After getting acquainted with the systems and quirks of EverQuest Legends, I decided to give instances a try.
(more…)Category: EverQuest
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EverQuest Legends Pre-order Beta Impressions Part 1
It’s finally here, something I have wanted for years: a single-player friendly version of classic EverQuest. I pre-ordered and I can play it right now, I just have to get past a major mental hurdle. This is a beta, and one where your character is wiped at the end.
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EverQuest Lore: The Ruins of Kunark Manual and Official Strategy Guide
Last week I began diving into EverQuest lore via primary print sources with the base game’s manual and original strategy guide. Now it’s time for Ruins of Kunark. Previously I had photographed all of the materials, but this time I opted to go with the scans on Archive.org. I own the original books (see pic above!), but using the scans makes it all much more readable. And there’s *a lot* to read here! Enough table setting- let’s dig into some EQ lore, starting with the manual.
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EverQuest Lore: The Manual and Official Player’s Guide
As I continue to re-immerse myself in Norrath, I was thinking about how little EverQuest lore I know. While I could easily watch fan-made explanation videos or read wiki entries, I thought it would be more fun to explore primary sources, starting with the game’s original manual and official player’s guide.
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Why EverQuest?
With Legends looming, I’ve been revisiting EverQuest via the recent time-locked progression server, Frostreaver. I just hit level 15 and I’m honestly having a great time. What’s the appeal? Why play this 27 year old game over World of Warcraft (which I also actively play and love)? Well, let me try to explain.
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EverQuest – Frostreaver Server
As I continue to get more and more hyped for EverQuest Legends, I decided to check out the new EQ time-locked progression server, Frostreaver. This is a pretty wild server, with a ruleset chosen by the community:
These rules add up to a more approachable experience, but far from an easy one; it’s still EverQuest. Once you create your character, you are dropped into the world with zero direction or signposting. There’s a quest chain for your class at the start, but if you aren’t paying attention to your inventory and NPC text, you won’t progress. There are no exclamation points over the heads of quest-givers here.
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EverQuest Legends (Stoked)
I have a deep love for EverQuest that dates back to 1999. It’s also a game that I haven’t really been able to commit to since like 2002. I adore the world and still dabble in it occasionally, but I’m pretty far removed from the all-nighters of my high school days. Enter EverQuest Legends: a remixed, solo-friendly version take on EQ that aims to capture the vibe and soul of early EverQuest while also acknowledging that OG players are now adults with responsibilities. One big change is that you can now multiclass to cover multiple party roles in a single character, making solo play more viable. Most notably to me, the punishing XP penalty on death has been removed- which removes the survival horror aspect of the original, but encourages exploration.
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Champions of Norrath (PS2 / Snowblind Studios / 2004)
I love EverQuest. For years, Norrath was my favorite fantasy game world, so I was ecstatic to play an action-looter (my favorite genre of RPG) in that setting. What made it even better is that Champions of Norrath was from Snowblind Studios, who had released the sublime Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance on PS2 in 2001. Needless to say, for me, Champions of Norrath did not disappoint.
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EverQuest (PC / Verant Interactive, 989 Studios / 1999)
While I’ve predominantly been a World of Warcraft player for the past couple of decades, EQ was my first MMO. It was, prior to WoW, the most successful game in the genre, and the standard-bearer. Which is wild, because EverQuest in its original form was one of the most punishing games ever conceived.
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