THESE are the BEST Everquest Expansions

[@DianeR-wz3dm]

I remember the anticipation and excitement in the weeks prior to the release of Kunark. I have never encountered anything similar in any game that I’ve played since. It was an indescribable experience. I’m so happy that I was there for it and I still get goosebumps when I reminisce with the friends that I shared it with. And yes I’m still in contact with my old guildies. I was an older player when my daughter introduced me to gaming and I’ve watched my friends grow into adulthood and form families. So thankful to have EQ and now many other games as part of my life. BTW I still play EQ.

[@Merknilash]

Everyone was super excited about Kunark but they did this awful distribution where you paid online and they shipped it to you And many people got theirs late due to poor distribution so they had sit at level 50 watching their friends playing in Kunark

[@Supayone]

I got my copy and loved it. Still one of my favorite expansion to a game. My brother use to go to developer meetings in san diego and Brad and John would come to them as well. They kept talking about everquest and both my brother and me thought it was nonsense. Some guys from Ultima Online also came to the meetings to show it off before it was released and I thought Ultima online was going to be insane. We had developer gifted games of Ultima online and Everquest which everquest sat on my pc tower for 2-3 weeks before i even looked at it. I didn't like Ultima online when it released, had too many issues and i just couldn't get into it. I was thinking Everquest would be the same deal but bored one week end and jumped in to it and never looked back.

[@MistyKathrine]

LDoN is the best and most underrated expansion. The greatest testament LDoN's success is the fact that they had to increase the friends list size, twice. When LDoN released, you could only have have 50 names on your friends list, a few weeks after release, they changed it 100, and a few months after that they doubled it again to 200. LDoN was the golden era of Pick-Up-Groups in EverQuest, there was never a time where it was easier to find groups than during the LDoN era. Later expansions like DoN weren't able to capture that same magic. "Do you have time for 1 more adventure?" It will always be my favorite expansion.

[@RaynmanPlays]

LDoN was such a huge expansion for me. I started maining my Cleric during LDoN. There was always a group available in my level range. I was always in demand. And darnit, I was _good_ at Cleric. LDoN was the best time I had playing EQ, and it was nice after PoP to have content that... well, technically it was for _all_ levels, but importantly, it was available for low levels. On the surface, it just didn't do much. But for me, personally? It was probably the most important expansion in all of EQ, with the exception of Kunark (love me some Iksar).

[@tiptoptonic]

I agree with this massively. Same with LoY really but the main issue with that was it had nothing for end game whatsoever as the raid wasn't really comparable to the stuff most raiding guilds.

[@RaynmanPlays]

@@tiptoptonic AOE Temperance at the PoK bank was so nice. That alone made LoY worth it for low levels.

[@lastobelisk]

Velious was my favorite expansion that has came from any game. I could go on about what made it great forever.

[@scubanc73]

Words can't even describe how amazing of a gaming experience EQ was for me. I played till just before GoD came out and I got sent back to night shift at my job. My guild raided 6 days a week so basically I had to semi-retire. I couldn't get back on to dayshift for almost 10 years and by then my guild had disbanded, servers had merged and very few of my friends were still even around. I look back at those days wishing I could turn back the clock and re-live them over again. I've tried on P99 but it's just never the same. Least I will always have those memories...

[@Mirokuofnite]

Agree. To me Everquest was a moment in time. We can never go back to those magical memories and they can never be repeated. But I am glad to have them.

[@Based_Morty]

I played off and on for 10 years. Starting in 2000, and finally finished in Seeds of destruction. Did end game raids most of that time on Tribunal server as a Ranger. Did my early years through Plane of Time in Sol Invictus and then did through the discord towers with Rest in Peace. Both excellent guilds. I regret none of those ten years. No other game has ever come close to EQ or the people I met raiding or grouping in that game. I loved it.

[@phirren]

I started a as a bard in original in 1999, but quit when Iksar came out with kunark and started a monk the day that expansion came out. I even max leveled before Velious was released and was in an end game raiding guild on Saryrn (The War Council). i Played all the way up too dragons of norath i think. I'm really happy to see someone else put Planes of Power in A tier. I do agree it shrunk the world ALOT, but being able to explore where the gods are and the lore in that expansion i think was peak EQ at the time. Also, every plane was so different in design was something that kept it very fresh and fun to play through its whole run. I know a lot of people didn't like it; but raiding Vex Thall and SSRA Temple in Luclin were some of my favorites and fondest memories in EQ. Getting your Neck piece from Aten Ha Rah (SP?) was such a monumental piece of gear during luclin that i won't forget when i got it and one of the first monks on the server to receive.

[@Based_Morty]

One thing I remember most of Luclin was farming for the Vex Thall key quest as a guild. You were expected to group of with guildies and help each other get your VT key so we could raid it. This took months of farming. And all of it was done separately from the several raids a week in other places like Sleepers tomb or Shissar temple or wherever. End game Luclin was a serious grind.

[@Jvstm]

I haven't played EQ in many many MANY years and I've recently wanted to start playing it again but I have no idea where to start

[@Kindertautenleider]

I played the raid game in early days of EQ, but these days can only handle casual solo play and not obsessive. Sometimes i log in just to do a little fishing

[@MasterManGod]

