EverQuest

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful addition to an awesome game
Review: With this addition Everquest will bloom into a dynamic role playing world. It is everchanging in so many positive way. This is only one of many changes planned to keep the Everquest world up to date and on the cutting edge of technology and fun.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I played EQ for about 6 months. This game has great potential, but is seriously flawed.

Its _NOT_ a ROLE playing game. There is no way to role play, no changes happen due to your actions. Indeed, since _most of the people on the servers do _not roleplay, you attempts to do so are doomed to failure. It is a leveling game, pure and simple.

Verant has the _the_ worst customer service I've seen, period. Problems with the game are not dealt with, long standing bugs and code flaws are ignored. A prime entire time the game has been in existance, despite _months_ of bug reports and feedback by _hundreds of customers. Verant couldn't duplicate the bug in testing, due to a flawed testing approach, and basically concluded that hundreds of customers were either lying or simply couldn't do the task properly.

Servers are grossly overcrowded, players will give detailed reasons why the servers should have an active number of players in the 1000 to 1200 range, yet the servers constantly run about 1800 to 2200. This overcrowding seriously hampers game enjoyment of any kind. Verant views this as acceptable, and has done little if anything to alleviate this problem. New servers pack to overflowing within days of their launch.

Verant's constant stream of changes and revisions to the game mean that you can't expect _anything_ to remain stable. Spells, abilities, treasure, creatures, skills, all these go through constant changes and modifications.

Overcrowding and farming of items (gathering items for sale either in or outside the game) mean that you will have to wait in line _hours_ realtime to get nice items and equipment. No, you can't avoid this, you will actually need ot constantly improve your gear as you advance, or weaken drastically. Verant's policy of putting valuable items on rare spawning creatures, and then only having a small percentage of that rare occuring creature drop the valued item means tht you will spend endless frustrating hours (yes, real hours) trying to gather the gear, and mostly failing. Oh, and that assumes someone more powerful than you simply doesn't 'killsteal' the creature, taking it and its loot from under you nose after you've waited hours.

This game has a lot of potential, but is too flawed to waste any time or money on. It will be remembered as the game that pushed the MMORPG (gah, its not a RPG, but that the acronym it has).

It will also be remembered as a the game run by a company making money hand over fist, but absolutely unwilling to spend it to give its customers the product they both expect and deserve.

Just don't.

Rating:
Summary: Addictive even to those of us over 35!
Review: Well, this will be difficult because I went from loving the game so much that I could not think of anything else, to quitting cold turkey for precisely the same reason. This game can be described in one word: horribly addictive. Well, that's two words, but you get the picture. I played virtually non-stop for four months. Anyway, if you have nothing but time, buy this game. The graphics are wonderful, the world is huge and beautiful, and the first-person, 3D view makes you almost believe you ARE there in the world of Norrath and you ARE your character, be you elf, troll, dwarf, ogre, halfling or human. The drawbacks, aside from it taking over your entire waking life, are that to advance you must kill, kill, kill increasingly difficult creatures and are 'forced' to play well with others, or 'group'. If you find others you enjoy grouping with, which is inevitable, you struggle to keep up with them. If you don't care about advancing and you just want to travel and explore, you can do that but it can be dangerous to your health...err.. character's health as getting killed severely limits your traveling opportunities. I quit this game and have resumed normal life, but sometimes I miss Norrath <sigh>.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother unless you have plenty of time.
Review: I've played the game since it came out last year and it is fun to play but the design is for group play and group play only and this is the problem. If you have hours to burn on a regular basis then grouping shouldn't be a problem, but if you would like to get a hour or two in of playing time or if you don't like grouping then Everquest would be more fustraiting than fun. And grouping effectively requires people who know what they are doing; I have been killed so many times in groups it's not even funny. The game can be great fun but it can also give you an ulcer. If you have friends or family who will play when you play then go for it, if not I would wait on a more solo friendly game.

Rating:
Summary: a Powerleveler's dream, Roleplayers need to look elsewhere
Review: Sorry to burst the bubble of all the people who thought that this would be a great way to roleplay online, because to be honest. I've had the game for a number of months now and I've seen distrubingly low amounts of Role Playing in this game, if you are one of those people who insisted on finding every secret in the Final Fantasy series of games, and don't care if there is an interesting story surrounding your god-like character (which will take you thousands of gamplay hours to create, and you still will not be on par with the toughest monsters in the game). Then ignore my one out of five star rating and knock yourself out. Oh and as a side note be prepared to be exploited by Verant at every corner, because to them you are just $9.89 a month nothing more.

