Farming exp in the Estate of Unrest in EQ1.
By far my most favorite leveling zone. As monk puller: we used to shack up in the basement, and then I was able to pull practically the entire zone in sequence before it started respawning. Of course this meant not too many mobs left for other groups. Which led to everyone wanting to be in my group :-)
I loved the atmosphere of the zone, with it's illusionary walls, and weird hallways with twists and turns. Mummies, Zombies, Skeletons and ghouls, etc... So many good memories.
My second favorite zone was Befallen. It seems weird that my most fondest zones are the real low leveling ones and not the big raids because I have lots of great memories of the Raids. Such as clearing down to Trakanon in Old Sebilis. Or solo pulling in of Temple of Veeshan (yes I could split the triplets solo). Wow the more I think about it, there were a lot of great memories I could go on for hours.
But Unrest was still my favorite and I'd love to have an experience like that again with the feelings of impending doom if things went wrong, but at the same time a feeling of control as I got to know every nook and cranny. Every pathing issue and twist that let me dominate the zone. Never again did I get that feeling of complete control in a zone where others were afraid to go because it was difficult and they feared the trains that occured when people made mistakes and ran for it. Castle Mistmoore came close but I never knew it as well as I knew Unrest :-)
Doing high end raids in EQ2. 24 people are fun. It's not too many that people feel lost, and it's not too few that the content seems trivial. The chats, the challenges of figuring things out, the jokes and camaraderie were all going to remain very fond memories of my for a long time.
Meeting a dear friend of mine during my time in EQ2. We were both horrible level 20nothings struggling to kill our way to Nek castle (Remember, this was the first couple weeks of EQ2's release It was a vastly different game then). After a few repeated deaths I commented to him "We suck." To which he replied. "Yep" Ever since then we grouped, guilded, talked and played. Eventually we got better, but that evening and simple conversation will always stay with me.
Mindlessly farming mobs in UO and spotting a Red at the edge of my screen. The moment of panic that sets in to run, recall, or fight (which I seldom did, I'm horrible at PvP). Other times in UO where incidents like this repeated itself often.
To experience EQOA again as a new player. I was 13 years old and full of imagination. When I created my Elf Magician and began running around in a world similar to what I'd read in fantasy books, my mind just went wild. It was so amazing to me at that point in time and I would love to relive that moment. The immersion and adventure I had when experiencing my first MMO was incredible and the most memorable to me. I know I will likely never experience that again, but still enjoy the immersion and adventure aspect in games I play today, and hope to contrive from Pantheon. :)
Grinding xp in The Overthere for 36 hours straight to the point I had a physical list of people waiting to be in my group.
Getting married online by a DM to my guildmate.
Being guild leader and master politician of successful imperial guild in SWG.
I miss sitting on boat rides traveling, and just talking to the randoms traveling with me. I loved being Iksar and arriving to other lands to be scowled at, then one day earning my right to be their ally.
Hours of crafting...so many hours.
So. Many. To Choose.
I would have to say that my favorite memories are from the downtime intereactions between the raiding and the grinding, whether it be helping a guildmate help out with a quest, or chatting with the guild while we were gathering people before a raid.
In EQ2, a friend and I would have certain named mobs on timers to farm. He was a warden and I was a coercer. Farming bots started becoming a problem at this time, and it was fun trying to outsmart the bots for the loot. More often than not we were successful, but that battle was very fun.
This is a hard question.
From a "if I knew then what I know now" perspective, I'd have to say when I was leading my first guild back in EQ in 2000. I made so many mistakes. We still somehow did great as a guild but I feel like with what I know now, it could have been 3x more awesome.
From a "these were my happiest times" perspective, I'd have to say the first three years of Vanguard after it launched. Sure, there were bugs and it was hard to get people to stick with the game. But those of us that did - we were simply so immersed in the world and the feel and what felt like the limitless potential of the game. And at the time, we really truly believed that Sigil would somehow make it, or later that SOE would see what made the game special and really invest in making it amazing.
That's not to say I haven't been immersed in other games - but that immersion was often more solo experiences than group experiences - more about "me" than about "us". The group and guild stuff came later as the immersion started to wane, and our goals became more about beating the "endgame"... Vanguard, however was "immersion with friends" from the beginning, from my guild all the way up to the server community we helped build, and that's why it stands out in my memory. I mean, I remember when we all were at the level to go finally explore Trengal Keep. We nearly organized a raid on it, people were so excited to go and see it. Not just a couple of us but the whole guild.
I really hope Pantheon can replicate that level of immersion and excitement. I'd love to play again in a world where everyone around me is just as emotionally invested in the world, its lore, and its content as I am.
