Greetings! I have heard great things about this game over the years and with the new information about EQNext I thought it was about time to delve into the lore and foundation of one of the longest standing traditions in online gaming. I haven't played an MMO since I quit DAoC in 2004. My question to everyone is: Since Everquest is one of the oldest MMOs, is the content so overwhelming that I won't be able to ever catch up? I will probably try it out either way, but I would like someone else's opinion and tips on effectively experiencing all/most of what the game has to offer. Thank you for your time.
They have design the lower end of the game, 1 - 65 to be very easy to get. 65 - 85 takes a bit longer, then the actual grind of 85 - 100. I would advise using the tutorial the game gives you when you start up a new character and go from their! Welcome to Everquest!
Perfect. You want to delve into the lore, as Calvala points out there's a tutorial that gets you started and teaches the fundamentals, and as he notes 1-65 goes pretty quickly. With a complex mature game learning is over half the battle. You are caught up to where you should be in an advance through in game effort/character development game the first time you log in. Your level 1 character is 100% caught up to your game knowledge and effort expended. Now if your question is whether two weeks from now you can reach the same game situation it's taken me 14 years and 1000 days played+ to achieve, I certainly hope not. (One can't begin to know all that game knowledge in two weeks or even two months.) In two weeks players are still in PoK (Plane of Knowledge) trying to sell Snake Ears in /shout. If you do some research into progressing a character and make effort you'll advance faster than most did. It's not impossible to /cough "catch up". "New player friendly"? Yes. In this game despite incredible acceleration through gear improvements at lower level content, flags blocking content now removed, and experience acceleration for lower level players rate of advancement is (made up number) 90% game knowledge and 90% (I told yas the numbers were made up) effort. If you do some research into progressing a character, join a family or all levels welcome guild, and make effort you'll advance faster than most did (my wild guess is 5-10x faster). And....you might even enjoy the journey since you'll always be catching up or trying to stay caught up.
Honestly most of the content that isn't just the usual grind/group/raid has been phased out for the most part. So you will see ALOT of items that may seem useful, but are only worthwhile for very minor reasons.
Eq is beginner friendly in the sense that you have mercs and can solo pretty easily now regardless of class (although some classes are still way better at it, such as druids, necros, rangers). I found finding information sometimes kind of tough in EQ though, there were a bunch of abilities that I didn't understand and finding information on them was a pain in the ***. Also there are things which are good to know which you can totally miss as a new player (like Spider's Bite and Scorpion potions which improve your dps, rogue made but usable by all classes and usually sold in the bazaar, also exp boosting potions available through the legacy pack etc etc). So leveling wise the game is new player friendly, but expect to spend some time using google to find information on various things. On the flip side General chat in game sometimes has very knowledgable players online which are ready to help you as well, depends on your playtimes though.
