…but seeing as the EverQuest site is usless for info, what am I in for?
How does it compare to say…Diablo? (I know it’s a MMORPG.)
Do a lot of people here play? Anyone want to help a newbie? 
I haven’t played it myself but from what I’ve heard there is a reason they call it EverCrack. Don’t do it dude. You’ll be back on here in a few months posting a thread in the Pit about your EverQuest addiction.
Careful, it kills people:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/06/02/online.suicide.ap/index.html
Even though he was epileptic, shy, overweight, and taking medication for seizures and depression, it was THE GAME’S FAULT he killed himself!
I am so sorry. It’s always sad to see someone take their first toke of EverCrack. First, it’s just a game, but then… just one more hour camping the spawn point. I woulda gone to bed, but I had this quest. I love you honey, but my group’s in trouble right now, could you drive yourself to the hospital?
I managed to avoid it through oversaturation. Played 16 hours the first day I had it, 18 hours the next. A few 8-hour days after that, I didn’t care if I never saw a gnoll train again.
Good luck to you, young adventurer. You’re gonna need it.
LOL…I am actually looking forward to it…I hated the ‘pay to play’ idea, (Mostly because I don’t use credit cards.) but now there are pre-paid account cards, so…
I’m just curious about how the game plays…stratagies, what sort of character to make, et al.
(Gawd I can’t wait to get home and try it out!.)
Former EQ addict of 18 months here. My highest level character was 56 (out of a possible 60) and his played time was about 60 days (ie 60x24 hours). I’ve been “clean” for almost a month.
Compared to Diablo: I always described EQ to my friends as a cross between Diablo and IRC. There are a lot of differences though. Diablo is a linear world where you move from area to area. EQ is just an open world. Your race determines where you start, which is usually in a “newbie” area. The main goal of the game is developing your character, both in levels and items.
Most content that gives experience above about level ten, depending on your class, requires you to group up with other people. The forced grouping is the addictive part of the game. You can make some very good friends. However, at 1am on a weeknight you might be in a very good group and just not want to leave.
At the start of the game you choose your race and class. Your choice of class will determine your role in groups, or determine whether or not you can solo well or at all. One of the main problems EQ has is that there are certain required classes for a standard group to work well, so if you choose the wrong class you can spend quite a lot of time looking for a group.
When your character reaches level 46, he is able to enter areas called Planes, which is when EQ is no longer just about single groups getting “xp”. This is when you’ll start “raiding.” Raids are generally two or more groups of people getting together to kill a single monster, or to clear out an area of creatures, generally for loot. Some of the very high end content has only been seen by a handful of people organised enough to get into certain areas. Some of these groups of people (guilds) have a large following from the EQ community and have websites displaying their latest kills (check out: http://www.fohguild.org or http://legacyofsteel.net if you want some examples).
Anyways, I’ve skipped out a fair bit because it is a very complex game, but I hope that gives you some idea of what you’re in for.
Reading over that I don’t think I’ve left out some important things.
Getting experience (xp): In your character screen you have an experience bar which fills up with each kill of an experience giving creature. To give experience a creature must "con"light blue or higher. If you right click on a creature, or target it and press C, you will get a message in your chat window of a certain colour. The colours range from easiest to hardest: green, light blue, blue, white/black, yellow, red. For the most part, you won’t be able to kill red and yellow creatures on your own. When your experience bar fills up, you will hear a satisfying ding sounds to let you know you’ve just levelled up. The amount of experience needed for each level goes up with each level, with level 1 needing about 6 kills, to level 59 which requires weeks of playing.
Loot: Your character has armour slots where you can place armour and weapons. Each armour peice has certain properties which will increase your characters stats from simple hitpoints and armourclass to inteligence, strength, stamina, resists, and every other stat.
Guilds: A guild is formed by a group of people for a number of reasons. The lower level guilds exist mainly to provide an extra chat channel so you can meet and group with people you know who might have common interests or share a similar timezone. The higher level guilds get together for raiding and generally have level and time commitment requirements to join.
Groups: A group can consist of up to six people. When the group kills something, the experience is shared among those in the group. It is best to group with those around the same level as you, and you will not get experience for a kill if the highest level person in your group is too high. The lowest level person must be two thirds or more below the highest level person or the lower level person will not get xp. eg a level 40 character will get xp with a level 60 character, but a level 39 character will not.
There are some good websites out there that provide some basic character creation areas for new players. The one at http://eq.castersrealm.com is a good one.
Have fun!
I was looking at a Dark Elf type of character. (I like the dark characters…)
Thanks Zharklm.
(And Welcome to the SDMB.)
“I don’t think I’ve left out…” should read “I think I’ve left out…”
Checking that page now.
