EverQuest, 21 Years Later; And Other Musings

Hope everyone is staying safe out there with all the crazy that is going on as of late. I kind of slowed down on posting over the past couple of months, I just wasn't playing more or less anything seriously, besides ACPC on my android. This month I picked up more with my MMO games. Speaking of, Animal Crossing is coming out on the switch and I've been playing a bit of mobile games on my tablet. I may buy a switch from my brother just to play the new Animal Crossing, it looks amazing.

Break Time

I really enjoyed playing EverQuest over the summer with Dire, we gained many levels and he maxed out his Shadow Knight at 110 while I sit at 107 with the SK/Druid duo. We did a lot of progression content which I never really have done. There is a lot to see and do in EverQuest still, so much content to delve into.

Play Log

I'm really enjoying Guild Wars 2 a lot these days. Last week I finally hit the level cap. It took me so long I still had a birthday buff on my main, which gave a nice boost and I flew through the last few levels. It is interesting being 80. There is plenty to do, I still have many maps to complete. I'm not interested in doing instances really, mostly just more of the same, which is all good. I made my way to the end game zones, The Ruins of Orr, which is a weird place. It looks as if you are in a desert carved into the ocean floor, lacking water. Haunting beauty yet a tad depressing. It is packed with undead and barnacles. I haven't spent too much time there yet, I am sure I will get to know it soon enough.

GW2 is lovely, especially more so with a new computer and a new monitor. It's just a joy to play. I really enjoy the combat and pace of the game. I find myself forgetting that I don't get xp for everything, while playing other MMO games. Sometimes it can be a hard transition. Running feels pretty fast and I don't miss a mount much of the time, which is odd. All in all I am enjoying it more than I ever have.

I'll be working on achievements for now, clearing out maps, making monies, and playing my alts. No rush to do much really, just log in and have fun. That's the best thing about GW2. There isn't a lot of pressure, tons of places to explore, xp for everything you do. You don't stop getting xp at the cap, each 'level' is turned into a skill point. You can max out all your skills (which works like an ability or passive you can swap in and out with others) and/or purchase things with skill points eventually. There is still much to do at the cap, so hitting 80 isn't the end. It doesn't feel a whole lot different, the only thing is that you pretty much have the whole map accessible where you didn't at the lower levels, and of course, gear.

I also got another HoM point through the first Guild Wars, I'd like to get more but I just don't feel like playing through the game on another character. GW is a great game- when you're actually wanting to play it. When you want to play GW2 it can drag on, but at least I gained another point! It is a LOT of work, nothing to scoff at, best for those with established accounts or those that really wish to invest in playing the first. It is time consuming and you really have to be in the mindset for it.

As with a new computer, I always want to see how this or that game looks. I just had to load up Rift. It is spectacular. I often forget what a beautiful game it is. It is gorgeous if you play it with everything turned up, if you don't it can be a bit bland looking. But it is absolutely gorgeous, especially entering rifts, the lighting is just lovely.

Besides Rift looking great, it is a nice change. More of a classic feeling MMO. I can't pinpoint why Rift is sometimes called generic. I understand why, but it really is a neat game far from being generic. Maybe the slower combat? Talent points? I think the soul trees offer a nice flavor and much depth to the game. It offers a lot of standard things you'd expect from an MMO, then it also adds some really interesting things. Jumping puzzles, shinies, housing, and fun crafting (I just love fishing). Things like Instant adventures are awesome, you group up but in a more 'dynamic' setting. I do quite a lot of these, but these days I am trying to quest more and IA less.

I don't much feel like playing my mage these days so I've been playing around with my cleric. My main is two levels from the cap, I should just finish it up. There are some new souls out but none of them really interest me at this time, I doubt I pick it up right now. I'm just playing the cleric mostly as a dps with my healer pet following me. There are some new pet skins, the cleric's are the best looking (IMO). They are gorgeous. Most of the classes get a reskin but the cleric gets some new looking models.

