10 Years

[Jonathan]

EO turned 10 years old if I'm not mistaken back on June..22nd? So here's some rambling.

It's kind of sad knowing that a lot of what we had is gone and that we've grown apart so much - 10 years is a long time. I forget we age. Whenever I think of EO I think of myself as a 16 year old and of all the people I miss as the age they were when I met them. People who were in high school the same time as me might have careers and families now, it's crazy to think.

Temp and Aeri are probably beginning to even look forward to retirement.

As for myself, I'm 26 and I've been with my girlfriend for a year and a half now and became a manager @ Wal Mart. Turning 25 and getting a girlfriend I think made me grow up really fast lol. Games-wise I play mostly LoL when I can and a few things here and there on Steam. Nostalgia though has me looking at WoW and my brother won't stop raving about FFXIV.

I'm pretty sure 'the magic' is gone and I'm not sure what can replace it. I think back to UO, FFXI and WoW and my nostalgia for them gets progressively lower. Everything just seems so much more amazing the younger you are/the newer it is, and I guess each new phase has to bring in something new to compensate. UO was incredible as my first foray into online gaming. FFXI had such bold commmunity ties that created lasting relationships with people I miss to this day. Sometimes some of the people from then I miss so much it almost brings a tear to my eye. They really were as much my best friends as my best friends in real life.

WoW added onto that community feel and I continued to meet people who would affect how I grew up and matured as a person. It also added an incredible sense of teamwork unrivaled by anything I've ever experienced. This would also grrom some of what has become professional skills - diplomacy (so much drama to try and control), communication, (so many intense forum posts/o.chat sessions), analysis (spending countless hours studying WoL reports), coaching (how did we have so many bad hunters at one time!). Talking on vent is honestly how I got used to talking with girls. I would get so nervous on the phone but it literally came down to the fact that I had to put aside my silly nervousness in order to raid lead and get xyz done. God I was such a shy/reserved person and still am in a lot of ways. But I now have the capacity to fake it when I need to or let loose when I want to and it's thanks a lot to EO.

I remember when we downed the Lich King and Heroic Ulduar how proud I was of us. I just wanted to yell it out at everyone I knew I was so proud. No other game has ever affected me that much.
Getting drunk on vent. I miss that. Funner than going downtown, honestly (and cheaper).

LLcK. We got together and ran that raid for several months longer than any main or alt needed to lol. It was beautiful. Taking turns misdirect pulling with Ody. Ahh good times.

Anyway I just wanted to say I miss you guys/thanks for helping me become the person I am today and let me know if you're playing any games/on what server. Especially FFXIV since that's looking like more and more of a possibility.

Cheers

[McClebby]

Sept 4, 2014 16:23:22 GMT -5 Jonathan said:

Temp and Aeri are probably beginning to even look forward to retirement.

They must be old if they are looking into retirement now!

Sept 4, 2014 16:23:22 GMT -5 Jonathan said:

FFXI had such bold commmunity ties that created lasting relationships with people I miss to this day.

They are having a free login campaign..welcome home vanadiel i think. I probably be trying it just to see what new.

www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/13045/detail.html

Sept 4, 2014 16:23:22 GMT -5 Jonathan said:

let me know if you're playing any games/on what server

I'm playing XIV too but am on a JP server due to latency. Toon is Asbel Alseif in Masamune(JP legacy)

[Aeri]

Sept 4, 2014 16:23:22 GMT -5 Jonathan said:

Temp is probably beginning to even look forward to retirement and Aeri is still as awesome, smart, clever and continues to have better hair than Jennifer Love Hewitt.

fixt.

[alanthiana]

<3!

I'm playing XIV, on Gilgamesh. Come say hi if you do end up deciding to play!

[Vindication]

I ask aeri to carry me in ranked and she make me lose LP!

Jon save me!

Cleb is a noob.

[lockejv]

Great post Jon, glad to hear you're doing well. I actually checked out the site today because I just renewed the eternal darkness domain name for another two years. Which reminded me, I never told the story of the rise and fall of the linkshell like I promised many years ago. Better late than never!

I tried to play other MMO's but could never recapture that FFXI magic. Partially because it was my first MMO and partially because XI did an incredible job drawing you into the world, through the community driven progression model set in an incredible environment. Like you, I don't think I'll ever get into an MMO again; I've tried but it's just not happening. So anyhow, here's the tale.

[lockejv]

Part 1

Kevorkean created the EternalDarkness linkshell a few days after NA release in november, 2003. He wanted to focus on PVP and run a FFXI pvp shell - hence his name and the LS name.

He randomly gave pearls to people including me, Stahn, Tempus, Evona, Koga and Pogo during the first week. We played enough to get a good community going. We branched out and recruited some players you might remember from Titan and even WoW, such as Dragonbane, Avanarius, Mixia, Daeka, Cydian, Lesterp, Raishinshi, Koga, Ionis, Puchuu and Bravocash.

We'd have 20-30 people on every night, and I decided to create a website for the group (11/14/03) and do some recruiting outside of game on various Internet websites. Most of the originals became officers and Kevorkean continued to lead the shell. We were mostly Bastokian and fought through the highlands, dunes and qufim together while recruiting more members. Together we worked through magicked skulls, subjob quests, fame-building, started a bank (Edbanker!), the long walk to Jeuno, missions, NM hunting, the jungle, crawler's nest, advanced job quests, and even eco-warrior. Those first couple months were the most fun I ever had gaming. Check that - I'll go as far to say it was the some of the most fun I ever had in my life and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.



Kevorkean stopped playing regularly after he hit 30 in early December, and he decided to quit before the end of the year which left us leaderless. Nobody really wanted to run the shell and I reluctantly volunteered provided I would be able to delegate responsibilities. I had invested a lot of time and effort into the website (phpnuke implementation with a lot of customization, including built-out forums, stories, and an instant messenger) and I didn't want to see everything go to waste.

