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MMO Memories: horrible hill giants
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This was actually a terrifying sight, once.
MMO Memories is a new series in which I take a look back the past in MMOs, remembering the 'fail' and the 'win.'
As the second MMORPG I ever played - the second MMORPG of a large group of my peers - EverQuest has a ton of memories tucked away in my brain. However, one of the times that sticks out the most is a time of my young adventurer's trauma: the dreaded hill giant.
The world of Norrath was a pretty dangerous place, no matter your level or expertise. The hill giant was one of those dangers - one of those "Oh s#%*!" dangers.
You see, the hill giant was a level 33ish mob, roaming at will through a zone of level 6 to 12 mobs and the adventurers killing them. When a hill giant was in sight, it took creative evasive manuevering to avoid it (pathing wasn't then what it is now.) And if you did get its attention, you might as well die - guards would die to it, and it would follow you until the ends of the zone; that is, if you could survive the run.
For the new generation of MMO players, think of the hill giant as the first devilsaur - only far, far worse. In fact, when I first ran into Fel Reavers in Hellfire Peninsula, I thought dearly of the hill giant - except the Fel Reavers make lots of noise and shake the earth before they get close to you. Both World of Warcraft mobs are easier to survive hits from at the appropriate level, and more importantly, they give up chasing you after a certain distance.
Despite being traumatized by a poorly pixelated giant that looked like he was the town idiot, I actually hold a fond memory for hill giants. They come from a time when threat was very real in MMORPGs, a time when AFKing was only done cowering inside a small hut of friendly NPCs and adventurers had a real sense of limited power. World of Warcraft players joke about the fearful Hogger, but imagine if Hogger was twenty levels higher, allowed to roam the entire Elwynn Forest without a set path, and wouldn't let up once he found you until you were dead, or zoned into Stormwind, Westfall, or Lakeshire.
MMO developers have veered away from presenting this kind of threat to players. In the modern MMO, death is a minor setback, and the creatures living in a zone are level appropriate - and those that aren't, are very neatly tucked away to prevent chance encounters. Hill giants aren't "comfortable," and somewhere along the line, someone decided that MMOs should be comfortable, that MMO players are just armchair gamers who don't really want a challenge.
Well, Mr. hill giant, some of us are here that still remember you, and remember happily an era of thrills and excitement in MMORPGs. May your offspring, wherever they are, prosper.
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