I have also been working on the new Dreamweaver profession. It is interesting, making a lot of house items, I am about to make my first dimension key. There are a lot of new ones with the profession, I can't wait to get a few to try out, I don't know which to pick from. Eventually I'd like to make them all! Like GW2, there is always a lot to do, a lot of choice on what to do when you log in. I like that, keeps me interested.

Dire and Nelf are really having a blast with D3. It is nice to see them playing something together again. Dire hit 70 with his main last week, then Nelf helped him level up his first alt (in like an hour, lol), which he is still learning a lot about the changes with the game, plenty for him to keep busy with. They have asked if I want to play. I do, but I'm not sure if it is a good fit for me. I don't know if I can even keep up with them, lol. With the changes it looks better than ever, more so now it looks like something I could play and enjoy. Nelf plays on my account and has invested a lot of time into it, so I figure eventually I'll just get a new account. Not sure when! I already have FFXIV sitting there, I've not had time to play but I hope to finally hit 20 this week. Why no time? I am very close to 20 and my mount, but I need to do several dungeons and... ugh I didn't feel like it and also I have not had time to sit in a queue and then sit through a dungeon. They take time and so does waiting on the queue. I HAVE to do them in order to progress through the story, to unlock my mount and basically to play through the game as intended. Which I don't like so much. I don't want to group at these levels, why force me? So, we'll see if I can stomach it or not.

That's it for today, enjoy the shots!

My favorite areas in the game are those with the Ascalon setting. I can't get enough of these zones. I love everything about them. I suppose they really remind me of my early days in the first Guild Wars, in pre-searing, Ascalon. Dire and I have a lot of good memories there. 

Traveling around to Orr, a nice sky.

I love any zone that has a forest....

Oink! 

One of my alts, enjoying a costume (and being able to wear it in combat!!).

Under a full moon in the guild hall, with my trusty pets.

Traveling to a new quest area.

Now THAT is a forest!

Death Rift.

Hall of Monuments, A Visit

Hall of Monuments!

Going backwards a bit this week. Yesterday I got it into my- sleep deprived- head that I should work on some HoM stuff in Guild Wars, or at least utilize the few points I had to use in Guild Wars 2. Years ago I had an account all the way up to nightfall, five level 20 characters decked out in cool gear, with all the campaigns pretty much completed, boy do I kick myself now for losing all the account information. Anyhow, I do have a new account that is about two years old or so, which linked up, at the time I wasn't interested in anything to do with Hall of Monuments because it was like poking a stick in a wound, it still stings, but I think in time I may do more... maybe. Right now I've about had my fill but it has been interesting and I am glad I did unlock the HoM.

I've never set foot in Eye of The North, this expansion I grabbed with the others because it was too good of a price to pass up, I'm glad I did though, that is where the Hall of Monuments stands, in the cold, snowy drifts of the North, where you also meet the Norn. First off you have to have a level 10 character to even start to make way there. No, you can't just magically teleport there, well not until you've accessed the quest that leads you there, much to my surprise. Most of you probably have done this well before now but for me it was new and interesting.

The Fissure... Head right in? Leading to Eye of The North.

My highest character that could most easily get to HoM was only five (stop laughing!), but heck if I was going to let those points sit there! I wanted those appearance items! I used my nightfall character. From here you also get access to some great hero's to add to your party and the questline is very easy to grab (for HoM access), if you start on another continent you have to be able to get to Lion's Arch. Plus, I'd recommend doing the quest at level ten if possible, you still gain access to even more heroes' and you get 'buffed' up to 20, in stats and strength while you reside in EoTN.

Anyhow the trip there was grueling at times. Working on unlocking a tapestry is still a lot of work, I did some but I am putting it off for awhile because I'd rather be playing GW2 right now. You can't just pop in HoM and add things, you have to add ta tapestry to each section, which is a bit work. But it leaves me a nice list of things to do when I need a break or run out of things to do in the second game, I'm glad the options are there. Even though most sane people were unlocking them before the GW2 release.

