Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I've played EverQuest for almost 2 years now. Planes of Power has nothing in it for a character unless that character is almost level 60. Even then, Sony/Verant is slowly but surely destroying this game. One example would be the recent nerfs (class wimping) of the Monk class and the Wizard and Mage classes. Also Sony/Verant's customer service is notoriously bad. This expansion is not worth it.
Rating:
Summary: PoP - the "uber" expansion
Review: If you belong to a guild who can field 40 lvl 65 players for the hours on end to get "flagged" PoP is for you. If you are a casual player you will never see 50% of the expansion in its current state.PoP is generally thought of by the player base as unfinished upon release. Players were promised an end to mindnumbing timesinks that made up the Velious expansion and instead you have an expansion that is made up of nothing but timesinks. In numerous surveys conducted on class boards more than 50%-80% of the players responding had serious problems with PoP be it the flagging methods, loot distribution, etc. In general, casual players are cancelling accounts and many are blaming PoP.
Rating: 
Summary: Gotta have it
Review: If you play Everquest you need this expansion or life would not be complete. If you have never played Everquest you should not buy this expansion now. Buy the originl software for ($$$)and learn to play. As a beginnger you will not be able to use this expansion for a very long time...you would die in seconds and be very sad.
Rating:
Summary: It's not a first person shooter...
Review: If you're looking for non-stop action and want to blow things up repeatedly, this game isn't for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for an immersive 3D virtual fantasy world where you can engage yourself socially with other people in death-defying and harrowing adventures, then I would encourage you to buy not only this product, but all of the previous expansions as well. Planes of Power represents the latest installment in a world that is ENORMOUS and offers years of enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: more EQ fun
Review: its more to EQ, its fun! if you already own eq and are thinking about getting this.. just get it.
Rating: 
Summary: Know what you're getting
Review: Looks like it could be an okay expansion. You can fight the "gods," so time will tell. Still, some notes. The box screenshots show Luclin graphics -- if you play the game straight out of the box you'll get old graphics. Not a big deal, but buyers should be told and they're not. Also, you can't go beyond the first zone in Planes if you're not high level. Nowhere on the box is this mentioned. Transportion issues should have been settled via a patch rather than an expansion.
Rating:
Summary: Something for everyone
Review: Lots of people regard this expansion as only for high level characters. I am not one of them, however this expansion is not for those new to EQ. You CAN install this stand-alone, but you should start off with the original version (can be downloaded free from Sony), learn gameplay, and then consider this expansion. For those familiar with the game this expansion adds some very useful things indeed. The pedestals you have seen appear in the zones lead to the Plane of Knowledge. This leads to almost every city or zone in the game. No more begging Wizzies or Druids for a port :) There is also a Soulbinder and a bank in PoK. Getting the idea here? I bind my characters here to make corpse looting safer and quicker. If you're capable of binding yourself this is trivial, but to those of us that can't bind, it's pretty nice. All the other Planes in this expansion require your character to be level 46+, but the PoK makes it nice for lower levels, and is one of the best additions to the game.
Rating:
Summary: PoP is essential at any level
Review: No matter what level you are, PoP is a must have. Druids and Wizards will still be invaluable for escape or for getting quickly to other spots in the world, but if you have time to zone three times to travel across the world (or moon) PoP is great! I can go from Kelethin to Qeynos now without a TP and without waiting for the nexus spires to trigger and running through WK (YUK!). Jonathan Biviano
Author of Fate Rides Wicked: Volume I of the Lerilon Trilogy, available at Amazon.com
Rating: 
Summary: EQ: Planes of Power: Where do we go from here?
