It all started in December 2000 when I purchased Everquest, the game. I have been a gamer since the early 1980s but had never played an MMO before.
In the next few weeks, @bingbabe would become an ‘EQ Widow' as I was drawn into the harsh unforgiving world of Norrath, an obsession that would last for several years.
More recently I installed the Everquest client again on my PC. It's free to play now but a far cry from the heyday of the early noughties when adventurers banded together for quests and glory.
Many zones are now deserted as players have long since left the game for other ones with superior graphics, and easier gameplay.
This is the story replayed today as my level 66 Barbarian Shaman who can now freely roam through low and mid-level zones without fear of being killed.
If you are not a gamer and have never played an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) then you may not be able to relate to this at all.
Everquest was named ‘Evercrack' due to its addictive nature and for good reason.
Other article's in this series:
The Everquest Chronicles : Halas and Everfrost
The Everquest Chronicles: The Entrance to Blackburrow
The Everquest Chronicles: Blackburrow and the Ice Giants
The Everquest Chronicles: The Bandits of Western Karana
The Everquest Chronicles: Northern and Eastern Karana
The Everquest Chronicles: HighHold Pass
The Everquest Chronicles: Kithicor and Beyond
I wandered through the re-designed Freeport a little lost. Why did they have to change everything? I preferred the old city and knew where everything was located.
The bank was in the north where I would use one of my low-level brothers who would beg naked and hassle high-level players with ridiculous requests.
East Freeport is where the docks were located and the gateway to Faydwar. Oh, the memories of trying to reach the 'Lake of Ill Omen' where all those trendy Shamans were bragging about their exploits.
The docks looked alien to me, but as I arrived I saw the familiar ship sailing in waiting to take passengers across the ocean. That was before that 'Planes of Power' expansion arrived with its free portals.
Next, I wanted to see North Ro, and knew from my research on the internet that the Ro’s too had suffered from facelifts.
Those developers were a pain in the arse; keep the old zones the same I say.
There used to be an exit from South Freeport but the zone no longer exists. Sighing I went the long way around through the Commonlands, the deserted tunnel, and into North Ro.
Heading north I could see Freeport in the distance. From the looks of things you now need to exit from East Freeport.
Like everywhere in Antonica, I roamed the zone alone with not a single human in sight.
The familiar Dervish camps I could see and could now walk through the middle of, unmolested. The Dervish Nomads now shake with fear at my presence.
They would not dare attack a Level 66 Shaman as death would come quickly. I asked my faithful pooch to attack a couple to see what kind of loot they dropped.
A Glowing Agate Signet dropped from one. In my early years when loot was hard to find and fought over, a charm like that would have been like winning the lottery.
It even has a Type 7 slot for augmentations; this would enhance the stats even more.
Moving toward South Ro I happened upon a bunch of Sand Giants. These are around level 35 and would crush a regular player who would be looking to gain experience in North Ro.
Knowing these intimidating looking monsters (but pussies now to me), I pulled one as they tend to drop lots of platinum.
One turned onto ALL of them. Well, it has to be done! 100 Platinum richer I continued my trek south.
From my viewpoint on the top of a sand dune, I saw the familiar camps of distant Dervish camps. Once these were camped and you needed to ask to get into a group, such was the competition.
Crossing to South Ro I realised this was the new 'Oasis of Marr'. That zone is now gone and history but the Spectre Tower remains.
Specters guard the entrance to the Plane of Fear, a most terrible place where I would not go even now as my life would be forfeit.
In the old 'Oasis of Marr', Spectres stuck to their tower and ignored the low-level adventurers around them unless agitated.
At Level 35 their scythes would chop through a Level 18 in seconds with bone-crunching efficiency.
For old time's sake, I made my way up the tower and mercilessly murdered them all. It was a case of revenge from the days when some dickhead would pull a Spectre to the beach letting it feast on low-levels.
Such was the anarchic nature of this game 20 years ago.
I looked for 'Lockjaw', a named crocodile on the beach noting the dock for Velious, or was that in North Ro? My memory is failing me.
Continuing south I zoned into the Innothule Swamp, historically an unpopular zone due to it being aligned with those evil races, Trolls, and Ogres.
It was time to visit Grobb to see if I could kill a guard or two.
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If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, rehive, engage me or all of these things.
I have many good memories of playing Everquest. In those days I worked for Trader Joe's who had Charles Shaw wine for $2.00 a bottle. Called it two buck Chuck. It was glorious drunken battling of Caimans or the widows of Lolth.
Rangers with haste & snare were my favorite. :)
It was an awesome game, and the memories are real. 3 years of constant playing eclipsing 250 real days or so.., the obsession was real! I used to duo with a Ranger, we made a good team, me dropping Torpor's on him.. which had the bad effect of a slow heh...
Did Everquest have a level cap like WoW did/does? I am just curious. I have been toying around with setting up a WoW classic account. I know it would just suck up too much of my time.
It does at Level 115. I have been sucked into the game in the last 3 days and levelled my Shaman to 67. For what.., I have no idea!
Just go rid of the authenticator on my WoW account as well. Not played since 2013. Went to download it... 85gb! I don't have the space..., and anyway Assassin's Creed Valhalla is out in a couple of days.
I have never played any of the AC games, but that new one does look pretty sweet.
Even better if you have never played one,..., you should.
I've never played those games, but I know the feeling of familiarity of roaming old gaming territory in things like Doom. Can't be as much fun if nobody is around.
I haven't done one of these since January 2020. There is a feeling of loneliness in a now deserted MMO but still others are playing.. somewhere. They just announced the 27th expansion will be released soon. That's some going.. and 21 years old now.
Thanks for continuing to make Hive awesome.