I am going to discuss "nostalgic zones I would like to see" in this post. This does not mean that I want to see the exact zone that I mention before I mention the Pantheon zone. I am going to do it in the form of "old EQ zone" then what I would like to see that would bring that feeling of nostalgia.
City of Mist
City of Mist is one of my favorite EQ zones. While I don't remember all of the details of it, I remember the feeling of it. From the two entrances, to crossing the bridge/walkway to the castle. I just loved it all. One thing that I did notice was that for a city named City of Mist, there wasn't much....well....mist.
Reimagined
I would like to see something along a Greek or Minoan architecture city (something like this https://www.realmofhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/animation-reconstruct-knossos-palace-minoans_1.jpg) with actual mist. Not fog, like all the way up the sky, but a pervading mist over the ground. A mist that might hide some surprises. While this looks nothing like the original City of Mist, I think it would bring back that nostalgia for the people who were actually there without running afoul of any claims of theft or copying.
Icewell Keep
Icewell Keep was one of my favorite EQ zones released with Scars of Velious. This wasn't a zone that I really liked for fighing so much as for the over-all appearance and feeling of the zone.
Reimagined
A city in the ice.... That's pretty much it. Maybe Dwarven, maybe something else.
Emerald Jungle
I liked this one because it was farily large, and, well, a jungle. There were interesting places in it, and it lead to a few other zones.
Reimagined
I would like to see this as a primeval forest. Thicker than what the Emerald Jungle was, but with just as many, or more, possibilities. I would like to see a large lake in this zone that maybe houses an island with a small outpost or something on it. That would fit well in the "theme". Maybe a nice crevasse running down a part of it with a cave system in it that could be a good underground cave zone. Maybe turn that cave zone into something of a "reimagined" Blackburrow style zone. Perhaps at night, it gets scary and dangerous, much like Kithicor forest did. Need lots of sound and foliage here in addition to trees (and fallen trees).
I am going to leave the other few ideas I have to the imagination and see what you guys can come up with. Please keep in mind that I am not advocating something that rips off EQ, but something that brings back the nostalgic feeling of specific zones in EQ. Let's hear what you have to say. I will put on my flame redardant suit because I know I am going to catch flack for this post.
I loved Crushbone, the level range was good, and the Enterance to the tower hidden behind the throne was cool, i remember clearing the throne room many a time and noone knew there was a hidden passage behind the throne until someone accidently got pushed behind there by an Npc..
Something like this would be awesome, with hidden passages, hidden rooms/towers Etc.
Another placed i loved was Blackburrow..Well apart from all the TRAIN TO ZONE!!!! LOL it didnt look like much from the outside, but once inside that place was actually pretty huge.
I would love to see something like this also, Some kind of unassuming Gnoll cave from the outside that once inside opens out to a gigantic network of passages, caves Etc... I owe those dang gnolls some payback :)
Also Lake of ill omen, I Loved this zone, it was huge, the Level range was quite broad, and the different types of mobs was pretty good too, i remember spending a lot of time there killing Sarnaks. i loved the lake in the middle too.
Id love to see a huge zone on similar lines with a lake in the middle, maybe with a hidden dungeon in the lake.
Old Sebilis i LOVED this place, i spend Sooooo much time in there, it was kinda creepy but awesome, alll the passages, and hard to get to rooms and different sections, Having to get a rogue to drag our corpses to the Enterance, or a necro to summon your corpse if you were desperate.
Id love to see something like this, a Huge Dungeon zone, filled with undead, spirits and supernatural things.
I could go on and on and on lol, but lets see what others come up with.
Ah, Lake of Ill Omen. What a great time I had exploring and levelling there. Even went under the lake (Veksars??) to raid a dragon. Cool place.
I had mentioned this zone in another thread: RunnyEye. Best early dungeon in EQ1 because it was truly dangerous. The zone was compact, but not small. It was far more vertically oriented than horizontal with cramped hallways, lots of interconnected rooms, many roamers and a high density of mobs. Danger was literally behind every door. Beyond all this though, there was the mental mindf#$k that took place at the zone in.
Because the zone was stacked vertically going deeper into the ground, and Goblin casters screamed this horrible shrieks when they would cast, you could hear all this activity up at the zone-in from Misty Thicket. So if you were new to the zone, you were assaulted by this cacophony of sounds coming from places unknown. Players dying, goblins screaming, the clash of weapons and the casting of spells. Damn that was just awesome. Brilliant zone.
Vandraad said:I had mentioned this zone in another thread: RunnyEye. Best early dungeon in EQ1 because it was truly dangerous. The zone was compact, but not small. It was far more vertically oriented than horizontal with cramped hallways, lots of interconnected rooms, many roamers and a high density of mobs. Danger was literally behind every door. Beyond all this though, there was the mental mindf#$k that took place at the zone in.
