How funny. That was one of things that drove me crazy about EQ. The quest system is one of my favorite things about WoW.

Oog, I hated that lol....Having to rephrase a sentence 400 times to get the npc to pick up the keyword, having someone come by and screw him up so he ate the item when you turned it in..etc. I think I'd agree with you if they'd had some sort of UI for the quests back then rather than just a text system.

The early parts of the druid epic you had to find this halfling and give her food or something, except that she was sprinting all over the place and she'd only stop for a second at best between you hailing her, talking to her and attempting to give her the item. In that second lost you gave her the food but she was already back in sprint mode and you'd lose the item..

I still remember Almoron coming on Larreth's leafblower raid for the final fight and being the dildo that he was, running over and killing what he thought was a random npc and was instead the questgiver who had like a 3 day respawn. Took almost a month to get the folks together for that fight again.

/kill Hasten

That was me, and I assassinated it with an intimidate trying to fear it off so I could gate.

Ok now, c'mon. That's just a blatant misrepresentation, EQ had some of the most interesting looking zones and creatures that I can remember.

Yes, sometimes it became blatantly obvious that someone had used a texture painter on large swaths of land and called it a day but it was also a 10 year old game. (And you can still see that in newer games too, c'mon.)

Just for the sake of discussion, give me a top three list of interesting zones in EQ; perhaps my memory is simply jaded.

Hmm, I always liked zones like Feerrott and Innothule. A lot of Kunark zones were also really well-done. What were they, Emerald Jungle and some other nearby zone, can't remember the name. I liked how EQ did jungles. The sound effects had a lot to do with that too.

Some zones didn't LOOK pretty but that was kinda the point. Zones like Field of Bone were that way.

And Ak'anon was awesome, who didn't love that place! Well, except for the noise.

Some Luclin zones did a great job of looking just "alien" and different enough without being totally goofy and corny. I can't remember their names though.

And that's not even getting into dungeons. Who didn't love slimy old Guk?

I don't really know anything about anything past PoP though. I'm sure things got better.

EDIT: Something else that made a big difference is that EQ was clearly made with an immersive, first-person view in mind. WoW was built with a more open, visible third-person viewpoint. Just think of the dark, cramped, slimy passages of Guk. You don't really find anything like that in WoW.

I always liked Oasis. It had n00b mobs and a few Sand Giants to spice things up. It had Lockjaw and, of course, Spectres to Docks.

Training was one of the best parts of EQ.

Good examples of some interesting zones. I too liked Akanon =D I really enjoyed Droga because of the zone design. It really had a feel of going into a mining shaft, and then there was the train track that went straight back to the zonein when you were done plowing your way through(something that started to get utilized by WoW FINALLY around TBC).

I thought the Cazic-Thule zone was pretty cool as well, especially after the re-do of mob stats and loot tables. The pyramid in the middle and stuff =) Also South Karana was neat with the avian bird platforms in the middle. I could name a slew of zones I have some fond memories of.



Highly disagree on all points, except maybe the lore to an extent - but who really cared about that other than people who think it's more enjoyable to read 2nd-rate storyline as opposed to picking up a good book? =)

Fribur is correct in that several zones have been remodeled. Not in terms of art of course(or at least, not always.. I think there may have been a few cases where they updated art), but in terms of gameplay/mob level/design - I know Droga(maybe Nurga) and I believe Najena were redone around the PoP era. Cazic-Thule was of course, re-done(probably several times). I believe Blackburrow was redone as well.

Anyway, of course I'm arguing "that" point, it's relatively simple and somewhat uncontested But, to each their own as well.

-------------

On the other topic about quests, I think some of the more experienced MMO vets out there saw through "Kill X Mobs, pick up generator and refit it to the module" as an artificial topping to make you "feel" that you're not really grinding. And it's a nice illusion, no doubt. But very artificial, and it was more obvious with WoW's early quests.

I will say to an extent it IS more enjoyable than grinding, but it becomes annoying when you realize that all you really want is 20 Kill X quests instead of "Pick up the neurotranspitter from Mr. Copperspinners, take it to point A to test its effects, then to point B...." to get your 10k-20k exp and move on. It becomes a hassle when the quests get completely uninventive, which unfortunately, they often do. I just don't think this is the ultra-mega-breakthrough in MMORPG gameplay that people sometimes make it out to be.

It's a nice idea, but it can still be a grind.

