It wasn't a dungeon for me. I was level 10ish when I decided to make a trip from Neriak to Qeynos. Thats where a bunch of my friends were playing. Anyway on this trip I was running thru Kithicor Forest during the daytime. Well about have way thru it got dark and changed to night time.
Thats when I shit my pants because during the day there are no dangerous mobs that can kill ya. At knight it turns into a high level nightmare of a zone for level 10. I died several times but finally got thru. Never had an experience like that since.
It wasn't a dungeon for me. I was level 10ish when I decided to make a trip from Neriak to Qeynos. Thats where a bunch of my friends were playing. Anyway on this trip I was running thru Kithicor Forest during the daytime. Well about have way thru it got dark and changed to night time.
Thats when I shit my pants because during the day there are no dangerous mobs that can kill ya. At knight it turns into a high level nightmare of a zone for level 10. I died several times but finally got thru. Never had an experience like that since.
Oh yes remember it well, i just crossed my fingers and huged the zone line. The halfling home town was off that zone, so u had to go there and who could afford the plat for a Port. lol
My first was Everquests Unrest. Oh dear i spent a lot of time there. Mostly was corpse runs Untill higher levels. I remember someone always pulling the ghost bartender from the basement and everyone would die, lol. CrushBone was another Memory i have of the Group Working togther as a Whole. And my Bard. He could do a little bit of Everthing. Lull, charm, pull,I really loved him, No one has ever caught the true Bard Essense Like EQ. But thats another story.
Unrest in EQ1! (The unrest in EQ2 was a horrific travesty and a mockery of MMORPGs)
A big group instance dungeon with spawn competition, trains, and corpse recovery is what made me love MMOs. I wish this was still a thing, because it made the entire experience more engaging and interactive. I remember one time when we had the yard with another group and when we cleared all the mobs we would have a big dance party. It was so fun!
i may have already been well and truely hooked on games by this point, but the dungeon that made the biggest impact on me (and my friends) was Splitpaw in EverQuest after it was revamped the first time and the level increased. my husband, his brother, and myself.... cleric, enchanter, and warrior, the holy trinity, walked thru that entire dungeon top to bottom day after day until we outleveled it. we didn't camp spots or pull to safe corners, we just... dungeon crawled... it felt like how the game was MEANT to be played instead of what the few people out at the entrance camping the barrels and the bedrooms were doing. and it felt incredible.
I Want to say Black Burrow, EQ1, or any dungeon in EQ1, really, I loved them all in their own ways, but the hard reality was, they never felt like a dungeon.
They were open world zone, with everyone and their crazy uncle playing around you. While cool, and had me hooked, in my mind, it was still "open world" not a "dungeon"
For me, the first Dungeon that hooked me, was Hayton's Crypt in Dungeons and Dragons Online.
It was great, had that old School D&D feeling, right down the awful DM narration, telling me things I could clearly already see, like they were describing the dungeon to me, as I was going through it. That was also when I discovered, this was a actual crawl, a game of resource, and if I didn't bring it, I didn't have it.
I could not just sit down and med up mana, my HP didn't come back, I had to make due with what I had, and no one else was coming to save my sorry ass if I died, I was alone, in this dungeon.
I had a nerdgasm.
That opened the door to finally wanting to group, more people made this stuff easier, and all the downsides that EQ1 had, were removed.
I would open pug the hell out of those dungeons for years to come, first 5 and go. It had that old school, campy as all hell feeling, with traps, hidden doors, limited number of spells, and HP, and back when I started, when gear was shit, and so were our builds, we needed to think about some encounters, we could not just charge in and expect to win, we had to use tactics, teamwork, think about counters to what were about to get hit with, and OMG, I loved that shizzle shits.
I loved them all going forward, I would spend time chatting and laughing about how campy and awesome this game was at the same time.
... with that said.. gonna go log into DDO and.. well run another dungeon.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
It wasn't a dungeon for me. I was level 10ish when I decided to make a trip from Neriak to Qeynos. Thats where a bunch of my friends were playing. Anyway on this trip I was running thru Kithicor Forest during the daytime. Well about have way thru it got dark and changed to night time.
