12 Days of Gaming: Seven Memories of Norrath
New memories are forged every day and those made in Norrath burn brightest of all.
Norrath is a magical place. It has endured so many people and changes. It has stood the test of time and has left a plethora of dedicated, fanatical gamers in its wake. Not everyone has stayed through all the years, but even those of us who have moved on have many fond memories to look back on.
Though I’ve kept an active EverQuest account and pop in to chat with friends and dink around from time-to-time, the last time I seriously buckled down and played was during the Seeds of Destruction era. Over so many years I’ve forged more memories than I can recount in a single article. While reading through the many great stories of people talking about their favorite places in Norrath for the recent EverQuest Franchise Contest (which ends tonight!), it kindled the fire to share some of my memories of the game with you all as well.
Sadly, many screenshots of my early memories are lost to time, but I did finally settle on my seven memories of Norrath!
#7: Ronaneb, the Best Enchater of E’Ci
Ronaneb was quite the terror for some time during the early years of E’Ci. He was well-known for not only being a ninja looter (and unwelcome in most groups), but also for his nearly incomprehensible forum rants. After a huge ordeal where he purportedly ninja looted a Shiny Metallic Robe in Lower Guk, he posted the below (censored) rant, which I am so thankful I immortalized, to still giggle over years later. If Ronaneb was all an act, then bravo to you, good sir.
#6: Looting the Magician Epic Earth Staff
Between having kids and only being in casual raiding guilds, it took me over two years to complete my Mage Epic 1.0. I was terrific at losing rolls on every Mage Epic piece, or for having tragic luck, such as the Pegasus Feather Cloak dropping when I was helping a friend in the early epic days, but then never seeing it drop again even after months of camping Quillmane, or being in a raid that only had enough time to clear the 7th isle in Plane of Sky once and zero Crowns of Elemental Mastery dropping. To double that PoSky tragedy, I refused to leave the zone for days, and a second raid came in and promised me a crown drop if one happened when they got to 7th isle... then they wiped on the 6th isle several times and ultimately chose to abandon the raid. I then got bored and tried to use an Eye of Zomm to see the 8th isle, and the Hand of Veeshan eventually death-touched me, ending my protesting camp of the 7th isle. In the end, I purchased the crown in the Bazaar, and a kind soul who heard that the Pegasus Cloak was my last piece came and multi-quested it with me.
Well, that got slightly off topic! Two years after I started my Magician Epic, I finally won the roll on the second-to-last piece in completing the quest, the Staff of Elemental Mastery: Earth. One of the first things to happen? Someone offered me 50K to multi-quest it.
#5: The Temple of Veeshan Pileup
I joined the raiding guild Tribal Faith in many of its Halls of Testing raids in Temple of Veeshan. We did some amazing things back then, like one-grouping the trash back when that was deadly and dying over and over to Dozekar. The only screenshot I could find was one of my fondest memories of these raids, when a drake died high up on the wall and the entire raid piled up on each other trying to get someone high enough to loot it. Sadly, it rotted, so its contents went unknown!