I am posting this because I am thinking about returning to Everquest. I have been playing World of Warcraft for over a decade, and I first want to add that I love World of Warcraft a lot. I owe so much to World of Warcraft and I can not deny it is one of the greatest games I have ever played and my greatest gaming experiences were from playing World of Warcraft. Despite the fact that I like World of Warcraft, in the past several years there were changes to the game I just simply did not like. These changes were done in the name of making the game more accessible, but the price was that World of Warcraft was no longer an organic game. Instead of traveling to a location, players are being teleported everywhere, there is no open world experience like there was, because the majority of the content is just instanced area exclusive to the group, and again players are just teleported there. The most polite way to explain the combat system is dumbed down. In the early years of Warcraft, elemental damage would matter, for example it wouldn’t make sense to use fire spells on a fire elemental, however that also changed, to where elemental damage no longer matters. When I complained about it, I got the response saying that it was “too complicated” for most of the player base. Other players told me that elemental damage types are an “outdated gameplay mechanic” and that made me really upset, because not only I disagree with that, but elemental damage types put more depth into the world, and Blizzard sacrificed that to appease people who want a more primitive gameplay experience. Sorry for this long rant, but here is my issue with Warcraft right now. The community is something that deteriorated, because most of the player base don’t really want to share an experience with other players anymore, they just want to log in, get their rewards and log off. The driving force for an MMORPG should be the experience not the rewards, but when I said that on the World of Warcraft forum boards, everyone disagreed with me. As a matter of fact, every time Blizzard (the developers of World of Warcraft) make a change that adds a little challenge to the game, or that requires players to earn a reward or advantage, these entitled players ban together on the forum boards and overwhelm the forum boards, usually with “if you don’t change it back to the way I want it I will quit WoW” or “I’m quitting WoW, I guess Blizzard no longer cares about their customers”. The sad result is that 99% of the time blizzard appeases these irrational demands. An example is when blizzard put a restriction on flying mounts, where players have to create a (rightfully) hard achievement to use their flying mounts in the top level areas. It made sense because having the ability to fly is one of the most overpowering abilities because a player can disregard the entire world around them, however these players didn’t see it that way, instead they thought something was being taken away from them, and they even formed their own hashtag called #NoFlyNoBuy. If any of you seen the movie Idiotcracy, that would be the best way to explain the WoW fanbase, and how Blizzard designed the game to that crowd. So at one point, I was having fun and epic experiences with players, we would travel together as a group to a instance(dungeon), spend an hour getting loot but having a fun experience. Now, players just get teleported to an instance, they just have to open this stupid interface, this interface automatically creates a group and teleports players to this instance. These instances run takes only 15 minutes, players don’t care about anyone but themselves, or finishing this instance as fast as possible. Immaturity and sexual harassment is also common among the World of Warcraft fanbase. Another problem with World of Warcraft is that it’s basically a single player game. Every player automatically has access to the same quests as every other player, and there are easy modes for all content, so basically no player has to earn any spot in a raid or see content, because it is automatically given to them. The storyline of the quest defeats the purpose of an MMORPG because the player is suppose to be the main hero of the world, and the leader of their class organization. At one point the storyline was that a player was just another hero, but now the storyline is that the player is THE hero instead, and that is a problem because on a roleplay level, it disregards the fact that there are other players around. Everything in World of Warcraft can be soloed, you don’t need to talk to other players to form groups or raids because an interface does it for you. All important quests can easily be soloed, and it’s awkward when you see two of the same NPC in two different spots in the SAME ZONE. This is what I mean about World of Warcraft no longer being organic. Another issue is that there are too many campy things in World of Warcraft, you have modern day reference taking over the storyline, such as you have a Rambo look a like driving a tank down the hills killing orcs with a machine gun, and these aren’t small hints here and there, but these are part of the storyline. There are weird inventions that really take away the whole fantasy vibe I miss. There is also crude bathroom humor as well. The players are obviously not more mature, because World of Warcraft gives players the ability to wear costumes, and its really annoying to see a large Worgen Death Knight who is suppose to be a badass, but he is wearing a scuba gnome costume. Many players kill themselves for fun also, because there is no penalty for death. It may not seem like a big deal at first but when you see it constantly, it just kills the fantasy vibe in the game, just because there are players who just want to do whatever they want. That is the problem with the World of Warcraft player base, they just do whatever they want, and that may seem harmless but in MMORPGs they need to take some effort to get rewards or