when I would make groups in Kunark that people would not trust that I could buff, CC (more mitigate damage with malosi) and heal so that we had an extra DPS. All melee with me and we could clear stuff with ease that most groups had problems handling thanks to cannibalize and HOTs. So many memories of Hill Giant soloing beside necros or the Aviaks.... I may try that 1999 server as that is the gameplay that I loved.

[@lee-annek6969]

I played EQ for 20 years. Just recently gave it up for FF14

[@gangleri_0181]

I played as a Troll Warrior, and my guilds depended on me for Tanking, etc. So, I never played other characters seriously. Just dabbled as Raiding allowed. I quit from the official servers in 2012. Then didn't play for about 5 years or so. Then gave 1999 a shot and made an enchanter. Did a bit of raiding, grouping, soloing, etc. Was an amazingly fun experience! Had an absolute blast. If someone took 1999 and just did fitting modern graphics... I can't imagine it not being a hit.

[@IonBlaze1]

Welcome back to the game. I'm glad your experience in P99 is fun.

[@terratrodder]

Sadly it takes a ton of money for these projects. I was hoping Pantheon, or Reign of Darkness even, would be new 'hardcore' entries in this space but they seem to be bogged down in development cycles. It's a bummer as current games are sooo boring.

[@Redbeardflynn]

Great video! You hit on a lot of key points about not just why eq was so ground breaking when it came out (I jumped from uo to eq simply because it was full 3d and you could be multiple races) but also what makes it still special. Like you said in your comment, though, the time commitment can just be too much in my current stage of life. I had a great time from 2015-2020 playing progression servers because they made a lot of changes to the raid scene that allowed me to streamline raid days but now in 2021 I don't even have time for that. I'll forever love those experiences though and keep an eye on the game...and others in development *cough*

[@marshallcierovola376]

Thank you for so well articulating the exact reasons i play EQ.

[@msbim9649]

Very informative! I have a couple OG EQ friends still playing and am keen to join them!

[@nickk9265]

I played on live from 2000 to 2007. I was a hardcore raider back in the day, member of Cestus Dei. Last year I found a couple of previous guildies that moved to the TAKP server and have been enjoying that for the past year.

[@corgibuttz2550]

I was playing Ultima Online back when this game was in it's original prime, but all these years later I wanted to go back and try it. I installed P99, created an enchanter, and went off into the world! It was amazing. I love the chill, methodic pacing of the game. I was leveling fine by myself, but now at level 12 it feels like I really need to start grouping in Crush Bone. Unfortunately that's where it becomes hard to play. Ya know, I got a wife, she's not going to be cool w/ me telling her I can't let the dogs out because I'm in some group that's "just sitting there" while we wait for another pull or something. I'll bet if you "no life" this game it's a fuck ton of fun. Maybe when I'm in the old folks home or something I can get a couple of dudes in there to play EQ w/ me all day. :D

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah I feel you on the time sink part. Good on you for trying. If a new tlp server, you might want to try it cause it's more time friendly.

[@Chris-eh8mi]

My love for this game goes pretty deep, so I've tried a lot of private server options. Live is just too extra for me these days with the insane power scaling and the absurd AA bloat. But the OG game and the early expansions are all pretty compelling. P99 is a great way to revisit it that's rather authentic to the original experience, but it's a toxic cesspool at max level if you want to do raiding content. "No life" players is exactly the right phrase and the way the server exists compels these types of players to play in extremely unhealthy ways. An example of this would be camping for coveted items, especially those that are patched out as the server progresses along the timeline to its final state. When the green server launched, the Mana Stone camp was disgusting. I knew a number of players that got it and the worst camp was ~50hrs. If you miss one afk check you lose your spot to the next person (and there's always a next person). Those checks come at 10-15min intervals, so the longest you can be away is about 8min safely. That's a long time to be forced not to sleep and sit at the keys. You can make the argument that no one had to do this, but that ignores the obvious psychology of your playerbase that is desperate to min/max, be the best, and get those items they always wanted two decades ago when they played this game on live in era. The Evil Eye died on spawn from the minute someone was able to kill it on server launch until the minute the servers went down and its drop table was patched in the timeline. That's the kind of thing P99 actually supports by being completely unyielding in its quest for perfectly faithful recreation without any other consideration. The only change they made was instituting the afk checks, which supports this gameplay and is really just a conceit towards their own convenience in not having to police endless player disputes about whose kill it was by camp rules. All this to say that it's not a community worth subscribing to in my opinion. I personally have chosen Wayfarer's Haven to scratch the EQ itch and it might be more up your alley as well. They allow 3-boxing there, which means you're not waiting as much and you can chill with 1-2 other people to accomplish most any group content (2 and even 3 boxing is quite easy for such a slow paced game, so it's not as daunting as it may sound), and it allows you to experience multiple classes concurrently and be engaged more since you have more you can be doing, but rarely have to in order to survive. It doesn't take much attention to run a healer in early game content for instance. The community is also far more relaxed and even the high end raiding isn't toxic, which is helped significantly by having instanced raid content. The petty, toxic, king-of-the-kill, zero-sum game types aren't incentivized to exist here and people are almost universally helpful and encouraging. I'd call the demographic mature adults. I don't know how game-inclined your wife is, but there are a lot of couples that play together and some families (I know half a dozen people who play with their kids, but young and adult). Anyway, here's a link www.wayfarershaven.com/index.php in case you found any of this interesting and want to revisit Norrath in a healthier way that respects your time. Also, sorry for the long reply. I had more to say than I realized

[@corgibuttz2550]

@@Chris-eh8mi I apricate the long reply! You know, multiboxing might be something I would consider. I 5 boxed WoW:WotLK for a while, and it was good fun. Maybe I'll give that other server a shot. I was playing an enchanter on p99 because I heard they could solo just about anything, although it's an intense play style. Really sounded like a lot of fun. I just never really got high enough to try it I don't think.

