Why Nostalgia Falls Short...

I played EverQuest 2 as a kid but how does it hold up now? Is nostalgia good enough for you to have fun playing old games? Answer at the end.
Link to EverQuest Adventures: • Why We Broke Up | Ever...
I will reply to all comments made within 24 hours of a video upload.
Main Channel: / ianbclark93
Spotify Page: open.spotify.c...
Bandcamp: ionblazemusic.... [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.
#everquest2

[@IonBlaze1]

Link to EverQuest Adventures: kzbin.info/www/bejne/govFf62jr5lrqa8

[@TDurdenArt]

That pizza command was legendary, haha. Ahh, 2005. Timeless era.

[@EQOAnostalgia]

I felt this in my SOUL. I hope you don't mind, but i used a clip of one of your videos in a recent vid. Love your channel dude! Very genuine!

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh thank you man. Yeah all good. Positive or critique, I'm fine with either.

[@pixelhero2607]

So well done, you capture the spirit of EQII - God i miss those days so badly. Call me a nerd but it Kinda made memories for life.

[@navinstrument8353]

Me too

[@JosephAlanMeador]

I love this game so much. No nostalgia for it, but was introduced by Renfail and the guildees and it'll always have a special place in my heart because of that

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh how did you feel about seeing Renfail? I love his content. He has really good takes.

[@JosephAlanMeador]

@@IonBlaze1 It was really fun, like a holidays present! Tim's a great guy to play and chat with, and he brought us together with other cool people in the guild via Discord. Like you said, it's the people you play with that make these games fun!

[@Celestias07]

Totally agree -- Its the people !! I always think of my Raid nights in EQ as D&D night. Its a great amount of fun downing bosses with a mix of banter and hilarity. Good video, maybe i'll have to give EQ2 a second chance sometime.

[@IonBlaze1]

I could have swore I saw someone named Celestias streaming EQ. If that's you, wish you best of luck. Thank you for coming by.

[@Celestias07]

@@IonBlaze1 ​ Yes It is I! =) And thank you, I always enjoy your vids!

[@liahfox5840]

So, who's brilliant plan was it to remove the /pizza command? It was the one unique thing they had! 🤣

[@IonBlaze1]

Yeah it was awesome lol. It just brings up a google chrome browser now. You can still kinda order it

[@Maeousie]

I'm still logging in daily with over a hundred guildies in EverQuest. So.... yes. Absolutely it is.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for coming by Maeousie :) It definitely is

[@JS-rk1vc]

Nice. So very true, your end answer. Finding a good guild leads to the most enjoyment in EQ2. I hope you do some reviews of other expansions as you get to them.

[@Znagol]

Every time I return to everquest 2 I'm pleased, and I always set out on a new challenge run.

[@johnisdead]

omg love your videos amigo. just found your channel a few days ago and i've binged so much of it

[@Ashrots]

Thank you so much for these videos - You're doing great work! Can't wait to see some more.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for the compliment Talonus :)

[@sdp00888]

The pizza command was amazing!

[@IonBlaze1]

Wait.... Did you use it lol?

[@sdp00888]

@@IonBlaze1 Sadly no, but I remember being excited about it. I was to young to have a debit/credit card at that time lol.

[@dobermanownerforlife3902]

"Ingame command for pizza is degenerate." (Looks at cellphone)

[@lilboofstah]

Very very well said and great job as always with the amazing content brother. Thank you as always for the time and quality work

[@joshcantrell8397]

God I wish they’d make an eq 3 or at least revamp the graphics of eq 1&2 in unreal engine 5 or something

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh yeah! That'd be awesome. Sad that EQ Next failed

[@silk2612]

Tried EQ2 couple of times, but was still playing 1, I guess I didn't give it much of a chance, don't think I ever got past 20, maybe one day I'll give it another go. And you're right, it's the people ya play with that can make or break your experience, I've had good and bad.

[@Greynth]

“Some single player RPG from the 90’s…” Oh I’m sorry, are you referring to literally one of the greatest RPGs ever created? Digging the EQ2 vids though! I too rolled on Varsoon at launch and got up to about level 42-44 or so on my Assassin iirc. I should go back and hit the cap. People still grouping in CT I’m assuming?

[@IonBlaze1]

What?! You got that reference. I had fun playing MM6 for a bit. Yeah people do the 40s in CT

[@karlharvey601]

pizza hut isn't pizza, its a grease puddle,inside bread.