dare I say, avoid consequences. Sorry for that long rant, I just had to say it somewhere without people laughing me off, or downvoting my posts so my post is not visible. I just want to know if Everquest today has what I am looking for which is that organic experience I mentioned, or did it devolve into something like World of Warcraft. What I am looking for in an MMORPG includes: Emphasis on travel: I want to be in a world where you travel to a place like taking a boat to another continent instead of being teleported everywhere. One thing I like are boats, is that it makes the world feel more alive. Many players hate it because they find boats slow, but there is something relaxing about being on a boat, and from what people told me, boats in Everquest stop at different islands between continents, with their own content. That sounds very fun and it makes the world seem more expansive. I also like just traveling to a destination like an instance instead of just being teleported there. A outdoor environment that you take seriously: One thing in World of Warcraft I missed was that occasionally there were wandering enemies that were extra tough, and you had to avoid. Many players hated it because it make the game more difficult, but to me you just had to pay attention to your surroundings. Unfortunately, Blizzard listened to the entitled players and about every outdoor enemy is very easy. In fact, many players in Warcraft just drive their mounts right through an enemy camp and they get away without any consequences. Even if they died, nothing would happen because there is no death penalty. What I am looking for is a game with an outdoor environment that you could pay more attention to, for example, there are mobs your level, but you should watch out because sometimes an higher level mob might walk through that area. Combat mechanics you take seriously: I am talking about elemental damage. For example, I miss mechanics where it would make sense to use frost magic on a fire elemental, or fire spells on a mob that is vulnerable to fire magic. The problem with world of Warcraft now is that you can use the same attack rotation no matter who you fight, but I am looking for a world where you have to think about what kind of attacks you can use against an enemy. A traditional fantasy world: I am looking for a world that has more of a traditional fantasy theme to you. I loved Warcraft during it’s early years, but as I mentioned before the atmosphere got so campy that it was no longer a fantasy world, but a parody of a fantasy world with constant modern day references. There’s also machine guns, space ships, and robots. It doesn’t help that players are constantly wearing costumes. Even the more serious lore aspects of Warcraft deviated from traditional fantasy. I just want to find a world that is more traditional fantasy. A mature community: This is a big one for me. I am looking for a community where players are helpful, and respectful of each other. I am also looking for a community where most players are patient, and willing to work with other players, instead of them just wanting to do something fast as possible.
sorry had to stop reading after the second sorry for the long rant. Lets just have you sum up your top 10 most important aspects of what you are looking for in an MMO and then go from there. Its been a long day and I feel like I have learned more about WoW in the last five minutes than I ever wanted to know in my entire life. Keep it simple but direct and people here will be happy to help you. Reading the first half it feels more like a WoW rant and less like a question about deciding if EQ is a good fit for you. Top ten list and then maybe you get some responses.
Whew! long rant! but ill try to address some of your points... Everquest do have boats, but most of EQ is interconnected by portals, so that you will only have to travel a few zones total to get where you want. Some TLP servers, where only the early expansions are unlocked, do have meaningful boat-travel, but on normal servers we take a teleport to zones nearby and rides on mounts for the last bit. Travel is still something that poses dangers even if you cast invisibility on yourself as some mobs see through it, and just running through a bunch of mobs is a certain death-sentence...(unless they are much lower than you). Combat-mechanics are somewhat complex to master, there is a lot of skills/spells and abilities that apply short bonuses that you most sync with each other, to get the most out of your class. specific damage immuneties does happen, most fire elemental are resistant to fire for example, although this is somewhat toned down in newer expansions(except for raids, it still matters on raids), in the modern group game you can most of the time use your standard skill-rotations. The game requires good focus and knowledge, if you want to get good at it. The everquest world, Norrath, started out as a pretty standard fantasy world, although it does have some steampunk themes too(blame the gnomes!). However some of the expansions added outer planes, inhabited with gods, other expansions added timetravel, and eventually norrath mutated into its own special place. It is a consistent world though, and we aren't plagued with silly pop-culture-references. You will meet players in costumes here too... Everquest is not a solo-game, but alot of players have gotten around that with playing multiple characters at the same time, so others will rarely need you. However if you are good company, people will make room for you in their group, and you will not feel like a fifth wheel. As for maturity: most of the standard live-servers are old, and the population has been influenced with an enforced "play-nice-policy" through decades, the younger TLP-servers have a bit more drama to them(they have more boats and less teleports though). Personally, I don't find it hard to get along with other players, and the overall atmosphere is friendly.
