Celebrating 10 years of EverQuest 2: Looking at 10 Memorable Lands and Counting!

Two things stick out for me, when I look back:


I started in '08, when friends who ran a raiding guild on EQ1 invited me to come over and play EQ2. Raiding Veeshan's Peak was a big deal for me, not just for the mythical, but because I never quite got around to checking it out in EQ1. It's one of my favorite zones, with a very epic feel. I think it would be a great candidate for level-agnostic raid content.



My first Tinkerfest (the first Tinkerfest). These are the humble beginnings of my obsession with Tinkerfest and making weird and wonderful machines. Back when Tinkerfest first started, there wasn't much room in the housing to make anything of great size. My guild leader was gracious enough to let me build in a less frequented area of our T3 guild hall. Eventually, rooms would be added to the biggest of the city homes and breakouts would be discovered after the addition of telepads. Then we finally got prestige housing, which eventually included the wonderful blank slate that is the Tenebrous Island Refuge.

Yes...and remember when you died in a group the entire group shared in the debt not just the person who died.

My 1st toon was a fury....in a group at Fallen Gate the tank got all upset and complained about all the leaves swirling around his head and that he couldn't see to play and whoever was making those leaves had better stop right now or he was going to drop the group ...he didn't know that was the graphic effect for my fury heal....hahaha

My 1st duel.....my husband was playing a zerker at the time..I was on my fury...we were in Sinking Sands up on the dune cliff overlooking the dock....he did a drop kick or something to that effect and it caused me to fly off the cliff and fall to my death giving him credit for the kill....I was so angry that he got credit for my falling death that I tuned off duel requests and never dueled again.

Travelling was slow and challenging back in the beginning....it was a long trek for a goodie to make his way through the lands, espcially Nek Forest to meet up with evil friends in Common Lands.

I remember getting my 1st gold piece.....I was RICH!!!!

I remember...

My guildmates thought I was daft to pay the harbormaster to take me to Thundering Steppes when I could just take the griffon in Antonica and run into the zone. Silver meant something Shared XP debt (I still honestly like that idea). 8 instances of Antonica up. Having to "earn" your way into the city.

The "black market" broker. Subcombines. Looking over my shoulder all the time when I was harvesting because there was always some Epic x2 or x4 flying around - Doomsquall or that bird (can't remember his name). Overland heroic mobs that would kick your tail - hunting to find something I could take solo. That screwy guild system. Running from suburb to suburb doing quests (I think it took three laps to get them all...).

Finding a rare harvest - twas a rare thing indeed. The beauty of the griffon flights, where you could see for miles. Needing to learn Halasian so you could open the gate to Varsoon's neighborhood. Access quests to Zek and the Feerott. Far Seas Trading Requisitions. Moving into the Luxury Apartment in the city so I could be closer to the bell. Watching for people waving at you.

A lot has changed, mostly for the better I think. The world has grown. Life is good.

Edit: And how could I forget... The Very First Frostfell

Here's a couple of my memories for you:

One (back in the days where my charm lasted minutes instead of mere seconds) where I charmed Hero and set him against Grolven Chiptooth:


... and here's one of a raid on a nepic Captain Ulssissaris in the Cove of Decay:

Lera, your post made me all teary eyed. I miss all that stuff. I'm probably one of few crafters who actually misses the old crafting system. I also miss the class progression quests. Oh and having to run back to where you last died to get your corpse, and dying again and again, making even more corpses, just trying to get your first corpse. All because you ventured somewhere you shouldn't have at level 10...(happened to me in the Wailing Caves) Then being unable to do anything until your corpses were returned to you because you couldn't walk due to multiple deaths. Trying to form a raid to take down Ladon or the one in Antonica and then someone jumping the pull and killing everyone....Oh the memories. (Honestly I'm not being sarcastic I am one of the few strange people that truly misses these things and many more.)

maybe they should do like they did in eq1 and give us a progression server for those of us who want to go back and relive the old days.

