Any Mmo Gamers Out There?, Share/discuss your greatest memories. Options

[Kell-Reevor]

Good day everyone, I was just wondering about how many of you have played any MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games). From the free online games, to the monthly subscription games. If so, do you have any memorable moments you would like to share?

As for myself, I have been drifting for several years now. From Everquest, Everquest2, Planetside, Ultima Online, and Horizons.

Possibly the best memories I have are from "the good old days" of EQ. Their fist expansion, "The Ruins of Kunark" had just come out, and it was the place to be. All over the original three continents you would see people auctioning "Kunark Weapons" to their fellow players. These weapons were often no better than the junk you could get from merchants or monsters, but they looked cool.

And in those days... even that so called "junk" was still worth buying to some people. In these days of epic 2.0 weapons and "Ub3r Ph4t l3wts" people often forget the age when a suit of bronze armor and a fine steel longsword made you one of the "l33t."

With all of this attention to Kunark, I decided to make it my next stop. Being a human ranger at the time, I was more than skilled at getting around. I hoofed it to my first destination, a desert city known as Freeport. From there I would board a ship to the continent of Faydwer to board my next ship.

Now, any EQ player nowadays can tell you there are no ships. What they mean is... there are no LONGER ANY ships. Due to issues, the ships were removed and replaced by little teleporting gnomes that provided instantaneous transport across the ocean. To me, this killed some of the immersion.

However, ships still existed at this point, so I did what anyone in my situation would do... I pulled out a fishing pole and worked on my fishing skill. In a short time, the ship arrived. During my wait, four others had arrived to wait for passage across the ocean as well. They were all close to my level (high teens) and invited me to join them for some leveling in Lake of Ill Omen... a zone on Kunark that was fit for my level. I agreed, and then we were off across the Ocean of Tears.

I have taken this ship ride many times. Each time I was awed by the mysterious islands jutted throughout the lengthy zone. I heard there were many high level mobs here that would be more than happy to destroy passing travelers... and sometimes the ship would get too close to these monsters...

Regardless, I stood on deck and watched the passing scenery. As I stated before, I had taken this ship to Faydwer many times and have never been attacked. This time was no exception.

The group I had joined was a very friendly bunch. We chatted about past adventures (we were all still relatively new to the game, yet we had still accumulated enough experiences to more than last the trip). Upon reaching the docks, the group jumped from the ship and directed me to a series of four small raftlike vessels. I remember asking if they were the boats to Kunark, and all I remember was a laugh from the dwarven cleric, followed by a "you'll see."

During this wait, I pulled out my trusty fishing pole and went back to my usual activities. The afore mentioned dwarf, along with our main tank, a human warrior, started chugging down mead. The chat window was spammed with it. When they couldn't possibly become more intoxicated, they would start taking bare-handed swings, doing only 1 or 2 damage when they actually landed a hit (this was the Vallon Zek server, a plaver vs. player teams server). It was good entertainment, and a good way to pass the time as we waited for the boats to move.

I had run out of bait by the time the little boats finally began to move. We passed through the zoneline, and all I could remember seeing was water. Lots and lots of water. There we were, five low level adventurers standing atop four crappy little boats stranded in the middle of a place known as "The Timourous Deep." The boats once again jerked ahead... just as the dwarf finished zoning. He fell into the water, and my first thoughts were "crap, there goes our cleric." The group leader simply laughed and told him to "ride the rudder."

As I contemplated the meaning of this, something began to materialize through the clipping plane. Something BIG. It was ship, THE ship that would take us the rest of the trip. I had never seen anything so massive in any zone, let alone as a ship. The cleric swam to it and jumped onto the back, at the only place anyone can rest upon after falling into the water.

As the ship carried us across the sea, I was racing up and down the halls of "The Maiden's Voyage." With in the ship were small rooms, large rooms, and rooms that were obviously meant to be taverns. The five of us were the only ones on board at the time, but in my mind I pictured an entire guild below deck in one of these rooms planning out and discussing a raid. The whole experience was mesmerizing.

