Eq1

[Phillychuck]

I miss it.

Been thinking of giving it another go, but looks like I'm a couple expansions behind again. They also raised the monthly price to $15.

I wonder if it was just the time of my life I played EQ that made me enjoy it so much. I've just had no luck falling into that groove with WoW and EQ2. I gave them both a few months.

Should I try EQ1 or is it futile now? I mean, the last content I played was pretty difficult (GoD/OoW, very little actually since I was tring to get elemental flags/gear).

[ChrisRay]

EQ 1 usuallty has a sympthetic value to it. I login from time to time and play it anyway. But the UI is ancient and frustrating compared to current games so expect that. IMO you're better off just getting station access and playing both EQ 1 and EQ 2.

EQ 1 is an alright game if you have plenty of time to invest into it.

[|MaguS|]

EQ1 is only worth playing now if you have a high end character with good gear. The low end game is nearly dead. If they were to make a preluclin server I would swallow my SOE hating pride and sign right back up to play on it, those were my favorite times.

[Phillychuck]

I figured it would be pretty much dead, station pass is out of my price range right now. My problem is everything we do is pretty much times 2, me and the GF play as a duo and that would be $40/month. I'm not even sure I'd want to waste my time in EQ2. I tried it, and every group I joined was a just a random collection of people who had 0 social skills. I never remember EQ being like that, people communicated, even if it was negative.

I often wondered why they never made a new server every so often. Having an untwinked world for guilds to develop would have been nice. I know its different now, but before a server could only accomodate 1 or 2 uber guilds without making hardships on the up and coming ones.

My toons were level 65-66 (on both accounts), gear wasn't elemental. I was doing planar raids with a guild and didn't do that bad. I heard that GoD put serious emphasis on resists, which I never really got to test.

[ChrisRay]

I figured it would be pretty much dead, station pass is out of my price range right now. My problem is everything we do is pretty much times 2, me and the GF play as a duo and that would be $40/month. I'm not even sure I'd want to waste my time in EQ2. I tried it, and every group I joined was a just a random collection of people who had 0 social skills. I never remember EQ being like that, people communicated, even if it was negative.

I often wondered why they never made a new server every so often. Having an untwinked world for guilds to develop would have been nice. I know its different now, but before a server could only accomodate 1 or 2 uber guilds without making hardships on the up and coming ones.

My toons were level 65-66 (on both accounts), gear wasn't elemental. I was doing planar raids with a guild and didn't do that bad. I heard that GoD put serious emphasis on resists, which I never really got to test.

IMO if you have a 60 + toon you'd do fine in EQ 1., But as we have mentioned before. The game is massively catered towards high levels. The only time low levels actually gain levels is if there alts. Its an extremely hard game to start out new in TBH. Unless you know someone.

It's not a bad game. Its just probably one of the most time demanding MMORPGs that exist right now. I sometimes log in my 67 enchanter and Level 70 Beastlord to have some fun. But the game is hard to play if you're not willing to dedicate alot of time to it...

P.S. and the UI is so frustrating after using WoW or EQ 2's UI :P

[Phillychuck]

I liked EQ1's UI, I usually used drak-something or other. There is less going on with the UI anyway, WoW/EQ2 have all sorts of timing. Your always powering something up or doing a sequence.

You touched on one of the reasons I quit. I used to play a mage/ranger with shaman bot. If I didn't log on the bot, I'd been sitting LFG for hours. I even used to run LDONs with the shaman and the ranger... I know I wasn't alone tho, lots of people used to play 2-3 toons at a time. I guess thats where the challenge began lol. I did cursed with the shaman doing the slows and my ranger on auto-fire a few times. Also did the fatty in PoD botting the shammy for slows. Oh the fun :-)

[lognoronon]

I still play EQ1. I have the station pass though so I can go back and forth from EQ2 and EQ1. I use EQ1 for raiding primarily since that's the thing I enjoy the most in these type of games(main reason I quit WOW, lack of raiding content) and EQ2 for everything else. I don't mind the UI of EQ1 and actualy like it more than WOW for some reason.

[Phillychuck]

Looks like I might be tring EQ1 again, we just got an email saying they reactivated accounts for upto 21 days.. LOL.. I guess marketing was reading my mind...

It'll give me a change to see the game again, wont be a true test of population since I'm sure servers will be busy since people will be able to come back for free.

Also will be the first time to see my server after the merge with cazic thule.. (brell was my server).

[GlowStick]

EQ1 is only worth playing now if you have a high end character with good gear. The low end game is nearly dead. If they were to make a preluclin server I would swallow my SOE hating pride and sign right back up to play on it, those were my favorite times.
Aye, SoL was crap. I liked RoK alot, and sorta liked SoV. However, I do say I was never able to get the raid feeling from any other game. If they did start a new non upgraded server id join up in a heart beat.

On the UI, am i the only one who loved the orginal orginal EQ ui, not the full screen 3d one, but the crappy low res one. heh i want it back :d

[Phillychuck]

Well, now I've decided NOT to resubscribe to EQ1. Here's the lowdown:

My GF has EQ1 with all expansions upto OOW. She gets the free 21 days.

