My Top 10 MMO Memories

It’s time for another Top 10 list, this time thanks to Massively OP for giving me the idea. I’ve stated in the past what I think of them, but do see them being useful from time to time. Keeping things organized and brief speaks to me. Today, I’m going over the Top 10 MMO memories I have based off what Eliot listed.

#1) Your first character

That would be my little blue bard from Everquest 1. Some people called him the blue streak. Bards in EQ 1 have songs that give them very fast run speed. Pair that with a drum equipped and you get a bonus to it, so my bard was on par with some of the fastest mounts in the game. I’m not sure if that is still true now, since I haven’t went back to EQ 1 in years. I still have urges once in awhile to visit - maybe one day I’ll act on them.

#2) Your first goal

Pretty easy; my epic weapon. It was one of the few things you could really set a goal for at the time and many people had their epics. I figured I needed to set my goal to get it too. In EQ 1, the epic weapon was a class specific weapon that had unique features to help that class. I would get a sword that would increase each of my schools of music so I wouldn’t have to switch out between instruments to play. The Warrior’s epic was a 2 handed sword that could break down into two 1 handed swords. Pretty cool, huh?

The singing short sword by Drewinette

#3) Your first interaction with another player

My first interaction was surprisingly what got me into my first guild. It was also with that guild’s leader. I’ve shared before my first day in an MMO. I was exploring around Kelethin and fell out of the city, only to respawn and get lost. A kind Cleric found me and asked if I needed help and that eventually ended up half to a full hour later of questions and an invite to the guild. Because of that experience, it really set the tone for who I wanted to be in MMOs; to try and be helpful when and where I can to other players.

#4) Your first major setback

This is a mixed bag because it came with a bunch of consequences, but some benefits too. It was my first jump to another MMO; Final Fantasy 11. Why was this a setback? Because I followed a friend to it, and that friend eventually abandoned the game shortly after. I, on the other hand, tried to stick with it solo, and if you know FF 11 well enough, it’s not a solo game. I got burned out quickly and kind of left the MMO genre for a while, leaving my awesome guild along with it and not having a second thought at the time. I still kind of regret not going back to EQ 1 because I kind of wonder what happened to all my friends in there. As I said, there was benefits too. I eventually tried other MMOs, and because of that, they’ve became my favorite genre of all. I can’t get enough of them.

#5) The things you would never do now

Waiting on long respawn timers. Sit around zones being bored and doing nothing. Try to go on raids, not because I hate them, but because I know I just don’t like doing them - there’s a difference.

#6) Your first difficult victory

This goes back to my epic weapon again. I never got it, but I do remember a victory over a boss that had a drop I needed. The Kedge Backbone from Phinigel Autropos in Kedge Keep. This is an underwater zone, and at the time I had a huge fear of sharks and couldn’t even look at them without panicking. This zone had a few on the path to Phinigel and I had to swim with the camera facing away, or myself looking away from the monitor. Suffice to say, this was my most challenging victory, personally.

#7) Your first guild

As I mentioned in number 3, my first guild was within my first day of playing an MMO. Pretty lucky too, because it was a very good guild, managed by a husband and wife duo that were very supportive of their members. My token of appreciation was to make them the best food I could and give it to them as often as I could - in game, of course.

#8) The first hangout

The Plane of Knowledge. A hub zone that had a portal to every major race’s city and to some of the game’s raiding zones. It was the best zone to be in to get buffs and find groups. It was also a couple zones away from the bazaar.

#9) When you left for the first time

I feel like I’m in repeating territory. :(

Leaving EQ 1 for FF 11. Mistakes were made and I regretted it eventually, but I wouldn’t trade all the great memories afterwards of playing other great MMOs.

#10) Being the experienced one

Funnily enough, it was in EQ 2 when my brother and I got our mom to start playing. By this time, we were vets of EQ and MMOs in general. We were using WASD movement and had knowledge of shortcuts and keymappings and how games work. She, on the other hand, was starting from square one. Using the arrow keys (OMG I can’t believe I used to use those) and the mouse, but not at the same time. She was very uncoordinated, kept asking questions that repeated themselves and was constantly lost (kind of like us when we started - ah heck, exactly like us when we started). I look back at that and see I should have handled it a lot better than getting annoyed at how someone couldn’t use WASD. I suppose it was my first bout of being an elitist prick that I don’t like to think about. Again, mistakes were made, but now my mom can handle MMOs as well as the rest of them.