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#1 May 13 2017 at 11:03 AM Rating: Excellent
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After a bit of a break, I returned to the game when the Fableds came back. I enjoy that time of the year. Fableds are over now, and I returned to working on epics for all of my level appropriate chars. I am currently trying to spawn Quillmane for the Mage epic. Three days, and no Quill. I have the place holder, but no Quill.

Today, an old army buddy dropped by during my attempt to spawn it. I redirected the computer screen to the TV while we chatted. After a while, he asked me what this was all about. I explained epics and how the items are obtained. After another 10 min or so he asked why anybody would want to play a game like that. He said to him, it was like the textbook definition of tedium.

You know, he is correct. What is the point of these timesinks? It is easy to nail down the placeholder for Quill, but endless tracking and killing every 60+ seconds for hours is mind numbing boredom. There is no skill involved whatsoever....

So, why am I still hooked somewhat on EQ? Smiley: deadhorse

Edited, May 13th 2017 1:05pm by KC13
#2 May 13 2017 at 12:05 PM Rating: Excellent
Different strokes for different folks. Some play because they love competition. Some play because they love the roleplay. There are many reasons why people play games. I play games for the simple fact I love to immerse myself into another world and build my character like someone builds a home piece by piece. I love the story back behind everything. There is a deep history of the game that is interesting to me because I love studying history and cultures.

Many console players don't understand this style of gameplay because they get instant results most of the time so they question why anyone would spend hours only to get minimal results.
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#3 May 13 2017 at 2:05 PM Rating: Excellent
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I think it is because overall EQ is a well designed world, immersive and challenging... so we forgive the faults such as sadistic spawn design. Many things in the game actually feel like accomplishments, and when you find like-minded players (even if only for a PuG) there are few things like it.

Personally, I am a firm believer that "ability to defeat the encounter" should be the limiter on getting an epic piece, not a heinous time sink --especially ones just involving wait times. If the devs want to build in timers on quests so that you have to wait 3 days to get the next task... I am fine with that, as I would wait my 3 days and then be able to continue. It would be fine if the fastest completion of a quest was 30 days, or 60 days or whatever... as long as that schedule cannot be delayed by others.

If the devs want to implement side quest alternates that let you force a spawn, I think that is good design. It was pretty dumb (in my mind) when I was blocked for weeks doing my necro's 1.0 as a waaay higher level because things were permafarmed or super tedious to actually get to spawn.
#4 May 14 2017 at 12:12 PM Rating: Excellent
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I'm not entirely sure what motivates new players to play EQ. I keep playing because of nostalgia, great memories and the fact that it's easier for me to go back to a game I know that to invest the time to learn something new. The timesink element had its downsides but for epic quests they enhanced the intense sense of accomplishment (Pavlonian response!) whenever you got a key step completed. The wacky thing was how the designers made some epics so much easier than others. Rogue epic was notoriously easy; druid epic could be mostly solo'd or at worst one-grouped (or a small raid of friends) until the final fight with Faydedar which was a pain since you had to get a guild raid force to travel all the way to the hidden island in Timorous Deep. But since the cleric epic passed thru that island as well, and every guild would support their clerics getting epics, the druids could get them done as "accessories."

Constructing epics that had bottlenecks like Phinigel in Kedge, a required kill in a difficult underwater zone for 4 different classes.... well, that showed poor design or intentional sadism on the part of the devs, lol.
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#5 May 14 2017 at 3:24 PM Rating: Excellent
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I've done 4 of the epic 1.0 and each of the respective epic request quests in total. Some of the absolutely pointless time sinks I remember, including NPCs despawning after you complete a hand in -preventing anyone else from doing that step for days. That's just bad design. On completion, I definitely felt relief, but not really a sense of accomplishment. I wasn't a server first on these, and I had a Zam walk through every step of the way. Anyone doing the epic 1.0 before there was a walk through must have felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I probably would have just skipped it entirely.

The Epic request quests were a LOT more fun, full of interesting lore and genuinely well written.
#6 May 16 2017 at 6:25 AM Rating: Good
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Sippin wrote:

Constructing epics that had bottlenecks like Phinigel in Kedge, a required kill in a difficult underwater zone for 4 different classes.... well, that showed poor design or intentional sadism on the part of the devs, lol.


Actually if I recall it was an incentive to get a raid together. Back when it actually needed a raid , one class asking for a raid could be met with a lack of enthusiasm where several classes might actually make it happen. I suppose it depended on the guild [:smile]

I agree with the OP about the timesinks though. Its one reason why I gave up on epics last time round. Its not actually that much fun killing a PH every 30 mins for 12 hours straight waiting for a mob to pop. At least nowadays the competition is less so you don't suffer the horrendous KSing etc that went on.

On balance though, in today's EQ, I'd rather have a boring encounter that I could solo than one that needed a full raid that I have no chance of raising.

I think the "sadistic design" came in with the sudden death nature of some of the quests. "Fail this mob and you go back to square one" is not a mechanic that belongs in a game. Go back to the previous stage and repeat it is fine but lose everything?


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#7 May 16 2017 at 7:15 AM Rating: Excellent
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1. I like to grind. The game is a fun zerg from 1 to 60. I make a lot of toons to level to 60.

2. I like the pace of the game. Combat in games like WoW is way too fast for my 40's self.

3. I have an awesome copper dslam internet. I run at a blazing 1mb download Smiley: eek
At times my ping gets close to 500ms with some DC's. EQ updates are small. Newer games hit you with 12 gig updates etc.
#8 May 16 2017 at 11:14 AM Rating: Excellent
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Y'know, bottom line too is that nobody forces anybody to do an epic quest... or really anything in the game. Maybe that's one of the elements which draws players. The game is very non-linear in the sense that you can go anywhere, do pretty much anything, and tackle the game for any of the content you prefer. Many times I've just goofed around exploring zones and not made any effort to "gain" anything, at least in terms of loot or experience. I always marvel at how I've been able to find new areas in zones that go way back which I've been in many times before. Often it's because when I was in the zone back when it provided experience I played too cautiously, avoiding exploring beyond what I needed, because of the danger of grim death awaiting me! Now, at level 105, I can wander thru old zones with impunity, but oftentimes discovering new areas which I have never seen before. I marvel at all these zone areas and NPCs which sit there untouched, waiting seemingly forever for a wandering adventurer to pass by. THIS is cool and gives you a true sense of wonder and adventure, as opposed to the treadmill approach of a lot of games. The worst in my recent experience, which is albeit very limited, was Age of Conan where literally you were on a treadmill with every zone limiting most of your movement to corridors with "invisible walls" keeping you on the designated path. Sure, EQ has zone walls of necessity but many zones, especially the outdoor zones, give you a sense of endlessness. The Karanas come to mind... it can be fun just to wander those zones and see what you can stumble across.
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Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#9 May 22 2017 at 6:28 PM Rating: Excellent
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I have tried about 10 or so other MMORPGs... I always come back to EQ. I prefer EQ over all other MOs i have played. Have i said I like EQ yet ?
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#10 May 26 2017 at 2:29 PM Rating: Good
I've said this a few times over the years, nothing spells an active game like new epics. I've obtained my 2.0 years before my 1.0 (Paladin) only because every time I peeked the PHs were ... camped. I eventually gave up, till the alt1.0, or was it 1.5 came out, so that I could skip it; but what real paladin skips their 1.0?! Thats right, i looted them off the old world dragons myself!
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