Lovely statues along the way, probably one of the lovliest areas, too bad most of it has you on a timed run for your life!

The fact that things felt grueling was, at times, I really pushed it, when I slowed down my pace I enjoyed it a lot more. The game is still very lovey with the scenery, if you stop to look around and explore you can find things like side quests, which is always nice. GW is still a good, solid game, lots to do, while grindy at times. It has a different feel from Guild Wars 2 in a lot of ways but the controls were easy to pick back up on as most are the same, except you can't jump, heh. But the space bar has a lot of good uses in this game; picking up items or auto attacking, auto follow and so on.

But the plan was to get to the HoM and unlock it so I could use my points and get back to GW2! In doing so I came to find out more about the Asura race too and even gain one for my party! It was nice to see more backstory. That part was definitely worth doing it for. So after defeating many packs of mobs, climbing through caves, through slippery icy cliffs and so on- As well as a little bit of a grind to ten, which was a bit grindy when I ran out of quests and had to grind out Sunspear rank one, I was getting closer. Oh the joys. But I pushed myself, eyes bleary and my mind fuzzy, I finally made it to the Hall of Monuments!

Doesn't look like anyone has been down here for awhile...

Once there I met Gwen, if you played the game through prophecies you will remember her from Pre-Searing Ascalon. She also joins your party as a hero, a monk. I unlocked a tapestry, looked in the scrying pool, wandered around a bit, wondering how to add my slew on mini pets from birthdays, but that is another task for another day (another tapestry required), which I have started but it requires a lot of work.

For me it was worth it. I gained access to my appearance items, which are quite lovely on my little necromancer. I still need to try them on my ranger but he has stuff for appearance on currently, stff that I don't want to lose the look of. If you have some points sitting there, it's worth it just for the story, the items and just the coolness factor. Once back in GW2, you can grab a teleporter stone to HoM in lion's arch, over in Hooligan's Route, from Scornheart.

Now the pics! I took way too many screenshots, I'll try not to post them all! BTW, you gain three free points for linking a GW2 account with a GW account that has EoTN. This means you can buy three appearance items. See what you have here with the HoM calculator.


 Guild Wars:

more awesome statues.

This way, follow me, I see the portal!

We learn about the Norn and the Asura and portals!

Hall of Monuments!

Inside! What it should look like, unlike mine.

Lots of Asura (GW)!

Guild Wars 2

My necromancer in GW2 reaping the rewards.

Awww... Bunnies!! Just a cute pic I had to add!

This and That (MMO)

Recently there's been a few interesting things around the net MMO related, instead of making several posts on each I thought I'd just brush over some of the more interesting things. Feel free to comment or what not.

So everyone and their brother knows about Blizzard's new mount for WoW- Celestial Steed a.k.a Sparkle Pony. Some people think it's really lame, others love it. If you don't like it... don't buy it. Obviously enough people like it to have already spent around 3 mil on it.. Yikes- That is a lot of sparkle ponies! I thought about checking out WoW again and grabbing one. Yes, I briefly had the urge to play. After thinking on it, I decided I just don't have it in me to go back currently. Maybe in the future...

Aion patch 1.9 is on the horizon.You can read the Korean notes here. While there are a lot of nifty little changes, where's all the cool stuff they mentioned awhile back? You know... houses, mounts and so on. I suppose there will still be a wait on that. Wake me up when they add in the good stuff...

I recently saw an article on Massively talking about a game that is aimed at women. What do they think women players want? Listed was: episodic content, unique shopping experiences, high fashion, art design, and intimate encounters, all in a tropical island setting. Intimate encounters?! Gross... Shopping.. Really that is just... insulting. Why not add cooking and sewing also?! Sure, I like my share of fluff but some of those are really aimed at the brain dead- not women-  minus the art design that is an odd one to throw in there. Give me some monster face to smash... not some island adventure full of shopping.

Anniversary celebrations! There a few around the corner. Guild Wars- What way else to celebrate but with war, right? I may have to check in for the War in Kryta. Middle Earth is Celebrating the LoTRO anniversary this month also, it looks interesting. Free Realms is to have an anniversary soon, still nothing new on it.

