This was the first game I ever actually played. Growing up I would always sit down and watch my dad play. For hours I would sit, fascinated, watching the spells, the different zones and npcs, the loots, everything. When I was about 10 years old he built me my own computer so I could start playing with him... we still have that computer, it had a 10gb hard drive.

I remember having to cover my eyes when he would type in the password for me because he didn't trust me playing on my own as young as I was. I remember after learning the basics and being able to actually play and be of some importance, becoming his ♥♥♥♥♥ necro so we could fear kite mobs he normally wouldn't be able to solo as a ranger. Growing up this game was among the only thing my dad and I did to spend time together... our relationship was molded mostly because of this game. If I could go back I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I wish this game was still alive like it was then, but time moves forward. Now I pay my monthly prescription to log in perhaps 2 or 3 times a month, kill some things I used to kill, then solemley close the game, until next time.

I adored this game. I started playing with The Ruins of Kunark release. Oh my, the magical world of EQ. Never before and never since has there been such an amazing game. I played all the way until Sullon Zek PVP server merged into Zek and guild Pandemonium had the server on lockdown. But, long before, this game was pure magic.

I went on to beta test WOW, and EQ2 and played those games quite a bit... but EQ was still pure gold. Trouble was the game engine and graphics had fallen so far behind. Eq2 was fun, great in fact, but a different game. And so for all these years having playing every MMO from Vanguard to Age of Conan to Aion to Tera to FF XiV and even Archeage...

EQ the original, will always have my heart and soul. I wasn't terribly sad to hear EQNext was shuttered by Daybreak... because the idiotic SOE Devs had done it again... simply created a whole new game. None of the original EQ fans ever wanted a different game. We wanted oue beloved EQ, simple as it was... only with a new game engine and better graphics. Heck, all the expansions are there... all we ever wanted was a company with the vision to simply update and reboot the ORIGINAL in a more optimized way.

Perhaps Daybreak will decide to do that one day. I'm sure it would cost a lot less than the cash wasted on "recreated" a "new vision" with "ground-breaking technology" which is... not fun, and no one from the fanbase EVER asked for or wanted.

And if they don't... they do not understand what makes an MMO "great." WOW only dominated EQ... because it had the same kind of magical world and endgame... with upgraded graphics. A remake of EQ would have dominated WOW and every clone ever since... because it was simply... MAGIC.

Free-to-play with upgrade options ( Silver and Gold accounts ), Everquest still has population on many of its servers. Content up to VoA ( Veil of Alaris ) can be accessed for free, and characters can obtain up to level 95 ( without gold or purchase of the latest expansion ). It's never been easier to pick up, and catch up.

Whether returning for nostalgia, or coming into the game for the first time, Everquest still has something to offer. There are plenty of guilds available, group and raid content, and solo opportunities for any class you're willing to invest in.

I'd rather have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ burst into my living room and stab me to death over playing this garbage ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game

And now there are loot boxes, because of course there are.

Skip to the bolded italics if you're a returning player and just want to understand what EQ means by "free." If you're having trouble with a new account, remember to verify its email address!

I started playing EQ in 2000. I have at least a year and a half of real time spent in-game. My experience is positive, but that's partly because I started when it was the best show in town. I'm pretty sure I'll play it again, but I can't recommend it to new players. I've tried to get friends who have never played to join up over the past few years, and their responses to the initial experience have ranged from "nah" to "I'm bored sick." Every single one has quit.

The problem is the new player experience. It's... stunted, even with friends (besides, anything is fun with friends). Most low level zones are empty of players, and some of the oldest are mostly empty space. Forming groups with other players for low level content takes time and effort, and you're not likely to run across other low level players once you've out-leveled the tutorial and the default starting city, which you should definitely use. Mid levels are a particularly isolating experience, since at that point you've outlasted other newbies and most people's alts are either low level or high level.

And goodness forbid you choose the "wrong" class to level. Unless you run multiple accounts, you're going to have a really dull time with some classes for the first 70-75 levels because their shiny stuff and even a lot of basic modern functions were added late in the game's history and never given effective low-level versions, so for some classes you mostly just stand near an enemy, waiting for it to die of auto-attacks. Brilliant.

Similarly, some classes can be hard to level by yourself even with a mercenary to help, or just hard to play effectively. And while there are shortcuts you can take and guides you can follow to make a lot of this better, it's not fun to have to master navigating the community, online info sites, and even the game's system folder (for adding map packs, a practical necessity) just to function well enough.

Got someone to powerlevel you? Enjoy figuring out hundreds of new abilities and how they're supposed to work together, on top of how in the world you're supposed to find space and make keybinds for them all. And while this last problem is temporary, you'll still have to grind the combat/spellcasting skills that you didn't gain or they will hamstring your character for a while because you didn't level yourself.

(Hey druids, remember summoning fireflies at night only, for hours, because it was the best way to get your shiny new Stinging Swarm spell to stop fizzling? Wasn't that fun? Wanna subscribe so you can play on a progression server and have to do it again?!)

Plus, for all that you can jazz them up and make them work for you, the default UI is functional but clunky and the controls are pretty jank. And the community can be a bit... prickly. I mean that in the kindest way I can say it, but it's not for everyone.

Sadly, EverQuest hasn't kept up with the times. There are smarter, more polished games out there, with much better new player experiences, even without sacrificing depth of lore and breadth of content.



If you've somehow made it this far and still want to play the game, you have two meaningful choices. Please note that in either case, you will automatically gain all but the last couple of expansions for free. Good deal, right? When you reach level 100+, consider buying the latest expansion to unlock all current content. Previous expansion(s) included.


1) Play on any server with a subscription. Or at least, subscribe when you reach level 70+.

