Adventures of a Dwarf Priest

MUDS

My MMO history goes way back, before MMOs as we know them today existed. I played MUDs, or Multi User Dungeons though there definitions of the acronym. This goes back to my High School/College days when I first got the internet. I some how got into MUDs, and I don’t even recall how now. A MUD is just a text based adventure game, kinda like Zork if you remember that one but it was online and other people played on the server with you. Most commonly muds were Diku or CircleMUD but there were lots of different ones, and plenty of completely home made ones. In fact a friend and me even attempted to run one for a while. They are kind of hard to get started because you need to drive people to the game.

Some of my most memorable experience came from playing on a MUD called Deaths Domain. I played there with my friend Darwolf, he played a warrior type and I played a cleric. I was always super into my mana regen, always after more wisdom! He liked life on the edge and the server had an interesting feature for that. You could worship death, in doing so you got perfect stats, but if you died that was it. You were gone for ever. It was very hardcore. This game is where I actually came up with my name, Laneer. It actually comes from a character on Babylon 5, just an alternate spell

Everquest

Some time in 1999 I got word of a graphic MUD. I think during its years of development I had read about it a few times but never paid it much attention. I think I just read some beta talk and got totally excited about it! Then I some how got a hold of the tutorial executable and it like I believe EQ still will downloaded the entire game when you ran it. I was able to play with the tutorial which was like a self contained game. From that point I was hooked, I ordered it when it looked like my package wasn’t going to get to me on opening day I even went and bought a second copy in the store and gave my mailed copy to my friend Darwolf.

I have some amazing memories from EQ as I have mentioned on the blog before. Maybe it is because you don’t forget your first MMO or maybe it was that good My very first character in EQ was a Halfling Druid named Quercus Hairyfoot (because of his big hairy feet). Of course you got a last name when you reached a certain level I can’t recall what it was, I want to say 20 and in the early days a GM actually came to you and gave it to you. I think now it is just a command you run.

My main problem with EQ is would always stop for a month or 2 breaks and get behind everyone I knew, and or start too many new characters. I gave my original account to someone and ended up getting another one at some point. That is when I started Laneer the Magician, and Myer the Bard. It took much longer to level in EQ, and it was pretty much a group game so it was hard on you to have alts. Finally one day I said I have to stop and I deleted my characters and left the game to find something better. Well I never could find anything better.

I joined back for my final time creating Laneer the Necromancer. All the while Inien, the same Inian you see me mention on this site played diligently once character So he had tons of AA, was max level and all that. I never did have a max level character. In fact I don’t think I ever got to 60 and I played the game for 5 years.

On my second coming to EQ I ended up joining Inien’s guild called Shadows of the Ebon Moon. It was a great group of people and the reason I play on Doomhammer sometimes. When my former EQ guild made it to WoW, that is where they made their home. It is a stinky PvE server however

Many MMO’s

I have tried many MMO’s in the pursuit of perfection. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert but I’ve been around the block when it comes to this genre.  I have played a good number of MMOs or at least in their beta’s.  Here is a list in no particular order of what I’ve played.

• Everquest (owned)
• Asheron’s Call 2 (owned)
• Planetside (owned)
• Horizons: Empire of Istaria (beta)
• Everquest 2 (owned)
• Auto Assault (beta)
• City of Heros (beta)
• City of Villians (beta)
• Lord of the Rings Online (beta)
• Vanguard (beta, owned)
• World of Warcraft (beta, owned)
• Eve (owned)
• Dunegeons and Draongs online (beta)
• Guildwars (beta)
• Starwars Galaxies (beta, owned)

Of all the games I’ve played only EQ and WoW ever game me any sort of emotional attachment.  Starwars Galaxies was pretty amazing until they started paying too much attention to the public and ruined their own game.  They have to be the first MMO ever to scrap their entire game engine and replace it with something completely different.  I had great hopes for Vanguard.  The game had some amazing detail but they rushed it to market and it imploded on itself.  Probably less than 15k people play it now and it could have been a great game.  Very engaging combat system, nice graphics and customization and interesting classes.

One of the things I’ve tried to do that I’ve learned from all this is enjoy each day in the game I’m playing now.  Not worry about what new game might be coming.  Also to always make sure I have a Main so I don’t miss out.  That is what Laneer is, I have a lot of characters in WoW but Laneer is my main.  He has done the most, seen everything, has the highest skills, highest factions, and the most money.  I make sure Laneer stays the most powerful character so I will always be able to participate in new content.

I’ve learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work from all the MMO’s I’ve played.  Blizzard does a lot right.  While we all complain about how slow they can be, I’ve seen rushed, you don’t want it.  I’ve also seen what happens when the devs let the game be run by the public, you also don’t want that to happen especially if you have ever read our forums   The good thing here is Blizzard is learning and improving.  Each new patch seems to better satisfies everyone, they figure out what does and doesn’t work and keep refining how they do things. World Of Warcraft has a bright future ahead.

Be Sociable, Share!

•