[@Chris-eh8mi]

@@corgibuttz2550 Enchanter was my main in vanilla and is part of my trio. Charm dps is top tier for group content (and raid content where pets are available) through the era on WFH. As a trio, you can have snare with a druid or ranger, and a tank to keep the mob you're killing from also going for your enc on charm break. Pal/dru/enc is a great combo for this, but you can charm without snare once you get the hang of it and easily go with any tank + any healer + enc and make it work. I'd say play what sounds fun. As you said, charming can be pretty intense because those pets will eat you alive when you give them two weapons and haste them, but it's a lot of fun. Anyway, something to think about. Have a great one!

[@alexmiesch4423]

@@corgibuttz2550 Enc soling was a ton of fun, an interesting mechanic for it on EQ live is that charmed healer mobs actually heal you, your group and themselves and you can give them mana regen too so they have plenty of resources. This really ramps up the soloability of chanter. But there is nothing like P99 Enchanter group play, locking down a room full of mobs and saving your group from certain death all the while keeping an intensely dangerous pet around to do your bidding that could kill you in a few hits is a great feeling and can be intense af. When ur solo charming i keep the mob im fighting rooted usually, that way when your charm breaks you have only 1 mob hitting you while you re-charm. Of course eq utility spells like root have a wonderful knack of breaking fairly often, so relaxing because you have something rooted is definitely going to blow up in your face :) Leaving your group to finish RL stuff was heart breaking sometimes, especially if your deep in a dungeon, a group losing 1 man (especially a chanter) could be the difference between staying in a dungeon and having to leave by death or choice!. But that's cool that you care, the community was and is great because people actually care about each others experience in Old EQ and P99 and in a lot of cases went miles out of their way to help out without expectation of payment, i think it just comes with a tough unforgiving world, we have all walked in the shoes of someone struggling on EQ and because of that we help out when we see someone in need In saying all that i havent played in ages, but I'm backing Pantheon: Rise Of The Fallen and looking forward to calling it my much more casual but still deeply loved 2nd home for all the reasons and many more mentioned in this vid

[@brentritchie6199]

This is a great video and really does describe what made EQ stand apart from most other MMO's. Remember in the day when classic WOW was considered insanely easy to play low or no death penalties, corpse runs etc. EQ built real fear when if you died and couldn't get to your corpse you were not only going to lose so much XP but so many valuable items. Ever been a non gating class in a raid when everyone is wiped and after the rez's they start leaving and you are praying someone will teleport you out because if they don't it is over for that character there was no way to get out by yourself. Scary stuff but as addictive as anything ever experienced in my lifetime it was called Evercrack for a reason.

[@jasoncharles8342]

My two main characters were Monk and Enchanter so all I did was pull and crowd control. Those early Plane of Fear breaks as a monk were BRUTAL.

[@matthewolson2386]

Yeah man, back in the day when my family and friends made specific characters to fulfill each of the needs of the group so we would never be without. I certainly miss those days cause they were some of the most fun I have ever had. If that ever came about again, I would go back in a heartbeat.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh that's the best scenario

[@ChrisNystrom]

Great video. I think the progression servers have really revived the game. It is a whole lot of fun to start over again when everyone else is doing it, too. And it is a lot of fun to go back to those well known old favorite places and zones when they are not ghost towns.

[@TheSentry66]

Great video, you hit so many points that differentiate EQ from so many other MMO's - nice work!

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you. Yeah that was more of the idea for the video. What I wish other MMO's would bring back.

[@TheSentry66]

@@IonBlaze1 your content has been great, it'll be sad to see you leave EQ - I'm on a time-out, I never leave for good! Look forward to your other KZbin topics!

[@customonsterdesigns]

Hey thanks for the video, what video editing do you use? Thanks

[@steveolie985]

I picked up p99 around April or so this last year after seeing one of your other videos about p99, which I hadn't heard of before. Its lots of fun. I was a day 1 EQ player, and its very close other than the ultra refined tactics in raids.

[@Klein-Morretti]

p99 is cool but I was disapointed they don’t have the secret passage behind the waterfall in Neriak that goes to the hidden room with Blossom the Ogre prostitute. The fact that an accurate 1999 Neriak doesn’t exist is sad to me. Neriak was spot on accurate to Salvatore’s Drizzt novels. what Daybreak did to it was a crime.

[@steveolie985]

@@Klein-Morretti well Mr. Salvatore plays p1999, so it's not all bad.

[@BoomerElite4u]

I also played on P99 and some of the things I noticed that are different: Experience is way faster. 300% ZEMs were not the norm 20 years ago. Everyone knows that Monks, Enchanters, and even Hybrid Tanks are good -- and these classes are everywhere. 20 years ago I was the only monk over level 40 on my server. They weren't a popular class to play due to their restrictions, and no one on my server really understood the power of Enchanters until several years after the game had been released. Shadow Knights were considered one of the worst classes in the game 20 years ago because of the slow exp, and the fact that people didn't know how to play / players didn't realize they could use low level DoTs to become aggro kings etc.

[@Klein-Morretti]

@@BoomerElite4u Yeah, I forget which patch but they did away with hybrid exp nerf sometime after kunark. That is the patch level the game is based on. The main reason I don’t play is the planes are perma camped by guilds just like in 1999. It is too close to original lol.