Thats when I shit my pants because during the day there are no dangerous mobs that can kill ya. At knight it turns into a high level nightmare of a zone for level 10. I died several times but finally got thru. Never had an experience like that since.
Definitely EQOA, the whole thing. Met my partner in that game - moved over 1,000 miles IRL & have been together over 17 years (best 17 years of my life). Been playing MMO's with him as a team ever since!
Gladari: Ranger of Surefall Glade Red Mage of Vana'diel Acrotecher of Moatoob Mate of Union
And still how dungeons should be Open World , that adds soo much immersion
I recall having experienced immersion in a different way. Deceit Level 4, UO. the Lich Lord Room. I had a Silver War Mace of Power and made short order of standard liches. However the Lord had to be avoided. I got killed in the fight because of an unexpected add. I died at the corner by the door. There was a piece of "game geometry" there, like a rock or similar. Apparently some fucker came into the room, squezed as close as possible to the structure, and HID. As a ghost I saw all of my stuff dropping through thin air one item at a time. Bastard was looting my corpse while hidden. Tactically brilliant but not so good for me.
I do feel Funcom deserving special mention here for the exceptional dungeons they delivered in Age of Conan and especially in The Secret World. The dungeons in the latter were spectacular imo.
/Cheers, Lahnmir
'the only way he could nail it any better is if he used a cross.'
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
I remember pre-MMO dungeons well enough. I have beautiful memories of playing Phantasy Star Online through the entire night until the sun came up, finally seeing Dark Falz's second form and beating it due to a heavy carry by a character that, in hindsight, was likely cheated. I had so much fun with that game. I have fond memories of late night sessions in every one of the areas. I remember the beautiful music keeping me company as strangers and I strived against new enemies. I remember making friends with people around the world, even with people that did not speak any language I spoke, thanks to PSO's symbol chat and auto-translator.
I think everyone has great experiences with their first MMO, and though it does not fully qualify, PSO was that game for me. My friend and I both knew about the game and were so thrilled when our local(ish) store finally got copies. We had always been on the lookout for it and bought it without hesitation. I remember how happy we were. We played so much that I think we spent more time together in game than in real life. Phantasy Star Online was truly ahead of its time.
I ended up getting my character Nol'd unfortunately.
Later, I remember doing public dungeon areas in EQOA - that was a complete blast. I adore PSO, but moving to a fully streaming open world in EQOA was incredible - though I certainly missed the music, and I didn't dig the sub fee. I don't think EQOA's weird public dungeons really count either, though.
My first real MMO dungeon was in Deadmines. I had no prior knowledge of real MMO mechanics, I had played a small and confusing bit of real EQ, Diablo 2, and console MMOs. I jumped off ledges without dismissing my pet. I aggroed hordes of enemies as my pet ran to catch up, and my poor group of fellow noobs did not understand that our problems were entirely due to me and my pet. To make matters worse, I had kept my pet on defensive, and aggroed numerous groups because I simply did not understand the mechanics. My poor group spent over 2 hours clearing Deadmines! Those poor innocent souls did not blame me though I was the sole purveyor of their misfortune. Perhaps it was only my own ignorance that kept me from noticing anything, but from memory all my teammates were inexperienced and kind - honestly a nice memory compared to later experiences.
Afterwards I told my roommate, who had gotten me into the game, that I did not see the appeal of dungeons at all.
I still miss the ever-so-brief golden age of the first PSO.
Comments
Oh yes remember it well, i just crossed my fingers and huged the zone line. The halfling home town was off that zone, so u had to go there and who could afford the plat for a Port. lol
Had a ton of fun with my Nelf Druid farming that stuff after the 1.0 launched.
A big group instance dungeon with spawn competition, trains, and corpse recovery is what made me love MMOs. I wish this was still a thing, because it made the entire experience more engaging and interactive. I remember one time when we had the yard with another group and when we cleared all the mobs we would have a big dance party. It was so fun!
They were open world zone, with everyone and their crazy uncle playing around you. While cool, and had me hooked, in my mind, it was still "open world" not a "dungeon"
For me, the first Dungeon that hooked me, was Hayton's Crypt in Dungeons and Dragons Online.
