EverQuest Franchise Holiday Contest!

SOE and ZAM team up to give the community some awesome prizes!

UPDATE: Winners have been announced!


Thank you everyone for your entries! It's definitely been a trip down memory lane reading so many wonderful stories. The contest has now ended and we'll be finalizing the list of all qualified names before randomly selecting winners in a blind drawing.

Winners will be announced by 11:59pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, December 31, 2013. Winners will also be notified via Private Messaging (PMs) on ZAM that they have won. We will update this article and post a new one as well informing everyone of the results!


This holiday season, Sony Online Entertainment and ZAM want to share the holiday spirit with the community with an epic contest! It doesn't matter if you play EverQuest, EverQuest II or want to dive into EverQuest Next Landmark, there is something for all Norrathians here. We have one grand prize and three Station Cash prizes from SOE, as well as a bonus for ten lucky people from ZAM!

  • GRAND PRIZE: One winner will receive codes to the collector's editions of the most recent EverQuest and EverQuest II expansions, Call of the Forsaken and Tears of Veeshan (a $90 value each), as well as a code for the EverQuest Next Landmark Trailblazer Founder's Pack (a $100 value; total prize value of $280)
  • Three more winners will each receive one $10 Station Cash code (worth 1000 SC)
  • Ten more winners will each receive three months premium on ZAM

Continue after the jump for details on how this contest will work!


How to Enter

  • Log in to your ZAM account (registering is free!)
  • Post a comment at least 3-5 sentences long (minimum) in the comments section of this article
  • The comment should focus on your favorite location in Norrath, in any EverQuest franchise title. Why is it your favorite place? Did something fun happen to you or your guild there? Do you just love the environment or lore of the location? Are you new to Norrath, but want to talk about a location you are excited to visit in-game?
  • You can supplement your comment by linking to a video or picture of this location! It's not required and won't affect your entry into the contest, but it's a lot more fun to share!
  • Deadline for entries is 11:59pm Pacific Time on Friday, December 27, 2013... that means you have one week to enter!
  • Only one entry per person, please!

Due to the amount of entries we have, comments may take a bit of extra time to load... patience, grasshopper!

How We Judge

  • As long as your entry meets the contest guidelines above, you will be entered into a random blind drawing!
  • Winners will be announced by 11:59pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, December 31, 2013
  • Codes for the Grand Prize and Station Cash will be sent to the appropriate winners via private message on ZAM by 11:59pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, December 31, 2013
  • Winners of the three months of premium on ZAM will have it added to their account and will be notified of their win via private message on ZAM. This has to be done manually, so there may be additional delay.

Obligatory Information

  • No purchase necessary, but you need to register for a free account with ZAM if you haven't yet
  • You must have an account with SOE to be able to redeem the codes. They will not work for PSS1 account holders.
  • We don't care which country you're in as long as you have an SOE account
  • The contest begins whenever this article goes live on Friday, December 20, 2013 and ends at 11:59pm Pacific Time on Friday, December 27, 2013
  • One entry per person
  • ZAM staff and their immediate family are not eligible. Sorry, hubby!
  • SOE employees and their immediate family are not eligible. Sorry, Roshen!

That's everything! You can enter the contest for yourself, or to try and win an awesome gift for a friend or loved one -- either way, we can't wait to read everyone's stories!


Disclaimer: I'm aware that the picture above doesn't reflect the recent EverQuest and EverQuest II expansions... what it does reflect is my favorite locations in those games! =)

 Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor

Follow me on Twitter: @Cyliena

Comments

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Surefall Glads
# Dec 20 2013 at 6:09 PM Rating: Good
Surefall Glades was and is my favorite. It just always seemed so peaceful there. I really felt one with nature just sitting in the glade near the falls. It just seemed so wondrous to me to see the wall spilling over the falls into the lake. and to see I could swim right under the falls. It is also the first place I came too in EQ when I discovered the joy of playing MMO's. I remember sitting for hours on dialup patching the game after I first brought the disks home. Then the time trying to design my character. After all the time I jumped right into the game. What seemed a short time latter I started feeling hungry. I looked at the clock and realized I had been playing for 12+ hours without taking a break.

