I have to give a few: -
1) A multi-dragon raid that ran from Friday night to Sunday morning with pretty much no breaks. Was awesome, daunting, ridiculous, uplifting, depressing, etc. It ran the whole gamut of emotion and achievement.
2) A PUG in Unrest after finally getting to the ghost room. Unrest was awesome and the group was a perfect mix of ability and fun. Perfected the Ghost Spawn Dance. Laughed. Cried. Hurled. Everything.
3) Playing with an RL friend Necromancer who fell through a hole in the dungeon floor and then dungeon crawling toward her from above while she repeat Feign Death flopped her way toward us. Was a massive challenge but also a fantastic bonding experience. We succeeded after many hours and retrieved her and all her corpses. It really felt like we'd been through hell together.
In DAoC, there were RvR(PvP) objectives called Relics stored within keeps in the RvR zones. These relics yield enhancements if a realm owns theirs or others so it is very beneficial to keep all of your realms as well as aquire the other realms relics. Occasionally, there would be relic raids organized of hundreds of people. Word came that defenders against another realms relic raid were needed. We successfully defended our relics for 3 straight sleepless days (called in sick to work for 2 of them). All three realms were involved in this multi-day tug of war.
Intentionally buying and using Western Digital Raptor Hard Drives. They were loud. If there was a pvp group and sometimes even a stealther near by, it would spin up and be an audible type of alarm.
It was mentioned a while ago in a different thread Kilsin started; I was one of those people leveling in a PvE zone near a town called Audliten in DAoC and died to a PvP person in DAoC because he found a sneaky way to get past the NPC guards that were designed to prevent anyone attempting just such a thing. That still rankles me a bit after 15-17 years.
The day I got my Cleric epic.
The Ragefire camp was such a competitive spawn, but that's the beauty of an open world. My guild was actually a little late to the party, and another guild got to the zone first. I was a well known cleric, had a good reputation on the server, and our guild was a well known and resepcted guild (illustrating this point so when people hear the developers say that communities can mostly police themselves, and reputation matters in open world games, this is a very true statement). The raid leaders made an agreement that we recognize they made it to the zone first, but they recognize they don't have their cleric on to loot the necessary drops from Ragefire. The agreement is if their cleric didn't show up in ~1 hour, they would relinquish the spawn to us.
We patiently waited, and both guilds (had to be at least 60 people) stayed together without knowing who would ultimately be the benefactor of a shiny new Water Sprinkler of Nem Ankh (for those who don't know, the EQ cleric epic was considered probably the best raiding epic in the game, it had mana free 96% rez which was amazing).
As it would imply, their cleric didn't show, but they still remained to help us take down ragefire to ensure victory (I would hope we would have done the same for them). For those of you concerned about competitive spawns and non-instanced zones, your concerns are undestood and real. However, when the chips are down, most people are good and it can be very inspiring to see how these open world communities interact and work. It really is the 3rd dimension in a relatively 2 dimension genre.
Later that night, after several guildies travelled all the way out to the middle of nowhere (because it was a GUILD event to get an epic, not a single player event (another aspect lost in today's MMOs), I joined a random PUG at a fungi camp in Sebilis. The king spawned, he dropped the tunic, and I won the roll.
Cleric Epic + Fungi Tunic in one day = A day I will never forget.
Here's to Pantheon bringing back the missing 3rd dimension in MMOs.
Thanks for reading, and asking
~Revjak
Many memories both good and bad over the years. Most involved slaughter - by me or of me.
One that stands out as a bit different - as a new player going around for hours collecting butterflies (EQ2 collectables - in that game collectibles were mostly on the ground with a special icon identifying them as being collectibles not harvesting nodes), selling them on the auction house and suddenly having more than enough game currency for anything I would want to do for a long time.
#collectibles matter.
Playing FFXI and pulling off my first XP Chain in Valkurn Dunes. Other honorable mentions for FFXI include getting my sub-classes up to level 37, mining, farming, and travelling. It sounds crazy to think that over all these years, some of my favorite memories are the most basic functions in an MMO.