It was great, had that old School D&D feeling, right down the awful DM narration, telling me things I could clearly already see, like they were describing the dungeon to me, as I was going through it. That was also when I discovered, this was a actual crawl, a game of resource, and if I didn't bring it, I didn't have it.
I could not just sit down and med up mana, my HP didn't come back, I had to make due with what I had, and no one else was coming to save my sorry ass if I died, I was alone, in this dungeon.
I had a nerdgasm.
That opened the door to finally wanting to group, more people made this stuff easier, and all the downsides that EQ1 had, were removed.
I would open pug the hell out of those dungeons for years to come, first 5 and go. It had that old school, campy as all hell feeling, with traps, hidden doors, limited number of spells, and HP, and back when I started, when gear was shit, and so were our builds, we needed to think about some encounters, we could not just charge in and expect to win, we had to use tactics, teamwork, think about counters to what were about to get hit with, and OMG, I loved that shizzle shits.
I loved them all going forward, I would spend time chatting and laughing about how campy and awesome this game was at the same time.
... with that said.. gonna go log into DDO and.. well run another dungeon.
Definitely EQOA, the whole thing. Met my partner in that game - moved over 1,000 miles IRL & have been together over 17 years (best 17 years of my life). Been playing MMO's with him as a team ever since!
Gladari:
Ranger of Surefall Glade
Red Mage of Vana'diel
Acrotecher of Moatoob
Mate of Union
I recall having experienced immersion in a different way. Deceit Level 4, UO. the Lich Lord Room. I had a Silver War Mace of Power and made short order of standard liches. However the Lord had to be avoided. I got killed in the fight because of an unexpected add. I died at the corner by the door. There was a piece of "game geometry" there, like a rock or similar. Apparently some fucker came into the room, squezed as close as possible to the structure, and HID. As a ghost I saw all of my stuff dropping through thin air one item at a time. Bastard was looting my corpse while hidden. Tactically brilliant but not so good for me.
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
I remember pre-MMO dungeons well enough. I have beautiful memories of playing Phantasy Star Online through the entire night until the sun came up, finally seeing Dark Falz's second form and beating it due to a heavy carry by a character that, in hindsight, was likely cheated. I had so much fun with that game. I have fond memories of late night sessions in every one of the areas. I remember the beautiful music keeping me company as strangers and I strived against new enemies. I remember making friends with people around the world, even with people that did not speak any language I spoke, thanks to PSO's symbol chat and auto-translator.
I think everyone has great experiences with their first MMO, and though it does not fully qualify, PSO was that game for me. My friend and I both knew about the game and were so thrilled when our local(ish) store finally got copies. We had always been on the lookout for it and bought it without hesitation. I remember how happy we were. We played so much that I think we spent more time together in game than in real life. Phantasy Star Online was truly ahead of its time.
I ended up getting my character Nol'd unfortunately.
Later, I remember doing public dungeon areas in EQOA - that was a complete blast. I adore PSO, but moving to a fully streaming open world in EQOA was incredible - though I certainly missed the music, and I didn't dig the sub fee. I don't think EQOA's weird public dungeons really count either, though.
My first real MMO dungeon was in Deadmines. I had no prior knowledge of real MMO mechanics, I had played a small and confusing bit of real EQ, Diablo 2, and console MMOs. I jumped off ledges without dismissing my pet. I aggroed hordes of enemies as my pet ran to catch up, and my poor group of fellow noobs did not understand that our problems were entirely due to me and my pet. To make matters worse, I had kept my pet on defensive, and aggroed numerous groups because I simply did not understand the mechanics. My poor group spent over 2 hours clearing Deadmines! Those poor innocent souls did not blame me though I was the sole purveyor of their misfortune. Perhaps it was only my own ignorance that kept me from noticing anything, but from memory all my teammates were inexperienced and kind - honestly a nice memory compared to later experiences.
Afterwards I told my roommate, who had gotten me into the game, that I did not see the appeal of dungeons at all.
I still miss the ever-so-brief golden age of the first PSO.
Asherons Call
Black spawn den ( BSD )
Olthoi Hordes nest ( OHN )
oh and before those 2 the Lugian Citadel
those 3 dungeons where such a staple of the early days of AC, so many memories in those places, so many hours of my life spent in there lol
oh and Metos spending days farming motes for atlan weapons.