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The end of an era

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, my ratings are based on EQ as a whole. The greatest game ever created as far as I'm concerned. Once POP came out it made travelling too easy. I enjoyed the game when it was a vast, mysterious land, and I'm just talking about ther original continents. The books ruined it for the team servers. Back in the olden days it would require great effort for someone to make a toon to pk with and travel up to Qeynos and wreak havok in the outlying areas. Once the books came out it ruined the team servers as far as I'm concerned. I still have had more fun playing EQ over any other game. Hopefully EQ2 will bring back some of the challenges of the early game.

Probably the worst thought out Expansion to date

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: January 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is quite possibly the worst thought out expansion to the game to date. The addition of character flags has effectively cut off 80 percent of the players from even accessing the upper planes. Come play our game with your friends! Oh wait you can't because you can't get into the same zone with them..so sorry!
This addition and the relative decimating of older zones in the game by the additions of higher levels, overbalanced players and spells, and bad experience modifiers has cause this game to become even more elitist than it previously was. Add to that the rediculous twinking and destruction of game balance in general through overpowered drops useable by anyone, and rampant exploits/powerleveling and you have a wonderful game to be enjoyed by any 10 year old haxxor who has no regard for others.

EQ: Planes of Power: Where do we go from here?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: November 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Note: This review is ONLY about the "Planes of Power" add-on to Everquest, and not the game itself.

In many ways, "Planes of Power" (PoP) is one of the best of the Everquest expansions, raising the level limit, bringing in more planes (extradimensional homes of the gods) than in the rest of the game, spectacular new enemies to fight and a single overarching storyline that spans 19 levels and puts the most powerful characters in a battle against the forces of creation, freeing Norrath's equivalent of Prometheus, the god who gave magic to mortals and who was imprisoned by the others for his crime in a place no one would ever be able to find him ...

This all sounds pretty good, but for an expansion not designed to be the finale for the most successful American MMORPG, it has painted the rest of the game into something of a corner.

For starters, where does the game go once players have gotten more power than other (enough that some players are now soloing dragons that normally up to 30 people to kill) and have defeated almost all of the gods? Fighting a really, really, REALLY tough orc who happens to be as tough as the God of War strains credulity -- more than that, it's just plain silly.

Secondly, the expansion also includes the Plane of Knowledge, a plane every level 1 character can reach by clicking on the bookstand outside starting cities. And because all such cities are included (along with a few other locations in Kunark, Velious and Luclin), travel distances in the game are all but a memory. Instead of evil characters having to suffer the consequences of their evil, all characters may now use the factionless Plane of Knowledge as a home base without consequences, and may skip past barriers to go anywhere they want, almost at will. While this is inarguably a convenience, part of the appeal of Everquest was its wealth of content. PoP turns EQ into a Readers Digest version of Norrath, with players able to skip between the highlights, and now any zone more than two zonelines away from Knowledge is a back water where many players simply will not go. The game has been forever changed, and this is one genie unlikely to ever be put back in the bottle.

As for the content itself, it's good. It uses existing lore, draws us into the ongoing story of the game, and the planes are often real eye-poppers (the Plane of Innovation, with its magical clockwork robots run amok and the fleshscape of the Plane of Disease are two of the show-stoppers).

None of it other than Knowledge can be accessed by characters under level 46, and the other planes require further levels, characters to succeed in certain quests, characters to have beaten certain raid bosses (in events involving dozens of other characters) or all of the above. The vast majority of the player base will never see at least six of the zones in PoP. While most of the previous expansions had zones similar to this, they were usually a mere one or two per expansion (Veeshan's Peak in Kunark, Sleeper's Tomb and the Plane of Mischief in Velious, Vex Thal in Luclin), and six zones are an awful lot of content for players to pay for and never use -- essentially subsidizing the content for the most powerful guilds.

For what it is, PoP is enjoyable, and a lot of fun. But much of it feels like well-meant mistakes. Game balance is changed forever, much of the older content is sinking into obscurity, and Everquest's great system of faction that made player characters part of a world where actions matter is more or less irrelevant now.

"Everquest: Planes of Power" is a lot of fun (especially if you enjoy raiding), but it's hard to see how the game can continue on much longer in any recognizable form after this.

Recommended for the great deal of utility Everquest players will get from the expansion, especially players with characters level 46+.