Building a guild castle in Vanguard. Tons of fun with Diplomacy.
Doing the impossible in EQOA. (Tanking Avatar of Fear ... or tanking Siliskor as a level 44 Warrior.)
Beating a ranger in a duel in EQ2 as a guardian. Discovering thousands of items. Betraying my troll crusader to Qeynos and making him a paladin.
Getting Challenger in RBG's and 2v2 Arena in WoW. Unlocking the Save the Day achievement in Warsong Gulch. Getting over 75 kills on my Shadow Priest in a single game of WSG.
Being on the cutting edge of raiding in EQOA/EQ2. Using the languate translator tool in FFXI and still managing to fulfill the role of main tank for the top raiding guild on server.
Spending countless hours in all of those games to help my friends with their personal goals.
It's an odd memory to have but one that seems to hold the truest form of MMO life for me. On 9/11 when the twin towers went down I went from being scared for my country and my life to in great fear for a dear friend and guild mate of mine. Our guild leader lived in New York and a few of us knew that he worked in the towers. Almost everyone in the guild had posted on our forums and in guild chat asking if anyone had talked to him. Members of opposing guilds (PVP sever/Vallon) were making similar posts checking on him and others. Those few of us that had his number were calling/texting him to try and see if he was ok but no one knew. It was 10 hours after the attack that we heard from him. He was okay, he had made it out with nothing more than a few minor problems.
Seeing a community come together that way, for someone that very few of us had actually met was such an amazing situation. I don't remember if we did anything else that day. I don't remember what spawns were up or if we were suppose to raid, but i do remember logging on and waiting with so many others to make sure our friends/guildmates were alive.
When we talk about Patheon and compare it to EQ and VG, that is the comparison I want. Quests/dragons/epics/spells/gear/loot are all great but that community feeling is one that has not been touched by another game in my life.
EQ:
First time seeing Emeral Jungle. I was scared to move. It all seemed so eerie and dangerous in those trees.
First time I crested a hill in the Great Divide and ran right into a Shardwurm. Pretty sure I screamed like a baby in fear. Didn't even bother conning (he was blue, apparently) before turning around and hauling my butt the other way.
Being passed over on a raid for another rogue. Then called back in because that rogue didn't have lockpicks. WHAT KIND OF ROGUE DOESN'T ALWAYS CARRY LOCKPICKS?! Lrn 2 rogue.
My first raid dragon in, I think, Burning Woods. Running through the trees with the raid force. Anytime I hear Prodigy's "Climbatize", it takes me right back there.
LOTRO:
Creating a guild and hosting my first planned event. We were the Retainers of Dol Amroth, and on Landroval, the RP server. We would wear the colors of Dol Amroth, white swan on field of blue, and travel slowly from Bree to Rivendell, handing out food and trinkets while walking in formation along the roads. It was a beautiful thing to behold.
The first time I was chosen to tank, as a Warden, over the Guardian, the usual go-to tank. Wardens had a rough time, but when played well, they were incredible to watch.
In the Foundry, a new 6-man instance at the time, on the first (maybe second?) boss. All groupmates died but myself almost right away. Used Warden's HoT and life leeches and soloed the entire encounter with the boss plus adds. Seeing group chat go from "we're dead" to "no effing way......" as the fight progressed. That might be about when I fell in love with tanking.
I think my best memories are quite tied to achieved item obtemption during EQ ERA.
1) I think my first big achievement (outside of not dieing all the time) was grabbing the mask of Lguk in my thirties. It was a hard solo trip because I never went to Guk on any character, neither upper or lower, I was a weak rogue in banded armor and I had pretty much no chance to even make it to zone out if I aggroed something.
The fact is : I had no clue where to go and EQatlas was my only way of orientation, and i sucked bad at orientation back then.
2) Then there was my first planar raid, PoH or PoF first I can't remember which one came first.
