This week, we bring you recollections offered by developers on the EverQuest Development Team, as they look back fondly over eleven years of this groundbreaking game world. We hope you all enjoy their thoughts, and that you will share your own memories on our forums!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eleven years ago I was sitting in my dorm room surfing the web, waiting for my turn to come up for the next game of Golden Eye.  My roommate had gotten me in a MUD he’d been playing and I was looking around for information.  Somehow while searching I came across some references to some new 3D MUD that was being worked on and needed Beta testers.  What the heck, I’d never had much luck getting accepted into Betas, but figured I might as well sign up.  A month or so later I received a CD in the mail with the game installer on it.  It was a standard CD with “EverQuest Beta” written across the front.  Little did I know that this little disc would help shape the rest of my life.

First as a player, then as a Game Master, and finally as a designer, the last eleven years of my life have been completely changed by the world of Norrath.  If it wasn’t for EverQuest, I’d most likely be cleaning test tubes in some chemical lab (I was chemistry major in college). I clearly wouldn’t be living in San Diego, and I wouldn’t have met the love of my life that I married last September.  Every year at Fan Faire I hear similar stories from people who have been changed by playing EverQuest.  I can only imagine how many friendships, jobs opportunities, and marriages can be traced back to this amazing game.

I’m sure many of you remember the original marketing slogan, “You’re in our world now.”  This was a great tag line.  It embodied the scope of the world, the feeling of an imminent challenge, and the idea of playing in a community.  There was one thing they got wrong though.  It wasn’t really their world.  The past and current development team may be creating the world that we’re playing in, but it is shaped just as much by the people playing it.  Anyone who has ever played EQ has contributed in some small way to the evolution of the world as it marches forward.  We should all be proud of the legacy we’ve created as players and developers.

Every year when this anniversary comes around, I find myself thinking of all the people I met from EQ, and all the fun I’ve had killing and creating every kind of monster imaginable.  As you celebrate EQ’s birthday this year, I hope you look back on it as fondly as I do, and hope for as many good memories still to come.

~ Ryan Barker, Lead Designer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“I’m coming up on my ten-year anniversary, as I’ve been with the EverQuest team since The Scars of Velious.  It has been incredible to watch the game grow into what it is today and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our players.  Here’s to eleven more years in the future!

~ Bob “Vyrinn Shadowmyst” Painter

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“It’s so magical to be able to experience the 11th Anniversary of EverQuest after spending so many years involved in the game one way or another.  In many ways it’s not just the birthday of my game project, but the birthday of the game that took many, many fun years of my life, the loot I’ve earned, and the wonderful friends I’ve made.  I look forward to another 11, 22… 55 years more!”

~ Zieri, EverQuest Apprentice Designer and Quality Assurance Analyst

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Though I have not been on the EQ for nearly as long as the others, it is exciting that EverQuest has hit this important landmark. I look forward to many more years of EverQuest, both in Dev and its Community.”

~ Sajinn – Game Designer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greetings, Norrathians. Raramor here.

Eleven years ago, I don’t think anyone would have believed that EverQuest – indeed, any online game – might be destined to captivate a large enough audience to not only become a blockbuster hit entertaining hundreds of thousands of players, but also endure for eleven years.

Think about that for a moment.

Eleven years. I remember vividly how the world changed in that time since I first set out upon the North Desert of Ro to start building my Ranger’s fame and fortune. Some of the highly-touted technologies of that era which seemed like they would never go away, did. How many tech gadget fads and dot-com firms were hyped, rose, peaked, fell, and were forgotten during those years – not to mention game products? EverQuest, interestingly enough, is still around. No surprise – this is a game that offers deep gameplay and rich lore, ever-increasing ways to improve one’s characters, topped off with a steady progression of expansion areas to explore and wonder over, inspiring players to invest themselves for long periods of time, building up many rewarding relationships with each other, helping to define a cultural phenomenon.