Favorite lodations
# Dec 20 2013 at 6:08 PM Rating: Good
I started playing everquest just prior to the planes of power expansion as a druid, made tons of plat porting folks around etc. My all time favorite zone on all the toons i have made is Kael Drakkel. From the sounds of the giants to all the cool loot i farmed in this zone many times by myself. I can honestly say when they revamped this zone i pretty excited. From fishing and foraging to camping Tormax, to handing many vindi breastplates to level 1 alts. I would always enjoy spending hours in this zone.
Favorite location in EverQuest
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:54 PM Rating: Good
I agree with the poster above me in that it is hard to pick just one. In my early days in 1999 I loved Butcherblock, Dagnor's Cauldron, Unrest, The Ocean Of Tears, & both parts of Highpass. These days I'm fond of Evantil, Eastern Wastes, Heart of Fear Epicenter, Ethernere Tainted Western Karana, Neriak 4th Gate, Beast's Domain, City of Bronze & a few other zones. I also really like the yearly Hardcore Heritage revamps & the anniversary stuff. So much to do in EQ that even after all these years & probably 50+ characters, I'm still playing & don't plan to stop until they turn the servers off hopefully a long time from now.
Hmm just one...?
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:53 PM Rating: Good
I have so many places that come to mind, I played EQ2 for close to 7 years... I think I'm going to have to pick Stormhold. I have very fond (oddly enough) memories of doing AQ's there a month or so after launch. I lost count of the soul shards that I left in the depths of that ruin LOL I actually miss soulshards.
Oasis of Marr
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:52 PM Rating: Decent
Everquest has to be my most favorite game of all time. It was hard and anything you did felt like an accomplishment. Just retrieving your corpse could be an achievement in itself but of all the wipes in the Plane of Fear training mobs away from the raid and shouting out "Train to zone!" and countless deaths leaving one item on your body to be rezzed for the xp later when fighting a new boss, the memory and zone that stuck with me the most is the Oasis of Marr.

I was a young human priest hunting crocodiles when the occasional rampage would ensue by the name of Lockjaw that banded us together to take him down. I never understood why his chest piece was amazing for a monk yet took up more than three quarters of their weight limit.

When the higher leveled characters came to play, no where was safe. While meditating, looking at my spellbook, I would often have my concentration broken by a Spectre swinging away at my soul because its agitator could not keep it under control.

It hosted a plethora of big nasty beasts including a giant or two that would sometimes make their way to the beach where us lowly peasants would be swiftly put in our place.

This place had so many memories for me but it is also where I met a great friend, Anks. A max level woodelf who invited me into the guild 'Fires of Heaven'. I had never been in a guild before but the people there seemed very serious about inviting such a low level like me in their top tier raiding guild and I was quite shy. Several of them were good friends with another guild that was around at that time called 'Legacy of Steel' and I got to meet a very funny Halfling named Tigole Bitties, such a funny name and they took me along for a raid of their own when I finally leveled up high enough to go. I was so scared but during the raid all of their attitudes changed, they were happy and joking and just trying to have a great time but let's not get too far away from my favorite zone.

The final reason I loved this zone so much is that GM's would come and hang out with my friends from both guilds and they would even duel them or make the guilds duel each other and the GM's would help them cheat, it was so funny and entertaining to watch as they would often times pick on my friend Anks.

So concludes my flashback into a zone long since changed by time but my fondest memories will forever live on. Here is to everyone who at some point in their gaming careers gets to experience something so amazing!
Favorite Location
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:50 PM Rating: Good
I remember grouping with this awesome paladin while I was on my warrior. We would go into Blackburrow and hunt gnolls till sun fell and rose the next day. Coming out with hundreds of fangs and pelts. We even did the betrayal quests several times in EQ2! Blackburrow even though its almost the lowest level dungeon its still the best!
EQ1 Butcherblock Mountains
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:44 PM Rating: Good
EQ1 Butcherblock Mountains because as a newbie, I had no choice but to map the place in order to keep from getting lost.

My friend and his roomate unleashed me into Norrath as a woodelf druid. I believe I skipped dinner that night because I was either trying NOT to fall out of Kelethin, or haphazardly looking for my corpse. I spent days at the computer, eating only when I had to. Sleep was optional, and there was a couch nearby. My friend's roomate who introduced me to the game became a somewhat of a "mentor" to me. Upon my graduation of the newbie area, he told me to follow a path to "Butcherblock Mountains." There, he left me. "Okay. You should be fine in this zone for a while. I have to go raid."

After exploring a bit, and dying in this new area, I suddenly realized that I desperately needed a map. Since I didn't want to bother my mentor, I grabbed a notebook and pen and started mapping out the zone. "Dang this place is huge!" I died a few times in the name of cartography and had to guess my way back to Butherblock, but I figured I would be here a while, so it would be worth the effort. I watched the pathing of the Dwarven NPCs, giant beetles, little aviak chicks, and even marked the goblin camps. However, the more I mapped, the less I died. Mapping became memory. Ha! I was getting better at this.

