Slashdot Mirror
Depths Of Darkhollow EQ Expansion
Gamespot has details on the new Depths of Darkhollow Everquest expansion. From the article: "Depths of Darkhollow will feature seven new zones to explore, populated with 30 unique creatures, including sporali, werewolves, and clockwork gnomes. There will also be 15 new, small in-game events, as well as a 're-envisioned' Nektulos Forest." The expansion will also harken back to the days of Project M by allowing players to take on the roles of monsters. More commentary available at the always excellent Mobhunter.
This is crazy. I have never seen an article sit out in the open this long and not have a first post. Does anyone give two shits about EQ anymore.
I probably will get first post, and I'm typing slowly with my toes.
Man, I read that as "Dorkhollow" at first glance.
Damn Warcraft for stealing my girlfriend...
When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
I really enjoyed project m and thought EQ needed an "under dark" expansion.
You may think EQ1 is going to die but remember that people still play Ultima Online. I admit that 2d graphics from the mid 90's have a certain charm to them... But not that much charm.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/news/06/ 15/eqdod_screen001.jpg
pooptruck
Ok, I'm officially sick to death of people using the "hardcore" term.
World of Warcraft is just as hardcore as any other MMORPG out there...in fact in many ways it's more so.
In my experience, I've seen people leave EQ for EQII then to WoW...where they stay. My entire guild in EQ moved totally to WoW..with a few die-hards staying in EQ cause "I've put too much time into this character...etc etc" What does that mean? It means they're no longer having fun.
I've been on many games after EQ trying to find the spark and feel of a totally new world...everywhere from DAoC to Star Wars to AO to AC 1&2. I've tried them out really hoping to like them, but always went back to EQ...until now. I've been on WoW now for about a year if you include the Beta's and I haven't looked back. There's nothing I want to go back to EQ for at all.
In fact, EQ died back when Luclin came out. Before Luclin there was a sense of wonder in the world. A sense of place. Yes, it took a long long time to get from Halas to Freeport...and it was a long and dangerous journey for those that couldn't get a port out. Yeah, it was a pain in the ass...but I actually liked the feeling of being isolated a bit. Of trying to look for a port out. Of gathering in EC for the auctions and trade and killed Slate and training the Grif into the tunnels etc etc etc. All that died when they got the Gates of Dischord out there with all their portals to the major cities.
No one I've ever met...except now for you ureshii...has even mentioned going back to EQ. But bottom line, WoW IS a hardcore game.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Actually, UO had some advantages, some (most?) directly or indirectly because it was 2D.
1. Easy, intuitive view. By comparison the 3D behind-the-shoulder view and full 3D maps... just isn't as usable.
E.g., in COH it's often a pain to see which areas of the map you haven't explored, if there are enemies on some platform above or behind some crates, where-the-heck did your team mates go, etc. I found that the game became much more usable when I started running around with the map open all the time, basically going back to a top view. It actually works better.
However, having my map open all the time limits my visibility of the enemies. It _still_ is better than without it, but it sorta makes me wonder: would it have been that bad to have the game happen in that UO-style top-down view instead?
2. An easy intuitive interface.
To compare it again to COH, in UO I could just tell my melee char to attack an enemy, and he would keep swinging his weapon at it. COH makes me click on some icon (or press the key) for every single attack. It becomes a whole maths and planning game just to string a good sequence of attacks.
Why is this even important? Because:
3. The other MMOs seem to have forgotten what the second M stands for: Multiplayer.
In UO it was very easy to communicate with other players. Partially because it was possible to let your character hack at an enemy anyway, and partially because everything else was done with the mouse. So if you could type at all with your left hand, you could chat even while performing the most complicated actions.
I was chatting with other players all the time, even in the middle of raiding a dungeon or whatever. _All_ the time.
By comparison, every single other MMO I've tried, doesn't come even close. Try chatting while also needing the keyboard to move, and/or to keep activating different attacks, and you'll see what I mean. See how far you get typing a message to your pal, while also needing the arrow keys to chase enemies around, and needing to keep clicking the attack icons.
Trust me: not far. I pretty much gave up after watching a couple of team members die while I was typing away. Or I ended up taking powers like Fly instead of Super-Speed, because I could chat while letting Fly on auto-pilot.
4. Treadmill feeling: UO was basically a more relaxed, casual-gamer-friendly game.
In UO as long as you could physically swing a sword at something, you'd stand a chance to improve your skills. In COH (or any other MMO) you're forced into some level pigeonhole, where 4 levels higher you can't even hit, and 4 levels lower you don't get any XP or money any more. You can't really play at your own pace, because the game already decided for you which enemies you must go against, and in what zones.
5. And often it basically decided that, nope, you can't really play with your old friends any more. Simply because you wouldn't get any XP in their areas, if your friends advanced slower, and conversely they'd get insta-killed if they came to your new hunting grounds. And they wouldn't get any XP if they grouped with you anyway, because you're too high level for their group.
(Yes, I know that for example COH has Sidekicks and Exemplars, but it's still too much of a pain in the butt. I can't really ask someone to be my Exemplar, or not for long, when they won't get any xp as long as they do that. Or conversely I've tried bringing low level characters as Sidekicks into higher level areas and they _instantly_ died the moment they got out of the Sidekick radius.)
UO basically didn't take it's _game_ aspects that seriously, and was a _lot_ more flexible about where you can go and with whom you can group.
And precisely because of all these points above:
6. UO (well, the non-PK facet anyway) was a far more social experience, and was populated with far nicer and friendlier people than any other MMO I've been on.
Now don't take it as an insult if you play another game,
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.