A new customer who downloads a "eq trilogy" free, gets a free 21 day trial.

I have EQ1 with all expansions upto OOW, EQ2, Planetside, and SWG. Because I had station access for 1 month, their CSR told me I don't qualify for the 21 free day trial.

Last time they gave me a free trial I ended up subscribing for 6 months or so, bought 3 expansions in that time as well. Sony sure doesn't care about good customers, I paid the EQ1 bill for many months before cancelling it initially, and have came back on a couple occasions.

Oh well..

[ChrisRay]

I have Station Access and I got the free trial e-mail too. I thought it was kind of ironic.

[Elderblaze]

EQ's population is doing fine.

The UI is fully customizable, if you don't like it, there's ALOT you can do about it.

They have completly redone the 1-20 game, you get spells at every level now, there are purchasable healing potions, clairity potions, and many new melee abilities.
All races/classes start in the same area, this brings all noobs in the game together.


As an EQ Veteran, i'd have absolutely no problem whatsoever rolling a character starting with nothing at all, and owning the game. I'd be 50 inside a month. 60 in another month and 70 a couple months later. I could do it without investing anymore/less time then I would in Wow or EQ2. In fact i know for sure i'd advance much faster in EQ1 then eq2.

Roll a solo class, (Necro,Mage, Shaman, Beastlord, wizard, druid) and you can start with no gear/plat and be highly sucessful.

[ChrisRay]

EQ 1's camera system is hardly all that customizable. The UI is clunky for dragging and dropping spells. The UI is dated and it shows. The interface is the problem. The skins/UIs can be changed but the interface remains the same.

Aye, SoL was crap. I liked RoK alot, and sorta liked SoV. However, I do say I was never able to get the raid feeling from any other game. If they did start a new non upgraded server id join up in a heart beat.

On the UI, am i the only one who loved the orginal orginal EQ ui, not the full screen 3d one, but the crappy low res one. heh i want it back :d


There are actually custom UIS which do exactly this.

[Phillychuck]

I signed up after all... (lol) I'm having fun so far... the population is just fine on cazic. I've found a good amount of old friends already.

Graphics in EQ1 aren't that bad, I'm using the draknar UI at 1280x1024.

So far me and the GF are just working on getting my mage to 66 so I can use the new pet, a friend gave me a couple of those minor muramite runes to help out.

I didn't see anyone doing pickup raids like before, which is how I got my ranger a ton of PoP flags.

[GlowStick]

I signed up after all... (lol) I'm having fun so far... the population is just fine on cazic. I've found a good amount of old friends already.

Graphics in EQ1 aren't that bad, I'm using the draknar UI at 1280x1024.

So far me and the GF are just working on getting my mage to 66 so I can use the new pet, a friend gave me a couple of those minor muramite runes to help out.

I didn't see anyone doing pickup raids like before, which is how I got my ranger a ton of PoP flags.
Ah, i usto play on Cazic-Thule also :D

[Elderblaze]

I have no idea why you would need to drag/drop spells anymore now that their are spell sets. You can setup a lineup for any situation and with the click of one button/command load em up. It's pretty intuitive in my opinion. Just as good as WOW. Now if your complaining that there's only 8 spell slots, well that's a game limitation and it's by design. I doubt it will ever change. Other then a few aa's that might give you an extra slot or two.

[ChrisRay]

Nope. I'm not complaining about the limited spell slots. I am simply saying the interface is old and dated. From the targetting system to spell set/drops and macros, to the poor implementation of watching group health/mana and limited assist options. Add in the clunky camera interface. ((Which was all fine until I experienced something better)) But I am sure you believe EQ 1 is flawless. :cool:

[Phillychuck]

Cazic zones very slow, I have RAID0 now and I'm zoning slower then before. The response when I hit the zone is pokey, it seems to sit there for a few seconds before it loads. But when we get to the other side, I'm always one of the first people.

Not doing too bad, was in MPG today with an old friend and got 40% of level 66 in a few hours. 2 of the level 70 runes had dropped too, so that made me feel better about obtaining my spells. PoP's 65 spells anoyed me to no end, costing me around 75k to get the pet and the nuke. Then again, my friend has 16k hps :-).. I'm sure a pickup group would be horrible.

LDON is dead looks like, I had to use the bird bath (augs) and went to 3 of the zones and they had no activity in the camps. I loved LDON, I guess I need DoN now to find people.

[Elderblaze]

I don't think EQ is flawless, however it's camera system is one of it's stronger points. Even from the original version it's camera angles and options have been very good. They are simply good enough that they don't need updating.

Watching health bars? if your a cleric or healer type that needs to do that, there are many a mod out there that can do it. All target group member 1-5 keys are fully bindable. You can make a hotkey like this

/sit off
/hotkey for target group memeber 1
/cast 1
/pause 30
/sit

This will make you stand up, target group member 1, cast spell gem 1 (a heal for example) wait till the spell is finished casting, and then sit back down.

You could also do somthing like

Manully target group member

/g Greater heal to %T (Character name) in 3 seconds!
/cast 1

The amount of information that EQ gives you as in, NPC casting, damage shield reports, damage done, crit damage, pet damage, etc etc. Is far more then you'd see in WOW/EQ2 and easier to filter to separate windows as well.