Then, I grew bold. I decided to pick a fight with a snake for the first time, and I remember yelling at the screen, "How can a snake kick me!? It has no legs!" Actually, I was aiming for a small beetle, but pressed Tab to target and accidentally tagged the snake. So it really took me a while to find my opponent since I was also in first person view. I got better at combat though. I even grew bold enough to explore further down and continue mapping. I tried my hand at an aviak chick, and just when I was about to kill it, out of no where a big ogre came barreling down at me. I was a druid, and instinct immediately called for Snare, then run like the ******* somewhere - anywhere! The problem was I didn't know where to run. The first thing I saw was a small hut and a dwarven guard outside, so I scrunched in there. I got the message that snare wore off, and I was hoping I wouldn't be found in my little hiding place, but the ogre found me somehow! "crunch, crack, splat!"

Loading Please Wait...

That's when my mentor came downstairs to see what I was doing. "Why are you dead and why haven't you leveled yet?" I was so embarrassed, but I explained that I was minding my own business when suddenly this ogre attacked me. I went on to say that instead of fighting, I had been busy mapping the area so I wouldn't get lost. He had this expression of pity just before he burst out laughing at me. "Why didn't you just go to EQ Maps?" "Huh? What's that?" I felt so silly. However, as many guides there were/are out there, I learned that I actually have more fun going in blind, mapping my own way and really exploring the world through my own experience. I now only refer to guides when I am with party members who are frustrated and in a hurry, but if I'm exploring alone, I'll often prefer to stay immersed in the game. Butcherblock Mountains gave me a great gift. It was here that I discovered my love for genuine exploration. Thank you.
Icewell keep EQ1
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:37 PM Rating: Good
The shawl Quest in Icewell :) This was one of my fondest memories in eq1. My guild, my friends and the entire community would gather outside and wait to help each person do there shawl quest. It was a community effort. The best thing was you didnt even need more then 2 groups but I remember day after day 40 to 50 people being there helping everyone. Not because they had to but because it was fun to help each other and it brought the community on our server together. We made friendships, built groups, and just got along. I loved this zone in particular because this was one of the first area's that introduced the newer graphics, with the option to turn them on or off whenever you wanted to via the UI or using a slash command.
Ahh such good memories in everquest, or evercrack as they called it LOL!
Heres the info on the last step below...

Step 7: Whenever your raid force is ready, take the Approved Issue Kit to General Bragmur in Iceclad and complete the quest with the war and ending conversation with the Avatar of Brell.

