Forums » Off-Topic and Casual Chatter

What's the first moment that hooked you?

    • 31 posts
    June 28, 2019 8:35 AM PDT

    I remember back playing Everquest in early 2000. My sister had gotten me started on the game, and I started out with a bard. After what felt like an eternity getting to level 19, the first thing I did after getting Sonorous Clouding was see if someone would let me take Mask of Deception off the named in Lower Guk!

    Little did I know they all see invis there, so I waited at the zone line for a necro to come by, and give invis vs undead. Then after MANY attempts, made my way through the maze to the assassin room, and a got the mask on rot. Took an entire day, but I was probably the only level 19 bard to have it!

    I was pretty much hooked after that, played the game off and on all the way up until last year!


    This post was edited by benty at June 28, 2019 8:36 AM PDT
    • 1921 posts
    June 28, 2019 8:50 AM PDT

    " What's the first moment that hooked you? "

    When it was possible to login during EQ1 Beta. 
    Being in a massively (as in more than 1000 people) shared first person 3D world was unique, at the time, in my experience, outside of Meridian59. (which wasn't nearly as visually pleasing)


    This post was edited by vjek at June 28, 2019 8:51 AM PDT
    • 297 posts
    June 28, 2019 10:15 AM PDT

    This would be hard to pinpoint. My first RPG video games were Pools of Radiance, Ultima IV (i think?), and Legacy of the Ancients on my Commodore 64 in the 80s. Between those, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and reading fantasy novels, I was hooked in there somewhere.

    If you're specifically talking about Everquest, it was my first MMO, though I had played MUDs through the 90s before then, so a lot of mechanics were familiar. That first time I logged in to Newbie Lift in Kelethin is definitely memorable. I was hooked on that game pretty much from the start and really enjoyed watching it improve over the years as technical advancements and new perspectives allowed it to shed some of the more cumbersome design elements that were unfortunately required at launch. 


    This post was edited by Chanus at June 28, 2019 10:16 AM PDT
    • 31 posts
    June 28, 2019 10:56 AM PDT

    Chanus said:

    This would be hard to pinpoint. My first RPG video games were Pools of Radiance, Ultima IV (i think?), and Legacy of the Ancients on my Commodore 64 in the 80s. Between those, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and reading fantasy novels, I was hooked in there somewhere.

    If you're specifically talking about Everquest, it was my first MMO, though I had played MUDs through the 90s before then, so a lot of mechanics were familiar. That first time I logged in to Newbie Lift in Kelethin is definitely memorable. I was hooked on that game pretty much from the start and really enjoyed watching it improve over the years as technical advancements and new perspectives allowed it to shed some of the more cumbersome design elements that were unfortunately required at launch. 



    Just in general to the MMORPG genre

    • 2138 posts
    June 28, 2019 2:30 PM PDT

    "H-

    a -"

    LOADING PLEASE WAIT

    what the! I am one of them! ... this was the last straw I was so discouraged I said to myself how can people be playing this, amd I THAT stupid and where is everybody. So I went out like I didn't care and just started flailing about. Then someone I didnt see said hello and addressed me by name. I didn't care I was being beat on so while still attacking I turned around clicking any and all targets in range or out and saw this other person like me (same race) who was killing the monster that was beating me.

    I was very curt. But he kept speaking, I answered out of politeness, and he talked me into grouping as I kept putting myself down I was 4? or 5?. He told me little things, binding compass skill to a movement key, where to put food. fire beetle eyes to see at night (THAT was an eye opener). Then he had to go, but he gave me confidence.

    The real moment came levels later when I was back in home town and there was a newbie soandso that I was showing around but he was - had an attitude of - just enthusiastic? like nothing bothered him and he started hailing and " H- a- " -sonadso has been slain by Guard Mercutil- and I started cracking up. He made a funny "urk" in group and ran back and was commenting on his untimely death, he was like 3 or 4 but I coulnd't stop laughing in RL. Up untill that point I as a scardy cat in game but after that- my attitude changed and I became more adventurous. 

    • 388 posts
    June 28, 2019 4:19 PM PDT

    i was working at Honda in 1999 and one of the parts guys was talking about how amazing the game was. He was So sure I would like it, he said if I didn't like it, he would pay me back the purchase price of the game And the monthly sub. 

    Bought it, didn't leave the house for 6 years other than work.  It really was a dream come true for me. I loved AD&D, had a great GM, but this was basically D&D in 3D. I was in love. I was amazed. I was hooked forever to MMO games. I never bought another console after playing EQ1 on PC with my Voodoo 1,  32MB? 64MB?,  graphics card. i had just built my first gaming rig. The rest is history. 


    This post was edited by Flapp at June 28, 2019 4:21 PM PDT
    • 1281 posts
    June 28, 2019 5:31 PM PDT

    I don't have a lot of early EQ memories because it was so long ago, but one does come to mind that was probably the moment I got hooked. This was right around the launch of Kunark.

