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The Game Archaeologist reminisces with EQMac vets
I can hear you right now: "What, another week on EverQuest Mac? There's, like, six people who play that! Move on to Neocron already!" Oh, be patient my lovelies. I know that the whole EQMac termination/salvation thing is so yesterday's news, particularly with SOE embroiled in a completely different community fiasco last week, but I had one last thing to share with you. You see, a month ago when I heard that EQMac was going to be shut down, I put out some feelers for any players who might want to share their side of the story. Apparently, this small community is downright fanatical about this game and deluged my inbox with stories and pleas. While it seems like the crisis has passed for these players, I still want to share some of these testimonies with you because that's what this column is about. So indulge me with one last week of EQMac discussion before we shift our attention elsewhere. If you're curious why players in 2012 would deliberately choose to game on an archaic server with extremely old-school rules, then the answer awaits you after the jump. And if you'd like to try out this completely free version of EverQuest, then head over to the EQMac.com forums for step-by-step instructions.
The Game Archaeologist mourns the end of EQMac
In 2003, Sony Online Entertainment tried an experiment to reach out to the (then) small-but-growing community of Mac users. The company released EverQuest Macintosh Edition -- quickly abbreviated to EQMac -- which incorporated the core game and the first four expansions of EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, The Scars of Velious, The Shadows of Luclin, and The Planes of Power. Because EQMac was a separate version of the game, SOE segregated Apple players on their own server called Al'Kabor and then, for all intents and purposes, abandoned them as the "real" EverQuest continued to expand and advance. While the population didn't exactly explode, especially as the progression of time rendered EQMac stuck in a type of video game amber, a singular community of dedicated, helpful players formed, and they became proud of their hardcore home. According to many of them, EQMac was the way EverQuest was always meant to be played, frozen in time at the release of one of the game's best expansions. It was a mark of pride to say that you played on Al'Kabor, especially now as massive AAA MMOs dwarf the original EQ -- to say nothing of this odd EQ spinoff. Yet, as SOE posted, "all good things must end," and with the news that EverQuest is being prepped for free-to-play, EQMac players learned that they would not be joining the rest. Unless higher powers intervene, on March 29th, Al'Kabor will be turned off for good. As such, I felt this was a good time to look briefly at the history of this unique title and the testimonies of its passionate fans.
The Perfect Ten: Non-vanilla server rulesets
I've always thought that rulesets are a golden opportunity for MMO developers to get creative with their products and try something fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, most every MMO these days, new and old, adheres to the four "vanilla" rulesets that have been in place since Pong. You have your default PvE, your same-as-PvE-except-we-have-a-naming-policy PvE-RP, and the two player vs. player variants: PvP and PvP-RP. Those are all well and good, but... y'know... couldn't rulesets be used to create fascinating variations on these games? It turns out that yes, yes they can. While the vanilla rulesets are the vast majority, there does exist a group of fringe rulesets that dared to walk the different patch, er, path and made versions of MMOs that are a bold and refreshing flavor. Like blue! Sometimes these new rulesets were whipped up to inject new life into an aging title, giving players a valid reason to come back and see the game from a different perspective. In this week's Perfect Ten, we're going to check out just how wild 'n' wacky server rulesets can get!
The Game Archaeologist and the NeverEnding Quest: A cozy chit-chat with Thom Terrazas
Welcome back to the Game Archaeologist's third week of our EverQuest expedition! So, OK, we lost a few valued members of our team crossing the wilds of Norrath, but who would ever think that 10 rats could be so vicious when out for vengeance? It comes with the territory, and really, it's well worth the loss of human life if we can educate just one soul on one of the most influential MMOs of all time. Their mothers will understand their sacrifice. We've already taken a look at the highlights of EverQuest and the perspectives of several veterans of the game, which means this week we must be gearing up for an inside look into the machinations of grinding, hell levels, alternative advancement and DKP. For this, we struggled through the Swamp of Sony to find the ramshackle hut of Thom Terrazas -- and he was expecting us. A fight ensued, with many a chicken flung in anger, not to mention a few pokes in the eye, Three Stooges-style. But in the end, Terrazas capitulated and told us everything we wanted to know. Thom Terrazas almost has all his SOE merit badges, having worked on Planetside, Vanguard and now EverQuest in various roles. I was curious -- what was it like to be handed the keys to not just a game, but a veritable institution? Hit the jump to see what Terrazas has to say about his favorite memories, the future of the game, and why EQ hit it out of the park in 1999.