Nephele said:I really hope Pantheon can replicate that level of immersion and excitement. I'd love to play again in a world where everyone around me is just as emotionally invested in the world, its lore, and its content as I am.
Exactly. You found the words I was looking for.
Kilsin said:If you could relive one part of your gaming past, what would it be and why?
It would definitely be those earliest days as a total noob when I heard that EQ launch music and logged in to Greater Faydark. I've played games my whole life, including all the classic RPG's and online games and MUD's and FPS's. But that time when I was, for the first time, truly immersed and "living" in Norrath.
If you see the movie Ready Player One, it's all about the Oasis as a place to live (while still just a game). That feeling of everyone "living" there.
Running around with hundreds of total strangers in the same forest. And the moment I saw players /emote and realized it's much more than just a game.
And the time I ran to another zone and saw how HUGE this world was. And taking a boat to Kunark and crossing the entire ocean.
All of that incredible immersion and wonder. That is everything I want.
AggaSilverscale said:Nephele said:I really hope Pantheon can replicate that level of immersion and excitement. I'd love to play again in a world where everyone around me is just as emotionally invested in the world, its lore, and its content as I am.
Exactly. You found the words I was looking for.
I have to admit that is exactly what I wanted to say. I have so many memories from EQ and LotRO among the best I don’t want to label them as a number. They were all good but I am hoping PRF can put the immersion back into the genera. It’s a nasty Genie to put back in the bottle.
Ox
I have way too many. I think one of my most memorable time was doing the pally ghoulbane quest with my Dad. We were both paladins and didn't use any outside help or searches for it. We wrote the quest info down...tried to make sense of what clues we were given...and finally after going from 25-30 we both completed the Ghoulbane quest. We even had a hiccup where an item got eaten, luckily a note, and we had to travel a very long distance to back track and do that part again. Fun times.
Oh and being in crystaline caverns and a mage summoning beer and my dad drinking it all while pulling...he basically fell into a pit withsome nasty mobs and our group jumped in with no fear and starting hacking and slashing and a another group decided to help and jumped into the pit with us and we all worked are way back out with no deaths.
Also, random dumb stuff that only a new person to mmos could do. For instance when we were going from Qeynos to Freeport, for some blacksmithing stuff...at lvl 5...and a griffon kicked our butts and on our way back we were hiding behind trees when we saw one flying around...like that was gonna help, while searching for our bodies.
I have a ton of more..but you get the idea.
Sadly the new experience of playing an mmo will forever be gone, but hopefully I can experience some new interesting stuff that makes me feel like a total noob again.
Going on a different track here.
By the time I was a senior in high school, I had been playing Everquest off and on for a couple years. We couldn't afford much at the time, least of all a decent computer, so any time I was able to actually log on was a victory all its own. Like most, the teenage years were turbulent years, and I was an especially troubled pain in the a$$ at that age. So much so, that by the end of senior year, I dropped out of high school and got kicked out of the home.
For the next 6 months (and the subsequent 2 years after), I was living out of my car. The parents of a very good friend gave me a key to their home and offered to let me use their shower when the stink just became too much. Of course, me being the young jerk I was, I'd sneak inside their house when everyone was at work during the day.
Why, you ask?
To play Everquest, of course. I didn't have much time, and it wasn't the most convenient way, but any time I was able to sneak into that home and play just an hour of EQ during that time of my life was worth it. It would revive me like nothing could, even if all I did was log in and sit at the EC Tunnel. At a time of my life that was far from stable and normal, just logging on for an hour gave me that sense of normalcy I was looking for. I regret being dishonest and using those good people's computer just to scratch an itch, but I'd probably do it again.
As chaotic as that time of my life was, I'd relive the crap out of it just for the way EQ made me feel.
Tralyan said:Going on a different track here. ...I'd sneak inside their house when everyone was at work during the day. Why, you ask? To play Everquest, of course. ...I'd relive the crap out of it just for the way EQ made me feel.
When I was living in Norrath (aka playing EQ), I spent a lot of time there.
My friends and I played together at lunch every day and three nights a week. Then I was a guild officer and playing a lot.
I was also traveling a bit for work. EQ is great because I would finish my meetings and if there wasn't any sightseeing to do, I would go to my hotel room and play EQ for hours. It was a safe clean-cut way to while-away the hours trapped in a hotel room.
I also would modem in (old days, remember) when stuck in the airport or from a missed plane. Other folks were sitting around bored when their flight was delayed or cancelled, but I could find an hour or two to play EQ and have fun while waiting.
Lotro, pre-F2P, first time ever rolling a dwarf, err, not warrior? What was the class called? The non-tanking fighter class anyway ^^
Now as to why? Simply because for the first time ever, in the first MMO i liked that this was possible ever, i knew i had an "eternity" ahead of me of just playing.
