Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

EQ vets, what was your first "panic" moment?

    • 12 posts
    October 7, 2021 2:26 PM PDT

    As a casual player of EQ due to being a senior in highschool my time was limited in EQ, as such I spent a lot of a time in my lower levels in the commonlands as I started a human war in Freeport.  For a good two week period I only went to Befallen in which I knew every nuck and cranny of the first 4 to 5 rooms, learning quickly I need to have a key to get to the low part. I finally hit level 10 and decieded I want to leave and explore something new.  I asked around and was told Lavastorm was a solid place for my level. Decent loot and a friendly placed vendor for easy selling.  So i'm clueeless on how to get there.  I ask around and am told go thru Nek forrest, but stay on the side of the zoneand cross the river.  I get to the river, and it looks way too steep, like if I jump in i'm not getting out.  I could swear I was getting trolled.  So I head a little further down river and see a spot I think I can cross, I look up before I cross and see a bridge in the distance.  Forget the river the bridge is way easier and safer right?  I have SoW and auto run on, while i'm drinking a soda, when halfway across the bridge, I see a Dark Elf running at me. I'm like, what was that wave command. O, right /w... blackscreen. WTF? spawn back in Freeport? WTF?  1 hour and 5 deaths later i'm standing near the bridge looking at the npc standing on my corpse, doesn't move at all. There's like 2 players in zone none who talk.  10 minutes later as i'm about to give up for the night, a Dark Elf runs across the bridge see my corpses, keep's running, then sees the corpse full of gear and stops to look a around a sec and sees me, a naked human, off in the distance.  I get a /tell offering to help me.  I get my corpses back and full loot.  He then shows me the river is indeed crossable and leeds me to Lavastorm.  That was the day when I learned there was a faction system and I was KoS to Dark Elfs.

     

    With some time to pass untill we get those "panic" moments again, but in Pantheon this time, what were some of your guys "panic" moments?

    • 392 posts
    October 7, 2021 3:31 PM PDT

    Similiar story. was exploring on my HU ShadowKnight. Took the boat to Erudin saw the angry guards and thought nope back to Qeynos for me.

    Too bad for me a guard paths right up to the dock while waiting for the boat to head back out and kills me.

    Head back and try to work out how to avoid the pathing and get back to Qeynos.

    4 deaths later I end up just camping out on the boat when the guard starts heading my way, set a short timer and log back in.

    By now the guard has passed by and I got my ride back to Qeynos.

    • 1281 posts
    October 7, 2021 3:59 PM PDT

    One of the most frightening times for me was playing one of my first characters, when I didn't even know how to play (this was back around Kunark era). I had a friend telling me how to memorize spells and had me follow him into Everfrost. We had to make our way through Blackburrow, and around all the orcs, cougars and goblins in EP - remembering to stick to the walls to not get lost. Eventually we make our way to sit on the frozen river so he could pull back to me.

    Of course part of that memory is the nostalgia but it was pretty frightening because I didn't know where I was or how easy I could be killed. It's a great memory.


    This post was edited by bigdogchris at October 7, 2021 4:00 PM PDT
    • 2419 posts
    October 7, 2021 4:15 PM PDT

    Devildog2008 said:

    With some time to pass untill we get those "panic" moments again, but in Pantheon this time, what were some of your guys "panic" moments?

    In the 9th hour out of a PoFear clearing that had a huge number of full wipes and hoping we would finish before I had to get ready to go to work. The next panic moment was getting to work an hoping I didn't fall asleep at my desk because I had been up all night in PoFear.

    No other experience, solo, group or raid throughout all the expansion of Everquest, has even come close to what the early days of PoFear could do to someone. So sad, really, that I never feared anything in EQ1 after that.


    This post was edited by Vandraad at October 7, 2021 4:16 PM PDT
    • 223 posts
    October 7, 2021 6:49 PM PDT

    Great topic! My first panic moment...  I may not remember my first but a definite early one was venturing into LFay and stumbling onto the brownie camp. Then bring toasted without seeing by whom or what. Then the adventure to get my corpse back. I recall some higher level passer-by heard my cries for help and offered a hand.

    I learned a lesson that day; in LFay you zone in from GFay and hug the wall left until you hit Steamfont or MM (and watch out for the Dark Elf camp).

    • 810 posts
    October 7, 2021 7:46 PM PDT
    My panic moment was so much lower in scope.

    I lost my corpse around lvl 4 or so. I was so scared it would poof. What ever will I do without bags or gold for spells? I explored tox forest for like 6 more levels. Slowly going from naked to a new set of scrappy cloth armor. Even got a few more bags.

