Was EverQuest doing extraction-style gameplay before it was a genre?

[stoneplayer]

I was thinking about old EverQuest corpse runs and realized something interesting. The core tension actually feels similar to modern extraction games.

You’d push deeper into dangerous zones for better loot. If you died, all your gear stayed on your corpse. Then the real mission began: organizing a corpse run, gathering friends, avoiding respawns, and trying to recover everything before the 7-day decay timer.

It wasn’t designed as an extraction game, but the risk-vs-recovery loop felt surprisingly similar. Instead of extracting from a raid, you were extracting your gear from your own corpse.

Makes me wonder if modern MMOs like Warvox, with its beta coming soon, might experiment with similar high-risk gameplay loops again.

 

[iscottjames]

That’s actually a really interesting comparison. Old EverQuest corpse runs definitely had that same risk-versus-reward tension that makes extraction games so intense today. The moment you died, the whole objective changed from progression to recovery, and suddenly every step back into danger felt meaningful. It created real stakes in a way many modern MMOs avoid. If games like Warvox bring back even a lighter version of that kind of pressure, it could make the experience feel much more memorable.

 

[stoneplayer]

Those old-school corpse runs made every decision matter because you knew one mistake meant earning your gear back the hard way. Modern MMOs sanitized that tension but extraction games proved players still crave that risk. Been hoping Warvox captures that old-school feel with its dangerous zones knowing when to push or pull back hits different when the stakes are real.