Hi all, I played EQ back in 2000-2002, I hated Luclin and quit during PoP. I then played quite a bit on P99 a few years ago. Basically I like classic EQ (which I consider to be the best game ever made). I tried logging in a few times to live EQ during the last... 15 years and never liked what I saw, for the obvious reasons outlined above (I like classic EQ and dislike modern EQ). However I gave WoW a shot a few months ago and got hooked on the Mythic+ endgame which, while being very far from the purity and utter nerdiness of classic EQ, is truly fun and challenging, yet not grindy. I am no longer willing to commit to the grind, daily raids, long camps and whatnot. What's nice with Mythic+, is that you know your playing session will last about 30 minutes, no need to arrange for more. It's great for casual players such as myself, who can't commit lots of time, yet are looking for a challenge. I wonder if there's anything in modern live EQ that would be worth trying as far as I'm concerned? Also I have no interest in boxing or playing with boxers. Thanks for your suggestions!
I should add that I DID try TLP EQ servers. Didn't do it for me (not really classic), and involves grind etc anyway.
I'm sorry,No. What you are not wanting to do is 85% of this game. I will say however it is 85% of the tlp's and original EQ as well. The entire game is just built around those things.
As much as I want to welcome returning players, you're looking for a unicorn. It doesn't exist. EQ now is not the EQ of 2000, nor should it be. There are still the same elements of game play that was present from launch, such as killing stuff for XP in many levels or doing quests and other things for XP and the amount of XP needed per level increasing each level. Newer quests and tasks (newer being up to a decade old ) are more likely to give XP by a % of a level which can appear to be quicker than just kills, but even those still require you to do stuff to finish the quest and sometimes that does involve killing a lot of stuff (grinding). However, any inclusion of quests or other things giving XP in a different way than only grinding kills is derided by a portion of the player base. EQ now is a lot more "friendly" to casual players and soloers (especially with mercs), but it is still a game more focused on group and raid content than anything else. It's also possible to do some group and even raid content solo if you outlevel it and there are now a lot of levels and content to be able to do so. But, you're looking for a unicorn that I suspect is not modern EQ and definitely wasn't EQ of the past either. Good luck on finding a game to suit your desired objectives. I hope you find your fun.
The direction that WoW ended up going in later expansions (post-Wrath/post-Cata) is wildly different than what the EQ engine is capable of. That's just as a simple-as fact. You're not going to get the fluid, fast-paced combat and raids that WoW's engine is capable of. EQ -- Verant, SOE, Daybreak -- never had anywhere near the resources of Blizzard at WoW's height, and it's not going to catch up now. EQ is still quite grindy. The first 70-80 levels much less so, because of how powerful paid subscription mercs are to get you there. You'll also be skipping 15-18 years of content zipping from level 1-75, or whatever. But after you get into modern content, you're going to be back to a slower-paced game and a grind. Not as slow as it was in the Classic-Velious era. But nothing like modern WoW. It's a different game, a different engine, and a different audience. My advice? If you'd like to explore EQ, join a Live server and sub for a month ($15) or do a Heroic ($25-$35) character and explore old zones, quests, etc. Just to get some bit of a sense of what the game world was like. Otherwise, you want to play WoW.
EQ is very differrent game far-far away from the hot steaming pile of garbage WoW is. EQ is not designed for adhd-driven snowflakes. And if you liked WoW and disliked TLP's than you got only one reasonable option left - to play EQ you will need to realign your philosophical views and find an inner piece to like and love EQ.
ddddd This person had fun playing a different game and was wondering if there was something like that with this game. There was a time in their life where the grind obviously didn't bother them that much and considered EQ from a certain period of time to be the greatest game. They were very honest and upfront about this and their desire to not go back to the grind. They simply asked a question if modern EQ had something like WoW did. They didn't trash the game or say it was somehow wrong, only that certain aspects were not for them anymore. Kind of a huge jump in logic to assume that their philosophical views and personal inner peace are preventing them from enjoying a game. While I can agree that perhaps they hold on to nostalgia a bit too much, it's clear that they aren't afraid of trying new concepts OR asking questions to a community that they were once a part of. With 24 years worth of content and all sorts of ways to experience it, I would argue that Everquest is absolutely perfect for folks like me who deal with ADHD.Perhaps it is you who needs to find a bit more inner peace and examine your own philosophical views. Maybe you should ask yourself what kind of person you are for this community to get so offended about someone asking a honest question and talking about aspects of another game that they liked. As usual, the people who toss around the term Snowflake end up being just that! Izmael, the other answers on here were excellent in showing that this might not be for you considering the requirements and parameters you listed.
I am also returning TODAY. I am definitely not expecting the old version. I will reply and let you know how it is.
To returning players: I played originally in the beginning years of 5 nights a week raiding, your guild was your life and a wrong action could get you kicked out of the guild, you made tons of friends to fill out the groups in order to do anything since without a full group you were dead. And it took a month to gain any experience and trying to split that exp with AA was almost an impossible task. I left around OOW when guilds started dying off and could not find groups. High level was 70. Came back some years later and logged into my old account - what a laugh! What was top class then was useless rags now. Seemed overwhelming but also it was so much easier than it used to be. Now there were mercenarys to help fill out your group, there was auto grant for subscribing accounts so you no longer had to stress over where to put that hard earned experience. But it was not the old EQ. So I went to the TLP servers. This was supposed to be more like old eq. I hated it. Sure there were groups, guilds, etc and the grind was not quite as bad as it used to be but I found my playstyle had changed and I no longer wanted how it used to be. So back to live servers. As I gained more "game" experience it allowed me to enjoy the game 100% more than I ever did. So, the moral of this rambling story is that EQ is a game that you mold to your style. If you only want to log in for 30 minutes then go do a daily hot zone or Overseer. If you want the old style with no boxing then go TLP. If you want to raid like the old days then find a raiding guild.
Well said! I had a similar tale to yours but left shortly before GoD. I returned a few times for a few weeks at a time but returned for good in mid-2020 with a different game expectation and a different gamestyle that works with all the changes between. I sometimes mourn the diminished community of those I used to hang with, but the game mechanics are better for me now than then.
