This is kind of a follow up to the communita debate Kilsin started asking about significant decisions players have made in game.
I wanted to ask the community if you have had a defining moments, like when you thought I love this game, this is my new main, or even a mic drop moment?
I thought of one...then three...and now have a bunch of memories/reasons for why I love playing MMORGs.
Would anyone be willing to share one of there's?
Eventually stepping out into the Qeynos Hills from Surefall Glade and seeing two guards, a campire, a skeleton further away ... and a pathway that led (to Qeynos) somewhere where I didn't know (yet). Adventure, freedom to explore, ... I was and still am amazed these decades later.
Taking time to level to 4 in the noob area of Freeport. I wandered the city trying to find the bank and ended up finding the docks instead. A boat actually moved up to the dock and I took it. I was amazed at this little detail. Then when I drowned on the other side because it took me longer to load in than it took the boat to move and me to drown. I was mad but was also intrigued that You could actually lose your stuff. It made the work I had done feel more meaningful. Thus I was hooked, scared, hopeful, mad, and intrigued at the same time. No other game made me think that much just by going a short distance from one place to another.
I like this question.
Each of my mains through out various games had a moments of pride. My favorite one though is back in EQ2. (I was playing a monk since shortly after launch. Played through the tinfoil armor launch asking myself why are you not a bruiser? I became better and better and eventually I went to a guild on a different server after failing the app to get in the best guild in the world at the time.)
I was feeling dejected about failing an app process in the guild I wanted and knew the meta was to take an extra enchanter and be better in a raid. I was now in an app raid for a different guild as I considering quitting the class or even the game when the MT then OT went down and a wipe was called. I take like 1 second to reset the boss as monks could do and start yelling over the raid leaders wipe call instructions for everyone to back up to safety while the boss resets.
In that moment I realized I knew how to break the game in unimaginable ways, reset zones and spawns, reset fights, get anywhere, climb anything, I knew the ins and outs of my class to a degree only a no lifer could. I couldn't give that up and play the meta. I was a monk.
This thread has been highlighted as part of my CM content and shared across our official social media channels. Please remain on topic and keep the discussion within the official guidelines.
"Hot Topic - Defining Moment - What was/is yours? Check out this thread to have your say - https://seforums.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/12514/defining-moment #MMORPG #CommunityMatters"
I will post my defining moment and why I chose to start the thread.
I had returned to EQ2 when a friend from EQ1 had began playing. To help them out I started a new character (a healer) to play with them and help them level up. I ended up choosing a an Inquisitor as I have always liked clerics as being my first D&D class. At level 28 I had finally opened up the AA specs and become a Battle Cleric, which was so much more fun than standing back throwing spells.
As I lead him through the game we leveled together slowly through the content forcing me to learn all the idiosyncracies of the class.
My defining moment was when we finally got up to go deep into Sanctom of the Scaleborn with a so so group. It was one of the rooms that if pulled poorly you could easily get adds...we got adds...lots of adds. Then it became a blur between reactives, group heals, back to single target. Somehow we lived and everyone blamed on my heals. It was the first time that I had transitioned from I was playing the healer to I am the healer and that character was solidified as my main. Even years later when out on diferent characters friends refer to me by my inquisitor's name.
After that point everything accelerated as a group we were pulled into high end raiding guilds and I held my own.
Inquisitors by design were one of the weaker healing classes but they brought so much more, best armor break in game, Fanaticism which stacked with dirge melee buffs, and Verdict. Due to my preferred AA spec, I was usually relegated to a secondary healer status which I loved as it allowed me to send out all my debuffs, melee, hit my clicky cures, and stand ready with a big finish launching Verdict.
Verdict, was a spell that will drop mobs to 1HP when their HP percentage falls below a certain amount. For most epic mobs it was 2%, which in the raid setting could shorten the fight 10-20 seconds, which is huge if the mob has a 30 second AE that is hard to manage or any kind of mana drain.
