There were so much misinformation out there in early EQ and it was wonderful. We had to thrash around in the world and try to figure it out and learn from other players.
One such example was the "urban legend" that you could not hit a "magical" creature unless you had a weapon with a +magic stat on it. As a noob woodelf druid I couldn't hit a wisp with my staff (because my skill terrible). Everyone on the server said and believed that. At that point, we (the players) didn't really understand Magic Resist or how combat was resolved. Just look at the way we used to believe the RNG worked - it was so full of mystery and misinformation.
Anyway, a word of mouth legend came down to me in Greater Faydark that a "+1 magic" weapon called a Runed Totem Staff could be found across the ocean and it's the best way to get your "magic" weapon. Well, this created a whole self-made "quest" and my RL friend group equipped ourselves, stuffed our backpack, girded our loins and headed for the docks. After a couple (real life) days of travel we arrived at this magical gnoll camp and started farming our first piece of stat gear. I was obsessed with getting a Runed Totem Staff.
Forget that this wasn't at all what we thought it was. Forget that our entire adventure was founded upon misinformation. What we had was mystery. And that compelled us and, as useless as that effort was , it is one of my fond EQ adventure memories.
I remember back in 2000, I had my first character ever, human warrior, hunting on the beaches of Oasis. A higher level Warrior ran by with black leggings and I wanted them badly. They looked way better than anything I had seen. He told my they dropped in Guk, a distant dungeon full of nasty frogs. I thought, wow, I have to experience that.
It was the longest, most frustrating journey ever. Literally started out with a death from a Bouncer out in the swamp. Then finding, figuring out Upper Guk, which is insane and nasty. A week at least... After many deaths and camping, level building, I found out they drop in Lower Guk. Finally made my way to Lower Guk only to die many more times. After almost giving up, I gave it one last effort to get to Lower Guk, which I did with an invis the stayed on... And sat inside the Lower Guk zone line. Literally 5 minutes in, someone called out if anyone wanted to loot Shin Leggings. They were even cool enough to come escort me.
I was sporting those leggings all around, remember being super proud and telling many inquiring people where to get them!!
In World of Warcraft there were also many mysteries. The Deathcharger's Reins (http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Deathcharger's_Reins ) had a drop chance 1:5000. This mount was so rare there were some rumors that you had some things to do (like killing Baron Rivendare in the middle of the room) to get it. Or Onyxia and their Deep breath. This attack was extremly deadly but sometimes Onyxia didn't use it. People believed, that when you place many damage over time spells on Onyxia then she will not roast you with the Deep breath. In every raid people placed damage over time spells on her when she got up in the air in phase 2.
Greetings
Pyye said:It was the longest, most frustrating journey ever. Literally started out with a death from a Bouncer out in the swamp. Then finding, figuring out Upper Guk, which is insane and nasty. A week at least... After many deaths and camping, level building, I found out they drop in Lower Guk. Finally made my way to Lower Guk only to die many more times. After almost giving up, I gave it one last effort to get to Lower Guk, which I did with an invis the stayed on... And sat inside the Lower Guk zone line. Literally 5 minutes in, someone called out if anyone wanted to loot Shin Leggings. They were even cool enough to come escort me.
See, this is something I loved about EQ. Sure, there were rare and powerful items that were obtained by arduous quests, long hours camping, or just good old RNG, but there were just as many that you could attain by sheer force of will - embarking on an adventure into a place well above where you have any business being, and reaping the rewards from those more experienced players who otherwise had no need for the item. I remember making a similar trek for my young bard to claim the Mask of Deception, because it was just too cool not to have and the journey and risk were, in my opinion, worth the effort.
I just really enjoy the fact that not every story has to revolve around 'I farmed X boss for Y days'. Whether or not Pantheon can engender a similar community where it doesn't just boil down to selling lootrights to the highest bidder remains to be seen, but I think with intelligent itemization and ensuring that there's no easy path for a buyer to get there in time - thus encouraging unwanted loot to be distributed to willful newbies - it's absolutely possible.
I love mysteries and easter eggs in MMO's. Player induced ones are awesome too.
I saw this video on You Tube and while it is not about the arduous journey to aquire something, it is about how if you explore and look there are many wonders to be uncovered!
Pyye said:I remember back in 2000, I had my first character ever, human warrior, hunting on the beaches of Oasis. A higher level Warrior ran by with black leggings and I wanted them badly. They looked way better than anything I had seen. He told my they dropped in Guk, a distant dungeon full of nasty frogs. I thought, wow, I have to experience that.
It was the longest, most frustrating journey ever. Literally started out with a death from a Bouncer out in the swamp. Then finding, figuring out Upper Guk, which is insane and nasty. A week at least... After many deaths and camping, level building, I found out they drop in Lower Guk. Finally made my way to Lower Guk only to die many more times. After almost giving up, I gave it one last effort to get to Lower Guk, which I did with an invis the stayed on... And sat inside the Lower Guk zone line. Literally 5 minutes in, someone called out if anyone wanted to loot Shin Leggings. They were even cool enough to come escort me.
I was sporting those leggings all around, remember being super proud and telling many inquiring people where to get them!!
That is an extremely special memory and the kind of thing that made EQ so amazing. I pray they can recapture that kind of thing.
Pyye said:I remember back in 2000, I had my first character ever, human warrior, hunting on the beaches of Oasis. A higher level Warrior ran by with black leggings and I wanted them badly. They looked way better than anything I had seen. ...
I don't remember what they were called but back around Luclin time when the bazaar opened *the* thing everyone wanted was a pair of leather pants that had a purple graphic. No one had any color or interesting items and everyone wanted these *SO* bad because they just looked so cool! And because they were different and sort of rare.
Armor dies sort of watered that whole "special" -ness down because nothing was unique or special anymore - everyon could have any look they wanted. It sounds great on paper, but I think it actually made things less compelling, not more.
Yeah this is so true... When anything new gets introduced, there is always a cause and effect. To preserve the "good" things from previous versions, in my opinion, should be at the highest priority. This is easier said than done, but it would be nice to protect these kind of drops and keep them desired.