Everquesting Progressivly

The progressive servers, Combine and Sleeper, have been up for exactly one week. The world of Norrath has come alive in a way that surprised even SOE, I'm sure! Who would have thought that 500 people would be running thru GFay in search of illusive mobs needed to begin the progressive march?

But, that's exactly what happened!

When SoE announced that they were going to open the "classic" server, people started buzzing in guildchats and on boards. Phones started ringing to old friends who had long since quit. "Old" Norrath was coming back!!

I popped online only seconds after the server came up. Between the buzz and the reality, SoE found such an overwhelming response that they readied a second server, Sleeper, to take the overflow. Well, I'm not sure "overflow" is quite the way to put it! If there were 500 elves running thru GFay, and all newbie zones were reportedly at capacity, and if Sleeper was reporting 850 elves...this has really got to make you stop and think!

Granted, a week into this and the numbers have dropped off a a bit, but not that much. Consider that there are, on an average, 230 people in GFay now, and we have people who are over level 30 now (sad, isn't it!?) who are trying hard to "beat the game" once again. Point being, if you have more people spread out to higher zones, you still have a LOT of people on that server! And, we are lucky enough...*choke*...to have Fires of Heaven on Combine, too. Added to that about 2 other guilds with the same mentality, and the race is on.

What is it that people love about this revival?

Two things seem to be the biggest draw: Old friends returning and everyone on a level playing field. Druids, once again, making their mark and being needed. Wizzies holding their own in combat, even at young ages, and feeling good about it! Enchanters doing crowd control and loving their job, and people loving them for it. Shadow Knight trolls being the intimidators and bards running all over (and there are a BUNCH of them!) with drums, aggroing guards with their first AoE songs (and wondering, "WHY DID I DIE???" newbs!) and bringing back nostalgia to a world that had lost that lovin' feeling!

And, you know what? I'm hearing seasoned EQ vets running thru the zones SCREAMING in horror as they get aggro from a still-green mob, who happens to be followed by a bright red Hill_Giant02 that is being joined by Hill_Giant03, and the screams aren't fake! They are seriously scared to death. It's like Shayalyn from TTH said, "...the same rush of trepidation and excitment." Something that has been lacking in MMO's for a LONG time!

Of course, you still have the griefers and just plain idiots, like a certain monk last night in Misty, who runs thru a zone, gathering as many mobs as possible and then bolt for the guards at the gate. When I sent "her" (fat chance) a tell asking her what the hey she was doing, she just said she was taking the mobs to the guards to kill. When I asked her why she would do that, she asked me if I wanted her to die. *sigh* Now, ya have to realize this is an under-20 zone, and at level 10 (me), the mobs she was collecting where blue to me (or btm, as we lovingly say). So, tell me WHY she was worried about dying. So, in my infinate wisdom, I reminded her that she could be reported for zone disruption (there had been multiple people complaining) and there was no need for her to do that. Her response was ohhh, so typical of today's "modern" gamer mentality: "Are you telling me I can't play for the enjoyment I want out of this game???"



Ok, so let's go back to why we're having fun...FUN, do you HEAR ME???

Again, I refer to Shayalyn's article when she said, "...I invested myself in the lore...I undertook an epic quest to earn (key word here!) a powerful weapon...EQ allowed me to be as geeky as I wanted to be..." and that feeling has returned! People are RPing in /ooc and in /say. They are loving the mix of mobs in a zone...nothing grey and a lot of KoS surprises! They are actually excited to find cloth armor on mobs, or bronze, or do tradeskills and make things for each other or to earn money! In short, they are wishing FoH and the other "ubers" would go someplace else to unlock the next expansion so we can have the time to relive the innocence!

If SoE was really smart, they would offer those uber-ites a place to go beat each other up. Some server of their very own that they can race to their heart's content and let the majority of the other (that never seemed to get listened to before) really enjoy what SoE has done. As some say in /shout, "This is the first RIGHT thing SoE has done in years!!"

Hasten the day, Brad McQuaid, when many of these people who have loved Norrath so much can learn about Telon and all it has to offer! Take notes as to why they have flocked back to their roots....YOUR roots and ideas...with abandon. I feel Shay might be correct when, in her wishes and dreams, she has loved Everquest and now seeks Vanguard:Saga of Heroes. I share her thoughts!

Salute!