Hey there. I myself came back to EQ after playing WoW for a bit too. Wasn't a big fan of all their pruning. 3 buttons to win got annoying and made the game boring once you hit max level. After about the 4th week of Heroic Gul'dan on farm, I just couldn't do it any more. So here I am, back again haha. Immersive World - while EQ does have some instanced zones, most of it is out in the world. Although the Plane of Knowledge allows you to get around to the basics, you still have to travel. Travel to A, but then go through A1 to get to A2 which gets to B, and B let's you choose between C D E or F accordingly. Much better than WoW. Elemental Damage: We have the basics: fire, magic, poison, disease, and something else your spells have to go against the mobs resist. Fire elemental will have a higher fire resist check which will make your fire spells do less damage (although you can always out level said mobs to where the resist checks will hardly matter). Combat Mechanics: Remember the amount of CC rogues has back in BC? Before all the pruning? It's kind of like that. Lots of abilities to use. Some overlap, some over write, some have longer cool downs, some are just pointless, etc etc etc. It's a major learning curve haha but it's interesting and fin nonetheless. Single player game? EQ has been around a long time. Lots of expansions. Lots of ups and downs and changes and changes being reverted. As such, it's kind of like WoW where anything below max level, you're almost on your own. That being said, with EQ, 1-60 can be done in a weekend. 60-85 in a good week or two depending on play time. And all of this without a group. Groups start getting more numerous around 95 to 105 (current max). Just don't be grouchy a-hole, and you'll be okay in groups Community: it's a long running MMO. It's like WoW. Couple elitists, lots of helpful people, quite a few that like to troll you, and quite a few returning/new players. Overall, I prefer it over WoWs.
Yes, EverQuest still has a lot of what you miss, though it's far from perfect. It's definitely less-simple than almost all other games out there today. Or, the longer, more in-depth answer: Quite a lot of what you want can be found on Agnarr server these days -- lots of groups forming, lots of people doing things just for nostalgia, more travel instead of porting around, and the need to determine which mobs most resist magic, or cold, or poison (well, wizards need to know that -- warriors don't). That's because Agnarr is still in classic mode. It's specifically shooting for that nostalgic way of doing things. Modern EQ has some of that, but not quite as much. Even on Agnarr that won't last -- a year from now they'll have advanced to the fourth expansion -- which allows porting to a couple dozens spots around the world with relative ease. But even then, some might say especially then, not everyone can do everything. You have to earn your way into the toughest areas like Vex Thal or Plane of Time through a series of difficult trials, and not everyone will get there. Everquest started out even more hard-core on the strategies and resist-types than WoW. Everquest has also softened on the strategy and travel a bit over the years, but not as much as WoW. In early years you had to be a lot more careful about which mobs had high magic resist, which had high cold resist, etc... it's less so, but not entirely irrelevent, at higher levels. There's still definitely some variation in fights though -- a bunch of spells only work on undead, some mobs are immune to snare and root, others immune to charm, still others might cast fear or blindness spells which you'd better react to. So every fight isn't always the same. And you can't get very far without a group in the newest expansions -- either a guild group or a pickup group. (Or make your own group, which is called boxing) And some areas are definitely challenging (not all, but some). Six months after the last expansion came out, most raiding guilds haven't even seen the final tier of raids yet -- the first few tiers are too difficult to get past. And among non-raiders, the most difficult zones, like Kor-Sha, are still usually avoided, because they're too difficult. The best of strategy is in raids, though -- they can be quite involved with lots of cooperation and attrition and carefully adjusting your strategies to the circumstances. The community isn't particularly strong on grouping any more, although there are still pickup groups that do stuff on live servers if you're around max level (or, lately, around level 90, because almost everyone