Ever thought about why you love this game so much?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by nezran, Jan 18, 2021.

  1. nezran New Member

    I have. In fact, recently, I've thought about it a lot, which led to me writing an article to capture my thoughts.

    The article is entitled, "3 Reasons Why I Play Everquest." I'll provide the top level reasons below and if you're interested in reading the details, click the link.

    Reason 1: Everquest Has Over Two Decades of Content
    Reason 2: Everquest Has My Favorite Action Combat
    Reason 3: Everquest Is Relaxing

    3 Reasons Why I Play Everquest article at Emergent Mage

    Feel free to post your own reasons for playing Everquest. What keeps the game installed on your laptop? What are your favorite features or things to do in-game? I look forward to seeing your results.
    minimind and code-zero like this.
  2. phattoni Augur

    im not sure what i love about everquest, i know the gameplay is fun and it keeps my attention longer than any mmo on the market at the moment. ive played a lot of mmos, and most of them truly do suck.

    world of warcraft was good when it first came out, but by the time cataclysm came out the game was just meh. i actually played it for about a year when it first came out, 2 months into tbc, then i came back to everquest.

    gameplay in other games is just boring, and there really isnt much risk involved in most mmos now. not that there is much risk left in everquest, i mean losing a corpse is no longer a thing, the exp loss is laughable, and most of the quests are so lame i can barely get through current expacs. ive been on tlps for the last 6+ years. live just isnt appealing any more, because its no longer fun, there are huge gear gaps, casual vs raider is a huge difference in gameplay, the number of aa required to be effective on live is huge.

    everquest wasnt my first mmo, it was something called "the 4th coming"(2d diablo style gameplay).

    everquest was my first true 3d experience, and it was fun as hell. cant remember how many corpses i lost and had to start my toon over.

    the risk vs reward just isnt there any more.

    everquest was a genre defining game, it laid the footstones for all 3d mmos on the market today, and not a single one of them has the risk vs reward that everquest once had, none of them even come close.

    i guess im just grasping at straws, things that used to be fun to me, are no longer in game. not sure why i play the game any more. but when i play other games, i always come back to everquest.

    world of warcraft was a snore fest, pull 20 mobs solo and aoe them down solo, that usually doesnt happen in everquest, you pull 20 even con+ mobs solo and you are probably going to die.

    new games on the market dont really have anything genre defining, they lack substance, there is no risk vs reward, a lot of the games are just easy mode. with big numbers to appease small brained humans, simple minded people that think hitting for 1 million at level 10 is cool.

    most people will say wow is great now, but its really not.

    flashy graphics and big numbers are not what make a game fun.

    not to mention the community of everquest, is the best community of any mmo on the market.
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  3. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    The game design is quite special.

    I attribute it to 3 factors:

    1. Simplicity - The game's design and systems are fairly simple and easy to understand. It rarely feels too clunky or overly complex.

    2. Minimalism - I believe the game is forced to be minimalist due to the old engine and code. This is both a handicap and a benefit. I believe it makes EQ1 unique compared to EQ2 and WoW where there is a temptation to constantly evolve (new systems).

    3. Editorial Consistency - The game feels strongly curated thus far. The devs are very careful about in-game and marketplace aspects. There is little to no P2W. Itemization is strictly controlled. Power curves are not too inflated. Vertical and horizontal aspects of power are not out of reach. Power mobility is fairly good.
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  4. nezran New Member

    You bring up some good points phattoni that hadn't thought of. I might need to write another article listing 3 more reasons.

    I definitely concur that Everquest has more challenge and more substance. That rings true for me. Quests in some games are just so vapid.
  5. nezran New Member

    Damn, those are good reason! I totally agree.
  6. Denyu Lorekeeper

    Because it doesn't love me back.
    Evye and Aldren like this.
  7. phattoni Augur

    yea the quests in everquest are just epic in some cases, i remember doing my first 1.0, there wasnt much write up on it, and at that point in time, npcs ate anything you gave them, so i had to start over again quite a few times, due to giving items to random people trying to progress the quest to next step, there hasnt been challenge like that in any mmo to date.

    there was no quest log, no direct hints on who the next npc in the quest chain was etc. quests nowadays are NO FAIL, there is no way to screw them up, some games put fake restraints such as time limits, to give the quest a sense of difficulty, but its really not difficult, since the quest is laid out for you, and in most modern games, there is an arrow pointing to the npc, or a mark on the map.

    way too much hand holding for me, which is why it gets boring, there is no mystery or risk of failure.

    most games now are so easy compared to when i was younger.

    anyone that doesnt make the game super easy usually gets bad reviews, or isnt very popular with the gaming crowd of today. they have grown accustom to having easy mode for years now.

    games just arent challenging now, since about 2005 they have been too easy.
    nezran likes this.
  8. Cadira Augur

    No one loves everquest, it is simply a bad drug we are all addicted to.
  9. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    People. helping friends, making new friends. being a bard.
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  10. Rolaque Ancient

    And yet, no mention of tradeskills. You really have to earn the privilege being able to do some combines.
    There is no sure thing in EQ. There is always a chance of failure no matter your skill level, due to the underlying (and oft despised and hated) random number generator.
    nezran likes this.
  11. FranktheBank Augur


    Came here to say this. I hate this game and have Stockholm. Also, I am not gonna be the first of my friends to quit or else they win.
    code-zero and Cadira like this.
  12. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    For me EverQuest is mostly about the players.

