No Maps

Felwithe's Gate

Part of this website goal is to explain what was special about EverQuest. It’s amazing how different that game was from the recent MMORPG standard design even though many features are derived from EverQuest. It breaks my heart to know that the new MMORPGs have extremely less features and far less depth than a game that was designed 10 years ago.

I don’t want to talk about the evolution EverQuest created because it has been covered before and everyone who ends up reading this article knows all the details by default. I want to talk about each and every feature that weren’t adapted to the new “standard” WoW and EQ2 created. I will explain why some of us still swears by EverQuest.

Every MMORPG released comes with a Map feature. Some of these maps even go as far as showing your character as an arrow in an extremely accurate and detailed map. Sometimes when you travel from point to point you just need to look at the map.

As you know EverQuest (pre Legacy of Ykesha expansion) had no maps. The only thing you had as a character was a sense-heading feature that starts at skill 1 and needs to be improved while you level up. You could print a paper copy of hand-drawn maps from eqatlas.com website but that even adds to the experience. Looking at a hand-drawn map to know your way around feels like a real adventure.

Without maps you get lost and being lost is essential for immersive game play. I remember my first day in EverQuest with my Wizard at night in Greater Faydark. I made a mistake by turning right off the road to fight a bat and then to realize I can’t find the road (it was dark, you couldn’t see things 10 feets ahead of you). I kept moving thinking I know the road should be that way but I saw nothing but darkness and trees. I started to see some Centurion Orcs (with a red warning text when I conned them). I paniced because I know if I die i will lose my corpse and I know I had no idea where I was! which makes finding my corpse an impossible mission.

I “shouted” for help and some people tried to help me. Then someone sent me a message asking me to describe everything around me and I did. Then he said that he know where I was and asked me to wait for him. After few minutes I saw a floating wolf, which scared the shit out of me to be honest, sparkles and magic effects coming out of its nose it looked like a Guardian sent by Tunare to help me. Then I realized that the wolf was the guy and he’s going to take me back to Felwithe my city.

If I had a map I wouldn’t have experienced this adventure and I wouldn’t have been in touch with the community. Instead I’d just press M and go back to the road/city easily. No Map also makes you see the world and remember the land marks. That guy knew where I was he knew that rock he knew that tree. Without a map you live inside the world you have a completely different perception, because you will always want to know where you are for there are no GPS map to take you wherever you want to go.

The world will feel bigger and more mysterious. Explorers will enjoy finding new things in the world like Caves, Dungeons, Camps and other things. You will also be called in a group just for the mere fact that you know where that dungeon is!

Some people might think “heck without maps it will take me hours to find the quest item then the quest giver and it will be a painful experience when a quest NPC gives me a quest to visit XXX village in XXX zone”. Well, there shouldn’t be any quest that hand hold you and there weren’t any in EverQuest. So, you shouldn’t worry about finding anything because you SHOULDN’T find anything. It is up to you to decide to go to that place or not. There are Quests but they are not “errands” and don’t hinder your progression (they are not designed for you to complete them to progress and they give no XP rewards, most of them don’t). You are Free to make your own adventure either alone or with friends.

I remember when I found Crush Bone by mistake and heard the eerie music (spooky trumpets) when I saw the cave with two Orc Guards I screamed “Oh shit.. am dead” and felt like I found something then I invited few friends to venture through and check what’s inside. It was a BEAUTIFUL experience and filled with many rewards (exploration, combat, gear.. everything).

I just wonder what happened to all that? why is it hard to implement such a game, just for a niche market. Is it really a risky game-design deicion? how do you know? no one ever tried it except EverQuest and it was successful. Not that every WoW “clone” was successful… so what the heck?

No Map