    I was playing an Erudite Magician. A friend directed me from Erudin to Everfrost Peaks. We went out and found a safe spot on the frozen river against the wall on the East side of the zone.

    It was such a simple play session but such a long trip of riding the boat to Qeynos, using land mark directions in Qeynos Hills (Turn left at the guard tower and follow the wall), running blind as a bat through Blackburrow, then being in this 1st person view in this silent frozen wasteland and having these enemies coming in and sending a magical pet out to beat them up ... all of it just really set the tone to my experiences with the game. I never experienced anything like that before in a game where I was such a small shrimp in a big ocean. Every other game before that you are always in full control and powerful. EQ was the exact opposite of that.


    This post was edited by bigdogchris at June 28, 2019 5:35 PM PDT
    • 65 posts
    June 28, 2019 6:35 PM PDT

    I started playing in early August of 1999. I had played many of the Gold Box series of AD&D as well as Ultima IV-VII, but EQ was my first MMO. I was hooked very early on, while running around Oggok with my ogre SK. Just interacting in a 3D world with live people in my favorite type of game(an RPG) was enough for me. A few weeks later, I was forming a group in the throne room in Cazic Thule- a favorite camp of mine at the time. This day, however, was different. As my group was taking shape, I started to get tells from two other groups asking me to group with them instead. I explained that I was all ready committed to my current group, but they persisted in trying to presuade me anyway. They told me that my reputation preceded me, and that they wanted me to tank for them. While I politely refused, that day had a lasting impact on me. It taught me that in EQ, your reputation was everything and could open many doors for you. After that I was really hooked. 


    This post was edited by phil85 at June 28, 2019 6:40 PM PDT
    • 1095 posts
    June 29, 2019 10:24 AM PDT

    Druid Tree Form

    • 107 posts
    June 29, 2019 3:30 PM PDT
    In all honesty...I was hooked as soon I heard EQ's theme music on my loading screen for the first time. Doesn't take much...
    • 54 posts
    June 29, 2019 3:58 PM PDT

    My first character, a rogue in Surefell Glade, running out the tunnel attacking a yellow con wolf and promptly dying.  I loved that it a hard game.  I was hooked

     

    And my journey to meet a friend, from Kelethin to Permafost, by foot, on my level 14 druid.  An epic journey during my first days in the game.

    • 15 posts
    June 29, 2019 4:04 PM PDT

    Not knowing what the heck I was doing and having six corpses at the fairy ring in the peat bog and having to beg a stranger to come and help me. I wound up playing eq2 with that stranger for the next four years.

    Still remember how freaked out I was when I caught sight of my first giant in thundering steppes.

    • 10 posts
    June 30, 2019 7:22 AM PDT

    For me it was in UO maybe 2 weeks after release. I had made a character I wanted to have be a ranger. He ran around working on fletching while trying to dodge all the horrible evil monsters and red players out there. I tried to avoid most conflict as I was "new and weak" and death really sucked when you lost all your gear. I had just bought my first full set of chainmail and was out chopping trees when I got jumped by a PK. I was so worried about trying not to die that I kept running from him trying to get away. When it became clear I couldn't get away I finally turned around to fight. That when I discovered that somewhere along the way I had developed some high skills on the character and made short work of the PK. The thrill of chasing him down and looting all the random things he had taken off the other noobies was thrilling. In EQ it was when my friends and I would play hours and hours then agree to meet at Eat N Park around 2-4am to recap the session, plan the next one, and chug coffee while smoking cloves. We were such cool teenagers!


    This post was edited by Ugmar at June 30, 2019 7:28 AM PDT
    • 9 posts
    July 1, 2019 5:16 AM PDT

    I played Everquest shortly when Kunark released for about 3 months. I remembered one of my friends gave me a Gnoll hide Lariat so I could actually kill those evil Will-o-wisp. It took me awhile to come back to the game had to buy a new computer. I've always been drawn to the fantasy genre of everything, and used to played FF1 on Nintendo. The thing that really drew me into EQ was the community though. I have played a few mmos which I liked the game, but left because the community was unhelpful and unfriendly. 

    • 216 posts
    July 1, 2019 7:05 AM PDT

    When I first found the guild I stuck with for 6+ years, I've made friends from that guild that I'm still in daily contact with 12+ years later. These people have literally changed my life for the better and I will always be grateful to that guild that brought me together with my friends.

