The EverQuest Retirement Home for the Nostalgic

As of this writing, SOE Live 2014 is ongoing. While primarily watching streams for EverQuest Next info, I've found myself watching several of the panels for the original EverQuest. That combined with Dan's recent virginal forays into WoW have caused my nostalgia for EQ to flare up again (more so than usual). I've spent a considerable amount of time on the wiki here trying to document the game, but I feel like it'd be cool if there was a place to talk about it, share memories, and maybe find out some of us played on the same server way back when. I don't expect this post to be super popular, but we'll see.

A while back I wrote some blogs about specific memories. I should start doing that again.

• Solstices, Pottery, Collusion, and Gnomes - December 21, 2012
• Death of an Emperor - November 30, 2012
• Don't Wake the Dragon - September 14, 2012
• An Alliance is Born - August 24, 2012
• You Are Currently Bound in the Plane of Fear - August 17, 2012
• Don't Sleep in The Hole - August 10, 2012
• It Pains My Soul - August 3, 2012
• Camping Ragefire - July 26, 2012

Feel free to share any stories of your grand and/or nefarious adventures in Norrath below. And if you post your character(s) name, server, guild name, and when you played, I'll add it to the list. Who knows? Maybe we played together.

I never really played Everquest back in the day (went all in with Ragnarok Online as my first MMO) but I did play the beta of the PS2 version.

I came to EverQuest as a refugee from Ultima Online (pvp never felt fair and it was constantly changing so screw them) and stayed around till WoW went live which I can't recall which expansion that was...? My memories are poor but I do distinctly remembering "Planes of Power" was the most satisfied I was with the game.

I started playing everquest 1 in early 2000. The highlight for me was being on the first trakanon kill. Everquest was an incredible game and I still load it up from time to time. I was on RN too but I don't think we played together. I was Spewid/Spewidette active from 2000-2003 on RN in Dragon Knights and Altered Destiny.

I started playing EQ in summer 2001, during the Velious era. I played various characters on Druzzil Ro until about 2003 (Tanuvien, wood elf ranger and Pickpockets, half elf rogue, in Tenacity). I got as far as raiding Kael Drakkal/west Temple of Veeshan, Ssraeshza Temple and some early PoP stuff (definitely pre-elemental planes, I think maybe we beat Rallos Zek the Warlord once? ). That server was famous for its drama, so I'm sure I pissed off one of you at least once.

When the progression servers launched, I played Calixto (half elf ranger) in Realm of Insanity on The Combine (2006-2008), then on Maelin Starpyre in Triality (2009). I then switched to Calpal (gnome wizard) in Realm of Insanity on Druzzil Ro -> Xegony (2009-11). (that's a lot of server merges...) Between the two guilds I did every raid event from Nagafen to Morell Thule (final boss of the House of Thule expansion).

My ranger when I retired him: http://eq.magelo.com/profile/1439793, and my wizard: http://eq.magelo.com/profile/1766070. Though they never released subscriber numbers once they came down off the peak, best estimates for the post-progression era are in the ~50k range, so I'd be surprised if anyone here played with me!

My favorite accomplishment was one-grouping Big Bynn I during the Dragons, Dragons, Dragons anniversary event in 2009. It's difficult to explain what an achievement that was at the time, except maybe to say that the developer of the event gave my group custom titles and a line in the patch notes of the next patch. (Basically, we beat a 54-man raid from one expansion prior with 6 people.)

Oh yeah, I'll talk anyone's ear off about Gates of Discord progression all day. Breakdown in Communication is the best quest to ever grace an MMO.

I came to EQ the day it was released. Rolled a wood elf ranger and my girlfriend at the time rolled a wood elf bard.

I remember farming wisps for their wisp stones, which sold for a gold. I also remember a friend of mine getting stuff for the bard blue armor set. He gave it to me to give it to my girlfriend and I died on a boat in the middle of the ocean thanks to a dumb giant, lol.

And I'm surprised no one's mentioned this. CAMP CHECK!

