My favorite place was City of Mist… It had everything for various levels of players to hunt in and level up. It had a creepy vibe to it that just kept you on your toes and aware of your environment, and the various uses of secret tunnels under water and such was a lot of fun. The various strategy’s players use to use to get the locked doors open or to get up to the skywalk was clever. On my server (Xev) City of Mist was always populated with players throughout many expansions since it had various items that were needed from epics, spells, keys, and my favorite the Shaman Cannibalize II spell (strange ochre clay).
The Mobs that haunted this place were so much fun and creepy to deal with, and if you were not careful a wipe would occur. The hardest part of City of Mist was finding the place while running through the Emerald Forest….
Ah man. I have to go with my first exposure to the game (excluding East Cabilis), the Field of Bone. Not only was I learning about this particular game, but it was my first game with other people in it too. I've explored every inch of this zone, with many stories from it. Let it be known that the first mob I ever faced off against in EQ, was a scaled wolf pup! And I lost lol :(
I also have to throw in Oasis. When I finally learned about the boat from Overthere eventually leading to the raft to Oasis, it was amazing to be on a different continent. So many races where here, with all kinds of exciting stuff happening all over the place! Met a lot of new people here!
It's really a tough choice but I'd have to say my top 10 list would be in no particular order would be these:
Dungeons:
1. High Keep - lots of fun camps, lots of inter group drama, fun to solo in as well.
2. Karnor's Castle - the trains here were terrifying and I spent a lot of time as a cleric sitting outside the zone in waiting for people who needed rezes.
3. Paladual Caverns - sooo many fun camps and was a fun crawl too, the exp was fantastic too.
4. Lower Guk - could be the best dungeon ever made, great layout, fun camps, varying scenery and lots of nameds and rare drops.
5. Solusek's Eye B - I remember the first time I saw the fire giants and my first Naggy raid it was awe inspiring.
6. Estate of Unrest - absolutly love the lore of this zone, it sets the stage for all the mayhem that takes place there.
7. Crypt Of Decay - Fun and dangerous place to exp, also fun because of the priests event for Bert key.
8. Tower of Frozen Shadows - again, amazing lore and pefect set up for a dungeon, making each floor crazier and harder as you go higher.
9. The Hole - spent so much time here it's not even funny, this zone is huge and has so much variety!
10. Crystal Caverns - Looks very cool and has mining Orcs, dwarves and a crystal spider queen! What's not to love?
Outdoor Zones:
1. Wakening Land - Beautiful zone traveled here to hunt geonids with a dear friend, we heard we could make some plat off their gems.
2. Oasis of Marr - One of my first EQ grouping experiences took place here, I remember we had a pair of crazy warriors leading us.
3. Natimbi - Just for the AMAZING music, so soothing, a lot of GoD zones like Txevu were awesome too.
4. Crushbone - Many orcs died here for their ears and belts, lots of trains, it's a perfect zone.
5. The Dreadlands - Spent so much time here pulling to the castle wall or exploring, it's a massive zone with great exp and steady pulls, I'd say only Wall of Slaughter is similar.
6. Plane Of Disease - creepy zone oozing with disease.
7. Greater Faydark - Where I first started EQ, ran around in this zone lost for probably a week :)
8. Emerald Jungle - Great jungle zone, didn't exp much here but it always stuck out in my mind as having a great atmosphere everytime I visited.
9. Plane of Tranquility - Nice soothing zone to spend time with while waiting for raids to start or just chatting with friends. It was a mystery where all the strange landmarks would lead when we first zoned in.
10. Plane of Fire - after all of the agonizing work of Killing RZ: TWL and finishing up elemental flagging, this zone was like the land of milk and honey where AA exp flowed freely.
Blackburrow, first dungeon for me. First time seeing a troll in game and thought by sheer size they must be an awesome tank heh.