Everquest 2 producer Brenlo steps down and moves on. Best of luck to him. Zam has an interview with the new producer Dave Georgeson, check it out here. Also while on the EQ2 topic, if you haven't seen the new Halas video be sure to check it out. Last but not least, EQ2 has a new passport program for players. Don't feel like paying for a month but want to pop in and check things out? Well now you can pay for a three day passport and do just that. A very interesting way to pay for a small amount of play. Great to check out the game again or pop in to see some old friends. It's also cool for those players that just use accounts for storage or boxers. Read more about it here.

And... That's all I have time for today ;)
-kaozz

Do we need another 'X' MMO?

I sometimes wonder, do we really need another 'X' MMO game. What I mean is, do we need another Star Wars when there already is one. Another super hero game when there's already two out now? How many super hero games do we need, what is going to make the new one more interesting to players? Are these companies saying the previous games were not as good as they could do them?

Everyone wants to make a big hit, they promise bigger and better, but honestly how many types of the same game do we need. Sometimes it feels like a copy of a copy of a copy. Then there's the games that make a sequel to compete with their own games. Everquest 2, I was seriously let down when I heard about this game. It to me meant a decline on the first, which at the time I was really into still. Years later I'm actually happy playing it, though it took years for me to get over that. I suppose it's different when it's within the same company, you know the lore will be there, the things you liked in the first place.

Why do game companies make new games to compete with what they already have? In the same genre I mean, is it really to compete with the newer games out? I think that was the intention with Everquest 2. I think it's the same intent for NCSoft with Guild Wars 2. If Aion isn't a hit, they know people liked Guild Wars, they can always fall back on that.

When do companies realize what they have is good, well liked, popular enough to keep chugging along? Sometimes they seem to move on and leave the games that put them on the map, to fade away quietly. Take DAoC for instance, the game still receives updates, however to me it feels neglected when you compare it to Mythic's shiny new game WAR. No more expansions. But do older games really need more expansions? Look at Everquest. S.O.E. was wise enough not to make that mistake when the shiny new game came out. People still like the older games, Everquest is proof of this. Obviously it's still doing well enough to keep putting out an expansion each year.

I also wonder at the alternative ideas companies use, take the upcoming Star Treak MMO for instance. Who really is interested in this type of game? I've read about it, seen many articles, but nobody seems really hyped. Is it to widen an audience? It sure would be a trekkie's dream. I as a gamer have no interest in it though. Maybe that's just me.

Look at some of the niche games out. How about those PvP aimed games. Which of those is really a big hit. I'm not saying they are not doing well. Out of the all of them I would say Aion. But why? From my perspective it draws in PvE players due to the style of play we start out with. How many of those PvE players really stuck with it though?  They are niche games, you have to simply like PvP a lot to play them. Why do companies limit themselves after seeing the previous company flounder with this type of game? People say they love PvP. How come Fury didn't make it? It was strictly PvP. I thought it would be a PvP dream? Simply put, niche games don't offer to a big enough audience.

I sometimes wonder do many of these companies really pay attention to what the customers even like or want? No, I'm not saying we need another WoW! It seems a lot of companies compare success to this game. 

Just some thoughts I had recently. Feel free to comment.
-kaozz

My 2cp: Left in the dust or still hanging in there? Older MMORPGs

The lone MMORPG rides off into the sunset to return free?
In the past there have been a few games that had a ton of hype but when it was time to step up to the plate, kind of fell off somewhere along the lines. Does this mean they were truly bad games? I suppose it is better to go free than under. They still have the chance to pull in players with the free experience maybe hooking some into the cash shop. Is it truly all that bad? I don't think so. I like seeing those games out there still, striving against the competition.

A few come to mind DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online), Arch Lord, Rose. Honestly all of these really were decent games. What happened to them? I guess there comes a point where it's just not viable to keep a declining game open to subscriptions. I am actually wanting to try DDO being free. The last time I played was years ago. It can draw in curious players who might never have peeked in.

