shasta said: Would this be something along the lines of "hail" guard. And "what monster" like in EQ?
That's one possibility, but here's a video that should give you a little bit of an idea.
Iksar said:I remember a rumor back in the EverQuest days that people were saying some zones from release hadn't even been found yet (after a year). Of course it was nonsense but it got me thinking how cool it would be if there were a couple amazingly well hidden zones, places that maybe you could only zone into via some small hatch inside a false wall or in a large bush somewhere nondescript.
Or maybe a zone that you can only see under a specific effect/buff/debuff. Even if not as hidden, something like having to jump into the town square fountain while your character is drunk.
This reminds me of that time one of the WoW CMs made the comment that there were still many quests yet to be completed. This was like 3 years after launch, I think. Naturally, we all assumed that the quest givers were ghosts in like that attunement quest in Blackrock, so for the next 2 weeks everyone was running around dead looking for these "hidden" quests. Good times. I'm all for mysteries and easter eggs. I think that is one of the best ways to create lasting and memorable content for players.
Maximis said:Kratuk said:Convo said: Thread is well heard all. This has been on our minds for a few years now and it’s an interesting part of development because some of the best mysteries are thought up more naturally when you’re planning out an area.I can tell some of the guys have fun with these too. One that gave me a good chuckle back in Vanguard was the entrance to Riftseeker's Torrent I think it was. You find this NPC headed for a cave. If you shadow him when he arrives he struggles with a password and finally spits out the phrase "Utaalk Ataraav Utkin". I bout fell out of my seat laughing when I finally put together that it was just Klaatu Vaarata Niktu backwards. I just saw Ash from Army of Darkness there struggling to remember the password before dooming us all after that.
That was one of my favorite happy little accidental discoveries. Oh, and you had to utter that phrase to get in as well.
Oh, and you know that just as a rule when me and the group I was with got there I stepped up to the gate and said, "Klaatu Vaarata....nihumhercoughuhher"...
Army of Darkness clip for those lost. And if you're lost, go watch the Evil Dead trilogy you uncultured heathens. :p Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness. Also a new show based on it called Ash vs Evil Dead. Enjoy.
The really funny part is that it was a spoof in Evil Dead. It actually originated in an old film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" there was a remake not that long ago. It was a pass phrase to shut down the world killing robot.
Hope we see easter eggs like this...things that make you go Hmmmmm hey I know that! :) And again as I've stated before..secret rooms, floor puzzles, creepy old castles, trapdoors in the floor.
Cana
Things that just *ARE* they don't to have meaning . Stuff we will never know like why is there a clearing here in the forest, what was that tumbled down building, why is this empty chest here, why does that signpost point into that cave.
We will wonder and never know but the world is bigger than us and there should be a sense of so much more out there that we could never ever know
Voranir said:I think one of my favorite things from EverQuest was the epic weapon quests. For instance, Druids and Rangers having to forage items from lands far and wide. The hints were unbelievably obscure at times, too!
Heck yeah! I remember right after Eqic's were released in EQ2. It was a mad dash. Every class channel was full of "Oh, I think I found the update...." "Hey, all Pally's the second step is in Karnars Castle, I just found it!!"
I like most all of the ideas put forth here, and would like to throw in my own 2¢ worth. I'd like to see a few quest starting points that are in the game early on, that can't be accessed until much later. For example, a branch of an old mine that is blocked and can't be entered, or a rusty faded door in a dungeon that can't be opened no matter what you try. And just enough vague clues in local lore to tickle our curiosity and make us SURE that it means somthing. Eventually everyone accepts it as nothing more than 'atmosphere'. Years (or expansions) later, a new type of skeleton key or lockpick is introduced as part of an entirely new set of content, perhaps in a distant part of the world. Eventually, some newbie (since all the veterans have long since forgotten about the door) tries the new item on the door, and **Thunderbolts and Lightning** a new high level raid dungeon is opened, or maybe a new world-threatening menace comes crawling out. The discoverer gets a server first as either a great explorer OR as the idiot who unleashed "The Age of Despair" to Terminus. And all of us hardcore explorers, who made a career of looking into every nook and cranny AND keeping notes, kick ourselves in the butt and say "Damn, why didn't I think of that!"
The mystery of it is SO important.
And The world has to be unwavering, consistent and persistent. It can't change because we want it to. Real life has hard aspects, but complaining doesn't change it. That's the world we live in. Just because we hate gravity it doesn't mean we can comaplin it away. In Terminus if a quest is too hard or a spawn too rare or a travel too long, then too bad - we can't make the world change to suit us. It has to be consistent even if we don't like it.
And that goes for mysteries.
The great mysteries like how to spawn Quillmane....still decade(s) later no official answer was ever given - players "figured" out a possible solution. Hadden spawn times (btw its 3:15 to 3:45 on an RNG - I farmed FBE for a long time). Is a slime-ocated earring still in the game or not?
These type of things are ridiculous unknowns. We are plopped in this world with no explanation of these things and we try to muddle through and player-driven lore becomes an important part of the culture.
That, in my opinion, is what EQ did better than any game ever made. That is what the WoW-model did completely wrong (and every game that followed - they totally didn't understand this)
As soon as they answer the mysteries for you it ruins all that world, alternate reality immersion.
Getting something wrong is more important than being told the answer.
I guess, although passionate about every topic, this is my #1