Because the zone was stacked vertically going deeper into the ground, and Goblin casters screamed this horrible shrieks when they would cast, you could hear all this activity up at the zone-in from Misty Thicket. So if you were new to the zone, you were assaulted by this cacophony of sounds coming from places unknown. Players dying, goblins screaming, the clash of weapons and the casting of spells. Damn that was just awesome. Brilliant zone.
I had forgotten about the noise....hehehe Yeah. That was an awesome zone too.
Anistosoles said:Ah, Lake of Ill Omen. What a great time I had exploring and levelling there. Even went under the lake (Veksars??) to raid a dragon. Cool place.
LoIL was definitely a great one.
Over all, I would say that there were more awesome zones than not in EQ up to PoP, which, to me, is where EQ started falling apart.
Agreed, I think POP was the ruination of EQ, being able to teleport instanly everwhere, people just skipped all the content and zones felt like ghost towns, very empty and loanly because everyone just teleported to where every and skipped all the zones and content in between... What a Waste.
Favorite zone of all time...ToV. Favorite low lvl zone was probably crushbone. When crushbone was current and every named was camped it was a busy exp zone. Then a couple expansions later when it was a ghosttown and I was bored late at night I would tag every mob in the zone and pull giant trains for fun. Good times.
I enjoyed LoIO like some of you too...but Veksar wasn't added until much later. I don't think of it at all when I think back. I remember grouping with some guildies in Veksar the first day it came out just to see it, but that is about it. There wasn't much incentive for people to play there at that point.
Dhampir said:Lake of Ill Omen was my favorite EQ zone, but only probably because I spent SO MUCH TIME in that zone. Kurn's Tower is my second favorite.
I wouldn't change much, except making them look better visually.
Kurn's is totally number one.
I loved how hitting one of the burynai would make the entire basement ridiculously hard.
I loved random holes leading you to lower levels, the lowest being an actual pit full of burynai that didnt actually lead back into kurn's tower.
I loved how you could get through it solo but had to constantly worry about wandering mobs, so groups were still better.
I loved how I could level there and also make trade money at the same time.
I loved the tight corners and doors with mobs right behind them.
I loved the hidden skeletal cook quest and various fun, challenging camps like the skeletal jester, who dropped gear that felt powerful and long lasting.
I loved the ever present temptation for ticking off the burynai, the solist's icy wand, which dropped very rarely from them.
Original old school EQ posting here so some of the zones I am describing may be entirely foreign and unfamiliar to most.
I loved the original Splitpaw Lair as myself (rogue) and a friend (Enchanter) were the only ones in there. It was level appropriate but really dangerous for our group of two (back then EQ was insanely crowded and finding an adventuring spot where you didn't have to share camps was really hard) - we had no healers, no buffs, no tanks, and no blasters but we made it work - this most of all is what I remember about EQ - rolling a character and going out to adventure and not really realizing that our group of two really sucked as far as being able to progress - man did we have a lot of deaths and boy were we having fun. Probably because we were the only ones in there was a contributing reason to it having to be revamped and upgraded to get people to venture there (assuming it was rarely used on any server). Breaking the bottom caverns (under the water) and being able to farm Snakeskin Jerkin to sell at Qeynos helped to build our coffers. That was what Adventure truly was! Eventually a druid located us and started hanging around with us and we had a pretty great time until we leveled too high but having a druid in the group sure made it easier for us - especially with the heals.
I loved the original Cazic Thule before the revamp when Rubicite was just being discovered. So many options for adventuring in there and plenty of room for plenty of groups. Now we were adventuring with a full complement of six people.
I loved Castle Mistmoore that was a freaky scary place.
I wasn't much of a fan of Najeena but spent a lot of time there while Jboots were still an item from the dungeon (never got them for my rogue; rogue eventually got them with the ensuing quest after the change). I really liked those pyramid creatures that would send you flying backwards if you didn't pay attention to when they were going to blast you. Positioning ourselves with backs-to-the-wall so that if we got caught we wouldn't fly too far nor too high.
I liked Befallen but probably mostly because of having to get keys to progress.
Pretty much after those dungeons there just didn't seem to be that WOW factor that I remember from those other dungeons at earlier levels.
So for a reimagining:
Splitpaw Lair: I'd like to see an underground lair that sort of got caught up in the whole Terminus melding and the denizens of said lair have kept themselves secret from the world. It's a zone that wouldn't be easy to know was there and visual clues would be required to pique curiosity and eventually discover an entrance.
Cazic Thule: A temple that has undergone an upheaval as a result of Terminus coming together. Some original denizens and an influx of new creatures taking over.