[@IonBlaze1]

Dominos is way better right now. Yeah they've declined.

[@Ziggykitty666]

Thanks for uploading more. I’m a new fan. I just started following you and someone named tales of Azeroth. I really hope to learn more about eq from you as I’ve never played it but I’ve downloaded it and I’ve played essentially every other mmo ever. I already created my eq1 and 2 characters but have yet to play.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you so much for the kind words Matt :) There's a lot of lore to this game just like WoW I imagine. Wish you best of luck on your EQ journey :)

[@DrewLonmyPillow]

Definitely agree on the closing points. I could never see going back to play games like WoW because I doubt I could ever recreate the experience I had with my guild.

[@IonBlaze1]

What was your guild like? EQ1 yeah?

[@DrewLonmyPillow]

@@IonBlaze1 I was really young the first time through EQ, and while I was in a guild and did some raiding, it wasn't until WoW that I had my first real raid guild competing for server ranking experience. Many years later, I'd get to experience that in EQ1 on Phinny. I've poked around in both games since then, but the momentum just isn't there.

[@Stitchlii]

I went to Eq2 when others went to WoW. I just started wow few months ago and regret picking EQ2

[@IonBlaze1]

I understand ya there. WoW was a lot more streamlined.

[@ex0stasis72]

I never played EverQuest back in 1999 except for maybe an hour on my dad's account. I was more of an "armchair" MMO enthusiast rather than a player in those times due to my private school's tough homework load. Now, I'm finally going back and actually playing EQ, and 0% of my motivation is mastalgia. And honestly, I would not have been interested if I hadn't played FFXIV and Elder Ring. I liked FFXIV because it was more about the journey than the destination to max level, and I had always hated WoW culture of racing to max level. Elden Ring made me feel like a kid again and wondered why that is. It was because I was exploring a dangerous world with substantial consequences for dying. In most MMOs, the consequences for dying were so low, that I didn't feel any fear or tension and later relief. Finally, I saw that EQ still regularly releases content for live that it it made me curious why enough players chose to stick around long enough for them to keep making content for those players.

[@IonBlaze1]

How is the Final Fantasy MMO? I heard I should check it out. Thank you for all the comments lately EX0. I appreciate the support :)

[@ex0stasis72]

@@IonBlaze1 FFXIV was tough to get into for me because the story started off so slow and the UI was so cumbersome to navigate with keyboard and mouse. I tried and quit FFXIV like 4 times over the course of 2 years between 2018 and 2020 and finally, when I tried playing with controller, it just clicked for me. It's a steeper learning curve because of all the modifier triggers to fit up to 48 hotbar actions onto the controller, but the comfort of it allowed me to sit back and take in the slow story start much easier. I even played in bed and the slow parts didn't bother me because it was a much appreciated relief from the intense highs of multiplayer dungeons and trials.

[@IonBlaze1]

The controller made the experience? That's a sweet way to play. Yeah I heard is more of a single player RPG story than MMO game

[@ex0stasis72]

@@IonBlaze1 I don't think it being single player for most of the time during the MSQ (main scenario quests). I think it was because FFXI was a PS2 exclusive game only for controller, so they're player base expected that from FFXIV. Square Enix made a very pointed effort to make sure controller players didn't have a disadvantage over keyboard and mouse players, but consequently, I feel that meant that they added too many prompt dialogue boxes asking "are you sure?" for keyboard and mouse players. But it's no big deal for controller players because it's either pressing A twice or A, right, and A again (on an Xbox controller). With a mouse, I got fatigued with having to point and aim at all these tedious buttons. There was also little things like no way to advance NPC or cutscene dialogue with the keyboard. I had to click which keeping my right hand on the mouse all the time is uncomfortable especially after I had grown used to games like Skyrim where E on the keyboard was the button for selecting UI elements. Meanwhile on controller on FFXIV, I just press the button my thumb is already resting on, A, go advance dialogue.

[@sweetyd]

Great video! Love the EQ2 video. Thanks for giving some history on lore.

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you for the compliments D :)

[@the_flushjackson]

Yep, and by the same token when you find both: ultra competitive, friendly and laid back... being at the bleeding edge of Everquest was a lot of fun. I couldn't say how Live is now at the bleeding edge, maybe it's still fun..

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh yeah you're right. Those are some of the best guilds

[@nickjordan8996]

eq is great, loving it atm

[@fernwogteveril6935]

/pizza lol didnt know about that. Reminded me of the time back in the day my good friend/guildy from Canada bought me a pizza.

