Archive for the 'Everquest' Category

Oz Does Free Realms Beta

Posted by Oz on April 26, 2009 in Everquest, Free Realms and ToonTown. 13 Comments

For the past few weeks I’ve been heavily playing Sony’s new MMORPG offering, Free Realms. I’ve been working on a review for here for a while, but had refrained on posting it until I had confirmation that the NDA was lifted. Tonight, while wandering through the forums, I read that they lifted the NDA on April 22nd, although they really didn’t make a lot of noise about it. I also found out that they are now going to launch on this Tuesday the 28th, after just under two weeks of a single round of closed beta. I was stunned, and can only imagine that the people behind the Vanguard launch are making the decisions. That said, what follows is a review from the prospective of both a long time gamer who has played nearly every MMORPG that has come down the pike, including beta testing launched and shelved products, and also a father of a pair of pre-teens, who are clearly this game’s target market. If you’re not interested in the long breakdown, here’s a one sentence summary:

Ever wonder what the child of ToonTown and Everquest would be? Wonder no more.
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Everquest Turns 10 – Oz Reflects

Posted by Oz on March 25, 2009 in Everquest. 2 Comments

In celebration of Everquest turning 10 this week (well, actually last week, but as the always entertaining Sanya Weathers points out, the first week was largely unplayable so counting from week two is accurate enough), I invite folks to post their EQ memories. It was my intro into the world of online gaming, and like one’s first love, gets looked back on with rose colored glasses. Ah memories…

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Happy 10th EverQuest

Posted by Ethic on March 16, 2009 in Everquest. 2 Comments

EverQuest was launched ten years ago today on March 16, 1999. Happy 10th, EQ!

To celebrate, Sony is putting together “EverQuest®: 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition” book, available later this summer. Enjoy the book and congratulations on 10 years!

- Ethic

Giveaway: EQ or EQ2 In-Game Items – CLOSED

Posted by Ethic on March 12, 2009 in Everquest and Everquest 2. 7 Comments

I have two codes from my recent issue of Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine that may be used in Everquest for an “Aqua Goblin Familiar” or in EverQuest II for a “Nagafen at Rest”. It looks like the codes are good for either item.

I don’t play EverQuest or EverQuest II so these codes are burning a hole in my virtual pocket. If you are interested in getting one of these codes, reply to this post with something about your EQ or EQ2 adventures. The most interesting (or funny … or ANY) two responses, chosen by me, will be awarded a code. I will give the codes away tomorrow so get cracking. If nobody enters, I will burn the codes slowly and painfully until they have left this mortal realm forever. The choice is yours.

- Ethic

Vicariously Expanding

Posted by Oz on November 13, 2008 in Everquest, General, Lord of the Rings Online and World of Warcraft. Closed

Some time ago I bought the pre-order expansion for LOTRO, filled with great excitement at seeing the first expansion for a game. This tends to really set the tone of the growth of the game in an MMORPG world. Look at EQ – Kunark was probably the most solid overall expansion ever for an MMORPG game. It had not only 10 new levels, it had a new playable race, great lore, and experience content for every level out at the time. I knew a lot of the beta testers and they well knew the sheer envy I had for them and a burning desire to know things they took to their virtual NDA-encased graves (those of us who did serious beta testing for Sony have everlasting NDA’s…there’s a great many things I can never every talk about, sadly). Later expansions were good and bad, but the first one…magic. Move up to WoW – an expansion that was very much like a fireworks display in that it was very flashy but unfortunately faded out quickly. Not that it hurt them, as they continued to slowly keep content dribbling in, but not all we’d hoped for. For my friends still in WoW, I hope WotLK is everything you wanted.

All that said, I await the launch of the first expansion for LoTRO in a mere 5 days. While I sit in my hotel room, a bit over 100 miles away from my gaming computer. For the next week and a half. Are we having fun yet?

Repaving the Road

Posted by Oz on September 28, 2007 in Everquest, General and World of Warcraft. 7 Comments

Nostalgia is great. There is nothing like the rose-colored glasses of memory to make you feel glad. And, if you’re trying to show off your MMORPG cred, to show off how much you, personally, rock. Any time an instance, event, or even crafting gets changed in an online game, you have people that crawl out from the woodwork to explain that while sure, you can do it now, THEY did it when it was really tough, not this carebear version you have. Nope, uphill both ways, carrying their guild master on their back, blindfolded, wearing their newbie tunic and with only a rusty sword. And they liked it. It’s fun to mock those people, but let’s not talk about them anymore. What I do want to talk about is what was done in EQ1 often enough that I think WoW may want to look into: Revamping Zones.

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Warcraft is the new EverQuest

Posted by Cyndre on August 7, 2007 in Everquest and World of Warcraft. 33 Comments

In my last post I tentatively compared Blizzard’s announcement of The Wrath of the Lich King, their second expansion, to the post-Velious decline of EverQuest.   Some may smirk and point out that Verant and SOE would have killed for the success of the WoW machine, or that EverQuest running in its eighth year, is hardly dead and far from a failed development model, and those people would be correct and wrong in the same breath…

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I Wanna Be The Monster

Posted by Ethic on October 18, 2004 in Everquest. Closed

I heard about an experiment Everquest did once called “Project M”. It allowed you to take over a random mob in the beginner zones for a little while. This is something that I’ve felt is needed in any MMORPG. What a perfect diversion.

If any current MMORPG out there allowed me to take over a mob and hunt the players, I’d be all over it. I don’t want to play a monster, I just want to take one over for a battle or until a player kills it. Then I could spawn back in a monster lobby and do it all over again.

I think that would be perfect for casual players or for people just looking for a change of pace from the regular grind.

Update: I found the patch notes from 2001 when Everquest tried Project M. Here they are:

** Project M Implemented **

Tonight we have patched something to the PvP servers that many players have been waiting for. The ability to play that gnoll, orc, or the cute and fuzzy rat. On your character select screen you will notice another button in the upper right part of your screen called “Monster”. Clicking this button will randomly place you in a low-level NPC in a random zone. You will be given full control of the creature to do with it what you like. You may hunt and kill other creatures. You may even attack other players.

Some things to remember when playing your own personal monster (NPC).

-You will not be able to interact with players or NPC’s other than moving and hitting attack.

-You cannot speak, trade, sell, or do anything else that a player can do.

-You will spawn with normal loot for the monster you are playing and Player Characters will be able to kill you for loot and experience.

-If you are a spell casting monster you might want to take a moment to memorize some spells.

-Once you die, you will return to the character select screen where you may choose to return as another NPC or play your normal character.

-You may gain experience, levels, and skills as this NPC, but once you die, it is all lost. You will need to start over the next time you choose to be a NPC character.

-You can’t zone as a monster. If you try to cross a zone-boarder you will lose your progress and return to the character-select screen.

-Monster PCs (MPCs) can not loot, sell, or gain items. They only get what they start out with.

This ability to play a monster is being implemented for PvP servers only as we have no plans to implement non-consensual PvP on a non PvP server.

However, we are still working with this system. We may find other ways to implement Project M on the non-PvP servers that are acceptable. We aren’t done looking at the
possible uses of this new feature.