Someone posted something that prompted me to post this thread. They said new TLP were close to original eq. I think there are enough differences that for the new players that did not play back then would be interested in knowing. Maybe even some DPG people may not know. Post what you remember being differenct than how it is now. Here are some that I remember; 1. Corpse Runs - When you died you had to run to your corpse to get your gear back. If you died some place bad like on a Fear Break you either had backup gear in the bank or had to run in naked until you broke in. 2. Respect - If someone came up to a guy camping something he respectfully asked to get on the list. He respectfully went on his way until it was his turn to camp said spot. Long gone from this game. 3. GM's and Guides were plentiful 4. 99% of the population did not box and those that did boxed 1 other toon for the most part. 72 man PoP raid had a real 72 people there. 5. No discord or anything like it, running raids using OOC, shout etc.
I remember when tells wouldn't queue when you zoned. I remember waiting at zoneline for a reply, or you'd say "zoning" so they wouldn't respond until you popped back, or the message would be lost. I remember when you would get a message in your chat box that said "<name> saved" to tell you (and VI/SoE I guess?) that your character had saved at that point. We were raiding using Teamspeak at least by PoP, maybe even before. Our 72 man PoP raids had plenty of two boxers too. 3 or more was uncommon though, for sure. Pretty sure you have rose coloured glasses on about respect. Some had respect, some didn't, like now. There was just more GM/guide staff to enforce PnP. Forum quest was bigger then than now. Every one had an EZ Board for everything. Every server had active message boards. Every class had active message boards.
EQ was a big scary place. You didn't know what was waiting for you around the corner. You had no clue where to go and level. Now on TLP's. You know everything. You know where to go for the best xp and loot. You know the quests. You know where not to go until you reach a certain level. Plus, all the quality of life improvements which have been added to the game which didn't exist at the beginning. TLP are an illusion of early EQ. Early EQ is long gone.
The respect part could have been the server I was on also, I'm sure not all servers had the same experience I did. I also thought of something else, the direction sense or what ever its called now was not auto granted at skill of 200 like now you had to click it over and over. I remember when Rampage first came out trying to figure that out along with other things you had to figure out. Many wipes figuring these mechanics out and how to beat Boss Mobs. Now everyone just looks it up on you tube. I forgot about the spell book, played a Monk until Velious then added a Shaman to the mix.
Back then there was real fear to die: "/ooc Has anyone seen my corpse?" I miss the "Train to zone!" warnings. I profoundly dislike the AA system, the real grind are not levels but AAs. Today game feels like a perpetual hell level just by that. Combat was much more low paced, today is a smash button fest. From lvl 60 upwards is a totally different game.
Pressing jump to try and hit bats Buying a full set of bronze armour and not being able to walk. Dropping gear on the floor in hidden places for an alt, lots more...annoying monks dropping coins everywhere. Causing trains in Blackburrow by shooting arrows at the mobs on the bridges below.
My favorite thing was giving the skeletons in Nektulos forest weapons that were pretty uber at the time and watching the newbies get confused when said skell tore em a new one. Nice reward for em if they won though.
There was a little spot in the *OLD* Freeport that was like a tiny little backyard area...you hade to go through a couple of rooms to get to it. That's where I used to trade stuff between alts on my account, long before the shared bank. Drop it on the ground, log out that toon, log in the alt, and pick it up...praying like hell nobody saw me run into that building and followed me.
When there were hard to get spells or abilities (like funeral pyre of kelador) that could change how you played the game. Now things that change the game are nerf bait. Then they were goals. The first time I could lifeburn for One. Thousand. Points. All by myself.
Unique items, it used to feel exciting and like a tabletop adventure. Now, there is now effort in itemization. It’s so boring and unappealing.
1. Less whining by people over simple competition. If you wanted Jboots you showed up in Najena and tried to KS her like everyone else or got help from a friend wiz/druid/mage if you couldn't do it yourself. 2. Being able to translocate people in your group without them getting that annoying yes/no box that lets them have a choice in the matter. Annoying people shouldn't get an option. 3. Old Freeport was a great city and it was replaced by a confusing mess. 4. Needing to use EC Tunnel or North Freeport or whatever zone you used on your server as a bazaar. It kept prices down when you couldn't just sell stuff while afk. It also gave you an opportunity to barter if you really wanted something but didn't have enough plat on hand. 5. Oasis of Marr 6. This one might have been from beta but Unrest was way more fun when the hags could charm players. 7. Having full health and mana after you died. 8. Being able to dispell NPCs without them aggroing on you. Plus you could buff them too. I liked it cause you could run past mobs if you forced them to rebuff themselves. It also was fun giving everything see invis on the live side of lguk. It helped slow people down from trying to steal your named.
I think people are more respectful nowadays than they were in the early years of EQ. The reason EQ had to implement instances was because of campstealing, killstealing, guilds training each other, etc. There was a lot of griefing before instances. It took a drastic developer change, separating people in instances so they couldn't go at each other anymore, before people stopped being jerks to each other. And even in zones that were not instanced, like QVic, guilds kept on training each other for M'sha access. I think people just look at the past in rose-tinted glasses. I don't remember people being more respectful to each other back then, quite the opposite.