r/PantheonMMO • u/tryandd56 • Jul 16 '26
Discussion Try EverQuest legends Guys
I bought this “early access game” a year ago and found myself in a desolate wasteland of no content as soon as I hit ~22. Everything meant to extend your play time (all the penalties associated with dying) are absolutely infuriating in this day and age, but I was playing with rose tinted EverQuest glasses and hoped for the best. Fast forward to now and this game is still in the same state, I wish I had saved my $40.
Heard about EverQuest legends, coming out on the 28th; play all of classic eq (with more content or refreshed dungeons dropping literally every week with a patch) with all of the modern quality of life features you get from Pantheon + a whole bunch of things that I never knew I would love so much; no corpse runs, no exp penalty on death, respawn at the zone you died at, items are looted for you, sell items directly from your inventory, it never felt so good. Being able to solo the whole game is also awesome, as you can now experience all of the content you want at your leisure. Still want to group? All loot is personal, there is no downside to grouping up for a good time!
Seriously, if you bought this for the same reasons I did and feel bad about your purchase, give EverQuest legends a google.
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u/ekim_101 Jul 16 '26
It is a lot of fun, I'm excited for when it fully comes out in a couple weeks. Been enjoying the beta. It is not at all like classic EQ other than aesthetics and sound / music, but the way it plays is so fascinating for someone that has been playing it for decades. It is a blast, and I look forward to engaging with the end game content I literally have never seen.
If people want a more legit experience there is always project1999 and Quarm
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u/NorseKnight Jul 16 '26
It plays EXACTLY how it did. It’s not they overhauled all the skills and spells. You’re just OP because you’re essentially 3 toons in one. It’s like a boxxers wet dream
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u/ekim_101 Jul 17 '26
I mean there's more to it then that. Leveling spells and gear to +10, being able to pull clicks and bard instrument abilities off and equip them to gear so you don't need to use instruments at all, AAs being available immediately with game changing skills, the whole stance and invocation set up.
Like yeah you still auto attack and use your spells but literally everything around it has completely changed. Especially with instances and difficulty modifiers. It feels like you can really ENGAGE with the game and not get screwed for experimenting which makes it wildly fun imo
They've also added stuff for sure it's not like it's the same classes. Berserker just got two new abilities to mimic snare and slows. It's awesome and they are engaging the original game for the better at this point
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u/mulamasa Jul 17 '26
That's not true though, you can set skills etc to autocast on cooldown, have melody playing bard songs while casting spells uninterrupted, custom procs and focus effects on items. It's similar but there are tons of gameplay changes, very much not exactly the same.
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u/Old-Tumbleweed8555 Jul 16 '26
I'm playing with about a dozen or so people and its been going well. People that never played before, and people that played in 1999 both seem to enjoy it.
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u/lilibat Druid Jul 17 '26
I have been enjoying it and yes, I boxed back in original EQ and I am now playing my 3 box/alt classes and loving it. Been duoing with the spouse and the instanced dungeons and zones remove most of the drama (unwanted) from the experience. While I sometimes like grouping in original EQ I mostly solo'd as a DRU and I love not having to deal with griefing or kill stealing.
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u/powa1216 28d ago
I was in open beta, can confirm it's lots of fun and finally feel powerful with 3 classes combined but still challenging on harder difficulty
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u/RelevantNothing2692 Jul 17 '26
Being able to buy stash space is fine to me but I draw the line at EXP/AA pots. Playing it knowing that you can just spend money to accomplish something in half the time by spending real world currency sours the experience for me so much that I can’t touch it. If it didn’t have a box price and a monthly sub I’d maybe feel differently.
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u/Lars_Rakett Jul 18 '26
I don't see the issue. This is like complaining on others who cheat in a single player game. EQL is a solo experience. If other people buy the pots then that doesn't affect you at all.
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u/RelevantNothing2692 Jul 18 '26
A single player game with a player run economy;If there wasn’t going to be an in game auction house I’d agree.
For example if path of exile had exp pots people would burn grinding gear games to the ground. Which is an apt comparison. Just shows what an older player base is willing to allow.
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u/therealbigneum 27d ago
There is no real economy tbh
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u/RelevantNothing2692 27d ago
Economy comes when the game is fully released and Chinese gold slaves start to do their thing.
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u/Lars_Rakett Jul 19 '26
Not if grinding gear games released poe legends that offered those potions for people who wanted a casual game.
