On February 11th 2003, the day after my 26th birthday, I went to Gamestop and picked up my first MMO. It was a game for the PS2 called: Everquest Online Adventures. I also bought a USB keyboard for my PS2.
For years I had heard about Everquest and was looking forward to getting to play one finally. And the fact it was on a console was a big deal to me. No need to upgrade my computer. Just plug in the phone cord (yeah it was old) and play.
I logged on and created my Human Warrior, DravenX. He wandered the city of Freeport randomly picking up quests and roaming the nearby dessert. Being a total Newb (which is how it was spelled at the time) I leveled up all aspects of my character evenly. Making him totally worthless but I didn't care. I had fun. Before grinding and all the boring stuff, I adventured!
With a few crappy swords and a can do attitude I was easily killed many times. But I did not care. I had fun. Exploring deep into the dessert I came upon Gargantula! A giant spider.
I died.
But I made some friends. We joked and had fun. 15 of us lowly characters attacked the Gargantula and defeated her easily. We got cocky since she was Red (higher level) to us. We went in search of bigger game.
We died. Apparently even an army of lvl 2 or 3 characters can't kill a lvl 30.
We had a good first day.
The next day we decided to find all the cities so we could just coach to the different places. I always enjoy exploring. We found many places. We lost a few along the way. Some by accident (apparently there were sharks in the ocean) and some on purpose (3 different 8 - 10 year olds trying to pull every enemy we snuck by).
Time went by and things changed. A few of my group switched servers and asked me to join them. So of course I did.
I soon bought my own house closer to my work. So I of course got my own set up for gaming.
In EQOA I made a Paladin and worked hard with him. Is it odd to name a man of pure good Forsakn? Yeah, but screw it. He was my character. I was not one of the 1st to hit 60. But I wasn't trying. I just enjoyed exploring still. I think my favorite area until they made it more important was an underground area full of Driders. The Spider Men were fun to kill. They rarely dropped anything good. But I made good xp and loot just soloing.
I eventually made an Elven Mage I named Dimitrius. Soon after I was laid off of work. Getting badly depressed I played EQOA 80 hours a week. It kept me sane. My Mage was pretty much always on. I let my pet kill for me while I was sleeping. It wasn't a lot of XP but it was better then 0.
Time seemed to fly by. I think I listened to the same 3 CDs and watched the 1st season of Family Guy like 100 times while playing the game (2 TV set up). I had upgraded my Paladin to a Crusader. Either being the 1st or 2nd crusader on the server. I also made my Mage into a Geomancer (Earth Pet).
Everntually life took its toll and I lost interest in the game. Went back to work. Hung out with friends more and eventually got married. I eventually decided to laydown my Sword. So I said my goodbyes to the many friends I had made. Being there from the beginning it was kind of a sad day. I talked to a few through AIM but like everything else in life we lost touch.
I hoped someday that EQOA would get a PS3 upgrade and I'd go back. That never happened.
On March 29th 2012, as the sunset over Norrath, the servers for EQOA were shutdown. From what I heard the last month was free to play and they set up a spectacular final battle against some dragon. I hope it went well.
I will always remember my time on EQOA with a smile. They let me be a mighty Paladin in something other then my imagination. I commanded the elements and met some good people along the way.
