Synopsis of day to day goals in first gen games ?

delete5230

Instead of my rants, I would like to humble myself and say "I don't know".  
I think this question would benefit many NOT familiar with day to day life in a first generation game like Everquest 1 and if Pantheon is truly a modern replica. 


The best way to describe "my interpretation" is their are no REAL formal quest, but personal achievements where others have a common interest.  Like taking down that giant orc, or raiding that blood elf camp for loot and experience.  Groups are sought by player driven ideas.  Someone can sit back and say I want to investigate that ghost town to the south, I think I'll get five others. 

In other words, here is a world.  Do what ever you like !

I keep waiting for V Realms to announce structured game play advice on how to play.  Well their may not be any (revelation).  By not being a first generation player, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this style.  

If this is what it's like, its what I want !



Enough of "my interpretations"...… Can someone familiar with First Generation experience please explain day-to-day life ? 
Can you tell some average day stories ?...… I really really like stories )  

Amathe

Speaking for myself, and just in EQ:

I would log in and see what my friends and guildmates were doing. That could be:

a. zone wall xp grouping;
b. dungeon running or camping;
c. helping someone with some part of their epic;
d. pursuing a "race mob," meaning a rare spawn that you had to rush to get to before others did; 
e. occasionally raiding; or
f. rarely, someone would need help with one of the bigger non-epic quests.

If there wasn't anything I could join with friends and guildies that night, then I would try to get in on a PUG somewhere.

Failing that, or if I just didn't have much time, I would either solo a little or scout around for trade skill mats (and possibly work on my trade skills).

Or I would brouse what might be for sale by player merchants. 

Or I would head out into some place I had never been and just see what was there (very carefully).

Sometimes my guild had roleplay events or in game get togethers.

Sometimes we went as a series of groups to zones we had never experienced before.

Theocritus

I enjoyed not having many quests in EQ....The epic quests were often a bear and I think I only finished 1-2 at the most.

Tsiya

UO - log in and see what friends/guildies are up to. If nothing's happening there I want to join decide if I want to go taming, or leather farming, or hunt bloods to train pets. Or maybe do some elites or balrons. Or find a champ spawn group gearing up at WBB. Or just putz around and hit things with a stick for awhile. I did a lot of exploring too. So, not much different from EQ, except when I played there were no quests at all for anyone.

Torval

In Lineage 1 I only had 2 day to day goals:
1. Don't die
2. Do the most efficient thing to progress my long term goals.

Long term goals were:
1. Get the most XP
2. Get mass Adena (gold)
3. Get rare drops I desperately need to succeed at daily goals and steps 1 and 2 of the long term goals.

Nightbringe1

Well, this weekend I spent a fair amount of time farming tradeskill goods, so I could improve my tailoring, so I could make better bags.

Did not need a quest telling me to do so, it was simply a goal I set for myself.

delete5230

Coming down from the elevators of Kelethin at only level 6 wondering what was truly out their intrigued me, it was real scary to venture far from the lifts..... Too bad P1999 was so dated.  The mystery will always be a mystery to me.  

However with Pantheon I'll get that chance and be on the same learning level as everyone else, I wouldn't be behind the eight ball and so far behind the majority of players.  

Mystical, try getting that feeling with FF14....and at level 6 !!!!!    

Kyleran

Torval said:

In Lineage 1 I only had 2 day to day goals:
1. Don't die
2. Do the most efficient thing to progress my long term goals.

Long term goals were:
1. Get the most XP
2. Get mass Adena (gold)
3. Get rare drops I desperately need to succeed at daily goals and steps 1 and 2 of the long term goals.

So basically you "ground" progression.

Me too, in L1, L2, DAOC, SB, WOW and others.

Wasn't until I joined EVE in 2007 I first broke that cycle.

delete5230

Nightbringe1 said:

Well, this weekend I spent a fair amount of time farming tradeskill goods, so I could improve my tailoring, so I could make better bags.

Did not need a quest telling me to do so, it was simply a goal I set for myself.

I could actually do this type of grinding if it really benefits me or better yet benefits me by being more useful to others and increasing my strength with the community  

It's a nice feeling when people say: 
"see Delete5230 the bag maker" 
"see Delete5230 he collects a lot of material" 

So I have to ask, is this really grinding when your REALLY building strength with your server ?   



I miss mmorpgs…… To slowly build a reputation and a name for yourself even if it takes months. 

With games like BDO,ESO,FF14....You'll always be a big fat nothing ! 
This is what you get with mega-server technology.  Advanced technology, my ass.

Wellspring

The thing I liked most about quests in EQ is you could get the pieces required to complete the quest prior to talking to the quest giver.


For example, you gathered up a few orc belts, then later you can find which NPC will reward you for them. 

Sinist

First Gen? 

Here is the experience.