The big thing I think EQ preserved, although by accident and tech reasons, and I think is lost in modern MMOs is the free association. You could be a Freeport Human Paladin and group up with Dark Elf Necromancer to kill off some dragon. The net effect was the game promoted free association (at least for vanilla pve) while still giving costs and benefits to what ever you did pick for that character. There were places that human paladin couldn't go that the dark elf could and vice versa.

It always felt weird that in games like WoW or Wildstar there is a grand big bad out there that threatens both sides that has to be dealt with or everyone loses...oh yeah and there is pvp stuff over there.

I don't remember your name, but I totally remember both of those guilds. You guys were top tier for quite a while. I'd be willing to bet we were in pick up groups in Sebilis, Velks, or something at some point.

Hell yeah, tracking down wisps in West Commonlands was good money around level 12 or so. That blue armor was Lambent. And to answer your CC... "Frenzied Ghoul!"

@extomar: Honestly, PoP was where it started going down hill for me. Sure, killing god after god was fun, but the adventure was all but gone. The creation of PoK made traveling around Norrath trivial and made the game feel small.

Velious was my favorite. Though, if I'm being objective, Kunark was probably the best overall just for how much it added to the base game just a year later.

Marino! You started the EQ talks up again, awesome!

I had actually fired back up p99 in the last month or so, currently maining a 43 druid hanging around in mistmoore. When I figure I'd check back on the everquest wiki page here and lo and behold, you started up this thread a few days ago :P

Could not agree more that PoP kind of ruined it. I checked back into live like a year ago and it's just not the same. The community was broken up, free to travel where they wanted to. In p99 (where velious will be the last expansion), it's nice to see that the newbie zones are populated with newbies (as opposed to that damn tutorial cave in live) and that the tunnel is filled with players trying to peddle their items. Hits me right in the nostalgia nerve!

I have a terrible memory so this will be very vague but back in live I mained a necro. I remember I was kiting some mobs in one of the planes, and I was on a horse. I had also started getting into AA's at that point and had one that summoned a temporary skeleton archer? By that point all the buying and selling was done in the bazaar in luclin I believe.

@lanechanger: Yeah, I came to terms several years ago with the fact that recapturing that magic is impossible. P99 and things like Shards of Delaya scratch the itch a little, but the sense of wonder and discovery is gone. Everyone knows how to do everything and get everywhere at this point. And most importantly, all the people I loved (and hated) are gone.

It's sad to think that EQ was the most fun I will ever have in a game, but it's probably true.

I definitely have a huge soft spot for Everquest. I've put far more hours into EQ and EQ2 than any other game and I have so many fond memories of both of them. It's kind of funny to think back and realize how much fun I had doing absolutely nothing but hanging out with random people while waiting for things to spawn. I only played the original a little unfortunately. I started playing around the Luclin expansion and played until around the time the next expansion was released. The bulk of my time was with EQ2. I still play it off and on.

I'm hoping EQN will be able to reignite some of that same excitement and enthusiasm I had while playing the previous games.

I guess? I mean a big reason why I abandoned EQ for WoW was spending too much time doing anything and everything to prepare to "fight something" instead of actually doing the "fight something". I mean being able to always go home when you want was a godsend compared to begging for a teleport.

Oh boy, I bought the Ruins of Kunark expansion with the original game back in 2000. Sadly I cannot remember which server I played on or what character name I was using back then. I can't remember getting past around lvl 35. For the life of me I cannot remember what stopped me from playing, but I played for at least a year or two. Really wish I had kept going though, some of my earliest and fondest video game memories are from that game.

What! But that's the best time to shoot the shit with your group!

@marino did you get into Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and/or following development on Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen? Both Brad McQuaid joints, of whom I've read some unfavorable things about and maybe sounds a little crazy? Anyways, I had only heard about both of those recently that are supposedly spiritual successors to everquest. The former of which had been shut down by SOE. Was just wondering if you had dabbled into those at all.

"you are currently bound to the plane of fear". hahahah yes, haven't read it yet but man that title brings back memories.

povar, The Stone Cutters, human magician chain casting cheater, ~ release + a month or two (1999) up until moon cats.

I was in the Vanguard beta suuuuper early. That game...man. So much potential and it just never came together. Having Microsoft dump them surely didn't help, and then SOE basically shoved it out the door. It never really had a chance.