Seeds of Destruction and House of Thule are S tier for me. They were the expansions that got me back into the game after years away and kept me playing through whatever the expansion was that came after Ring of Scale. Seeds was just an amazing time for me. I enjoyed visiting the past of the world of Everquest, familiar places made different. I made a bunch of friends and did all the content. I loved the group quests and the raids were just phenomenal, though not without their jank. House had some of the best casual grinding period. Pretty much every zone had good camps with quality loot and the raids are still some of the most fun I have ever had in the game. Underfoot is going to get a C, almost a D for me. My friend group I made during Seeds pretty much disbanded in the wake of finishing Seeds. Not having a dedicated group to play in some extremely overtuned group content was brutal. Raiding was pretty fun though, after I rerolled on a new server and joined a solid team. House of Thule through Rain of Fear was a super fun and interesting story. Veil and RoF are B and A for me. RoF had some amazing group and raid content and I thought Veil had a ton of really fun casual content. I remember Triune being brutal and almost nothing about Sepulcher being fun in VoA, but I thought every single one of the initial raids in RoF were awesome. Big shout to being able to murder your friends in Shard's Landing. Grouping was a load of fun too. That was the heyday of the mage/wizard beam combo for swarm grinding and RoF had some enormous wide open zones to pull in. Call of the Forsaken was not a favorite of mine. I hated heroic adventures. That said, it made gearing up and getting useable stuff so much easier. Raiding and grouping the content wasn't a very fun though. Bixie Warfront and Tower of Rot were just awful IMO. ToR especially had one of the most brutally unfun slogs of a fight in the final raid fight. The final raid fight was crazy fun though. C tier overall. I have a huge soft spot for The Darkened Sea. It's the final complete expansion developed by Sony. It just had some really REALLY rough spots. Basically everything after Brother Island until you got to the Dinosaur Island were broken as hell and not a lot of fun. Combine Dredge was then a return to broken awfulness, before you got to Arx Mentis which was seriously fun. Locking the raiding until you got to the final area really sucked as well, and I can't remember any of them being much to write home about. Generous B for me. I basically didn't play The Broken Mirror. Shoutout for it having basically the last content developed by SOE before they closed up shop. I didn't enjoy the amount of grinding I had to do in it to get the absolutely essential augments. The gearing was a wild departure from the way things had been done too. Having stuff that leveled with you and could be tailored to your needs via different augments was unique but necessitated an absurd level of grinding. The grinding wasn't much fun, unfortunately. I hated it. C tier being nice. I loved Empires of Kunark and Ring of Scale. Every single zone has good camps, fun to grind mobs, places you can reasonably run solo if you're in off hours. The raiding is also a blast. The Gorenaire fight and boss fights in Chardok especially. The only really bad thing for me was the revamped Veeshan's Peak wasn't great IMO. Both solid A tier. The nostalgia is real as well. This was the last place I played. The expansion that came after Ring was so brutally unfun that I stopped playing. Even the inclusion of Gnome Memorial Mountain couldn't save it for me. I gave up thanks to Smoke trials.

[@matthewolson2386]

One of my favorite expansions was Seeds of Destruction, mostly because of the going back in time before Qyenos (Oceangreen Hills) and before Field of Bone (Field of Scale) where you got to see the Dragons and Iksar preparing for war. Another top for me was The Serpents Spine just because of Ashengate and Frost Crypt. Planes of Power was good because it shortened the travel time instead of spending 20 mins to a half hour running, getting on boats etc. The last one that holds a special place is House of Thule. That was the last expansion that I played with my family and friends, then everything changed. One more that I liked was Underfoot. That was an expansion where I was in a top guild and raided, especially raided the piss outta Fippy Darkpaw, bad dog! Certain aspects of other expansions had their moments, but for me not like the ones I mentioned.

[@OoogaBoog]

100%. Was one of my faves as well.

[@tiptoptonic]

Both LoY and Ldon were necessary imo as PoP was such a time sink that many casual/new players weren't able to clear the content in time and needed to "catch" up. EQ saw a lot of new players during the pop era and these werent ready to raid until much later. I also thought LDON brought the focus back to dungeon diving with a group and not just static spawn farming, which wasnt really that fun.

[@IonBlaze1]

Redbeardrummer! Got that ekit in the background

[@astockalypse7500]

The history of this game and how we all felt about it is such an interesting topic. It came out in a time where there really wasn't anything like it and it was the first game of this type to hit the mainstream. The expansions were learning experiences and all games today benefit from it's successes and mistakes. This was a really good idea for a video! It's made me think about things I hadn't in years and the nostalgia hit me hard.

[@Redbeardflynn]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It was fun going back and thinking about each expansion individually.

[@WesleyWyndam-Pryce]

Before watching your tier list I'll add my own top 10. I started in PoP/LDoN era so that's going to pretty high on my list. 1. Base Game! 2. Luclin 3. LDoN ( this was the very first group content I played and the strangers I met in these missions largely taught me so much. I know, I know, it's not a favorite for many but it holds a special place for me) 4. PoP 5. Kunark 6.Velious 7. TSS 8. Omens 9. Thule 10. EoF

[@darkwulf2k]

Kunark is when i joined EQ, and will be a special place in my heart. Velious was my first true expac, so it holds a place for that too. Honestly Kunark is when they hit their zone design stride, and Velious is when they figured out raid design imho. I will forever remember the Karnors choo choo trains of death. PoP has my greatest raid memories, and look forward to raiding again there some day. Coirnav 0.1% fail cuz we missed the 15 min timer forever etched in my brain. Luclin was frustrating time for me, but it wasnt bad, just after now doing VT and other raids there, just VT is too massive. Gates killed EQ for me back in the day, Vexxed esp. Gates also killed for top end raid guilds like Ascent who left for WoW because the one raid was broken, and EQ kept saying it wasn't, til they finally admitted it was. LoY was just a thing, but i remember nothing bout it. LDoN I love for the fact it makes for a great leveling content, but end game not so much. I quit before Omens, and really didnt do any after so cannot comment.

[@JohnnyElectronaut]

When Cats In Space came out my computer couldn't handle it so I never played again.

