Hmm I have a problem with your criteria.You set that date as if being the first on the block was the most important thing. Yet daily we read new threads of someone who made a character, played a few years if that and moved on. How many Wowbies came back to EQ? Show some love to us loyalists who have not turned our backs on EQ! I may have been raised as a troll refugee in Neriak instead of Grobb but I still feel like a vetern.
First character was a paladin born Feb 21 2001 - retired mid 50's to roll a monk / shaman combo mid 2002. Took one ~1 year break EQ break around the tail end of underfoot. The breaking point for me was two fold: #1 - The guild I was in at the time could not beat the raids. Hit a break wall and was bleeding players. #2 - They nerfed the named/gear drops rates hard core. They had moved to having 2-3 place holders for each named spawn and drop rates where bad. I remember spending 16-20 hours camping the spawns and only getting like 4 named with crap drops.
[Thu Sep 28 10:52:04 2023] Rolaque's birthdate: Friday, April 02, 1999 19:22:10. [Thu Sep 28 10:52:04 2023] Rolaque's age: 24 years (Earth time). 496 years (Norrathian time). [Thu Sep 28 10:52:04 2023] Total time playing Rolaque: 1413 days, 6 hours, and 35 minutes Been playing forever, or so it seems . . .
I remember wondering why anyone would want to play a wizard. All they did was stare at the spellbook, stand up to cast 5 spells, then were oom for another 10 min. Well... at least wizards dont have to look at their spellbook anymore....
June 13, 2000 for me. I started earlier, trying my hand at being an SK on Tallon Zek, back when your gear could get looted by someone that killed you. Needless to say, I did not do so well as an SK. Went rogue, and never looked back. Was still on TZ for a bit, still sucked at PvP. Moved to Stromm when it opened. Took a break between DoDH and EoK, have been back since.
Callimaar, ranger May 01, 2000. Realized raiding and grouping as a ranjar was a struggle, so... Conq, Cleric Jan 20, 2001. Total time entitled approx 20 years, 92 days. I took a break from EQ once. Conq
Eaedyilye was born Oct 14, 2002. The first thing I remember doing is being totally lost in Felwithe, falling in the water and drowning.
I'd say if you played more than fifty hours of EQ at any level you're a veteran. I think my oldest char is may 2000.
Started playing in May of 1999. Shaman for a bit then changed to SK born November 29 1999. Been playing him non stop every since.
Started my warrior in may 2000 when me and a friend bought Kunark together, Still remember people yelling BOOOAT! and that scary run from FV to lake of ill omen.. Warrior is still my main char. Thought several times about changing main, but never really wanted to loose all the stuff I collected over the years and start over Started raiding during original velious and was with Forsaken Realm on Mith Marr server during that period. Switched to Antonius Bayle and joined Raging Fury when WoW took half our members. Raided with RF from Omens of War until we finished Secrets Of Faydwer and defeated Kerafyrm in that expansion Met my wife at this point and decided to put EQ on hold to ensure it didnt mess up this. So I retired in 2008. One of the hardest decisions I have made - and also one of the easiest. Fast forward to 2020 and corona. Playing from home all day for months made me dust off the game Logged in and saw some old RF people still active and merged to form a new guild Asked my wife if it would be ok to play 2 night a week, even though it meant she had to put the kids to beds those days. Got the thumbs up. So now I have been raiding since september 2020 again (omg, its been 3 years already!) So I guess my account is 23 years old, but with a 12 year break ;-)
I made my Wizard on March 16, 1999, four minutes after Veeshan went live. I had played on Xegony during Beta 4, and decided I would try a different server in hopes of having fewer people on the server, choosing the next server in the list, but found that half of Beta Xegony players had decided the same thing. There were eleven characters on Veeshan when I first logged in, and two hundred and change on the server when I made my Shadow Knight an hour later, as I was not sure which character I wanted to make my main. I made a Rogue the next day, but stuck with the Wizard for the most part for the next year, although by the time Kunark came out, I had managed to get the Shadow Knight to 40 and the Rogue to 30. Then I just kind of stuck around, since I started EQ at an age where I was just not as interested in investing time in new games. I did play some of the later MMO games off and on, but outside of the occasional week vacation from EQ, I have always been around. It does allow me to believe that since I have not met another player on the server who predates me in several years, as long as I continue to play, my server remains Veeshan. After all, who else is there to dispute me.
Another chiming in, consider my char a veteran but completely understand the requirements. I will likely never have a char that meets those reqs though. Have never had interest in higher end game, this is my break. At launch, I was captivated, but I also had 4 sons. And work. No way I was keeping up, didn't try. Had a ton of fun at launch and for ~4 years spent way too much time playing. I recall "catching up" old Ben when Ldon released, they had like an 2X exp day or week or something and I ground those damn Butcherblock missions, made level 70, got tons of AA's. Best time I'd had since the original launch years, I was pretty much solo by then. Been playing more years than not, and for the last 5 I've had 3 accounts, and with mercs, have enjoyed it a ton. Now Oakwynd, I started my first TLP. It's been a blast for me, although that thing where the guards just watch you get hacked to pcs took some getting used to. Still play old Benador off and on, he's on Bristlebane now. Born 7/22/99 on Prexus, good friend off and on since And Heroic'd to 100 just so he'd be boss lol. He rides a cool mount too. Always a GL when appropriate
My favorite part of this thread is not just the stories and nostalgia, but it's seeing new posters who don't post on here a lot. Good to hear new voices
Coas - January 1, 2001. Took a break during HoT and Underfoot. One haunting memory I have of those early days is logging in September 12 2001 and seeing a message from one of the developers at the time at the patch notes screen. He was putting out a PSA to see if anyone knew his brother and where he might be, he was working in one of the towers at the time of the attacks
How very very sad, don't recall this message, but as with a lot of us I think, RL took control for a few weeks here. I wonder if by some miracle he made it out.
25 years 11 days today .....cue song.... you're still the one.. we're still having fun cause (EQ) you're still the one.