I backed Pantheon out of curiosity but it was clear pretty early that it wasn't going to make it. I wrote a blog about that too.

@marino: Just read it, it's depressing but everytime I read one of your EQ or eq related blogs I feel like you're a war dog that needs to be reintroduced back into society lol. Of course I say that, but I'm the one still currently playing obsessively. To be fair there were a lot of content that I never saw from live that I'm seeing for the first time now so that's fun.

I never played the original Everquest- just saw other people playing it at game shops and what not at the time it came out. I did play Everquest 2 for a while after it came out, but that game was more like WoW.

I played Star Wars Galaxies which had some similar features to EQ. Like, one time time they said Darth Vader had check points or something (I forget the wording exacly) so all off planet flights were delayed by 30 minutes.

It was really cool when they do that stuff, in theory. It definitely helps build community and immersion in the world. It made starports the insane place they probably should be (much like real life airports), but it could be argued that a lot of it was a waste of time.

I don't know. I like that kind of stuff. Vanilla SWG was such an amazing game for various reasons, but it had less of a quest structure than mass appeal wants I guess. We'll never get that kind of stuff again- minus maybe Second Life which somehow still exists. That's a little to far into sandbox for my taste, though.

Not a lot of EU folk here then I see. You can add me to the list, just in case. Played Qrofol [HIE WIZ] (and Froqol [FRG SHM] once Ykesha was released) first on Saryrn and then on Antonious Bayle when it opened up. I think the years were something like '01-'05 - I quit after WoW came out, since most of my guild moved there. Wyrd Angles was such a great guild - I think it might still exist in some games, in some form.

I'm currently playing on P99 and having a blast. Started right before my summer holiday and then promptly spent most of my free time in Norrath again. I did go back once before on EQLive - but it was way too different. On P99 I'm actually getting to experience those old zones somewhat like I did back in the day. Just now, I finished a DW croc murdering group in Oasis. I'm also doing all the little quests that I neglected back in the day - they yield crappy items, but are a part of the game I missed in my hurry to level up.

Blocking off the EC tunnel with treeforms. Having a bunch of halflings clip through to run trade; and charging a premium.

Also: NOTHING catches a bard with a drum. NOTHING.

@doomocrat: Haha. The EC tunnel was the best. As a halfling cleric, I also remember ducking/wedging my way through people at the entrance to the tunnel. I remember it being enchanters making a fat wall of ogres though. And, yeah bard percussion was great. I remember spending time binding people for donations at the Freeport gate while bards were offering taxi runs to Qeynos for 100pp.

@dunchad: Man...I spent so much time in Oasis. Endless spectre trains. Cazel smashing people with his spoon. Lockjaw ripping people up at the docks. Yet, I still spent level 14-20 there before moving on to High Keep. I was pretty upset when they got rid of Oasis by folding it into the revamped Desert of Ro zones.

The best part of the EC tunnel were the hippogriff/Sargeant Slate train battles.

@laika: The only good Slate is a dead Slate.

I started with Ruins of Kunark in 2000 and stopped in late 2002 at Planes of Power.

I started on Solusek Ro as an Erudite wizard who got chain slaughtered in Blackburrow. I then made a dwarf warrior but couldn't get past lvl 20. I stupidly spent all my money on a level capped executioner's axe instead of proper 1 handers like Ykeshas. I kept dying in Unrest over and over. I switched to necromancer, got to 35, killed enough Hill Giants to buy proper rogue gear. I made a gnome rogue named Popi on Ayonae Ro. I was in a guild called Exiled Alliance.

At that point Velious (the best expansion) had just launched. I got loads of affordable Velious twinkage gear and poopsocked my way to lvl 60 rather quickly. My lvl 59 only took 32 hours of non stop grouping in Howling Stones with high end players. I think I was the first lvl 60 gnome rogue on Ayonae Ro. That has to count for something. I had a fungi tunic, full sets of PoH/Kunark/ToV gear and a sweet Ragebringer. But my best piece of gear had to be the runspeed boots.

I stopped at PoP. The SoL models were absolute garbage and my gear was crap and no way I was going to go through the same hardships to get yet another armor set. I also had something like 10 AA points. I was tired of grinding. So I stopped!

