Everquest?

Anyone try this phenomenon? What do you think about it??
It seems way too pricey and confusing.
I can't believe there are HUGE communites on meetup.com of Everquest addicts who meet irl once a month!

I played EQ for 5 years (as did my husband) before finally deciding it was time to move on. That is when SL took over my addiction and I've been playing SL ever since.

I really enjoyed EQ. I did make a lot of friends, and we often did meet in RL. I am still in touch with many of these friends and they all play various games and such.

EQ was a wonderful game for me for many years. It was the friends that kept me coming back time and again though. It is actually fairly simple to pick up the game mechanics. Most would hate being a first time low level character now. The goal is to get to high levels as quickly as possible now. Which is a shame because it was those times when the world of EQ was first released and we were exploring and learning slowely that made for some of the best experiences.

I'm happy to try and answer any other questions you may have. Though I did stop playing EQ last September, so anything new since then I would not be much help with I'm afraid.

I played it for a single month.

Started on the eastern most island.

Got really bored and decided to cross to the western most island before I hit level 10 or something.

'Twas a mad dash through some rather tough areas, but I only died once.

Was rather fun.

Then I spent the other two weeks I spent in game on my own 'private' island of will-o-wisps, killing them over... and over... and over again.

Rather boring.

I played EverQuest since 1999, up until recently when City of Heroes came out. It is a great place to meet people who are into Gaming. I met a lot of new people just in my area of town through it, and still keep in touch even though I don't play anymore. I am still not sure though why it held my intrest for so long, it just kind of did. Now City of Heroes and SL do.

Very true!! In the beginning it was all unknown and tooth grinding excitement. No one really knew the best way to take down Naggy, it was all experiment and luck. The CR's were painful nightmares yes, but you really came away feeling like you did something amazing. Hill giants were horrible monsters to be feared. The run through North Karana a hair raising adventure all by itself. The shout "TRAIN" would chill the blood as you look wildly around to see where its going.

Now? It's rote. The perfect raid party has been parsed and quantified. Net sites carry detailed information on the most minute items with carefull step-by-step directions and maps for each quest. You don't even have to worry about losing your corpse, there are either fool-proof spells or the zone itself will deliver your dead body to a safe area for collection.

It's just not the same.

I played off and on since 1999 too and I never got above level 50. Mainly because once you get to that point, it's more of a chore than fun. The joy for me was learning the ropes too and now, well, just like all the above folks said -- its not the same. I am thinking about checking out EQ2 when it comes out later this year, just because its supposed to be for more "casual" gamers -- which I guess I can say I am, though I'm not very casual in SL (I spend way too much time here ). If there's a version of EQ I can play for an hour and put down and come back the next day without three hours of set up and organization time to get any exp or good stuff, I'll try it. But my suspicion is it won't be quite what VERANT/Sony claim . They're marketing departments have a way of spinning everything into a nice little tidy package that bear little or no resemblence to the actual truth .

Z

I played EQ for over 3 years (on Innoruuk) and truly had some of my best gaming experiences there.
As mentioned above, the low levels and being there while everyone was new and learning the game was the most fun.

I still miss it to an extent but I know EQ2 is just around the corner and I'm eagerly looking forward to at least trying it out.