Population on Green before and after each expansion

[Annona]

What do you all think the population will be like a month before Kunark and Velious and then right after they come out? I guess what I really want to know is do you think the population will continue to slowly decline? Blue stayed strong at 1000-1100 during my time there before Velious and after.

[Cen]

I think the population will be very high around Kunark. Everyone loves Kunark lol

[Mblake81]

I think the population will be very high around Kunark. Everyone loves Kunark lol

I like Keiths artwork for it.

notes
https://i.imgur.com/UZzoH1F.jpg

The alt cover art.
https://i.imgur.com/r3UodFB.jpg

background sketch
https://i.imgur.com/OWlTjxH.png

[cd288]

I don't think we will see much population decline until then. In fact, I think we will see much more spikes as various planes are released, with much bigger spikes as of Kunark and Velious. I do think there's a chance that we see a big population slump at some point after Velious's release because at that point it's no different from Blue so I think you will have people going back to their established Blue characters.

[Bigsham]

did you draw that?

[Broor]

Those sketches are amazing, that was the concept for the box art? Do you have links to more concept stuff from Keith? Seems like the server pop is steady, we had over 1000 on Monday evening, seems pretty healthy. Could balloon up to 1200+ when Kunark comes

[Mblake81]

did you draw that?

Keith Parkinson (https://www.keithparkinson.com/) drew that, he was the original artist for EQ up to Shadows of Luclin iirc. The iconic artwork that established the franchise was his. Considering he came from a legit D&D artwork background alongside the greats.

Keith helped shape the Everquest we know. He died in the mid 2000's of cancer.

Here is an original EQ alternative cover
https://i.imgur.com/SIFQlYV.jpg

Firiona Vie (his creation)
https://i.imgur.com/8DJC6VZ.jpg

original cover draft for Computer Gaming World (https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/cgw_dec_2001_everquest_cover.jpg).
https://i.imgur.com/oWKFoIF.jpg

Alternative cover for Computer Gaming World magazine.
https://i.imgur.com/Fef7PCa.jpg

Alternative cover for Scars of Velious
https://i.imgur.com/ayWANgk.jpg

Alt Velious artwork
https://i.imgur.com/Xs1XYOB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mUBcgjE.jpg

Velious era dragon
https://i.imgur.com/vmDV5Mr.jpg

Those sketches are amazing, that was the concept for the box art? Do you have links to more concept stuff from Keith?

Here is the direct link to the sketches section (https://www.keithparkinson.com/product-category/sold-sketches/) of his website.

You can find some other Everquest style dragons on the covers of some old fantasy books he did work for, example:

https://i.imgur.com/oPEXPqw.jpg

[Mblake81]

Legacy of Ykesha came after Luclin but iirc it didn't have a physical box release. The next physical release was Lost Dungeons of Norrath. The artwork went into decline, not drastic at first but still.

https://i.imgur.com/f4jihPQ.jpg

[Bigsham]

firiona vie pic suggest he was completely deprived of female contact and career virgin, his art skills are pretty good for the rest of the stuff tho

[sentinel]

dang dude loved big ole tittays

[Mblake81]

dang dude loved big ole tittays

^
big ol titties are great.

Boris Vallejo.
https://i.imgur.com/DPDcdcO.jpg

Clyde Caldwell
https://i.imgur.com/ow4x8l6.jpg

Larry Elmore
https://i.imgur.com/mZPMl24.jpg

[whydothis]

firiona vie pic suggest he was completely deprived of female contact and career virgin, his art skills are pretty good for the rest of the stuff tho

actually he was married

[Issar]

Keith Parkinson (https://www.keithparkinson.com/) drew that, he was the original artist for EQ up to Shadows of Luclin iirc. The iconic artwork that established the franchise was his. Considering he came from a legit D&D artwork background alongside the greats.

Keith helped shape the Everquest we know. He died in the mid 2000's of cancer.

Here is an original EQ alternative cover
https://i.imgur.com/SIFQlYV.jpg

Firiona Vie (his creation)
https://i.imgur.com/8DJC6VZ.jpg

original cover draft for Computer Gaming World (https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/cgw_dec_2001_everquest_cover.jpg).
https://i.imgur.com/oWKFoIF.jpg

Alternative cover for Computer Gaming World magazine.
https://i.imgur.com/Fef7PCa.jpg

Alternative cover for Scars of Velious
https://i.imgur.com/ayWANgk.jpg

Alt Velious artwork
https://i.imgur.com/Xs1XYOB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mUBcgjE.jpg

Velious era dragon
https://i.imgur.com/vmDV5Mr.jpg



Here is the direct link to the sketches section (https://www.keithparkinson.com/product-category/sold-sketches/) of his website.

