Unfortunately, the peak of Everquest popularity happened way before the time I got into online gaming. I did try to get into Everquest several times since, but the learning curve always appeared to be to steep. I only recently managed to grasp some basics and play a bit on Project 1999 and that only happened cause P1999 has fewer systems and there was a helpful Discord server, a lot of youtube streamers, and a decent wiki. BTW I feel like those resources are totally classic because they basically emulate having an IRL friend who plays EQ. I sadly never had such a friend.
Does that mean I tried to play EQ in 2012?
I finally felt I was ready for some Daybreak's Everquest. I did want to play on a new TLP server, but I could not play due to server issues I wrote about in the last post (and then TAGN made a much better post about the same thing an hour later.) So I went to play on a normal server. Since I wanted to see the whole new Crescent Reach solo experience making a Drakkin character was an obvious choice. And because only the Drakkin (and for some weird reason that I don't really understand bards) can worship Veeshan I wanted to make a religious class and eventually went for a cleric. Sadly, I could not find much lore on Veeshan clergy. But instead of Crescent Reach the game sent me into a tutorial.
Everquest is so hardcore even smashing a barrel is risky.
It seems like there are conflicting opinions about the tutorial. Hardcore "nostalgia" players and Bhagpuss seem to hate it, while TAGN has some praise for it. I personally did enjoy the tutorial. I did all non-group quests without mercenaries and it was challenging enough. My character died several times. That's amazing considering that while playing an average modern MMORPG I usually get to mid-to-high levels without dying once. I think the most interesting and challenging part is that mobs are actually mobile, so there were several times when my character got low on hp and mana and sat there to regen just to get murdered by a wandering kobold. The combat itself wasn't that hard and I think the hardest part was trying to get used to the UI. The quests were nothing to write home about and writing was about average. The zones, however, were quite immersive and had an amazing level of detail for a 1999 game. Heck, the spider area was too immersive and probably will give me nightmares. Running through the tutorial took me 6+ hours and got my character to level 10. Now on to see the "real" world!
I finally felt I was ready for some Daybreak's Everquest. I did want to play on a new TLP server, but I could not play due to server issues I wrote about in the last post (and then TAGN made a much better post about the same thing an hour later.) So I went to play on a normal server. Since I wanted to see the whole new Crescent Reach solo experience making a Drakkin character was an obvious choice. And because only the Drakkin (and for some weird reason that I don't really understand bards) can worship Veeshan I wanted to make a religious class and eventually went for a cleric. Sadly, I could not find much lore on Veeshan clergy. But instead of Crescent Reach the game sent me into a tutorial.
It seems like there are conflicting opinions about the tutorial. Hardcore "nostalgia" players and Bhagpuss seem to hate it, while TAGN has some praise for it. I personally did enjoy the tutorial. I did all non-group quests without mercenaries and it was challenging enough. My character died several times. That's amazing considering that while playing an average modern MMORPG I usually get to mid-to-high levels without dying once. I think the most interesting and challenging part is that mobs are actually mobile, so there were several times when my character got low on hp and mana and sat there to regen just to get murdered by a wandering kobold. The combat itself wasn't that hard and I think the hardest part was trying to get used to the UI. The quests were nothing to write home about and writing was about average. The zones, however, were quite immersive and had an amazing level of detail for a 1999 game. Heck, the spider area was too immersive and probably will give me nightmares. Running through the tutorial took me 6+ hours and got my character to level 10. Now on to see the "real" world!
