Restless

I’m not sure when I played EverQuest last, but it was probably a few years ago. When a friend started talking to me about The Heroes’ Journey, an EverQuest EMU, I was interested. I’ve never actually played an EMU before – and a lot of that is because of the moral decision associated with it. SOE/Daybreak/Whoever they are now have never taken down the numerous EMU that have been around over the years (doesn’t necessarily mean they approve), and they even officially endorsed P99 at one point in time giving them legal permission to run. If they’re OK with it then why shouldn’t I be. Anyway, we’re not here to debate the ‘should we, shouldn’t we aspect of the game.

I patched up, and read a bit about the server before diving in. Unlike P99 this EMU is focused on giving players a good solo/small group experience – while disallowing things like multiboxing. Every character is basically three classes in one (hence my screenshot above which is my Shadowknight / Monk / Beastlord character). There are a few other QoL changes, you can create respawning or not respawning instances so you don’t have to compete with everyone else, you can trade just about every item in game including epic components, and you can enable AA at level 1 (you even get a few QoL AA for free). There’s a progression to the server, you have to accomplish certain goals to unlock the next expansion/content – and they have two methods for this. You can choose the ‘Hero’ path (which includes things like killing both Vox and Nagafen), or the ‘Explorer’ path, which includes collecting some specialized items and turning them in to an NPC.

So far? I’m having a lot more fun than I was expecting and I’ve just reached level 16. I started playing EverQuest when Luclin was released, so that’s the expansion I’m most familiar with. I leveled up in Shar Vahl, headed out to Mistweaver’s Thicket, then headed to PC to grind in the caverns a little bit. There are about 3,500 people playing at any given time (at least this weekend while I’ve been playing) with some 14,000 people total involved since its release.

I don’t know how long the interest will last, but in the mean time, it’s nice to be playing. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!