EverQuest is kicking off a year-long anniversary celebration with a packed calendar of new events, quests, and giveaways, culminating in 2 new expansions

pcgamer.com:

They say every dog has its day, but for EverQuest's Fippy Darkpaw it turns out it's a whole year. The Year of Darkpaw celebration kicked off this month with promotional events, collectibles, and bonus dungeons for tenacious adventurers still playing EverQuest to sink their gnoll fangs into. The fun will continue with new time-locked servers midyear and an expansion for both games this winter.

EverQuest turns 25 this year, and considering how many of my formative years I spent sitting on my butt meditating to get mana back, it warms my heart to see the game I love still kicking all these years later. EverQuest's head of studio Jenn Chan tells me 2024 is all about having a big, yearlong party.

«We want people to celebrate 25 years of EverQuest, 20 years of EQ2, get in touch with old friends again, make new friends, and experience a nice blend of nostalgia and new things,» Chan said. Among all the MMOs I've played, EverQuest remains the top of the heap when it comes to getting people smooshed together to work on stuff. Instead of spending hundreds of hours working through solo quests or MSQs, in EQ you can start grouping right away. 

I knew that lots of people still played, partially because for a few years recently I was one of them. I spent most of lockdown playing the holy heck out of Project 1999 Green, but it's not just the private servers that have folks hanging out.

I spent a little time last week on one of the live servers, and not only was it way easier to start out with quality of life improvements like a tutorial dungeon and a free mercenary pal that I didn't have back in the day (no more running for my life from a single bat at level 1), but there were lots of players to chat with in case I had any burning questions. 

Darkpaw Games sent over a roadmap for both games in 2024, and it's full of stuff to check out. Here are some of the highlights: 

EverQuest 2, not to be outdone, is also having a banner year. EQ's baby brother isn't quite old enough to go to