[@ishtarrak13]

Always enjoy your videos - great thoughts! Velious was when they really got raid progression figured out and I loved the balancing of faction (dragon vs giant vs dwarf) Luclin was okay for grouping but the raids were pretty good PoP was incredible for raiders and frankly kind of boring for non-raiders Legacy of Yekesha was a lower priced expansion as the Devs knew they weren't giving players a ton of content. The content that is there is pretty fun though, especially for groups. Plus LoY gave us in game maps and shared bank slots, as I recall GoD is my favorite raid expansion period. I know it had early issues and you're right about it being unbalanced at release but the progression through the raid content was amazing and it gave you bosses with actual mechanics. The unlocking of those raids and trying to prog through those raids was just incredibly challenging and fun House of Thule was a lot of fun to progress through and seeing "Candyland" in the castle was amazing Seeds of Destruction was my favorite lore expansion - progression through the zones was a blast Veal of Alaris was the last expansion I got to - I agree was pretty meh

[@So_Dark_is_The_Con_of_Man]

I agree with everything you said here. Although i do think tha VOA was the last real eq expansion. No later expansion actually feels like a complete story. Especially the last 5.

[@ishtarrak13]

@@So_Dark_is_The_Con_of_Man To be fair, I didn't give VOA much of a chance. I'd fallen behind my guild in progression and didn't get caught up in time to enjoy (or understand) the story/events

[@TheExyle]

Duuuuude this brought back so many memories!

[@Redbeardflynn]

If you really want to hit the nostalgia, check out the EQ guessr game that's fan made. It hits hard. I covered it on this channel and you can play the map I did or you can go directly and set up your own challenge: www.eq-guessr.com/

[@marzix427]

I literally made my first character, an Iksar Monk, the Sunday before POP launched with the trilogy. I spent the first several months soloing in Kunark until i was mid 20s or 30s and Luclin went on sale so i bought it, but my computer could not handle any of the zones except Echo Caverns for some reason so i soloed in there a ton for some reason. Its all a blir what order i got them in, but eventually decided to pick up POP knowing i probably wouldnt be able to graphically play it, but i wanted access to pok. It was great being able to go to velius for the first time, spent a lot of time soloing in CC and eventually Velks there. And then i got a new computer around the time i got to 46 and i could finally go to the pop zones. Started raiding, raided pop, but also did SSRA temple and VT because the gear was still very good, then i had to take a break due to no internet and came back right before oow came out. OoW was great, i loved it. It was the first and only expansion that came out where i was at level cap and playing when it came out. GoD and LoY were the only ecpansions i did not really play, at all up yo this point. Since then, I've not really played anything until Oakwynd day 1 outside of a month or 2 here and there.

[@bobbun9630]

LoY was always intended to be content for mid-level players (when most players rushed to get to max level ASAP, of course) and smaller guilds without the ability to raid the end game content of the time. I loved it for powerleveling! The cash from gem drops in certain zones was great. I would rate it fairly high, though with the understanding that it was for a different audience than most expansion content. LDoN was awesome, especially if you had some gear and at least passable skill and were up for pick up groups. For full time raiders it wasn't great, as farming elementals and Time was clearly a bigger bang for the time put in. Gates was good for me, though it was admittedly a shock for players not eager for really difficult content.

[@adam5399]

I agree pretty close to 100%. And you nailed it with ToV. Once you hit the paragons, mercs etc plus all the random quests to level kinda kills it for me. I mean i dont mind it is there but the xp from just mobs in the zone should be viable option too in my opinion. Some times you just want to zone out, watch some youtube and find a nice camp to pull trash mobs all day 😊

[@spig3547]

Planar gear was like that because originally every stat was meant to do something, they changed that.

[@sirellyn]

Gates of Discord is easily D tier. EVERYONE left for that expansion.

[@EditorSebas]

I loved legacy of Ykesha, it added the most important feature for people who love making lot of characters: "the shared bank slot"

[@Singleballtheory]

Couldn't bring myself to level past 30 until Velious hit and 30 was basically the entry point for the entire expansion. The Trilogy really was the perfect mix of old content still having a purpose while the new content opened up and expanded upon what already existed. Luclin was the one that kind of broke things. Because once that was released, you were basically hamstringing yourself if you were still playing older content. The leveling xp was just off the charts and the mudflation of item stats went way beyond what Velious had already done. It's also the first expansion where I truly felt they pushed it out half complete. And then I hate to say it but PoP came along and pretty much destroyed it all if you weren't in a raid-quality guild (which I wasn't).

[@rustysarkela7754]

Agree with all of this. Luclin changed the feel of the game dramatically I remember thinking aliens don’t really fit in this world for quite a long time

[@timparrish5717]

@@rustysarkela7754 I loooved Luclin and still do! but u and "Singleballtheory" are quite right about mudflation of item stats, and hamstringing yourself if playing older content. I looved the newer Graphics, just not how they were implemented. by the way, your name sounds very familiar, did u by any chance have an EQ character named something like "Werthor Original", Werthor, or "Werthor's Original", something like that? If it is u, I don't know if u remember me, Tim Parrish.

[@Morraak]

I only played until Omens of War but I'd agree with your rankings for the most part. I'd probably put Shadows of Luclin at A ranking though just because I liked the aesthetic and it came with my favorite class ever, the Beastlord!

[@sguy5374]

Yeah I liked the Aesthetic, but it had so much that was broken or unfinished, very little reason to ever really visit unless TLP server, gear was mostly meh when new. My main being a beastlord is probably the only reason I would give it a B tier and like 15th place over all

[@thedude4514]

I quit during Omens of War also. Luclin was fun, I enjoyed raiding the Shissar Temple. Wish I could get the magic back, have loading up my character a few times, but end up just running around PoK and hop off.

[@sguy5374]

@@thedude4514 could try embers adrift has a lot of the original eq vibe and very friendly community

[@ap74249]

I loved PoP. Grouping was so easy. Just bouncing between zones. Plus they stuck with PoP forever before the next expansion (I expansions came out, but I either didn't play them or didn't care). I loved LDoN for the same reason. Randomized dungeons and quests all in central hubs that weren't hard to get to with a wizard.

