Digging Through The Past (Everquest)

I've not logged into Everquest for awhile but I always find myself missing it after a few months. Is it the grind that pushes me away? Lower populated servers? Cash shop? It's really none of that which ends up pushing me away. While the game has opted to really cut out most of the severe mechanics that could really hinder a player- it's the outdated auction system that gets my goat. I do not like to have my character online just to sell. I play other games, I do other things [my machine] is not a tool I only use for Everquest. Maybe one day SOE will wake up and fix this outdated mechanic. One can only hope.

Enough with my beef, that's not what I wanted to write about. I was talking, in guild chat, with Pid, the other night about Everquest and he was wondering how long things for EQ will last once Everquest Next comes out, or even EQ2's situation. I don't think Everquest will ever go anywhere. I could see EQ2 move everyone to EQ2X in the future. I see that happen before I see anything happen to Everquest. Everquest is an icon in the industry. The poster girl 'everyone' loved or admired when they were younger. We still admire her beauty, charm and class.

Everquest is still alive and kicking. It's still a great game in all it's magnificent 'elder' glory. I still love the models. The scenery. It's not all nostalgic. The game offers some of the best grouping content and chances to really get to know other players and build lasting friendships.

Am I running back to EQ anytime soon? I would absolutely love to go back with some friends and have a group of people that play together on a regular basis to work through some content. It's really a great game for that. There is so much content and casual grouping players have the prefect setting. Much as I love WoW, I don't look forward to the group content at the top and along the way there I skip most or have Dire run me to avoid it. It's not as enjoyable anymore. For now I'm not sure when I will return though.

Anyhow, there are some nice changes recently with EQ. First up is the new progression server. Progression servers are not anything new. The last one I played on was Mayong and I really enjoyed it. It was a 51/50 server. This isn't the first and it won't be the last, I'm sure. If you want to try your hand at everyone being on level ground these servers are great for this. This time it's time locked which is nice. In the past it wasn't always and hardcore players could blow through the unlocking process. I suppose it's the closest thing you'll get to a classic server, for now. Aside from the Mac version.. but that's not quite classic. The new server is not yet released but check the link out.

The other recent change is the Firiona Vie server (RP) now has a 50% xp bonus. That is awesome. I play here, this is our home. Hopefully the free transfers will open up soon and I can send all my other characters, across old servers, to my home. This is a nice bonus that can help players catch up on levels and alternate advancement. Here is some into on the special rule-set servers FV and Zek, the direction these servers will be heading.

I always miss Norrath. I miss it today, too much talk about it in guild chat recently! I hope to drag some friends back there one day and show them what a beautiful, well oiled machine of a group can do!

-kaozz