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Old 06-30-2004, 09:40 PM
Wiz
Dragon
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 583
Default The dream of Classic EQ - and why it doesn't work.

Lately, and in fact, throughout the entire history of EQemulator, I've seen servers pop up that strive to make the classic EQ, the EQ of Vox and Nagafen, the EQ of Short Swords of Ykesha and Flowing Black Silk Sashes, the EQ where a resurrection was about as common as an honest politician. These servers never truly stick around, never truly make it, despite all the people who seem to want nothing more than such a server. In this post, I will try to explain why.

Wanting to go back to EQClassic is a nice dream. But, it is a dream. Like the crack addicts we are often compared to, MMORPG players share one thing in common - we all long back for the thrill of our very first shot.

The experience where everything was new, where danger was around the corner, where you didn't have a handy little backspace map or a spoiler site to tell you what would happen if you killed that evil alligator and retrieved the troll's arm. (BTW, that quest sucked so much. 5 hours work for a piece of rawhide)

But you can't experience the feeling of something new by recreating something old. You won't be getting lost in Neriak, because every merchant is nicely marked out on that map of yours. You won't be getting killed by hill giants, because they will be hardfarmed for cash. You won't stare up in wonder at the Aviak City, because you've seen it all before. And aviak_rook07 really isn't that much more interesting on Tom's EQ Classic than they are in the ghost town of South Karana on live.

Additionally, there is the matter of experience gain and high end incentive. If you really wanted to recreate the original EQlive, you would have to recreate the ardous process of gaining experience, the frequent and penalizing deaths, the bleak corpse runs, the lack of comfortable clicky transporation. And as a server admin, trust me - if players don't get the comforts they are used to after years of noobification in the cuddle-land of Sony's EQ, they will bitch and moan. And the server admin will either give in, or find his server deserted, as people realize how not so incredibly fun it is to spend 12 hours soloing from 10-12 in Northern Desert of Ro, reliving content that has been experienced, chewed down, spat out and dissected to fine pieces by ten spoiler sites. Compared to the first shot, it seems as appealing as a Happy Meal to a Nobel Dinner. And you don't even get a plastic toy.

The server admin who realizes this and increases the experience gain of his server, throws in a few whistles and bells, maybe a PoK, or even Plane of Time (I saw a rather absurd server idea that wanted to be EQlive Classic... except with Plane of Time too. GG tanking Quarm in crafted), will soon find his server full of really bored high levels. They'll go wack Vox (who the server admin must have tweaked down, since gathering a raid 30 players isn't feasible on most servers), they'll kill Nagafen, they'll give the Vox hammer to a pet, they'll go mess around in Plane of Fear.

And then what?

There's no dungeons to explore they can't just read fifty-page essays on instead, detailing out the exact drops, spawn chances, and sexual lives of every NPC in the dungeon. There's no real useful factions to build up. There's no epic quests to do. There's no real reason to start another character, since it'll blow to 50 in no time with the increased experience gain. And at this point, the server admin finds himself with two choices. He can watch the playerbase shrink and drop, or he can bring an entirely new carrot to the playing board. A few more levels, maybe, or a few new places to raid, maybe even Epic quests.

Enter Kunark.

This has been a drawn out post, but I'll close with a simple statement. EQ Classic was wonderful, it was thrilling, it was the childhood of 3D MMORPGs, full of innocence and wonder and myth. But we've grown up. Spoiler sites dissect the myths, tear the illusion down, reveal the man behind the curtain. Trying to remain a child forever is futile. And so is trying to recreate EQ Classic. Make new content. Make a new game. Try to remake the feeling of wonder and exploration. But it can't be done by reviving the pale spectre of the past.
 


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