the biggest problem with eq revamps was the proportions. They just didnt seem to quite fit the players in the environments even with luclin models on.
EQ Never
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Itlan
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Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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That was Vu. One dev I wish found his way back to pantheon. He's lead dev on firefall now.
Grim1
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My main toon was a human shadowknight out of Qeynos. Had an epic journey to get to Freeport when the toon was in his late teens. That was cool and have fond memories of that trek. But as for Freeport itself, I didn't have much emotional attachment. Took off for Kunark soon after.That's what I was thinking. I hated the revamp because I knew the old zone so well, easy to navigate, lots of nostalgia, knowing where every NPC was and such.
For a completely new person to EQ the new Freeport might still be a bitch to navigate but he might find the actual layout, gritty style and all the corridors, nooks and crannies kinda cool. But us veterans are used to ~the old and more colorful layouts. Huge nostalgia. I visited Felwithe the other day and looking at its entrance from Greater Faydark it looks like a big dollhouse.They better not touch it!
So when they revamped Freeport I remember everyone crying and moaning, but I didn't get it. The new freeport looked ok to me, but as I said, I didn't have the same emotional attachment. But I did cry and moan like everyone else over many of the other changes EQ implemented over the years.
This emotional attachment we have to EQ and it's many different parts is what makes doing EQNext (EQ 3 whatever) such a thankless job for any dev that takes it on. I still hope that we will see a modern version of EQ, reboot, etc. And games like Black Desert give me hope that a studio will take it on while keeping some of the hardcore elements of old EQ. But even it they just reskinned it and kept the same old code (not possible, just an example) there would still be oceans of tears created because of the changes.
Jysin
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The thing is, it CAN be done. Despite EQ2's mechanical flaws, some of the zones were pretty damn cool. If you played during Kunark, you could see modern versions of classic zones like Sebilis and Karnors. One of the most popular remakes was when they released the Estate of Unrest. From start to finish, that zone was a very fun crawl to experience.
My biggest problem with the FP revamp and all revamps post velious is the art styles never joined well. Kunark and velious had much grander zones with much bigger buildings and more all that but it never felt strange to go zone from butcherblock to FV, the bump in graphics was noticable sure but the style they were using still gave huge deference to the old style, thats why it worked so well I think. Had they merged FP into one huge zone using the tech from kunark/velious with slightly better terrain mapping (not just flat planes) and all that I dont think the outcry would have been nearly as bad. Instead they made it so zoning into FP felt like you walked into an entirely new game where the pieces just somehow didn't fit quite right.
I hate to bring up wow constantly but they really set the bar for that sort of continuity. Look how much deference they still give to the WC3 art style in so many things. Ya sure the keep graphic has been used a hundred times over and we have seen some variation of the town hall in half the zones, but you can be sure you will see those buildings plopped down in Legion when it comes and the zone art styles will work so that it doesn't seem out of place. Keeping people playing your mmo into year 10 is in big part an appeal to their nostalgia. No it isn't the place for your designer to truly show their originality, it is like restoring a painting or turning a book into a movie.
I hate to bring up wow constantly but they really set the bar for that sort of continuity. Look how much deference they still give to the WC3 art style in so many things. Ya sure the keep graphic has been used a hundred times over and we have seen some variation of the town hall in half the zones, but you can be sure you will see those buildings plopped down in Legion when it comes and the zone art styles will work so that it doesn't seem out of place. Keeping people playing your mmo into year 10 is in big part an appeal to their nostalgia. No it isn't the place for your designer to truly show their originality, it is like restoring a painting or turning a book into a movie.
Well said. I got hyped every time I saw a building from the WarCraft RTS games in World of WarCraft. Especially the Undead structures in Stratholme for the first time.
SOE/Daybreak are notorious for completely butchering the EverQuest IP. There is very little that is sacred and passes from one project to the next. Art style is completely all over the place, lore changes on a whim, and only the main music theme and Firiona Vie are somewhat left intact but even those aren't safe.
I wish I had more interest in the Warcraft universe because you can see the amount of effort that goes into maintaining the style and keeping it relevant to its long-standing fans.
I wish I had more interest in the Warcraft universe because you can see the amount of effort that goes into maintaining the style and keeping it relevant to its long-standing fans.
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Blizzard does their own little "special" things with their IP's. Heroes of the Storm may be a mash up of all their games but to me this is when they crossed the line. Azmodan from Diablo.
Yes it's real. Azmodunk.
Geeeeeet dunked on~Blizzard does their own little "special" things with their IP's. Heroes of the Storm may be a mash up of all their games but to me this is when they crossed the line. Azmodan from Diablo.
Yes it's real. Azmodunk.
Yeah the countless pop culture references in WoW made for some chuckles but definitely made the WoW world feel a bit quirkier and gamey than EQ did; not necessarily bad, just of a less serious/immersive vibe to itBlizzard does their own little "special" things with their IP's. Heroes of the Storm may be a mash up of all their games but to me this is when they crossed the line. Azmodan from Diablo.
Yes it's real. Azmodunk.
The first expansion I truly hated was Pop because it segregated the casuals from the more hardcore players.
Voldeth
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EQ pre-PoP had a fuckton of segregation between casuals & hardcore players. The casuals would get lost in Lguk and end up dying trying to make it to a camp. Good luck trying to get a FBSS if you couldn't commit serious hours since the wait list alone could be absurdly long. Kunark had Seb to repeat that and they even introduced a key to make sure that true casuals couldn't even make it in the zone. Lets not forget they introduced Epic weapons during that era, you know, weapons with a huge distinctive graphics that told you if the person you were playing with was worth a shit (sure, there were exceptions to this for some classes). Velious? Casual friendly? Surely you gest? Luclin: VT keys alone ruin any idea of it being a casual expansion.
If you ever played original EQ you knew most people who were 'hardcore' on your server. You knew the guy who owned the market in commonlands, you knew the top guilds, and if you ran into a player you could probably look at him and within half a second you knew just how much time he put on his character. If you saw a cleric in full purple armor with yellow boots, you understood he had spent a lot of time in PoH and had probably camped efreeti in Solb a fuckton. If you saw a monk with a tranq staff and robe in Kunark, you knew he put in a fair amount of time. Warriors by their weapons, etc, etc.
Most hardcore players played in hardcore group with their friends and guildmates. Sometimes they brought Johnny casual in because they needed an extra body. This was true throughout most of EQ. It continued in PoP, it was just more frustrating since Johnny causal started to make the clearing significantly slower now.
Tldr; you're remembering the game wrong.
Flobee
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Voldeth is absolutely correct, but as of right this minute, im struggling to remember any case pre-POP what gave me as much as of a holyshit moment as having a ele/time geared rogue join my group in like, PoInnovation. I'm sure it happened, but that specific moment is burned into my brain. That or watching my RL pal that was a time geared bard duo with a cleric at tables in PoFire in era.