[@CannonRushed]

I bought Everquest the day it came out, which if memory serves was march x of 1999. I was 26 years old, and for some reason or another after hitting maybe level 20 on an orge Shaman named Catnip, I ended up playing full time on the test server (shout out to all test server players, don't remember your names, but remember the times). It was a really amazing community--everyone pretty much knew everyone and it was very small pop (compared to prod. servers). The most amazing moment I had, and I'll still never forget it, was joining a rando group in Unrest as a half-elf warrior with terrible gear and getting charmed by a hag and dragged into the basement. Yeah, never got that corpse back, still rotting down there I suspect. I spent a lot of time killing aviaks in South Karana. A lot of time. I honestly had some of the best times of my life playing Everquest then, in between adulting and trying to get laid, and had a few real life friends from work that played as well. Kunark was the expansion to me that is just simply S+++++++. I never killed Trakanon (or w/e), never really raided, but did all the high level stuff besides it. I was a rogue named Deflux (/shrug). I got the epic weapon for it, but I think maybe a friend logged in and did the raid parts, don't honstly remember. I fell in internet love (very new at the time) with some random chick and we talked on ICQ; nothing beyond that. I DID do the epic weapon on a druid the whole way through. When Velious came out, things got more...solo oriented for me. Some of my rl friends moved on, and I started screwing around on the Tallon Zek and Vallon Zek server if memory serves. That was and wasn't a great time. PvP was brutal. Death Knights would camp zone edges and harm touch you. You could literally loot the person you killed. The guilds were really cliquish, though I was in a really solid guild called Black Sun and we fucked shit up. It kind of sucked though because people cross-teamed and there was a guild named Prophets that you couldn't kill because you couldn't attack your own race/alignment. Fuck Prophets. I can't remember if Luclin or PoP was next but I'll just say Luclin. Luclin I think I went back to test, but never raided. Everyone was doing that Xul Xiu Xel or whatever and I just didn't have the time or patients. I kept running out of breath in that one zone. My gf started playing too (now my partner of 22 years and wife or 17). When PoP came out, all my old friends came back. But I now like...like I had a for real job and shit, and I couldn't raid or anything like that, so time consuming. So I mostly just solo'd stuff in Plane of Nightnare and that one area with the frogs (I was a druid so I did the whole charm thing and kited them around). I did a couple raids here and there but I was basically just a bot. Like I didn't even want to be included in loot consideration since I was so non-commital. I liked Ykesha because I could solo so much stuff. I quit at Gates of Discord. That xpac sucked. Went to EQ2 which was far less memorable (test server as well), though some stuff was cool. Anyway.... Love your channel, thanks for letting me take a trip down memory lane!

[@martinrosschou]

Playing an SK in GoD is when I realized how much better the Warrior is at taking damage, than the other tanks. I mean I always knew, but knights were just fine, and often kept aggro better, could deal with 1 or 2 "oh shit" situations better than a Warrior because of leech touch or LoH... But in GoD, I was just firmly put on the bench "sorry bro, there is no way we can keep you alive, we need warriors". My guild only had like 3 or 4 warriors, and we went from being the best guild on the server, to not even a close 2nd, because our rival guild had like 8 warriors.

[@GoodnightMoon4]

Haven't watched the vid yet, saw the POP art on the thumbnail. God damn I miss this game so much. I played it mostly as a youngin on my aunt's account ( lol ) back in the day, from base game til a little after Planes, but quit around then for WoW when it came out. Every day I play any other game, though, I think about EQ. Dark elf necro!

[@Valhondrian]

I played from the start in 99 through Gates of Discord when I quit. My ranking is pretty simple because it is the order in which expansions were released : Classic and Kunark S Tier and Gates of Discord last. The reason is that there was a steady evolution where every expansion brought more things that I didn't like and removed more things that I liked. Classic and Kunark felt like a real world. Factions, Classes, Races, Cities and Religions were remarkably consistent, every zone had a story and everything made perfectly sense. There was a reason why Unrest was overrun by undead, why Mistmoore was a vampire place, why corrupted guards dominated Highold Pass etc etc. Every travel was an adventure, evil cities warred with good cities and returning to your city felt like coming back home. But then factions became less and less relevant, home cities forgotten and useless, Religions made no more sense. The world was shrinking instead of expanding, travelling became a joke, the feeling of a living vibrant interconnected world disappeared. Even if PoP was "good" for raids, zone design and game mechanics, it was horrible from the immersion point of view. I never understood how a Mithaniel Marr follower (or a necromancer following Bertoxxulous) could simutaneously hate him so much to want to kill him and face absolutely no consequences. So when EQ started to feel just like some pixels and mouse clicks I quit.

[@scottb2698]

This made me realize I played more expansions than I thought. I played up to Gates of Discord before switching to EQ2. I was trying to play both for a while, but GoD was so broken that it made it easy to fully switch to EQ2.

[@errollleggo447]

PoP was probably my favourite. I grinded soooo many AAs every single day. I can remember where I grinded AAs sort of. Beach area quad kiting crocs, Plane of fire, and that one area with the bears.

[@sguy5374]

PoP the raids were better than the previous expansion but the progression work to get everyone flagged was a bit of a pain and the gear for anything pre elementals felt weak. The mobs also had a lot more hps and did not really give more exp for the difficulty. Which made a lot of my friend prefer other zones over PoP zones. Now days I only use Knowledge and Tranquility for traveling.

[@DrEgonCholakian]

I'm amazed that this game is still active and still getting expansions

[@stephenhaldane995]

Luclin would probably be one of my top expansions. I was so eager for my Beastlord, and the zones were unique enough they fit in with EQ, but they also were different enough too!

[@WhyYouAskingMe]

Lake Of III Omen Sarnak Fort leveling group is burned into my memory. I hate that it is mostly skipped over in the TLPs that I've been on.