No bouncing balls. 
No detailed information on play outside of the manuals specifics in basic functional interaction.

You are dropped into a world to which you have to completely translate to your own understanding. 

What do you do? 

You explore, and each step of play is simply that... 

It is a trial and error in discovery. Sometimes you end up getting killed over and over again. You run into many bad circumstances. You run into too powerful of mobs, or confusing areas where you get lost, etc and if you die, you may not be able to find your way back. It is a process of fascination and wonder, learning and reflection. 

In such a process, you will likely run into others suffering the same fate, the same hardship and frustration. Through such you may choose to join forces to overcome such encounters, increasing your odd of success.

This the most basic aspect of community based game play. Games that do not achieve this level of difficulty and frustration in play do not provide the proper building blocks to which a strong community can be established. 

Rhoklaw

Since EQ has changed so much since it's early years, I will focus on the years that I played it to give a good representation of my first gen MMO experience.

First of all, EQ had a lot of minor details right off the bat that in my opinion showed a lot of dedication to making a unique game.

• Day / Night Cycle: Which could include variation of mobs, such as undead being more prevalent at night.
• No Quest Markers: While there were quests to be had, most of the time, I simply killed mobs, ran dungeons or crafted. Aside from epic quests, I rarely did any.
• Language Barrier: While EQ did have a common tongue language, it did offer a plethora of racial and factional languages. Just something that added a bit of secrecy to the game, but one could master all of the languages if they so choose.
• Death: Your first time dying in EQ was probably a bit confusing. You spawned in some predetermined location, naked and with an XP loss. The sting of death in EQ could be similar to modern day Eve Online because sometimes, you may lose your corpse permanently along with all your possessions. Never a good day.
• Travel: While we did eventually get help from Druids and Wizards for teleporting. It was an interesting adventure indeed trying to meet your Dwarven friend as a Qeynos Human or even a Erudite. While the zones weren't necessarily huge in today's standards, when traveling by boat, getting places did take some time and a lot of patience and going anywhere without Spirit of Wolf was just asking for another tombstone.
• Mana and Meditation: The famous EQ meditation screen with your face buried in your magical tome of spells only able to listen and hear the denizens around you, possibly lurking closer to your location. One could only pray for some Breeze or Clarity generous Enchanter to wander by.
• Progression: EQ wasn't known for having a lot of useful loot drops. Most of it was just a source of money. Dungeon crawling and raids were pretty much the standard for acquiring better gear. Crafted gear was usually only useful early on. In regards to leveling, it was slow, very slow. Then on top of that, you had what was commonly referred to as "Hell Levels" which took a lot longer and if you died removed a lot more XP. Leveling in EQ took a lot of dedication and patience.

Starting out in EQ reminded me a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. You could solo if you wanted, but if you did manage to group up, everything seemed a little more easier. Then the magic happened. People spent time adventuring and leveling together. Complete strangers, communicating via in-game chat, not VOIP or TeamSpeak. Friendships were made, guilds were formed and it was at that time, that pride, reputation and recognition became the forefront of EQ.

EQ was the closest to playing an online D&D game that I had ever experienced. While other games would follow with similar achievements in gaming, I found LOTRO and DAoC to be two of my favorites along with EQ.

Mendel

Rhoklaw said:
<snip>

• Mana and Meditation: The famous EQ meditation screen with your face buried in your magical tome of spells only able to listen and hear the denizens around you, possibly lurking closer to your location. One could only pray for some Breeze or Clarity generous Enchanter to wander by.

Minor correction to an otherwise good account of 'things' that were features in early EQ1.

Yes, there was the infamous face in the tome thing, but the only break came at level 29 with Clarity.   Clarity 2 came at 52nd level in the Kunark expansion.  The level 16 Breeze spell came later, I *think* it was with the Luclin expansion along with the level 60 KEI spell, the one spell that subverted the game's prior philosophy about mana regeneration.

So, if you were 12th level waiting to go into Blackburrow, realistically, there wasn't much of a chance that a 29th level enchanter was going to wander by.

Sinist

Rhoklaw said:

Since EQ has changed so much since it's early years, I will focus on the years that I played... <snip>

Excellent points!

EQ was very much like a AD&D experience.  It really left the player on its own and forced them to think, and seek for their survival. The story of the game wasn't a pre-made directed movie, but a mystery to which the player was left to discover and evolve through play, at their own pace and skill. 

I really think that is why games like EQ seem to have a strong sense of remembrance for many as it wasn't simply a childhood nostalgia experience (many of us were well beyond being children when we first played EQ), rather it was the culmination of mechanics that provided wonder, fear, and encouraged imagination and hope to which games today don't foster but simply provide immediate remedies for. 

Anyway, good points!

Amathe

Welcome back @Sinist. 

Sinist

Amathe said:

Welcome back @Sinist. 

Hey Amathe, thanks.