So I'm playing EQ again

Yeah, the first one. Don't laugh. I'm serious!

I am not entirely sure what prompted me to play this 10 year old game again exactly, but I have a feeling nostalgia contributed quite a bit. Actually, I had intended to give Vanguard a try again and decided to go for a Station Pass this time. So now I can play VG, EQ2 and EQ as I own all three games.

Everquest was my first graphical MMO. I spent a few years before EQ tinkering around on various MUDs. I remember my first couple weeks in EQ. The graphics sucked and the camera control was horrid. But, it resembled a MUD so much, I instantly fell in love. It also helped that my best friend was in a toppish-tier raiding guild on Bristlebane at the time. I didn't play for very long before moving on to other games (DAoC, EQ2, WoW, etc) but I think my fondest memories of any MMO come from Everquest.

So, ten years after the game has been released, I find myself logging back in to a new character I just created yesterday. So how does the game compare with other current offerings out there? It's hard to say. I stopped playing right after Planes of Power was released. That was the fourth expansion for Everquest and they now have fifteen. Yeah, I've missed a lot! Plus, I have only been back for not even 24 hours!

That said, I still see a lot of what intrigued me about Everquest in the first place. There is tons of lore (though, this lore is a stickler for some people) which I tend to gobble up. The game isn't exactly "newbie friendly". It's no WoW, that's for sure. Hailing a NPC and then typing in key words to obtain a quest is not what many modern MMO players would consider fun, or even intuitive. But there is something about this that I like. Speaking of quests, I see they have changed a lot of NPCs. Now, you can look at the names floating above their heads and tell what they do (ie: there are notations above their heads if they are quest giving NPCs, or if they sell weapons or armor, spells, etc). I remember trekking all over the place, "hail"ing every single NPC to see if they offered a quest or right clicking them to see if they were merchants.

The game is still a bit of a grind-fest, but not near as much as it used to be. Actually, I take that back. It's more of a quest-fest that requires lots of killing. Much the same as many other MMOs out there. "Go kill of this" or "Obtain of that" and of course "Deliver to NPC_001".

One of the biggest changes, and one that I am absolutely loving, is the addition of mercenaries. These are NPCs that you can hire and they act as a groupmate. With my new guy being a Mage, I hired a Cleric mercenary and it's great. It's like having a friend party with you, but without the chatting. I miss that, but it's nice for people who usually tend to solo, like me.

A lot has changed, from the little bit that I have seen - but a lot still remains the same. Those of you still in EQ, or those that pop in from time to time, I have some questions for you:

What are some of the bigger changes in EQ since PoP? How hard is it to get to max level? How is raiding now (I have never raided in EQ before) ? How does raiding now compare to say, raiding in WoW (the only MMO I have attained max level and raided, other than guild raids in EQ2 while leveling)? What keeps you in EQ?