First Of The Post-Verant Letdowns

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: August 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

"EverQuest: Planes Of Power" was obviously designed to cater to "Uber-Guilds," an expression used in the EverQuest online community to denote player guilds which are rather advanced in skills and prior experience, and large in numbers. The single adventurer, as well as the casual gamer or relative newcomer, will find little to no content whatsoever which is available to them in this expansion pack (past a certain point). It is all about groups and large scale raids. Solo gameplay in the "Planes of Power" zones is next to impossible, and that is appparently by design. In fact, several player class abilities were "nerfed" by Sony just prior to the release of this expansion, ostensibly to "better balance the classes." It is far more likely that those "nerfs" were enacted to prevent any possibility of traditional solo classes (such as Wizards and Druids) from being able to do any effective soloing in the new zones.

Another problematic feature of this add-on is the overpowered "gear" that one can obtain from the high-end encounters featured in "PoP." Introducing too much "uber gear" to an MMORPG game is precisely what ultimately ruined "Diablo 2" when the "Lord of Destruction" expansion was released. For many gamers, the focus becomes shifted away from roleplaying and game content, and instead toward greed for items which they can strut and show off to other players. It also tends to make player characters who *can* manage to obtain those items a bit too powerful, which hardly seems to fit in with Sony's highly questionable assertions... that several prior ability nerfs were done to "better balance the classes." If anything is true about "Planes of Power," it's that it is decidely UN-balanced in the extreme.

Painfully short on game content, all too few and sloppily written quests, overly lengthy encounters and a generally poor payoff in the "Plane of Time" endzone are what one can expect from this mediocre expansion pack. Whilst it is a "must have" for all EverQuest players, it hardly stacks up well against prior expansions such as "Scars Of Velious" or "Shadows Of Luclin" so far as actual depth, atmosphere and overall content is concerned. This is also the first EverQuest expansion set which the original game designers (Verant International) had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with, and it shows. Moreover, "Planes Of Power" is an expansion pack which 99% of all players will never see the bulk of, due to their being unable to assemble the "muscle" required to fully explore the additional zones and adversaries. Not being able to see three quarters of a game you pay for is rather disappointing (to say the least), so unless you already belong to a highly-skilled player guild, do not expect to progress past a very superficial point in this add-on to EverQuest.

Lastly, "The Planes Of Power" tends to look and play more like a Sony PlayStation 2 game than an add-on for a classic PC based MMORPG. Storyline depth and roleplaying content has been replaced in favour of eye candy, overpowered enemies, and ridiculously and unnecessarily overpowered items designed to appeal to player egos. "PoP" is not entirely without merit, but depending on what you look for in a roleplaying game, you may be disappointed overall. Defenders of this add-on have often said to me "Well, Sony knows what sells, that's why PoP is the way it is, and that's the bottom line." Naturally, I have no problem with manufacturers of PC games making a profit on their merchandise, but I see no reason why profits and product integrity need be mutually exclusive concepts.

Thumbs down overall, but a necessary add-on for all EverQuest players.

Don't listen to some of these

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Whoever said that you can't go into POK before 50, is lying. Flat out lying. You can get into pok at level 1. Plane of tranquility is at level 46, and as of a month ago, Plane of nightmare, innovation, disease, justice, can be accesed at 46. Valor, Storms, Decay, Torment can be accesed at 55. HoH and bastion of thunder are accesed at 62. If you don't have a level 46 plus character, buy this expansion solely for the ease of travel. No more taking the boat from butcherblock to freeport !

If you play EQ, you NEED this one

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: May 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Quite simply, the PoP expansion changed the way the game has been played for years.

The ability for non-wizards/druids to move around the world in a brief period of time has changed the landscape of the game. The increase of maximum level to 65 also changed the game.

If youplay EQ, you HAVE to have this expansion.

The end of EQI is at hand...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: April 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

With the introduction of SoL and many accompanying features introduced to the game, we're now seeing the end of the game as we know it. EverQuest II is due to be released at the end of '03 and there's no doubt that Sony will want everyone to switch over.

But why? Weren't we all happy with EQ I? Yes, but they'll apparently be able to make more money off EQII. And so, they've got to compromise this edition of the game in many crucial ways so as to ensure we'll all make the conversion.

The first way was to introduce the KEI spell. Now, anyone with this cast on themselves can dramatically increase the amount of killing they can do, thus level much, much faster. As a result, high level characters aren't as meaningful as they once were.

And now with PoK, traveling the world with a level one character is entirely doable. In the old days you had to walk or hitch a ride off a Druid or Wizz. This forced you to learn the land--the ins and outs--for youself. It also taught you to get to know people and learn to interact with those that were in a position to help you. The world was much larger in they way players percieved it. Now there's no sense of vastness to the lands at all. Erudin is as easy to get to as Ak'Anon. Just hit a PoK book and off you go.