With a sudden question from the group leader, I abandoned my day dreaming. He had asked if I knew anthing about the trip to LoIO. I told him this I didn't and he began to explain it. To get there we needed to follow a small river through a forest crawling with spiders. BIG spiders. Their poison alone could kill a player my level in mere seconds. On top of that, they were druids and rangers. Which meant they can cast snares, buffs upon themselves, dots (damage over time) nukes (instant damage) and can root. To make things even worse (if they could be) the sun had set during the ride. We would need to pass these things on foot.

Needless to say, once we passed the next zoneline my eyes were on the forest he had spoke of. As the ship sailed by, I gazed blankly into the rustling branches. All I saw past them was blackness, and I doubt I can describe what I was feeling at that moment.

After spending time awing at the outpost of which we arrived, the group decided it was time to move ahead. With no speed buffs, we approached the afore mentioned forest. I was on edge the whole time, yet I never saw the spiders he had spoken of. Relieved, we finally reached LoIO. We trecked across the zone to a structure nicknamed "The Mill." It appeared to be a windmill of sorts, only the "blades" weren't position vertically around it, but rather horizontally, like a wheel resting on it's back. On the end of these arms were stone arcane symbols, that would spin only slightly as the arms circled about. We spent many hours here leveling.

I had continued to come to this zone for a long time. From the high teens to low thirties. I had lots of experiences both good and bad here. The zone was packed, and the chat window was always filled with shouts and out of character messages. There was always several groups going, and plenty of fun to be had.

Only recently did I return to the game. I was well above the level to be in LoIO, but I returned to see what had become of this once great zone. This trip, like all but the first, I encountered the spiders. They were no longer a threat to me, and I simply ignored them. Reaching the zoneline, I found the place abandoned. The chat window was empty, no people mouthing off, no people chatting with their friends, no people auctioning wares they had recently acquired, no dings or grats or woots. Just emptiness.

I returned to the mill. The awestruck feeling I once had had died off long ago. Only now, that I was it empty, did I once again realize the greatness of this structure, where up to three groups once gathered. I wondered if anyone who had once been here for exp, and was now off planar raiding for their precious "l3wt", ever took the time to appluad the devs for creating such a thing.

Wandering along the coast, I came upon a place known as "the pillars." A series of pillars from an ancient ruined city that jutted from the water near the shore. It was no uncommon to see several groups here as well. Now, only a lone npc kept a solemn watch over the still waters of the lake.

It was a sad thing, realizing I could go back to "the good old days". The days when you started off with a rusty sword, a torn tunic, and well wishes. Everything had meaning back then, rather than a means to reach the level cap and raid ceaselessly.

The game I once knew was gone forever.

Just thought I'd share that with you. If anyone else has any in game experiences to share, please do.

[Kell-Reevor]

Sounds like one hell of a day Red. MMOFPS are great if people actually work together.

I remember some good times from an MMOFPS I used to play... PlanetSide. My first team was the New Conglomerate, and my first battle dropped me from the HART shuttle into a hot spot on a Terran Republic controlled continent.

I remember I was listening to Dead Souls by Nine Inch Nails as the shuttle took off. By the time I reached the fight, the music had picked up. Listening to that as the drop pod zoomed through the atmosphere into a mess of bullets, explosions, vehicles, aircraft, and even BFRs... well lets just say it was intense.

There would be medics running from position to position keeping the soldiers healed up, and engineers who would charge into the nastiest of the combat to get to a tank or BFR that needed repairs. Any of the infantry that stopped moving (medics and engineers not excluded) would be picked off by a sniper. I hid behind a rock with a handful of others with my trusty gauss and shot anthing that lit up with a red name. When I was out of ammo, I braved the firefight to the nearest Advanced Mobile Station to re equip myself.

It was glorious.

That was my first day in PS, and unfortunatley it was the most hardcore battle I ever participated in. After that all I would see were squads of infantry coupled with a few aircraft mindlessly zerging bases into submission.

For the rest of my PS career, I chose to have the engineering certificate, and later the medic certificate. Not to keep my own butt glued together, but to be one of those crazy SOBs that run into any fight, no matter the dangers, to keep your comrads going.

This post has been edited by Kell-Reevor: Feb 20 2006, 01:41 AM