Ugh, that's so hard! I started young in EQ2, but I didn't get to raid because I was still really young and was just learning all the mechanics of gaming. But I made a badass Warlock and my mom ended up stealing her from me because she saw how much fun it was and was tired of healing. I guess that's pretty cool, building a character good enough for your end game raiding mother to play and enjoy in end game content.
It really changed up on how good I could be when I was playing Rift when it first came out. I had JUST gotten enough hit and dungeon gear to go into a raid with my parents guild. I was out performing the other healers almost immediately. One weekend we get to a raid boss we hadn't been able to defeat yet. I was the last healer left with 2 dps trying to burn the boss down before those bombs went off. There was no where to move, and I stayed alive long enough to top the 2 DPS off, and we killed him - with 1 person left standing. I played Rift on and off for a couple years, and there are plenty more stories like that.
Another one was when we were holding a keep in Warhammer (private server). We had a guildie leading the raid. He wanted to "drop from above" onto them, but we were the only warband in the castle defending, so it would have left the bottom open. And we had a bunch of PUGS running around - those people do NOT like following directions, but they WILL follow the herd. So I told my guildie to just have our WB rebuff and push out. He fought me on the idea, but gave in and said fine, but when we die 'I told you so'. So we push out, and all you can hear is him "Omg, it's working! Everyone push out and murder them all!" I rolled my eyes and laughed at him. Europeans are so stubborn!
I played a Perfect World private server that was instant cast and 5 APS (attacks per second). Me and 2 other Venos who were severely undergeared, dropped on a guild who were pvping outside of a safe zone. There was like 10-15 of them and most of them outgeared us or were in End Game gear. We killed all except 4 - the ones who had the most gear lol.
And lastly, Archeage. Again, mostly undergeared (anyone who played this game understands the RNG and time needed to invest into better gear) I was on Freedich Isle with my guild, just doing some merchantships. We always expect PVP, and I always expect to die. We had this mage who got really lucky and ended up with a Mythic weapon. They targeted him first and he went down to 0%. We were in Discord so he calls out that he's basically dead. Except, I had my sights on him and sent him a heal in time to quite literally bring him back to life. He screams, "Wait, I'm alive! HOW??!". He saw the heal from me and goes "Fancy! YOU'RE A GOD" and then we kill them all and have a successful run to Freedich Isle.
I have so many more! But I think those are some of the most important ones for why I play and continue to try to find that similar rush in other games.
fancy said:
It really changed up on how good I could be when I was playing Rift when it first came out.
There's a game that doesn't get talked about enough. Rift was a great game, very well refined and presented, and the Souls system was an interesting take on class progression. But I think the real lesson from Rift is, in spite of the refined experience, it didn't offer enough new systems to keep people interested. That ought to be a lesson for the people here constantly harping on Pantheon for straying too far from EQ's systems.
My defining moment was loading into Ultima Online for the first time, and seeing someone run around town with a tamed Greater Dragon. Seeing that and knowing it was something I could (eventually) do got me hooked right from the start.
I was always a fan of D&D, and in particular a big fan of the adventures Drizzt Do'Urden as a teen. The dark nature of the Drow and Drizzt's defiance/rebeliance to not follow the ways of his culture really resonated with me as a teen haha. But it was also the personal choice and refusal to follow a path considered "evil" and trying to live a life of righteousness despite personal concequences. So when a game came along that was a chance to play as a Dark Elf and make a name for yourself in a "world" that hated you just for being of a particular race, I really jumped into that role. What I didn't expect was the double whamy as a Shadow Knight - no matter how much I "role played" there was no overcoming the NPC's hatred toward the DE SHD lol. So my "ah-ha moment" was actuallly one of regret and really learning to take my decisions of character creation carefully because I learned that I wasted about 5 years of my life struggling against a game that was literally designed to be extra difficult for ceratin race/class combinations no matter how well you roleplayed (unlike D&D)... and it was designed that way because some people enjoy playing the martyr - but I will not play the martyr again lol.