[@BoomerElite4u]

@@Klein-Morretti It may be now, but when P99 Green launched, Hybrid tax was still in the game for quite a while. I had leveled a few characters to 50, but when I tried to level my Troll Shadow Knight it felt like this epic under-taking. I genuinely think I spent more time getting to level 30 than I had getting to level 50 on other characters. Even though I played a lot, I never grouped with the same players twice because everyone I grouped with would out-level me and leave me in the dust. I know they eventually removed it either in Kunark or Velious, but I remember 20 years ago seeing all the forum posts about how terrible SKs were because most of them were trolls with no mana pool and only had enough mana to cast 1-2 of their max level spells. Players back then didn't realize that the best way to play an SK is to use their low level, low mana cost, fast casting spells for aggro and just assumed you would want to use the highest possible level spells at all times because they were perceived as being better. And yeah, the P99 politics is what killed the server for me too. I don't mind competition, which is why I enjoy playing on TLP, but on P99 competition is strictly forbidden unless you're in which ever guild the GMs prefer, in which case you can do whatever you want and if anyone contests you, they will be banned accordingly. The PNP had killed virtually every classic zone too. When P99 Green launched, no one leveled in Guk because of the fact that each group is essentially only allowed 1 camp, which at most is 3-4 mobs. Not enough to actually gain decent experience on. Was so refreshing to play on TLP where you actually go to Guk and level there because you're allowed to pull more than 1 mob. Was much closer to the EQ I actually remembered and gave me nostalgia from leveling in Guk 20 years ago. Something like that was again, forbidden on P99 Green -- the staff took it a step further and even lowered the natural exp of Lower Guk to dissuade people from leveling there, which is like anti-nostalgia.

[@stabgod]

I’m having a blast on the Mischief server. Almost nothing is no drop and random loot adds a welcome element to boss kills. I’m really liking instanced zones; every guild has a chance to do their thing at their own pace without worrying about griefers and cock blockers blowing 7-day flagging spawns. And for anyone who misses corpse runs, I remind you of group wipes in deep Sebilis or Chardok, or maybe an Emp wipe. Yeah you run back with gear but it’s still annoying. The game is still fun today, maybe a sliver less than back in the dial up days, but I’ve not found another game in all these years (EQ2 is close) that is as engaging and makes time seem to stand still even when you’re in front of the computer for hours.

[@scothays4354]

What I loved about EQ is that every class had a purpose. Also how some classes had specific gear to make them way better... like the Mage and their broom to make their Earth Pet that much stronger. Or the Bard and his instruments. Then the weapons and armor. Lammy was a beautiful weapon. And the weapons stats really worked. And the Bard's Lambent armor... loved it. Then the Beastlord's Warder, when it proc'd lightning or whatever was always a treat.

[@bengaming3649]

To add to this, I loved that classes weren't balanced against each other. Instead they were just made to fill a role, appeal to different playstyles and be fun to play. It was primarily a PvE game so who the hell cared if Class A was better an one aspect of the game than Class B, I never did. I mean a Cleric was OP as hell as a healer but that was balanced by it not being able to solo. Enjoy Solo, whelp you had the the OP solo Necro but no one wanted them in a group. Want a jack-of-all trades, well you had the Druid or Shaman to cover you. Wanted a class that could solo and was highly demanded in groups, bring on the Enchanter which was balanced by it being extremely skill intensive to play well. Each class was designed to appeal and accommodate a certain type of player and playstyle at least in the early expansions pre-PoP anyway. Now everything has to be "Balanced" because it is unfair if a class can solo better than the one you choose or is more desirable in groups or frankly can do anything better than your class, even if your class is better at something they aren't.

[@erikthegrey]

@@bengaming3649 don't forget that REALLY good bards could twist enough songs to make up for not having a chanter or various other classes in the game. It just took a ton of skill and specific song setup for that role. Soloing as one would be like half the zone but would need to be specific zones and take a ton of skill.

[@Shadownian]

Main thing missing from modern mmos... FEAR You don't fear mobs...you don't fear dying. You don't fear losing exp. You don't fear having to recover your corpse and items. You don't fear running into that random high lvl mob walking thru the zone..so there's no atmosphere. You don't fear mobs or pulling too many. You don't remember anywhere you've been because it's just like everywhere else. Fear is what's missing from today's games.

[@lionart5230]

It's not fear, it's adrenaline rush, emotions, I loved it but I hated to get huge death penalty such as losing EQ or skills/levels. Higher you got, more you lost. Losing too much is not fun. Still risk/reward should be a thing. In WoW all you lose is durability which you pay for with gold. Gold doesn't mean much as it's never scarce so you don't care. Travel time is not huge due to teleports being available everywhere, flying so you don't care either. I don't know if you lose anything in FF XIV, do you?

[@Z31Turbo]

Would really love some advice on the best way to play EQ today is. I really want to play again, and I tried playing p99, but it all seems really dead at the lower level areas and would not be very fun, if not impossible to level up, unless I pick a solo class, completely defeating my reason for wanting to play. Is my only hope to wait for the next TLP server?

[@jroden06]

Playing Project 1999 on Blue is easily the best times I have in online gaming. It’s the people that make this entire experience worth it.

[@jkiggins27]

Love your videos, how/where can i get your scripts for GINA? I want the crit/ skills and cooldown / monk ones

[@sirprepsalot6268]

I play and leave and play again. It's the feeling I get from the time I got on December 2000. I love going back into the old zones and reminiscing of the memories when everyone was there (Rathe Mts hunting Giants when EVERYONE was trying to do the same... It's just.... I don't know. It's been part of my life for 22 years.

[@Melchior11]

IMO EverQuest’s greatest strength was very much the world building. You very much feel dropped into a world. There wasn’t a lot “game” about it. There wasn’t a quest hub. NPC didn’t have a lightbulb above their head. At first, there wasn’t highlighted key text or even text in brackets. I know that’s not just it, because there is something about the combat that I like more than others too, but this is the biggest thing imo.

