I'm starting to realize I just don't find the tlp servers fun. I have been forcing myself to play for the "experience" of the whole thing, but I'm realizing it's not working for me. I have had some fun moments, but overall I am struggling most in the immersion aspect. Please be aware these are just my opinions; you do not have to agree with me. I understand that I do not speak for everyone. Everything feels too convenient I believe, such as no corpse runs, no boats(translocating across continents), pick zones, origin, lfg tool, global chat, and many other things. It just doesn't feel right for me; it just feels too easy to get where I want to go and do what I want to do. This kind of makes it feel less rewarding somehow, or just not immersive, or like the game world is not alive. I'm not sure, I just know compared to p99, the feeling/experience is a lot different. Second major point would be that dungeons are way too good in this version of everquest because there is no drawback at all to going to a dangerous zone. There is no risk of a corpse run, you can always origin out, it is easy to put together groups, and there is a massive exp bonus for grouping. Pick zone encourages all going to the same areas because there is no lack of camps. For this reason, there is no benefit to soloing or even grouping in outdoor zones. Why solo when grouping is so much faster exp? I have tried to solo, but it is so much worse compared to grouping that I feel forced to go to a dungeon for my level instead of exploring outdoor areas that I want to go to. Anyways, for now I am unsubbing. I will probably try to play at some point, I WANT to like the tlp's for the experience of it all but it's just not the same everquest experience as the old days or even project 1999.
I have heard over the years that for a lot of people EQ was their "first" and that experience isn't something you can go back to. I put limited stock in that because for many of us we keep coming back to these progression servers over and over again, and eat it up every time. But considering that Phinny+RF+LJ probably don't have more than maybe 3,000 people (actual bodies, not number of accounts) playing when EQ used to boast a playerbase of, I don't know, something like 200,000+, obviously for most people it's just a fantasy they can't really return to. Nothing wrong with that if so. For me, honestly I don't really have time to sit around getting super subpar experience in an outdoor group or trying to solo. If I had to bother with corpse runs (would I anyway? I'm grouped with a cleric, right?) it would take about 2 seconds for me to think up almost anything else better to do with my time. You sort of have a point about the pick zones, but in my opinion that's really a dev problem (from a long time ago) about not making the dungeons equally worth visiting (like Splitpaw should drop some pretty sweet gear for being in BFE). Running back to my hometown (or the nearest town) can kind of be a fun adventure, maybe, the first couple of times but honestly I'm pretty happy to just hit Origin when I need to sell/bank/craft/whatever and then just Gate back. Unfortunately I think if you are looking for immersion, MMORPG's is probably not the place it is going to happen, sadly. After the meta is solved and everyone is min/max'ing (or "an idiot for not doing so"), it's hard to find a fantasy world that's still immersive. I think that's probably different from, say, an MMOFPS where min/maxing makes complete sense, just to throw out a contrast. But if you take a look at a game like LoL (not really an MMO but you get the idea), immersion isn't really attempted at all and for good reason. I think if you are really looking for immersion in a fantasy game you should probably stick to single player games like Skyrim, or small multiplayer games, which I can't even name a single one because are there even any? I mean Baldur's Gate is pretty old now. I do kind of miss those days sometimes but I don't know if that's really an immersion I could return to, at least with EQ, though I still love this game almost 17 years after release. Phinny also has the weird paradox of 84 day unlocks (faster than Fippy, Vulak, Ragefire, and Lockjaw) but slow as XP and MotM buffed raid mobs. It sounds to me like you aren't looking for the breaknext experience (I personally am) but to me they put they mixed up the servers for the XP rates and mob difficulties, and even if we're on different sides of the fence I can still see that fence really hampering your experience too.
I'm sorry that the game managed to be both too hard and too easy for you. Best of luck finding a game that makes you happy
sadly you can never go back, that is a reality we all live with, our fond memories are just that. i'd msg you a game with a truly immersive experience, that's older than eq... but it has an extreme learning curve, and fully pvp fps, it's small, unique and most definitely not for everyone. all mmos change with time in some way. good luck with your new ventures.
Yeah Pickzones are ruining the immersion... lol. There was like 800 people in Seb the other night, that's about 1 froglock each on a 20 min respawn timer, great immersion.