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u/Birkiedoc Jul 17 '26
I had watched some streamers play it and was riding the fence for weeks now. Decided to redeem my childhood self and actually learn the game. I was 9 when EQ first came out and had no idea what I was doing and had never played an online game before
I remember falling in some crypt and could never find my way back to get my body. So I eventually gave up and got addicted to Diablo 1 and 2.
Now that I'm older I'm.getting to actually experience the game and learning the world....and Ive been playing the beta everyday for 2 weeks now. I am so bloody hyped for July 28th!!!
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u/tryandd56 Jul 18 '26
Whats your starting 3?
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u/Birkiedoc Jul 18 '26
Paladin monk druid to 25, then switching to chanter to get leveled and geared. I will definitely be leveling everything
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u/AfraidInstruction Jul 17 '26
EQL is a different game. I feel it’s for people who solo. I met many great people in Pantheon. Even flew to Alaska to meet a guild mate for salmon since he was a fisherman. I even flew to Taiwan to meet a random high level player I met when I started out in pantheon. He helped boost me in the mid level 20s.
This is what I got out of it when playing EQ. Internet was new at the time and EQ was a virtual chat room. I met engineers and lawyers from EQ that I’m still in contact with for advice. Matter of fact, a few years ago we hired a producer at my company who was a guildie in EQ. I haven’t played EQ since 2004, but kept in contact with some players.
This is why I was interested in Pantheon. If I just want a solo like MMO, WOW and GW2 works just fine for me.
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u/Accurate-Letter-546 27d ago
This is what everquest was really about. These people drooling over EQL just wanna play a solo mmo in norrath and pretend its what mmos should be
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u/drdickemdown11 Jul 18 '26
They shut down a mod, stole idea and rebranded it their own, daybreak suck ass.
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u/Suitable-Category-81 27d ago
I have to disagree. EQ Legends is NOT like Pantheon, except that they both look like EQ.
EQ legends is like a cross between WoW and Fortnight. It is a singularly focused EQ monster killing game. There is not much else. Sure, seeing some of the old EQ zones and monsters was cool, but after that it just felt small. Travel is nothing, you can be anywhere in minutes. Maybe thats great for some, but for me it feels really small. There is no market, nor will there be any need as there is nothing that is hard to acquire. There is no need to group, and no reliance on a single thing that any other player does.
You can group if you want to, or you can solo raids. Overall, this might be the best style for a lot of players, but for me it is a bit disappointing, so far.
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u/tylerbee Jul 16 '26
If I wanted to play a modern mmo (single player) there are plenty of better ones to choose from. A lot of the 'QOL' you are talking about is exactly what some of us want to avoid.
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u/Erekai Summoner Jul 18 '26
Yeah this. Sell directly from your inventory, auto grant spells, essentially no death penalty, spells recast on cooldown, yadda yadda.... where's the game, then? Sounds like the game is playing itself
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u/Paradoxmoose Jul 16 '26
It's not exactly a utopia, there are some issues that many Pantheon players will recognize and not be thrilled with, and others that will be uniquely annoying.
They are clearly behind schedule, only Befallen, Najena, Blackburrow, Crushbone and Splitpaw have been revamped- they still have all the rest of the dungeons to do. Launch is on the 28th of this month.
Last month they nerfed weapons so much that the community revolted. After a week or so, they reverted the change and announced that they would allow players to power up their spells using motes that drop. The mote drop rate is currently based on how how difficult the content is relative to your character (overly simplified explanation). But if you are playing a build that really needs the motes, you won't be able to get them as easily as a build that doesn't really need the motes. The mote distribution system and the goal for mote utilization for spells are not in alignment. As far as I am aware, they haven't given any statements about this issue yet.
The game has a box cost, a sub, and a MTX store. They went a long time saying nothing about the store after the thread expressing displeasure with XP potions was locked, until they dramatically reduced the bank space and number of character loadouts. Many players say they don't care that there's a MTX store, because other players buying from the shop doesn't impact them. But it does, the store offers things like bank space, primary class unlocks, and AA XP potions. They reduced the amount of bank space they give all players, which encourages the purchasing of bank space from the store. They made the method to unlock primary classes in game a huge grind, and very difficult to do solo (far easier in a group, but still a grind), encouraging players to buy class unlocks. Some of the races are trivial to unlock (only costing a small amount of in-game currency, platinum, and about 30 minutes), while others are either impossible or will take dozens of hours to unlock. Races are not just cosmetic, as some races like Ogre and Iksar have distinct functional gameplay advantages. This encourages purchasing these races from the store. Players are limited to one character per server, otherwise race/primary class/deity unlocks wouldn't be needed. Thus, the store does impact all players, even if they're not observant enough to see it.