    • 1019 posts
    July 1, 2019 7:30 AM PDT

    We matched on Tinder (laugh if you want) and we decided to go on a date.  I got to the restaurant 10 mins or so early.  So I ordered a whiskey.  Downed it pretty quick and had my second glass in my hand when I turned around to look out the window.  Thats when I saw her walking toward the door.  She had a long beige rain coat on but it wasn't tied shut, and underneath the coat she wore a yellow floral form fitting dress and the form was nice, but the way it accented her *umm* accents was breath taking.  Her blond hair had soft waves and flowed and bounded behind her with the soft glow of the street lights illuminating all of her just wonderfully.  Thats when I knew I was hooked.

    • 2419 posts
    July 1, 2019 8:28 AM PDT

    Aanwenae said: In all honesty...I was hooked as soon I heard EQ's theme music on my loading screen for the first time. Doesn't take much...

    Same here.  That moment was quickly followed up by that first moment in Kelethin, hearing the music of Greater Faydark, taking those first tentative steps in a new world...and promptly falling to my death off the platform.

    • 287 posts
    July 1, 2019 9:29 AM PDT

    On day 1 of my first MMORPG I spawned into the world and just stood there looking around for the longest time.  I had no idea how to play this thing.  I figured out the movement keys and wandered to the edge of town where I spotted a snake.  Woo! My first fight!  I walked up to the snake, looked down at it and then stood there like a moron for several minutes.  I pressed all the keys and nothing was happening.  Finally, I accidentally opened my inventory and saw an axe.  I tried clicking it, dragging it, nothing was working until I double clicked it a TADA! It appeared in my character's hand.  A couple minutes later and I finally started swinging my little axe at the snake.  Since I was only using what I later learned was autoattack the snake nearly killed me.  Back to the town like a frightened little n00b and I was hooked.  20 years later and here I am.

    • 454 posts
    July 1, 2019 10:40 AM PDT

    I got lost in Halas!  Yep the smallest, easiest village in EQ.  Took a deep breath and figured it out, ha ha. I never deleted a character.  I couldn’t say goodbye to any of them.  They were all so fun!  Every day was an adventurE. Thousands of good memories.

    • 238 posts
    July 1, 2019 10:59 PM PDT

    Ever Quest was my first MMO and I have been playing MMO's ever since. I am not sure of the moment that I got hooked, however. I think it might have been a combination of the epic log in music, and then entering the world for the first time. I was like 6 at the time and my previous experience with games had been on the N64. I remember thinking at character creation that this is a different experience because I was able to decide what I looked like, and then when I got in there was no set direction. I was able to go where I wanted to and explore freely, and it was exciting. I quickly found out that my level 1 female human magician probably shouldn't be trying to fight most of the mobs East Commonlands with her like one or two spells, but you know trial and error XD. 

    The funny part is I think I can remember the first two times that I ever died. I think the first time I died was to a bear, and specifically, I think it was a Kodiak which was like level 15ish. The second time was shortly after this. I remember being somewhat upset at my death because I remembered my dad saying you would lose experience upon death. I was 6 so I couldn't process the trivial implications that that actually had at level 1, and I also believe the experience loss didn't start affecting characters till after level 10 which I didn't understand. Anyway, shortly after getting my body and luckily not being attacked in the process I quickly looked for something else to fight. I'm not really sure what my young mind was thinking, but It must have been like "Well I can't fight the big scary bear... this floating little light ball looks innocent enough"... I think the whisp killed me faster than the bear did XD.  I'm also pretty sure I was balling at this point, my dad took me back to Freeport and taught me how to consider things and also calmed me down by explaining how trivial the EXP loss was at my level. Out of curiosity, I went back to the other two things that had killed me just to see what level they were and were both red to me. I think this is when I had another O.O moment. 

    • 116 posts
    July 2, 2019 7:37 PM PDT

    At the character creation screen, had me right there. 

    • 40 posts
    July 2, 2019 7:50 PM PDT

    I had played single player games since Zork, I played Gemstone III a MUD.

    I still have, in my mind, pictured my high elf cleric in EQ beta in a group at the orc lift, in glorious 3D color, preparing my arms to attack the nearly unassailable orcs there. Life was good, and that time was memorable.

    oh, sure, getting my wizzie epic on Fironie Vie was cool, but...

    • 1479 posts
    July 3, 2019 1:45 AM PDT

    EQ's theme was enough to hook me back then. I knew I was at the right place and the right moment. But since I was young it took me a year or so to stick to one toon and get him past lvl 20. Limited playtime, limited focus, unsure of what I truly wanted.

    • 696 posts
    July 3, 2019 7:57 AM PDT

    Going into Blackburrow for the first time and seeing the chaos of dead bodies everywhere...both humans and gnolls. 


    This post was edited by Watemper at July 3, 2019 7:58 AM PDT
    • 1247 posts
    July 3, 2019 8:16 AM PDT

    From the first moments of a RL friend introducing me to the game.. I was captured by the early music and player interaction. It was magical. 

    Before long we had a group of us playing. I believe the magic will come alive again here in Pantheon. The real thing.