Everquest Memories

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Plane of Hate!

This was one of the original 3 planes; including Plane of Fear and the lesser travelled Plane of Air.  The Plane of Hate was ruled by Innoruuk, the deity for Dark Elves.  Of course, as a Dark Elf, this was kind of a weird deal but the makers of EQ were nice enough to put Inny on his own faction that was totally separate from Neriak.

It had a very tricky break-in, much like Plane of Fear.  Everyone would zone in invisible and then mosey on over to a wall and sit half-way up.  Many guilds, like mine, had a 'break-in group', that would go in first.  Basically these were the people who knew what they were doing and could soften up the zone-in area for the rest of the guild.  Sometimes it would fail and you'd need a backup break-in group (see also: corpse rescue group) to go in after them.  

Planar armor was the main draw for Planes of Hate, Fear and Air.  It was a real accomplishment to have an entire suit of armor.  I remember when I'd gotten my full set of cleric armor... even though I had individual items that were better (this was before set bonuses), when I was travelling I would always wear the full purple suit.  

I'll tell you what... there was no more über item in the game to me as a slow, slow cleric than the Journeyman's Boots... or jboots, as most people called them.  Travel was no trivial thing in EQ, and if you weren't a porting class or a class that could cast Spirit of Wolf, (SoW), then an item where you could cast a SoW on yourself was downright godly.  The quest though, was a kind of a pain in the butt--and a bit of a cruel joke.  The drops for the quest (ancient ring and shadowed rapier) were annoying enough, especially in the case of the ring, but the turn in was the worst.  The speedy (SoW'd) little quest NPC requires 3,250 gold pieces.  Not platinum... gold!  So there you are in Rathe Mountains, encumbered, and chasing around a little gnome.  Well played Sony, well played...

The East Commonlands Tunnel trading!  Do not adjust your screens... that is the max resolution of that screenshot! Hard to believe we used to be wow'ed (no pun intended) by the graphics, but there it is!  I can remember, long before there was an auction house, players created their own economic hub.  EC tunnel was a place where you could go and trade, and it didn't matter if you were good or evil.  Players would often wear the gear they were trying to sell, since back then gear was readily identifiable by its appearance (not a ton of shared textures).

"Selling everything on me at torch 2!" (your server's verbiage may have differed)

Apart from the occasional gryphon, it was a safe place to AFK.  Well, safe is a relative term.  If you were a buyer or seller, there were plenty of things to be wary of.  Some players would try to sneak in between two people who were obviously doing business to intercept the trade.  If you weren't careful, you might accidentally trade to the wrong person!  Some players would just roam around, looking for that telltale little bag on the ground, indicating someone had dropped something.  If one was mean spirited, one might even be inclined to drop thousands of copper pieces onto the ground, and watch a newbie pick it up... only to be unable to move because they are so encumbered!

Was there a worse camp in the game than Stormfeather?  I am embarrassed to even say how long I camped this (taking turns with my significant other).  I was awoken from my slumber to the sound of Stormfeather clawing my face off (I turned the volume up to max).  The results were definitely worth it though!  At the time, a clickable self-haste was a very rare thing.  This camp was fought over and probably made some people quit the game.

Ah, camps!  There were newbie camps, like East Commons orcs and high level camps like the pictured Sebilis.  What was the first thing we did when zoning in with a group? 

"Camp Check!"

BBBAAARRRKKK!!!!! You humans will pay for ruining our homeland!  GRRRRR!!  Family Darkpaw of the Sabretooth Clan will slay you all!  BARK!

Remember Blackburrow trains?  For Half-Elves and Humans they were the first indoctrination into how aggro transferred and how one misplaced shot or one bad pull could be disastrous.  I remember zoning in one time to a pile of corpses and a massive train just then leaving the zone out.  I backed away slowly and back into Qeynos Hills!

I'll go first.  After resisting for months, I finally relented and joined my friend in EQ.  I chose to make a High Elf Wizard.  Starting off in Felwithe, I somehow made my way to the front gate.  After learning how to /tell my friend, she told me to just wait there and try and kill some rats while she made her way over from God knows where (a high level druid--basically God for a new player... SoW and Skin Like Nature!). 

I started out with rats, using my little dagger, and nearly died a few times.  Once, I journeyed out just beyond the light cast from the torches at the gate and saw the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen in a game (I was 22 years old, btw) -- a skeleton!  It had glowing eyes!  I freaked out and ran back to the guards.  They said something like "Not in my town! and proceeded to obliterate the level 2 skeleton.  The guards went back to their station and I thanked them.

Really.  I thanked them.

I thought they were actual players that had volunteered to perform guard duty and protect the newbies.  I asked them how long they'd been playing and where they were from.  My friend thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.  I never lived it down.

I later learned to use this to my advantage and pretend to talk to NPCs at the druid circle for a port.  Higher level druids would take pity on me and do it for free.