Yeah. by and large, quests in WoW don't do much more than accomplish the task of breaking up the grind into smaller, easier to swallow chunks. But 99.5% of them are in no way inventive.

It'd be cool if WoW had more quests that weren't just, "Kill X and get back to me." but it seems that's easiest to design and Blizzard is stuck on making you kill things to get anywhere.

How do you think they could spice things up?

There's already some examples in the game. They just seem too lazy to bother with expanding the ideas. Everything is just centered around killing mobs over and over for 80 levels.

The beginning quests in HFP were a good example. I loved the idea of bombing the legion, shutting down their portals, doing lots of strategic things. Sure, you get your hands dirty chopping up demons too, but that's ok.

Then in like 5 quests it's over. You're back to "kill some boars" and "gather some feathers".

They've done better in Wrath, truly. But you're still just performing grinding quests the vast majority of the time. There's some real shining moments buried in an avalanche of mediocrity.

I was fond of Highpass/keep and the surrounding Karana's, talk about room to explore...

The Hole was an interesting zone as well Argrax, I don't see why you're trying to dismiss EQ's innovations, a lot of it had to be earned (gear, quests levels, wealth) Now it's all spoon-fed on a freakin' treadmill for the masses to feel like they are l33t. I doubt any of them even know what a "Hell Level" was.

edit: I wouldn't re-live the old days all over again (I'll sooner gouge my eyes out before I set eyes on Plane of Fear again), but I wont knock on them either.

Yea I don't know where to start.

Actually PvP leveling with some good rewards(such as the greens and blues you see from average quests) would be an excellent start, like you see in Warhammer. Course, for that to be fun, you'd have to have more than 4 whole maps that have been around for 2-3 years.

I think there are a few inventive methods that haven't entirely been explored to make it seem like less of a grind, but leveling will always be a bit of a grind no matter how you dress it up.

What bugs me is the downright bothersome and annoying methods they use to dress up the exact same mechanics and gameplay since day one. Why is it when I go to gather up 10 quests in a town my inventory is fuckin filled with stupid items that I need to arbitrarily click to pretend I'm doing something different than going from point A to point B? Sorry, but clicking Fizzlecranker's Thermobobber and finding out that the volcano has a temperature of <random-number-generator> Celsioros is not particularly interesting or unique.

Don't get me wrong, some of those quests are a little interesting, and like Bov said WOTLK has done a better job with them. But most of them are still junk that just screams "You're trying too hard here".

/agree, Highpass was fuckin awesome. I loved leveling there wayyy back.

Going through Runnyeye and seeing that canyon-type zone for the first time was pretty cool as well.

Just a ton of stuff to explore, honestly.

Kithicor Forest.

Best zone ever. I was always happy and a little terrified every time I had to run through there as a lowbie. The lore was freaking amazing.

Castle Mistmoore/Unrest (I lump these together because they were similar styled. I loved them as a Ranger and then as a Beastlord) Great lore, fun zones to learn how to pull in, though camping the butler and maid for my Call of Flame quest on my Ranger made me want to choke a developer. But it was still cool.

Lavastorm in general was pretty cool and SolA and SolB gave me a lot of levels and play time.

Then later in Kunark I enjoyed Sebilis, Kurn's, Karnor's, and City of Mist (Yeah, being a ranger I think was a little masochistic) even Howling Stones and Chardok.

In Velious I loved Dragon Necropolis and the zone right outside the dwarf town where you did the 10th ring war. (10th ring war in general was a blast) Then Tower of Frozen Shadows was always fun.

Luclin I even liked a couple zones in. The zone right outside Katta Castellum where the Vampire Tower was. I spent a lot of time there, and in that cavern zone there (I forget the name) where the beastlord epic ended with the mushroom guys everyone hated. Sanctus Seru looked sweet (though the guards never did like me for being an Iksar).

Edit: Forgot to mention. Veksar, Chardok B, and SolC were also all fun zones. I liked them all.

I loved Sol Ro's Tower.

Nothing compared to PoP for me in terms of favorites in EQ.

WotLK is the same way with WoW for me.

Some people disliked PoP, but I personally enjoyed it quite a bit as well. No where previously in EQ did I feel that the environment was as well-polished. And I'm not a big fan of the lore in either game, but I have to give it that PoP made good use of it and it was readily apparent in each Plane. Giving every plane that individual feel was really quite something.