*Looks up at Darksun's post.* I think some of these young upstarts could benefit from the experience of some dangerous corpse runs. *grins

It has been a long journey, and as long as SOE continues to accept my $$$ perhaps it has only just begone. The early EQ years and experiences in game, ... so many friends, so many good times, so much time and money in vested in these relationships can be overwhelming to ponder.

It is almost enough to fprgive SOE for MxO. ... Almost but ... I digress.

A thanks to SOE My guild Dragonstorm, and all the player that remember the old ways of being helpful to the EQII community as a whole, as opposed to snarky in /ooc. I even thank the snarkers, for without them we would not understand honor and community.

The island of refuge, wow .... I too miss the boat, the isle where I killed my first 1000 Gobbies in the now shattered realm of Norrath. My Vah Shir still shed a tear when gazing upon the remains of Luclin and have hope and wonder about the seemingly restored moon.

Raises a Brewfest mug to you all .... Cheers Norrathians one and all!

Slyboots Freeblod Ranger EQII ..... aka .... Rwaar Aslan Vah Shir Beastlord EQ

That is an amazing idea. I am as lazy as the next person, but I do miss the old days when achievements still meant something, because you worked hard to get them.

I really think there should be at least one starter zone attached to Freeport and Qeynos each. I loved the island, that was one of the most shocking things about coming back to the game some time ago, when the island was suddenly gone.

Progression has been discussed, but it just isn't possible with the way the game has changed. We've had all these changes to stats, gear and abilities, where EQ1 has always kept the same old mechanics in place (mainly because the game is so much older and more limited).

Progression server... great idea. give those who experienced the game since launch some amazingly awesome nostalgia, and those who never got the chance to experience it a chance to understand why we love this game so much.

@Tierisch - The old starter zones are still attached to Qeynos and Freeport, so you can level characters up there once you get them to the city. Peat Bog and the Sprawl are the two starters of the lots IIRC.

Re: Progression Server - Great idea, but I don't see how they could make it work. They would have to completely change the game mechanics with every "step" of the progression. Think how many major live updates and game updates we've had in addition to all the expansions. All the tradeskill revamps. The itemization changes. Class balance (remember furies soloing orange ^^^ mobs?). Even if they've got all the old code lying around somewhere, implementing it would be a mess.

that's sad. i really wish they would find a way around it. some way to recapture the beginnings.

I don't think I've ever been 'so afraid' (and as a result had so much fun) of a little white mole that lurked in The Caves under/off Qeynos. Slaverjaw. That thing was big and nasty! Brings back good memories of a friend and I having a good laugh about it at the time.

All time favorite misadventure was when I bought one of my alts Fallien the Thurgadain Grand Hall, published under House of flowers. I did not realize that you had to be in Thurgadain when I bought it, took a few months to actually use the house because somewhere on the write up someone neglected to mention that Thurgadain was part of an expansion. Minor little detail, but the wait was worth it, although it would be nice if a few of you liked the house, and here is a pic of it below:

It also includes a few humble servants who help with the watering:
Of course we've all been other places and I don't want to use too many pics, but the most fun adventure I've had is yet to come. It would be interesting if you had a few more designs on the houses, and if those are part of the new expansions it would be wonderful if you would put a little note at the front something like "BUY THE EXPANSION FIRST" maybe this would help a few of us. I've enjoyed EQ2 and hope that it stays going as long as I have internet access.

Some reason the pics aren't showing up, don't understand why, will try one more thing
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=343115175863879&set=pcb.343115375863859&type=1

Even FB isn't liking this, you may have to click the image to get both, sorry image sharing is not something I'm good at.

You should put this to the "Everybody Wang Chung" song, lol

And then they made Kael Drakkel, Doh!

Even though we got to it rather later than a few other guilds, there was still this massive sense of accomplishment and pride to finally clear the Plane of War and defeat Rallos. It was a fantastic combination of out- and in-character epicness.

It was one of the first of the many videos I've since made of our first kills, but this one is probably most memorable despite some shaky camerawork.

The video was just meant for us internally that were there and for those that missed the kill, but this thread made me feel like sharing. Plus, i couldn't find my screenie of me hitting the level 50 cap

(best viewed on youtube in large size)