The Moment I Knew I Was In Love With MMORPGs And, In Particular, PvE Dungeons

If we're being very technical, my first foray into MMORPGs was on the PlayStation 2. It was a copy of EverQuest Online Adventures. Now, I already knew what an MMO was even if I maybe didn't know that particular term at the time. Back then, I was a media senior at Best Buy. That position (and basically that whole department) no longer exists. It was the entire center of the store back then. When you were putting CDs back in the wrong place and messing up the massive PC software boxes, DVDs, and console games, I was the one sorting them all back out later. The "senior" in my title really just meant I was the supervisor when the supervisor wasn't there.

I knew what EverQuest was and was certainly one of the ones saying, "I would never pay a monthly fee to play a damn video game." How times have changed. I didn't have a PC that could play it even if I was curious. I was a broke new parent.

A few friends decided they wanted to try EQOA when it came out in 2003. I joined in. I honestly don't think I even paid a single month of a subscription after the trial 30 days that came with the game. I don't think any of us did. I'm not really sure why, but it just didn't click with us. Someday I'll have to examine private server options on that one to explore it from a different perspective now.

Being more "real" with the first MMO I played we come to Final Fantasy XI on the PlayStation 2. I won't go into huge details here (I'm actually playing it again on retail servers) on my love for that game. I will just say I had never played anything like it and I couldn't get enough. I do bring it up here because, while I was obsessed with FFXI, I wouldn't say it created my love for MMOs as a whole. FFXI is a different beast in so many ways and it isn't anywhere near what you may think of as a younger person thinking of "MMOs" these days.

Now, I am the oldest of three children, all boys. My brother (some of you long time MMOBomb followers know him as Havek) is just shy of two years younger than I. I tried many times to get him into FFXI, but it was never going to happen. Havek is very intelligent, he totally would have caught on to the obscure nature of things over time, but he had never really been much of a gamer growing up. He liked watching people play them, but only seldomly played himself.

As a matter of "defining" things here a bit, yes, FFXI has "dungeons," but they (like the game itself) aren't really the same as what you think of hearing that term today. Some places were instanced later, but initially, they weren't. They were more "public dungeon" in nature. They were also massive. Players today wouldn't call something like Delkfutt's Tower in FFXI a "dungeon," it would likely just be another "zone" to more modern MMO gamers.

One day, Havek asked if I had ever tried World of Warcraft. At that point, I had tried it twice in my life at the request other friends and both times I didn't last longer than a day. Why? (You'll love this.) It was too damn easy! Remember, I came from the world of Vana'diel. There were no mini-maps, no exclamation points, no questions marks. You talked to EVERY NPC because they MIGHT have something to say or something for you to do, and even then they weren't as clear as "go kill x and come back." They literally may just mention that they use bat wings for something. The rest was up to you.

However, since this was Havek asking, and he never really gamed with me all that much, I agreed to give it another try. My PC, on the other hand, wasn't quite ready to also agree. The game ran, barely. Low settings were my friend and most gameplay was fine, but more intensive moments, like taking a flight path, were stop motion at best, a slideshow at worst. Havek bought RAM for me (still a broke parent) and I was finally able to play on normal settings.

We both rolled humans and Havek was a mage and I was a warlock. Havek couldn't figure out what the hell to name his character. When he finally did log in and I saw him, I asked, "Where'd you come up with the name Lemac?" He replied, "I saw my pack of cigarettes on the desk and just spelled them backwards." Years later, this would lead to me surprising him with my new character named "Oroblram."

Anyway, I digress.

We got to leveling, killed gnolls, totally claimed their candles, and started gearing up and learning new abilities. Yes, I was actually having fun. If this isn't a testament to the whole "any MMO is better when playing with friends" argument, I don't know what is. I hated WoW, but enjoyed it with my brother. What's more, he was enjoying it too. Not bad for a mostly "non-gamer."

We had all the typical first time WoW player experiences like our initial arrival into Stormwind and the music that came with that, the first time we saw someone on a mount, the shocking realization of how much money we needed to get our own mount, and more. This was before Wrath of the Lich King was a thing, just to keep you older MMO players in the right headspace.

Now we come to the time I specifically remember falling in love with MMORPGs and, in particular, PvE dungeons. I've always been not much of a PvP guy, so that wasn't new.

As humans, questing naturally led us to the Deadmines, the first dungeon humans would come across in their WoW travels if they stayed on the typical quest lines. Remember, we're talking "OG" Deadmines here. There's no dungeon matchmaking tools, no easier/shorter version, none of that. We also didn't have other friends playing. This was going to be our first foray into playing the game with actual random strangers. We weren't each playing at our own homes, either. For this adventure, Havek came over to my house. My PC was in my dining room and Havek was sitting on the loveseat in my living room right behind me.

We managed to find a group that was all level appropriate, we weren't going to get a free ride here. We explained to the group that we were new to this, not just this dungeon, but group content and dungeons in general. Luckily, the group was incredibly kind to us and we began. In those days, we had to actually think about each pull. Marking targets for crowd control, talking about interrupting, watching out for patrols and additional enemies all slowly worked its way into the way we played. Bosses were challenging, and yes, we did wipe a few times.

I don't know how long just the first half of the dungeon actually took us, but it literally may have been almost 2 hours. Maybe that's just memory playing with me though. The group agreed to take a break at the halfway point. Another sidebar: because I have children, I don't smoke in my house. I smoke on the porch outside. Havek and I used the break to hit the porch for a smoke.

Outside, Havek and I were chatting about the dungeon so far. Literally the only thing I remember from this conversation is both Havek and I agreeing that, "damn, this is intense." We'd never had a gaming experience like it. Sure, I'd played online games with friends and played FFXI for a while, but nothing like this. The depth, the strategy of each pull, the coordination, it was great. The best part was that we knew this was literally the EASIEST version of this type of content. We were just getting started.

Entering the final area of the Deadmines and seeing VanCleef's massive ship? Incredible.

I don't remember what loot dropped or anything Havek and I may have said after we were done, but I do know that was the moment I wanted more. I wanted to see what the next dungeon offered. I wanted to see what a "raid" was like. I wanted to see if other MMOs had this type of experience. This was, ironically, also how I fell into F2P MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online. At multiple points, Havek and I looked around for alternatives to WoW and, when we found F2P games, we were kind of amazed at what they COULD offer.

Dungeons have changed an awful lot since then. For the most part, MMORPGs don't have that level of "difficulty" that early in a game anymore. Often crowd control isn't a thing at all and if it is, it isn't really needed. Group finders putting strangers together quickly kind of takes the "social" aspect out of things to a degree. I'm not saying it's worse, I'm just saying it's different now.

One thing that hasn't changed, though? In every single MMO I ever play, the first thing I want to experience is their dungeons. Solo, Duo, full group? It doesn't matter. I crave that experience to this day and even though other games offer this type of content, in my book, it will always be the best feature of MMORPGs and why I play them.

When did you fall in love with MMORPGs?