Excellent write up!  I enjoye reading about the creation of these large scale projects especially those so close to my heart. 

I'll never forget playing EQ for the first time.  The demo disk that came with the Vaio was the best thing about that computer I purhased.

My copy of EQ would crash every 15-30 minutes, and Verant tech support was about as useful as tits on a bull. So yeah, the only memories I have of EQ are of frustration and high phone bills. Oh and wasted money, can't forget that one.

EQ will always live in my heart as the best MMO ever, long live EQ!

Originally posted by Durray

Oh WoW a reference to Vodoo graphics cards. That takes me back!

What ever happened to vodoo anyway?

Loved loved EQ and always will.. too many good memories.

Also loved 3dfx and their voodoo cards hehe. Sadly they went backrupt and Nvidia bought them out. There probably wasn't room for 3 different major graphics card companies anyhow though I suppose.

EverQuest will always have a place in my gaming heart as one of the best gaming eras I've ever experienced.  I remember many o' nights camping in Highhold Keep below the bank. Trading in East Commons Tunnel, weighed down so heavy I literally had to slow walk to Freeport bank in North Freeport.  

At that time, camping was fun..the monsters had tons of HP so strategy HAD to be used..each toon had a specific role to play..and comraderie..and I stand by this...has still NEVER BEEN as close in any other MMO (current 800lb Gorilla included)..as is was in EQ.

Kael runs fighting Vindicator...feeling useful being able to feign death pull with my monk in places where mobs couldn't be lulled to sleep..the game was special.  

I raise my glass to you, EQ.  

You were the best.

still can't get over the fact that your parents let you play an online computer game at 8 years old....that must be like...the worst parenting ever hehe

Originally posted by lalartu

still can't get over the fact that your parents let you play an online computer game at 8 years old....that must be like...the worst parenting ever hehe

 

 

Lol, well, I was seven at the time when EQ came out and my parents let me play. They watched me and monitored the time, of course, but I loved it. And actually, I had developed a very wide range of vocabulary because of playing EQ, which I believe helped me in many ways later in schooling. 

I dont rememebr being exposed to the horrid behaviors back then that are so much more prevalent today.

EQ1 is one of my first PC game

I remember well because it was my first year of university and also because my parents bought us our first family PC, and some months later, it was internet .

i played for 4 years, it is a great game. I spent many marvellous hours with friends and guildies on it.

But as many place we left in life, we like to talk about it but we don't want to come back.

However it still has a special place in my heart of gamer.

Everquest is still the definitive MMORPG to me.

I spent the night in SWTOR talking about corpse runs, losing XP on death and training mobs and not a lot of people were catching on.

Best MMO ever. (up until 2002).

You just got better at Nostalgia (100).

@Velocinox

what your saying WOULD make sense....

IF there were thousands of MMOs out there with every permutation of different features and attributes.  so people actually had a choice of these things.

some don't play EQ (for an example), because its a ghosttown everywhere and one of the whole appeals of it was being immersed in a POPULATED world that felt full of human life (my reason).  some people don't play it because graphics matters to them, and in the context of what they are used to in modern games, the game looks really UGLY today, even tho it might have looked sweet to them back in its heyday.

when a progression server was new in 2010 and i heard it was extremely populated, i DID play it and and enjoy EQ again, like it was 1999 all over again.  it was so delightfully full of life again.  there were people running all over the place, and no shortage of pick up groups INSIDE of whatever dungeon i felt like wandering over to.

but once the expansion packs are unlocked, its NOT a game that fulfils my requirements.  the world becomes too huge and the players too spread out.  the magic is gone.   Vanguard would be another game for me, but it suffers the same problem.  world is too big for how many players there are.  therefore its a ghosttown everywhere.

so really, alot of people just DO NOT have the choice of playing their preferred type of MMO, because it just DOES NOT EXIST at this moment in time.  therefore they have to pick the lesser of all evils, or just not play MMOs at all.  which is my case, outside of some brief bouts of Darkfall here and there.

I have very fond memories of EQ1. I still remember being ganked by the griffins outside the huts in East commonlands many times. Being terrified making the long journey through the cave (Forget the name, with the eye in it) through the canyon with the minataurs through to South Korana. The penalties are what made it fun, I made many good friends playing EQ1 and stayed friends with them for years after, moving on to other games together.

I have very fond memories of EQ1. I still remember being ganked by the griffins outside the huts in East commonlands many times. Being terrified making the long journey through the cave (Forget the name, with the eye in it) through the canyon with the minataurs through to South Korana. The penalties are what made it fun, I made many good friends playing EQ1 and stayed friends with them for years after, moving on to other games together.

EQ and UO, will we ever again see the the launching of games (not just MMOs) with such vision that were prepaired to see it through, from being the new kid on the block to being a major new genre.

Great article... well-researched and well-written. EQ is the shit.

I always thought it was rather amusing that even the headline semi-nude pretty girl on the EQ publicity manages to look like a nerd.

Originally posted by Aarinak

Great article... well-researched and well-written. EQ is the shit.

 Lemme correct that for you.... EQ was the shit.(Until Luclin).