Why would someone want to restart from scratch on the EverQuest progression servers?
To be challenged, and to compete. Current content is so hard and tedious and it breaks people. Being the first to gear up and take down Vox and Nagafen – I predict both will be dead within a month – is something achievable and significant.
Whereas with current expansions, we could complete Prophecy of Ro tomorrow and nobody would know or care. Now, if we were in a race against three other guilds to be the first to kill Lord Nagafen with bronze armor, fine steel weapons and +5 fire resist rings… wouldn’t that be exciting? Was nobody ever envious of the uberguilds who swept in, coordinating their raid over /ooc, and took on dragons while you were camping LDCs and the stone spider? Wished you were taking on Trakanon instead of sitting the the zone-in to Old Sebilis, looking for a group?
Guilds mattered then, and the players were heroes. I can’t even name anyone in another guild now. Everyone is a faceless nobody. The time when heroes strode into the bank in the outpost in Firiona Vie wearing the latest Veeshan’s Peak gear is past. Now guilds work in secret and nothing they do matters to anyone else.
The progression servers make a simple promise – to bring the heroes back, and to let you be a hero, if you’re good enough, if you’re up to the challenge.
I know all this because I did this, on Stromm. I took up that challenge and learned how to play a raid cleric in newbie quest gear. I fuggin WOKE THE SLEEPER. Fourteen of us. AND WE WERE HATED BY ALL OF STROMM FOR IT! NEVER before and never since have I had the rush of being on the cutting edge, giving my total dedication to the goal of being the best and making my guild the best. Camping Thurg B for that crappy green armor so our tanks could tank the lowest raid mobs. Sweating bullets trying to keep my group alive in BoT without clarity of any sort, in Kael armor. Being thrilled one day in Plane of Growth when I replaced the last piece of my level 1 newbie armor, my arms. For some reason I just couldn’t get any arm armor with +wis until that day. I was within the first few of clerics on the ENTIRE SERVER with my epic 1.0, and when I walked through PoK with it, people stared, and sent tells congratulating me.
There’s lots of reasons to try the progression server. Those who can be that hardcore and have that dedication will have the best ride of their gaming lives.
Worried about all the old drama issues of the past?
Cockblocking, training, harrassment, guild wars, etc. were what made early EQ fun. Competing against other real people for the spawn is fun. The Erollisi Marr boards, and all sense of place and hierarchy in the server, died when the heavily instanced Gates of Discord came out. While we were still doing Planes of Power, we had to race guilds, negotiate with them, we knew each others progressions to the hour, and all that because it mattered. There was life to the server. Now it’s just on a long death spiral.
Sure, the progression servers will hit the wall in a year or two. And for the casual players, they will be far worse than current live servers. But getting to that point will be like the first five years of EQ on speed.
I don’t plan on seriously playing the new progression servers. I am having a blast on EQ2 playing casually. But if I were unemployed and hardcore once again, my EQ1 guild, Crimson Eternity, probably wouldn’t see me for a year. EQ now is so lifeless. I only play now because I miss everyone there so much when I’m elsewhere.
3 thoughts on “EQ1 Progression Servers”
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EQ2 and WoW and even DAoC have never struck me as games you could be serious about. Compared to the original EQ, they're lightweight. Lots of people feel the same way; have tried other games, but return to EQ1 because all the other games are too easy. These players, like me, look to Vanguard to be the game that truly rewards dedication and teamwork. These same people are the ones that crowded the progression servers last night with thousands of people.
heh yeah what silver said… it's why I'm playing for the moment
Why play on the progression servers?
– To fall off the platforms of Kelethin
– To /shout "How do I get out of the city" in Ak'Anon
– To train Ambassador D'vinn to the Crushbone zone line
– To /auction "Selling bag of bronze at T1" in ECom
Essentially for nostalgia. After that? Back to EQ2 🙂