XP chains from FFXI. It took the boring and monotonous side of grinding and turned it into something fun and engaging. Those were the good ol' days. I tend to spend a lot of time grinding in MMO's so for me this is pretty easy. I love how it encouraged teamwork and rewarded good play through all stages of the game.
Playing EQ (or later, EVE Online) during the break between Christmas and New Year's Day. That is the only time I (and others I have played with) have the freedom to spend a ridiculous number of hours playing. I become more immersed, more goal-oriented, more social, and more willing to grind for long periods of time. I have a lot of vacation time banked, so I might take a week off to play Pantheon more or less full-time when it launches.
Fighting Hill Giants in Rathe Mountain for platinum and charming wandering Giant Skeletons to fight them.
The best part is when the Giant Skeletons got low health I would break charm, kill them and still get XP.
If I could I'd want to relive the first day or two ever playing EverQuest back in 1999. The sheer awe felt playing a game in a persistant living 3D world with thousands of other players on a server at the same time. Getting lost in the Surefall Glade tunnel with the first character I ever made (human ranger) because it was too dark to see anything even with my gamma turned up which resulted in camping out and deleting him to make a half-elf paladin in Qeynos. Then being blown away by the attention to detail in that the different races had different levels of vision.
After spending about a month in Nekltolos Forest in EQ1 after release, finally zoning to EC and seeing the blue sky, clouds, trees, and a lion chasing a dude in the distance then a Griffon. I immediately ran back into Nek Forest and was in awe but also worried about dying.
It was the most memorable moment that started a long string of moments I enjoyed playing that game for years to come.
I used to run with my then grilfriend and another couple we met ingame.
Being that I played more than them, I would adventure looking for that next place to camp up some exp. We had run from Freeport to Qeynos... THAT was one hell of a fun time, we were like lvl 15. So, being a new area I went out looking for a pave to hunt... it was in S. Qeynos I discovered a boat and decided to see where it took me... there was an isle with Kerrans (first time seeing them) and so I stepped off the boat and deicdede to check out the isle.... I found a **** ton of wisps, nd a sunken ship with zombie sailors... We all had either magic abilities or a tentacle whip (Newly aquired than god) so we could actually kill wisps.. So when my group got on I told them how to get to me and that we were gonna be calling this isle home for quite a while. I had discovered ass well a quest to go to NKerrana with Greater lightstones... We were now gonna be makin fat cash LOL... So much fun just killing wisps and zombie sailors for days.. all th egreat conversations and it was a tropical isle... we all felt like we were in the carribean on vacation.. SO GR8!!
My fondest memories was early EQ in Crushbone. I started a Rogue and would scrape every last copper to buy another piece of banded armor so I could have the coolest ringmail look ever as a Wood Elf. I remember seeing the castle and asking a nearby guy what was in there. He said "Red orcs" so I sat there and patiently waited for these "red orcs" to come storming out of the castle. They never did. It never dawned on me he was talking about the con of the mob lol my curiosity wasn't satisfied until I finally got high enough level to sit in the throne room and watch all the spawns. I did end up with Ambassador D'vinn's dagger which was the cat's meow for Rogue weapons early in EQ. Even though Ambassador D'vinn hit like a truck he was pretty easy to kill in a group given that usually there was 15 people huddled in his spawn point waiting to take him out. I never sold that dagger or got rid of it because of how excited I was when I looted it. It was my first good loot in any MMO
Sounds like we have "Community for the Win"!!
Playing with folks from all over the world with different backgrounds, ideals and interests, backgrounds and upbringings. Its great to be able to shrink the world and cram them into another "digital" world and build a whole new community.
