I was in a group in BoT which was really just pull mob-rinse-repeat yet I never really feel like just stopping because the enjoyment seemed to completely be from the excitement of levelling up and progressing on and towards certains aas... making me wonder is this the crack?

I won't be completely generalistic and suggest this is the only draw of thegame because there are lots of little nice aspects...

..like trying out the different classes
..like simply collecting silk and making a silk swatch.
..like going to places like Karnor's Castle, or Sebillis
..or getting the array of different items
..and collecting perhaps some quest bits
..the social element with friends and guilds

but it remains a large aspect of the game seems to be very much focused on the 'crack'; on the excitement of levelling up, getting aa, or new items..

I don't know what else to say with this as likely everyone is aware of this anyway but for me it is a little bit surprising to not have seen it before.

I mean if we're honest sit 'n' grind really isn't all that appealling is it? I think it is just that 'excitement' that makes it.

I am in BoT right now, enjoying myself.

The nice thing about EQ is that you do not have to play like the majority of people:  an anxiety about gearing-up, leveling-up, raiding-up, etc. I just play for fun.  I do content I enjoy.  I like to get AA points. I enjoy ventures into Plane of Hate.

You do not need to join a "raid" guild, or "progression" guild, or "classic" guild or even a "family" guild to really enjoy yourself.  Friends and a nice community-oriented guild are a huge help, though.

I was just editing that as it came across the wrong way, but anyway you say you're in bot 'enjoying yourself' but are you finding that excitement purely from watching your xp bar as well the odd social part? Hmm I don't know where I am going with this post- whether I'm stretching this to the whole of Everquest or just sort of reemphasizing my dislike of places like BoT in particular. I was very reluctant to go there after Nadox and I going there I rerealized why that was.

Originally posted by nomadian

I was just editing that as it came across the wrong way, but anyway you say you're in bot 'enjoying yourself' but are you finding that excitement purely from watching your xp bar as well the odd social part?

 

Hmm I don't know where I am going with this post-

I think you're asking me, why are you enjoying yourself in BoT?

It is a combination of things:

1. Combat is fun in EQ
2. I enjoy playing my class and using a vareity of abilities
3. I enjoy the company I am with, good people, one group member is a close friend of mine
4. Gaining levels is cool
5. Gaining some AA experience is cool
6. Random named mobs are fun
7. EQ is a dangerous game with real consequences
8. It can be challenging at times with multiple pulls, etc.
9. More, and other, reasons

Many of the new games I play, I do not enjoy.  Seemed too... forced by a developer.  A developer seemed to say, hhmph, I want the players to go down this path, complete this Quest, do this dungeon, then later enter this dungeon.  Many of the stories are not even very good.  I feel spared from that in EQ and have the choice as to how to level-up, where to gain experience, if I even want to gain exp, etc.

Ah I don't share the sentiment; while I do enjoy EQ to an extent I see it's limits. For me there is a 'something' that is there that doesn't seem to exist in other mmos I've played. But, at the same time, I notice some of it's flaws of which while you do enjoy them and that's good it can be very lets say repetitive and limited is all. (as perhaps all mmos to an extent)

Originally posted by nomadian

 For me there is a 'something' that is there that doesn't seem to exist in other mmos I've played.

I love the "new" EQ.  I played on Nameless as my first server, and then a few others servers, when EQ was first released.  I think people have selective memory on many points:  community (are you kidding me?  Kill-stealers, zerg guilds muscling their way toward named-targets; blackballing people; and much, much worse in-game and out of game), content (I wonder if these people have done the Ench epic when you have your alt planted and so do four other people for mobs that spawn like once per month; that is not fun), and many other, as you said, "flaws."

The new EQ may have flaws, but nothing compared to the old EQ.  For example, I participated in a dual-guild raid last night.  It was awesome.  I stayed up until 5:00 a.m. to help someone in the opposite guild obtain her epic piece.  In the "old" EQ, there would have been bitching and drama about which guild gets the drop first.  Oh, believe me, there was some of that; but it was from the other guild.

The new EQ is about options.  I am going to log-in today, get some augments from an old hot zone, then work on a mask quest, and then raid at 1:00 p.m. with my guild.  I enjoy these options, varied activities in content that is challenging, but not overbearing, and in a world that feels more real, with its outdated graphics, than any MMORPG on the market.  That is "something" that I think you might be referring to.

Ah new EQ vs old EQ - that's a whole another debate. I actually do like some of the new EQ's aspects though I will say it has no doubt altered it to another game. Regardless of my views on this, both ages really come to mind when I was writing this topic. I think there is a possibility PoP made things worse when it brought along the one mob at a time grouping model though..

Originally posted by nomadian

I actually do like some of the new EQ's aspects though I will say it has no doubt altered it to another game.

I have never been to "anguish" (some raid zone I am vaguely familiar with) and never complete all the "flags" for PoP gear.  I have never even visited Vex Thal.

The new aspects, in my view, such as these solo + groupable quests; group dungeons that are very challenging but drop awesome gear are restoring the roots of EQ:  community guilds and group gameplay.

I might have raided 3 or 4 times this week, but I always had fun.  My point is that, at least how I play, I feel zero pressure by the developers or my guild to do "something."  You might say hotzones do that, but I like the incentives to group in some of these places and it is easier to find pick-up groups, which are often fun.