3) Then, the last big thing I remember doing, was turning in the iksar questline to Cazic thule himself. I zoned alone in PoF and managed my way to the hill near his roam point, but he was not here and I had to wait. I stood there during three days until I found him respawned, headed to him, hailed him, readied my turn in and...
A nightmare aggroed me.
As sad as it is, Cazic thule was non kos to me but social with thoses, and he jumped on me, in a few instants I was feared and blinded, and all I could do was spamming my FD key.
When the screen turned on again, I had 20% life at most, FDed and alive. I prepared myself back and approchad cazic thule full life again with sneak to turn him the required items, and got my reward. Yay ! Now I had to run into the pyramid to get to the exit, as I took no gate potion....
I actually had to come out of lurker mode for this one!
There are so many...
When I first figured out how to use Charm and be prepared for breaks, and those hell levels became so much easier...
Filling in for a guild group in Sebelis (I was tagless at the time) as an enchanter at UZO and derailing several trains to the zoneline...we killed several names and ticked off a lot of people who were camping them. Sorry, you train on us and zone, and your mobs are ours!
A 3-way guild v guild v guild race/trainfest in SSRA. No one won, with all of the trains, but it was great fun!
Our first Rathe Council kill, where I wound up holding all 6 mezzable bosses for a short time when we had a bad string of resists, I was the only one for ~ 5 minutes. Focus effects and Gather mana ftw!
There are so many more, but only early WoW came close to the number and quality that EQ did. Could be something to do with those games being more group focused...I'm looking forward to making new epic memories in Pantheon!
For me it was the very first time I went out into the commonlands from Nek forest when EQ first came out. The game was so amazing.
And in EQ2, doing Zraxth's Unseen Arcanum hard mode, I seem to remember taking like 20 minutes or so to kill the 2nd floor guy. And finally getting Anosti after a dozen or more tries in the Palace of the Ancient One.
Those are the ones that stand out.
Tralyan said:EQ:
My first raid dragon in, I think, Burning Woods. Running through the trees with the raid force. Anytime I hear Prodigy's "Climbatize", it takes me right back there.
I feel ya matey, epic journey song and amazing album! Narayan is my flash back to EQ song with my necro :)
A PUG in Unrest. I played a cleric. Our puller had to go, but no one else seemed to want to take over. I didn't know the layout then too well myself, but I learned it well that night :) Pulling, off heals, off tank, group leader. It seemed like conducting the symphony, but playing 1st chair at the same time :)
I guess I just have loved any situation where I had to be on top of what's going on, skillful in execution, and skillful / fun in communication.
When I was a wee young halfling stuck in a wood elf druid body I adventured with a friend called Jessup. We were located on the Innoruuk server and he was able to presaude his guild "The Pantheon" to invite me. They were a very small but dedicated guild under the leadership of Gallenite. Adventures were plentiful and competition with the "Legion of Darkness", least I think that's was the other guild name, was intense. Though many adventures there were, one I still remember well. Lord Nagafen was up and we had set our focus. The guild had a plan, I believe, to have some of the healers stay by the stairs before Nagafen and LOS the AE while feared players would path back by the healers. The healers would heal the feared players because back then you were gonna get feared. So I stood my post as a druid and healed the person we came before me, Anne. Anne was a halfling warrior that refused to wear shoes. My druid heals didn't entertain him long as he charged back in after realising he's not gonna get fully healed any time soon. I think this happened a couple times till Nagafen had been defeated. What a victory it was! We had flawlessly killed Nagafen with only 1 death, a necro pet. Soon after the fight ended a GM/Guide appeared to congratulate us. Then I saw it, the first particle weapon i'd ever seen in game. It was a short sword with 2 blue sparking particles that went up and down the sword.
It was a long time ago under the perfect storm. A golden of age of gaming and the internets youth. Back then nothing was known about Everquest. Any information about quests and mobs was trickled down from developers and guides. Stuff was very slowly cataloged on the internet for everyone to have access to but the process was slow. I don't really know if that can ever be replicated again but I'm about ready for another adventure.