While it's not one specific zone, the first trek from qeynos to freeport... that first time going into qhills, to west karana, north karana, east karana, up the ramp to high hold (remembering looking over the edge and just trying to wrap my head around the corpse retrieval of dying at this point), being lead thru high hold, kithicor forest (not knowing how lucky I was to have no issues), west commonlands to east commonlands, finally freeport and thinking DAMN this WORLD IS HUGE!!!
Lower guk, all time fav, spent as much time as possible there on every char I leveled. Pulled as a mage, monk, warrior, knew every room, corner, pit fall, mob path, and loved having that knowledge weaving thru the hallways doing long pulls.
Enjoying pulling thoroughly, more so than any other role in any game or group ever, made some zones so much fun. IIRC Kael was defined as outdoors? So you could keep your jboots/sow going and pull at full speed :D oh hell yea.
Old sebilis was fun just for the sake it had my guk frogloks there ;)
Karnors, I'd wager most people saw a massive train within the first 5minutes of being in that zone their first time. That and having the tight hallways made for fast pulling that always made it more fun.
BoT was fun, I think what was most enjoyable as a puller in that game, was how you could camp multiple areas when people weren't around - so anytime you managed to do beyond the usual one named/PH camp, it felt special, and as a result that usual satisfaction for having exp'd during your session was compounded with having gotten loot, having played well. You know a group/zone was memorable when you had the same members 2,4,6, ... or 8 hours later, all reluctant to let go. A great session instantly formed friends for the following years.
Really, I think what made zones great/memorable for me was the defined roles that each class had for groups, that also had enough room for players to either do poorly or shine brightly. And doing your job well meant when you logged into the game, you had tells immediately asking you to head to ____ zone for ____ camp.
I spent a lot of time in Velketor's Labyrinth. I pocketed quite a bit of plat rezzing people who slipped and fell from the upper catwalks. It made me giddy when I'd catch someone new to the zone falling and hitting the ground with a crunch. On my server, it was always super easy to get a group when I was around 52-58.
Runners up were Old Seb and LGuk. I think everyone spent enough time there to run through those zones backwards, lol.
Talv
For me it was not the places but the people in them.
Hunting orcs on the Orc Highway in Oasis with a full group and plenty people running around, offering help or asking for some was an unforgettable experience.
Coming to the same Oasis which is a ghost town with you the only person in zone is depressive at best.
I think that is why almost everybody (me included) kept in memory the Classic (perhaps Kunark with reservations) because during this era the game was full of people in every single zone. It felt living and real.
Groups everywhere and surprises waiting for you around every corner. Exhilarating for about any zone. So for me it is every zone of classic that is preferred because it reminds the times when the game was living .
Perhaps a special mention for the already noted (naked !) run Qeynos -> Freeport. This took such a time and pumped such an amount of adrenaline (Kithicor !) that nobody who did it can forget the first time.
Especially Highold which was absolutely unpassable without help from people who knew the zone.
halflingwarrior said:I'd have to say either Lake Rathe or Ocean of Tears. It's crazy how huge those zones were, and some of those underwater caves that were never explored. I hope Pantheon has some content like that.
Interesting thread regarding rumours of the sea monsters deep in those caves. http://www.oocities.org/theroyalnorrathianguard/rok1.html
That link made me happy.
Darasin said:GUK and Sebilis at large = the most well thought out dungeons ever.
Mistemoore - I don't know if a zone has ever been creepier and who can forget the trains?
ToV - best raid ever to me.
I think I just found my brother from another mother. I was also partial to Velk's lab as that is where I had dinged 60. ;) Crystal Eye camped for 48 hours straight in 59 hell level (would never be able to do that again!).
Geez, talk about impossible decisions. I'll take a nod from other people here and list several.
1) Kedge Keep - I LOVED everything about this zone. I love underwater zones. I love that it was hidden. I love the lore behind it. Just a fun zone.
2) Gfay - As others have said, it just brings up so much nostalgia
3) Blackburrow - Same reason. Also, it's a cool layout idea.
