Rating: 
Summary: First Of The Post-Verant Letdowns
Review: "EverQuest: Planes Of Power" was obviously designed to cater to "Uber-Guilds," an expression used in the EverQuest online community to denote player guilds which are rather advanced in skills and prior experience, and large in numbers. The single adventurer, as well as the casual gamer or relative newcomer, will find little to no content whatsoever which is available to them in this expansion pack (past a certain point). It is all about groups and large scale raids. Solo gameplay in the "Planes of Power" zones is next to impossible, and that is appparently by design. In fact, several player class abilities were "nerfed" by Sony just prior to the release of this expansion, ostensibly to "better balance the classes." It is far more likely that those "nerfs" were enacted to prevent any possibility of traditional solo classes (such as Wizards and Druids) from being able to do any effective soloing in the new zones.Another problematic feature of this add-on is the overpowered "gear" that one can obtain from the high-end encounters featured in "PoP." Introducing too much "uber gear" to an MMORPG game is precisely what ultimately ruined "Diablo 2" when the "Lord of Destruction" expansion was released. For many gamers, the focus becomes shifted away from roleplaying and game content, and instead toward greed for items which they can strut and show off to other players. It also tends to make player characters who *can* manage to obtain those items a bit too powerful, which hardly seems to fit in with Sony's highly questionable assertions... that several prior ability nerfs were done to "better balance the classes." If anything is true about "Planes of Power," it's that it is decidely UN-balanced in the extreme. Painfully short on game content, all too few and sloppily written quests, overly lengthy encounters and a generally poor payoff in the "Plane of Time" endzone are what one can expect from this mediocre expansion pack. Whilst it is a "must have" for all EverQuest players, it hardly stacks up well against prior expansions such as "Scars Of Velious" or "Shadows Of Luclin" so far as actual depth, atmosphere and overall content is concerned. This is also the first EverQuest expansion set which the original game designers (Verant International) had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with, and it shows. Moreover, "Planes Of Power" is an expansion pack which 99% of all players will never see the bulk of, due to their being unable to assemble the "muscle" required to fully explore the additional zones and adversaries. Not being able to see three quarters of a game you pay for is rather disappointing (to say the least), so unless you already belong to a highly-skilled player guild, do not expect to progress past a very superficial point in this add-on to EverQuest. Lastly, "The Planes Of Power" tends to look and play more like a Sony PlayStation 2 game than an add-on for a classic PC based MMORPG. Storyline depth and roleplaying content has been replaced in favour of eye candy, overpowered enemies, and ridiculously and unnecessarily overpowered items designed to appeal to player egos. "PoP" is not entirely without merit, but depending on what you look for in a roleplaying game, you may be disappointed overall. Defenders of this add-on have often said to me "Well, Sony knows what sells, that's why PoP is the way it is, and that's the bottom line." Naturally, I have no problem with manufacturers of PC games making a profit on their merchandise, but I see no reason why profits and product integrity need be mutually exclusive concepts. Thumbs down overall, but a necessary add-on for all EverQuest players.
Rating:
Summary: First Of The Post-Verant Letdowns
Review: "EverQuest: Planes Of Power" was obviously designed to cater to "Uber-Guilds," an expression used in the EverQuest online community to denote player guilds which are rather advanced in skills and prior experience, and large in numbers. The single adventurer, as well as the casual gamer or relative newcomer, will find little to no content whatsoever which is available to them in this expansion pack (past a certain point). It is all about groups and large scale raids. Solo gameplay in the "Planes of Power" zones is next to impossible, and that is appparently by design. In fact, several player class abilities were "nerfed" by Sony just prior to the release of this expansion, ostensibly to "better balance the classes." It is far more likely that those "nerfs" were enacted to prevent any possibility of traditional solo classes (such as Wizards and Druids) from being able to do any effective soloing in the new zones. Another problematic feature of this add-on is the overpowered "gear" that one can obtain from the high-end encounters featured in "PoP." Introducing too much "uber gear" to an MMORPG game is precisely what ultimately ruined "Diablo 2" when the "Lord of Destruction" expansion was released. For many gamers, the focus becomes shifted away from roleplaying and game content, and instead toward greed for items which they can strut and show off to other players. It also tends to make player characters who *can* manage to obtain those items a bit too powerful, which hardly seems to fit in with Sony's highly questionable assertions... that several prior ability nerfs were done to "better balance the classes." If anything is true about "Planes of Power," it's that it is decidely UN-balanced in the extreme. Painfully short on game content, all too few and sloppily written quests, overly lengthy encounters and a generally poor payoff in the "Plane of Time" endzone are what one can expect from this mediocre expansion pack. Whilst it is a "must have" for all EverQuest players, it hardly stacks up well against prior expansions such as "Scars Of Velious" or "Shadows Of Luclin" so far as actual depth, atmosphere and overall content