Favorite Zone ever?

[Wash]

You're never going to have the tension of those old EQ dungeons, because most new games don't have a real death penalty. Having to go back and get your corpse if you fucked up-- that made you memorize every nook and cranny.

WoW and most new games aren't ever going to capture that. Ooh, we can't be that mean to the poor players. So you end up with a pretty game where you never have anything to lose.

Ooooh, I can go run headfirst into a dungeon and be an idiot, np, it's just some gold or I'll run back at 2x speed as a ghost. Pussy shit, which leads to pussy games.

No one gets that attached to their characters anymore because there's never any danger of losing them.

[jayrebb]

Originally Posted by Wash

misc

I had never thought of the tension that way. But now that I think of it, the need for caution was important to the atmosphere. You never knew what named could be up, or if there was something that your group couldn't handle. The "?" was strong in EQ.

Even the best zone design in terms of geometry won't be memorable if you can just Rambo your way through it. There were no ? factors in VG. It was the same game for all 50 levels.

/spit brad's FAQ on the importance of dungeons. Next time get off your ass to make sure even JUST ONE of your ideas is realized.

[Tancred]

Originally Posted by EmiliaEQ

Why go to Chardok/City of Mist/Howling Stones/The Hole when you can get easier & safer xp and better loot in Sebilis ?

Why sit in zones crowded with retards when you can get huge, empty and challenging zones to yourself?

Some of the best fun I had in EQ was the early periods of Kunark and Velious. Having Howling Stones to yourself, or Velks Lab, or Kaesora, or Dragon Necropolis was awesome fun and led to some epic CRs, some of which were as fun as the crawls themselves. You know you're having fun when you're down to your 3rd tier of resist kit/skull shaped barbute/mage summoned crap and trying to get your corpses back. Great times.

[crrimson death]

I remember when velks lab was totally empty, and i went in there with a random pickup group to explore. we pulled from the zone and got the shit kicke dout of us pretty quickly if i remember correctly. not sure what level we were.

That was lots of fun though. that zone was pretty mysterious ( to me anyways ) at the time.

[Grizzlebeard]

Pretty much all I remember of Velks is spiders, camp checks, and sliding off ledges and praying my DA was up before the ground met my face.

[Lleauaric~EW]

There is nothing particularly interesting about WoW Raid Encounters.

Some are pretty fun.. some are annoying. But its like being in one of those lame dance studios trying to learn how to do the Mambo by placing your feet in the painted ons on the floor.

I like multi group zones. If you really think about it and be honest, EQ1, a game with almost no real PvP was a more competitive game than WoW a game that is built to an extent around PvP.


People playing during Vulak races or AoW battles know what Im talking about.

WoW is just a big loot pinata. Everyone is a winner. Nobody ever really loses. Even losers in PvP get loot.

Its the special Olympics theory of video gaming.

[EmiliaEQ]

Originally Posted by Tancred

Various

I know i know
I grew up on Karana playing on euro timeline, so sebilis wasnt a clusterfuck.

Thats why like Zehn (?) id kill for EQ_Like_Dungeons with WoW_Like_Class_Gameplay
VG promised that and we all know how that went.

[Cybsled]

Having to wait at your bind point and asking a rogue or monk to get your corpse if you fucked up and drag it to the zoneline-- that made you memorize every monk and rogue.

Fixed.

[etchazz]

Originally Posted by Wash

You're never going to have the tension of those old EQ dungeons, because most new games don't have a real death penalty. Having to go back and get your corpse if you fucked up-- that made you memorize every nook and cranny.

WoW and most new games aren't ever going to capture that. Ooh, we can't be that mean to the poor players. So you end up with a pretty game where you never have anything to lose.

Ooooh, I can go run headfirst into a dungeon and be an idiot, np, it's just some gold or I'll run back at 2x speed as a ghost. Pussy shit, which leads to pussy games.

No one gets that attached to their characters anymore because there's never any danger of losing them.

a fucking men. it's all about risk vs. reward, which is why i never really felt attached to my characters in WoW. if you died, it was just a ghost run back to whenever it was you died with zero penalty. in EQ, i remember being in some places that i knew "man, if i die here, i'm fucked." that sense of danger really meant something to playing a game. it would be like someone giving you a porsche vs. you working hard, saving up your money and earning one yourself. in the end, you're getting the same thing, but it's a totally different feeling when you've earned something over just being given it. EQ=earned WoW= given.

[XadionDarkborn]

Originally Posted by Lleauaric~EW

WoW is just a big loot pinata. Everyone is a winner. Nobody ever really loses. Even losers in PvP get loot.