You can find some other Everquest style dragons on the covers of some old fantasy books he did work for, example:

https://i.imgur.com/oPEXPqw.jpg

My man! I'm a huge Keith fan. His work along with the likes of Paul Bonner, Todd Lockwood, and of course, the great Frank Frazetta, was incredibly insperational to me. Because of his work on EQ, KP typically sits at the top of my list for all time favorite artists. His 'The North Watch' painting is one my favorite pieces, though not related to EQ.

Good stuff, man!

[Natewest1987]

Lol all I see is tits. Crazy that we lived in a time when you wouldn’t have necessarily noticed it in the same light back then.

[Mblake81]

Lol all I see is tits. Crazy that we lived in a time when you wouldn’t have necessarily noticed it in the same light back then.

Good times before Enter the Vegan

https://i.imgur.com/MKHLsYr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xdoEHv5.jpg

[Visual]

I think the population will be very high around Kunark. Everyone loves Kunark lol

After revisiting old world and having experienced all classic phases, I've come to the conclusion that kunark is the golden era of everquest.

[Issar]

kunark is the golden era of everquest.

[Naxy]

Lovely original sketches.

[El-Hefe]

I don’t know what the population is going to be, but dear sweet baby Jesus I can’t wait.

Green has given me an increased appreciation of vanilla zones, but dear lord is casual outdoor xp severely limited without Kunark. I really can’t overstate how much I miss FoB, LOIO, OT, DL and BW. The XP in those zones may not of been the best, but they provided a way for people to hop on and instantly start XPing without the pain in the ass of finding a camp. Something sorely missed in vanilla.

[Cen]

After revisiting old world and having experienced all classic phases, I've come to the conclusion that kunark is the golden era of everquest.

When I was little, Kunark was the new Mystery continent that's a wild jungle with ancient temples and such. Its painted in such a way that its really for the curious, given it has so few cities.

Even today knowing the whole continent, its still that to be honest. It's really a dungoneers dream. I think it works better then the ice continent thing.

[Kerwin 5.0]

Yeah when i started eq on live kunark had just dropped and i made a iksar it was "SpOOoKY" feel vibe to it i eventually rerolled a wood elf war but it has that mysterious fun feel to it. It will spike more for kunark than velious then see a pretty big drop after velly has been out a few months.

[Barantor]

Keith Parkinson also did a lot of art for TSR, which was the original company Dungeons and Dragons was owned by before going under and being bought by Wizards of the Coast right before Everquest started up.

He had some of his last art in Vangaurd: Saga of Heroes, the now defunct MMORPG that was the original 'spiritual successor' of EQ....

I'm pumped for Kunark, should help spread the community out a lot and get some people back around.

[Mblake81]

Keith Parkinson also did a lot of art for TSR, which was the original company Dungeons and Dragons was owned by before going under and being bought by Wizards of the Coast right before Everquest started up.

He had some of his last art in Vangaurd: Saga of Heroes, the now defunct MMORPG that was the original 'spiritual successor' of EQ....

Yep, another was the Wizards and Warriors (https://www.keithparkinson.com/product/wizards-warriors-original-pencil-sketch/) game.

https://i.imgur.com/4omBvvh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/P9G7Mjd.jpg

the original piece (https://www.keithparkinson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/mummiesinthecrypt_800.jpg) reminds me of Power Slave (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iwwFe3Xd6Y).

[Tethler]

firiona vie pic suggest he was completely deprived of female contact and career virgin, his art skills are pretty good for the rest of the stuff tho

He was married, dipshit

[Vexenu]

After revisiting old world and having experienced all classic phases, I've come to the conclusion that kunark is the golden era of everquest.

Absolutely. Kunark feels exactly like what it's supposed to be: a lost continent for the player to discover and explore. Its zones are huge and mysterious, filled with ancient ruins and secret tunnels. The abundance of undead dungeons really serves to reinforce the idea that this is an ancient land, with a rich and detailed history for the player to gradually uncover through quests and lore. Kunark feels very alien compared to the classic zones, but not in a bad way (i.e. Luclin). Whereas classic is focused on a high fantasy vibe (think Lord of the Rings), Kunark introduces more of a low fantasy vibe (Conan the Barbarian). Kunark very much has a frontier feel. With the exception of the Iksar themselves, one is far from civilization here, relying entirely on literal outposts to function as cities. Everything else is either dangerous dungeons hidden underground or huge open zones teeming with mobs.

The only bad things about Kunark is that melee weapons are a little overtuned (although this is less of an issue if the original timeline is followed as opposed to multiple years of stagnation Kunark like Blue had) and that the Iksar race should have had some kind of drawback to balance it out, particularly for Monks and Necros (I would have liked to see Iksars stat capped at 200, for example).