    By the time I found my corpse it was a lackluster loot. A few gems for summoning elementals... Pants... Finding it showed me how little I had really lost but taught me to be self aware of my location. (Still sad naked corpse runs won't be a thing)
    • 560 posts
    October 7, 2021 8:39 PM PDT

    Cool topic, so many to pick from….

    My first panic was engaging a willow wisp and realizing I needed a magical weapon to hurt it. That was definitely a panic but also easy to recover from. My real panic attack came when I leveled 23 as a wizard. I had gotten used trying out all my new gates spells as soon as I got them. But at level 23 I got Cazic Gate. When I first came through the gate, I did not see anything of note. I decided to look around a little bit and that ended up being a bad idea. I almost immediately got killed by a lizard.

    Dying sucked but the real problem was it deleveled me preventing me from using the gate spell. I spent some time running around naked getting my level back so I could go loot my corpse.

    • 124 posts
    October 8, 2021 1:53 AM PDT

    EQ was the second MMO I ever played, I moved there from Ultima Online after most of my guild mates had moved, and clearly weren't coming back. As such, I didn't start playing EQ for a good few months after it had been released, so when I started playing there were already some relatively high level players in the game. My first character in EQ was a Gnome, and since some of the other guild members were playing low level Halflings, I was ported to Misty Thicket by the leader of our guild so I could group with them to level up.

    I'm guessing most here will know the layout of Misty Thicket, it has a wall separating one side, from the other, and there's a gap in the wall which has some Halfling guards. After I'd been ported to the zone, I went exploring, didn't bind (being a noob), I went up onto the wall, fell off (taking damage) onto the other side which had higher level mobs, started to panic, ran towards the gap where the guards were, only to be faced with a red con skeleton which was wrecking the guards. I freaked out, turned around, ran back in the direction I came from and took a very swift dirt knap from the mobs I'd originally been running from in the first place. Released, loading screen popped-up, and I found myself all the way back in Ak'anon, begging for another port back to get my corpse.

    What I didn't realise was, that skeleton wasn't a high level mob that would agro me, it was a Necromancer's pet and he was farming the guards! I didn't see him because he was in skeleton form, sitting on a tree stump opposite the gap in the wall; when you're in that form, the bones simply fall to the floor when you 'sit', and I didn't know that at the time.

    The next proper panic was one most EQ players can relate to, and that was the trip from Rivervale, to Freeport, hugging the wall as high as you could in Kithicor Forest. That zone genuinely freaked me out, I will never, ever forget that journey with my Brother and best friend. I am acutely aware that these experiences are so memorable because everything was so new and unique back then, but if Pantheon is able to create just one new memory such as these, I'll be happy. Everyone is hoping for the same, it's a tough wish to fulfil!


    This post was edited by Shadowbound at October 8, 2021 1:57 AM PDT
    • 724 posts
    October 8, 2021 2:35 AM PDT

    With my first character (high elf), while exploring the area beyond the newbie yard, I eventually zoned into Lesser Faydark. Ran around a bit and suddenly I stood in front of a giant spider, staring at me. At that point I wasn't used to /con yet and so, I just stood still for a moment and thought "Uhh ohh, I'm done for"...but eventually the spider just turned and walked away.

    Mind you, I'm not scared of spiders, but this was definitely a terrifying moment! And I guess I can be glad that I didn't know about the other, true dangers in Lesser Faydark at that point :)

    • 1921 posts
    October 8, 2021 9:03 AM PDT

    Vandraad said:

    In the 9th hour out of a PoFear clearing that had a huge number of full wipes and hoping we would finish before I had to get ready to go to work. The next panic moment was getting to work an hoping I didn't fall asleep at my desk because I had been up all night in PoFear.

    No other experience, solo, group or raid throughout all the expansion of Everquest, has even come close to what the early days of PoFear could do to someone. So sad, really, that I never feared anything in EQ1 after that.

    IMO:

    Similar, here, had an early morning/late night disconnect due to multi-hour storm-related power outage while raiding with the guild in PoFear. 
    Later in the morning, (when the sun was actually up) logged back in, and I was alone in the zone, thankfully outside the wall of fire, but Cazic was still up. 
    We had cleared all the roamers/trash, but ran out of time to clear everything, so a few statics were still around and at the exit.
    Not cool!  Eventually, a wiz/druid in the guild came online, zoned in, and ported me out.  At least we had time before roamer respawn caught us.

    One of the major reasons I really really really like the option to Origin-before-login / return-to-hometown at character select, (or similar feature) now.  The portless classes needed a little help. :)

    • 1785 posts
    October 8, 2021 9:56 AM PDT

    My first real panic moment in EQ was the first time I zoned into Unrest, at something like level 15 or so, to be greeted by a massive basement train at the zone line.