Some like Tabula Rasa just fall under. Sadly I never got to try this one. But I suppose companies like Play NC have their fingers in too many pies with all the games they have currently to bother more with it.

What about those bull headed older mmorpg's that just won't quit?

Speaking of Play NC.. They have had some decent games but they always seem to fall off into the background. Lineage2.. do people even play that still? I jest ;) Surely they do, gorgeous graphics but meh game play imo. They didn't keep me there. If it was free I might possibly try it again.. mebe =/

I think they went in the right direction with picking up Dungeon Runners. But is Guild Wars 2 going to kill off Guild Wars? Or will it end up playing out like EQ2.. a shadow of what the original once was.

Play NC claims to offer their newest game to being second to only WoW. Notice they don't claim to surpass it. Why not? Honestly I don't think they have hit the nail on the head with this one either. I hope it turns out to be a great game, I will try it once it is out for awhile.

The game that won't quit.. EVER.
Everquest.
It's been out a decade! Happy birthday big daddy EQ! It is still going strong with more servers than many new games like AoC and WAR. About twice as many servers. I think this game just holds too much nostalgia. It has too much history in the world of MMORPGs to go under.

It's still popping out expansions once a year. Although I do not play as much as I use to I still on occasion log back in. (I am currently miffed about a billing issue too.. which is not helping their number one fan want to play :()

So what did SoE do to still keep up at this point? Every game is now compared to WoW. But WoW was so often compared to EQ. Simply put it was there before the rest. It kick started the games we play now. KA-POW. Don't forget who your daddy is!

On a serious note it is more of an Evergrind these days when compared to newer games, but it has a very nice community, several nice aspects, tons of classes. The game is not as much as a grind as it once was with many many quests added in. It's more open to casual play than it ever was. S.O.E. has done a lot to keep it up to pace the best they can with the coding being as old as it is. And they have done a damn fine job.

S.O.E has introduced the cash shop in many of it's games. They offer a station pass also to pay a flat rate and play ALL the games they offer. This helps keeping some of the other ones interesting too I think. Hop around when you get bored for a flat rate. And also the online TCG, LoN.

I don't know if they went in the direction that was wanted with the community for SWG and I don't know how it will fare when SWTOR is released. You will have the faithful player base to an extent but how much of one?

S.O.E and the free direction.. While Free Realms is a nice game. I don't like seeing them put so much into that as their new "pet project". I want to see
more
adverts for the one who made them all the phat RL lewt .. err money.

Ok enough blabbing about the oldest one...

What about others like DAoC? I actually tried this one hrmm back in '07 since back in the day while it was more mainstream I was too busy playing EQ and not at all interested in a pvp game.. /gasp at that concept!

This game got a revamp on the graphics at one point and actually looked decent. The UI needs a face lift or it did at that point. While being much like EQ it also had an excellent community. One of the best of any mmorpg I have played. Coming in 2nd after EQ.

They at some point stopped putting out expansions.. I found a lonely box with them all in Best Buy and have yet to see anymore since then. Although they still do update it. It was a game worth playing just to experience it. The mounts.. they were fantastic! The classes were very interesting also.

I think Mythic stagnated it's own game putting so much into WAR honestly.

/salute
I salute these older games still hanging in there, the developers that keep chugging along. Thank you for allowing us to revisit places of nostalgia whenever we want to take a trip back.

It's not always going to get a company a smash hit really trying to compete with the leading game out there. At this point it's just sit back and watch the show as they all try to be bigger and better.

World of Warcraft.. is currently at the place where EQ hit it's decline. Around the five year mark. I don't see that happening any time soon for them though. It like EQ will never fade away as it has made it's mark so prominent in the mmorpg industry.

And props to Blizzard for sitting up top for so long, lets hope they can keep going strong another five years!

And that's my 2cp for today.. This old timer will see you next time ;)
-kaozz