The targeting and assist system is just like other mmo's, Hell EQ pioneered this **** ffs. click a mob to target it, or push a hotkey to target the nearest mob, pretty much standard target abilities that all the newest mmo's have.

Assist is easy as well /assist (playername) or manually target and use /assist. What more do you want? Newer Mmo's are slightly better in this regard, because you can cast offensive spells on players and it will automatically hit the players target. Not that big a deal. there are also raid assist options now, and Leadership aa's that allow you to target my enemies target.

I really don't see the issue here, EQ is indeed dated, but it seems like your nitpicking, or just don't understand the depth of customization in the EQ interface.

Hehe, now that im thinking about, exactly how customizable it is, and how hotkeyable everything is, every command, every option. I think it's the NEW games that are lacking.

[ChrisRay]

I really don't see the issue here, EQ is indeed dated, but it seems like your nitpicking, or just don't understand the depth of customization in the EQ interface.


Nitpicking? No I could nitpick if you'd like too. I am pointing out some faults in the EQ 1 interface.

/sit off
/hotkey for target group memeber 1
/cast 1
/pause 30
/sit


Heh the funny thing is you illustrated exactly my point. The macro system is poorly designed at best. And half the commands are way too unuser friendly. Sure someone can always setup these macros up. But most of EQ 1 is command driven. While most modern games are UI driven.

The amount of information that EQ gives you as in, NPC casting, damage shield reports, damage done, crit damage, pet damage, etc etc. Is far more then you'd see in WOW/EQ2 and easier to filter to separate windows as well.

The targeting and assist system is just like other mmo's, Hell EQ pioneered this **** ffs. click a mob to target it, or push a hotkey to target the nearest mob, pretty much standard target abilities that all the newest mmo's have

No its not. Most games will now generate/show in the UI whom the target is attacking. If target changes the secondary assist target will as well. EQ 1's assist is very very dated compared to modern assist interfaces. And requires reassisting on each target change. Whether thats for healing or whether for aquiring a target . It creates an un neccasary amount of micro management to perform tasks that should be trivial. Can I do it? Yes. Without a doubt. Doesnt mean its not a hassle in compared to modern assist interfaces. A MMORPG should focus its micro management on actual combat. Not clunky assist interfaces.

As far as damage shields. Spell castings. Ect. I dont see your point. Every MMORPG will give you a description of what your doing. And will log it in a recent history. Whether its a damage shield, melee attacks, or special spell skills. The information is logged. In both WoW and EQ 2. EQ 1 is hardly superior in any way. As a matter of fact. Both WoW and EQ 2 have a superior interfaces in this regards. As they give you a visual and text representation of damage and spell damage.


I don't think EQ is flawless, however it's camera system is one of it's stronger points. Even from the original version it's camera angles and options have been very good. They are simply good enough that they don't need updating.

Cant disagree more. EQ 1's camera interface is clunky at best. Doesnt provide you a full range of camera direction. And requires you to toggle through F8 Multiple times times to toggle horizontal angle while needing to use the mouse to adjust the verticle angle.

LDON is dead looks like, I had to use the bird bath (augs) and went to 3 of the zones and they had no activity in the camps. I loved LDON, I guess I need DoN now to find people.

LDON has been dead since Sony screwed up with the level scaling past 65 with the new expansion Omens of War. No one does it anymore because the mobs scale poorly ((or they did)) and obviously the reward these days is outdated by 3 expansions.

[Elderblaze]

To each their Own I suppose. I prefer the EQ camera system over wow/eq2. Maybe it's from years of use. You can re-hotkey F8 to somthing easier to reach btw. I've played EQ2/Wow/EQ1 and they all pretty much suck out of the box, and need to be modified. Your making a bigger deal out of it then it really is. The only thing I really miss in EQ is the Visual que's when you get hit, in wow how it pops up over your head when you crit, however EQ1's combat is very different from wow, and this would absolutely NOT work for eq1. A warrior or monk duel wielding 18 delay weapons double attack, triple attacks, special attack is a spam machine like no toon in Wow could hope to achieve hehe. your screen would be loaded with hits.

[Sorrow]

I miss EQ1's raids and player community :(

I miss EQ1 before PoP. Bazaar was my fave place to chill while I wasn't busy. Ahhh, the memories. Good ol EQ1 :(

[GlowStick]

I miss EQ1's raids and player community :(

I miss EQ1 before PoP. Bazaar was my fave place to chill while I wasn't busy. Ahhh, the memories. Good ol EQ1 :(
Ah yes, i usto be a day trader back before bazaar and everyone used EC, or was it WC i forgets :o

but anyways, i actually made quite a bit of money sitting around buying low, selling high!

[marqmajere]

Ah yes, i usto be a day trader back before bazaar and everyone used EC, or was it WC i forgets :o

but anyways, i actually made quite a bit of money sitting around buying low, selling high!


It was the east commons tunnel. I remember those days. We'll never see them again.

[Tygerwoody]

I'm working on an Everquest 1 emulator server atm. Would anyone be interested in playing on it?