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah definitely. I like your answer. Combat was slower & methodical. It wasn't about grinding through endless repetitive questlines.

[@Melchior11]

@@IonBlaze1 unrelated, in a prior video you said your dad lead a guild on Bertox. What guild did he lead? I played Bertox 99-2011, beginning when I was about 13 and on and off therein.

[@IonBlaze1]

@@Melchior11 yeah you're right. Warlords of Steel I think

[@DjPrespley]

how the fuck did people figure out any of these quest with ultra specific placeholders and no rent

[@BoomerElite4u]

There was no map or youtube. You couldn't even tab out of the game, and logging in and out was a lengthy process in the age of dial-up and slow computers. You had to basically learn everything on your own. The only way you got to see zones is if you actually went there and explored them yourselves, there was no videos or anything. As a kid I remember day dreaming about what certain zones must look like inside since I hadn't got to see them, lol.

[@almost-pro7993]

best Darn EverQuest video I've ever seen.... By far... The information.. The delivery... You touched on every single thing that made EverQuest unique.. . Thanks for being awesome.. Whoever made this video

[@IonBlaze1]

I don't believe you lol. For some reason, this video has done the best but I feel like I half-assed it. My best stuff is the recent 4 part series in my opinion. Thank you for the compliments though :) I'll take it.

[@Redbeardflynn]

The point about class is so so important. I've always thought of everquest as having a quarternity: dps, healer, tank, support. I think the support role can dabble in the other roles (think monk pulling + dps or shaman debuffing + healing) but that 4th pillar was so essential to letting classes in eq feel unique with as many classes as they had. Also the single player first social second of New games is spot on. Great video!

[@chilledgamezone4950]

Are the few servers busy? Which one would you recommend. I never raided in eq i want to experience it

[@solgoode1]

Great video! I hope Everquest never goes away. It's truly a incredible game.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you Blue Energy :)

[@crpggamer]

I played the original EQ. It was a buggy grind, but I loved it at the time. The bugs were actually fun like falling off the boat when it zoned. I often solo kited with a Necro or Druid. My first character was a Ranger and it was pretty bad solo or group. People often trained you when you were were killing a named mob so that they could kill it. The Druids harmony was great for pulling, but the Enchanter, Bard, and Monk were masters of pulling. The jboots were once a unique one time event item. I spent two days in line camping for it. People complained and it was added to the game as a quest. Camping for many hours was common. Another thing was Races and class mattered both for attributes and who was friendly towards you. I recall in the original game if you dropped an item on the ground someone else could pick it up. This was the only very risky way of transferring items to alts without a friend. Some spells were hard to get. You had to craft them and it wasn't easy to know where to get what you needed to craft them. The games newbie zones were often crazy on release. You were fighting over mobs because there were so many people killing them to level up. Druids would often come to buff newbies with damage shields and regeneration. Originally there was no limitation on putting high level buffs on low level characters.

[@danzigrulze5211]

My carpal tunnel is already flaring up watching you twist songs and instruments with bard.

[@IonBlaze1]

Best investment ever was an MMO mouse. Gonna show using it when I reboot EQ adventures.

[@danzigrulze5211]

@@IonBlaze1 The luxuries we have today. I was organizing guild raids over the phone and through emails. Then using a mechanical keyboard with no macros and a mouse with a fucking ball in it.

[@Dynastyisp]

Great video. I enjoyed this.

[@vanman2099]

Your mic and audio setup must be immaculate, what are you using to sound that crisp and clear?

[@corysorenson1808]

if they brought back the legends server id play again ,chasing a dragon played by a GM or guide over zone lines was so much fun as an example . The community was so great on that server . So many fun events were created for us.

[@chadellis9501]

Is EverQuest still pretty active in all the servers? I’m gonna start playing again! It’s been 10 years since I played! Probably still camped in Qeynos or Butchblock mountains killing skellys.

[@thomascowboyjohnson3692]

I played for years. Was in a high end guild...made alot of friends during that time and some I still talk to this day. I miss eq sometimes but it got to a point that it felt like a grind and the fun had been lost. So I logged off in my stating city qeyons and my mage was no more...great video

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for sharing that Thomas :)

[@singlespeedseth7979]

I will always think of EQ as the best MMO.

[@bengaming3649]

I find myself going back every 12-18 months and starting over on a new TLP server. It never gets old and even though I have started over 3 times on a new server, leveling the same race/class combos over and over, it has never gotten old and I alway find myself having new experiences. The game is just so big, with so much to do and so much to acquire, that I always find somewhere I haven't been before or did before. Also the fact that the game requiring cooperation between players prevents the game from being boring because even if your doing the same grind, the fact that people are unpredictable in both good and bad ways, keep everything fresh and provides memorable experiences. Lastly, it is not just nostalgia that keeps me on the EQ bandwagon, because if it was, I wouldn't have returned to start over from nothing 4 times in the last 6 years.

[@chilledgamezone4950]

Whats tlp? Im coming back to play

[@bengaming3649]

@@chilledgamezone4950 Time Locked Progression server. They basically start out in classic EQ then every few months open up another expansion. Unfortunately they newest one they have is like 5-6 months old. Best time to start back is when they open a brand new one.

[@chilledgamezone4950]

@@bengaming3649 when will they open a new one. Any idea,? So when it starts from the beginning there is no mercs?

[@bengaming3649]

@@chilledgamezone4950 I am hoping sometime after the first of the year but there is no news of one at the moment. Also, yes it starts at the very beginning, back when the game was actually all about cooperative play, something I really miss in today's MMOs. From a nostalgia standpoint I really miss it. Each server could only hold about 3,000 people at a time with a max population of probably 10k-15k unique characters. Being group-centric and with such a small population, reputation actually mattered and because the game was so punishing, you had to know your class inside and out or fail. If you sucked at your class or where a pain to deal with, no one would group with you but on the other end, if you were a really good player and knew how to play your class to the max, you became famous and had people sending you dozens of tells (PMs) asking you to come group or raid with them. No other MMO has ever captured that aspect to my knowledge.

