EverQuest Free To Play Guide
In early March 2012 Everquest went Free to Play, allowing everyone the opportunity to experience the amazing world of Norrath for the very first time absolutely free. Of course, as with all Free to Play games there are many restrictions on non-subscription account holders. You can read what you can and can't do using Sony's Official Everquest Free To Play Page. Now for the purpose of this guide, It is here to help everyone get started in the world of Norrath as quickly and painlessly as possible. I'll be going over the basics of the game at first and slowly inch into the more advanced aspects.
Everquest is an amazing game, it's the grandfather of every MMORPG we have on the market today. If you ask me, not experiencing what this game has to offer is a crime. If you have never played Everquest and seen the gigantic world of Norrath in my opinion you have no right to ever say what makes an MMORPG great. But that's enough of my biased opinion, before we get started let's go over probably some of the most common questions that will be asked.
What is the most populated server? - Drinal seems to have a healthy population as well as Bristlebane and Xegony. For more detailed information you can view SoE Server Stats.
Do you know any Guilds that are recruiting? - Here is a very good post a member of the community put together on guilds across all servers you may soon call home!
What is the most noob friendly server? - Stromm has been known to have a very friendly atmosphere for all players
What server should I play on? - Whatever one you want, I have characters on Fironia Vie if you wanted to play with me. I actually really enjoy the Fironia Vie server, despite it's restrictions I love the there is no "No Drop" gear on the server, which allows you to buy absolutely anything you would ever want from The Bazaar.
What Classes Am I Restricted too? - Warrior, Wizard, Rogue and Cleric
What is a "Gold Membership? - This is a fully subscribed player, someone who has access to every single part of the game. This is one step above silver and requires you to pay the monthly fee to obtain.
I mostly play on Fironia Vie, my Beastlord named Almar is my main character there. Although, I don't get much time to play as I am always busy with writing guides for dozens of different games. However, for the sake of seeing how it goes, if you wan't to find groups in Everquest (as many as possible anyway) choose either Bristlebane or Drinal as your server if you want an already established community and economy. If you want a completely new feel Sony released the server Vox with Free to Play's launch, it is currently the newest server of Everquest! Maybe if enough people read this page and this guide we can get them all to go to the same servers and there will be dozens of new players to group with in Everquest, giving you the authentic feel of the game.
Everquest Basics
Now let's look at the absolute basics of Everquest. This section will go over everything a new player needs to know about the game. If there is something not answered in here please feel free to contact me and let me know what it's missing. A better list of these guides can be found in my Everquest Getting Started section.
Dying In Everquest (What happens?!)
Spells in Everquest (How do they work?)
Mercenaries In Everquest (A must read) - Free to Play players are restricted to Apprentice Mercenaries so keep this in mind!
The Bazaar (Everquest's Auction House) - Free to Play players can only BUY items, they will be unable to set up a Trader.
Everquest Plane of Knowledge (Consider this the Airport of Everquest)
That just about does it for all the basic Everquest Knowledge. I recommend reading over each of them as the game installs or before you start playing. It is very important you understand the basics in Everquest because of the games age it is a very difficult game to jump right into and start playing without any knowledge of how things work. If you have any further questions about the game you can always contact me via my Website's Facebook page or Email.
After you've read the basics of Everquest you're probably looking for some more Advanced Knowledge of the game and how it works. Starting at level 51 there will be a new thing available to you called Alternate Advancement Points (AAs). Everquest is built around these and it is important you know about them at the time you reach 51 and how important these are for your character. With Free to Play restrictions you are only allowed a certain amount of AAs per character so it is very important you listen closely to my AA placement guide below.
Those are the two more advanced things you will need to know about in EQ, the rest will come to you as you play more and level up. Now that you know everything there is to know about Everquest it's time you get started and actually play the game! Below is a specific path I put together just for the Free to Play players. Not only to get everyone all in the same zones but to guide you through the easier zones of Everquest and to make sure you don't get obliterated by going somewhere you shouldn't.
Leveling In Everquest
The very first thing you will want to do upon logging into Everquest is choose a mercenary at the closest Mercenary Liaison. Mercenaries are the most important part of EQ since the SoD expansion as they allow you to solo twice as good as you previously could before they were added. Most players will be starting out in Crescent Reach after they complete the Tutorial but others may pick their home town differently. I personally hate Crescent Reach but it's probably best you start here as it will be the easiest location to find groups and other new players.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the path I recommend to you most.
"Hero's Journey" Leveling Path
Crescent Reach (1 - 20)
Blightfire Moors (20 - 35)
Stonehive (36 - 45)
Goru'kar Mesa (41 - 55)
Blackfeather Roost (56 - 60)
The Steppes (61 - 70)
Sunderock Springs (65 - 75)
Vergalid Mines (70 - 75+)
Let me be the first to say this path sucks, like really really sucks. Sony has you going through some of the more difficult zones they've designed with a crappier merc than players normally do and some real limiting AA restrictions. This is going to turn a lot of people off, I am turned off just by looking at it. Unless people actually group up there is no way this path is going to offer a positive play experience. Enough ranting though, there is one thing you can do about this path...
Crescent Reach (1 - 20) to Blightfire Moors (20 - 35) is perfect. I have both of these zones documented in my leveling guide and I know they're both easy to do and great fun. I've tried Stonehive before and I am telling you now if you go there you're probably going to quit the game. I personally recommend cutting Stonehive out all together and going straight to Goru'kar Mesa (35 - 55).
After Goru'kar Mesa I recommend branching far off of these crappy TSS (The Serpent's Spine) zones and going whereever you want. If you are new to EQ the game will be a bit daunting to you so where you can go will be a bit confusing but I have created a guide for that! I have put together all of the good leveling locations in the game with massive amounts of information on all of them. You can check them out in my Everquest Leveling Guide section. If you are the submissive type and prefer being told where to go instead of deciding for yourself that's ok too! Here is the best Leveling Guide that I have put together for EQ.
***Notice*** Everyone reading this guide in 2018 or later should note that this guide was written in 2009 or so when Underfoot was the current expansion pack. As you can imagine a lot has changed in the game since that time and some of what you read in this guide may be inaccurate or misleading. I strongly recommend you use my more recent leveling guides. Either The Darkened Sea Leveling Guide or Ring of Scale Leveling Guide will have the most up to date information for you.
If you're playing on a TLP server that has yet to reach SoD (meaning you don't have mercenaries) then you'll want to try my PoP Leveling Guide, Omens of War Leveling Guide or TSS Leveling Guide.