Created a barbarian warrior and as I was running up that angled icy ramp (past the fires approaching the two guards) I saw a bag on the ground. I know now someone dropped it on purpose for a "newbie". I'll never know ... maybe they were there watching but invisible. In the bag (a 8 slot ) was another 8 slot bag , a *Greater* light stone , and 20ish Plat.
Another time, I laughed SO hard, inside Felwithe facing the bridge to the right in the water I watched a player, practicing swimming, drown. He was decked out in FULL bronze and at the time that was viable gear for selling and wearing. For those that don't know the bronze armour was heavy ... very heavy. So watching a player sink to the bottom drowning was a "like duh... that's heavy stuff".
Heroic Nefarian in Wow I was on my mage and it was our first kill of him for the guild. Ended up being last one alive thankfully there were a ton of dots. anyways i got to post pics of me tea bagging all my guildies before i started rezes was amazing :) I was 9 when i played EQ after it released and ill be honest i thought the chest board was the coolest thing with the skellys. That was the first memory and what made mmorpg’s my game of choice never felt so into a game in my life since.
This memory goes back to approximately 2002. I had work hard on my wizard epic (EQ 1). At the time the raid mobs needed didn't stay up for long. The last mob needed was phinny deep in kedge keep. I camped a low level druid there to see if o could find him up. A few times, other guilds beat mine there and got him first. A few other tomes, my guild killed him and he didn't drop the wizard gnarled staff.
It was frustrating indeed as we were a small family guild. I gave up trying to get phinny for s few weeks leveling up and gaining the AA ability known as manaburn. For those that don't know manaburn would do twice the damage of your Mana pool. I was at about 3000 Mana back then so to have a 6000 damage nuke was pretty amazing at the time.
Well I start camping phinny again in the depths of kedge keep, far underwater. Phinny pops as I was swimming around on my character. He was under me! I call and plead for my guild to show and they did for the third or fourth time.
Now phinny was a beast back then , needing multiple groups. He would cast a debuff that could strip your breathing underwater spell, drowning the unaware. We engage him and the battle was intense, losing some brave souls. Phinny had approximately 17, 000 hit points. With about 50% of his life left in unleash manaburn which critically hit him for over 11,000 in damage killing him. I am told to loot him and find the gnarled staff....my final epic peice. I was floating. I had no idea Mana burn would crit like that (soon nerfdn of course). Earning that epic with my guild was the most memorable mmo experience. I want things like that in Pantheon. EQ 1 had a special magic to it and I still play it occasionally today...killing time for beta. I have found no other mmoM challenging to my liking. I have faith in this game to be amazing.
A story I've told many times (including somewhere on Pantheon forums I believe) - that to me exemplifies #communitymatters.
Shortly after the Luclin expansion released, I decided that I wanted the "Ornate Sword of the General" from General Jared Blaystich in Echo Caverns. So I put up a post on our guild website. It was something to the effect of "Hey guys, I know it's really short notice, but I'd like to try for this item tonight at 8:00."
And then my day turned into absolute garbage. At the time it was typical for me to get home around 5:00... but I didn't get home until much later, and didn't even get to sit down to my computer until after the time I posted. I remember sitting at the loading screen thinking "ah, well... some other time."
Well - the moment I logged in I was inundated with guild messages and /tell messages. "Get over here Wand! We're waiting for you!" In my absence, the entire guild formed up anyway - had cleared to the General, and was waiting for me to log on.
The sword itself wasn't such a big thing... that so many people would do that for me... when I wasn't even on yet... huge.
That sword is one of a handful of items that will still be in Wandidar's inventory whenever the servers get shut down for the last time.
I don't have a single best, but I think more of a single best concept.
I really enjoy the memories of early days in EQ getting lost or always feeling scared. I remember having to be lead around Everfrost to find safe spots on the frozen river to hunt with a friend, and I remember having to 'follow the wall' to make it safely to Blackburrow in Qeynos Hills. I also had good memories of awesome groups in Lower Guk.
So even though I played much longer than just launch era EQ, my best memories are from that era because I was innocently naive and could get easily lost. When you have a certain level of stress attached to a situation, I think it makes it more memorable.
bigdogchris said:I don't have a single best, but I think more of a single best concept.