PoTime was really awesome as well, my problem is that I just spent too much goddamned time in there

I do miss the little moments, like having the entire raid stand way back while "TEAM MONK/BARD" coordinated a skillful split-pull, warrior standing in front at the ready.

Thanks for reminding me about Chardok, that was very well-done also. It was pretty cool that as you went deeper and deeper, the cave gave way into a veritable imperial palace.

Mistmoore was a personal favorite of mine, had forgot that one, but generally speaking, zones like that (Unrest, Nagena, The Hole) are more analogous to the instances found in WoW whereas zones like the Karanas and Kelethin are more akin to the non-instanced zones in WoW and these are the areas where EQ really fell down.

So you take a 'cool' zone like Kithicor that people have fond memories of but in reality what was it made up of? The same trees copied in pasted throughout with a cabin in the middle? What about The Overthere or the adjacent zone that connected to VP or Burning Woods? At least in the most mundane WoW zones there's a half a dozen or more landmarks, towns or NPC camps that broke up the monotony of the zone.

For once I'm not really trying to knock Everquest so much as I'm trying to prove Venen wrong with his idea that the landmass that existed in EQ was on par or greater than WoW.

As for 'remodeling' zones, Naxxramas would fit your definition yet all people do is gripe about that.

And your quest argument is very tired and very played out; let us know when you're able to wow us with your brilliant ideas for quest lines that will remain engaging and interesting after 1000+ iterations or even when another games with similar amounts of content does it better.

I thought that was the coolest part too, I wish they had more quest lines like that, and it would be even better if completing them had real effects for certain periods of time. The way Ebon Hold is done for example is pretty cool.

For cool EQ zones, I liked the Iksar starting zone with the pit in it (forget the name now), Oasis and Lavastorm.

Now c'mon, lots of EQ zones had plenty of landmarks and interesting features. Sure, it wasn't as polished as WoW, but it's also far, far, far older! Overthere, for instance, had the huge Iksar monuments scattered about, the big elaborate zone-in to Skyfire, the dark elf town, the merchant hanging out by the mud pools. Lets be honest, WoW zones are more polished, but they're as guilty of, "Paint ground with texture brush, place Orc_tent_doodad10 in some places, call it a day." too.

It just might take longer to see it, but when you're level 45 and realize, "Hey, this ogre cave is the exact same cave that the spiders were in at level 10 and the kobolds were in at level 20 and the orcs were in at level 25 and..." you start to notice it. =D

To be fair though, I think some of us might be looking at things with some rosy glasses and others through some muddy-colored ones.



People don't gripe about Naxx being reused...people gripe about the only raid zone put in the game being a reused one.



You keep referring to zones like Overthere and Karanas...and yes, those zones were largely wide open spaces but that was kinda the point of them. Just like the desert zones too, they're supposed to be sort of wide, open, empty spaces. They did have some features though. And there was no shortage of zones that weren't just wide, empty spaces.

And again, lets be fair and remember that we're comparing a very old game with a just-somewhat-old one. For all us old-timers know, the newer EQ content might be far and away better than we remember.

And hell, I would loooooove to see a modern-day Guk or something. There was just always something so awesome about that place, no matter what level I was. And somehow I always managed to still get lost. =D

...I swear you jerks are starting to make me wanna load up EQ or something again, heh.



Quests are great, don't get me wrong. And there's a lot of great quest content in WoW, as I said before. WoW certainly has the best questing I've seen. But there's also a shitload of quests for the sake of quests and grinding, and by level 20 you've probably seen pretty much all there is. Kill X of Y, or gather X of Y.

I know it takes a lot of work to make enough quests to last from 70-80 though. I understand that. It's just a shame that so much filler gets put in. They really did up their game in Wrath though, I'll give them that.

Zones like Guk also had something else going for them. You knew that people who could get to the deeper camps without the group's help weren't facerolling idiots.

You know, the kind of folks who don't die to flame walls on Sarth.

I never had the sense of huge scale in WoW that I did when I first walked into West Karana. The sense of emptiness made the lone guard tower all the more interesting. WoW is definitely interesting and well designed, but you get a bit desensitized.

WoW has variety, and I think the landmass is actually much larger, but they intersperse almost too much variety. EQ had some great zones early on, especially in Kunark. Hell, the majority of Kunark zones were pretty engaging.. Velious was a step back in some ways, but the "good" outdoor zones in Velious were very good.

I died to a flame wall once!!

"All will be reduced to ash!"
Sartharion dies.
"Such is the price of failure..."
Yay, he's dead!....WOOSH!

