n0nsensical

We hear plenty about WoW, but is anyone still playing EQ? I hadn't played since 2003, but this summer I started playing again because of the launch of the progression servers on the Sleeper server. I got to 50 in a little more than 2 weeks, then I didn't have a raiding guild so I was bored for week 3, and then in week 4 I had to move IRL, which was a complete disaster, so I didn't get playing again until about 2 weeks into Kunark. I got to level 55 in another week, did a little raiding, then completely lost my motivation to grind levels and haven't played since. It was fun while it lasted though. In the perfect world where I inherit a billion dollars and don't ever have to do real work, I might start playing again just as a way of wasting time until I die, but in the real world where that isn't going to happen and my life is a trainwreck in slow motion, I still feel very unmotivated to play. Thoughts? Opinions? Any other experiences with progression servers?

Lasereth

What are progression servers and how the hell did you level so fast?

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

n0nsensical

heh, heh. I thought someone might ask. Progression servers are a new pair of servers Sony started in June with ONLY the zones that were in original EQ, no expansions. Then expansions are progressively opened with time and as players do things which are usually killing the bosses and obtaining major items. Like to open Kunark, first Phiningel Autropos, Vox, and Nagafen had to be killed to open the original 3 planes, and then Cazic Thule and Innoruuk had to be killed to open Kunark, and in addition, at least a month of real time had to pass. Similar things for the other expansions..

How did I level so fast, well, I played 6-12 hours a day for one thing. :P For another, it's just a lot easier to level now because of all the changes that have been made like removing xp penalties, and a lot of zones have been either revamped or added with easy content, good loot, and big xp bonuses that didn't exist originally. (The zones themselves are basically the same as those on regular servers; progression just restricts which ones you can go to) Plus nearly everyone there is an experienced player so you didn't get the groups of newbies who had no clue what they were doing. There were people who got there a lot faster than me too. I think it was around day 10 that the first people hit 50, and some made it with like 4 days played; it took me more like 17 days real time and 6 days played. I was probably one of the first 100 people though.

Shit, now I'm starting to think I shouldn't have stopped playing when I did. It would have been better for me if the progression was a little slower, maybe an expansion every two months instead of every month so I could take a break without missing everything. It's always the same story, I play a lot, then something happens and it becomes too tedious to even think about playing so I stop, then months later I get the urge to play again, and I feel like I just wasted all that time when I wasn't playing. I suppose the true answer is to just get a real life that I care about enough to forget the game entirely, but I've always failed at that too.

seretogis

Some ex-Vallon Zek players and I are playing Shards of Dalaya which is a pretty professionally run EQ Emu server.

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seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

USMC6531

I just recently got rid of EQ, got my rogue to lvl 70 and got to busy to play much anymore =( a shame to because it is quite a fun game still!

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Antikarma

Two points for eq2!!!!


Progression servers ALMOST wooed me back, but eq2 has been such a blast, and EOF looks incredible. Cept now my wife is starting a fairy character :/

I gotta ask tho, is the whole thrill back on clearing the planes? Damn I miss that.

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USMC6531

ahhh the good ole days when you had to go to the tunnel to sell gear, it was great.....I miss the old EQ, it's kind of lost it's fun

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"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. "

MontanaXVI

I have never been much of a PC gamer, I am pretty much strictly console, and I used to play the living crap out of EQOA for the PS2, they did the Frontiers expansion, and some class balancing and stuff I just gave it up around a year ago, did it for 3? years I think.

Some big new raid zone in the works for this year or next, the Zorean Plataeu(sp)

I probably won't pick it back up though, could not justify the $13/month anymore for the limited stuff they could do with it and all, no HDD for updates so everything had to take up the allocated 3MB on the mem card, makes it kinda hard for the dev team I guess.

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n0nsensical

Yeah the early days of the progression servers were a lot like it used to be, except a lot less tedious.

I did recently go ahead and resubscribe, but I haven't really played. I'm just not feeling it. I'm still sick of the grind, even though Planes of Power was just released so it should be a lot easier to level, then again it's another 5 levels I need to get as well. I'm hoping that they'll soon merge the two progression servers due to low population and they'll maybe open another new server with different rules, like especially more time between expansions.

I played the EQOA beta... for an hour. Which was also the only hour I ever used my PS2 network adapter. the most expensive beta I ever played.