So far, my most positive MMO experience (and negative) were with WoW. This game had 2 factions and that was it, so your race/class selection really didn't have much of an impact on your roleplay experience or interaction with NPCs, but I really really really enjoyed how players were rewarded for being able to understand and time the use of their abilities. At one point, almost every class I played, I was able to defeat numerous players against me and could even 1v2 people in arena settings (while trying to carry ungeared partners that get one-shot and I then end up 1v2 and still winning). But the addiction of that game (which for me was always having to play in order to be competitive) was too much and I had to quit.
So I'm looking forward to a game that wont require you to devote all of your available time to in order to enjoy the content as well as challenge your roleplaying in a way that allows the player to determine how much social "oppression" or "acceptance" they will have depending on their race/class selections. I just hope that social experience is forewarned during character creation (along with any other "gotcha" events that may make a person regret their decision from years past, that is not easily changed).
My first MMO was Asheron's Call. Joining a guild involved swearing allegiance to one particular player. They became your patron, you became their vassal. Patrons were expected to 'mentor' vassals who were new to the game, and benefitted from receiving a trickle of bonus XP equal to a small percentage of what their vassal earned. (Given that there were 275 levels in AC, this bonus was much appreciated).
I had no friends in AC when I started, but soon made one and became his vassal. Many months later, due to my having much more time to play than my patron, I outleveled him. That wasn't terribly uncommon in the game, but was a big accomplishment to me and my first defining moment in gaming.
A year or two later, he had left AC for other games and I had expanded to playing characters on the PvP server in addition to the ones I had started originally on a PvE server. One day I met a newbie on the PvP server who turned out to be my old patron. He had decided to come back to AC, and chosen to play PvP this time around. When he saw me, we happily reunited and he joined the guild as MY vassal. The circle was complete, and thus I had my 2nd defining moment.
I have no doubt that the depth and variety of social bonds created in this and other ways was a far bigger reason I stayed in AC for 10-15 years than simply the rewards of the game mechanics (or the 'awesome' graphics lol)
Darch said:
So I'm looking forward to a game that wont require you to devote all of your available time to in order to enjoy the content as well as challenge your roleplaying in a way that allows the player to determine how much social "oppression" or "acceptance" they will have depending on their race/class selections. I just hope that social experience is forewarned during character creation (along with any other "gotcha" events that may make a person regret their decision from years past, that is not easily changed).
I love the concept of trying to recreate a Drizzt like character. One of the things I liked about EQII is the oportunity to betray from Qeynos to Freeport or vice versa.
I also appreciate you taking the time to focus on an unpleasant defining moment. They are just as important memories that shape our gaming history.
This is an easy one. I had avoided buying EQ for quite awhile but eventually curiosity got the best of me. I created my first toon and was running around in the Commonlands and ran into a little hut and closed the door. When I opened the door I saw a PC run by with a giant spider chasing him. I freaked out and closed the door. That was it. I was hooked. I immediately called my brother and told him and he went out and bought it the same day. I played from 2000 to 2007 when our raid guild disbanded. Made a lot of incredible friends and fond memories.
Can't wait to do the same in Pantheon!
Oblivion-getting umbra, randomly finding a really hard fight with a really, really, cool sword.
Skyrim-when i went a random direction out of the starting cave and, with my character who happened to be a planned archer, discovered a completely isolated training post for archery. After finishing the archery training quest there the quest giver gave me her bow. It wasn't a very good bow, but it all still felt really cool, and I honestly did get better at aiming from the quest.
Everquest-don't remember. Probably something dumb like seeing a bard training a giant line of snakes. I was really young at the time.
Dark souls 1-seeing a really beautiful city called Anor Londo for the first time. I guess I was hooked by then, probably from running into a starter area and having a dragon land in front of me (and scare the crap out of me), but the sheer beauty of Anor Londo made me truly appreciate good art in games like never before.
Shadow of the collosus-a mixture of the amazing soundtrack and the first time I climbed up a boss and stabbed his weak point. I don't think I have ever played a game that had a soundtrack that good while keeping
immersion. Also very unique/exciting boss fight mechanics for the time the game came out.