got free level 85 characters a couple months ago). But the majority happens within guilds. If you join the right guild you'll find lots of that comaraderie. Some spells specifically award teamwork -- for instance alliance spells, where several casters of the same class have to cast a bunch of spells on the same target within a few seconds, and if they time it right there's a bonus to damage. On raids, working together to make this work can be pretty significant. And there are lots of special abilities (usually called discs) that have to be used at the right time, or in the right combinations, so your group can fight more effectively. Everquest never strayed TOO far from fantasy -- we're still running around in platemail armor and swinging swords and spells, even if we do sometimes ride on the backs of tigers/raptors/griffons instead of horses. Not campy modern stuff like WoW, just some different genres mixed in. These mostly come from specific expansions over the years: one where you could travel to the moon, one or two where aliens invaded one of our continents, one where gnomes built factories on floating islands and a giant steampunk-style robot went on a rampage, one or two where a god brought a bunch of deranged dolls to life, and a couple expansions with time travel (so you might visit the same area in three different time periods -- current, 100 years ago, and 100 years from now). Lately, we've gone back to Kunark which is definitely sticking to the old-fashioned swords and sorcery with monsters and dragons (thank goodness!), and there are signs that it will continue in that vein for the next several years at least.
In EQ the boats broke a long time ago, they put in translocators to replace them while the boats were fixed. The boats finally got fixed, but they left in the translocators. So the boats are there but rarely used. In OOT (Ocean of Tears) 20-50 level zone there are a few islands around the boat stops on 1 of them. On this island are little boats you can actually get in and click and take control of. They will go all over the zone and will stay around for awhile if you get off (~30 min i believe) after last use before reappearing at their original starting location..) So you can take a boat and go out the middle of the ocean, fish off it, use it to get to some other islands etc. On live servers they are old very hard to find anyone to group with below 85-90. So most people box 1 or 2 other characters and use mercs to make a full group to level up with. On the TLP servers - Agnarr is the newest, BUT it will only do the first few expansions then stop never getting the latest expansions. But right now Agnarr is very popular and very easy to get a group to level up. Phinigle is another popular TLP server and is about to open its next expansion and grouping there is still pretty easy. EQ is free to play on the live servers (need a paid account for the TLP servers), so try it before you buy it. The tutorial on the live servers is actually pretty good to learn a little about the game.
There are boats to scoot around in the Barren Coast that take you to out lying islands, there are airships that take you to Steamfront Mountains and then off to Argath or to Loping Plains. But yes a lot of travel in EQ is ports/books etc. Mature community? No more so than life. But unlike life there is an /ignore function in EQ. Since we all play different you would actually need to play to figure out if it is for you. There is a ton of stuff many players are not aware of because it does not impact them.
Travel in EQ, while far simpler then when I started playing, is still a thing. And it can be dangerous if you are in a level appropriate zone, or a zone that has higher level mobs than you. You can't usually just run into a big pile of KoS mobs and expect things to go your way. You will get beat down and sent to your bind point before you can say "World of Warcraft". Death in EQ, while, again, not nearly the disaster that it was when I first started playing, can be inconvenient, and result in the loss of exp. If your whole group wipes, you're probably going back to your bind point, and then you either run back to where you died, or run to the Guild Lobby and pay to have your corpse(s) summoned for a rez.
Or you could start on the Agnarr server where travel is fairly restrictive unless you are a porting class. Agnarr is a new server that started over a month ago. It goes thru the expansion from EQ classic, Kunark, velious etc It will stop at PoP but by then you could probably move to another server and continue.
