Living Legacy got me!

Last night was supposed to be my last day playing EQ2 for a while, at least till the new expansion comes out. July 31st being the end of the free game time associated with the Living Legacy promotion, I had decided that I would log on one last time and write a “farewell for now” letter to my guildmates explaining to them my departure and my plans on maybe returning in the Fall. That being said, when I turned off my PC last night, I had quite radically deviated from the plan and instead of ending my time in Norrath I had added some playing time to my account and kept it active. As I woke up this morning I asked myself what had just happened, why had I done this ? Here are the reasons I have come up with :

1-Playability : Subconsciously, I think that playing a solid, polished and stable game has had an insidious effect on me, making me realise that playing older established MMOs does have it’s charms when placed next to the quirkiness of playing shiny new titles like AoC, which are going through some early growing pains. I think playing EQ2 again for an extended period of time made me appreciate how pleasant it is to play a game that has already been through a majority of it’s tech hurdles and design rebalances and has attained a certain “maturity”. Playing a “veteran” title like EQ2 has somehow provided me with a counterbalance to playing a “rookie” title like AoC, which it seems, is something I need at the moment and am not willing to part with just yet.

2-Sentimentality : EQ2 being my very first MMO, I think that the whole “come back home” vibe put forth in the Living Legacy promotion did very effectively push the nostalgia button in me. In fact I admit it : it made me swallow hook, line and sinker SOE’s marketing line. What can I say, sometimes you think you are so jaded that you are immune to this kind of thing and then the irrationality of emotion comes and clouds your judgement !

3-The expansion grind : Seeing that my templar has not yet hit the level cap ( he is level 77 ) and that I still need to buff up the healing AA line in readiness for the release of the upcoming expansion, I guess that the desire to be ready for the new content that is coming has also had a role in making me prolong my sub. If Living Legacy had not come along, my healer would probably have stayed at level 66 and I would likely have foregone buying the new expansion and probably given up on EQ2 completely. Having invested all that time and energy levelling him up and catching up on Achievements, I figure that the thought of just walking away from all that was not something I was willing to do. Another sign that I am a sucker for even the most basic MMO marketing strategies !

So there it is, some deep introspection from a somewhat bemused MMO player, for your reading pleasure!