    I have been in a few different guilds, started out in family guilds but once I got into a raiding guild have been exclusively in raid guilds since.
    Nothing beats the sense of accomplishment in tackling a raid and wiping a few times then eventually beating it, I enjoyed it when I was in a live guild tackling fresh content as much as I have enjoyed TLP catching up on "past content" that I never got to see the first time it came around.

    Every guild I was in it was more about the teamwork, the camaraderie, something about it is very much like being in a sports team even while most of it is not.
    You spend so much time in game with players they become friends, a few even become as close as family for some of us, many of those friendships are ephemeral but many stay important even outside of the game.

    I think of EQ as like "going to the pub, but for nerds" in the way it is my main social outlet and I don't feel awkward saying that, during these lockdown times it has proven to be very important to have that banter, those debates, those arguments even that you get into playing this game.

    EQ players are mainly in my own age group so that probably plays a big part of it, we all have a common interest & the game, as old & flawed & cranky as it still is has a certain "something" it's impossible to pin down any specifics but it is likely a magical mix of many things that all come together to make the game & its community unlike most others.

    All that said I love the lore and stories in EQ, the pantheon of gods, the adversaries, the settings, zones that all still feel like a "world that you play a game in" rather than a "game that you have a world in".
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  13. Nennius Curmudgeon

    Please don't presume to speak for all of us. Nor should you assume to know how all of us feel. Are there players who match your description? Yes. Are there players, myself included, who do not? Yes, there are.

    I fall in the group of non-raiders who have made several good friends over the years through this game. We have shared joys and tragedies over the years and given the fact (in my own individual circumstances) that we live far apart from each other and would have been unlikely to meet otherwise, I would judge my experience playing this game to be very valuable to me.

    For me Everquest is a stress reliever. I have killed many billions of pixels over the years and that helps me to reduce my job induced stress.

    Everquest is, for me, a very social game. I have friends in Norway, England, Germany, North Carolina, etc. and I live in California.

    The game world is huge. I have never visited every zone in the game. Since I don't raid (family is first) I am unlikely to have BIS gear or see everything.

    For me it is fun. I have never found myself without something to do in-game. I may be partly mentally ill since I also enjoy tradeskills.

    It has saved me vast amounts of money. For most of the last 21 years I have had one account and only in the past year and a half have I had a second one. Given some of the other things I could have spent my sometimes scarce monetary resources on, this has saved me several thousand dollars.

    I plan to keep playing until The Matrix overlords reprogram me. :)
  14. nezran New Member


    Great response Skuz.

    I mention in my article that I am an introvert and I don't socialize much in-game, but I know there are a lot of players like yourself that like to hangout at the EQ pub. A place where everyone knows your avatar name.

    Me too. I've been enjoying some of the lore videos I've watch that help to understand what's out there.
    Skuz likes this.
  15. Tucoh Augur

    EQ has some really compelling gameplay elements that are unique in the gaming space.









    But the real reason is that because I played EQ in my formative gaming years, I get a massive amount of dopamine from the gameplay reward loop in EQ. Or more eloquently,
    nezran likes this.
  16. Cadira Augur

    [IMG]
  17. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    ROFL.. My friends on 2 servers know I love tradeskills. I didn't even think to add it because it's just such a part of me.
    nezran likes this.
  18. Windance Augur

    1 - Socialization - Many of us are introverts and this is a 'safe' way for us to get to feel a part of something bigger than just 'us'. EQ has an older and generally more mature audience than many other RPG type games.

    2 - Character development. Gear, AA, etc ... Walk into new area you aren't ready/familiar with and get your owned. Come back with some new gear, better prepared, and do the owning.

    3 - Raiding. Getting a group of 50 people together all striving to overcome that event. Talking over strats and trying different things. Extension of character development only extending to a lot of people.
    nezran likes this.
  19. Nennius Curmudgeon

    Actually, it kind of isn't. And I realize you may have meant it that way, but to many people who aren't gamers we are just as you jokingly described. It just irritates me when folks think we are all losers who still live in our parent's basement/extra rooms and who think our retirement plan is to win the lottery. I am probably making too much of this but it does irritate me when we run ourselves down. There are tons of folks who are ready to do that to us, we don't have to be their unwitting allies.

    I really do like this game and it does surprise people when a 60 year-old father of four with a good job and a nice house mentions that he plays Everquest. Anyway, rant off and peace out.
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  20. Kobra Augur

    For me, I love this game. There is nothing else like it and never will be another EQ for whatever reason.

    There is only one reason I ever quit on EQ (always temporary) and that is when I can't tolerate the people I am playing with for whatever reason. Thankfully, I have a great guild.
    nezran likes this.