EverQuest - explainedEverQuest (EQ) is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Verant Interactive (which had recently parted from 989 Studios) and published by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). SOE currently runs and distributes EverQuest. To play, one must initially pay for the game software and then pay a recurring monthly fee; a free trial is also available for those who wish to experience the game before paying. EverQuest was, for a time, the most popular MMORPG in the industry. In the game, players explore a Tolkienesque fantasy world of sword and sorcery, fighting monsters and enemies for treasure and experience points and interacting with other players. As they progress, players advance in level, gaining power, prestige and abilities. Players can also procure powerful items for their characters in a variety of ways: through slaying monsters (and then looting whatever items they were carrying), doing "quests" (tasks and adventures given by non-player characters ( NPCs ) in which a reward is given upon success), or by gathering raw materials and then fashioning them, via numerous trade skills such as tailoring or blacksmithing, into useful (or not-so-useful, but nevertheless fun) items. In structure and rules, the game is a direct descendant of the famed Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Many of the elements from EverQuest have also been drawn from text-based MUD (multi-user dungeon) games, especially DikuMUD. The game features a rich 3D environment set in the fictional world of Norrath, its moon Luclin and alternate planes of reality. The geography of the EverQuest universe is vast—few have visited all of the nearly 400 zones. Multiple instances of the world exist on various servers, each one hosting between 1000 and 3000 simultaneous players online during peak times. After selecting a server, a player can create multiple characters by choosing from a variety of classes and races (e.g., humans, gnomes, trolls, halflings, elves, etc.). The main aspect of gameplay involves grouping with fellow players to kill monsters for experience and gear. Beyond that, a player can explore the large world, socialize, role-play, join player guilds, master trade skills, and duel other players (in restricted situations — EQ only allows Player versus Player (PvP) combat on the PvP-specific server, in designated arenas, or in a consensual duel in a limited number of locations. While some parts of EverQuest can be experienced alone, without the help of other players, EQ generally remains a very group-centric game. A single character will be unable to complete many of the encounters in EverQuest. Most parts of the game can be completed with small groups of up to six or so people, but the most challenging (and rewarding) encounters require the cooperation of many players, possibly totalling 72 players, although the trend in recent expansions tends towards 54 as a maximum. A large force of gamers gathered together to perform one task, is referred to as a "raid". Normally the number of players range from 36 to 72, limiting factors being the maximum number of people allowed in a "raid window" (72) and the maximum number of people allowed in certain instanced zones in more recent expansions. Zerging is when a raid's main strategy is to overwhelm an enemy by sheer force of numbers. As EverQuest has aged, tactics have become more and more involved. Some of the most complex 'modern' raid events can take a very experienced guild dozens of attempts before they succeed. Less skilled guilds may take as many as a hundred tries to beat the same event, if they are able to accomplish it at all, due to the level of strategy and teamwork required to defeat modern EverQuest encounters. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "EverQuest". Related Articles:
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