by Jeff Woleslagle on Mar 16, 2009
Welcome to the 1,036th Edition of Loading...
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The Pulse
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?). Ten Ton Hammer says happy birthday to EverQuest in our own way, as the Norrath we all knew and loved makes a rare visit to the top ten.
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results for today:
World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 EverQuest (UP 2) Age of Conan Warhammer Online (down 2)Biggest Movers in the Top 20 this week :
Wizard 101 (UP 9 to #13) Stargate Worlds (UP 6 to #19) Jumpgate Evolution (UP 3 to #12)Loading... Daily
Loading... yelling "train to zone!" since 1999. Nevermind which zone.
It's hard to believe that EverQuest was first lauched 10 years ago today, and even after a record fifteen retail expansions and too many changes to the game for even wikipedia to list, SOE President John Smedley insists that EQ "is still going very strong. It's still one of the mainstays of our revenue. I don't give out numbers, but it's still very profitable for us."
For those of you who cut your MMO teeth on WoW or something more recent than EQ, it's hard to explain its influence or impact on gamers in particular or the industry as a whole. Cody's Ten Years of EverQuest Memories article is a good place to start. Whether it was the forced downtime, necessity of camping named spawns (no instancing until Lost Dungeons of Norrath), or the sheer time travel or just about everything you wanted to do would take, EQ was easily the most immersive (addicting? EverCrack? NeverRest?) MMO of its time. In every sense (and with apologies to the much more nichey, PvP driven UO), it was the WoW of '99 and the early aughts.
EverQuest wasn't the first graphical MMORPG (that honor belongs to Meridian 59, launched September 2006) nor was it the first MMO to have truly massive appeal (Ultima Online, launched September 1997). Nonetheless, EverQuest was the formula for the MMORPG everyone wanted to play. Verant began a cycle of innovation that ultimately (and arguably) found its perfection in World of Warcraft. If there hadn't been an EQ, it's very doubtful that we would have seen half the MMORPGs since EQ or even WoW, given Blizzard's skiddishness about innovating on core gameplay.
And unlike WoW, EQ didn't just assimilate the diku MUD and previous MMO efforts, EQ innovated as well. The most obvious example is the raid concept (with Scars of Velious), thought alternate advancement (AAs - the predecessor of the "talent tree") is another example of innovation as well. EQ did its fair share of WoW-style assimilation too - the instancing and slotted items ot Lost Dungeons of Norrath were "stolen" from Anarchy Online and Diablo respectively - but on the whole MMO gamers of all stripes owe EQ a ton of gratitude for its many successes and failures.
Folks have been sharing their EQ memories all week long here, and I figured I might spur a few of you to join in with a few of my own recollections. I still remember my very first night of EverQuest. The year was 1999 and I had a college roommate that was nothing short of obsessed with the game, having played it since Beta 2. I vowed I wouldn't get sucked in - I was pulling 21 credits and working a good 25 hours a week at the time, so free time was for sleeping - but after my last final, after packing everything but my computer and a change of clothes to travel home the next morning, I spent a marathon twelve hour session in EQ.
I picked Wood Elf and fell off of Kelethin twice that I can remember, but by dawn I was forging my way into Crushbone and knew how to navigate the trees to get to the fletcher, trainer, inn, and bank. When chatting with my very first groupmate ever, I hit [A] without typing /g and got one-shotted by the trainer I'd been so amicably completing quests for a moment before. I explored Felwithe and conned the surly high elves, wondered at the Wizard Spires, and still catch myself whistling the harping, infectious theme of the zone. It was the first of many magical nights in a whole new world that I came to with minimal expectations and was amply rewarded with simple amazement at every turn.
Share your memories of EQ, then comment about EQ's effect on MMO gaming. The Loading... forum is all yours or feel free to email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of4 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 58 in March! 318 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Community
geeked: They Are EverywhereFeatures
Building on Success: The Growth of Atlantica OnlineGuides
Warhammer Online: Choppa Class Guide Warhammer Online: Slayer Class GuideHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
geeked: They Are Everywhere Building on Success: The Growth of Atlantica Online Remembering EverQuest: Ten Years of Memories Loading... Live #8 - EVE Online: Apocrypha Dev Chat Vooncast Goob & Begud: "Dirty Work" The Struggle for Acceptance - Is Faction Grinding Necessary? The Comic Book Guy: Watching the Watchmen MMOG Wizard 101: Tops 1 Million - a Q&A with J. Todd Coleman DOMO Review: Through the Looking Glass, Indeed geeked: "Chuck Norris Has No Equal"Real World News
Two Women Killed in Ax AttackThanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team