Any time I find myself in a video game, chances are I hear a discussion about how game X used to be good and popular, but then event Y took place and KILLED IT. I chuckle to myself, wondering how these people could possibly think a game is ‘dead’ if even a single player is enjoying it (as long as the game isn’t shutting down). Yesterday, that game was EQ1 – and if you take a look at the screen shot above, I think you’ll see it’s anything but dead. This is just one of many populated servers, happens to be Drinal, the server I play on. Of course the game isn’t at its prime any more and after so many years that’s completely understandable, but it’s certainly no where near dead.

What keeps people playing this ‘ancient’ game? Is it the amount of time they’ve already invested in it? The difficulty involved in mastering it? Friends? Fear of change? I suspect it’s a combination of all kinds of reasons, and I imagine that the type of player still playing EQ1 as opposed to those who play more recently released MMOs may be different.

I suppose I’m just tired of people making assumptions about games that they personally no longer play and haven’t for some time. A game may be dead to you – but there’s a lot of others who still enjoy it on a daily basis. One thing I’m worried about with the next EQ expansion adding guild halls is that this central gathering location which you see above as the guild lobby will become less populated – and I think it’s REALLY important to have a location like this – unlike EQ2 where everyone is constantly hiding away in their halls and homes and you can play the game without ever seeing a gathering of this size. I’m hoping since players gather like this to share buffs and timers don’t tick down that it will remain as it is. A focal point for social happenings. We will just have to see.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

I’m really excited about the next everquest expansion, called Veil of Alaris. Above is a video for Argath, Bastion of illdaera, one of the new zones that come with it. There are a handful of wonderful changes also coming with the expansion including:

• Guild halls with trophies
• Resizeable hotbars
• 12 buttons per hotbar
• The ability to link items and clickies directly to the hotbar, including from inside of bags
• Customizable guild ranks
• A new guild rank system
• The ability to mail items in game

The level cap will also be increasing from 90 to 95, and that means new spells and aa. There are 12 new zones, and if you have an active EverQuest account and want to sign up for the beta, you can visit the sign up page here. You must log in to your active EverQuest account in order to sign up. I have to admit, I’m more excited about this then the EQ2 expansion. Fingers crossed that I’ll get into the beta and when the NDA drops I’ll have some interesting stuff to share with readers.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Thanks to the 45-day ‘welcome back’ program that SOE is currently running, a few of my friends (and I) have returned to our roots in EverQuest. It wasn’t that long ago that we were playing and doing the 12 year anniversary tasks, but we had taken a bit of a break (and then the nasty business happened with SOE being down for a few days). It feels good to be back, and as you can see by my screen shot above, there’s a lot of other players who feel exactly the same way. The screen shot is of the Drinal server, which is where I play.

There’s also some exciting news for EverQuest in the future, as they prepare to start their ‘Hardcore heritage’ event once more this year. Basically this is where they take numerous old world zones of lower levels and adjust them to be end game zones with all new loot tables and mechanics. Here are the details to the event this year:

Are you ready to revisit some of your favorite classic zones and experience all new challenges? Well Hardcore Heritage is almost here!

Hardcore Heritage, one of our yearly events where we revisit some older zones and update them to provide a more challenging environment, is coming to a server near you soon! Spread over the months May to July, you’ll have an opportunity to visit the old stomping grounds with entirely new foes to battle.

The schedule for events is as follows:

5/23 – 6/12

• Blackburrow (Level 80)
• Cazic Thule (Level 80)

6/13-7/3

• Lower Guk (Level 85)
• Unrest (Level 85)

7/1-7/21

• Crushbone (Level 90)
• ?????????? (Level 90)

This year we’re presenting two newly revamped zones, Crushbone and one other yet to be announced. Nostalgia and loot will abound, make sure you stop by and visit all the old spots from Trainer Hill to Emperor Crush’s throne room itself! There’s even a new challenge for two to three groups of players, can you defeat Emperor Crush and his stalwart allies?

I’m pretty excited, I have participated in the event previous years and it’s always a lot of fun. It’s also nice to see players gathered together in zones instead of always running missions which has been the fad as of late – especially with the bonus experience in place. Ultann has returned to the game and we’re currently attempting to help him level from 85-90 so he can partake in more of the House of Thule content. It’s a slow process, but at least he has bonus experience to make use of this week.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I love house items, it doesn’t matter what game I play (although to be honest, only so many games I play actually have housing). House of Thule (the latest EQ expansion) introduced player-housing to the game and while there are a lot of merchants as well as the market place that give players some creative purchases in which to build their homes, there are very few quests in game (yet) that reward players with house items. There are a few! Don’t get me wrong. My first experience with these quests was actually the April Fools day quest – it rewarded the mini jester for my home. Yesterday I discovered three more quests while browsing the forums, including the quest for the action figure pictured above.

The incredibly neat thing about these quests is that the house items have very detailed lore explanations added onto the item. What I mean is that when you examine the item they have two tabs, one is the general description, and the other is a lore tab with the details. The action figure pictured above also happens to have adjustable poses, talks, and plays music. It is one of two rewards from a quest involving The Nonad Brothers which you can begin in Sunrise Hills. You also receive an awesome looking replica of a shield with the Qeynos crest on the front of it. The quest involved one of the older ones available in game, collecting taxes from random NPC through Qeynos. My favorite part was when I had to collect taxes from one disgruntled Halfling – he actually stole the tax money from another, and made me tell him that I was a gnoll loving weakling unfit to comb his feet. After I gave him a good chuckle he kindle handed over the coin.

There are two other housing quests as well, but I won’t get into details about them in this post, going to save that for another day. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

*** Emergency Update ***

- All EverQuest servers have been brought down for an emergency zone crash fix. We apologize for the inconvenience.
*** Items ***

- Newbie weapons on Progression servers will now start at 60 percent of their normal stats and gain 10 percent per unlocked expansion.
- The Jagged Orc Slayer Sword will now behave like other newbie weapons on Progression servers.
- Merchants have raised their sale prices on many potions that were mistakenly re-priced. They have not changed the price they will pay for them.
*** Quests & Events ***

- Fixed tradeskill combines for Felwithe Defender, Pine Scout, and Pine Druid armor on Progression servers.