EverQuest: Steamfont receives a makeover
Now, normally I'd scorn a game company upgrading a "likely not used much these days zone," except for the fact that Steamfont is one of the few EverQuest zones I have sentimantal attachment to. This isn't hyperbole: if it wasn't for Steamfont, I would have quit EQ. You see, the first newbie zone I tried was Greater Faydark, and the combination of falling to death from the heights of Kelethin to loosing my corpse in the dark areas, Gfay was an all-around unpleasant newbie experience. Determined to give the game an honest try — just convincing my wife to let my try a subscription-based game was a challenge; I couldn't just quit — I rolled Gnome Necro and stepped into Steamfont.
What a difference. I could see! With locate corpse, I could even find my body! The zone wasn't completely filled with morons and I even met quite a few nice people adventuring there (something of a rarity in newbie zones). Best of all, Steamfont had identifiable landmarks like the windmills, gears , and a dragon skeleton. Gfay had lifts. Three of them. Having to zone into Ak'Anon to train was a pain, but significantly better than getting lost in Kelethin.
Looking at the screenshots for the revamp was a fun trip down memory lane to that period when the game was fun, and I was untainted by hell levels, long, painful corpse runs, and spending three days getting back XP I lost in three seconds. Ah, the good old days.
What about you? What do you think about SOE redoing the old newbie zones, and what zones do you have an attachment to you'd want to see revamped?