    I had just enough time after loading in to look up and say "oh ****" before they got to me :)

    There had been some close calls on Orc Hill and in Crushbone before that, and I'd lost some fights, but that was really the first complete panic situation I'd had.

    • 4 posts
    October 8, 2021 11:41 AM PDT

    Right after launch, High Elf. I'd already been lost in GFay atleast two or three times and I found this crazy looking cave with fires out front. "I'm going to check that out" well there there was a nice Dark Elf waiting on me just inside. No big deal, I've died before I'll go back...he was still there. I thought I had stumbled into a 'high level' zone and would never get my gear back! I was probably level 6 or 7 but at the time I felt like I had lost a year of play time.

    • 2138 posts
    October 8, 2021 7:20 PM PDT

    In Toxx forest and in Erudin there is usually one guard hanging around near a merchant. Im teaching myself how to mage, getting sick of dieing and trying the harder kobolds accross the river. I dont know how to con yet and some are harder than others but there is a spot where I can get one alone in a spot where I wont be bothered. I get one and a roamer happens to come by and I get it too, I know its too much so I start running, but they are faster. One has a modifier to its name like rabid so I know its fast and it takes a swipe at my back and it slows me down a little just as I jump into the river to cross- there is a merchant hut just accross! I swim so slow!~ and I forgot about the piranaha's! I see its only the one now! as the rabid got attacked by the pirhana's as they, luckily, left me alone.  I know the one Kobold is behind me and I fling open the door and...no one is there?! except 4 skeletons called abandoned heretic pets pop up from the floor...I can't... I lose sense of direction- I can't see! its night out im running and strangely alive? I just have to keep Runni- LOADING PLEASE WAIT.

    I had just crossed the threshold in levels, I was naked. My heart ws thundering in my chest and hands shaking as I went to the bank to get some coin to buy gems for reagents and food, and do the quest again for the gloves amd wait till day to maybe find my corpse. I know I am on this side of the river at least.

     

    *edit* for perspective where I died? is like 5 second run from Zone in with a chipped bone rod. Without one? maybe 5 min to criss-cross search the whole area, tops at 5 levels higher. But at that level? it seemed vast and frought with peril even thought I knew the lay of the land as I had spent most of the first 10 levels there.


    This post was edited by Manouk at October 8, 2021 7:26 PM PDT
    • 245 posts
    October 12, 2021 7:45 PM PDT

    East Commonlands on my Wizard, pulling orcs solo from the camps to kite.

    The sound of flapping wings.

    A loud squawk.

    Loading, please wait.

    • 1273 posts
    October 12, 2021 9:40 PM PDT

    Great story DevilDog2008!  Here is mine.

    I was level 16 and planning my frist "cross the world" run.  I was a wood elf and had some quest that wanted me to get to Erudine.  I figured I'd do my travelling while none of my friends were on, so this was going to be a late night run.  Zone here, zone there...LOADING...boat over to Freeport, more  ... LOADING... screens, more running.  This was pretty early on in the game and late at night, so trying to get a teleport wasn't even on my mind.  I was also not going to be bothered to try to get any run speed buffs.  I was going to make this trip, on my own.  Head through Kithicor Forest, CREEPY!!  But phew, I made it, no problem.  Keep heading west.  A few more ...LOADING... screens (ok, I actually don't remember what the loading screens looked like but you get the point haha).  I zone into West Karana and by this time I'm half asleep but determined.  Should I keep following the road?  Nah, Sense Heading says this way is west and I know I need to just keep heading west.  I see up ahead some big stones, looks kinda like stonehenge.  COOL!!  I'm a ranger, I should be friendly with the druids of this stonehenge, I'll take a shortcut and run through it.  ...LOADING...  "Wait, how'd I get back to Kelethin?!"  

    I'll cut to it here...I ran back to where I died but this time I was smart enough to get a bind a bit closer.  I died again trying to get my corpse.  No one was around to help so I petitioned a GM for some advice.  He tought me about the /drag command and told me that if I just run straight toward my corpse and hit the /drag button over and over I'll probably be able to move my corpse closer before dying again.  I repeated this a few times with him watching (and probably laughing on his end?! lol).  Even though he didn't do much I was glad to have the company and after 5 or 6 ... or maybe 7 times repeating this process I finally got my corpse back.  He said "nice work" or something along those lines, then we said goodnight to each other.  I'm sure I stuck to the road for the rest of the journey.  

    • 2752 posts
    October 13, 2021 11:14 AM PDT

    Been a long time. Either getting stuck in the tunnel from Jagged Pine to Qeynos Hills as a blind human or falling into the pit in Blackburrow with no clue what the zone layout was.