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..... The game may be dying but it will be around for a while to come. The game is currently a highend raiding game with few casual and low level players. Since It is a group based game this is probably a bigger concern to a new player then the longevity of the game.



.... the best value is currently the "eq platinum" set. It is relatively inexspensive and can get you started. There are several expansions that it does nt include but most of them are geared for the highend anyway.. Buy that and see if you like the game before investing in the other expansions.




... Yes and no. The world is fairly static so you can still do most of the quests people did 6 years ago but really there are alot of negatives here. First off the average player is level 65+, which will probably take a new player several months to a year to achieve. Also EQ expands very rapidly, a new expansion every 6 months. For a new player that level of expansion can be quite intimidating. EQ has tons of content but content has a shelf life. When new content is introduced people rush to explore it. After a month or two people return to the best xp/gear spots leaving that expansion to rot. The best example of this is GoD and DODH. The last four expansions in order of most recent to farthest back are DoDH, DoN, OoW and GoD. As you can see both are amongst the last 4 expansions but other then the DODH Monster Missions people completely ignore them and with the recent Monster Mission nerf that may be empty as well very soon. People go to OoW for xp and DoN for crystals to get gear. Most of the expansions previos to those two are deserted as they offer less xp and inferior gear. So long story short you will be playing a game of catchup in the hardest game to play catchup. Also groups in content that is relevent to your level will be very difficul to find. You probably will get little chance to explore much of the current content and likely the soon to be released content as it will be tapped out by the time you get there.


WoW is very simplistic compared to eq but eq moves at a snails pace compared to WoW. You need to determine what about WoW bored you. IF it was boring because it felt like a simple xbox game then eq may be a good game for you. If it bored you because things took to much time then eq definately isnt the game for you.


Good luck and if I confused you or if you had more questions please feel free to help.

Edited, Thu Dec 8 00:27:12 2005 by dracoboars

The game isn't going anywhere for years to come. However, if you've never played it, the graphics will look pretty 90's compared to the other games you've played.

While some people might say it is dying I would say the influx of newer games, WoW in particular, have taken quite a bit of the playerbase of all the older games. I've moved from MMO to MMO and back again and can easily see the trend. Online games like these are something of a niche market and that market has become very competetive.

I recently returned to EQ and have met a surprising number of people that have also just resubscribed. Within days of coming back I found a guild that has very few max level members and there are guildies my level to group with.

On the other hand, as I said earlier the playerbase isn't what it once was on my current server, even with the server merges. Yes, there is much more content but the majority of it is for higher level players and I've spent marathon grinding sessions in some of the best leveling spots without ever seeing another player come in the zone. I really don't mind this though as I often prefer to solo (and created an apropriate character for this) and would rather have a zone to myself than have to fight for xp camps which often happened when the game was smaller and more popular.



Sony very recently started offering Everquest Platinum as a digital download. It has all the expansions except the last 3. More information can be found at:

https://store.station.sony.com/game_index.jsp?gamecode=EQ



Its not too late. I started fresh but had a friend to give me some items which helped me level faster but did little else. EQ might have a slightly greater learning curve than most other MMOs, being around as long as it has. I had been away fro a couple of years and pretty am still in the process of relearning its quirks, intricacies, and basic workings after being back for 1.5 months.

*Edit* I couldn't get my hyperlink to the eq store to show up for some reason.

Edited, Thu Dec 8 08:55:47 2005 by DeMiUrGe

1.) I would choose beastlord. Not only to you get to learn melee and casting skill, but you also get to learn how to manage a pet. The beastlord is a master soloer and you will have no problem killing most things if you can't find a group. I play my little beasty (lvl 23 now) when I don't feel like doing anything else and always have a blast with him

Don't worry too much on which class to pick, since you will likely make many character in your EQ career. Learning the game mechanics is #1 to starting out. You can play any class solo up to lvl 20, by then you'll have a pretty good idea of what is going on.

2.) There are many guilds out there. You'll have to check a server specific forum for what ever server you choose. Alternativly you can you head over to www.guildportal.com and browse guilds that are found on your server. Not all guilds per server will be on here, but it is a popular guild management site that will have some good information for your server.

3.) I'm personally biased to Povar. It is my home and great server to boot! We have a decent low level population and most folks see more than happy to help out a newbie. If you decided to head on over to Poven Rasp as it is affectionally called (Povar server merged with Morden Rasp server), send me a tell if you have any questions. You can also use ingame email, just send it to SOE.eq.povar.frakkor. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.

beatlord ,schmeatlords go Mage! they are less loot dependendt, you never need to buy food as a mage after a while , the only thing beastlords have over mages is weapons and slow.

If you wanna pet go with the only Real Pet class... Mage FTW
Why oh why didnt they make beastlords with undispellable beast forms instead that would make much more sense !