Though in many ways working on EverQuest is certainly a labor of epic proportions, I love developing content for a loyal base of fans who appreciate the attention to quality – few other games are lucky enough to have such a dedicated and passionate audience. Having the honor to work on several EverQuest expansions with a team of extremely talented and knowledgeable developers has been the privilege of a lifetime, and one I will always appreciate wholeheartedly. I eagerly await the next chapters of EverQuest’s unfolding saga as eagerly as any player – partly for the sheer excitement I feel at helping to create new ideas, extrapolate old ideas, and run with them to continue building upon a mighty gaming tradition.

How long will EverQuest really endure? That is a question only you can answer. We designers stand ready to create more compelling content and inspirational challenges to keep all of you engrossed in the ever-unfolding, ever-deepening story of Norrath and its inhabitants. There are always more awesome ideas available than we can possibly put into the game. With your steadfast support and avid interest, we have overcome daunting challenges, expanded into worlds and planes beyond imagination, kept the game going these past eleven years, and may keep it going eleven more. We have shown you wondrous places, from Kerafyrm’s Lair to the Plane of Fear; from Discord Tower to the depths of Underfoot, and many, many places (and time periods, and planar realities…) in between. Where will we go tomorrow?

They say a great journey begins with a single step. So too does it continue with a single step. There is always another EverQuest adventure right around the corner, and your familiar characters beckon you ever onward.

~ Raramor, Game Designer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“It’s amazing that it’s still going after 11 years.”

~ John Roy, Lead Artist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“I first found out about EverQuest when I saw a game trailer in Electronics Boutique. I thought it was the most amazing game and couldn’t wait to play it. Two years as a player, one year as Game Master and eight years creating zones. Eleven years of fun. Happy anniversary, EverQuest!”

~ Allen Bond, Assistant Lead Artist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It’s hard to believe that it’s been eleven years since I was eagerly downloading the launch-day patch on my super-cool hardware modem, and harder still to believe that this is the fourth anniversary event I’ve been a part of from the other side of the screen.  If EverQuest were a child, it would be obsessed with the Jonas Brothers by now.  I think we’re all glad that hasn’t happened.  Happy anniversary, everyone.

~ Ed “Aristo” Hardin, Game Designer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have been working on EverQuest off and on since the year 2000, and it is an honor to be around for the 11th anniversary and to see EverQuest still going strong! Thank you to all of our fans for making EverQuest the great game it is.

~ Norm “Normando” Freeman,  Game Designer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eleven years of wizards blasting, rogues poisoning, crafters clicking. Imagine if it was all done in one instance.  We would blow up a moon, make a world uninhabitable, or shift its orbit.  Thank you for keep us going for eleven fun years.  And don’t you all click at once!

~ Adam “Ngreth” Bell, Game Designer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“It’s an epic tale of love, tragedy, and giant robots!”

~ “Chandrok”, Game Designer

Today, March 10, 2010 we launched Convorteum, the add-on zone which completes the Underfoot Expansion! Convorteum is the home to the First Creation and he is looking to settle a score with Brell Serilis.

Underfoot launched just a few months ago in December, however we waited to release the final piece of the story until today.  Convorteum is packed full of content that will enhance your game play experience with at least 50% more Raids than the initial release of Underfoot.

Have an EverQuest account but haven’t had the chance to purchase Underfoot yet? Well, we’ve enabled many, many accounts to try it out for free from March 10 through March 12. So check your emails if you have an EverQuest account and are signed up for our newsletters, or log in to your account and see Underfoot for yourself. See details of this promotion for more information. There are some restrictions and it is for a limited time.

Highlights

With today’s release of Convorteum, we have enhanced many areas of the Underfoot expansion, and also tuned Raids, Quests, Spells, Items and Creature Spawns based on feedback you have been giving us.

We’ve added a new Statistics Pane on the Inventory Panel to display many stats that have not been totaled in other locations of the game.

There has been a lot of great work completed for the Convorteum Game Update, not to mention preparations for our 11^th Anniversary next week. Check out the Game Update Notes for more details.

Special Thanks

We’ve been increasing our efforts to listen to you more through the Forums and better yet, through polls you can  participate in upon logging into the game. We’re dedicated to delivering features to the game that you are most interested in and we think this gives us the best sampling of information to move forward with. So thank you for taking the time to answer and for leaving your feedback and questions on our forums. We are listening.

