Today and Yesterday's MMO

Yesterday the server(s) in EQ2 were granting 20% additional bonus xp. I suppose that was for the anniversary. I utilized it, getting a little over two levels on my little Swashbuckler. I missed the celebration on test, I just didn't feel like downloading the test server. I wish there had been something on the live servers but the xp bonus was fine with me. My little world in EQ2 is a bit too quiet at times, nobody to play with. My husband use to follow me to games however this time he isn't budging from WoW. He is on an endless PvP binge it seems. I think my eyes would bleed if I PvP'd so much. He loves it though.
 

My EQ2 guild is nice but I may look for one that is a bit more outgoing. It's so quiet all the time I may as well talk to the wall in my house in Qeynos some nights. They are mostly 80 and always doing things together, so it can be a very secluded game while leveling at times. I don't know, it's just hard to get into games that people are so 'settled' in sometimes. I will give it more time, I know at the top it will be more fun, if I can make it that far this go around.

I got tired of just running around by myself, so I logged into WoW for a bit. I mean that is why we play MMO's right? I love to solo, probably more than anyone I know. But at times I like to have people to do things with too. I decided to take my neglected hunter out and do a few quests with her. It was pretty fun, I wasn't on long but I thought about leveling her up. She was my first 70, sitting at 72 currently. I could pick up my little baby warlock sitting in heirloom gear. I would really like to have another char that has only a choice of which dps spec to pick! So I'm thinking of working on one of those. I want to give EQ2 a fair chance though so we will see how it all pans out.

Last night I was riding my horse in Qeynos at the docks and I heard a rat squeak (in EQ2), which uses the same sound from EQ (actually EQ2 has a lot of sounds from the first game which is cool). It made me think of those old days. Not those days of killing ten rats, just EQ in general. "Now she just sounds silly, talking about rat sounds", I know you thought it, bear with me. Anyhow as I was saying, it made me think of the original. Those days where there were plenty of places to go find groups, not so much focus on being '1337', people all around, just having fun and leveling. At most levels you could find a group, it went like this for so long. Five years I'd say and I was still never having trouble finding groups. The people made it a very special game. Why has it changed now? What don't these new games offer? Or rather maybe they offer so much that we get instant gratification and feel bored? Not enough interaction? I still play EQ here and there, it's not the game it once was, I would not want it to be. However, I miss the community from those days.

Is something is amiss in the MMO world? I read a lot of MMO blogs and have seen recently some people taking breaks, they miss something, they can't get that fun feeling back. Why is this? Today's MMO is a big change from what yesterday's MMO was. Is it really for the better in terms of being MMO? I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I suppose we evolve in the games we play. I'm still having fun, just some thoughts I wonder about at times. Sometimes I wonder are we so focused on chasing an endless 'carrot' we don't notice the ride along the way?

Thanks for reading, stay safe on all your adventures!
-kaozz