Castle Mistmoore: An entire Castle of a specific race or creed that hates everyone and aspirations of taking over Terminus. Entering the zone is a guarantee of fight to survive - no friends exist in the zone - and no safe havens. When you enter you are entering the forbidden zone.
I don't have any reimagining for a Najeena or a Befallen - just have fond memories of adventuring in groups with friends and strangers (PUGS).
I like what they did with the Kithicor revamp. There may not be many on here who remember the original Kithicor. It was an empty zone and there was no night and day aspect to it. It was just the zone with a really long run to get to Highpass Hold. So having something similar in Pantheon I think would be really cool.
First dungeon zone i vere entred was Befallen and it was such a fun place , i loved that you had to get key´s to get further into the zone ( ignoring the well you could use to drop down with) Sol A and Sol B where fun to.
One thing i would love to see in ProtF is really large dungeons for crawls and camps, one cool thing would be some thing like a underworld system where you can travle and fight mobs and maybe have some small villages with subterranean humanoids ( think underdark in forgotten realms AD&D ) opens up some cool trade adventure quests or runs =)
The zone that first comes to mind for me is actually the long path between the Eastern Plains of Karana and Highpass Hold; I remember exploring through that long path without SoW and wondering if it was ever going to end, and think a more intense version of that would be something I'd enjoy in PRotF. I'd like to see a single large zone in which players spend a long time passing through without (m)any encounters and therefore generally try to avoid altogether, be it another mountain pass, a scorching desert or something along those lines.
It might be possible to skip this altogether, but if so it shouldn't be an absolute given as to how this can be done. I think that even simply exchanging this bit of information with new players and remarking how awful the journey is on foot would bring the community closer together, and that including zones for people to want to avoid has its own charm.
The entire continent of Gfay, Steamfont Mts (with the crazy wizard and mino cave), etc. Where the Dwarves, High Elves, and Wood Elves lived. Especially Kelethin, CB, and unrest :) Sooo many memories of the original EQ. Subs were 9.89 too I believe. Because of the Studio that created it?! Crazy what you remember!
For me and with my main being a ranger, I would love to see Jaggedpine Forest re-imagined.
I loved the forest feeling you got in there, not being able to see vast distances because of the amount of trees. This could be a truely awsome zone in Pantheon. With Timber Griffons, Gnolls, poachers and all manner of wild creatures abound, this could be a wild and very challenging place. But at the same time, I think it could be a beautiful area too. I would love to see the zone change with the seasons. To see the leaves fall in autum and seem dead in winter, green poking through the snow in spring then full growth of summer. That would be perfect for me :-)
One of my most hated things in EQ was the tendency to have a few mobs floating around that would just instagib an otherwise zone appropriate group, much less soloers. Field of bone, was almost ruined by those stupid Iksar Marauders which were level 14-17 walking around in a pack of level 6-10 mobs. This issue does tend to get ironed out as character levels increase but it still happens. I could reimagining a fair number of zones and make them more enjoyable by simply removing the walking death incarnate.
p.s. no idea why my text is now highlighted white. This board hates me
Trasak said:One of my most hated things in EQ was the tendency to have a few mobs floating around that would just instagib an otherwise zone appropriate group, much less soloers. Field of bone, was almost ruined by those stupid Iksar Marauders which were level 14-17 walking around in a pack of level 6-10 mobs. This issue does tend to get ironed out as character levels increase but it still happens. I could reimagining a fair number of zones and make them more enjoyable by simply removing the walking death incarnate.
Wholy disagree. I honestly hope there is this same thing in Protf. This is what made camping a sport. After fighting and barely living though, you couldn't just /afk sit for 5 mins. I remember sometimes, camping and having to run away during a pull because one of the overcon mobs was getting too close. It's a wonderful added aspect of having to live in the game, not just log in for an exp grind. I loved the excitement and fear of some zones those few mobs gave me.
Kittik said:Wholy disagree. I honestly hope there is this same thing in Protf. This is what made camping a sport. After fighting and barely living though, you couldn't just /afk sit for 5 mins. I remember sometimes, camping and having to run away during a pull because one of the overcon mobs was getting too close. It's a wonderful added aspect of having to live in the game, not just log in for an exp grind. I loved the excitement and fear of some zones those few mobs gave me.
It has been nothing but a nightmare for me so far as I have been replaying P99. Having something semi predictable is interesting but if each and every camp had a 1% chance to spawn something 10 levels higher than the groups that would be in the zones then people would just avoid those camps. Field of Bone is particularly bad as everything is all jumbled together and your only option to deal with the marauders was to run them to the guards. No character that can get meaningful exp from the pit can stand up to even a dozen hits from one of those marauders. I will also admit that there were few instances of mob misplacement as aggravating as iksar marauders.
Kind of like saying, "Quick, run down this hallway and hope you don't aggro one of the invisible ninjas that can backstab you for twice your total HP."
