[Zyphria]

When I first loaded up the Phase III beta of Everquest back in 1998, I was utterly taken aback by the world around me. I remember wandering around Surefall Glade enthralled in being in a world with so much atmosphere. I ended up playing for around three years and during that time I continously felt the urge to explore when I could. Being on a PvP server (low population, and most people kept to zones with plenty of other guilds/races on their side) there were plenty of zones that were devoid of players. Everytime an expansion came out I recruited a druid and explorered until I had to recruit a necro.

I never felt the same way when playing DAOC for two more years, FFXI for three months, or any of the other MMORPG's. Closest I've come to 'filling' that need to explore has been playing MUD's of all games (text based multi-user domains).

"The Vision" was a concept that has become almost synonymous with "we're right and you're wrong", when in fact it was simply a bold (and foolhardy) idea that MMORPG's need to have some vast underlying structure that holds it all together in some sort of 'virtual' reality. I tasted the tainted version...but I so desperately want to see if the next incarnation is closer to being the purified version.

The subject 'I'm afraid' keys in on the fact that I fear I'm going to be pulled back into Everquest II for the simple reason that the world I loved and knew has gotten an overhaul...many of the zones that I remember seeing only on that map will come to life and set my imagination on fire once more. It is nostalgia and it is scary. For that reason alone I feel I might skip over World of Warcraft simply because it *isn't* Everquest...even if it is more fun to the vast majority of people.

Am I alone in this? Are there others who still feel some aspect of their virtual being is hung up on EQ?