My my - That does dredge up a lot of memories
I too remember from the first week all the Wolver*, Wulver* wannabes, along with countless all-green "hulks".
I also remember:
* When you actually could trade with somebody, the max inf you could trade was 9999.
* When 30 Million on an L50 was rich beyond imagination -- pre Tailor...
* Needing to know the difference between the Yellow Line and the Green Line trams, (and, if I recall from the original beta properly? - having to actually wait until the proper zone scrolled up before clicking the door)?
* When the max attainable level was 40 - not 50.
* Once you *could* reach 50, there were often as many L1's in Peregrine Island as L50's. Unsurprisingly, Broadcast in PI consisted primarily of "PL me" or "Bridge wanted" chatter. The "bridge" was the guy who was exactly the right level to max XP between the L50 and L1 (I forget the exact level)
* I got the last five levels on my original I-1 toon from the Herding Wolves portal mission (Shadowhunter? That toon *still* had that mission on him when the doors finally shut). Also, many times, runs of that mission would actually crash/kill the game client due to all the particle effects, depending on which powerset mixes you had.
* The kora fruit mission could be kept indefinitely for medium inspies (My I-1 main still had *that* mission too)
* When the xp debt cap was huge - the first (disastrous) Hami-Raid for my guy (@L46) literally took him *days* to clear the debt. Ouchies.
* A few hospital trips due to some L50's mission ambush in AP or KR aggroing on some of my early lowbie characters with predictable, unfortunate results (and wondering, WTH?).
* When you had to unlock different contacts to be able to purchase "non-power 10" DO's and SO's (like end-mod, dmg resist, etc). It was also important to know (in the mid levels) to sell stuff to the proper contact(s) for the best prices if you wanted to be able to afford your next set of SO's. Oh, and the stores? They weren't shown on your map -- you had to learn where they were.
* Perma: Hasten, PA, armies of fire imps, multiple phantasms, were all *easily* attained on SO builds, and Ill/Rad Controllers were *the* AV soloists.
* Watching the 5th Column / Council Wars just prior to the patch that phased out the 5th Column for several years.
* Some of the crazy bugs with CoV release where villains would end up in hero zones, or get hero badges, etc. Some really crazy stuff happened when that first got released.
Finally,
Not only do I recall when you could herd mobs, but you could *also* herd ... citizens. My first Peacebringer had many amusing hours having a couple dozen grateful citizens following him around AP like the Pied Piper.
The best part of that? Bringing them all into the Entrance to the Hollows and seeing all the commentary from lowbie heroes as they tried to fight thru the throngs to get into, and out of, the Hollows.... Hilarious.
Cheers,
4