More information next week on some initiatives we are working on.

On behalf of SOE and the EverQuest Team, thank you for your dedication to the world of Norrath!

~ Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest

Go Paladins!

Where did January go? Lately, the days just seem to fly by. In the past two months, we launched our 16^th expansion, Underfoot, spent some time away for the holidays, said hello to a new decade and stood in line with everyone else to see Avatar.

There’s no escaping it; the New Year is here and we can’t get caught watching the paint dry.

This week’s Marketplace items are exploding with LOVE!

There’s a game update this week so let me get you caught up on what’s happening. For all you love birds out there, we’ve got a few items coming your way through the Marketplace. Now it’s not a requirement to be smitten by anyone in particular in order to purchase these items but it wouldn’t hurt.

For those that haven’t purchased anything from the Marketplace before, we’ve even put up an item that everyone can use, whether or not you have a special someone this Valentine’s Day. To top it off, it won’t cost you anything (for a limited time). So enjoy the “Shot of Love” from us – and no, that’s not a reality show on MTV. It will help you find that special someone and will help you to let them know you’re interested in them—but don’t squander the opportunity, the free item will only be available for a couple of days (Friday February 12 through Monday February 15). After that it will be back on sale, for those guys that always forget about the holiday and have to drive all over town just to get out of the dog house.

Anyone looking to get married?

We’re very understanding of couples that can’t find the right venue for their wedding, so we’ve offered the Light and Dark Wedding Packs at a considerably lower price during this festive time of year.  Who are we to stand in the way of love? It will find a way…

We’ve got a few more items you’ll enjoy, so take a look at the Ornamentations and other items designed with your romantic feelings in mind.

What can you do for person that doesn’t need love in their life? Well, we haven’t forgotten about you. Just last week, we launched more Vampire Ornamentations. This will be just perfect if you’re known more for biting your neighbors than sending them a candy-gram. Enjoy!

Rare mob spawns are more apparent this weekend!

Starting on Friday, you’ll notice that rare mobs will spawn more frequently than they have in the past. This will be in effect from Friday through Monday of next week (February 12 through 15) so get your friends together—you’ve got more chances at the brass ring this weekend!

Zatozia will host a special Valentine’s Ustream event at 1:00pm on Friday, February 12^th with the rest of the Community Team… so tune in have a great weekend!

March Update

Next month we will be hitting our 11^th Anniversary for EverQuest!!! Woot! I know where I was 11 years ago – Where were you? We’ll have to get Zat to collect your feedback on your initial steps into EverQuest way back then. I know we’ve got a few stories we can share with you… it should be pretty interesting.

Next month we will launch some new content and features for the Anniversary, turning on some previous content while giving it a twist and packing anything else in there that we can think of.

We’ll have more details about March and what is to come after, very soon.

Thanks for stopping by to read this.

See you in game!

~ Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest

Greetings everyone!

It’s that time of year again – the time for putting up decorations, singing carols, fighting for a playoff spot, gaining a few pounds, and the time when everyone constantly clicks on the launcher trying to gain access to the newest EverQuest expansion! For some of you, the wait is now over! …and for people like me, the weight is now starting!

With the Seeds of Destruction expansion, we gave you a sneak peek at a few zones.  For the Underfoot “Early Access” launch, we wanted to give veteran players a little something extra for their dedication and loyalty to EverQuest.   That’s where the concept of the Road to Underfoot came to life.

The Road to Underfoot kicked off with the Giants, Giants, Giants event. In this event, players fought against some of the largest foes across the gaming world.  Next, the players took on the form of some of their favorite monsters and battled against Ancient Heroes like Vox and Nagafen.  Finally, the Road to Underfoot ended with the Breaking of the Seal.  Cliknar forces broke through the Wall of Living Stone within the Hole on Norrath and armies of flooded out from the realm of Underfoot putting Norrath in danger.  Only brave adventurers can help save Norrath in time.

Though Underfoot will officially launch on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, everyone who completed the three Road to Underfoot events and pre-order and purchased the Underfoot expansion gained access to explore the Underfoot a week before everyone else.  The “Early Access” launch on December 8, 2009 includes the full expansion.

