EQ: Yes, OK, We did it
We had to take it slow in EQ. Mark and I were able to play on Thursday a little, but Mike hasn’t played in three years. Karnor’s Castle seemed a good place as Mark and I were able to work there with a mid 50s Monk and Druid. It would give Mike time to remember how to play his Rogue.
Getting from the Druid drop-off to the castle was a little chaotic - levitate seems to work a little different than before. We got separated vertically. Once inside, and settled, I started pulling. I had Mark harmony one of the fist two guards and pulled the other. Later, while reading a Monk strategy guide, I was reminded that Monks can mez. It took me another half hour to figure out what it was, and find I had it available.
We didn’t enter Karnor’s, working the entrance instead. I didn’t want to push things, so we just ran a cycle of ten re-spawning mobs - nice and easy. No surprises, other than my new Dell computer spontaneously rebooting once. Luckily the mob we were fighting had just turned.
This was the first time we ever played EQ with voice chat. It’s a much slower game than the current MMOs. Plenty of time to text I guess. I miss the mini-map, “where is everybody?” And, the ability to see casters mana bar. I hate having to deal with cash, especially as a Monk. Fighting for melee classes is simplistic - auto attach, hit special when it recycles. Hmm, maybe melee is like that in all MMOs, just with more specials.
I enjoyed the experience in a ‘isn’t this slow and boring’ kind of way. Of course we weren’t pushing the difficulty envelope at all. There is still too much to remember before we start fighting hard. Experience gain, on the Test server, appears to be much faster.