Zelda-everything.
Kingdom Hearts 2-playing with Roxxas' amazing looking dual keyblades near the beggining of the game. I really liked how they had you push a button to trigger really cool cutscene/attack combos in boss fights.
FF10-the entire beginning zanarkand ark, complete with a cutscene with a cool song and a big boss messing everything up. Auron is cool too. The entire scene was great for suspense and leaving me at the edge of my seat wondering what was going on.
That should cover my most favoritest games. hope it helps=)
In EQ on a RP server. After struggling through some lower levels, then meeting another person that was on at the same time and liked playing with me (Ruzuk! a Troll SK, he wanted a challenge). And then meeting more untill we had a regular group, -1.
The nice thing? When the game got rough and we got frustrated or discouraged- no one broke character- that was awesome. I mean, we did, but when winding down or at small breaks.
For me, I think it has to be in EQ stepping into the East Commonlands for the first time. Ill explain why that is. My first trip to EC happened early in my EQ days. I had I had been coming from the west having made the long run from Surefall Glade. Most of those zones along the way were pretty big, and a lot were not heavily populated with players. So it was a long, mostly quiet, run. But then when I zoned into EC, the chat exploded with chatter. Want to buy this, want to sell that, want to trade whatever….it was like all of a sudden I had arrived at this place that was alive and different from every other zone. It was a beehive of activity. I remember seeing items listed that I had never heard of, for ungodly amounts of money I thought I would probably never see. Having just earned enough copper to get some decent armour and a rusty sword, I saw things selling for 10 platinum which blew my mind. And when I actually got close enough to the tunnel and saw the masses of players milling about, I thought "this is so cool".
So it was definitely a memorable moment, but why would I say this is a “defining” moment? It's because this is the essence of a good MMO in my opinion. People actually coming together, communicating, and negotiating outcomes. It wasn’t automated or efficient at all, and there is something special in that. And it wasn’t socializing for socializing’s sake; we were all still playing the game. Trying to sell high for that nice gear we got a lucky roll on, or trying to find that sweet deal on the final piece of armour we need to finish our set. It took time and effort, and sometimes people sat in EC for days just trying to squeeze one more plat out of their wares. I love this, and I think it really does define what MMOs should be about.
PS. We're going to feature this thread in our "Community Discussions" segment of the Rewind podcast this weekend. If you want to tune in, there are links in the Fan Creations forum. Cheers!
fancy said:Ugh, that's so hard! I started young in EQ2, but I didn't get to raid because I was still really young and was just learning all the mechanics of gaming. But I made a badass Warlock and my mom ended up stealing her from me because she saw how much fun it was and was tired of healing. I guess that's pretty cool, building a character good enough for your end game raiding mother to play and enjoy in end game content.
A friend of mine had the reverse happen. He was an experienced player and most likely would end up raiding on his tough and rugged DPS character. When he was not playing he let his daughter play on his account with his son, so they could spend some time together. She had made a Fae warden and really enjoyed playing the character for awhile so it leveled up quickly. She eventually got bored and my friend got his account back on the regular basis.
One one occaision we got stuck without a good healer. He made the mistake of offering to try to play his daughter's warden, he did so well that he had to bring her out whenever we were trying something challenging...which eventually made her his raid character...which became his main character. We could have made fun of the tough and rugged guy playing the cutsie Fae, but he kept me alive too much.
Moral of the storry is don't make a healing character unless you are willing to get stuck playing them :).
The only interest I had in reading as a kid was Tolkein. My favorite characters in the stories were the elves so naturally whenever I had a chance to play an elf in a game (Might and Magic series, DnD, etc) I did. Then one day I played a game where I could be an elf in a living world, with other real people running around in it. The elven city was built up in the trees like a giant sprawling tree house. It felt like it was bringing my favorite stories to life...or death when I fell off and hit the ground. LOADING...PLEASE WAIT.