Next week on December 15^th, we’ll see the official launch of Underfoot which allows access to everyone else who purchases the expansion.

In this year of EverQuest’s 10^th Anniversary, we’ve seen the community rally together and show how much they support the game we all love.  The EQ team would like to thank everyone for helping to keep EverQuest going strong.  We’re committed to the game that started it all and to the passionate people that play them. We have a lot planned for the game over the coming year and hope to see everyone continue to be part of EverQuest’s history.

I wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous holiday season and a plethora of Underfoot content! Last one in is a rotten egg!

~ Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest, on behalf of the EverQuest and SOE Team

Here’s some more detailed information about the Dragon Brood Crypt Key that people have been curious about.

The Dragon Brood Crypt Key Loot Card will allow you to redeem the Dragon Brood Crypt key on one character, which will offer a quest that tells them where to go and what to do in order to gain access to the dragon’s crypt. For each person that has the key, they will be able to bring 5 other players with them to participate.

While in the zone, the group will be able to complete the quest that is triggered by this item, which concludes with unique rewards for defeating the boss.  In addition to the items dropped by the boss, the holder of the key will also be able to choose any item they want from the same loot table.  The zone is designed for a group of Level 85 characters, and the items are roughly equivalent power to items that can be found in Korafax group encounters.

Provided that the last steps in this zone are not completed, the key holder can access the zone multiple times with anyone they are grouped with. Individual group members do not have to have a copy of the key to go in with a friend who does.

Once the last step is completed and the final rewards are claimed, the key is consumed and the zone will be inaccessible to the key holder.  However, obtaining another key will once again allow the player access to the zone in the same fashion as it was the first time.

While many of you have expressed concern, creating this encounter didn’t take away from developing the expansion, or other live content we have planned.  Legends of Norrath is popular with many players, and we’re able to use the resources dedicated to LoN to create extra things like this encounter – things we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to make.

Thank you,
Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest

Bonus Experience Weekend is now live through Monday!

(51% bonus to commemorate the launching of the Mayong 51/50 server)

Enjoy!

~ Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest

With much anticipation, the Mayong 51/50 Server went live Tuesday at 11:00am PDT! If you are hearing about the server for the first time, let me bring you up to speed.

When you create a character on the Mayong Server, you will start off at Level 51 and will be given 50 AA points to spend any way you like. There are 33 Boss Mob Encounters that reward you with first time kill titles, a bit more unique than if you were the second person to kill the Mobs.

As always when opening a new server, there is an inherent need to race between players — to be the first at everything. First to kill this, first to get that and a first to 85. So get your race on!

Also, if you have friends that never leveled past level 50 to experience what you have in EverQuest, this is a great opportunity to invite them to enjoy the end game and skip past a few levels and more importantly, to play with your friends.

Lastly, because of the Mayong 51/50 server and Independence Day this weekend, we are granting a “51%” Experience Boost for everyone from Thursday mid-day through Monday morning. Happy 4th of July!

See you in game!

~ Thom “Phathom” Terrazas
Producer, EverQuest

About two weeks ago, Producer Clint Worley posted a letter announcing that he was moving off the EverQuest team. For many people, that opened up loads of questions and comments such as: “He was my favorite Producer, I’m going to miss him!”, “Where is he going?”, “Is he choosing to go?”, “Who’s taking his place?”, “I’ll bet it was because of that nerf he introduced in the last update”, etc… Well, I can assure you that he isn’t going far; he is going to be missed; no one strong-armed him into leaving; he still is the favorite producer of Betty in Topeka, KS.; it wasn’t because of a nerf; and lastly, it’s me jumping into the saddle to take his place.

Hello everyone, my name is Thom Terrazas, and I am the new Producer on EverQuest. For the past couple of weeks, I have been spending time getting to know the team, their initiatives and goals; and have begun to get reacquainted with the game that I played endlessly when it launched 10 years ago. Holy Smokes! 10 years! It truly is amazing, remembering a game behind the scenes eleven years ago in beta, watching it grow a tremendous following, seeing numerous expansions launched, and witnessing a continued level of passion from within the studio outward to include players far and wide.