I'm glad the TLPS don't have time consuming aspects like corpse runs and that it's very easy to find groups. It makes it more fun for families to play together. =)
It sounds like you should be playing on P99 but you seem to already know about it, so maybe you have a problem with that as well? I have some of the same feelings as you as far as longing for what I felt back when I first played EQ in 99. It was the most amazing game I had ever played at the time. It was different from anything else in that I actually felt like I was "living" in that world. Alot of this had to do with it being one of the first big games to utilize the new 3d cards coming out. Nobody I knew had a 3d card before this game came out and I remember it being one of the big problems for me getting started. Mostly because I was just a young adult spending more time touring with a band and not much time admitting that I needed to grow up and get a real job. It seems funny now but that $200 3d card was a huge investment at that time just to play a game! Well i've come to realize, nothing brings that feeling back. You will likely never feel that way again because the game just isn't new like it was then and all the other factors that made you feel the way you did are no longer in place. The only answer is to enjoy the game the way it is now and accept the changes that are "mostly" for the better. Being able to find a group easier is NOT a bad thing. You may personally not think it fits with what your vision of Everquest was, but the majority of the playerbase is older and has responsibilities. Most of the "easy" changes are to accommodate us as we get older and thats ok. If the changes bring the game too far away from what Everquest is to YOU, then you might just not be able to play it anymore. Plenty of people have been forced to admit this and shelve it for good. The guy above made this point, there are only about 3000 of us playing out of the enormous population back in the day. You would probably be best off playing P99. Although I know from experience that it has its own host of problems due to corruption/greed and endless socking in the raid scene. Still, it has all of the old systems in place.
To say the TLPs were poorly thought out would be fair. I am not sure DBG had any real plan here just blowing in the wind of whatever they thought would be the best cash grab. Meh Corpse runs while looked on by some with fond memories just are not a selling point if there is no GM support planned. Doing away with it is a real improvement in game play that I only wish the original EQ had followed. There is absolutely risk, not of losing items, but of losing days of xp. I dont remember anyone losing items due to rot unless other factors were in play ie temporary rage quits. The lack of reward you are feeling is due to having done it or something like it many times before. That and growing up, lets face it pixels dont really matter having fun does. Boats never worked correctly and were always a pita for players and GMs... again no GMs. The solo thing ... meh depends on the base xp rate. Too slow and it just doesnt work well. Plus they have pretty well crippled all the fun solo stuff like Bard swarm kiting, no not charm kiting keeping the terms in line with original. Shame too The biggest problem is simply the game is poorly managed, it makes the good stuff less fun when bone headed moves are randomly(?) done to the game. P99 has its problems as well as you know much of it just due to how its done. I am obviously no fan of DBG but will give them credit for the things they did right IMO. The entire genre is in serious trouble as creativity and resources are drying up faster than rain in a desert. If you like p99 stay with it if not then you may have to find another type of game.
A lot of folks seem to enjoy it despite the xp rate, very few because of it. Lets face it this thing sells xp pots per design, fine if it were FTP but with a sub??? When one only has the time to play a few hours a week there is little motivation to even mess with the thing and frankly the whole micro-transaction manipulation ticks off folks that detest being done so.
There are no more wide-eyed, "golly-gee-look-at-that" moments in classic Everquest. We know too much about EQ!! If you've been on P99 and on phinny, when was the last time you saw any EQ content that wasn't either classic or kunark? Take a break, miss EQ a lot, and come back in a few months or a year or so when the next seasonal server launches. As far as quality of life changes you mentioned (pickzones, no corpse runs, translocators) they are part of the game now.
it also makes the group content last longer, at the time where the game has the least content, most of which is for groups by the way. it also makes people commit much more to their characters and the server. It also makes getting high level with a character a more significant achievement, and what motivates people to play this game is the desire to overcome the challenges to achieve things. it also makes people group a lot more, which given the complementary boxing restrictions, means people get to know other players and make friends more than they would otherwise. Just a few little notes, you (and other people who work themselves up) may have missed with your theory about the positives of the XP rate being solely about micro-transactions.