is concerned. This is also the first EverQuest expansion set which the original game designers (Verant International) had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with, and it shows. Moreover, "Planes Of Power" is an expansion pack which 99% of all players will never see the bulk of, due to their being unable to assemble the "muscle" required to fully explore the additional zones and adversaries. Not being able to see three quarters of a game you pay for is rather disappointing (to say the least), so unless you already belong to a highly-skilled player guild, do not expect to progress past a very superficial point in this add-on to EverQuest. Lastly, "The Planes Of Power" tends to look and play more like a Sony PlayStation 2 game than an add-on for a classic PC based MMORPG. Storyline depth and roleplaying content has been replaced in favour of eye candy, overpowered enemies, and ridiculously and unnecessarily overpowered items designed to appeal to player egos. "PoP" is not entirely without merit, but depending on what you look for in a roleplaying game, you may be disappointed overall. Defenders of this add-on have often said to me "Well, Sony knows what sells, that's why PoP is the way it is, and that's the bottom line." Naturally, I have no problem with manufacturers of PC games making a profit on their merchandise, but I see no reason why profits and product integrity need be mutually exclusive concepts. Thumbs down overall, but a necessary add-on for all EverQuest players.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time and Money
Review: Another Expansion? What the heck they just came out with one about what 5 months ago geez i think the word Greedy comes into play . Come on I mean 1st they bring out a Expansion that requires you to upgrade your computer in order for it to work.... then they jack up the subscription Fee and now this . Save your money Folks for Star Wars Galaxies or World of Warcraft
Rating: 
Summary: Best one yet!!
Review: By far the best of the expansions, Planes of Power opens up a whole new world to explore: The homes of the gods of Norrath. The music is outstanding (and in MP3 format, I've already added most of the songs to my usual playlist - Check out the poearth music!), the graphics are breathtaking, and the monsters are stunning. I've been playing EQ now for over 2 1/2 years, and it just never gets old. The Plane of Knowledge has an enormous library in the center of it. Want to know more about the world that is the heart of EverQuest? Talk to one of the dozens of book browsers, check out a book from them and read to your hearts content. The Plane of Tranquility is serene, with amazing portals to the rest of the Planes, including a giant balance for the Plane of Justice, and a huge sludge pipe (complete with running sewage!) for the Plane of Disease. The Plane of Nightmare is home to scary spiders and gigantic crocodilian creatures (larger than the old EQ dragons!). There's tons more, and I highly recommend this expansion. It's not just for high-level, uber loot, kill and be number one folks. The Plane of Knowledge has quests and portals to all the cities of the EQ world, plus some more, and isn't level restricted.
Rating:
Summary: EverCrack gets even more interesting
Review: EverQuest is called "EverCrack" by many for its incredibly addictive gameplay. It's a fully immersive role playing game where you take on the personae of an elf, dwarf, barbarian, human, ogre, troll or many other types of characters. You can then choose what type of profession you want, from magician, paladin, ranger, warrior, and more. You can be another person, and live in another world. Isn't this something we've all dreamed of from childhood? You can customize your gender, your face, hair style, hair color and eyes too, although the choices are few and the click-cycling gets annoying. A few more brief choices and you're in your starting town, ready to explore, learn, and kill some wildlife. The graphics are rather nice, with each creature type having its own body shape and size. Look at a tall ogre standing next to a little halfling and the two really are quite different! Head out to attack small spiders and larger polar bears, or do some fishing and tailoring if that's more your speed. You can concentrate on combat, or magic, or making things, or just hanging out and talking. The world has it all. The Planes of Power CD is good for those just starting, because it has everything you need to get going. It's also a nice expansion for experienced users, because it lets the higher leveled characters enter new, interesting worlds. The planes also let you easily move between towns, something that was a bit difficult before. EverQuest, being an online RPG, requires a monthly fee to keep playing. This gets you your own server with special weapons, armor, events and dynamic maps. With over 50 servers to choose from for regular gameplay, there are thousands of people on line at all times to interact with and work on quests with. EverQuest has been played for so long by such a huge volume of gamers that just about every part of the system has been finely tuned. The animations for spells are gorgeous, as is the clothing for characters. You can customize just about any key you want, customize the music playing in the background, customize the background of the various status boxes, move them around the screen, fade them out when they're not in use. It's really a treat to play this if you've only played some of the older RPGs. If you're a RPG fan, EverQuest is definitely a game to give a try to, either by buying the CD and doing the free-month, or playing it at a friend's house. Most regular games you buy on CD give you less than a month's gameplay anyway, and if you DO enjoy the game a lot, for only another each month you get another full month's enjoyment. You can't say that for a lot of regular games you shell out your cash for!