Its the special Olympics theory of video gaming.

my new sig- QFTMFT! I could not explain it better!

[tad10]

Originally Posted by etchazz

a fucking men. it's all about risk vs. reward, which is why i never really felt attached to my characters in WoW. if you died, it was just a ghost run back to whenever it was you died with zero penalty. in EQ, i remember being in some places that i knew "man, if i die here, i'm fucked." that sense of danger really meant something to playing a game. it would be like someone giving you a porsche vs. you working hard, saving up your money and earning one yourself. in the end, you're getting the same thing, but it's a totally different feeling when you've earned something over just being given it. EQ=earned WoW= given.

One of the better mid-level zones in VG is a place called River Valley. Really quite lush and it grades from level 29/30 on one side to 34/35 on the other. Back at opening there used to be a level 34 four dot non-named black dog mob called Hound of Garm that wandered through most of one side of the zone. I don't know who Garm was exactly save that he was an asshole.

Before they were nerfed (and eventually removed? not positive -- haven't been back to the zone in ages). Hounds could see inviz, could stun and due to a bug(?) or perhaps intent(?) had a very high resist to FD and even if you did fd succesfully they would always, and I mean always sit and corpse-camp your feigned corpse. The best things about them though was that (pre-nerf) they were invisible and again due to a bug(?) or perhaps intent(?) they had an incredible aggro range.

Anyway, one day, my static group isn't happening so I waltz around River Valley on the flower quest and I just happen upon a Hound of Garm and he kills me (2 hits), I try a CR to get my tombstone, he stuns me and kills me again (2-3 hits), another corpse run. I run in, immediately-feign -- look around no dog (hadn't clued that he was invisible) so I get up and run to where I can pull me 2nd tomb, he appears, stuns me and kills me again. Anyway, a few more tombstones and deep in red xp debt I petition a GM, and log.

Next morning, I log back in, just in time, to see GM Zwee collecting tombstones from the previous night's Garm rampage. There are all five or six of mine plus another must have been fifteen or twenty from others (mostly I gathered also Garm fodder).

I have to say I was very happy that the GM just gave me back my tombstones. I'm not sure at that point in the game (3rd week) that my static group could have recovered my tombstone. Mainly because I discovered after my fourth death when I was jumped by two hounds that there were actually more than one of the fucking things in the same area.

* * *

All that being said, that was, to me a memorable encounter. So much so that I did go back one time when I was 40 to try and kill the mob solo. Sadly I was insta-stunned so I couldn't FD and the Hound killed me. I never got my revenge on the un-nerfed mob. Perhaps this thread should be titled "Favoritest and most Memorable Zones evah"

[Kuriin]

Originally Posted by EmiliaEQ

The Hole when you can get easier & safer xp and better loot in Sebilis ?

The Hole came out way before Kunark did (iirc), since Paineel came out as a special event, no?

[Grizzlebeard]

Not sure when it was implemented but as far as I can remember The Hole had a massive ZEM. Don't think Seb or anywhere else came close to the rate at which you could gain exp in there. I still look back fondly on the pit jumps in to the Hole pre-zone buff and either logging before splashdown or hoping I could squeeze DA off in time.

[Tancred]

Originally Posted by Wash

WoW and most new games aren't ever going to capture that. Ooh, we can't be that mean to the poor players. So you end up with a pretty game where you never have anything to lose.

Ooooh, I can go run headfirst into a dungeon and be an idiot, np, it's just some gold or I'll run back at 2x speed as a ghost. Pussy shit, which leads to pussy games.

You see I saw much more pussy shit in EQ than in WoW. The steep death penalty made everyone herd together for safety or kite gay shit in gay outdoor zones all day long. Trying to find a group with the testicular fortitude to really go and try something moderately risky was largely futile. I was lucky to know a group of folks who loved dieing in stupid places.

Most others just wanted safety and repetition. Even in Seb's early popularity you couldn't drag people down to the Shrooms or Jugs unless you promised them coffins. No they wanted to camp the easy shit that they could sell for fat plats.

[Kuriin]

Originally Posted by Grizzlebeard

Not sure when it was implemented but as far as I can remember The Hole had a massive ZEM. Don't think Seb or anywhere else came close to the rate at which you could gain exp in there. I still look back fondly on the pit jumps in to the Hole pre-zone buff and either logging before splashdown or hoping I could squeeze DA off in time.

When I played, it was funny people trying to figure out HOW to get into the Hole. Then when people were able to live (few people managed to live from the jump) died immediately from the monsters below.

It was awesome.