Compared to WoW, the game was a barely interactive chatroom filled with badly designed quests. However the people were great and there was nothing else like it. And it had a decent lore going on. Rivervale was awesome. Trading in the EC tunnel was great! I even managed to lock people in the Freeport vault!

@dunchad: Hey! What's your name on p99?!

Glad there's so much love for the tunnels, I spent my whole day there today porting for cash!

I was not allowed to pick MMO servers (DaoC, WoW and a few others) for my group of friends after I picked Veeshan as our EQ server on day one and that happened to be where Fires of Heaven were playing. What a nightmare with all the drama spawned by them and their opponents. I gave up playing when the nice relatively small guild I was in (forgot the name) decided to join with many other guilds into Celestial Heavens to try and compete with FoH and it was all stupid stuff happening all the time. I believe my character was named Cantos and he was a lvl 42 rogue when I stopped playing, I do remember doing lots of lower Guk corpse runs for people back in the day.

I'll have to see if I can find the screenshot I took one day in a ice dungeon when Brad Mcquaid showed up with his character Aradune to watch one of the first dragon runs. I wasn't on the run but was hunting in the dungeon with a friend before the raid showed up and we had no idea it was happening.

Oops a bit of google searching shows the mega guild was Celestial Tomb not Heaven, been too long for me.

I still think about old EQ occasionally. Its really weird. I wasn't good at it and I didn't progress very far in it but I had so much fun with it. Playing with my friends and just filling out the world in my head.

I started playing in in '99 or '00. I remember I had finally started making money and was going to try a MMO either Everquest or Ultima Online. I ended up going with Everquest. I played it for a couple nights to see what it was like and then got 2 of my other friends involved as well. I get nostalgic for the old software rendered UI with the mini 3D environment in the middle of the screen and huge buttons around the screen.

I played a druid on 7th Hammer. I can't remember our guild name. We weren't involved with it's ongoings really. We didn't group with them too much and the guild didn't do raids or anything. It was just another chatroom. EQ was the first time I'd where someone I had played with or chatted with online had died though. Unfortunately it wasn't the only time but it was the first time I had to go through those feelings of "Are they a friend even if I don't even know their real name or even what they look or sound like?"

My one friends kind of had his own detached apartment at his parents place so we just left our computers setup over at his house. We would go to his place when we weren't working and just play. Honestly I don't even remember what level I got to. I kind of recall some of the hell levels, wasn't level 56 one of them? I remember a lot of having quest guide websites open to even figure out how to get and complete quests. The "game" part of that game was pretty frustrating. Outside of walking around a 3d environment and clicking buttons it was pretty much a brick wall of systems I recall. I think I mostly ported my friends around and cast entangle to let my friends actually kill stuff. I seem to remember the druid being not too good at anything except porting. I really enjoyed being in the fantasy environments in a 3D world with other people though. I remember during all the stupid, kill x, y number of times quests I would just imagine what-if this game was more robust and had actual story lines and impact of the player. I would make up back stories or history of areas.

I know we stopped playing probably in 2002. A couple of us got different jobs and then also started sampling other MMOs. I know I was playing Anarchy Online & the Shadowbane beta and the EVE Online beta. But playing Everquest directly lead to me getting an job at a start-up in 2002 trying to make a MMO. It went horribly wrong but it was my experience working in the games industry.

I played on Zeburouk that eventually merged with Xegony. My name was Tilania and I was a female Dark Elf Wizard. Everyone called me Til2 because there was a Til1 (He was a Paladin, and a friend) before me in the Guild (Remember, Everquest was all about text coordination). I started playing during Veilous. I was in Stone. Stone was a great Guild. I helped build it with everyone else. From being also rands to being the No. 2 or 3 Guild on the Server. We were never gonna surpass DH, and we really didn't care to.

One thing I'm not sure if people have covered yet is they way Raids worked in Everquest. Especially in places like Temple. Temple had 3 main wings and a wing small guys could do. There were 3 channels and a /say channel that had a range, so you would co-ordinate with whoever else was running raids while you were what channels people would watch and which to mute. Someone would use /shout someone would use /ooc and someone else would use something I can't remember. These were mostly used for Clerics to co-ordinate Complete heal spells and Tanks to call Aggro.