Like half the raid or more died to that flame wall, heheh.



I think part of what made EQ zones really engaging was the element of danger. Sure, you might run into more orc huts on your trip across a WoW zone, but by and large you're just mounted up, zipping through, and if you pull 50 mobs along the way who cares.

In EQ, sometimes the journey was as dangerous as anything else. Remember frantically dodging around non-leashing mobs that would kick your ass, often running around at foot speed? Of course, now everyone has mounts there too, so maybe it's different now.

Everything's different now. Gear is ridiculously more powerful. AAs are plentiful. XP is fast and furious. The list goes on and on. Footspeed is just the tip of the iceberg (and yes, everyone has mounts or SoW potions now, or just uses the various teleports available ingame).

Nobody crosses the Karanas anymore and thinks "oh dear, what if there's a lion? OMFG there's Stormfeather!" anymore. Nobody hunts wisps for lightstones to turn-in for cash. Nobody does the Langseax quest. Nobody dreads running through Kithicor at night, or going AFK at the docks in Oasis anymore. Even running across the continent is a piece of piss now because of PoK portals. Hell, nobody even cares about death anymore because you just get some Cleric to rez you in the guildhall (or use the veteran AA and do it yourself).

Even level 10s are running around with +200+ HP gear on, and most likely with SoW potions, haste potions, and damage shield potions. And possibly a mercenary as well.

That's not to say the element of danger is gone, because it's still there in the higher level zones. But the zones we remember, and cherish, are nothing more than areas to wander through now and reminisce.

I think the reason we remember and cherish them is because we spent so much time in them!
Back when the game was new, you might actually spend a WEEK in South Karana / Lake Rathe killing aviaks (or treants if you were evil). After that week's end, you were intimately familiar with every little pixel in that zone. And the same goes for damn near every other zone. How many of us have no need of maps in the old world? I bet a vast majority of us. Even 10 years later, we know those areas like the back of our hand.

The sad part is that these days you just speed through the game (or any game for that matter) and end up with people 50+ who not only haven't the foggiest idea what Lord Nagafen looks like, but wouldn't be able to find him with a compass and a map. In a way, that's a good thing. But in a way, it's a bad thing as well.

Aaramis, your post makes me sad . That's what I miss from MMO gaming in general, and I feel like with the way WoW is doing things (and everyone else copying), combined with my own age and experience in MMO's, that I'll never experience something like that again.

I spent so much time in Velious (sp? been a long time) that I knew where everything was. Grinding xp on frost giants, raiding Kael, NTOV, and the dragons, to grinding cash in Crystal Caverns, 10 ring war, I don't think there was a zone there (other than sleepers as no-one was going there when I played) I didn't spend many, many days playing. I really enjoyed that whole area.

I did spend a lot of time in Plane of Hate (Stupid Ranger epic) I got to know it very well (old and new). My last day playing EQ I went solo to Hate and finally got that damned gem. Too bad that Earthcaller was such an outdated weapon at that time (was late 2004 or 2005) but I did the final turn in and logged for the final time with both my lightening swords equipped standing by the trainer in Kelethlin.

EDIT: To me having an EPIC quest that takes a person many many days, requires the help of others to complete, and becomes a reason to log into the game is what WoW is missing. As much as I cursed each step of the Ranger epic and as long as it took me to finally complete both parts, I don't think I would have enjoyed the game nearly as much without it. Yeah WoW tried this with the Hunter and Cleric epic (I have my Rok, thank you) they don't utilize the epic quest like I'd like to see. I guess it is a result of too many "RESULTS NOW!" kiddies playing these days.

You made meh cry, Aaramis.

One of the few things I sit on the fence about is epic weapons, it was one of the best and worst things about Everquest. They seemed reasonably well received in WoW too but at the same time I can appreciate the devs not wanting each class to aspire to only one weapon and having to deal with people never wanting to part with it.

Great story about your final logoff btw. Well done

As for Epics, that's the crux of the issue, really. Timesinks. Epics, like anything else in EQ, were just one more carrot to chase, really. To me achieving my epic weapons was a great accomplishment, but no moreso than getting my key to Sleeper's, or reaching max level (at the time), or getting my Vex Thal key, etc, etc. They were all amazing achievements in a sense, but also absolutely incredible timesinks.