The Game Archaeologist and the NeverEnding Quest: The vets
We just had to start 2011 in style, didn't we? I knew that by invoking the sacred name of EverQuest, I'd be opening the door for thousands of collective years' worth of memories, opinions, frustrations, nostalgia, gushing and blocky screenshots. But the Game Archaeologist fears not even the greatest mountain in MMO legend; it had to be climbed sooner or later. And of course, who better to guide you up the mountain than a few EQ Sherpas who know the way? Sure, they might try to steal the idol and not throw me the whip in the end, but that was a very real risk I was willing to take to get the full story. So today I'd like to introduce you to three EverQuest veterans who are all now world-famous bloggers. If you sense a connection between these two facts, I will only hint at the possibility of a secret society in SOE's headquarters that bestows great blessings upon its faithful fans. Hit the jump to meet this EQ trio and hear what they had to say about the MMO that profoundly affected their playing careers!
EQ's Fabled Planes of Power Lore explores the Tower of Solusek Ro
EverQuest's Fabled season really heats up with a scorching visit to the lair of the Prince of Flame himself, His Royal Hotness, Solusek Ro. (Oh, sorry for those puns. I'm so, so sorry). That carefully tousled hair; those bishonen features... You might find him laying waste to Tunaria, or directing the construction of another temple to his fiery father in the Plane of Fire, but he often stays at the very top of his tower he constructed on an island in Doomfire itself. SOE has the story on the Particolor Prince, the minions that guard the instruments of his power, and the tower that houses them all in their latest installment of the Lore of the Fabled Planes of Power.
EQ Lore: The Bastion of Thunder
EverQuest's annual Fabled event has more than enough power to replace the creatures of days of yore with more powerful versions of themselves (and loot ready for present-day challenges as well!). The Fabled power is bringing old players back to the fold in record numbers to relive old and loved raids. While exploring the Fabled Planes of Power last night, we saw people gathering for Fabled Saryrn and Vex Thal raids, and several groups were making their ways up the towers of the Bastion of Thunder to take on these newly empowered foes.SOE continues with their weekly retelling of the lore of the Planes of Power with the skinny on every wing and tower boss. All the way through the Bastion of Thunder, from Askr to Agnarr himself -- the living manifestation of Karana's anger. When you meet Agnarr and kill him, remember -- Karana will thank you for it.
Fabled Planes of Power lore part 12: The Crypt of Decay
Once a year, on the anniversary of EverQuest's launch, the gods and monsters long past their prime are given new vigor and power and are reborn as Fabled versions of themselves. For one month only, they are powerful enough to challenge even the greatest of guilds, and drop much more powerful versions of their old treasure. This year, SOE en-fables (mmm is that a word?) the Planes of Power. All the old gods, defeated and forgotten, are back with renewed strength, from the Queen of Nightmares, Terris Thule, who has no mouth and cannot scream; to the four-headed dragon that guards the fabric of reality itself, Quarm.Along with the Fabled critters themselves, SOE is publishing the stories of how they came to be. This week: how the minions of Bertoxxulous came to find themselves in the the pestilent Crypt of Decay. Come back each week as SOE reveals the lore behind each zone until the reawakening of the Plane of Time itself.
Could Planes of Power be the next EverQuest II expansion?
The Ancient Gaming Noob is a great title for a blog. Even better: the blog offers insightful and intelligent commentary on Massively Multiplayer games. In fact, about a year ago Wilhelm (the blog's author) prognosticated the Kunark setting for the next EverQuest II expansion. When he stepped up to the plate with another guess earlier this week, I couldn't help but pay attention.Wilhelm figures that Sony Online Entertainment is going to be dipping back into the EverQuest lore, but with a twist this time. Instead of more terrestrial real-estate, he imagines they're going to look to the heavens for inspiration. In essence: a revisit to the Planes of Power. His logic is great, and his argument is fairly persuasive. It hinges on what high-end players want most: Raids. Progression. Equipment. All of those in enough measure to keep the high end guilds busy for a long time. Perhaps all of these aspects in enough measure for some EverQuest guilds to take a serious second look at EverQuest II. While I expect that the basics of the new planes will be the similar to how the exist currently in EverQuest, which is to say instanced versus wide open, there will have to be changes. The gods will no doubt have revised their defenses. Of course, they won't go overboard, as you can only have 24 people on an EverQuest II raid, unless they chose to change that as well. For the rest of us, he predicts a new Beastmaster-style class that draws a lot of elements from the Hunter in World of Warcraft, as well as new AA options. To me, it sounds totally reasonable. Are we looking at new planes? Perhaps zones somewhere on the shards of Luclin? Certainly they wouldn't pull Velious out of the closet? What do you think?