What we really liked to do and specialized in, and this was pre Planes of Power and in the midst of Luclin (before we got that sweet sweet VT Gear), was to break Plane of Fear and Plane of Hate in very small groups (It was a point of pride to do it with One). Not for loot, not for bragging rights, it was just something we liked to do. It also helped us with the up and comers, because if your guild wiped in a Plane, you'd probably batphone us. Remember back then, corpse rot was a real thing. You had to get your shit within a few hours or you were fucked. This is also why I really loved oldschool EQ, and probably why I play games like Eve. There is Palpable risk. If shit goes wrong in Fear or Hate, you are in a bad fucking way (also wtf SOE, why wasn't the Necro Epic a clickable summon on par with the Clerics??!?!)

Worst Moments in EQ? Keys for Ssra Emp. Keys for Planes. We had a Rotation thing on our server for Vex Thal. We had a bunch of server resets several times when it was ours. Clearing VT 5 times in 7 days three times sure will gear up you guild, but holy fuck did it suck.

Not long ago I had gone to the old server community board and it was still up. People were still talking. I quit after I got access to Plane of Time as that expansion burned me totally out. I was super jazzed to hear that a GF/BF that met in our guild eventually got married and had kids.

Everquest was a game could feel like a down right adventure. I remember being level 20. Asking a friend what I should do, and he said. Roll up some food and water and go live in LoIo. So I did some fishing, made a grip of batrolls, stocked up on water and waited for the boat and heading out to Lake of ill Omen because that is where you did 20-30. That was also where I no longer had to look at that stupid fucking book.

Spent more time in lGuk that I ever want to talk about. Fucking christ, I can still remember exactly how to get to safe hall and it's been at least 15 years. I bet I could still navigate EW levitated to hell to get to Giants entrance

Played from 1999-2005 and bailed when 2/3 of our guild left for WoW. I was typing out what kind of behind the scenes drama that power guilds dealt with, and lost all my text, so this is it for me.

This area seems lacking in posts with fun concepts like instance rotations, guild alliances, Euro/Aussie/Korean guilds that ignored or refused schedules and just ganked whatever was leftover. Point systems, group makeups, 8-man healing rotations with cover healers that watched separate channels, "sunshine" players, "tourists". Oh yeah no Vent servers or voice chat..... All f-ing macros and asshole ascii spam lines to clear channel chat.

WoW got rid of most of the nonsense managing a guild with 200+ members just so you can raid every night with 50-60 people and thank god. It really was a second job, with more hardcore leaders being unemployed/ independently wealthy and ran it like their only job.

Heh. I forgot that one of my Guild's leaders was featured on the 20/20 Everquest thing. Good old Ssra.

@lanechanger: Currently maining Vaaksan - lvl18 gnome mage. My altitis ran out of control and I have pretty much every class covered, but I figure I'll stick with the mage for now. Also did a bunch of TunnelQuesting with Taeoz, my lvl25 halfling druid to gear up my alts. During my vacation I've been logged during the night as well, but from now on, I'll probably be on during evening EU time - throw me a tell if you see me about.

Dinged 51 and getting into some fun kunark content now!

Oh man, EverQuest. No game will ever hold such a special place in my heart as EQ does.

Played on Seventh Hammer from late '99 to.... Oh I don't know, was it Omens of War or something? Pretty sure the level cap was 70 at the time. I had many characters over that time, but my main was a gnome magician called Ozek.

Absolutely nothing like the magical feeling of adventure and wonder that I experienced with my time on EQ. Zones like The House of Unrest will forever live on in my memory. Just an epic experience from the moment I started playing.

EverQuest, the greatest game I'll ever play.

Found you! But you had your hands full :P

@lanechanger: Ooh, taking close-up shots of me while invis'd. That's not creepy at all. :) Weird that the Tola robe looks like that to you, while being green to me.

@dunchad: I was also breathing heavily while I was invis'ing behind you, I mean, what?

As an Ultima Online player, I was never able to get into EQ. The game felt so much more limiting in comparison.