At that point we had our first "rift" - those who wanted to main advanced jobs restarted at level one, and those maining basic jobs (me, Stahn, Pogo) continued on after 30 which split us up. But things continued to go well through January and the shell was still growing rapidly. We ran scheduled mission events, implemented an application process, held a strict level requirement of 30 (possibly first Titan NA shell to do so), started a crafting forum and ingredient share, and held weekly fun events like level 1 / chocobo races / bastok welcoming committee / dunes night.

In February we lost most of our officers. Several quit the game due to real life and others because they thought the LS was too fragmented. The level gaps became more pronounced and the higher level players were scattered. With the PS2 release coming in March, several members proposed mass recruitment. We were averaging 30+ people on each night, and the majority of the officers wanted nothing to do with the PS2 release. But people insisted (Raish and Thistle mostly IIRC), and we decided to stick with the level requirement for the Sr shell and create EDJr.

[lockejv]

Part 2

That decision turned out to be a lot of fun at first, and many EO'ers came from EDJr. Markus, Krazi, Kalvatar, Xaero, Dukes, Miruuk, Beren, Corran, and Jonathan all joined up a couple weeks before or after the PS2 release. At one point we had 40 people on ED and 50 people on EDJr, which was over 5% of the server that was online. Unfortunately the influx of people created a lot of drama and lowered the shells average level. When LockesNHS (Titan's first HNM shell) split, one of the groups considered ED but decided against it because we had way too many people.

In May, what was left of our higher level players bailed for smaller shells or took time off and I was having a rough time progressing personally. We pulled off a few more good events but the drama just wasn't worth it to me anymore. I asked for someone else to lead the shell (nobody offered so I didn't officially step down), but I let the staff know I was going to be a part timer, and I started wearing CRM most of the time.

From there the splits happened.

Split 1: Percy (IIRC) and some of his ED Jr friends were in the Sr. shell irritating some originals, I actually got called over during an event with CRM. I asked Percy to stop or he would be suspended. He continued carrying on so I broke his pearl. Percival quit and created Broken Hope, Raishinshi followed and brought some EDJr and a few ED members with him. Nobody cared.

Split 2: A month or so later, Pogo came back and was irritated with some of the new members. He started kicking people and they went on to form EO. I didn't even look into what happened because at that point I had already moved on, the LS was doomed because nobody wanted to run it, and it just accelerated the inevitable. Dukes created a shell with most of the remaining members (can't remember what it was called), and the few remaining stragglers eventually joined EO.

I split time with CRM / ITV, hit 60, got a Scorpion Harness, and then quit. A few months later Dragonbane asked me to come back and help with Sky, so I did. I leveled to 75 with Miruuk, did Tulia with ITV, and then played part time for awhile before joining EO and pulling Dynamis.

I kept the forums around for a few years afterwards and they saw some decent usage. I shut them down due to phpnuke vulnerabilities (got tired of patching / restoring / upgrading). I still have the site registered and host it for the screen shots linked in various places around the web for anyone feeling nostalgic.

And there you have it, from Kevorkean's vision of a FFXI PVP LS to the forming of EO: the rise and fall of Eternal Darkness.

[lockejv]

jeuno.ytmnd.com/

[Grimgore]

^ Good post, even though I only know who about 1/2 those people are, it's still cool seeing the early days of what would become (in some fashion) EO. Wish we could do a WoW version because there was some real crazy stories that happened during TBC but I probably forgot the majority of it.

FFXI sounded like a lot of fun but I don't think my internet at that time could have handled an MMO.

As a side note I've been playing again recently, just casually. WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU?!?!?!

[lockejv]

Thanks Grim, glad someone read it

[lockejv]

ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=59&mid=1123037527245433860&h=50&p=1

Laughing my ass off. The best part is when some guy from another LS chimes in saying how great his LS (Synergy) is. And Markus says:

"Long Live Synergy? Just finished speaking with Dukes. He says he booted you Monday... He also says that this won't get you back in shell."

edit: I never met yxunomei / Cylla, wonder if I knew him/her under a different name

[-=[Tork]=-]

I just wanted to say that I had a great time playing with you guys. Even though it was a brief moment of time I do, still, look back fondly on the memories that I forged playing with all of you. I appreciate the 10 year recap that Jon has written and Lockejv provided some great back-story to how things got a start. I hope all of you are doing well and having fun in whatever adventures you go on next!

[Vindication]

Oct 23, 2014 15:14:58 GMT -5 Grimgore said:

^ Good post, even though I only know who about 1/2 those people are, it's still cool seeing the early days of what would become (in some fashion) EO. Wish we could do a WoW version because there was some real crazy stories that happened during TBC but I probably forgot the majority of it.

FFXI sounded like a lot of fun but I don't think my internet at that time could have handled an MMO.

As a side note I've been playing again recently, just casually. WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU?!?!?!

I played FF11 on a dial up connection for about a year in college because they blocked the ports on the ethernet lol. FF11 is still a good game worth checking out if you ever get bored.

I'm playing WoW again for the xpac. After playing destiny I came to the realization that it's really activision's fault for all the crappy stuff I hate about WoW. So I no longer blame blizzard and can justify coming back.

I wish more people were coming back though It feels really lonely.


And Locke, you did not mention Stahn enough times in your story. 2/10.

[Breht]

Man the memories... I was a 19 year old kid just getting started with life. Very good times indeed. I play FFXIV on Excalibur ocassionally, but RL keeps me quite busy. And when I do play, I can't help but think of EO... hence when I logged in today to check what everyone is up to.

- Breht