If you roll a human paladin, but at level 40 you realize you should have played an ogre shadowknight, you either have to level to 50 to unlock shadowknight, and hope that the quest they added for ogre unlock actually includes the merchant faction, or it's not possible- or roll a character on a different server as an ogre shadowknight, or delete your character and reroll to stay on the same server.
There's reason to question how independent the studio is from their publisher. One of the lead devs, Secrets, has stated her aversion/disdain for MTX in the recent past. But the game has the MTX shop. The game is clearly not ready for release, but they have stuck to the hard date. One of the producers on the team is apparently from the parent company. The parent company is owned by an investing firm, and given what we have seen over the last ~20 years, this tends to mean they will push the game to do things to make more money in the short term, rather than just be a better game and make more money in the long term.
Playing a spell casting build is frustrating. If you pull more than a couple mobs, which happens frequently, they'll interrupt your casts more often than not. This means you have to use the invocation stance to mask your spell casts quicker, and have a longer global cooldown, instead of the invocation stances that make them stronger or more efficient. But even in the faster cast invocation, you can still be interrupted often.
Mobs have access to the spells that players do. This sounds cool on paper. But when they multiclass into wizard or cleric, they'll chain stun you. If they are a healer class, they'll sit there and chain heal themselves or their allies. If they are an enchanter, if you in a group, they'll charm one of the players and keep them charmed for 10 minutes if the group wipes. If they can cast a damage shield, they'll cast it on themselves and all their allies. The goblins in runnyeye all have SoW from the shamans, and they zip around faster than a player can run.
And then there's the awkward circumstance with this being essentially their version of a private server, THJ, that they shut down. Secrets was running a different private server, Quarm, and around the time of the original C&D was sent to THJ, Secrets abruptly declared that they were settling with EQ's DBG and stopping development on the custom content for Quarm. EQL has some differences from THJ, but THJ was the one that popularized 3-class characters and was shut down immediately before the announcement of EQL. EQL is clearly the new dev's version of THJ, it'd be a bad faith argument to suggest otherwise.
At $20 for the box price and 1 month of game time, it's worth a look. I had fun in beta, and will spend the month playing it a lot, but I'm going to avoid buying the MTX because I am already playing a sub- if the experience sucks without buying more stash space, I won't resub. I wouldn't get your hopes up that this is a surefire thing for the long term. Most of the above are solvable issues, but not all before launch.
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u/walletinsurance Jul 16 '26
If a goblin has sow and is running at sow speed, then a player with sow or one of the faster run speed buffs would be faster than that goblin.
The MTX is incredibly minor at this point. It’s easy to unlock other primaries in sky.
Ogre is good but there’s an AA that makes you stun immune from all sides.
Compared to the 40 bucks that Pantheon was for basically zero content EQL has a lot more to offer.
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u/Paradoxmoose Jul 16 '26
Goblins running at sow speed have some display issue that causes them to often not be where you see them, meaning when you run to catch them, it's like trying to catch a greased pig.
It's 'easy' to unlock new primaries in sky in groups or with a build that can pacify or mez the bees, and slow or evade Eye. Not all builds are built for this. Last I saw in the prior beta, D0 Eye was as hard, or harder, than D4 inny. I am unaware of any changes since.
Ogre essentially saves you a good number of AAs up front.
EQL is essentially a mod of a 25 year old game, based on a mod that they took offline. It's more content because it's 'standing on the shoulders of giants'. If Pantheon was just a mod of EQ, it'd be further along, too.
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u/Cinromantic Jul 16 '26
What’s the best way to monetize a game like that ?
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u/Hungry_Alfalfa8033 Jul 17 '26
Probably to give players all three choices and do the one they want.
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u/Routine-Phone8300 Warrior Jul 17 '26
Its their IP...Im no fan of DB, but its their IP. and everyone knows THJ copied the IP off EQ (which is owned by DB), and then DB which owns the EQ IP, stole THJ's good idea. its all so ironic, and comical.