Thanks again Z!
Ah welll…this was too good to be true…
After further review, the email I got from the Sony Station and noticed the ‘small print’:
I don’t have a Credit Card or an EQ Game Card…
Damn.
**DAMN!!! **
Isn’t the “EQ game card” the same thing as the pre-paid account card you mentioned before? If so, I guess you’d have to buy the cheapest game card to get the free additional time.
If you do end up playing, Opalcat leads a guild of Dopers and Fathomites on the Druzzil Ro server.
A guild, in this case, is an association of player characters. Guilds have their own chat channel.
Thanks for the info heresiarch
I just installed it but I can’t get it to work!!!
The tutorial works fine, but if I go to create a new account, it crashes to the desktop. If I just try to log in…same thing.
Any idea what is happening??? (There is no error message)
PS: I completely disabled my firewall to see if it was that…same thing…
PIII 600
384MB
WindowsXP
Voodoo5 5500
DirectX 8.1
(Man I want to play this!!!)
Just an idea, two actually.
You need to turn off some of the new character models. It takes 512 MB (maybe more!) to run them all. Look for that in options, if you are getting that far.
Even though you’ve got a brand spanking new video card, make sure that you have the latest .driver for it.
Oh, and here’s another page for general troubleshooting.
Now stock up on microwave burritos and beer. 
P.S. Welcome Zharklm! My guild leader’s name is Zhark; That’s not you, is it?
P.P.S. For info about character classes, spells, and strategy recommendations, check out Caster’s Realm.
Ok. I have the driver that the page recommends.
I think it may be the fact that I am running duel monitors. I dissable that when I get home tongith and try again. (I’m thinking IRQ conflict.)
Disabling the dual monitor didn’t work…
…I guess it just wasn’t meant to be… 
I’ve been EverQuest free for 17 months.
I started in the summer of 1999.
It’s a good game, but it’s no substitute for having real life friends.
I clocked over 100 playing days with my various characters, the highest of which was a level 57 Cleric. When I think about it, it was a lot of time. The equivalent of more than 3 whole months, morning noon and night, doing nothing but playing a friggin computer game.
Why did I quit? I loved that game more than life itself. But unfortunately, the novelty, the sense of adventure, the comradery that I once had with EQ, eventually faded. I simply got tired of it. But I will always look fondly upon my EverQuest days. Which is why I go by the name of Blalron on the net, in tribute to my previous character.
So, would I recommend it? Sure, as long as you remember that its just a game and that real life takes precedence.
I’ve seen people auctioning off their EQ characters on Ebay for sizable chunks of money. Is there respectable money to be made doing this kind of thing?
Depends on what you mean by “respectable”. Many EQ players look down upon ebayed characters for the simple reason that they often don’t know a damned thing about the game and would get a group killed who were unfortunate enough to team up with him. Also, many players with HORRIBLE reputations sell their characters because nobody will group with them anymore, so the guy they sell to is ostracized right from the start.
My E’ci server had a famous Enchanter (he referred to himself as an “enchater”) who was ebayed. The ebayer who played him didn’t know a damn thing about the Enchanter class, which was a shame, because they’re supposed to keep the group safe with their spells. This takes skill, which he obviously didn’t have.
There used to be decent money in Ebaying it back when I played. I’ve seen an account sell for up to $1,000. Not sure if there still is decent money now, because EQ is getting kind of old.
I started playing EQ about 2 weeks after the public launch. It was a blast. I met quite a few great people, and several jerks. Joined some guilds, grouped a bit, and generally had a good time. It lasted almost 3 years. I quit 2 months ago. (I think it’s 3 years, my sense of time sucks and I don’t feel like looking it up.)
My first bit of advice: If you’ve got the old “addictive personality,” don’t. EQ is a bad idea. It sucks you in, and won’t let go.
Second: If you’re used to single player games, especially RPG’s, this is a whole new ballgame. After around level 20 or so, even with one of the “solo-friendly” classes (Necromancer, Druid, Magician), you need to group to get exp. Well, you don’t, really, but you will be bored out of your mind. Luckily, I was the eternal newbie. All that time, and my highest level char was 30. Because I like to solo.
Third: Being in a group is both good and bad. There’s the socialization and camaraderie. And then there’s the scumbags. You can only understand how bad the asses can be after you’ve played for a while. They can be horrible. But you can also make good friends that way.
Finally, EQ isn’t just a game. If you want to get anywhere with it, it’s a commitment. One I just got tired of making.
Oh, and Weird_AL_Einstein, yes, you can make some cash. But it’s against EQ’s EULA. And there is a large time commitment to get a character to 60th level to sell. It’s generally not worth the cash.