Nostalgia Group – Night One

We were early, a lot of us. Really early. Four hours early even. We gathered around eagerly awaiting adventures. Not really sure what to expect or who would show up. A lot showed up. A lot more then I had thought would. We (thanks to our faithful leader, Tipa) organized and split off into two groups, collecting tasks along the way to complete. It started off slow, killing rats, bats, spiders. Vermin nests. Remembering to sit to meditated and regain power. Playing in first person.

I met a lot of new people, and that was great. We chattered about various things but mostly kept focused on the goal of completing the tutorial. The quests slowly changed from solo easy quests to ones that were more difficult and required a full group. My group consisted of three people, an enchanter, brave warrior, and myeslf (cleric). Cordanim was around at the beginning as his rogue, but had to leave not too far into it. For the group of three we had, we did fantastic. We had no deaths at all, and even though it took some time to take encounters down, we still did great. It of course had its mishaps. My internet decided to wreck havoc on a named encounter as I closed my eyes in real life and hopped I hadn’t just caused the group to wipe. Our brave dwarf and his faithful enchanter pulled through, despite my mishaps (I am so sorry!).

We all hit level 10 within the tutorial, and walked to Plane of Knowledge to set up the fellowship. Another one of those “uhms, what are THOSE” moments for a few people, myself included. It lets you place campfires where people can gate to, apparently. Looking forward to using them in the future.

While the night was exciting and a lot of fun, and I did get to meet lots of new people, it was slightly disappointing in some ways as well. I’d had my heart set on FINALLY getting to group up with the fabled Tipa and play with her (after all, it was just three of us who wanted to give EQ1 another go originally) but it didn’t work out that way due to the numbers interested. Not that it’s a big deal, the more the better of course. It was just one of those “dang.. oh well” moments. I was also slightly concerned that there were so many rules and restrictions we all had to adhere to – but on some reflection (and a full nights sleep) I can understand why the rules are there – mainly because there ARE so many of us. We don’t want to out level, miss content that someone may want to explore, etc. No doubt Tipa has been swamped in details.

Hopefully everyone else had an amazing time as well, and next week will be just as fun. The main goal of the evening was to leave behind the blasted tutorial. While it did better equip us for our adventures in the actual world of Norrath, it was also.. well, very much a tutorial. Next week we’ll work on getting to 15, and traveling the world a little bit. Slowly, bit by bit, more commands and bits of information are coming back to me. I mean, it has been over three years since I’ve played. A lot has slipped through the cracks.

My main impression of the evening was that – if you were looking to play an old MMO to recapture what you had felt when you played the very first time, it probably won’t happen. You’ll always be pitting the past with the future, and over time, things change. It’s much the same as comparing EQ1 to EQ2. You simply can’t, because the two games are (though EQ2 is modeled after EQ1) in the end, very different. Our experiences and personal friendships and bonds, trials and tribulations, are also different over time. We (as human beings) tend to look at the past with rose coloured glasses and remember specific events and happenings in a certain way. It’s difficult to emulate those some time down the road.

However.

That doesn’t mean we can’t all form NEW opinions of the game we once loved. Form new friendships, learn new encounters. Reminisce of course about ‘the good ‘ol days’ with an open mind and heart for the future.