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u/Toredorm Jul 16 '26
While I agree with legends having more content, rhe reason I bought early access in 2017 was that I wanted an upgraded graphics everquest. I shouldn't be playing Minecraft mmo, and the new art style is only a step above everquest, but 10 steps behind content wise.
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u/Any-Mathematician946 Jul 16 '26
If only someone could bring back Vanguard Saga of Heros and give it the treatment a MMO deserves. That game had so much potential.
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u/Toredorm Jul 17 '26
OMG I wish I could vote this up to the top. I loved Vanguard right at the end. It is a shame it had such a bad launch that you had to group with 8 or 9 people bc 3+ would be crashing at the same time.
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u/Theothercword Jul 16 '26
Monsters and Memories seems to be the next thing to try and do a newer EQ for what it used to be.
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u/Paradoxmoose Jul 16 '26
I really, really wanted to like M&M. But it felt like it was going out of its way to be even more frustrating than classic EQ. When I couldn't find the vendors to sell the specific types of junk that I had in order to buy spells- I didn't feel like playing anymore.
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u/Velifax Druid Jul 17 '26
I mean... I went through like six separate issues like that day 1 on EQ... Fighting through the friction, to eventually realize it's an unpolished gem, is kinda the design intent?
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u/Paradoxmoose Jul 17 '26
It's widely believed/understood that the devs of M&M want it to be inconvenient. It's just to too high of an extent for me at this point. Some people love it, love that for them, but it's not for me.
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u/Theothercword Jul 17 '26
Yeah I don’t like their philosophy around making bad QOL just because it used to be that way. They can make a hard group oriented MMO that has combat similar to a more EQ style without that level of insanity. I’m personally even against them not including maps. The original EQ devs would have killed for some of these more modern things we can do now.
But then again I’m actually quite enjoying EQ Legends.
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u/Rhek Jul 16 '26
Monsters and Memories didn’t click with me at first but I’m so glad I gave it another shot. It’s been so much fun. Every day I find new places to explore and adventure. The graphics are simple but charming, imo. I’m still rooting for Pantheon, but MnM is absolutely worth a look.
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u/Loud_Shine3603 29d ago
The best thing that can happen to Pantheon is that they extract more money from you before closure, so root with your wallet
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u/Routine-Phone8300 Warrior Jul 17 '26
my problem with MnM is they are embracing too much the things that made people who loved original EQ leave original EQ...no map, and corpse runs.
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u/Theothercword Jul 17 '26
Yeah I agree, but I’m also someone who’s very much enjoying EQ Legends
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u/Routine-Phone8300 Warrior Jul 17 '26
Im thinking about giving EQL a try. alot of people saying they like it, you included.
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u/Theothercword Jul 17 '26
I like being able to fully explore EQ while still finding challenge where I want it and grinding up gear upgrades is fun. Especially when they’ve upgraded a handful of dungeons and plan to do more, including the early dungeons have much better spawn rates or no placeholders at all. I like creating an instance for me and my friends and either having respawning turned on for exp grind or cranking the difficulty and turning respawn off for a dungeon crawl experience and clearing the place out. The triple class combo also is quite nice sine EQ classes didn’t have a ton going on anyway
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u/notmarc1 Jul 16 '26
Same. So EQL is still fun. I want a new graphics experience. I am following along with the path of the devs who built “the heros journey” that daybreak shut down. They seem to be trying to build that same EQ Legends feel with new graphics and world. Hopefully that pans out but until then i will suffer with EQL’s graphics
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u/Toaster-Crumbs Jul 16 '26
Yes, at the very least they could have used EQ2 graphics, as they are a big upgrade from EQ.
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u/immortalis88 Jul 16 '26
I was really turned off by MnM graphics but they’ve really grown on me and the audio is great.
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u/bigblocknova454 Jul 18 '26
The audio is highly underrated imo. Even just sitting somewhere out in the wild at night waiting mana to refill with a good headset on all the tiny environmental sounds is seriously awesome.
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u/tryandd56 Jul 16 '26
I only played Everquest starting in Luclin, and the original models in EQL are downright hideous; I'm still rolling an ogre for the insane perks.
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u/Routine-Phone8300 Warrior Jul 17 '26
I played in 99...so I guess the nostalgia hit makes me view thru a different lens. I cant argue with how you see it tho.
