Retirement after 20 Years with Good Memories

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Caelel, Oct 12, 2019.

  1. Caelel New Member

    Hi All,

    I've decided to through in the towel and move on from Everquest. This game has been an awesome, enjoyable, frustrating, and character defining process for me over the past several decades. Without a doubt, it contributed to me becoming the person that I am today. So I want to thank all the creative talent that built this game, those that have passed, moved on, and that which remain today. Now that that is over, I wanted to mention some highlights and memories of my experience.

    I started playing EQ toward the end of 99 a bit before Kunark's release. I made a bunch of characters at the time, though two of which I remember most were a paladin and a ranger. I remember, firing up that old interface with the closed up viewport and the hybrid MUD/3d world that it offered. Every time I turned on that game, it was a moment of excitement!

    My first death was falling from Kelethin. So was my second or third, but then I learned to cope with gravity. I was so amazed to explore this town, not knowing of the vastness of this game, and the soon to be pleasure of literally just walking from town to town. I hailed every npc and read the hand-crafted text.

    I remember heading up to Crushbone, and leveling there for a week or two, meeting interesting people and getting crushed by trains. It was a fearful experience to go up against the blue orcs in confined spaces too. Such a cool experience.

    Fast forward a bit to Kunark, I remember falling off the boats. I got lost in the ocean until fortunately a passer by escorted me out. At a low level, I went to FV, and dodged drachnids with a SOW buff trying to get to this place called Lake of Ill Omen. I remember being scared by the spider people. My last memories of Kunark, were of the legendary trains in KC. I was a bard at that point, and loved to group there.

    My first guild and raid experience came with Velious. I joined the Iceblades of Xev, and found my first persistent at the time online friend, a guy named Wicked Klown (ogre warrior I believe). We played for several years until he disappeared. Raiding KD in Velious was an experience that I won't forget. The CH chains, the pulling, so many damn giants, it was a blast. At that point, I was a wizard named Seadrick.

    They just kept raising the bar, Luclin came out and I couldn't believe that I was standing on the moon. The possibilities seemed endless and leveling in DSP and GE was what I recall most. Did a bit of raiding here too, mostly PUG, since I couldn't swing the time (finishing high school and the mom wasn't a huge fan of games). I also transitioned from dial-up to a cable modem, and man, that was a next level experience.

    The most, EQ defining expansion for me was PoP. The pantheon style of raids, the thematic zones, and the shear amount of fun content had me deeply hooked. I think I played so many alts at the time, just because the group dynamics were so interesting. Though I still mained the wizard. Also, around PoP life happened, college was incoming and I started dating. Dating and EQ was difficult to manage.

    From there, WoW began and my first real conflicts of what to play arose. Also, I remember playing EQ2 upon release, and feeling devastated that my computer couldn't obtain more than 5 fps. Being a freshman in college without a powerful rig made it difficult. I think this point marked a turning direction in my gaming career with EQ.

    But still, regardless of WoW, EQ2, and the other games releasing at the time, I still came back. At this point, EQ offered one of the most hilarious experiences (vicariously) that I've had in gaming. I was playing WoW, and my brother was playing WoW with me and raiding with Harmonium in EQ at the same time. We were chatting on the phone while he was communicating with his raid team on EQ. He was about to die on his rogue in WoW and was shouting "Evade,Evade (jokingly)" as he was waiting for the evasion cooldown to come back up. All of this while accidentally keying up to his EQ guild. They were salty, but good laughs were had. I think he got kicked that evening.

    Most of the times following this point, an expac would release, I would play for a few months then life would take back over. I finished school, pursued my career, got married, and followed a trajectory that I feel many of us have over the years. Still, I would come back and play something that just felt comfortable, second nature.

    Boxing became much more of a reality for me when mercs arrived. That changed EQ quite a bit from being a personal experience to more of a team based dungeon crawler. I felt it was a double edged sword, both simultaneously loving the new-found power and independence, but also missing the identification of self that comes with playing only one class. Boxing did make EQ more palatable for me though, when considering commitments IRL. Growing up surely did make the grouping experience more erratic or intractable.

    EQ did have one more gift to give me though. After being married for a few years, my wife and I were about to have our first child. He ended up passing, his name was Cael, right at childbirth. Needless to say, that was an awful experience. My coping mechanism to deal with this reality was to reach for something comfortable. Not necessarily an escape from reality at this point, but more of a point to show that there is still some positive things in the day to day experience. After satisfying that need, EQ went back on the shelf for awhile to wait for another day. There is quite a bit of literature on these types of topics, which I will avoid, but I am still thankful for that.

    Years passed more, and work, more kids (all healthy), and in general life continues to happen. So I will always fondly remember these great experiences, and I truly appreciate this game. To me now, EQ is synonymous with nostalgia (of the good kind).

    Cheers,
    Nebulism

    P.S. I imaging that I'll always lurk these forums, as its satisfying to see people continue to love this game.
    Mintalie, Zunnoab, Sirhc and 9 others like this.
  2. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

  3. Tucoh Augur

    My first death was in kelethin too. I had to turn my gamma up before i could literally see anything in the world. I remember hearing walking sounds, nothing, splat and then the ol loading please wait.
  4. SunDrake Augur

    Sounds like you're the type that thinks the game is something quite special. Those type people have been an integral part of the game being quite special. Take care and enjoy the memories. :)
  5. Whulfgar Augur

    I wish you good fortune in the war's to come..
  6. Derresh Augur

    good luck in your future adventures wherever that might be
  7. Roxas MM Augur

    eq players never quit, we just take breaks, some longer then others. Until that time, all the best.
    Grove likes this.
  8. svann Augur

    Lets get this over with - Can I Have Your Stuff!
  9. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Thanks for sharing your memories. May Tunare light your way.
  10. Bamboompow Augur

    Thanks you for your post. Its nice to see something positive and dignified be posted here, even if it is a good bye.
  11. Andarriel Everquest player since 2000



    Best of luck to you. my first death I can remember was begging off a kaladim dwarf guard hoping I get some money then smack loading please wait haha. Also have memories of kelethin best part was the music eon's ago. Good old days long boat rides no pok books no maps ect ect all fun.

    Andarriel
  12. Bigstomp Augur

    Good luck man.
  13. Sirhc Apprentice

    Always sad to hear about a long time player quitting. Good luck to you and thanks for the post.
  14. Jalelorf Augur

    Someone has to say it....

    Can I have your stuff?
    ;)
  15. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    You want that stuff? huh? You want that stuff?

    YOU CAN'T HANDLE THAT STUFF!!

    because clearly you don't have enough class.
  16. Ibudin Augur

    Very similar experiences but I had taken a few 2-3 year breaks in there, can't say I was here from 1999 to 2019. Thanks for sharing, enjoy whatever game you plan to play from here on out. Once a gamer, always a gamer.
  17. Zunnoab Augur

    Just make sure to back up your configuration files just in case, even if you never intend to log in again. I've seen people quit and come back and have to redo everything from scratch plenty of times.