[@BerraLJ]

I am currently working on the Bard epic 1.0 trying to get the Warlord in Karnors, at 85 doubt he is any issue but it is fun and you do get some plat in there, any tips for the fear part? never had issues in hate but fear is getting mobbed by everything 3 seconds after entering :) Also looking at the Key to Vex'Thal quest, not sure you can still do it but hope so.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh I wish you best of luck with that. Usually with fear, you kite everything in the entrance & run to the west wall to kill it. Or you could fade to drop aggro. You'll probably want to go to the amygdalans near the fire pyramid. I think I have a playlist on the Vex Thal key too.

[@BerraLJ]

@@IonBlaze1 I assume everything in fear summons to make it more fun :) sucks when playing a wizard solo.

[@SomeRandomGuy407]

I have gone back and played EQ1 over again on the TLP servers. Have done it like 4 times. No its not the same as the first time but its good enough. The TLP's population seems to die off after PoP ends or shortly after.

[@Ribyum]

PoP was considered to be the last great EQ expansion before the game severly started dying off. GoD was quite overtuned, cattered to the 1% of elite raiders and thus contributed to the start of big losses in the game's player count. (World of Warcraft releasing didn't help either.)

[@IonBlaze1]

Hahaha I love the name you got! Yup most people quit around PoP but there's some good stuff that comes after sadly.

[@IonBlaze1]

Have you already watched the WoW vs EQ video lol?

[@Ribyum]

@@IonBlaze1 anything after GoD looks good hahaha

[@TheAradar]

@@Ribyum That is true when those expansions was new, GoD was also about same time as EQ2 and Wow launch (that didn't help). However, these days on a progression server (I have played on several) I would say that GoD and all the lvl 70 expansions are more fun than Classic - Pop.

[@krakkenyou1925]

Its doing the trick on EverQuest one

[@karlminer7896]

There was an EQ2? 🤣 … JK. Left EQ1 after 2005. EQ lost its allure to me after POP/LDON. The addition of mercs killed it for me.

[@IonBlaze1]

That's how a lot of people felt haha. Yeah the later game wasn't for everyone

[@demris15]

Never played eq2 longer than a month, but I can definitely understand your point… I think I would play longer/more if I had a good guild/group of people to play with. Most seem hyper focused on raiding…for me, eq was all about the group content

[@gibsalot]

its still that way i play EQ1 gilds fall in to ither very raid focused like my guild or family friendly in most cases this type of guild people log on randomly say hi to everyone but almost no one groups up on the regular you will have groups of people that have a set group with a set play time that play together and have been for years. in my exp its the people that run full box groups that are the most willing to drop a box and add a player to there group witch is nice but your almost always stuck doing what they was doing instead of doing content you need to do

[@IonBlaze1]

You're totally right Demris. The grouping is so much more fun than the raiding.

[@IonBlaze1]

Hmm. It's like there's no good option. I wish I could get one of those static groups like you mentioned.

[@jeffbarnette469]

Lockjaw was so nasty in oasis

[@IonBlaze1]

He was much higher level yeah? He was a beast.

[@singingpipes]

Nostalgia is by and large irrelevant, I quit WoW and picked up EQ for the first time a few months ago, and haven't looked back since. Never played EQ before now, and I absolutely love it.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh that's unusual. Thank you for the nice comment & swinging by :)

[@Tailionis]

I played eq2 for 7 months when the pvp server released. But just like when I quit the first time.., same issues plagued the game for me. Dev neglect and people just cast 2 abilities and kill you or you kill them. Whoever attacks first. Was fun at the start tho. But end game pvp is just awful even when you are winning. Most are old boomers so killing them isn't even gratifying anyway

[@xxxx7360]

Вопрос . Без премиума пользоваться аукционом нельзя ?

[@IonBlaze1]

Hopefully google translate worked. Was the question if you needed a subscription to use the auction system? Yeah I think so.

[@udaaz]

Very nice 👍

[@IonBlaze1]

Thank you R :)

[@user-cz1ex7kf2g]

Aside from the music they butchered EQ2 so bad that it's hard to feel nostalgia while playing.

[@IonBlaze1]

Oh yeah it needed some work done when it came out. Thank you for giving the video a shot

[@zionbard9922]

So should I download it

[@IonBlaze1]

Eh only if you got some friends to play with.