[@Silverguy12345]

I really liked PoP as well mostly because that was the point I finally raided in a top tier guild. I played pre Kunark to pre OoW but always raided in a lower tier guild (never finished PoS, VP, Sleepers, VT, etc) but by PoP I was in the top guild on the server (server first Quarm). My guild started falling apart during GoD and that’s when I quit so PoP was the peak of my raiding career in EQ.

[@jab6044]

Prophecy of Ronis where I peaked and quit. Our guild took #1 on the server for the first time ever, a few months after I was granted leadership (co). We owned it, then on a farming run we wiped when one of the usual suspects didn't bother to pay attention and I retired that night, that fight, on the spot, never to log in again. But damn, those were some good times. Shout out LoM

[@Krescentwolf]

As someone who got soured with Gates of Discord and finally jumped ship with Omens of War, I'm DEFINITELY in the first group you spoke of when you talked about with the Gates of Discord. It was nothing but frustration and annoyance. Never really went back to EQ after that... most of my time ended up in EQ2.

[@BassRacerx]

Planes of power is probably my favorite expansion. I would put Luclin to S tier mostly because of the graphics and the horses. Also the Bazaar, it democratized one of the things i loved about early eq was that almost every item was tradable. It helped the new player experience instead of being in rusty armor until level 20 you could be in decent kit for a few cheap. before luclin you could play eq with onboard graphics but the new graphics were extreme for it's time. the luclin universe made EQ come alive and become what we know today. A lot of what made EQ great in it's time was the atmosphere, and the universe and luclin delivered on that in spades!

[@mjolnir3309]

Ok, little clickbaity thumbnail, but overall, i agree with your list. I was actually worried you were going to list POP as number 1 over kunark and velious. Velious is number 1 for me cause i love giants, dragons, and frozen wastelans. POP, imo, belongs on S tier and D tier. It absolutely changed the game and was the nail in the luclin coffin of shrinking the world and changing the entire feel of the game. That being said, AAs, the planes themselves, the epic progression and lore, all pretty huge. It killed the game i loved, but created a new game that i loved. Imo, they could have fixed a lot of the problem by eliminating POK and just making POT the entry point in one location, like in NK.

[@Redbeardflynn]

Altered the title a bit because I see what you mean. The funny thing is if you would have asked me in the early 2000s I probably would have said pop was the best. In 2023 after going through three different progression servers I have new respect and appreciation for kunark and velious as well as some of the post pop expansions.

[@TheSentry66]

I remember our monk team on Prexus server were arguably the best geared, but pulling those snakes from Temple Ssraeshza was painful. At the start of that expansion they could one round us. 🙈

[@NathanStin]

Luclin was my top expansion because the Beastlord class is my favorite class in any MMO.

[@Odder-Being]

Holy crap i didn't know EQ had so many expansions. I think i switched to Dark Age Of Camelot when it came out. And in the same year to Anarchy online and stuck with that one for a year and then life interfered with my online escapism. EQ was magical for me. I still remember EC-Tunnel full with players trading and the sound of all the spells going off mesmerized me. It was awesome!

[@Redbeardflynn]

and still going! New expansion coming this year. I remember trying DAoC and there was a funny thing I remember being really cool but I can't tell if this is just my memory playing tricks on me...could you dye your cloak?

[@FrankFrankly711]

Who's hittin' the bong at 18:00 ? Edit: I also say "Veal" every time I mean to say Veil. My brain is glitchy

[@jamesmoore938]

LDON -- Was Huge everyone was building groups at the Camps and off for another adventure ... And the points you got let you build all your own gear augs and all for those of us not in a raid guild it allowed us to hang ..

[@gerainedoss7123]

Bump. Loving your channel bro!

[@Redbeardflynn]

Thank you so much! Nice to meet you.

[@sapphirefractal4506]

luclin laid a lot of the groundwork that pop used later. gameplay-wise, a number of classes that were underdesigned in classic/kun/vel finally got their identity starting in luclin

[@RaynmanPlays]

Legacy of Ykesha did do one thing. It added Temperance. And Drogmar, which weren't even special except for the horse head targeting issue. So two things if you're generous.

[@genominer2473]

I've played none, but want to try them all

[@JamesTree99]

Agreed on Darkhollow and House of Thule for the themes. They are always going to be near the top of my list, with House being probably my absolute favorite. Im enjoying the hell out of going through it again with some friends and family on Rizlona.

[@sguy5374]

I was interested for that take on Darkhollow, I really enjoyed that expansion too, but know it got so much hate for the monster missions and shrouding which is mostly abandoned anymore. Which is sad as it added a ton of lore and grouping options.

[@tinfoilhat6343]

I really enjoyed ToV. It was the first time I had made it to max level since Omens. Played in a raiding guild and could 6 box all the group content. Blowing greklor up in 25 secs ir so was fun.. The raids were pretty cool too. I was maining a rogue at the time and there were even rogue specific mechanics! Making poisons to shield the tank and helping manage adds in one of the velks raids. Good times.

[@FortunatosBones]

GoD was S tier; yeah everyone got their ass handed to them a bit, but the zones were amazing, the BiC quest was amazing, the raids were amazing, etc.

[@Redbeardflynn]

I really enjoyed it on TLPs, but I didnt get to play it when it first launched. I think I'd moved over to EQ2.

[@unclej5951]

Oh man, you missed out on buried sea. I LOVED BURIED SEA. it is still a mainstay in my playthroughs around 65 70. You get a great Aug Jonas dagmire's skeletal hand (good to 80s) and a full suit of hero's armor for your class like defiant but better. Some of it was tough but rewarding and not too much stupid parts like waiting on a 2 or 3 day timer mob with phs. I'd rate pop lower, killed my main money maker, giving rides, and hated all the flagging. I did like some zones there like decay, others I hated like innovation. Luclin, I'd put at least a tier. Spent a ton of time there. grieg's end was one of my all-time favorite zones. I loved the layout with all the little rooms. I loved being inside but still mounted and was the first time I saw a God in game. Grieg wasn't the most amazing raid, but it was the first I went to. Before that, I did kael drakkel, but we always got killed before finishing.

