EverQuest is long in the tooth, over-rated, and now overwhelmingly time-consuming.
User Rating: 5.1 | EverQuest: Omens of War PC
I have played Everquest since it was released back in 1999. I have loved this game, I have hated this game. But as of now I have cancelled my account with this game. EverQuest started out as a pioneer in the MMORPG genre. I remember when the only two mobs in the game that were raid-level mobs were Lord Nagafen and Lady Vox. Then when Plane of Fear was added and an entire zone was now raid-level. I remember that patch message about how dangerous Plane of Fear was and that you entered at your own risk. But the game was getting very small, people were killing the town guards for experience, and every dungeon for high level players was packed to capacity. Enter Ruins of Kunark. Finally you felt like you could stretch your legs. There was room to move around and enough zones that places weren't extremely crowded. This expansion had the first keyed dungeons, Sebilis, Charasis, and the very dangerous, dragon-infested, Veeshan's Peak. There were raid-level dragons randomly it seemed in 4 zones. Still not a whole lot of raid level content, but the level max was raised to 60, and there was a ton more things to do and find. Things were fun, and the only real time sink was trying to get you key to Veeshan's Peak. Then Velious was released. This expansion was simply awesome. The giants against the dragons, and the dwarfs in the middle somewhere, more planes, tons of quests, fun zones, Temple of Veeshan was fun to raid in and there was only one keyed zone in the expansion. The keyed zone had amazing weapons, and the key was pretty easy to get. The time sink was waiting for spawns and waiting for first brood dragons to spawn so you could get the keys. NTOV was the place to be and the armor graphics were really starting to get neat looking. The best times ever to be had in EQ were the Velious era times. Then along came Luclin, in my opinion the most awful expansion ever to litter EQ. It had massive time-sinks at every turn, buggy zones with buggy traps, mobs that took millennia to kill even though they were easy strategy-wise. Did I mention the time-sinks, massive time-sinks, every turn, every key to access an uber zone was months of time-sink. It was rumored that the time-sinks were just delaying guilds from getting to the upper Luclin content that was unfinished... I doubt this is true, since those time-sinks for the most part are still very intense to this day. Upper Luclin zones are now deserted and will stay that way because no guild will invest that time to enter old expansions high level areas. Planes of Power was a rather fun expansion great loot, a neat little way to progress through the expansion. There were nice strategies to learn, great loot to receive, and lots of varied surroundings. But the flagging became its major thorn in the side as well. You can be good enough to get flagged, and ready and willing, but if you can't find the people to raid with to get flagged, you don't get flagged, and you don't get to see the content. As new expansions are released, the possibilities of getting flagged are even further reduced, leaving you with lower level gear, and unable to become very useful in future expansions due to not progressing in this expansions. These flags as well as the Luclin time-sinks were never lifted, and therefore another great expansion is falling into disuse. The group level zones are still quite popular. Some flags were auto-flagged to individuals at certain levels, but the flagging to get into elemental zones or Plane of Time is more work than most guilds are willing to put into the game for an old zone any more. Legacy of Ykesha was a mini expansion added a few new zones, but mainly new features, and many people didn't consider it much of an expansion. The new features were cool, most of them, but the zones were mid-level and too remote to become very popular. Lost dungeons of Norrath was the introduction of instanced zones. Great for groups to experience grind in without the worry of other groups taking spawns. The raid side never became very popular because the raids were very difficult, and the reward was very meager. It still is the most popular way to experience grind. Gates of Discord is where I became un-interested in continuing to play Everquest... more flagging zones, more boring content. More tailoring to the uber guilds and leaving casual players in the dust, since they still hadn't gotten their elemental gear from planes of power. Same old uber-guild geared expansion, if you work for a living, you are left out, if you can play 8 - 10 hours a day every day and join a guild of others who can you will succeed, otherwise you will not. Those of you with lives need not apply, as the game has nothing for you any more. Now Omens of war hits the shelves. Apparently this expansion has only one keyed zone. Now casual players are left so far behind that the basic mobs of this expansion can cut through your hit points very fast. Level is raised to 70 and the level grind to get there is very intense. World of Warcraft is on the horizon and casual players are excited, finally a game that you can play that you can advance without playing 10 hours a day. EQ is certainly not a game for the new player to start playing today. Unless you have someone to help you get going really well, and have time, lots of it, to play every single day. Getting to see all the content in EQ is now bordering on impossible, as the sheer time it would take to get into all the zones is astronomical. If you are new to EQ... do yourself a favor and pass EQ up. Personally I had a magician for a very long time... who I played every day for longer than I like to admit. I got very busy with my life and was unable to commit a lot of play time to EverQuest any longer. When I wasn’t putting in the time that the guild I was a member of demanded from me, I was forced to disband from the guild. That character was then of little use to me since the only improvements or progress I could make with it, would require an uber-guild. I started brand new with a berserker on a different server to give casual play a try, and there is just far too much to try to accomplish, as a casual player and absolutely no means of accomplishing it. Casual players have to settle for sub-par gear, and just gaining experience in groups. I was unable to enjoy this reality.