[@Gglsucksbigballz]

Great Vid! Thanks

[@traviswisley6103]

Everquest is an awesome mmo. It was the first mmo i played too. I joined the game when planes of power came out. I am glad to see the game covered.

[@sweetfry]

love how you showed traveling up karana through high pass as your example that shit was BRUTAL!!!

[@1884Winter]

People actually learned real-life skills in this game. Leadership in guilds and more.

[@coachleif]

The short answer is no, but the long answer is love is complicated.

[@brisbanetim]

I played since it started in 1999 and quit about 4 years later. This EQ you are talking about is the original game and perhaps the first 2 expansions. From Luclin onwards, the game got easier and easier. I agree with the social points - EQ forced you to communicate with others. There were some things though that were a pain and detracted from the enjoyment. CR (Corpse retrieval) was tiresome. Having to spend hours each raid night doing CR means you are spending a big percentage doing that and not actually playing the game by raid attempts. The sheer size of the world and limited ways of fast travel went beyond "Ask someone for a port". Only having 4 classes who can speed up their movement meant a lot of people created those classes to move around - the Druid for example not only had SOW (movement) but also ports so that was a big bonus. I agree with the types of classes - EQ certainly made it more varied - and forced you to use shaman/bards to complete content. Some bosses were impossible without slow and malaise. It was a great game and I haven't played for over a decade so I guess I should download it and run around the commons and soak up some memories. Lastly, thank you for your guides - they are well thought out, easy to understand and well reasoned.

[@randzopyr1038]

Sounds a lot like Vanilla to BC WoW - they greatly simplified the game as its userbase grew, which I think is why the social aspect of the game died so long ago.

[@Novastar6]

Black bear pelts - 30p 🤣🤣🤣

[@OldSlow]

Us playing the game from start in '99, loved it because it was hard. We hated the CRs, but later hated they removed it.. and so on.. Still log on from time to time, but the charm has disappeared..

[@ProfessorShnacktime]

@@randzopyr1038 BC is basically the same game as vanilla. Really no quality of life changes were made until Wrath, with dungeon finder.

[@Rekaert]

Everquest. There's no game that has left a hole like Everquest. There's a strange emotional investment in that game which I can never get back, and can never relive again. It was of its time. Auctions in the Commons tunnel, stripping fools of their invis in the Nektulos forest before they changed dispel rules, teleporting raids to Hate knowing full well that it was a 50/50 suicide trip and that adrenaline-high right before the 'go' on a dragon raid. I'll never get that back. It was a unique flame that burned brightly and died. I can just log in from time to time and walk through dusty servers echoing with the heroic deeds of people I once knew. My time is over. All that's left are footprints in the digital dust and the cries of victory in High Pass Hold.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for sharing that Rekaert. What people went through has been lost to time.

[@gawni1612]

I just came back and I'm having a surprisingly good time!

[@Laughy-Flaaffy]

Let’s be real here, all we really want with EverQuest in 2022 is a remake of Champions Return to Arms.

[@marqosmarqos1201]

I played a Barbarian Shaman and loved making SOW potions, mana potions and was quite proud of my SOW boots. Some of the best time gaming. Unlike WOW, when you died it actually hurt.

[@DMDoherty1]

Very much appreciate your insight, Ion. I felt the same about time commitments. Maybe if you get sometime to do a Bard Class Guide for post-Velious I've got $5 on it :D

[@IonBlaze1]

I do have class guides even farther. Up to Prophecy of Ro.

[@Sevatar_VIIIth]

What's the difference in EQ and EQ Online Adventures? Recently learned EQOA has an emulator and team working on it but also read it isn't finished and server is unstable or no online all the time?

[@IonBlaze1]

Never played EQOA. All I know is it was a Playstation 2 mmo. Simpler in some ways.

[@lorettawagner78]

I started playing in 99 but quit in 2008. I called in 2013 they said my characters were still on servers, they switched them to another server because they had taken down oldest server. Do u think I can start again and my characters will still be their.

[@scotthodgins7975]

I just came back to EQ after being away for several years. My very first character was created 3 months after initial release. I have very fond memories of old EQ, but that isn't why I came back. I feel that modern MMO games are far too "hand holdy" . Too much " come here, come here, come here. Talk to him. Kill this mob" whereas EQ still allows you to choose where to go, what to do and what path you follow. Possibly even as a result problems/bugs in the original software.

[@IonBlaze1]

Welcome back. Yeah a lot of handholding now. More of an endless quest grind now to level. I miss the zone immersion from exp grinding in groups.

[@scotthodgins7975]

@Ion Blaze true, going from zone to zone /ooc "lfg" or "camp check" was both annoying and fun. Along with the occasional "train to zone". Those days are probably long gone. I highly doubt that any MMO will ever get that. Now it is a race to max level and raid content/end game, and less about the journey, which is really a shame.

[@angrygaragemechanic]

Eh, I'd play again but have no idea where to go anymore 😥

[@leaann6445]

I am contemplating playing again. I loved this game sooo much.

[@IonBlaze1]

New tlp servers in May :)

[@masoncat1]

I played EverQuest from Beta until WoW came out. Loved it. Played on Quellious and then on Povar.