[@sguy5374]

Never got into Buried Sea, only ever saw Katta and it was like a weak version of DoN. I took a break during that expansion as it was lack luster and I could not find all these zone people we talking about it felt like 2 zones. I do not think I have been back since.

[@dougs8196]

I played off and on until Omens of War. Expansion wise I would go Kunark then PoP/Velious tie for second. The others are all pretty equal to me or I didn't experience them all that much. At this point original EQ, no expansions, is actually my favorite version of the game. Grinding away with level appropriate gear in unrest, MM, uguk, lguk, etc. is the most enjoyable experience.

[@bobbycrosby9765]

I played an enchanter. For my fun, Classic and Kunark was the peak. It was just downhill after then. My usefulness got worse and worse over time. I miss being deep in Sebilis with a hasted dual wielding reet. Breaking plane of fear at level 50 was so fun. Digging through Chardok as the only group in the zone.

[@ShinraEQ]

The raid tool was added in Luclin. It was in PoP from the beginning

[@Redbeardflynn]

Interesting, perhaps the raid I was on simply opted not to use it due to not needing to be in an instance I'm pof? I only remember using it extensively when I came back for combine/sleeper in 2006

[@budd1331]

I loved planes of power. The raiding was fantastic. I played from.2000 to 2007. Its still my favorite expansion and getting plane of time gear i loved it. Best part of legacy of y. Is froglok playable race. Made a paladin and was the one i stuck with from then since. Got the plane of time gear and when epic 1.5 then 2.0 and later anguish gear. Good times.

[@AllenS99]

I see some Phinigel footage in there from TSS!

[@Redbeardflynn]

Yup!

[@jasonm7997]

Luclin, the memories of crack for donation! lol so much plat exchanged for enchanter crack haha. This for me put it in s-teir although i wasn't a fan of beast masters, kitty people or their zones... but jumping in getting buff for plats and having a dedicated bazarr S-teir for this guy!

[@RabidAltruism]

RoK/SoV definitely figured out how to specify gear stats that would actually be useful for target classes. More important for me, though, was that the gear was *interesting* -- tons of unique procs, clickie effects, etc, including a bunch that could qualitatively change how your character played, e.g. getting a strong slow-proc'ing weapon as a melee player. I was really disappointed when I returned to try EQ out again in 2015ish and found that there was almost nothing like this in itemization for later expacs. They seemed to lean very heavily into simple, very class-specific, uniform-stat-increases-in-all-relevant-stats, which felt really boring and homogeneous to me; it's kind of crazy how rapidly interesting items disappeared post-SoV.

[@LoyalHulk07]

Planes of Power is my favorite expansion bar none. Kunark and Scars of Velious tied for my second. Man those were good times. My F tier Omens of War / Gates of Discord...killed the game for me and also released when WoW came out so probably for a lot of people.

[@sguy5374]

Interesting, for me I really felt like the game came in to its own in Gates and Omens. Best raid memories for me were both of those expansions. Also the GoD to DoD the raid gear increase was minimal or choice on new bonuses. Meaning my raid gear was not trash the second an expansion came out. I had some piece that were so good they lasted up to 4 expansions later. Wish more mmo's would do that. I know my friends were leaving at that point for easier mmo's as they felt the game was all shifted to raider only content.

[@Feracitus]

gates of discord was actually good on launch imo, most people were just not up to snuff.

[@itsvoices1]

as a newer EQ player (started about a year ago on TLPs) Never played the OG game, I still somehow get some nostalgia from PoP , the music, the zones are unmatched for me with one exception being Nexus music ( fking banger), Best Expansion is Luclin for sure but PoP is right behind for me.

[@richardlonigro4178]

Can you do a video on the end game bosses for each expansion? Or at least the ones you played? Would be really cool 😎

[@diannahimi7822]

Thank you for the fun video! Out of curiosity, can you try to clarify why is Questing offputting? In fact, for myself, one of the main reasons why I never got into EQ1, was because it had too much grinding and too little quests and story. Grinding as a complete newcommer, since I know nothing of the game, its popular and good grind spots, let alone how to get to them, never managed to introduce me to the game and its lore. Also, sadly, I get bored very quickly of grinding, yet if I had a quest telling me "Defeat 100 of those skeletons located at X Y", I'd be happier to do it, because it provides a sense of purpose and direction, sprinkling in some story as I 'grind' them. Having said that, a 100% Quest driven theme park gets stale pretty fast. My perfect formula would be something 50-50, where there is grind, but also Quests that help with the grind, which also lead you to new zones, explain the lore and even within the zones point towards points of interest. I'm thinking of early WoW's formula, where the quests were semi-linear in their way of moving you through the zones, but also decently spread out to encourage exploration, difficult to encourage grouping and the perfect quantity, where they alone were not enough to level you easily, so you still had to do some extra mob killing or dungeon crawling to supplement the rest of the EXP.

[@dregaus]

Going to have to agree about kunark and velious, but that's why I have spent several years on p99 and STILL have a ton more things I want to do. But looking forward to trying PoP on Quarm, after all who knows how many AA I'd have on my velious locked toon :D

[@jordonalexson5954]

I appreciate every expansion so far! Only made it to seeds of destruction. Which the server i am playing on is almost there!! Very excited to play the expansions after that!

[@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube]

I think more ranking videos could totally work address a lot of people's different perspectives and open up to be hated for bad opinion! I want to see a ranking of the clarity of overarching lore /story. Another words just on the matter of how much did it make sense why you were doing what you were doing. There was expansion that were fantastic looking and a lot of fun to play and I had no idea what the hell was going on

[@errollleggo447]

I bet you liked Unrest too Redbeardflynn. Man this is making me nostalgic.

