really.. Zones added here, zones added there. Expansions obsoleted and some even bugged never to be used again..(Ldon). Then there is the ugly PoK- I call this one of the ugliest zones in the game- even worse is the map crammed with hundreds and hundreds of npcs. It's a shame as it wasn't so bad in the beginning. You had the starting cities, the dungeons and the various hunting, travelling across areas- it was far from perfect with some zones awfully designed(imo) but it's better than the mishmesh of now.

Let me guess, you quit 7-8 years ago and just because the game didn't wait for you to return in the original form, you think it's a "mess" because you don't know where things are or what things do?

PoK is a hub with portals and npc's of all sorts for spell vendors, merchants, quests, and crafting.  Of course it's got lots of npc's.  It's not a "mess", they're there for a reason.

LDoN still works, if you want to play it you can.  Even better now that mercs count as a player member in your group, so you don't need a full group, you just need 3 people and 3 mercs to spawn a LDoN instance.  What's wrong with it?

Expansion or zones obsolete & outdated happens to all MMO's that have expansions and have lasted a long time.  You kinda can't avoid it, unless you plan on keeping everybody at level 50 for 10 years.

EQ do have too many expansions. There is just a logical limit too how much you can add to a game.

In SOE case they can either continue what they are doing or totaly remake the game from scratch. It will happen to all MMOs sooner or later but in EQs case it went faster than most games since it have so many expansions.

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Originally posted by Mardy
Let me guess, you quit 7-8 years ago and just because the game didn't wait for you to return in the original form, you think it's a "mess" because you don't know where things are or what things do?

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Ding dong wrong. (1) last time I quit was actually probably latter part of last year. (2) There are some very useful guides around (Allakhazam, Castersrealm) that show where the latest things are or what things do, not to mention a npc also stating the updates. So not knowing where things are or what they do isn't any part of my view. I'm saying from an objective (rather than your blinkered rose-tinted glasses view) it's a mess of a game. I think any newcomer would likely agree.

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PoK is a hub with portals and npc's of all sorts for spell vendors, merchants, quests, and crafting.  Of course it's got lots of npc's.  It's not a "mess", they're there for a reason.

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I know what it is and I say it's a mess.

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LDoN still works, if you want to play it you can.  Even better now that mercs count as a player member in your group, so you don't need a full group, you just need 3 people and 3 mercs to spawn a LDoN instance.  What's wrong with it?

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They are bugged. When was the last time you played one?

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Expansion or zones obsolete & outdated happens to all MMO's that have expansions and have lasted a long time.  You kinda can't avoid it, unless you plan on keeping everybody at level 50 for 10 years.

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Yes I played for a number of expansions in Everquest, and that wasn't 3. I'm very aware of what expansions do- but the sheer number of expansions combined with it's choice of philosophy of making only one expansion relevant (rather than make an expansion ADD to the game they make any new expansion THE game) It's of course obvious why they do this- to max it's money, but imo it degrades the game as a whole. (from a view of someone whose eyes are not $$$ with new xp gains or loot whoring).

By the way I'm not arguing about whether EQ should or should not have released so many expansions.  I agree, it could've used probably 5 expansions less, because I can count 5 that were lackluster....which was part of the reasons why I left in 2004 the last time I quit.  It was crazy for awhile back then, when they were releasing 2 expansions each year.

But it's different now.  They're doing 1 expansion a year, which honestly is a good rate for a MMORPG.  I'll still disagree that EQ is a mess because of outdated content or obsolete expansions.  Since coming back 3 months ago I've had an awesome time going through zone by zone, all the zones I missed since 2004.  It never cease to amaze me how big the game is.  And you know what?  That's part of the attraction, it's part of the reasons why this game is good.  It's the fact that you have all these zones and content, that you can *choose* to do them if you like.  You can choose to stop at lvl 75 and enjoy some missions/instances.  You can choose to stop at certain levels and attempt at dragons/boss mobs.  I personally don't care whether other people are doing certain content or if something is outdated, I'd like to go through them just the same.

Now fast forward to new games released today, I can tell you lots of gamers wish games today have more expansions and more content, more places to see.  They wish their games aren't as stale and some even wish they have just 1 expansion because many games haven't been expanded on.

I guess I just think there's no good or bad way to do it.  With a game that's 10 years old, one of the very few that are still running being this old and sporting a decent population, I think it's almost inevitable.  The choice is having a game with expansions, or like many other old games have no expansions on the horizon and haven't been expanded on in a long time.  I think you'll find most EQ players are fairly happy that they do have a game that is this old, and yet still getting expanded on.  They aren't perfect by any means, but what's the alternative?

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But it's different now.  They're doing 1 expansion a year, which honestly is a good rate for a MMORPG.  I'll still disagree that EQ is a mess because of outdated content or obsolete expansions.  Since coming back 3 months ago I've had an awesome time going through zone by zone, all the zones I missed since 2004.  It never cease to amaze me how big the game is.  And you know what?  That's part of the attraction, it's part of the reasons why this game is good.  It's the fact that you have all these zones and content, that you can *choose* to do them if you like.  You can choose to stop at lvl 75 and enjoy some missions/instances.  You can choose to stop at certain levels and attempt at dragons/boss mobs.  I personally don't care whether other people are doing certain content or if something is outdated, I'd like to go through them just the same.

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Yes there is no doubt the sheer amount of zones gives you options but the reason why I say it's a mess is because it's very much like an old coat with all sort of patches randomly sewn on. Everquest is like that with it's add-on new areas here and there,and then there's it's array pf half-used gimmicks (intially used to get people to buy the latest new expansion) before then just going onto the next and forgetting about that.

Originally posted by Loke666

In SOE case they can either continue what they are doing or totaly remake the game from scratch. It will happen to all MMOs sooner or later but in EQs case it went faster than most games since it have so many expansions.

It did not come "faster" - EQ is one of the oldest still surviving MMO's around. The biggest problem with any aging MMO is what to do with the old content. Eventually every MMO will get to that stage. Perhaps it is time to just combine and/or delete a lot of the old zones that nobody uses.

Originally posted by Loke666

EQ do have too many expansions. There is just a logical limit too how much you can add to a game.

In SOE case they can either continue what they are doing or totaly remake the game from scratch. It will happen to all MMOs sooner or later but in EQs case it went faster than most games since it have so many expansions.

     Yes it will be interesting to see what the all mighty WoW looks like when it starts to get up towards 15 or so in expansions....There are already people complaining about it and it only has 2 expansions so far......