Rating:
Summary: must improve customer service
Review: I too am part of the Everquest world, as is my wife. We both have characters that are lvl 50. We are looking forward to the expansion just to try something new. The only complaint I have about the game is the very poor customer service. They refuse to answer to your concerns. They refuse to deal with your complaints in a expidient manner. The system is set up so that all issues are handled in game. There is no contact made outside of the game.. no email help.. no telephone help.. nothing.. you really are in their world now when you play this game and their world is a dictatorship. Why do we keep playing? Because of the wonderfull people that we have met who also play. The concept and game play scores a 4 out of 5.. the customer service scores a 0 out of 5

Rating:
Summary: a great potential.
Review: I am an avid Everquest fanatic, i've been playing the standard version on my main character for approximately 500 hours. To put this into perspective, I've beaten Final Fantasy VII (an incredibly epic Playstation and PC RPG) in a mere 60 hours. Just the mere social aspect is wonderful. More often than not, EQ people are kind and most generous. You can organize temporary or permanent groups of all your Everquest friends in groups or guilds. I'm in a guild and it greatly enhances the gaming experience. This new expansion will feature a revamped graphics engine, so the scenery and effects will be even more beautiful. And you'll have an entire new continent to explore with existing or new Lizard race characters. If the expansion pack is even a fraction of the fun i've had with the full version, you bet I'm gonna plunk down the cash for it. BTW a major note. If you _already_ have the full version, do NOT pay $37 for the expansion. the expansion set is much cheaper. The $37 price is an excellent buy, but only IF you don't already have the full version.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Cool Game, really
Review: Ok, so the other guys have a lot of negatives to say about EQ.....and it IS true, the customer service is pathetic. We had a customer service issue that we eventually just worked out on our own just to get going again, but the play is really worth getting past the growing pains of a new RPG on the horizon of greatness. We just all have to hang in there while things get worked out.

Meanwhile, I am (ahem!) a 42 year old mother of 4 who has a lot of fun playing this game with my teenage son. (Don't get involved if you don't like the constant bashing and whacking of different creatures, which is the nature of the game...to rid the Norath world of all the nasties likes orcs and such.) But I like a role of a healer and let the teenagers go for the more aggressive roles. The game centers around cooperation, teams of up to 6 characters working together to acomplish something. Without cooperation it isn't as fun or as easy to advance your character.

Many of the players on EQ are really considerate and helpful to others, and I have been impressed with the fun that they bring to the game. After all, this is what keeps it interesting, that it is ever changing, never predictable, as fluid as life itself. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Shameful Customer Service Makes a Good Game Stink
Review: I am actually kind of surprised that Sony and 989 Studios would jeopardize their good names by being associated with the unprofessional service staff at Verant software.

At first you might think that once you buy a game, what does it matter how the company runs its customer service? But believe me, it does. In a game where you can only play online you are at the complete mercy of your hosts. And if they are poorly staffed with an array of unhelpful and sometimes arrogant, unprofessional personnel, you are probably playing EverQuest.

EverQuest is and of itself a fantastic world of fantasy adventure, and probably one of the best games of its ilk to come around in a long time. The character designs, graphics, music (when you are in a place where the game plays music), and gameplay are all very good. The real problem with this game is the way that Verant handles its customer support. The term "customer" is ironic here because never have I seen a company treat the people paying its bills with such utter disregard.

Any time a player has a problem with the game (and plenty crop up), the only course of action that will have any effect is to "petition" an "in game" Verant representative known as a GM (which is not a highly publicized fact). E-mails to various "authorities" will go unanswered and fruitless long distance calls Verant's California offices will result in endless run-around to the point of which one can only conclude that the company is atrociously organized. When a GM finally has the time to answer (it could be hours), expect a hasty conversation, contradictory information, and in the end unsatisfactory results. All this will add up to great frustration while trying to play the game and a feeling that the company couldn't care less whether or not you continue to use their service. It is inevitable that when there is release by another company to rival this game, people will abandon EverQuest en masse.

The programmers of EverQuest have done a great job at creating an online 3-D fantasy world. It is perhaps a testament to their skills that people in great numbers continue to play this game even though the staff running it could possibly be worst front line to the consumer ever assembled.

Rating:
Summary: This Is The Stuff Of High Adventure
Review: Having played the original Everquest Online Multiplayer game since its debut in March of 1999 I am excitedly looking forward to the expansion, Ruins of Kunark. That this game is different from any game you have played before would be an understatement. This game is larger than life. This is a fantasy world filled with literally thousands of folks just like you, who find the fantasy genre exciting. Everquest is a virtual world with only three continents so far explored. Kunark will make the forth. As amazing as the original game is, everything I have seen and read about the Kunark expansion leads me to believe it will be even better. If you have ever wanted to play at you'd you like to be, in a world where dragons still walk the land and Paladins still seek to slay them, then I highly recommend The Ruins of Kunark. There is something here for everyone. Take your pick of over a dozen races and professions. Take the role of an elf lord with the power of Magic at his finger tips who would rather use his skills to solve puzzles and mysteries than fight. As a barbarian princess with a firey spirit and a strong steel sword you can seek out the company of other heroes to help rid the land of foul, unearthly creatures. Each player may also choose to spend some of his or her time learning any of the dozens of skills available such as Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Hiding, Hand to Hand Combat or even Baking and Fishing. Plus, like in life, practicing your skills makes you gradually get better at them. Dwarves, halflings, ogres, unicorns, they're all waiting for you in the dynamic online game called Everquest -- Ruins of Kunark. Hope to see you there!