People these days are very much against the whole timesink situation, and there is much to be argued for that. How many of us lost endless hours (in many cases, YEARS, of our life) to Everquest? Hell, I know relationships (and not just boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, but actual marriages) that fell apart over Everquest. It was horribly addictive and horribly time-consuming. Bad combination. It brought out the worst in many of us. And let's face it, sitting in front of a computer gaming for endless hours isn't exactly healthy, is it?

Yet the other side of the coin is that with the "results now!" mentality of modern gamers, they'll never quite get the same level of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment we got. They'll never know what it's like to try for over a YEAR to complete an epic quest, and to finally get your weapon. They won't achieve (at least in my opinion) the same level of comraderie that we had after spending half a day clearing a raid zone and successfully defeating the boss. They'll never appreciate some of the random acts of kindness that we saw in EQ, because they'll never *need* them as much as we did (i.e. corpse retrievals, help with Epic quests, etc.).

I've had numerous conversations / arguments with Aeralla over this very topic, actually. There are so many good memories of EQ, and so many bad ones, it's hard not to end up on the fence on the whole issue.

Timesinks. I got 3 vex thal keys on my characters, and my level 57 mage is still parked in Vex Thal. Anyone need a CoH?

me and my bot and my mercs killed vindi and trak and statue and got primals from sleepers

The thing about timesinks in EQ is that it never really felt like I was in all that much of a hurry. WoW makes everything feel like I'm at this frenetic, non-stop, gotta-get-there-or-my-head-will-explode-now-now-now-go-go-go pace.

In EQ I was like...gonna camp the AC...eh, didn't get it today, oh well. Lets go see what's up over here. Oh, didn't get my drop today, darn.

Maybe it was just my attitude then. I dunno. I always just felt like if I didn't get X level or Y item or Z AA point that it was ok. In WoW I just feel so rushed and frantic and that things are all ruined if I didn't get something done.

Biggest thing I miss in MMO is camping spots. It's too dynamic in WoW, you go everywhere and never stay in any place to hang out and chill with your friends -- you're always on the go. No 4+ hour groups in KC or Velks. >:( Of course, nowadays even if they did have that, I wouldn't do it. So, I'm happy w/ WoW how it is.



Too true. I remember doing people's epics for them in EQ and tehy were so happy, and it meant something. When I got my Dain ring in EQ from the ring war it was fucking ultimate pwnage. Just isn't the same in Wow, imo.

Biggest thing I miss from EQ was competition for... anything. Rare mobs, rare spawns, raid mobs, you name it. You can play WoW on a server in your little bubble, whether that's a small group of friends or a large guild. There is absolutely no real interaction necessary with the server population, and that's a shame.

I just wish you could kill people on your own side if they were flagged for PvP. I hate it when some midlevel Horde jackoff is killing flight path or quest mobs when I'm on an alt. I should be able to log over to my 80 troll mage and blast the hell out of them with extreme prejudice.

Maybe I need an Alliance DK on my server just for that purpose. heh.

Edit: Sorry for the WoW hijack.

Quests in Everquest were so much more engaging then any other game I've ever played. If there was one feature from Everquest I wish other MMOs would pick up its the unique epic quests for every class.

Square meter by square meter, WoW's general environment makes more use of the land mass and is generally "better" than what EQ had going for it. My beef is that there is so little of it, and like I think Bov said, the "copy/paste" technique is hardly isolated to EQ. WoW employs it in more areas than I can count... copy/paste caves anyone? I know I love going through the exact same cave at high levels that I went through in Silverpine Forest.

But it was still nice to have a little more to explore. The overall landmass is a point in EQ's favor, the quality of landmass inch by inch is in WoW's favor. Ideally we'd have both. Get it now?

As for Naxx, yes we can chalk this ONE single zone up to being re-designed. Awesome. Even with it being the one zone to be re-designed, I think a major issue people have with it is that it's part of the progression tree. That wouldn't be so much of an issue if it wasn't the SOLE or MAIN source of upgrading your character in the first 6 months of the expansion. The mechanics and design of Naxx are somewhat old as well, and you can see quality of design improve significantly even if you were to say, step foot into Kara afterwards.

Ideally you would have multiple progression dungeons(even two would rock for initial release instead of this age-old wait for Ulduar), and some of the MULTIPLE re-designed zones would include those that you don't have to - but rather want to go explore.



I actually do feel like I have some original ideas, I'm not sure if they would be game-changing, but certainly more original than what we've seen since WoW's release. PvP is again, something that has been tried and tested and something that works very well in Warhammer despite other problems that brought that game down unrelated.

