View Full Forums : best dungeons ever!


Saffun
07-12-2003, 06:17 PM
Ok this is an old subject for a post.
But i think its relevant with all the revamps and with Lost dungeons of Norrath on the horizon.

Obviously everyone has thier opinions and for diffrent reasons.
Some choose based on nostalgia, only picking dungeons from original EQ. And while Mistmoore, Guk and sol b are kings for atmostphere, they really always had serious flaws.
Some choose based on lewt and think fondly on all the kunark dungeons which introduced the concept of single group phat lewt.
Some people are extremly fond of intricate design, and many dungeons fall into this catogory from the Tower of Frozen Shadows, to the sheer terror of Dragon Necropolis.

The challenge of luclins immense zone/dungeons was awsome. Whacky places like griegs end and awsome sights in The Deep and Akheveva and Acrylia caverns filled the moon. But with all the space the ambiance was lost.

Pop zones were epic in scale and most if they are true to themselves, would admit the zones were crafted to look absolutley spectacular. Yet hardly any zone here has a real dungeon feel.

Legacy of yekesha came back hard on old school looks and feel yet left too much space and little challenge.


So what is the best dungeon in the game?
Which one retains that old school D&D dungeon crawl feel and yet had the fewest problems working within EQ framework. Which dungeon embodied most of the elements we liked.
Challenge.
Storyline.
Grand Scale.
Ambiance.
Lewt(based on time period).
Mobs.
Pure fun!
Quests.

I'd have to say that after being reminded of it the last few days if i have to pick one the answer is obvious.

Chardok!!!!!!

There are so many good dungeons in EQ but if i had to pick one dungeon that Sony stole elements from to help them on new dungeons in the future i would say Chardok.
It has about everything you could want all in one neat package.

Viva La Sarnak!

Aluaeia
07-12-2003, 08:39 PM
Much h8 for the angry goblin.

After all that crap I should be getting a sarnak harem.

NegBB
07-12-2003, 09:14 PM
I was never too fond of chardok.

As for my favorite dungeon? None.

Kelethin is my home, my love.

I have been known to write paragraphs upon paragraphs in my bittersweet ode's to the city which I call my home, but does not exist.

Klath
07-12-2003, 09:49 PM
I agree with you about Chardok. It has an interesting atmosphere and there are lots of nooks and crannies to explore and plenty of interesting rare and semi-rare mobs.

Kedge has been another fun one for me. I hated it when I first went there but while camping the corrupted seahorse I learned to love it. Once you get to know your way around it's a lot more fun. Those soothebrine seahorses sure make nice pets.

Romidar
07-13-2003, 11:19 AM
Hmm, guess it depends on how you define a "dungeon."

1. Unrest
2. Mistmoore
3. Chardok

Those have been my favorites - I spent months in each, really. No zone has ever captured the creepiness that Unrest exuded when I first went there. Mistmoore sucked until we got into the castle, but then we loved it.

Chardok... I lived in that place for months. You could just keep going deeper as you levelled; could go from 50 to 60 easily there in a group, especially since it's almost always practically empty.

I hated Guk, probably because of the 40+ hours that I camped Ghoublane (back before there was a quest) without getting it. I resent the place, and the few times I tried to go back in the day (Fall 1999, I guess), it was SO camped that you could wander around without actually seeing a mob for many minutes.

SolA was OK, but my group never liked the lava - one party member fell in and we couldn't find the body. Used a chipped bone rod, but still couldn't see. Guide came and swore that it was plainly visible and so would NOT help us. Finally had to pay a necro to come and summon (and that was not a common ability back then).

Kedge was fun, spent a couple of levels there - was mainly good because of its novelty and solitude, though, more than its design.

Howling Stones is fun, but the no rent keys are a royal pain in the butt. I understand they wanted to make rogues feel more useful, but they made the dungeon mostly a pain by doing so if you do NOT have a rogue. It's really fun to sit and kill light blues and greens for a few hours to try to get the key to the next wing.

Didn't care for Acrylia Caverns and haven't been back since they modified it. I surely must be forgetting something, but I really can't think of any other dungeon I've been to on Luclin.

Weoden
07-13-2003, 07:51 PM
I like the zones where you could crawl and not get jam packed into your own little space.

So, those would be juggs, chardok, Howling stones and the deep.

The older zones were just too crowded but I did have some fun on the live side... back in the day... Remember doing the Guk live side Aidon?

arcady
07-13-2003, 08:08 PM
I fell hard in love with permafrost when I first went there. I liked the color I liked its remote location and the idea that you were so close to vox was cool. When I first started playing. Also I remember finding medium bronze armor in abundance when many people claimed it didn't exisist.

Then again sebilis was where I had the most fun i suppose. maybe because snarers were required. /wink

Panamah
07-13-2003, 08:08 PM
I think HS was always a favorite for me. It never got terribly popular and, being a rogue, I could pick the locks. Pulling the first room in each wing was always a challenge that'd nearly get us killed each time... until we got really high level.
Then doing CR in HS was always a lot of fun, being a rogue and almost nothing could see me... almost. You'd have to sneak past some things and carefully con stuff.