Review: Note: This review is ONLY about the "Planes of Power" add-on to Everquest, and not the game itself. In many ways, "Planes of Power" (PoP) is one of the best of the Everquest expansions, raising the level limit, bringing in more planes (extradimensional homes of the gods) than in the rest of the game, spectacular new enemies to fight and a single overarching storyline that spans 19 levels and puts the most powerful characters in a battle against the forces of creation, freeing Norrath's equivalent of Prometheus, the god who gave magic to mortals and who was imprisoned by the others for his crime in a place no one would ever be able to find him ... This all sounds pretty good, but for an expansion not designed to be the finale for the most successful American MMORPG, it has painted the rest of the game into something of a corner. For starters, where does the game go once players have gotten more power than other (enough that some players are now soloing dragons that normally up to 30 people to kill) and have defeated almost all of the gods? Fighting a really, really, REALLY tough orc who happens to be as tough as the God of War strains credulity -- more than that, it's just plain silly. Secondly, the expansion also includes the Plane of Knowledge, a plane every level 1 character can reach by clicking on the bookstand outside starting cities. And because all such cities are included (along with a few other locations in Kunark, Velious and Luclin), travel distances in the game are all but a memory. Instead of evil characters having to suffer the consequences of their evil, all characters may now use the factionless Plane of Knowledge as a home base without consequences, and may skip past barriers to go anywhere they want, almost at will. While this is inarguably a convenience, part of the appeal of Everquest was its wealth of content. PoP turns EQ into a Readers Digest version of Norrath, with players able to skip between the highlights, and now any zone more than two zonelines away from Knowledge is a back water where many players simply will not go. The game has been forever changed, and this is one genie unlikely to ever be put back in the bottle. As for the content itself, it's good. It uses existing lore, draws us into the ongoing story of the game, and the planes are often real eye-poppers (the Plane of Innovation, with its magical clockwork robots run amok and the fleshscape of the Plane of Disease are two of the show-stoppers). None of it other than Knowledge can be accessed by characters under level 46, and the other planes require further levels, characters to succeed in certain quests, characters to have beaten certain raid bosses (in events involving dozens of other characters) or all of the above. The vast majority of the player base will never see at least six of the zones in PoP. While most of the previous expansions had zones similar to this, they were usually a mere one or two per expansion (Veeshan's Peak in Kunark, Sleeper's Tomb and the Plane of Mischief in Velious, Vex Thal in Luclin), and six zones are an awful lot of content for players to pay for and never use -- essentially subsidizing the content for the most powerful guilds. For what it is, PoP is enjoyable, and a lot of fun. But much of it feels like well-meant mistakes. Game balance is changed forever, much of the older content is sinking into obscurity, and Everquest's great system of faction that made player characters part of a world where actions matter is more or less irrelevant now. "Everquest: Planes of Power" is a lot of fun (especially if you enjoy raiding), but it's hard to see how the game can continue on much longer in any recognizable form after this. Recommended for the great deal of utility Everquest players will get from the expansion, especially players with characters level 46+.
Rating:
Summary: EQ: Planes of Power: Where do we go from here?
Review: Note: This review is ONLY about the "Planes of Power" add-on to Everquest, and not the game itself. In many ways, "Planes of Power" (PoP) is one of the best of the Everquest expansions, raising the level limit, bringing in more planes (extradimensional homes of the gods) than in the rest of the game, spectacular new enemies to fight and a single overarching storyline that spans 19 levels and puts the most powerful characters in a battle against the forces of creation, freeing Norrath's equivalent of Prometheus, the god who gave magic to mortals and who was imprisoned by the others for his crime in a place no one would ever be able to find him ... This all sounds pretty good, but for an expansion not designed to be the finale for the most successful American MMORPG, it has painted the rest of the game into something of a corner. For starters, where does the game go once players have gotten more power than other (enough that some players are now soloing dragons that normally up to 30 people to kill) and have defeated almost all of the gods? Fighting a really, really, REALLY tough orc who happens to be as tough as the God of War strains credulity -- more than that, it's just plain silly. Secondly, the expansion also includes the Plane of Knowledge, a plane every level 1 character can reach by clicking on the bookstand outside starting cities. And because all such cities are included (along with a few other locations in Kunark, Velious and Luclin), travel distances in the game are all but a memory. Instead of evil characters having to suffer the consequences of their evil, all characters may now use the factionless Plane of Knowledge as a home base without consequences, and may skip past barriers to go anywhere they want, almost at will. While this is inarguably a convenience, part of the appeal of Everquest was its wealth of content. PoP turns EQ into a Readers Digest version of Norrath, with players able to skip between the highlights, and now any zone more than two zonelines away from Knowledge is a back water where many players simply will not go. The game has been forever changed, and this is one genie unlikely to ever be put back in the bottle. As for the content itself, it's good. It uses existing lore, draws us into the ongoing story of the game, and the planes are often real eye-poppers (the Plane of Innovation, with its magical clockwork robots run amok and the fleshscape of the Plane of Disease are two of the show-stoppers). None of it other than Knowledge can be accessed by characters under level 46, and the other planes require further levels, characters to succeed in certain quests, characters to have beaten certain raid bosses (in events involving dozens of other characters) or all of the above. The vast majority of the player base will never see at least six of the zones in PoP. While most of the previous expansions had zones similar to this, they were usually a mere one or two per expansion (Veeshan's Peak in Kunark, Sleeper's Tomb and the Plane of Mischief in Velious, Vex Thal in Luclin), and six zones are an awful lot of content for players to pay for and never use -- essentially subsidizing the content for the most powerful guilds. For what it is, PoP is enjoyable, and a lot of fun. But much of it feels like well-meant mistakes. Game balance is changed forever, much of the older content is sinking into obscurity, and Everquest's great system of faction that made player characters part of a world where actions matter is more or less irrelevant now. "Everquest: Planes of Power" is a lot of fun (especially if you enjoy raiding), but it's hard to see how the game can continue on much longer in any recognizable form after this. Recommended for the great deal of utility Everquest players will get from the expansion, especially players with characters level 46+.
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