Everyone except for Loremaster Borranin and Meg Tucter are in Icewell Keep. The Chamberlain and Dain are up top in the Dain's throne room. From the entrance to the fortress take the second hallway either on the right or left and go up the stairs. That puts you on the second floor, where you will find another set of stairs right next to those that will take you up another floor
Can't decide which is best :)
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:33 PM Rating: Good
I really love the snow zones of Halas and I still remember the crunching sound of the snow as you walked through those zones in EQ. I like Frostfang and the town of Halas in EQ2, I just wish it was a larger zone with higher level mobs. I've enjoyed playing through Veeshan but Kunark is my favorite area with it's lush forests, swap lands and volcanic areas. I also really like Lavastorm and the lava effexts that are in that area. Oh, and Frostfell... That is another great place to hang out in. I guess there isn't any one place in EQ2 that I like the most, it's a great game and probably the best MMO out there right now.
favorite place
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:31 PM Rating: Good
I would have to pick lesser faydark as my favorite zone in original eq if I had to choose. I will always remember my first online friend and I heading into lfay for the first time as a lowly lvl 13 ranger and 14 paladin. We were bored of camping the throne room in crushbone so decided to go exploring for a new camp spot. This was before maps were available for eq
we discovered shortly after blindly running into this dangerous zone a nasty unicorn named equestrielle the corrupted. Thank god we had just recently made friends with a nice bard or we may never have gotten our corpses back. Ahh just the thought or the danger and mystery brings back those old feelings that no mmo has made me feel since! Long live everquest!
Favorite Place in EQ
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:31 PM Rating: Good
My favorite place is Kunark in EQ. I started the game with that expansion and started out as a Wood Elf. After experimenting with other races, the Iksar starting area quickly became my favorite. 60 Levels later, I was still exploring that continent - the lore, environment, and dungeons were all the best. Such mystery there was left to the imagination still to this day. "Hisss! Where is that scroll!?" ;-)
Everquest Favorite Place
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:28 PM Rating: Good
Blackburrow would probably be my favorite place in all of EQ1. I remember countless nights spent leveling outside the burrow, then right inside, then eventually camping the brewer, green room, etc. I played a paladin back in 2002 and this was one of the places where I spent a lot of my time in my younger levels just hacking away at poor light-blue con gnolls. When BB was remade in the SoD expansion, I spent an equal amount of time reliving those young experiences in the new version which fortunately contained undead to slay. So, Blackburrow, home of the darkpaw clan.
In the beginning...
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:26 PM Rating: Good
Most of my characters grew up in Kelethin. I can remember seeing the entrance to Crushbone for the first time, and Lesser Faydark was a place you dared not go. This was, of course, before anyone knew much about EverQuest. No maps, no "find" button, no spoiler web sites... and our UI was a small window, within a window, with static buttons surrounding it. We had to mash buttons to get our compass to stop spinning, hunt for a week to afford a full set of backpacks, and corpse runs were more perilous than meeting Orcs for the first time. The fascination when an uber player would come into the zone to show off his Jagged Band and Blood stained mantel. Those were the days!
Memories of Everfrost
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:25 PM Rating: Good
My favorite area in Everquest 2 was Everfrost. I've always loved snow and ice biomes so when I first got there I was amazed. In addition, I started out mostly soloing and I immensely enjoyed the solo quest chains. Somewhat ironically, this is also the zone I met my current guild members at. We we're all soloers, but somewhat interested in doing dungeons we couldn't do on our own. So we all gathered together to begin helping each other and made this sort of non-commitment guild, one where no one would have to be forced into raids so we could enjoy soloing, but then also come together when are interests aligned. We all ended up being pretty good friends that still stay in contact to play game together.
Thanks for the memories
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:23 PM Rating: Good
It's hard to pick out one favorite place in all of Norrath, everywhere you went there was something new and amazing to do or see. Kaladim was my first zone in online and gaming and wow what a huge confusing place it seemed in those first minutes. When I finally made it outside and started to explore everything seemed scary but fun. So many memories so little time to recount all the special things we experienced in EQ, I will be forever grateful to developers for giving me such an amazing place to experience. I wish we could go back to that simpler time in MMO history and recapture the trill of it all.

"Train left, rez right. Ok, what knucklehead pulled Gorenaire to the zoneline!!!!"
Favorite Place in Norrath
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:21 PM Rating: Good
Actually it would be accessed from norrath but not actually on Norrath, my favorite memory was with my guild Riders of the Apocalypse, my dwarf warrior was freekout. When I got to actually join a raid to the plane of time raid, OMG, from the lobby area, to phase 1, 2 and finally 3. Then to hear the phrase "As the path before you opens up in a swirl of mystical energy, the faded image of an hourglass appears. You have four additional hours." What great memories. did we really actually raid for 8 hours with 72 excellent friends. Ahhh, the fun we had. I get the feeling that Landmark will again raise the hairs on the back of my neck. I can't wait.
Favorite Zone
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:20 PM Rating: Good
I can definitely say my favorite zone is Nektulos Forest!!!

Since I got into Everquest I've always played Dark Elves and Necromancers/Wizards. I remember joining Everquest in 2000, getting out of Neriak with my Dark Elf Necromancer and being led to what was called the nooby log in Nek Forest. This was the first online game I ever played, and I remember how drawn-in I was by this forest with all these people and monsters roaming around that I could interact with and kill. Then I remember Nek Forest in EQ2, and how hard it was (when the game launched). I remember having so much freaking fun sneaking around the forest invisible as a wizzy trying to explore the whole map and not getting brutally slaughtered by mobs at lvl 20!!!

There's tons of other zones I like just as well, but Nek Forest was the first zone I got to kill stuff in an MMO =).