The loot there was good for the time period and if your puller knew their stuff you could keep a lot of the south wing clear.

I loved the times when we crawled to the East wing and my enchanter friend would have about 5 things mezzed, be running low on mana, and we'd get adds. Those were the days. :)

Then again, Chardok was like that too. Pulling could bring tons of mobs, which I rather enjoyed having. :) Wipeouts were almost too fun before SoS. You were pretty good anywhere in Chardok except SOME of the dogs could see you. So you'd work on the angles and staying behind them. Sometimes you'd think for sure there was no way you could get past a dog, but you did anyway. Or at least 2 trips out of 3. :)

Sebilis used to be a ton of fun too. I remember when breaking PLA was difficult! Those two golems that chealed drove me nuts. I remember the first time, I was pretty sure I had heard they were unmezzable, so I told the enchanter not to bother mezzing them. Doh! They were mezzable. But we ended up evac'ing out of that fight because we ran out of mana with those 2 guys healing each other up.

And the Kitchen area used to be really hard. You'd have these enormous pulls and your enchanter would be working overtime to handle everything. :)

Later on I liked going to Juggs with a single group. I would do the pulling and try to get singles. Occassionally we'd end up with 3 or so and we'd be in deep doo-doo.

Then when Velious was new Velks was SO scary! all those slippery ramps and I remember the Icepaw Kobolds hit incredibly hard. And going to lower dogs was just about suicidal, but incredibly fun.

Then going WAY back, the old CT was a lot of fun in your teens and twenties.

Kaledan
07-14-2003, 02:43 AM
#1 Chardok (after revamp)
#2 Howling Stones (the thought of how much of a pain it will be if you die adds to the thrill)
#3 Karnor's Castle (trains are fun)
#4 Plane of Justice (everyone complains about there being no dungeons in PoP, but they all miss this gem).
#5 Veksar (a good 'starter' dungeon, if a bit easy in most places)

Soru

Fenmarel Mestarine
07-14-2003, 03:39 AM
Hey what's your problem with LoY? Nadox is awesome. Before LoY I never stepped foot in a dungeon. Now I cann't get enough of Nadox! If you want a tighter creepier Dungeon Hate's Fury is your place even tho it's on the small side.

SilleyEskimo
07-14-2003, 03:45 AM
Tough call. Each place as a special place in my heart. From the old world zones, I would have to say Chardok. I love Chardok. I've spent a lot of time there and it's just extremely diverse, branching off in so many directions at once.

For the newer zones, Dulak Harbour is pretty freaking sweet. It's just set up extremely well. It seperates the people/camps very well, while keeping a coherent theme. Sprinkle the zone with lots of nice loot, and you have a winner. Although, I also think Veskar is extremely well done too and I was close to choosing it as my favorite newer zone.

Basically, the design team that's done Veskar, LoY, Chardok B, and the new Hate, deserve a huge pat on the back. It's a great time to be playing EQ thanks to those guys. I've never looked more forward to an expansion as LDoN.

Aluaeia
07-14-2003, 05:03 AM
Big problem with PoJ is that while it *looks* like a dungeon and it *feels* like a dungeon, it sure aint a dungeon, and I just got 3 adds through a wall in the caves.

Kaledan
07-14-2003, 06:53 AM
If you don't get adds through a wall, it's not a 'real' dungeon:-)

Seriously, PoJ is difficult, has decent loot on nameds (with common + rare drops), very good plat loot, valuable tradeskill items, fairly common spell drops, and is never camped. What's not to like?

Soru

Len the druid
07-14-2003, 08:12 AM
well for people that didn't do the lake,ot,kc path..

Nurga was a great dungeon for a group of 6 level 35's. You had to keep moving, never got any quirky adds. Loot sucked though.

Next..Kaesora. 6 level 40's breaking the library was a great experience..or falling down one of those chutes and having to crawl back up to the library..and then back uip to the surface..hoss. Plus sweet loot! And i remember the first time i crawled it..after about 2 hours someone in the group said.."has anyone lucked at your XP bar?"..that places was insane if you did it at a challenging level.

Autumn10
07-14-2003, 08:35 AM
CT was bittersweet. The feeling you got when a named popped was great(especially if it was one that dropped rubi armor), but the trains, ks'ing, and just overall terrible behavior of some people(and one notable guild) was almost unbearable. I never really was one much for dungeons after that.

Panamah
07-14-2003, 08:44 AM
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I never really was one much for dungeons after that. [/quote]

Ah, that could explain a lot then. :)

Autumn10
07-14-2003, 09:00 AM
That doesn't explain a lot, bah! I like dungeons a lot, but because of the way people play in them they become death traps at worst or just not fun places to be at best. I always enjoyed dungeons in other games and if it wasn't for the negative behaviors and actions that have taken place I would enjoy them more in Everquest. LDoN should solve that problem and that's why I look forward to it. So there Panamah, pffttt. :p

Panamah
07-14-2003, 09:13 AM
Don't you <em>"pffttt"</em> me!

Moderator! Moderator! I've been pffttt'd!

