EverQuest ?

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

First off hello to you all. I don't have a computer but I'm getting
one soon. My wife and I both play the pen and paper version and we love
it. We are looking forward to playing the computer game as well so my
question is this.... I know that I'll have to buy the game for my
computer, so how much is the game and how much does it cost to play
online? Also can you just play solo on your computer or is it an online
game only?
Thanks in advance.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Batman475@webtv.net (Bruce Wayne) wrote in news:12946-42AC53B9-19
@storefull-3177.bay.webtv.net:

> First off hello to you all. I don't have a computer but I'm getting
> one soon. My wife and I both play the pen and paper version and we love
> it. We are looking forward to playing the computer game as well so my
> question is this.... I know that I'll have to buy the game for my
> computer, so how much is the game and how much does it cost to play
> online? Also can you just play solo on your computer or is it an online
> game only?
> Thanks in advance.
>
>

EQ is and always has been an online only game. There is a fee to play, if
you don't have a credit card to start your account you'll need a game card.
If you use the game card, you'll have 60 days of play that you are locked
into at the beginning instead of just the 30 free days. I believe the fee
for EQ1 is going up to $14 soon.

If you are interested in soloing alot, you might want to look at EQ2
instead. That game is a bit more "newbie-friendly" and might be easier to
learn how to play.

One issue you have to look into is the minimum specs. At minimum, your EQ
experience will be very disappointing. Make sure your computer exceeds the
minimum as much as you can afford. Get a decent graphics accelerator card,
you'll need one, just make sure your system can take the power draw, last
time I upgraded my card, I ended up overclocking something and the
motherboard couldn't take it, had to go a month without my computer because
of it.

Have fun and welcome to the obsession
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Bruce Wayne wrote:
> First off hello to you all. I don't have a computer but I'm getting
> one soon. My wife and I both play the pen and paper version and we love
> it. We are looking forward to playing the computer game as well so my
> question is this.... I know that I'll have to buy the game for my
> computer, so how much is the game and how much does it cost to play
> online? Also can you just play solo on your computer or is it an online
> game only?
> Thanks in advance.

The pen and paper version is based on EQ1. EQ2 is newer with better
graphics (higher system requirements) and a somewhat different world to
adventure in. The class structure in EQ2 and choices are different from
the choices in EQ1.

EQ Platinum costs $30 or so. It should include basic EQ through Discord
(I think). Omens of War and Dragons of Norrath are extra at $10 and $20
(30?) respectively. If you can visit the EQ store, you can find
information about the pricing. With a new expansion due later in the
year? pricing might change again.

Cost for EQ subscription is going up to about $15 a month. There is a
station account/subscription that is more like $21 that lets you play
other online MMORPGs that Sony has. The longer you commit to the
cheaper the monthly rate works out to.

EQ1 is playable with dialup but the update downloads can be a real
killer. When you first install EQ, you can expect hours of downloads
for the updates. Once you play EQ, you can expect occasional long
downloads. If you have cable or dsl it's a lot less of a problem. Some
people swear at dialup, but I had found that if data throughput is
reliable, then dialup works fine, assuming you get the minimum 28.8
connect speed (I would avoid a soft modem or winmodem, if at all
possible especially if your new computer is scrimping on the cpu
performance). If it isn't then you may swear and eventually shift to
broadband.

Have fun. Welcome to the game.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

Batman475@webtv.net (Bruce Wayne) wrote in news:12946-42AC53B9-19
@storefull-3177.bay.webtv.net:

> First off hello to you all. I don't have a computer but I'm getting
> one soon. My wife and I both play the pen and paper version and we love
> it. We are looking forward to playing the computer game as well so my
> question is this.... I know that I'll have to buy the game for my
> computer, so how much is the game and how much does it cost to play
> online? Also can you just play solo on your computer or is it an online
> game only?
> Thanks in advance.
>

You can get a version of the game with all but the latest expansion for
usually on the order of $30 or $40 I think. Not sure off hand what it's
called, but look for one that includes Ruins of Kunark, Scars of Velious,
erm, uh, Something of Luclin, Planes of Power, Lost Dungeons of Norrath,
Gates of Discord, Legacy of Ykesha, Omens of War. You can also then
pickup the latest expansion, Dragons of Norrath seperately.

The game is playable only online, and there is a monthly fee that just
went up, or is going up shortly, to $13.95 I think. I would suggest
playing the first 30 days, which you get free (you will still need a
credit card or game card to register, but, you can cancel your
subscription immediately if using a credit card, and you will not be
charged). If you decide you will be playing long term, then go for one
of the longer term subscriptions, 3, 6, or 12 months, and save a fair
amount over the monthly cost.