Much like you, I have a long history with EverQuest and a ton of fond memories. Do you remember the first time you needed help from a Game Master? I was one of those GMs that helped you out! I started as one of the first GMs in EverQuest on the Tunare Server and had a blast helping and interacting with all of you! I was in game on “my” server when the first Fiery Avenger was earned! I remember hopping from server to server, running dozens of in-game events; logging into Everfrost, conducting the Ice Giant event and realizing that there was a bug that disallowed the GMs to equally hit players back with the same skill as a regular Ice Giant. Woops, we didn’t last very long! We had a lot of fun back then and it still continues. It’s awesome to think about it now, and to see all the progress EverQuest has made over the years and how other games continue to be measured against it.

Even though I have been busy on other games since then, I’ve never forgotten where it all started (EverQuest) and I never lose track of where it is headed. Sounds like an old girlfriend, doesn’t it?  Nonetheless, from EverQuest in-game support ten years ago, I went on to 6+ years of managing in the Customer Service Department and transitioned to Game Development just over 4 years ago.

I’m very excited to be part of the EverQuest Community and I look forward to meeting you in during Norrath’s second decade. Thanks for your time. I will see you in game, or at Fan Faire in Vegas!

~ Thom “Phathom” Terrzas
Producer, Everquest

It has been a wonderful time…

Being a part of the EQ franchise starting with EQOA and then Champions Return to Arms and now EverQuest has been a great experience. Moving onto the EQ team in a time of transition from 6-month expansions to 12-month expansions, and working to ramp up the amount of content we roll out for free throughout the year was a very challenging time for both our players and the developers.

We ultimately focused on the quality of our expansions more than ever and made sure that we spent time on addressing not only expansion related tasks but also long standing bugs and issues that had been pushed down the priority list in the past. I am happy to say that we have had more than our fair share of victories in the last few years and we will continue to progress towards making the game even better, cleaner and more fun for all of our loyal fans.

One of the core principles we focused on bringing to the EQ community was listening to player feedback. It is very easy for developers to focus on what we think is right and what should and shouldn’t be in the next expansion. But we leverage the strong fan base that is an amazing resource for creative input and feedback in the EQ Live environment. Listening to the players and setting aside time to implement great new features and fix old broken features creates a dynamic relationship between the developers and players. EQ started out a game that was created and made for players to experience, driven by the developers for the players. I do believe that the EQ of 2009 is a game made for the players — in many ways by the players — and that loyalty and creative friendship is what is truly magical about MMO gaming.

New Server Ruleset Announcement

We recently did a poll for a new server set through the in-game polling system. We have done many polls in the past through the webpage but there are plenty of players that play the game and don’t go to the webpage for information on it. We really wanted to get everyone who plays to cast a vote to accurately represent the players’ choice.

The winning server rule set was… 51/50 server!!!

We are pleased to see everyone cast their votes and can honestly say that we are very excited to see this server roll out to the EQ community. We are starting the work on getting the backend setup and ready to go, and will announce the details soon.

I had a great time and will see you all again…

I have enjoyed working with the team and spending time with the players. Fan Faire, Block Party and a few really funny April Fool’s Day events all ring a bell. The EQ development team has a passion for the game that founded this company and drove the entire online gaming industry forward, and although such a creative environment can get a little complicated at times, they always aim to make a game that will keep you the players entertained, challenged and actively involved with the future of the game.

So have a great time in your EQ adventures, and keep up the creative feedback and suggestions; I promise you that the developers listen! I am not going far, as the world of Norrath has plenty of adventuring left in it for generations to come, so I hope to see all of you in game again in the future!

~ Clint “Jourdian” Worley
Producer, EverQuest

The new server poll is drawing to a close this coming weekend! If you haven’t already voted, be sure to cast your vote by 11:59pm on Sunday, April 26th! Also, encourage your friends and fellow guildmates to vote as well.

Currently, the 51/50 server is the front runner. It will be interesting to see which one wins!

~ Clint “Jourdian” Worley
Producer, EverQuest