[@ChaosSlayerZX]

PoP addressed one of the biggest problems in EQ to that point - lack of raid content to satisfy growing number of raid guilds, and removed raid-blocking by top guilds, who FINALLY had enough high level content to do, so they would stop killing Nagafen and Trak even in late Luclin era

[@sguy5374]

There was a ton of raid blocking in PoP. So much so I changed my work schedule and swapped to the euro guild to raid in the morning so we stole all the raid bosses.

[@ChaosSlayerZX]

@@sguy5374 in POP itself - yes, but at least old world targets started to open up. Vex Thall was on perma lockdown on my server by guilds who were already in Time and GoD. Only when OoW was released they finally leaved it the fuck alone.

[@sguy5374]

@@ChaosSlayerZX oh what server was that, on 7th hammer and FV they have always been on lock down. Was so glad when they finally added Agents of Change to stop that nonsense.

[@ChaosSlayerZX]

@@sguy5374 I was on Morell Thule. As late as summer 2004, 3 top guilds who were Already Time geared and were doing GoD raids would casually stroll into vex Thall with like 12 people and wipe it out in less than an hour, to prevent lesser guilds gearing up, to be able to kill Raloss Zek get Elemental Planes flag. Only when OoW was released they finally let it go.

[@apointtomake1517]

Damn, you left out that Shadows of Luclin introduced the Alternate Advancement System or (AAs) That was the biggest part of the expansion.

[@Redbeardflynn]

Did I really? I must have just glossed over that in my head. Luclin introduced *so* much from mounts, travel, new 3d models, new race, new class, aa

[@sguy5374]

For me it is S Rank GoD 1, OoW 2, CotF 3, DoN 4, LDON 5, A Rank DoD 6, HoT 7, RoF 8, Velious 9, EoK 10, B Rank Kunark 11, PoP 12, VoA 13, TBM 14, Luclin 15, PoR 16, C Rank SoD 17, ToL 18, NoS 19, RoS 20, TSS 21, SoF 22 D Rank TDS 23, ToV 24, CoV 25, TBL 26, Underfoot 27, TBS 28, Ykesha 29

[@brindle21]

Really enjoy your videos

[@Redbeardflynn]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[@FirstNameLastName-okayyoutube]

Luclin further increase where Druids and wizards could take you. I think if there was another expansion in between planes of power that add player defended Outposts, added the ability for a player to be a bartender on a boat.. using the bazaar mechanic.. I think going to the Moon would have been looked back with a different appreciation.

[@drew8235]

I was too busy playing EQOA and SWG to play EQ, so I missed out on all this. I was at least playing equally amazing and iconic MMOs, so I don't feel too bad about it. =P Would love to get into EQ when a new progression server hits, though, and really experience it.

[@WhyYouAskingMe]

In your video I saw the 1 Star Dragon Ball in the Serpent Spine Expansion.

[@errollleggo447]

You should do a tier list of epic weapons across classes. While I never had it, I think berserker epic belongs in S tier, oh maybe magician too. For the moment you got them of course. I only got help with my Rogue epic fight in Nektulous. I boxed all my other epics later on when I could. SK epic purely for looks, Bard epic for the zoomies, Cleric epic just to sit drunk in PoK giving out free rezzes. I think that is all the epic 1.0s I had. Never had an 2.0 epic.

[@chrislacour7330]

Well Done! I enjoyed your POV. Mostly agree with your assessment.

[@Redbeardflynn]

Thank you so much for the kindness! Which would you say is your favorite expansion?

[@chrislacour7330]

I started in July 2000, when Kunark was the most recent expansion, so it'd be tough not to put in S tier both Kunark and Velious. Beyond that, I really liked Buried Sea, mainly because I liked the Pirate vibe. It's also why I'd rank LoY high as well despite it being small and launched after the epic POP. I experienced LoY when it first came out, as POP was out of my level range. I especially enjoyed leveling in Dulak's Harbor. The spell quests experience reward was massive at the time. PS: I get your comment about playing A LOT. 23+ Years for me and still play it daily. @@Redbeardflynn

[@salaufer]

Kunark was easily my favorite, because it really just felt like... an adventure. Like you were really exploring uncharted territory. I don't know how to describe it. Luclin had a lot of really fun content, but AA kind of ruined the game for me. Infinite grind is why I quit. I came back during PoP for a while, but... ports for everyone kinda ruined the best part of being a druid, and I'm a forever druid. Oh, and Velious. If the zones were sized by the amount of time I spent in them, the boat to Iceclad would just drop you off directly in ToV north.

[@Zuranthium]

Kunark is the only good expansion. Velious has some interesting aspects but made the game worse overall, with power creeped itemization, MOB's having ridiculous HP pools (creating tedious raid encounters), and the continent being so isolated and the previous factions becoming irrelevant; this hurts the overall game world. Being able to bank in Thurgadin/Skyshrine means higher level players can just stay in Velious, instead of traveling through other towns and those areas being more alive. Temple of Veeshan zone design is also one of the most artificial, less interesting than Veeshan's Peak in Kunark. Whereas VP felt like a real place where dragons live, ToV is just a 3-sided box of dragons randomly placed in empty hallways, behind human sized doors - it doesn't feel organic. Everything after Velious is horrible.

