As the title kind of asks, what motivates you to play? What does your time schedule look like? How did you adjust your play style to fit your lifestyle? I love EQ and have been playing on live as well as other servers off and on since 2000. Due to some life changes I no longer can really afford to look for a group for 30 minutes, or raid for 4 hours straight. This is a big bummer because the biggest draw to EQ has historically been the community. I tried to adjust to different tactics. I originally started boxing because efficiently finding ppl to group and carry out said group became extremely rare and difficult. I quickly became frustrated with having to boot up so many accounts and constantly tab between clients to accept missions etc. I dropped to a duo and low key hated that too. Boxing is just not appealing at all to me, and actually kills any immersion I get out of EQ. I then tried out TLPs and other servers, but TLP in my opinion had a worse community than WoW which is saying alot. Not to mention the constant game of keep up which gets exhausting. I tried to just enjoy the leveling aspect and ignore everything about raids, but then I start questioning what the purpose of leveling is if I only solo all the time and am limited in the content I can do. I love EQ and gaming in general, but dang if I am not struggling to find a way to enjoy it all again. What are some of the things you guys have endured during your EQ careers? (life changes limiting when you played or amount of time played, all your friends quitting, or just trying to still find that warm and fuzzy as an adult with mortgage, family, careers etc.) And how did you overcome it? I always get the itch to come back, but when I come back I always struggle to find a way to make it work. I went to a classic private server stuck in classic that is as close to hardcore as it gets, and honestly thats been the most success for me. Basically because when i do solo and get just a level or some cheap loot I feel accomplished to some extent. I do not quite get that same feeling when grinding on live and cant quite put my hand on why that is. I know we are all adults and most of us with families now, just curious to hear what worked for you guys. How do you still scratch the itch?
Mild to moderate addiction. MMO scarcity. There are few (if any) alternatives that offer a similar gameplay experience, imo. A partner who also enjoys playing. This was something I also disliked about the TLP's, and one of several reasons I don't play on them anymore. Like you, over many years I've done almost all the things. Today, I just play casually on Live, slowly working my way through each expansion. Staying unguilded so there's no reason or pressure to "catch up" or skip ahead of content.
Fear The kind of fear that numbs the soul, rips the fabric of space, causes even brave dwarfs to cower in our luxurious caves swimming in ale, and brings back terror ridden nightmares of a Norrath where halflings still roam freely. The fear that if The Matrix were to ever exist the Bieber twit would provide the template for all pop singers. The sort of fear that says that a sequel to Tango and Cash could actually happen and that Madonna and Guy Ritchie would get a three picture deal from Donald Trump. The fear that if I don't log in each day Jafadaan will spread his vile and pernicious humor throughout all of Bristlebane. In short, my fear guides me to try and help improve the angst and anxiety of most into something completely paralyzing and ultimately to provide endless humor for the dwarves of Norrath. I also play for fun, friends and family. But that seems a little too normal. P.S. If you log onto Bristlebane, don't forget to send Jafadaan a tell asking for plat.
I had a lot of fun my first couple of years in EQ. So every once in a while I get the itch to come back to a TLP and play through the early expansions again.
I actually came up with a system of stress management modeling which is a bit complexed to type out but basically it focuses of pulling stress from your family and your career and into a support network that distributes stress broadly. EverQuest fits into both the social and competitive branches of the model. I compare EverQuest to a softball team. Raids are game night, you need to show anytime you can. Grouping is practice, improve at your leisure. Many people criticize boxing as anti-social, and boxing negatively impacts the social aspect of my model, HOWEVER, because I otherwise don't have the time for "practice", boxing is an important component of my raiding/competitive success. Server populations aren't very high as a write this and the time I have for group play is limited. My group level character development has to be an efficient use of my time. To apply this to the model, Raiding fits into social/competitive. Grouping can fit into social/competitive or social/downtime depending on the complexity of the event, but often my need to be time efficient limits group to out-of-raid boxing. There are a lot of other parts and pieces of the modeling. I only covered how EverQuest fits into the model. My decisions to come back to EverQuest, allot time for raiding, pay for multiple accounts to box, and so forth, have all been very conscientious decisions that have improved my overall quality of life.
I'm a chronic altaholic and play on live and multiple progression servers. I like to race against myself and try having my characters "as ready as possible" before an expansion is unlocked/released. Therefore, my biggest motivations to play EQ are the progression cycle, active development and wide range of playable classes
We all are motivated by the self gratification the game gives us. IE: raiding, social interaction that we don't do in real life, killing that named, finishing that mission, getting good armor, max tradeskills etc. If we did not get pleasure from that then we would not play. But we won't go blind doing this one. Unless they never change the text font.
I played at release and between their other games (SWG, Vanguard) and other mmos and back over the course of time. What keeps me coming back to all of them was the initial fire and community of the original eq folk had. Sadly for the last 7 years or so i log into eq and se a store full of rainbow bunnies and pink/blue bs, and lose any desire to be part of this game. In a way, EQ was the og bud lite. AND its a game for kids.
Memories of the original game era, fond memories, and of, while only being my 3rd or 4th favorite MMO and only the 3rd most time I ever put in, being the one that led to all the others. Hence why I'm an Agnarr player when I come back two or three times a year, that era is my 2nd favorite of EQ (and I doubt I'll ever get a hard locked TLP at my favorite era), and EQ does classic relatively well for a game with a bajillion expansions. It's a chance to visit a place and revisit the experiences, just like when I take a trip to visit a city I use to live in years before. Also credit to EQ's lore, especially the golden era lore. It's unique and while later games did questing better, mostly through computers improving, no one ever did the fluff and lore like EQ does/did in the day. Norrath is a very real feeling world, relative to most fantasy and especially modern fantasy. There might come a time I don't come back as often but I can't imagine there will ever be a time I don't come back at all, if I'm still doing it after 15-20+ years. (My play time has reduced though, which is partially why I don't stay on Agnarr full time. Making raid times would only line up MAYBE once a week MAYBE with 2 of the 4 raiding guilds and I'm already so far behind the leveling and AA curve I'll never be more than a someone that gets at least partially carried.) Even modern EQ I dabble on occasion with two characters (a Wood Elf Beastlord and a Necro, one I can't do on Agnarr and one is underpowered in that era, so I use them to experience some of the modern game). While it's not my cup of tea nor do I do it with any regularity, it is fun to see how the old girl has developed now. LoL also chain stomping OG or Kunark or PoP/LDoN content with a crazy high level character is fun. Memories though. TLDR is memories of how awesome and ground breaking this game was, and the people and times I had, back in the 2-5 year'ish age of the game. Honorable mention to the fact I still see GM events from time to time in the modern era (which were so fun back in the day)
Socialization: I get to visit with friends I've known for some cases 20+ years. Problem Solving: I really like exploring the boundaries of the various raid mechanics to see if we can come up with unique solutions. Rewarding: There is a great sense of satisfaction when we are able to come up together as a team and defeat something we can't do by ourselves. Responsibility: I feel a sense of responsibility to my guild members to make sure I'm there to help our raid nights go smoothly. Laughter: There are times when things happen that are so ironically funny that I hope to remember them forever. A few weeks ago we were doing a pick up doomshade raid. At 1% the raid leader said the magic phrase "Nothing can stop us NOW!". Of course someone missed a emote which killed off all but about 5 people! Thankfully he was right and we had enough dots on the boss to finish him.
The judge said if I end up in court for possession of crack one more time I'm going away for life, so I just changed to evercrack.