This is where I am on the subject.
My single best concept is my enchanter in single group dungeon crawls/camps. All my best memories are from single grouping in dungeons - LGuk, SolB, Seb, The Hole, etc. My best friend was our tank, I was the CC, and we had two buddies on pulls and heals, and the any other two we could grab. Leveled from 25ish to like 60 with that same crew doing nothing but crawling dungeons. Maybe the most fun I've ever had playing MMOs. Basically, single grouping with friends is where all the best fun in MMOs is for me.
The best memory I have out of all my time in MMOs was a female warrior who went by the name of Phasiq.
Her personality was very contradicting to my own in a lot of ways but, and for lack of better words, we practically became yin and yang. She could be abrasive, at times controlling, possibly introverted/quiet (shy?), etc. Where I'm easy going, extroverted, and usually assertive. But as I got to know her I found out she was that way because she was sort of defensive around ppl she didn't know well and, again, in my eyes an introvert where it is tough being in groups of ppl. But she was also focused, loyal, honest, etc, and possibly the best tank I've ever played with. I remember the first time defeating Shiver Phasiq was low on health and everybody was trying to LoS the final AoE and somehow Phasiq wound up frozen and mem whiped and still never lost aggro, still never died, and somehow we still beat Shiver for the first time. I remember when warriors were getting the short end of the tanking stick in VG she still outclassed damn near every DK and Pally I knew. From the VERY first day we met I don't think there was a moment the two of us were logged in that we were not grouped together.
As I mentioned previously she was quiet...VERY quiet. With most ppl. Out of the 5 years we played together I've never heard her actual voice once. And our guild(s) and my friends were SUPER chatty in teamspeak/vent. I almost got her to talk but she was still too apprehensive. Somebody in one of our guilds said he heard her speak like twice ever and this is our only evidence she was even a female at all lol. She wasn't the most talkative in group chat either, at least she never really got personable nor was much for small talk. But her and I talked a lot. So much to the point we developed our own shorthand for while we were in groups. We would send each other private tells and had a code for certain letters. 'r' meant I had a mob on me. 't' meant I was bringing adds. etc etc.
I've made literally 100s and 100s of friends over all the MMOs I've played. Made handfuls of really good friends, friends I'd consider at the least 'virtual' best friends. But Phasiq was that one friend who some ppl don't even ever get to meet. Someone who you accomplish much more content with than the average player. Someone who you notice doesn't really have (m)any close friends yet you are the person they message first every time they log in. Someone who if I was in a full group when she logged on someone in group knew they were dropping out so she could join me. Not because I was leader and would kick anyone out just to get her in group but because there are really good ppl who play these games and they understood just how comfortable she was around me and just how uncomfortable she was around others. I could go on and on but I'll end here.
I couldn't possibly think of a single better memory than this. Cheers!
Wandidar said:A story I've told many times (including somewhere on Pantheon forums I believe) - that to me exemplifies #communitymatters.
Shortly after the Luclin expansion released, I decided that I wanted the "Ornate Sword of the General" from General Jared Blaystich in Echo Caverns. So I put up a post on our guild website. It was something to the effect of "Hey guys, I know it's really short notice, but I'd like to try for this item tonight at 8:00."
And then my day turned into absolute garbage. At the time it was typical for me to get home around 5:00... but I didn't get home until much later, and didn't even get to sit down to my computer until after the time I posted. I remember sitting at the loading screen thinking "ah, well... some other time."
Well - the moment I logged in I was inundated with guild messages and /tell messages. "Get over here Wand! We're waiting for you!" In my absence, the entire guild formed up anyway - had cleared to the General, and was waiting for me to log on.
The sword itself wasn't such a big thing... that so many people would do that for me... when I wasn't even on yet... huge.
That sword is one of a handful of items that will still be in Wandidar's inventory whenever the servers get shut down for the last time.
Alone MMOs are fun. But these moments are what make them special.