[@JK-nk6tl]

Purely subjective, and totally unfair because I only played occasionally past 2005. S. Luclin - Because it presented the most important invention in Eq history the AA system, but I also had a lot of fun and found my favorite class Beastlord. S. PoP - The expansion that made Everquest "expand beyond space and time" (Yes I know KEI came in Luclin) A. LDON - Dunno why I just loved running these, I went NUTS with ldon misions, topping the charts. A. Velious - Well of course, Epic expansion. B. Kunark - Doubled in content with one expansion, and so many new mysteries and lore. F. GoD - Made me quit, not really from burnout but because it was "ridiculously impossible" at the time ... they made it better after downscaling difficulty by 500%. Your time geared tank with 13k hp was Quadded for 4x3700 (one shot mechanics are the definition of un-fun). A Kyv Heartseeker dot you for 4500hp (a tick) of your 7500hp and see invis and blocks access to the first zone. There is a tank lfg .. tanks are useless, only a charmed chanter pet can survive hits from these mobs, if it breaks during fight everyone zone out. C. OOW - Didn't play much but it was well made. Don't remember when, but the expansion with Monster Missions, that killed Everquest for good and sealed the coffin (for me). I just remember comming back from a break, and a guildie took me and a friend he had powerlevelled in 3 days to a monster mission, told us to stay at the entrance .. ran in and did some chease stuff and 15 minutes later we got 100 AA. There I stood with my 1000 days /played with my countless hours of AA grind to be among the top players ... and some dude who started 3 days ago already had twice the AA and better gear than me, and all my investment had no meaning - It was so demotivating my brain had already quit there though I stayed a few days. I still play from classic to PoP (OOW one time) on various official progression servers and emulators. Though mostly emulators because Darkpaw invented the bullshit term "truebox" but still alowed cheating with macroquest - Welcome cheaters, alienating half the player base, and not removing macaroni-armies and bots from the game, Good job.

[@andariousrosethorn]

I absolutely love PoP and I'm doing that content on TAKP.

[@andariousrosethorn]

Oh haha wanted to bring up that you left out the planes that Velious have access to like Growth and Mischief when you went back and apologized to plane of sky.

[@AsheCraftingCorner]

Everquest needs to make a new game that is just about Mayong Mistmoore.. And NPC who was a GM event,became a Demi God and much more His lore and story ALONE is amazing

[@misos1393]

LoY gave maps, it was well received on it's release. Ldon was pure fire, giving augments and that far back when it released it was so easy to get a full group running ldon. Those expansions were game defining. Nobody would understand unless they played before they were released.

[@Zuranthium]

Instanced dungeons and maps with personal location trackers are absolute garbage. They kill what the game is supposed to be.

[@misos1393]

@@Zuranthium I'm 100% certain you're making that comment with brewals installed.

[@Zuranthium]

@@misos1393 What the hell is brewals. I played real Everquest. The game after Velious era went down the drain, and it peaked in 1999.

[@IYUB30]

Kunark was my absolute favorite! Luclin decapitated EQ for me. I played a Dwarf and not only did they get rid of my roll they made us look ridiculous. Just my opinion! If you loved it more power to ya, I know many did. :)

[@gamhuin]

RoK remains my favorite. Although I quit playing during Lost Dungeons - so I've missed A LOT since then.

[@fadedshadeTV]

I really thought you were gonna put that PoP logo in S-tier. I would have myself, i looooved that expansion as much as i loved Velious and Kunark

[@toprem4037]

LoY is SSS tier just for the bank space and maps. 12:47 - What the hell is that? 16:45 - [Scowls in Druid] Druid 1.5/2.0 didn't even work at launch and was such a low percent focus (since damage foci had a floor of 1% back then) that it didnt matter if it did. Even once it was changed to a higher percent it had such a low number of hits AND it degraded like normal focus effects. Meanwhile the other two priests got epics that, you know... healed. Yes, I am still bitter all these years later.

[@jab6044]

I still have my cloth Kunark map. I loved that time. Amazing. Salelann, The Rathe. Hit me up if you recognize me.

[@paladine6]

LDON was S Tier bro. It was awesome for grouping.

[@MistyKathrine]

This is the correct take.

[@escapingmonday2501]

I skipped Gates of Discord entirely. I was max level (65) at the time, and God didn't offer a level increase. My guild was still progressing through Planes of Power and we weren't ready to raid GoD. I still had plenty of AAs to purchase, so I didn't need it for that either. I eventually purchased it just for the AAs, but didn't visit there until Omens of War was out and I was already level 70.

[@mattiusthalius]

Im with you! PoP was EQ's WoTLK!

[@johnhill2392]

I just started 3 boxing on the test server to try and go through expansions I was not able to see and do. Bst/mage/bard :)

[@Tesserakt8]

Played druid/paladin and i still enjoyed luclin. PoP is my love hate expansion cause its pretty much was the last expansion i played till just this last week 😂

[@michaelswenson6599]

Should rank epic 2.0s, maybe in different playstyles. I got the impression my shaman 2.0 was very powerful for groups and raids. Raid DPS groups wanted bard and shaman epics. I remember running through dragons nest to burn lesson of the day after raids with shaman as only healer.

[@dustinhiggins4752]

House of Thule and Rain of Fear are by far the best expansions.

[@pauld6222]

These rankings are totally outrageous!! Ill never watch this channel again!!!!! Hahaha. The only expansions I really enjoyed was the base game through PoP. I played a few expansions after PoP, but I could tell I wasn't too interested in them, and I eventually quit. So the only thing through PoP Id change is I would put PoP in S tier. I put it there for one simple reason. In all the expansions, I never felt the drive/need to see end game like this one. The story was phenomenal. Just the idea of seeing all the Gods and their realms had me on the edge of my seat. I never wanted anything in the game more than getting keyed for Plane of Time. My best memory in the game was when I got to go to that little area on PoI where the Gnome and the machine sat that allowed you to zone into PoT. I do have to admit they could have done something a bit better with the story after you beat PoT, or at least a long cut scene playing everything out in the end instead of the wall of text though. I also had a great bit of sadness about me when my guild beat it too. It was like the end of something that I didnt want to ever end. Great idea with the rankings Red! Thanks for putting in the work of having the ranking chart too, it was perfect.

[@everquestfootpad6975]

Pronouncing Luclin correct. Nice.