Edited, Dec 20th 2013 6:24pm by nebloof
Favorite Place in Norrath
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:19 PM Rating: Good
I have been playing both EQ and EQ2 since both games launched, and while there are many places in both "worlds" that I think are amazing, there is one spot that is near and dear to my heart. The well, near skeleton Lrod in Befallen, in Everquest . Back in the day, when you died, a friend could loot your corpse, then give your items to you if your gave them /consent. A few weeks after playing Everquest, I was adventuring with several friends-a ranger, a fellow wizard, and a magician. We decided to explore this dungeon we had heard about, named Befallen. We fought our way to the room where the well was, and my curious wizard friend decided she wanted to stand on the edge of the well, to see if she could see the bottom...and promptly fell down said well, and was killed by the pack of ghouls waiting at the bottom. At that time, we didn't know any clerics, so a res was not happening-the only thing to be done, one person would hold the gear of the other two that still had it, and the other three would jump down, and try to loot our wizard friends corpse, and gate before we died. We counted to three and jumped. Our Crazy ranger friend ran the ghouls-and everything else down there, lol-around the first floor-while we scooped up the items on our friends corpse. The magician , gated, the other wizard went link dead, and I began to cast the gate spell-when I started my casting, the ranger had JUST died-I was literally halfway through the gate spell when what could only be described as the train from hell came tearing into the well room-and I watched my health go down...I think I may have peed myself a little, I cant remember, lol-next thing you know, I see, loading, please wait...I thought for sure I had died...and when I finished zoning, and saw the beautiful marble halls of Felwithe-and the fact that I had 3 hp's left, I couldn't believe my eyes! My wizard friend got her stuff, and we had made a memory together that I will treasure as one of the most fun nights of gaming I have ever had. I've lost touch with the Wizard Xaile, the Ranger Paradicio, and the Magician Leonia over the years, I think they have stopped playing, sadly, but I often think about that night, all those years ago, and I have yet to play another game that brings that level of excitement, or anticipation, aside from EQ2:)
Kelethin !
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:16 PM Rating: Good
Kelethin ! Omg Kelethin ! I cant leave that place ! The reason is the soundtrack, Jay Barbeau is really a big Artist Smiley: blush
Enjoy this master piece Smiley: eek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxnph9zfSmc

Edited, Dec 20th 2013 6:18pm by Uthere
My Favorite Place.
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:05 PM Rating: Good
For me, it's Kelethin in EQ. My Wood Elf ranger was the first character I stuck with, and playing in that area, and especially trying to navigate through the various platforms always brings back great memories. I remember figuring out the way to the bank from one of the lifts but not finding my way back, and then jumping off (or falling off more than likely) and hoping that I still lived.

TRAIN TO ORC1, CB LFM.

If EQ were ever to close, I'd log my ranger on, run him to Kelethin, sit on one of the platforms looking over the orc lift and let the game end.
Tenebrous Tangle
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:05 PM Rating: Good
In Everquest 2, my favorite zone has always been Tenebrous Tangle and surrounding areas floating in the sky. The lush flora and beautiful landscape, the quests, monsters and the dungeons. All so much fun to explore. I particularly enjoyed doing the quest chain for the cloud mount. The travel involved, language learning and item collection was a lot of fun for me. And most of all, I loved taking the ride on the cloud around all the floating isles after the final step of the quest. It is such a visually stunning and all around fantastic zone!

http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w530/KristinDeth/EQ2_000042_zps38e68086.png
Our favorite place in Norrath
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:02 PM Rating: Good
My hubby and ours special place in Norrath was on EQOA. I bought the game for my hubby our first Christmas together - now 11 years ago. He got me to try and it was hooked in no time. We met some awesome people on there whom we are still friends with to this day. Just before our RL wedding hubby and I attended a special EQOA wedding online with our friends. Our good friend Knitemend (cleric) officiated the wedding even making awesome MMORPG vows. :) I remember the island was just outside MTG, a cute lil island like area with trees, bears and brownies but the name escapes me. But I do have pics :) hubby-Mellon me=Mystram

http://www.flickr.com/photos/81097616@N06/7623228398/in/set-72157630697848458

http://www.flickr.com/photos/81097616@N06/7623226802/in/set-72157630697848458
Kurn's Tower
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:02 PM Rating: Excellent
GBATE!! Never saw it coming
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9,957 posts
My 1st toon and long-time main was an Ikky Monk.

It was a feeling of great accomplishment to move away from the noob ramp in FoB and get in that tower.

Once inside, the pits, hidden doors and multi-floor layout brought to "reality" all the dreams of long-ago PnP AD&D games.

AWESOME.
____________________________
remorajunbao wrote:
One day I'm going to fly to Canada and open the curtains in your office.

norrath
# Dec 20 2013 at 5:01 PM Rating: Good
Why is it your favorite place? Lesser Faydark. The reality of my experiences in these amazing zones were shaped not only by the content, but how the people created the atmosphere. All of my real life friends are my online friends and we still play just like we did 10+ years ago.
I'm really excited to visit the new castles and cities and help build them in landmark!
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