4) Hollowshade Moore - I loved the "war" that went on here. That mechanic was way ahead of its time.
5) Velks Labrynth - Probably one of the best dungeons of all time, in any game.
6) Sleepers Tomb - Just an all around awesome concept and lore. I also loved the "once awake, it never respawns" aspect.
7) Plane of Water- My favorite PoP raid zone. Coirnav was such a fun fight too.
8) Plane of Sky - Again, I love that you could jump/fall island to island. It was so hard, it took DAYS to raid. Also, I loved falling down into Freeport.
9) The Hole - Again, love the lore. It was also a fun, twisty maze. I liked the "ghost town" vibe. I also used to love making level 1 evil Erudites just to jump down in for fun.
10) Howling Stones - Kunnark was one of my favorite eras, and this was one of my favorite zones there.
My favorite and still is, because yes I still play, is Blackburrow old and new versions. As a wee ranger I loved to stand up top shoot down below to train the gnolls up to the top so our group could go at it. As a 95 ranger I just like hanging out in the Newer Blackburrow and pick off the gnolls to level up my friends alts its very relaxing after a long day at work. My other favorite zones were Runnyeye and Crushbone. Oh and my home town of Kelethin when I wasnt falling out of the trees and dying.
I will be in the minority of this but I liked the whole Qeynos side of the game. I know it is an inconvient place, but Qeynos, Qeynos Hills, Blackburrow, Halas, Karanas, etc. It was soo open and felt huge compared to the other side of the world for me. I remember going back on 1999 after a long while and started in Qeynos and instinctively knew how to get out and all the places again.
Also a shout out to Kithicor Forest and all the deaths that ensued in that zone...good times.
Unrest, to me, was the best zone ever. Loved how you could go from 12 to 30 in the same zone. Yard Trash, then 1st floor, then 2nd floor, then to the hidden basement. Loved that it was hidden behind a secret door. The relentless trains. So fun.
2nd place was Befallen. When I started making alts. I went to befallen at 5, stayed til lev 14, went to Unrest to 30, and hit lower guk til 45, the OOT Elite Gobs for 45 to 50. Befallen was a Dungeon that started for Lev 4+ Please Brad, do this again in Pantheon. I want a dungeon for Lev 4 or 5+ in Pantheon. pleeeeeeeaaaasssse.
Castle Mistemoore was 3rd best. Creepy without going overboard. Lots of areas to camp. another area where you could stay for many levels.
Hate and Fear were also really cool. Lower Guk was fun, although it took Guk a while to grow on me.
Ocean Of Tears was interesting. Love how the islands all had different thingsm (mobs; giants, undead, goblins etc) and different levels all in the same zone. Really unique zone.
I really liked areas that kept Large level ranges together. Being able to get a High level cleric buff on the Tank and Mind candy on the Casters really made us feel tougher, even if it was just a little bit.
Lastly, Neriak.... it was such an amazing looking city. 3 zones deep (underground) Loved the Tempi sisters up on the first level watching over the entrance to the city. The hidden room behind the water fall in the 2nd zone. the best starting city ever created IMO. I literally could not find my way out of the city after starting a cleric. (spawned in 3rd zone back) Some nice person showed me the way and I was in love ever since.
I really hope Brad gets some of the EQ original magic back into this game. Things being places, just cause.
I loved the SSRA Temple. It was my first raid zone.
You had to travel through the grey, and if you didn't have an enduring breath item you could die just trying to get there.
The temple itself had locked doors, fake walls, teleporters, floaty levitation rings and snakes behind every corner.
The emporer raid was difficult to figure out but so rewarding upon completion.
Raidan said: Unrest - the dry bone skeleton cackles, the death trains, and the mansion - with the secret passage behind the bookshelf to the basement. Loved that zone
Absolutely agree. I hope we get the skeleton cackles in Patheon. Those scarecrow yells or 'meows' as it sounded, were amazing as well. In fact, EQ had some of the most unique sound effects for mobs that have not been heard again in any game since.