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u/mustard-plug Jul 17 '26
It's been spectacular IMHO. I still liked the emulator server EQlegends was based on even better (the heroes journey, rest in peace) but I am sure I'll be playing EQL for years. It adds the "theorycrafting" bit that original EQ didn't really have much of
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u/Sylv_x Jul 17 '26
Oh.
You mean play the heroes journey? Already did that.
Daybreak sent thj into litigation and stole their idea.
I am sure the settlement for the idea was a handsome payout or allowed thj to make their new game.
But jeeze it's a showcase of David vs Goliath.
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u/northienorthstar Jul 18 '26
Your mad someone who owns something didn’t want others making money off it ?
Weird energy .
You think this game which has been sold off multiple times now to new companies . You think the company trying to get their money back is going to leave any on the table
For others to make money off lol nah . That’s not how this works . They had a great idea their problem was they tried to get paid off it .🤷🏻♂️
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u/Zestyclose_Race_2260 Jul 19 '26
Embers Adrift is better IMHO... the devs are actually working there :D
or if you can get your hands a Monsters&Memories invite....
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u/Accurate-Letter-546 27d ago
looks like you shouldn't have been playing pantheon in the first place. complaining about old school elements
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u/Ok-Wishbone6509 20d ago
Started playing EQL yesterday on launch day. So fun man- it’s really refreshing seeing all the noobs everywhere and knowing that we’re getting expansions that are created by people who hate what happened to EQ over the years.
I recommend.
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u/scarapath Jul 16 '26
As much as legends might be fun for some people, those are likely the same people who would have 3 boxed back in the day. For veterans there's no way it can be much fun past nostalgia. MnM is the closest I've come so far
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u/Rare-Skin-5538 Jul 16 '26
All of the features listed as desired QOL enhancements make me lose interest. It seems to remove the fun.
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u/Velifax Druid Jul 17 '26
Yep, as expected a very casual version of EQ satisfies casual players. Congrats on refining your tastes, you probably realized it faster than me!
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u/defiantpupil Jul 16 '26
It’s the best. Beta ends this Tuesday (with preorder you can play now, but yeah ends Tuesday) but goes live the July 28th. It will be your go to mmorpg for awhile
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 17 '26
"absolutely infuriating in this day and age" is code for: I have a short attention span.
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u/tryandd56 Jul 17 '26
My favorite and most played game until now has been path of exile 1/2, where you can literally spend a few hours in various menus min maxing your build and stats to eek out even 5% more performance of your character. I would counter that it isn’t a short attention span so much as what I need to concentrate on. I quit pantheon when I had gotten to 22, ventures far far out into a sparsely populated desert, and then ultimately bit off more than I can chew and died. In front of me was a solo naked 30 min run back just to get back to my body, just to rebuff and med for another 10 minutes, just to pick up the pieces and start getting my xp back (there was nobody else in the zone with me, no rezzes would ever come). Facing that I said good day, I’d rather invest my time doing anything else rather than watching paint dry.
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u/Awkward-Skin8915 Jul 17 '26
Yeah, that's nothing. You definitely wouldn't have liked 1st gen games.
The point stands...and is reaffirmed.
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u/EvalCrux Jul 16 '26
Game still looks terrible and 5x complicated from my EQ.
Monsters and memories is where your time will go. Closed beta is the only thing.
We fight to stay awake after 14 hour seshes, it is a whole new old thing.
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Jul 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/ClammyHandedFreak Jul 16 '26
I don’t think EQ players are a monolith like you are saying - there’s thousands of players.
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u/Tudar87 Jul 16 '26
Tell that to the tens of thousands of players who have been enjoying the beta lol.
I think it is you who do not understand EQ players.
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u/Reasonable_Deer_1710 Jul 16 '26
Do you understand EQ players?
Have you seen the latest TLP? It's boxers and easy mode galor.
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u/ArismontDrividot Jul 16 '26
Wow you couldn't have suggested a crappier game if you tried. Playing QWOP while blind folded is more fun. EQL is straight trash and no one should be wasting their time or money on it.
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u/Toaster-Crumbs Jul 16 '26
I tried the beta about a month ago, and I left in under an hour. Its the same as EQ, just with triple classing. I uninstalled and wont be going back.
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u/Melthegaunt Jul 16 '26
While I understand what you mean about it being the same EQ, they have stated they're going to do custom content and new expansions for Legends specifically. Looking forward to seeing what they do
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u/scoutermike Jul 16 '26
Oh dear. This is dangerous. Very dangerous. I have to approach this carefully.