[@binarydigit0942]

In the summer of 2000 I made a Barbarian warrior. I accidentally fell into a well and drowned. I accidentally attacked a merchant and was killed so fast I didn't even know what happened. I accidentally stood in a campfire, then burned to death when I ran around trying to put it out. I hadn't even left my hometown of Halas when I realized that this game is every bit as cold and heartless as the Barbarian Northlands themselves. I lost at least a half a dozen corpses in the Everfrost Peaks just outside of town. Sometimes it would get unexpectedly foggy. Sometimes everything just looked the same on the way back. Sometimes the local ice goblin whelps would stun and spin my character around. Some of the corpses I lost had a few copper coins and basic gear. I had long since lost all my starting food & water (in that well), so it was all I could do just to afford to feed myself. So I started methodically learning my way around the peaks and vallys close to Halas and just sticking to the familiar areas. Then I met a friendly player who gave me a bunch of food/water, about 10 silver coins, and showed me the way to the Gnoll stronghold of Blackburrow. Eureka! He had to log off right away but I spent the rest of the evening picking off Scrawny Gnolls near the entrance and acquiring a nice set of loot, including a bag to hold even more stuff. But when I went to log off, for some reason I decided to camp out inside a hollow tree stump. And the floor inside the stump was false, so I fell about 2 stories down into the bowels of Blackburrow. The fall damage took about half of my character's life, and the realization that I was now surrounded by about 5 Elite Gnoll Guardsmen took about half of my remaining RL life. I ran where I could but had no idea where to go and ended up slaughtered by a huge mob of Gnolls led by Splitpaw Commander himself. I logged off naked (no gear) and had a hard time getting to sleep that night. The next day after work I frantically logged on to start trying to retrieve my corpse. At level 7 you only had 24 hours until your corpse rots. I had no idea what I was going to do, but somehow the stars aligned and there just happened to be a level 30 Druid in Blackburrow who was happy to locate and drag my corpse back to the entrance for me. What a saint he was! Later on I made a Bard who ended up becoming my new main. I always loved helping people get their corpses back using his skills. One guy somehow fell off the boat in the middle of the Ocean of Tears. I must have walked along the bottom of the ocean for 30 minutes before I finally arrived at his corpse, and then I had to drag it all the way back lol. Can't wait for Pantheon!

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for sharing that Binary. Rare to hear how the game used to be like. Magical

[@binarydigit0942]

@@IonBlaze1 Glad you appreciated that. :) Probably my greatest moment was finally getting keyed for the Plane of Valor, back when all but 4 of the PoP zones were locked behind quests. At the time it was VERY difficult to pass that trial, so PoV was an exclusive place to be. A right of passage even. Everyone you grouped up with in that zone was guaranteed to be a high speed power player who could single-handedly carry a normal group in a normal zone. There was almost no chance of grouping up with someone who didn't know virtually everything about the game. That kind of thing emanated throughout the entire game from about level 20 on. The overall difficulty served as a filter to weed out the faint-hearted and those who couldn't handle the complexity, frustration, and stress. So the higher level you got, the more likely others your level were great players to group up with. At max level, you could put together a PuG just using the /who list and be confident that everything should go smoothly, as long as nobody bought their character on Ebay lol.

[@IonBlaze1]

@@binarydigit0942 Yeah I like how you put that. You get better as you play. Higher level people tend to know what they're doing.

[@binarydigit0942]

@@carolinaraeper That would be an amazing coincidence, but sadly no, this was on Zebuxoruk (before it was merged with, I think, Xegony).

[@varietyvoid]

love the video!!

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you. You got a sweet designed logo!

[@Rage-_-Quit]

What I liked was dungeons being a place to hang out in, camping nameds, framing exp or both. There was no quest to rush from start to finish where you just speedrun through to get it over with and reap some streamlined questreward. Taking and holding a good camp spot was the reward. Efficiency was measured in how many named spawns you could hold, not how quickly you could leave and go back to complaining about having nothing to do. The slower combat also meant you could always tell whos doing what and whats going on, in modern MMOs I usually hit max level without even knowing what all those short term duration buffs and effect icons of other classes even mean lol. Like 10% haste for 3 seconds... yay who cares

[@markostertag1101]

This was an excellent breakdown of why EQ was so great - thank you.

[@pshayes]

Great video. Talk about how necromancers sacrificed to get stones to rez!

[@kooljammer5783]

just started playing both p99 and retail eq- i dig it

[@justdave5155]

Going to miss your videos my friend, I was just thinking I had not seen any for awhile from yourself.. Goodluck on future projects!

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you :)

[@blahlbinoa]

My first MMO was Everquest, I played it until 2004 right before WoW came out. Hell I played EQ2 when that first came out and enjoyed that as well. I've gone back to retail EQ a few times, but my job just requires too much time and I'm more casual now than I was when I was younger. But every now and then I'll jump onto p99 or TAK server so I can just goof off for awhile. My main MMO now is Final Fantasy 14, which I love so much, but my heart will always be in Norrath. I'll soon be running a DnD game with Norrath as the setting, so I'm excited about that.

[@SprengTV]

Your point about the social aspect is so true. runescape does the social aspect well too

[@DoomeniekSpaanYEP]

I just keep coming back, this is an itch only this game can scratch, played since kunark, beeing a player from holland back then was something, gave my pro english skill, the grind, the social stuff, eq had it all. I wish they would just re-release this game with new graphs. That would be sweet! Great video! I got all day today to play, lets go!

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you Doomeniek. What do you mean by Holland & pro English?

[@DoomeniekSpaanYEP]

@@IonBlaze1 i am from the netherlands and english isnt my native language, i learned english by playing the game! This gave me an advantage in english class :))

[@dillonbussard9576]

How can I find people to play with? I'm a noob who's played other mmos but now I have a family and time constraints. I really want to learn EQ because the world looks fantastic.

[@IonBlaze1]

Project 1999 Green or Yelinak TLP server are your best bets.