And since you seem to have a little trouble reading, I specifically pointed out that it's hard if not impossible to make leveling a non-grind experience to everyone, particularly after so many levels.

And believe me, it'd be hard to "wow" anyone that is a rapid mouth-breathing Blizzard fanboi with no discernable or articulatable taste, who has not once made a criticism of any Blizzard game to date. I would be foolish to try =)

'I have some original ideas but I'm not going to share them...'

Who's not surprised.


So let me get this straight, you're complaining about a problem that's virtually impossible to solve? Sounds vaguely similar to the definition of insanity.


You'd do well do familiarize yourself with the adage, 'Quality over quantity', it's been Blizzard's MO for the past 15 years or so and has served them fairly well.

I'm still not entirely sure I even agree with that.

Sure, *graphically* speaking WoW has a huge advantage there, but what do you expect? But overall, again, they're as guilty of the copy/paste tactics as anyone, if not moreso.

I still feel as though EQ's environments had a lot on WoW's, because again I feel like they were built with an immersive, first-person experience in mind. There were also some things that were probably considered "inconvenient" but which were a benefit to the environment. (Dark areas, fog, low visibility areas, forests where the trees actually blocked your view, etc.)

Maybe we could talk Blizzard into re-doing EQ zones!

Of course, there was also the fact that the residents of an area added a lot to it as well. I don't usually get that feeling in WoW.

But then again, as has been stated above, most of that is gone in EQ now too. =(

I can see it now, "Evercraft"

edit: on a more Nostaligc note, WoW seemed to lack the freedom that EQ had. Traditional snare and Lev opened the door for so many different play styles. I remember Leving around from rooftop to rooftop in every city trying to find spots to shoot guards from so I could have the easiest getaway. Can you even kill guards in WoW? It just seemed so confined in WoW, no rules to bend.

Yeah, EQ really was a lot more open in regards to what players could do. Kiting, FD pulling, all that fun stuff.

Right from the start WoW made it clear they wanted you to pretty much just stand and whack things. They don't like kiting, they got pissed at people who tried to use hunters to FD pull in molten core, they got pissed at people who use "alternate" routes to bypass stuff in BRD. (Who put those rocks there for them to walk on? Oh yeah, Blizzard.)

Blizzard seems to have a very firm, pre-defined way that they want their content consumed and they don't seem to appreciate people doing it any other way. EQ seemed content with just throwing you into the world and letting you tackle it however you wished.

And that right there was arguably EQ's biggest failing, they just didn't care.

They cared about the z-axis!

I guess there's a fine line between "not caring" and "not herding players down a narrow path". =(

I still think if WoW didn't have the test realm where anyone and everyone can go magically make a lvl 80 character with Tier 20 gear, things would be different. Not necessarily better, per se, but definitely different. Be honest, how many of you already know how to kill a few bosses in Ulduar? How may of you already know the drops that you want to get when the patch hits? That, to me, is a killer. I'll still play, I'll still raid (and wipe repeatedly), and I'll still enjoy the experience. But I sure wish there was more of an element of surprise involved. THAT is what I miss the most about EQ. The not knowing.

As for the rest, yea, racing to mobs brought guilds closer (internally). But I think we're fooling ourselves if we really wished that was still how things operated in games today. We did it because we didn't know any better. But for a game like WoW, with so many players, it would never work. The game would have to have TONS more content. Think about what all we raced to in EQ. That was quite a bit of content. Since the Lich King expansion came out, how many "raid targets" are there? Naxx, Sarth, Maly, Archavon. Let's race to those! Imagine how bored the server would be on Tuesday, at noon, when everything was dead for a week.

I missed the people the most from Lanys and old school Everquest. Someone said that even though Everquest has a crapton of timesinks... it just never "felt" like it. Even when you would XP for a day and get a grand total of 4 blue bubbles, many just didn't care. The comraderie from the players I met in game, the groups, the conversation... all that added up to an enjoyable experience.

Now... everyone solos with their merc. Or they box and have two mercs, and with the way gear is now they can just do the majority of group content by themself. There is hardly any interaction anymore because people just don't need to. And while that is nice to some degree (I am going back and finishing up some things I did not do years ago, and I know no one wants to go back and do these either) that I can solo most stuff... sometimes it would be nice to just get that interaction. And while that happens on raids of course, when you only raid three nights a week... what happens the other four days?