EverQuest's free model was never meant to last through high level content. Without a subscription, you can't really function much beyond chatting at high levels--you'll be locked out of a lot of alternate advancement points, higher-ranked versions of spells, strong mercenary companions, and even a lot of high level equipment. Think of it like World of Warcraft's max level 20 free trial but with chat enabled.


2) Play on the Test server without a subscription (you'll have to change the game version to Test in your launcher settings).

Test is a slightly different game version where you get most of the benefits of a subscription (minus the monthly free microtransaction currency) for free. Your old characters can be /testcopy 'd to Test at no risk. Your characters on Test won't be wiped, and bugs are generally not game-breaking. The cherry on top is always-on double experience gains. The community is small and short on raiding, but extremely casual-friendly, which is probably what you're looking for if you want to play a game for free.


Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Ah, EverQuest, one of the great-grandfathers of all modern MMORPGs. I played it when I was younger, but then ended up stopping my account when my PC decided to go out in a blaze of glory. It took me ten years to get back into it, but to be quite honest, it's still got that same magical spark.

Even with its twenty-first expansion on the horizon, people still play this. I have a couple characters, but at the same time, it can be really just kind of depressing choosing to roll up a new character, and finding that you're the only person in the starting zone. To be honest, there's not really a lot of players on the lower-end of things any more- most of your players are essentially those who have still got their high-level characters and are chruning through higher-level content as it comes out. There are still a handful of players in the lower levels, but to be quite honest, if you like soloing, this is the class for you. The mercenary system is a godsend for those mobs you can't handle on your own, but you'll still run into quests that you just can't handle on your own. For example, the newbie weapon for Wood Elf Druids requires you to break the throne room of the castle in Camp Crushbone, and even with a merc, it's not really something that you'll be able to accomplish on your own until you get to a level where you can easily find things that outclass the reward.

The graphics are really dated- there are games with much better graphics out there right now, but at the same time, they're not as hard to run on non-top of the line computers any more. If you're not running a graphically-intensive computer with a three-hundred dollar card in it, no worries- this runs fine on my laptop.

Gameplay is still solid, even after all these years, but at the same time, it's not really changed that much. The addition of the tutorial is always a plus, but to tell you the truth, it makes for a better way into the game instead of just being dropped into a newbie zone with nothing to do. You can easily grind up to 13 or 14 here, if you accomplish all the missions, and you can find some decent equipment, too.

To be honest, though, it's free to play, and you can't go wrong with a game that won't tax an older machine. If you enjoy a trip back to the days of groups looking to hit up the Halls of Honor or the Plane of Disease, download this game- just be ready to do a bunch of soloing. If you used to play, all you really need is your sense of nostalgia and for your memories to come flooding back once you hit up your old favorite zones and hear that old, familiar music.

Played for 14 years. Over 800 days /played. Please send help.

EverQuest is a very old game. Well, sort of. It predates most of the MMO market by a few years, especially a certain other exceptionally popular game anyone remotely familiar with the genre will instantly know. In its heyday, it was one of the most popular MMOs, with about 100,000 subscribers, give or take. The epic scale of the raids still hasn't been replicated to this day.
But has it aged well? Sure.
EverQuest has always been about change. Sure, you can't have a dynamic influence on the world in most cases, but the game has always been changing. Where once you couldn't do anything without a group unless you were a specific class, now nearly everyone is capable of soloing for experience.
Don't get me wrong, the game is still old and looks old, but there's a wonderful charm to it that other games really haven't come close to replicating.
Oh, and it's HUGE. In the old days, it used to be said that it took six hours to run from one end of the map to the other on foot. Well, the game has gotten bigger since then, to the point that they've added a number of hub zones to make travel easier. The down side to this truly epic size is that very few zones are consistently occupied by players.
There's also a bit of a disjointed aesthetic to the game. While many older zones and models have been updated over time, just as many have not. While Freeport and the surrounding Commonlands have received overhauls to the point it's almost a joke in the community, Qeynos and the Karanas are mostly unchanged from the time of launch, barring a few new quests that make you visit there.
Now, let's talk about the sound. It's dated, sure, but that little factor hasn't stopped people from loving music before. And EverQuest has some real goldies. Kelethin, the sea approach to Freeport, Rivervale...great music that will stick in your mind forever. It's unfortunate that some of this music, such as the Rivervale theme, are in places you'd never normally visit, but sometimes it's worth it just to hear it.
It's not all rose colored glasses, though: The UI is cluttered beyond belief, to the point you'll be glad you can alter it to your liking. The previously mentioned disjointed graphics can also be rather jarring when you compare newer cash shop aesthetic outfits with older, standard armor. Everything works, but unlike most MMOs these days that are like receiving a new toy with karate chop action, EverQuest is like receiving one of those totally awesome playsets...with the words "Some Assembly Required" etched on the front.
But if you ask me, it's worth it.

Started the day the game went live. After several years became a guide. After EQ2 was release I left EQ and then spent the next several years hitting any and every MMO that was released, unable to force myself back to EQ because of the outdated graphics. It's been almost two decades and I have found myself re-installing EQ since I can't get my first druid and leafblower epic out my mind. EVERYONE who is new to the MMO genre needs to start with the original EQ to get the flavor of how it was done right!!

Outside console platform games, this is the ONE that started it all for enjoying MMORPG titles - for me! If the content only maintained your grind and your enjoyment, just as many other titles, the people in the trenches did as well as we all were poised to conquer anything Norrath would throw at us. I am writing this review in sincere gratitude to my friend Andrew V., a RL friend, who introduced this game to me and allowed me to fight alongside him and the others on Saryrn server with his guild "Order of the Phoenix" -- may he R.I.P. my brother, my friend.