[@blackheartgaming6121]

Been thinking about playing this for awhile now

[@pastsins204]

I had a lot of fun playing a Bard and Shaman. I really miss the friends that made . What I really miss the most is the guild I was apart of . The guild was House of Norrath bertox sever .

[@badlandskid]

Modern MMOs are like a bunch of teenagers at a party, all looking at their cellphones. Everquest was a huge frat party.

[@joed9305]

Overall, good video. But, how is it that Ultima Online didn't get mentioned at all? Big miss!

[@poisonated7467]

TLDR: Lack of information and Immersion. Amazing music choice, glad you picked some EQ2 tracks! One thing I thought should have been more honed in on: Lack of information given to the player. Whether it was no maps, not using wiki, quest npcs dont tell you almost anything, etc. The lack of information is really what makes the game hard/mysterious in a good way. Likewise, modern games give you information like its free candy. Yeah, im a quest NPC and you need to go exactly here and get this exact thing and then do this exact thing with that exact thing. Somehow, games should be able to make the player experience dynamic and unique every time without being too dynamic that everything feels chaotic and nothing feels familiar or that it doesnt make any sense. Which isn't an easy task, but it would help solve the issue of everything being documentable. Dont know if you've ever raided without knowing the boss mechanics, but I've heard stories and oh boy, does it sound like SO much more fun/immersive than raiding on a TLP server where everything is already known.

[@DettmersNate]

Damn I miss those days, getting your guise of the deceiver, and journeyman’s boots and camping lower guk, and the one with lord nagafen, or the frozen journey running to lady vox, traps that dropped you down to a bear pit where it was rough getting your corpse, man those were the days, I used to log in every once in a while for a few days, but in eq you need a group of friends or a guild, something rhat isn’t too easy to get in that game with low population, and then not being geared to raid with top guilds that actually do play!

[@adamnunya3924]

was that a mispeak when you said necro's could rez? also do they still have the language barriers in 1999 cause you forgot you might need a translator. also evil races KOS vice versa

[@IonBlaze1]

Yup necros can rez but it requires a gem. No need for translators unless you play on the Firiona Vie server.

[@VanessaHolguin]

If I only won the lottery and didn't have to fool with being a working stiff ever again, only _then_ could I relive my glory days with the game. Until then... auf wiedersehen EQ... I will always miss you!

[@lionart5230]

I am working for higher and higher salary so I can say "bye" to work for rest of my life. Earlier retirement if you may. It is an idea but also has it's cons.

[@VanessaHolguin]

@@lionart5230 Sugar-Daddy me and let me be your EQ Felwithian wife forever. LoL jkjk~

[@phrogg7415]

I play a lot of Classic Wow and for a while have been watching stuff about EQ it seems so interesting to me. I think maybe it's time for me to give it a try.

[@tomnixon3619]

I just started playing EQ1 on the Yelinak server and I'm having a blast. I played EQOA and EQ2 so I'm familiar with the lore, but it's been a lot of fun to see how it all began and there's a sort of mystery to EQ1 that I only felt with EQOA. This video is spot on too, I recommend trying it even in 2022 if you prefer gameplay over graphics.

[@Vydonis]

CC - crowd controll classes, DCUO has this (everyone can switch to DPS role as a solo-centric to get there)...... Also if you start a race with lesser Int or Con(?Iforget) you end up with less Mana/Health pool in endgame that can be as massive as 22% of a difference. Erudite/Troll is the main (max can be gotten with twinking gear for troll, no need for ogre)

[@Classic_DM]

Nicely done.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

You nailed it i mean hearing you talk about EQ is like hearing myself talk about EQOA. Same exact game really. WoW and WoW clones are mostly all that remains within the genre outside of MMO hybrids like Division and such, which is where i spent most of my time the past decade or so, with hybrid MMO type games that were more survival game oriented or shooter oriented than anything traditional or high fantasy. That's a real shame, and we need Pantheon or something like it to bring the classic formula back. I find it MUCH MORE rewarding and atmospheric/engaging to explore and camp mobs for rare drops than doing quest after quest until i finish the zone and on to the next... that feels way more linear. In EQOA i just headed out and carved out a path, it was my story, a unique story for each character i made from which coach i ran to first, to which zones i leveled up in, every race and class had their own quests, every race had their own starting zone and experience. When you did get a quest it was EPIC and the rewards were well worth the time, usually required some friends or a guild, especially the epic weapon quests at 49 and 60. Nothing like it, absolutely nothing like classic EQ and that's why i'm largely done with the genre as a whole. Until EQOA gets a private server or Pantheon comes out and is a grand slam... i must retire my tunic and staff. See you at the coach with free SoW in the future!

[@alistairmcelwee7467]

You are so absolutely right about EQ1 & the pre-WoW MMORPGs. Social was how we played before WoW. That game destroyed all the social aspects of MMORPGs. But also, your comments about the classes we had back then and their multi-faceted abilities - so much more interesting and hecka-more fu than current classes in MMORPGs. Just loved grouping back then in 1999-2004 - but, have to mention, the camping of mobs that dropped high value items - truly a craptastic aspect of the game. You could wait for a couple of days - even a week to get one item.

[@alovingrobot406]

Really enjoyed this one! (while casually duoing on P99)

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you. I love your interviews. Especially the zone designer one when you were in unrest.

[@alovingrobot406]

@@IonBlaze1 thank you very much!

[@yippeethreeeight]

I've always thought that the social aspects of the game and the difficulty were what make it unique, and more fun. It's interesting that EQ, itself (as opposed to Project 1999) has removed almost all of the reasons to be social that you listed in your video.

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah you're definitely right about live & later tlps. P99 is much more social. I intend to discuss the major problems of all servers soon.