Duralupal
07-14-2003, 09:24 AM
Dalnir! -- once you went past that first drop-off you really had the feeling that nobody could hear you scream....

Autumn10
07-14-2003, 09:55 AM
I always liked the look and feel of Grieg's End. Kaesora and Veksar are also cool but they all have one thing in common: they aren't much for loot(except maybe Veksar).

Oldoaktree
07-14-2003, 10:42 AM
Dalnir...not even my first dungeon (that would be Blackburrow which was also fun). But it was atmospheric, supported three distinct gruop levels, had decent itemization, and was just fun to play in.

Several camps per floor, level appropriate challenge to pull. Just wish there had been more to the backstory.

After that, Chardok AFTER the revamp. A vast dungeon supporting many camps with great loot and some good story to it.

Seb is still a classic...again wide variety of camps for different level ranges.

Finally, VP...cuz of all the end game zones introduced at various times, this is the only one I have felt had that sense of vastness and awe.

Honorable mention to Dragon Necropolis for atmosphere, but I found the camping there a little tedious.

Stewwy
07-14-2003, 11:13 AM
Very few dungeons have made me go "WOW!!! This is cool!".

<strong>Sebilis</strong> - The first real HIGH LEVEL "Oh crap there's no way out" dungeon. Engenious design assocaited with some really neat LORE.

<strong>Estate of Unrest</strong> - What an atmosphere this zone still provides today! Hmmmm....and it amazing that a zone was built that has rooms where touching a wall doesn't get you aggro but you HAVE to open the door and the pathing makes sense. How did they do this before but can't do it today?

<strong>Upper Guk</strong> - Laid out wonderfully with a variety of areas and mobs. It "feels" like it built by a subterranean intelligence.

<strong>Veksar</strong> - A good ole Dungeon crawl. Been here two times and actually caught myself staring at the scenery a couple times thinking "That's pretty neat" In the Highborn area I was getting 2-3% AA per kill at 63 on the highest level regular mobs. Not bad I think.

Notice how two of these are old world dungeons. *sigh* This is why I think LDoN appeals to me so much.

some merchant
07-14-2003, 12:48 PM
Let's see...I have a bunch, but most are kinda weird, I didnt do dungeons much as a higher level.
Blackburrow is probably my favorite, I used to make alts all the time and no matter what race they were (including iksar hehe) i'd bring em over to BB (often by boat) and level them up there in black burrow, I love that place.

Kaesora: the Exp was good and it was just scary. Getting lost and being afraid of losing your corpse while you tried to save the member who'd fallen down the pit...fun stuff.

Dalnir was great, I spent many hours camping the crescent armor cause it was so uber back in the early days of kunark on my monk.

For pure atmosphere I love Dragon Necropolis and Veksar, and while I know most people wouldn't consider it a dungeon I have to mention Kael Drakkel, which has the coolest atmosphere in the game in my opinion.

Panamah
07-14-2003, 01:12 PM
I confess I didn't really spend much time in dungeons until I was in my 50's. It was REALLY hard to get people in their 30's to 50's to go to places like Droga and Nurga or Kaesora. The one dungeon I spent a bit of time lower levels in was Dalnir, but my groups there were almost always dysfunctional. Dungeons in dysfunctional groups is really not fun.

ccLothar
07-14-2003, 03:10 PM
It's so hard to pick one when you like so many. :)

Howlng Stones
Chardok
Crypt of Decay
Nardox
Hates Fury
Kedge
Veksar

Autumn10
07-15-2003, 09:52 AM
You didn't Panamah? That explains a lot. Gotcha! :p

I always liked Unrest too, that was one of the few dungeons(?) I spent any extended period of time in at some point.

Panamah
07-15-2003, 10:08 AM
Well, other than: a couple of days in Droga in my thirties (was the most fun I've ever had in EQ). A bit of time in Unrest. Not much in Befallen. I lived in CT a lot with my cleric. Kaesora a bit in the 30's-40's. Sol B a ton, but it hardly counts it was more like a camping place. Oh there was Mistmoore in the teens, forgot about that. But again, it was mostly camping and dodging trains. It is really hard to get people to go to hard dungeons when they're low level. Probably because CR is so difficult for them. Kaesora is an example of a dungeon where the CR can be REALLY difficult.

It really wasn't until 50's and getting to Sebilis that we did anything like crawling through dungeons. ;) Once I got started on that, I didn't want to stop.

Jarilon
07-16-2003, 04:48 AM
I really liked Mistmoore (if you can really consider that a dungeon), spent many a level there. I'm glad other folks mentioned Dalnir and Kaesora. They were both incredibly fun dungeons and you really had to be on your toes since doing a CR in either very tough.

One thing I really liked about Dalnir was how hidden from view the entrance was. I knew the approximate location but it took me a while to actually find it! :) For those that have never been there, the entrance is all the way in the top corner of the zone on the back of a hill, hidden from view by a tree.

Kaesora has a lot of nice ambiance and add to that the fact that almost as soon as you enter it you are cut off from the exit, makes for a very exciting experience. This is a true dungeon crawl in that you had to make your way all the way through just to get out! (unless you had a porter of course ;) )

Ahhh, old times. :)