EQ has created a number of ridiculous expansions but this one takes the cake. I'm still an avid EQ fan, and I'm sure I'll be first in line to try EQII but I see what's happening and I don't like it.

clarification of PoP's capabilities

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

PoP is crucial if you want to participate in any raids (events that have more than six people for which everyone participating in the raid gets raid experience based on the difficulty of beasties killed) -AND- it gives you more playing zones if you are over level 55. I just made level 50, but hear in our guild chats all the time about raids the upper level guild members are going on & I can't wait until I can join them. Lots of nifty NO DROP items can be found on the various planes.

In addition to PoP's raid capabilities & additional zones for those higher level players, the easier transport to different locations (opposed to waiting for the nexus spires to activate or having to pay a druid for a port) saves you a lot of time, giving you more energy & time to get experience. Regardless of what another reviewer stated, you can't use Planes of Power (PoP) to get to ALL the cities in EverQuest. There are only a select number of stones for you to click that can take you numerous places within the game, making your run that much faster (again if you don't want to pay for a port, if you aren't a druid, etc.)

I have all the expansion packs for EverQuest, including the just "released" (2/24/2003) Legacy of Yeshiva (or however you spell it). If you're worried about money you might want to make your purchases piecemeal. I'd recommend purchasing the packs in the following order: EQ Trilogy (save $$ this way over purchasing EQ Classic + Kunark + Velious separately), then Shadows of Luclin (gives you access to nexus & bazzar & some other zones), then LoY, and then PoP. If you can afford it, then get all of them at one time. (Note: I do not work for SOE nor have any stock in any of their holdings)

IMHO SOE has a TON of work to do on their support, but the game is entertaining & addictive. It's a great way to make new friends. I'd recommend this game easily & I've only been playing since 30-Nov-2002. I do hope that the stmt from another reviewer is true & that's for the game to be less addicting over time (tho I do plan to stay in touch w/the friends I've made)

mostly for uber guilds, aka people with lots of time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

i would say this is the best expansion, specially for the melee type classes who cant port themselves, or gate, or bind. This expansion allows you to port yourself to just about every city saving lots of time, and EQ money, called platinum. The graveyard idea in these zones is superb, saving what could be hours of singing "wheres my corpse", or paying others to get it for you.Other than that it ends there for the casual gamer as it requires a LOT of time to get to the 2nd tier planes in this expansion, i spent 2 weeks trying to get there, playing 2hours or less a day. Getting this task done allows you to see 2 more places. From here on, its just about as far as the casual gamer will see, for a while, or unless they have luck getting invited to a raid that allows them to see the other zones. But pretty much the other guilds are strict and only wish to do themselves good, specially the better guilds (ones who play, a LOT). Fortunately there are casual gamers out there who know each other and can do what other guilds take hours to do in a much shorter time because they are friends with each other. Unfortunately, there are not many of this type of players, from what Ive seen anyway. I have heard however, that for those who dont play hours on end everyday, that there are quests which require you to obtain rare items from places that you can get to, and combine them to allow you to hold some key to let you in to the other places. Basically, this expansion is for you if you are in a big guild/uber guild. But it can be for casual gamers if you are not in a race to get to the other newer better zones, as there is a way to get there, but takes longer for you since you dont play as much. However there is a limit to casual gamers as the much better places WILL require you to play much more than your 2hrs or less a day, if you even have that.

THumbs up for fixing the classes which needed fixed, ie mages being a mod rod ... for raids/groups; wizards killing dragons with just a group force; leather wearing monks that took hits better than plate wearing classes...
Thumbs up for graphics, new monsters, sound, over all interface.
Thumbs down for taking so long to finally fix monks.
Thumbs down for saying that it would cut down on huge timesink quests, but not really doing it.

PoP is god

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Okay, well, a lot of people have been whining about PoP, especially druids and wizzies, who feel that this expansion has killed their porting business. Got news for ya... this expansion does not make druids and wizzies expendable. Pop lets you port to CITIES. Druids can still port to places that PoK can't get you to directly (Emerald Jungle and Cobalt Scar, for example,amongst others). Plus, in a group, druids and wizzies are still essential for evac if the situation gets ugly. Druids are still needed to buff, and Wizzies are still awesome nukers. So I don't know what the whining is about. For your info, my main is a druid.

Besides the ease to get around Norrath, PoP adds spells, great quests, and higher-level hunting. This is a GREAT expansion, no matter what class you play.

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