No "must" groups, sorry, i meant no "group forcing", no "must" gears, no "good guild or else", no "DKP" or whatever they were called, have forgotten (sorry..), no antagonising. In fact? Not even giving a damn about anyone or anything, as all i knew and cared about was that i could just.. play :)
Who'd have thought, lol
Not surprisingly, each and every person i called a friend there was exactly that; a true friend. Not because pixels, but because personality. Someone could be both a horrible MMO player and a great friend; one you could play with often, his lack of "skillz" regardless. You could join a guild with such people without feeling "left out" and/or daydreaming about the "gear" you'd never have. I cannot recall anyone, ever, logging in without wanting to because grinding or 'x' "must" content they had to do or "else". Not surprisingly.
Over ten years later and all i can choose from is.. loot, lol. The games you people call 'mainstream', you farm the loot until you log out. The games you people call 'hardcore', you farm the loot until you log out. Sole difference being how many hours one needs smash his keyboard before acquiring it or before needing even better. Woopty doo.
The first years of MMO gaming.
So many mistakes were made, so much fun was had. I would re-live it over and over with every mistake included.
If i could re-live one singular moment it would have to be my first North-TOV raid. So many dragons lined up to be slaughtered. I didnt even get a single drop, but it was a blast seeing an organized guild raid vs. a pickup raid.
Aenra said:Lotro, pre-F2P, first time ever rolling a dwarf, err, not warrior? What was the class called? The non-tanking fighter class anyway ^^
Champions!
Lots of good memories of LOTRO. Definitely miss those times. It wasn't a groundbreaking MMO by any means (although some of their classes were innovative and expertly created), but the lore and the background of the franchise really drew a great crowd. The community there will always be one I remember the most fondly.
My first time in the caves in Luclin, listening to my favorite radio station in the background, as I snagged that one lucky group that grinded me 6 levels in 4 hours.... I recall my brother saying those caves were really heavily xp weighted in those days and needed to be scaled down, but it was really satisfying hearing that ding so much.
Farming the Aviaks in a quiet part of the world, watching people call out trains to zone in the /ooc channel but happily plugging along on my own knowing they won't swing by me and I was at peace just doing what I did best at that time - kill some bird people.
My in-game best friend (Bertox server I think, Siroto?) and I just queueing up for some dungeons (were they called trials? I honestly don't remember). We would run across zones and then kick some serious butt in every instance. I spent an entire summer doing this with my friend until life caught up with me.
On the Planes of Justice, being both the tank and healer for a group well enough that we could just park our butts and go for hours at a time without a single wipe. I felt really happy about being able to manage that. Of course, big kuddos to good CC helping. :)
All the good memories of EQ really inspired me to take a bigger charge in improving the community of the MMORPG I played after EQ - City of Heroes. For a long time I was very popular on my server there for organizing server events, helping other players, and helping build a pretty well-known guild called Lethal Ladies. I miss the hours just chilling with them, too...
I really love the community aspect of MMORPGs, and I have very high hopes for what Pantheon is designing, as well as seeing what I can bring to the table as a player to really create that close-bonding community that I miss and remember so fondly.
In FFXI Online there was this one Lv 25 quest to gain access to a zone called "Khazam", this was a very low level quest when you hadn't seen alot of the world and was still extremely weak and very very vulnerable. Healers had got Raise at that very level so often it wasn't affordable for them (you had to buy it from the Auction House from other players), so you often had to do it all without Raise.
This quest required a team of full party of (6 if level appropriate) people to travel to three level apprpriate zones spread out across the far corners of the world (one per starting city) and kill various monsters for key items (low % drop rate) and then turn them all back in to get a "Khazam Airship Pass". This then opened up a new set of (expansion) zones for leveling up which was better than the other zones for levelling at that level range.
I had no giuld at the time so I joined a party from a shout-out I heard in the level appropriate hub called Jeuno. We spent all night (about 5 hours) travelling the world, clawing our way through the dungeons and collecting the key items for all 6 people before turning them all in and getting our Khazam airship passes.
I still remember going up to the Khazam Airship NPC in Port Jeuno, getting through the check-in desk and waiting for the airship to arrive, boarding it, waiting for it to take off and flying through the clouds and finally landing at the tropical paradise of Khazam with my party. We left Khazam town zone out into the combat zone and zoned right into a Goblin Smithy 10 levels higher than us that had been trained to the zoneline which promptly destroyed every single one of us at the zone line during the all black loading screen and we all lost a load of EXP, some people even delevelled and couldn't equip their gear / weapons. (Lv 25 was a good level for upgrades, many jobs got a new full set of armour / weapson at 25) so we then had to fight back the EXP with a half party so the people could get back to 25 before we could actually make good EXPing.
Good times. :D