There is also EQ2 which is generally easier to learn, and easier to play
for short periods, if that suits your playstyles more. It is also easy
to solo any class in EQ2, whereas in EQ1 you will need to pick one of the
solo classes (druid, wizard, bard, shaman, necromancer (probably missed
one or two)). If you will primarilly be playing with your wife, I highly
recomend that one of you play a tanking type class (warrior,
shadowknight, paladin), and the other a healing class (cleric, druid,
shaman). There are other combinations that can work as well.

--
On Erollisi Marr in <Sanctuary of Marr>
Ancient Graeme Faelban, Barbarian Soothsayer of 70 seasons

On Steamfont in <Insanity Plea>
Graeme, 33 Dwarven Mystic, 24 Sage, Treasure Hunter
Aviv, 15 Gnome Brawler, 30 Provisioner
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

> EQ1 is playable with dialup but the update downloads can be a real
> killer.
That really is the only downside to playing on Dial up. I have been
playing EQ1 since about december 99 and I have always been on dial up
and I dont really have many complaints about it.

__________________________________________________________
Submitted by: Vidden
This message was submitted through the Erollisi Marr Forum
 

user

Splendid
Dec 26, 2003
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Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

In article <1118695039.339766.228410@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
hidone@hotmail.com says...

> (I would avoid a soft modem or winmodem, if at all
> possible especially if your new computer is scrimping on the cpu
> performance).

The old hsp [host signal processor] modem (or software modem or
winmodem) vs "real hardware" modem is just that: OLD

Yes, it made a big difference in 1999 when you were doing pretty good if
you had a 233MHz cpu. Back then the HSP ate up 10 to 20% of your cpu,
which was ok for email or the web but really took its toll on games.

The important thing to realize is that was 10-20% of 233Mhz... the
actual processing requirements for HSP are fixed, and do not scale as
the processer speeds up.

Flash forward several years and the cpu load on even an aged P3-800 it
will hardly matter... on a modern 3GHz cpu it will barely even register.

In other words, you only have to really care about hsp if you still use
a pentium II for online gaming. For the rest of us the "cpu hit" of hsp
simply doesn't matter any more.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 23:03:46 GMT, 42 wrote:

> In article <1118695039.339766.228410@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
> hidone@hotmail.com says...
>
> > (I would avoid a soft modem or winmodem, if at all
> > possible especially if your new computer is scrimping on the cpu
> > performance).

<snip>
> In other words, you only have to really care about hsp if you still use
> a pentium II for online gaming. For the rest of us the "cpu hit" of hsp
> simply doesn't matter any more.

Unless you're doing something so processor intensive that it can
affect the timing of real-time software, like a HSP device driver.
Run your processor at 100% load with a HSP modem and you'll see
dropped connections, even with a P4. That's from experience.
 

user

Splendid
Dec 26, 2003
3,943
0
22,780
Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)

In article <a9a0b1h65tr91t0gq2q453ecjusf1bb8nq@4ax.com>,
g.beldon@virgin.net says...
> On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 23:03:46 GMT, 42 wrote:
>
> > In article <1118695039.339766.228410@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
> > hidone@hotmail.com says...
> >
> > > (I would avoid a soft modem or winmodem, if at all
> > > possible especially if your new computer is scrimping on the cpu
> > > performance).
>
> <snip>
> > In other words, you only have to really care about hsp if you still use
> > a pentium II for online gaming. For the rest of us the "cpu hit" of hsp
> > simply doesn't matter any more.
>
> Unless you're doing something so processor intensive that it can
> affect the timing of real-time software, like a HSP device driver.
> Run your processor at 100% load with a HSP modem and you'll see
> dropped connections, even with a P4. That's from experience.

Absolutely true, I'd never go so far as to say that HSP is equivalent to
hardware, merely that the "cpu hit" is nomimal. I don't deny that if you
threw some cache thrashing, over threaded, high priority task at it to
bring the cpu to its knees you could disrupt it... but we're talking EQ.

After all real-time software runs at nearly the highest priority level,
and device drivers for attached real-time devices do not get unloaded
from RAM. It should be quite safe from EQ.

And for EQ at least its moot on a P4. A modern PC runs EQ with plenty of
headroom... enough to 2-box comfortably even. And if you want even more
you can turn some of the options down or use EQplayNice. I.e. you
*aren't* doing something "so processor intensives that it can affect the
timing of real-time software..."