Rating:
Summary: The end of an era
Review: First off, my ratings are based on EQ as a whole. The greatest game ever created as far as I'm concerned. Once POP came out it made travelling too easy. I enjoyed the game when it was a vast, mysterious land, and I'm just talking about ther original continents. The books ruined it for the team servers. Back in the olden days it would require great effort for someone to make a toon to pk with and travel up to Qeynos and wreak havok in the outlying areas. Once the books came out it ruined the team servers as far as I'm concerned. I still have had more fun playing EQ over any other game. Hopefully EQ2 will bring back some of the challenges of the early game.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed with PoP
Review: Having been an avid Everquest player since the initial release of the first product in the series so naturally I was very excited about this expansion. Unfortunately however it appears that since I started playing the design goals of the original Everquest Development team have been strayed from somewhat as a direct result of the current Development team being unable to design new content around the old rules. As a consequence the arrival of this expansion has heralded a number of alterations to the play style of Everquest, which I personally believe have almost invalidated the fundamental aim of any online game, to keep character classes strength and weaknesses relatively consistant when compared to each other. The most painfuly bad example of this is the recent change to the monk class. Formerly this class used to occupy a pinch defense role whilst being quite strong offensively. This capability was paid for by a lack of specialisation in either field and a lack of spells. Now however, to suit a new design scheme of a class being either offense or defense, the monk class has been vastly reduced in defense and is comparatively weak compare to classes that have spells in addition to combat skill. Changes like this are made to suit poor design ability and after three years are not what person expects from this genre. I advise new customers to be aware of Sony's design failing in this regard.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh man you call these reviews?
Review: How can these people call this a review of planes of power when all they are doing is complaning about fixes that are made to balance the game? And what does customer srvice have to do with this product? Ok here is the low down. Planes of Power introduces a new method of travelling for all the players of EverQuest. Now you can get to any city in the game without having to pay for a port or wander around in huge zones looking to get to the nexus. With Planes of Power comes teh Plane of Knowledge and the ability to get ported right to the city of your choice. THis plane is neutral so no you will not get killed by going there. Also in this expansion are new spells for ALL LEVELS of classes that use magic. Also, there is the new 75 person RAID XP, so that when you and your guild (you are in a guild right?) go on a raid, everyone gets XP and in the latest patch they increased the amount you get (as of 11/19/02) Planes of Power offers alot to the whole community, and its an EQ expansion. So why play without the full game. Do not listen to a bunch of angry monks that finally got toned down to teh level they were supposed to be when this game started. Base the review off level headed players. And the customer service does not [stink]. .... I ahve played EQ for 3 years and never had to ask for help more than 4 times, at which time each response was answered promptly. Planes of Power is a great expansion that adds even more to do to the endless universe that is EQ.
Rating:
Summary: Big Hit!
Review: I just fired this up, logged in and was the first in the planes of power. I must say it is amazing. I have already gotten 14 planer experience points and phat loot! You must get this or you are dumb.
Rating:
Summary: mostly for uber guilds, aka people with lots of time
Review: i would say this is the best expansion, specially for the melee type classes who cant port themselves, or gate, or bind. This expansion allows you to port yourself to just about every city saving lots of time, and EQ money, called platinum. The graveyard idea in these zones is superb, saving what could be hours of singing "wheres my corpse", or paying others to get it for you.Other than that it ends there for the casual gamer as it requires a LOT of time to get to the 2nd tier planes in this expansion, i spent 2 weeks trying to get there, playing 2hours or less a day. Getting this task done allows you to see 2 more places. From here on, its just about as far as the casual gamer will see, for a while, or unless they have luck getting invited to a raid that allows them to see the other zones. But pretty much the other guilds are strict and only wish to do themselves good, specially the better guilds (ones who play, a LOT). Fortunately there are casual gamers out there who know each other and can do what other guilds take hours to do in a much shorter time because they are friends with each other. Unfortunately, there are not many of this type of players, from what Ive seen anyway. I have heard however, that for those who dont play hours on end everyday, that there are quests which require you to obtain rare items from places that you can get to, and combine them to allow you to hold some key to let you in to the other places. Basically, this expansion is for you if you are in a big guild/uber guild. But it can be for casual gamers if you are not in a race to get to the other newer better zones, as there is a way to get there, but takes longer for you since you dont play as much. However there is a limit to casual gamers as the much better places WILL require you to play much more than your 2hrs or less a day, if you even have that. THumbs up for fixing the classes which needed fixed, ie mages being a mod rod ... for raids/groups; wizards killing dragons with just a group force; leather wearing monks that took hits better than plate wearing classes...
Thumbs up for graphics, new monsters, sound, over all interface.
Thumbs down for taking so long to finally fix monks.
Thumbs down for saying that it would cut down on huge timesink quests, but not really doing it.
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