I remember also early Saturday mornings when someone would come up to me nd say, "You JPN"? asking if I were Japanese and they spoke very little English but we groupe dup just the same and overcame the language barrier.. good times
Kilsin said:If you could relive one part of your gaming past, what would it be and why? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
For me, there are several parts of my gaming past I would relive, but I'll just relate three of them, because they are interconnected (Edited to add my third point):
1) EQ1: Beta preview. There's a bit of backstory here. So, in January of 1999, I was working full time for Babbage's Software at our local mall. Now, up until that time, I had neither the need nor desire for a personal desktop PC, as I didn't see much of a need at that time for personal use (I developed AI for a game developer for 4 years before they went out of business, so for the most part, I only saw a PC as a business tool to be used in the professional workplace). So I come in to start my day shift, and at the very front of the store, we used to demo upcoming games for our customers, allowing people to play for a limited time before they had to pass the controller on to the next customer. Well, I round the corner and see this beautiful 3-D rendered game, and I just had to play it! Wound up clocking in then rushing back to the storefront to wait my turn along with 3 other employees and a few customers. I clocked in about noon, and we stayed until security kicked us out around midnight. :p
2) EQ1: Launch. Decided I had to not only have this game, but I just had to save up for a PC. The day after the game launched, one of my close friends told me that they had not only bought themselves a new PC, but had bought EQ. He invites me over one evening, and, for the next month or so, I would come over to his house on my days off, log on at about midnight, and stay up until 7AM (or whenever his gf would kick me out lol). Finally got enough scratch saved up to buy one, and never looked back, but if not for that first month, I probably would have forgotten all about it eventually, and never had gotten to play something that became ever so dear to my heart for a decade to come.
To this day, only ONE game has ever come close to how it felt to play EQ1 in it's infancy, what with the awesome community, even more awesome server admins (at least on my home of Tarew Marr, RIP), and an almost ephemeral feel. That game was FFXIV, ARR, and even THAT game has fallen prey to the various pitfalls plaguing other online games today.
3) The Plane Of Hate: So, my main was a Cleric, and, one day, I ran across this other Cleric who was sporting this purple metal plate armor. I was stunned, it looked so amazing to me. I asked where he got his armor, and he replied "The Plane of Hate -- You should go there and spend a couple of weeks, farm your set up." I had thought that a place like that was only for guilds, as I didn't belong to one yet, but I went in anyways, and what I saw there blew my mind.
So many people, I think there was close to 100 people in the zone. Folks shouting in /yell chat "Go left once you zone in, and hug the left wall as high as you can go. Keep running straight until you run into the main force. DO NOT descend down the wall under any circumstance! Oh -- and if you get DT'd, send a tell to our monks on duty, and give them /consent. They will drag your corpse to a Cleric for rezzing." A few of the Monks intorduced themselves in /yell chat, and I caught myself wondering "WTH is a DT??"..........
........just then..........
........................................Innoruuk Yells "XAILIN!!"
And I fall over, dead. Made me laugh, thinking to myself "Well THERE'S my answer, lol!"
I /consent one of the Monks, get dragged to the main group. The tanks would run down to snag an add and drag him up top for everyone to kill. Loot drops, everyone who could equip it rolled /random 1 100, high roller won. Spent the next 6 weeks there to get a full set of Ethereal Mist Armor from the adds, then later on to killing Inny the next couple of weeks after that for a Beacon of Loathing, Signet of Betrayal, and a Darkfelt Noose.
Plus, aside from the occasional idiot ninja looter (who found themselves unable to get in most groups for some time afterwards for some reason), the people there were the best. Everyone got along, joked, conversed, got to know one another well. I had an army of friends and allies once the whole thing was done. Also I might add, no other game has been constructed in such a way to where a person's reputation was everything. You screw others over, rip people off, or steal from people in the early EQ1, you were solo the rest of the game mostly. I loved that about EQ, because it kept people mostly in check (mostly).
Since that time, not ONCE have I ever experienced such a great bunch of people, who played the game not simply to advance their toons, but to enjoy an experience like no other, and to share that joy with other like-minded people, in such a great game.
Lots of people with EQ memories, I never played EQ but wished I'd known about it back in the day. I did play some EQ2 but my pc struggled a bit with it.
Reliving a part of my gaming history, it would have to be the first time I started playing Pools of Radiance by TSR. The first time stepping out with my team that I'd created and starting to explore via my monitor rather than just reading the books. That initial thrill of stepping into a visual environment in and moving through the world. Ah, the memories of 1988.