But yeah, overall Kunark was absolutely the pinnacle of EQ. Every expansion that followed lost the purity of simply being made as an exciting virtual world to adventure in, and design began to be centered around building loot and raid treadmills instead.

[Christina.]

dang dude loved big ole tittays

Lmao

[Christina.]

Absolutely. Kunark feels exactly like what it's supposed to be: a lost continent for the player to discover and explore. Its zones are huge and mysterious, filled with ancient ruins and secret tunnels. The abundance of undead dungeons really serves to reinforce the idea that this is an ancient land, with a rich and detailed history for the player to gradually uncover through quests and lore. Kunark feels very alien compared to the classic zones, but not in a bad way (i.e. Luclin). Whereas classic is focused on a high fantasy vibe (think Lord of the Rings), Kunark introduces more of a low fantasy vibe (Conan the Barbarian). Kunark very much has a frontier feel. With the exception of the Iksar themselves, one is far from civilization here, relying entirely on literal outposts to function as cities. Everything else is either dangerous dungeons hidden underground or huge open zones teeming with mobs.

The only bad things about Kunark is that melee weapons are a little overtuned (although this is less of an issue if the original timeline is followed as opposed to multiple years of stagnation Kunark like Blue had) and that the Iksar race should have had some kind of drawback to balance it out, particularly for Monks and Necros (I would have liked to see Iksars stat capped at 200, for example).

But yeah, overall Kunark was absolutely the pinnacle of EQ. Every expansion that followed lost the purity of simply being made as an exciting virtual world to adventure in, and design began to be centered around building loot and raid treadmills instead.

I personally think planes of power and kunark were the best. Planes of power was exciting as hell when it came to out! Man plane of Earth with all those scary giant ass crocodiles and creepy music

[Doktoor]

Absolutely. Kunark feels exactly like what it's supposed to be: a lost continent for the player to discover and explore. Its zones are huge and mysterious, filled with ancient ruins and secret tunnels. The abundance of undead dungeons really serves to reinforce the idea that this is an ancient land, with a rich and detailed history for the player to gradually uncover through quests and lore. Kunark feels very alien compared to the classic zones, but not in a bad way (i.e. Luclin). Whereas classic is focused on a high fantasy vibe (think Lord of the Rings), Kunark introduces more of a low fantasy vibe (Conan the Barbarian). Kunark very much has a frontier feel. With the exception of the Iksar themselves, one is far from civilization here, relying entirely on literal outposts to function as cities. Everything else is either dangerous dungeons hidden underground or huge open zones teeming with mobs.

The only bad things about Kunark is that melee weapons are a little overtuned (although this is less of an issue if the original timeline is followed as opposed to multiple years of stagnation Kunark like Blue had) and that the Iksar race should have had some kind of drawback to balance it out, particularly for Monks and Necros (I would have liked to see Iksars stat capped at 200, for example).

But yeah, overall Kunark was absolutely the pinnacle of EQ. Every expansion that followed lost the purity of simply being made as an exciting virtual world to adventure in, and design began to be centered around building loot and raid treadmills instead.

I hated Kunark. Lots of people who came to the game during that era loved it, but I felt it was not a continuation of the game. Especially with 10 Hell levels and how being 60 trivialized content. It was just a grind fest. Especially for hybrids.

I also felt that Kunark raiding was not great at all. Velious raiding was fun as Hell and I guess I’m one of the few who enjoyed Vex Thall. It was so much good loot for one clear...

[Christina.]

PoP also introduced the best graphic pixels the game ever seen imo

Remember that warrior only 2hander, or the staff of transcedence for monks! Whoa

[El-Hefe]

I hated Kunark. Lots of people who came to the game during that era loved it, but I felt it was not a continuation of the game. Especially with 10 Hell levels and how being 60 trivialized content. It was just a grind fest. Especially for hybrids.

I also felt that Kunark raiding was not great at all. Velious raiding was fun as Hell and I guess I’m one of the few who enjoyed Vex Thall. It was so much good loot for one clear...

Kunark’s glory is not about 50 - 60.

Kunark makes 1 - 50 an absolute joy compared to vanilla, that’s why people like it so much.

[Vizax_Xaziv]

Kunark manages to retain the feel of the Classic Era zones while expanding on all the things that made it so great.

Velious was always a bit boring to me. It seems way too homogeneous though I suspect that's why they were able to develop it quickly.

[magnetaress]

Kubark is best expansion ever.

[Christina.]

Kubark is best expansion ever.

Kunark, PoP.

[Doktoor]

How bout population before and after COVID? Population is up at the moment. Maybe Neckbearding it will end up being a good thing...

[Frug]

How bout population before and after COVID? Population is up at the moment. Maybe Neckbearding it will end up being a good thing...

Green hasn't seen much population change over the past month (down a little, on average). Blue's slightly up.

https://i.imgur.com/plEyNpl.png