[@thorrinhammer7252]

Hearing that intro got me in the feels....played EQ when it launched a million years ago lol

[@magicallyfictitious]

I started playing EQ in the Public Beta. I was s troll DK named "Snotbobber Gobblesloder" and played for 3 years and ran with the Army of Grobb PVP guild - was great! I still have the original map framed and hanging on my wall above my gaming station. Hit me with SoW :)

[@shinvelcro]

Back in late '99 early '00 I used to run a list for solB on my wiz on Prexus as I was trying to get 50 for the Naggy/Vox raids. That was an art form in its self, keeping track of tanks, dps, CC & healers, then most likely having to head off to pick them up and run them to the pool room, or stone spider or where ever. I tried many mmo's after but I really feel that they became a "your first mmo is the best" as I always judged them against EQ. It was the most social, the risk of death and loss really did make it the best. I never found another mmo with even a slight hint of the fear that EQ had going in too the unknown for the first time.

[@select20]

What UI are you using?

[@IonBlaze1]

Just the default UI & Gina triggers.

[@Xendojo]

I like the mix of EQ1 video with EQ2 soundtrack.

[@TacticalSandals]

My experience is a little different I still play Everquest to this day, me and my dad used to play it all the time in 1999 when I was a freshman in high school when he would get off of work(and I would play the rest of the day when I should have been studying). We continued to play together after highschool when I was in college but before I could graduate he passed away. I still play a few hours a week on TLP servers just because of all the happy memories it brings back. Fast forward a few more years after he passed (around the time of Gates of Discord) it was when I met my now wife on Drinal and we still hop back on and play when the new expansions come out. We have two teens now who sadly find EQ a little too old for their liking but I still pray that we get an EQ3 soon so that I can hook them into the Evercrack. But even if EQ3 comes out I will still play the original for the same reasons I now do. Always will.

[@dreadwolfe]

“Rants and Flames” was some of the best EQ entertainment during my time playing! Played EQ for about 4-5 years after it was released in top raiding guilds. 2 boxing, sometimes 3 boxing to keep a good xp group going. I’m one of those guys that misses all the hard things the game had to offer. Races to mobs, timing spawns, corpse runs, having to type full conversations with npc’s, etc. The only other mmo I’ve actually put any real time into was Vanguard, but that was easy mode compared to original EQ too. I no longer have the time to play games like EQ, but wish I did.

[@bengaming3649]

Yeah I agree. The sorts of things you describe is what made EQ great. It is still the only MMO I have ever played that I have literally dozens and dozens of stories I can tell about going back 20+ years. I could talk for hours about EQ. Also the times I went back to EQ over the years including in the last year or so, ALWAYS generated new stories and events so it isn't just nostalgia driving those memories. Every other MMO I have played, including WoW, has been entirely forgettable. I literally can count the number of truly memorable events I have had in WoW, GW1, GW2, SWTOR, FFXIV, LoTRO, WHO, ESO, etc combined on both my hands and probably still have a finger or two left over.

[@quellenathanar]

After cutting my teeth in EQ, all these wow clones are easy-mode. I remember going on a corpse run that ended up taking me 4+hours, and a few boat trips. There were "hell" levels and guild wipes. The graphics unfortunately slowly timed out. The solution was EQII. The problem was no one wanted to start over after putting in years of work. All they needed to do was over-hall to a new graphics engine, and just rebuilt all the zones/content, and we all would probably still be playing.

[@NotaVampyre111]

EQ was my first and probably best experience with MMORPGs. I had no idea what I was doing. I went up to about level 50 before I realized there were quests in the game. I spent most of my evenings exploring the world with my online friends. I played a human wizard named Dupont. I had heard humans didn't make good wizards and I wanted to disprove that idea. Naming conventions said you couldn't use a brand name as part of your character name. Dupont is a well known brand name. They even sponsor a NASCAR team. #28 I believe. As I started out things progressed slowly. At about level 12, I decided to take a trip around the world. I left good old Freeport and headed out. I don't remember all the details but it wasn't easy for a lone low level wizard to complete such a trip. By the time I got home, I had lost 4 levels from dying. I went from 12 to 8 but it was fun. As time went on, I found many ways to amuse myself. I had learned the evil races were using invisibility to sneak through the good city of Freeport to get to some destinations on the other side. I decide to cast See Invisible on all the city guards. The result was better than expected. The evil players were not amused though. As the game goes on, players tend to aquire a lot of useless weapons that are still good for lower level players. I thought it would be a good idea to use invisibility and plant this stuff on the low level mobs out in the desert. This way new players could get some really good items. Sadly it didn't go as planned. A level 12 bandit can doca lot of damage with a level 20 weapon. I stopped doing that. I just gave the new players stuff occasionally. One night on the Freeport docks while waiting for a ship. I found out I could accidentally kill myself. I targeted myself and then cast a fireball out over the water. It looked very cool. The fireball shot out over the water reflecting off of it and slowly started arching back towards me. I thought this might just be a bad thing. I was standing close to a female npc with a fishing pole. She got some splash damage and most of my health was gone. She agroed on me and a nearby guard decided to help her. I didn't do that again. The crowd thought it was pretty funny though. I have all kinds of stories about my adventures in EverQuest. There were all kinds of things a wizard could do with a little imagination like jump off high places and cast teleleport before I hit the ground. That looked cool at night. I played a few other MMOs but none we as much fun as EQ was. These days, I won't play anything but single player games. Over the years on line players have gotten more rude and obnoxious. I play games to relax and have fun, not to be cursed and ridiculed. That's what driving is for.

[@ozlozano9470]

1999/2000 warrior-cleric. Stopped after the Merc class house of Thule era very hard as Cleric to keep getting groups. When I raided I was #65 cleric of player list on my server.

[@lionart5230]

How was it ranked? What decided on number other than level (since every top player would be max level)