@datarez: Sorry I haven't responded. PAX kept me busy. Love the long response though. I think the first time "real life" crossed into the game for me was on 9/11. One of my guild's officers (and former leader) worked in the WTC. Luckily, he got out in time. But, playing that afternoon and us not knowing was super weird.

As for hell levels, all of the 50's were crazy, but especially 54 and 59.

As for lore, there is actually a lot in the game, it's just that they don't always do a great job conveying it. A few years ago, when I was working on filling out all the EQ stuff on the wiki here, I learned a lot of stuff I never knew about the game (10 years after the fact).

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@zakn: Ha! I love the Temple of Veeshan chat explanation. The one you were forgetting was /auction. The faction wars of Velious were always fun to me, and that's what determined who went where in ToV. West ToV (Hall of Relics) was for giant lovers. East ToV (Halls of Testing) was for dragon lovers. And North ToV (Vault of Worship), was for anyone strong enough to go for some of the best loot in the game at that point.

I'm totally with you on needing a fear of death back in MMOs. It's the #1 thing missing these days.

Vex Thal five times in a week. Ugggggghh. I got soooo burnt out on that place. There was one night (probably similar to your situation) where we were up late clearing "our turn" on VT. Around 1AM, the server crashed. We had a decision to make. We could either quit, and let the Korean guild on our server (daytime for them) take it, or we could hold our ground and start over. I remember seeing the sun come up through my window as we were entering Aten Ha Ra's chamber. It was real dumb. We were all dead tired, but were laughing deliriously by the end of it.

I do have to disagree with you about Guk though. I loved that damn place. Sure, I hated it at times, but I spent 40-50 there on my first character and have countless stories about it.

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The rotation stuff was pretty prevalent on Rodcet Nife. The guild I was in during the time I was playing ended up being the #2 American time zone guild on the server behind Avatars of Discord and later Ascent. There was a Korean guild, Arirang, that could do everything we could. So, yeah, we worked out a loose rotation plan which not everyone always stuck to (see my VT story above), which led to some drama of course. But that's one of the elements of the game I look back on fondly. The competition for spawns was fun. Instancing ruined this.

My first main was a cleric so I know all too well about the complete heal chains. Christ, that got real crazy sometimes. One person lags a little and everything just falls apart.

We also switched to DKP system during Luclin, which worked out great for me. I ended up getting our guild's first two Emperor Ssraeshza drops (haste boots and the torque).

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@guesty_01: Oh, man. A magician. I always felt bad for you guys in LFG situations. I love that you brought up Unrest though. That place was scary as hell at the time. It was the first destination that led me to take the boat from Freeport to Butcherblock (I was a halfling). Someone had told me I needed to go there to grind. I looked it up online and simply had to get a Bloodstained Tunic. It was so far away from any sort of bank though. I remember being encumbered by coppers and not wanting to destroy the money, but then someone would run a train down the walls towards the exit and I'd have to literally drop my money in order to attempt an escape.

The mere mention of Unrest puts nightmares of frenzied beetles into my bones.

To me it always reminds me of the wail of those "festering hags." You could hear them through the walls.

@marino: How many years did it take for that game to have more than two healing sound effects, anyway?

So this happened earlier tonight!

@marino: Why feel bad? I always thought as a mage we brought alot to the table :)

Plus we always had the option to efficiently solo.

Huh, so Champions of Norrath is actually from the EverQuest universe?

@lanechanger: Oh, man. Gorenaire fights were always a clusterfuck for us for some reason.

Probably til Luclin? I like the old stuff anyway though. There this web page that seems to linger forever that has all the sound files if you're interested.

Yeah, I'm not saying mages didn't have value. But, on the list of classes people would look for when building a group in Sebilis or something, mages were pretty low on the list.

Ha! Yes! The game originally had a subtitle of "Realms of EverQuest."

Mages stayed useless for a pretty long time, other than Call of the Hero (and a brief spell of overpowered Mod Rods during Luclin).

@lanechanger: I thought Gorenaire was a joke to kill. Right near the end 3 wizards with manaburn aa could just smoke him with no real raid. His hp were capped at 32k hp. Did they go back and buff the Kunark and Old World dragons?