Considering a return...Follow

I quit shortly after the Luclin expansion was released over guild drama caused by Vex Thal and personal health reasons. Over the years, I've often thought back to those damn near magical years spent playing EQ. Those were the days... trecking through Sebilis in the hunt for Trakanon, training half of Western Wastes in an effort to make it to NToV. The friends, the memories. Every turn in EQ was so mysterious and eerie... I remember the first time we delved into The Hole and CoM shadowknight epic raids. The insanity of Plane of Air Raids... Mmm... nostalgia. Those were really the days.

Almost ten years later, in good health and now gainfully employed with relatively little time to devote to MMO pursuits, I find myself yearning to return in some capacity. Ideally, I'd like to simply see those zones and places that meant so much to me when I was growing up.

I have a few questions before dropping the five dollars:

(1) How fast is leveling these days? I have no intention of high end raiding or anything... I simply want my character to be strong enough to wander into zones like NToV, Sebilis, and VP without dying in half a second.

(2) Is the game solo-friendly, or do former raid bosses still stomp the crap out of solo or group players? Ideally, I'd like to solo or small group bosses from the first four or give expansions.

(3) What other changes should I be aware of before considering a brief return? Hell, do the old school bosses still spawn on weekly timers? I'd hate to go say 'hello' to Lord Yelniak in Skyshrine, only to find he's still on that week long timer.

Just writing this brings back so many memories. Mmmm... those really were the days.

Leveling is fast these days.
Gone are the hell levels you might remember (30, 35, etc)
With mercenaries old content is very easy to rampage through
solo or otherwise.

random from any monster Defiant armor and weapon drops make things even easier as they are pretty good and easy to get.

The timers and spawns for raid and nameds are the same as
they ever were. Nagafen and Vox still banish players over level 52

If you want to relive EQ as close to it was back in the day
join us on Stromm.

Yes, leveling is fast and yes, the game is much more solo-friendly, but there have been many other changes, so the game you will be returning to is, in many ways, not the same game as the one that you left 7 years ago. There are instanced zones, multiple currencies, auras, thousands of AAs, mercenaries, expeditions, daily quests, hot zones, different types of tribute, Guild Hall-based teleportation, single character guild creation, augmentations of a dozen different types, old zones with revamped graphics (sometimes merged with other zones), potions, new poisons, shrouds, regular missions, monster missions, etc, etc.

It's a huge game with hundreds of zones and thousands of encounters, so you may well find many things to enjoy, but it's not quite the game that you left 7 years ago. Even from the graphical perspective, East/West Commonlands, Freeport, Oasis and North/Sout Ro have been revamped and look very different now. Plane of Hate is very different and is mostly soloable. Plane of Mischief is totally different.

Having said that, if you just want to level up and kill a bunch of old world bosses, you can certainly do that. Many of them can be done as early as level 70 with relatively few AAs and it only gets easier from there.

However, if you want to be a viable group member at the max level, you will want to do more research, plan your AA path more carefully, etc. It's not rocket science, but there is a lot of information to absorb.

Hello Everquest, I for one am coming back 100% 4 years i have been away. Lets start out by saying all new mmos suck lol no seriously awesome graphics but man they lack content big time. Eq has style/Community/people( not mindless idiots with your mom jokes wth). I have played all the new ones Conan,wow,aion,warhammer and ive had enough i want a real world a real game not something showing off the latest engine , thats cool and all but where is the game play at in all this pretty looking worlds it just doesnt exsist. i can auto attack and max any of these games out and not raid or grp once. Anyways iam babbling so is brell going to be in this game as end boss everyone wants to know ? if he is iam coming for YOU.

I came back after about 5 years. Joined a guild that went defunct. Which is fine as like others posting here I am back primarily to visit old places and solo the zones that I have never visited and will be getting the new expansion.

Am very casual about EQ but when I did reinstall several months ago, I decided that I will probably never get rid of it again. Could be because it was my first MMO, not sure why and I did try EQII but that was not for me.

EQ is very forgiving to us casual, soloing players, so...............Welcome!

Nostalgia is a very powerful thing. I very fondly remember the old days of EQ and quite frankly nothing has given me that feeling; not even EQ today.

There is TONS of great content that you have missed. If you find a good active guild then you should have a great time.

Though, new monsters, abilities, spells, etc just dont have the feel of the old "swords and sorcery" feel of old EQ.

There is still plenty of fun to be had in Norrath. The old zones are (mostly) there and I personally enjoy slaughtering High Hold or some equally excellent old zone just for fun or when Im bored. Im always a bit sad when I remember all my great friends in real life who dont play anymore or when I enter The Commonlands and find it completely empty.

If you want a new adventure, you may find enough to your liking. Raiding is as good as its ever been, and grouping is much less painful. But you likely wont find the adventure to be nearly as satisfying as the one you remember.

85. Maelin is a great server, should have no trouble picking up and playing there.