What is EverQuest?

In it's most simplest definition Everquest is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). However, Everquest can not be confined to such a simple explanation. Everquest is so much more. It's a whole other world of characters, people, beauty, challenge and possibility.

Everquest is made up of a fantasy world where a person can be just about any combination of race and class they want to be. It includes and incredible mix of Humans and human types to Elves and variations on the elf, to a combination of the two. There are Halflings, Gnomes and Dwarves. There are also Ogres and the newest race, the lizardmen, the Iksar.

There are many professions to follow, as well. Everquest has magic classes and fighter classes and combinations of the two, referred to as hybrids. The magic classes have a wide variety of their own. There are healers, the clerics; fighters, the wizards; illusionists, the enchanters; summoners, the magicians; mystics or medicine men, the shamans; earth children or protectors of the earth, the druids; and those on the dark side of magic, the necromancers. There are bards, the musicians of the group with songs for aiding in battle as well as healing and others.

There are melee classes or fighters. There are the warriors, the brute strength and weapon wielders; the monks, who eschew weapons and prefer their hands; and the rogue, the fighting class that stays in the shadows and does most of their damage using tactics like backstab.

If neither pure magic nor pure fighting is quite right, there are the hybrid classes. These professions learn their fighting and go a long way toward doing it well and then take up magic as well. Rangers are a well-rounded class that can fight well with a sword, can track a target and, later on, use magic to heal, keep their target in place, and cause damage. The paladin is a sort of knight in shining armor, though they can't afford the armor right away. They also are good at fighting and pick up magic only after they have had time to work on their fighting skills. Their magic is much like the magic of the clerics, healers and helpers. The shadow knight is in essence an anti-paladin. They are warriors with the dark magic of the necromancers. They fight in the shadow, as their name implies because they are not welcome in many areas of the world.

Aside from the skills a player acquires in their profession, there are many trade skills they can practice as well. They have everything from baking various types of bread and other foods to brewing alcohol to pottery, smithing and fletching.

There is much to do in the world of Norrath. A person can go on quests throughout the land to rid the people of a particular bothersome creature type or hunt for particular items or any number of other possibilities. Several of the quests give a player the opportunity to see all of Norrath in their attempt to achieve their goals. And it is a beautiful landscape, indeed.

The graphics of the game are not to be compared to any other as is evidenced by the incredible sunsets and sunrises; the detail of the personas; and the dazzling mysteries of spellcasting. The beauty of Norrath is something to behold and the detail of the lands and cities is exceptional.

Nothing in the game, however, is as wonderful as the community, the people. Everything else involving Everquest is secondary to the wide variety of people that a person meets and gets to know in the game. The way the game is set up encourages a player to "group" with other players in their quest to fight evil and rid the land of it's nasty creatures. There is nothing like a common goal - completing a quest, killing a dragon, or simply making it across the continent unscathed - to bring a group of people together. And even outside the game, there are many places to make friends and find others with interest in Everquest, including entire web sites, such as Stratics with its message boards filled with wonderful people and characters.

Everquest is more than just a game. It is unquestionably fun, but it is also a learning experience and great opportunity to make friends.