Top 5 Everquest Expansions?

[Worry]

What's everyones top 5 ranking of any EQ expansion?

Mine:
Kunark
Luclin
Velious
Darkhollow
LDON

[Sizar]

Kunark
Velious
Who the hell cares

[Polixa]

Kunark
Velious
LDoN
LoY

[Trexller]

Kunark
Velious
Luclin
Omens of War
Underfoot

[foxchris509]

Kunark
Planes of power
Omens of war
Velious
Luclin

[A Knight]

Kunark
Velious

Iksar is probably the best, brand new expansion race.

I like Velious, I just have heard from a few people, so I think I'm an expert, that its bad for pvp.

I assume it's due to a solid unchanging path, to high end No drop gear. /shrugs

I think No drop gear is necessary after certain expansions but I understand that its contrary to some players beliefs in pre-Velious EQ. I'm not sure how many agree with this, but once again I've heard it from some.

I think its just a matter of measuring the unmeasurable, in order to get a good Everquest expansion. (So probably mostly luck, and someone not bothered of messing up.)

[Ravager]

All of the expansions ruined the game.

[Tethler]

Kunark
Velious
Luclin
Planes of Power
Omens of War

Luclin only makes the list because it introduces AAs and the bazaar. Planes of Power was peak EQ. Omens only on the list because 5 were asked for.

[PatChapp]

Kunark.

[Swish]

All of the expansions ruined the game.

You sound like fun at parties.


Kunark
Luclin
Planes of Power
Velious
LDON (up to where I quit)

[Jimjam]

Kunark
Velious
LDoN
LoY

Dragons of Norrath maybe for 5. PoP / OoW / CoA are good on a server/guild which are nice.

[Solstice79]

Kunark
PoP
Velious
Luclin
LDoN

Kunark was awesome and scary.
PoP was just epic I scope
Velious was dragons
Luclin sucked but it gave the melees a much need buff
LDoN let my rogue finally disarm traps. That is all.

[Gustoo]

Kunark
Velious
Who the hell cares

[Gustoo]

But like ravager I think vanilla + very slowly adding content to fill in the default norrath would have been way better. I like when monks had to be the worst race (humans) and had basically no items. Truly an austere class.

The way each expansion obsolete content from previous versions of the game makes me prefer vanilla when every item had a good place. When fine steel was a real weapon people used instead of like a 25pp 1/2 ratio weapon from kunark or velious or whatever.

[xassis]

Agreed with Gustoo hard on this one. I've never played classic Everquest before Project 1999, and had never played TRUE classic(no kunark/velious) until Green launched in 2019. I've gotta say, the item balancing and progression in Classic feels so natural, with every item having a place and use for the most part. There are absolutely concrete ways in which I would argue classic is better than everything that came after.

THAT BEING SAID, top five expansions (1=best 5=worst)
5. Planes of Power
4. Luclin
3. Velious
2. Kunark
1. Vanilla/Classic

[MaCtastic]

1. PoP
2. ...
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...

[beargryllz]

Bush
Did
Nine
Eleven
Towers

[Jimjam]

But like ravager I think vanilla + very slowly adding content to fill in the default norrath would have been way better. I like when monks had to be the worst race (humans) and had basically no items. Truly an austere class.

The way each expansion obsolete content from previous versions of the game makes me prefer vanilla when every item had a good place. When fine steel was a real weapon people used instead of like a 25pp 1/2 ratio weapon from kunark or velious or whatever.

Hard agree. Expansions suck. There is no top 5.

[Zuranthium]

Yeah, every expansion made the game worse on the whole, but Kunark was the best by far. Amazing zones and sense of adventure, and the new zones really were needed at the time, with the way server populations and game content was being handled. Most existing game areas had become much too overpopulated, and Kunark provided great new areas for the playerbase to flow into. The problem of Kunark is in the itemization and some game balance issues, and also just how damn long it took to level once you got to the mid 50's, which could feel frustrating.

I think the next best is Legacy of Ykesha, because it was the least disruptive to the game and did what they should have been doing the whole time - filling in zones on the actual Norrath map that weren't implemented yet (without instancing, ugh the stupid Lost Dungeons of Norrath) and introducing alterations to zones based on story events. Although the Frogloks taking over the Troll city had almost no actual impact on the game, it's very interesting to think about taking the concept further. Imagine if the original EQ cities were all raid zones, with major changes happening sporadically.

Velious is #3, it has some great ideas, but the game world is getting splintered up too much at this point, and the further power creep is part of the cause, since people people can just skip a ton of game content. The hugely increased HP of Velious mobs also can make things more tedious and introduces further balance issues.

I have no experience of expansions from Gates of Discord onward (aside from seeing some of the zones be repurposed in emulators)...how many people actually do? It's basically a dead question to ask what the top 5 expansions are. But I'm certain that plenty of the expansions released for the game over the years are better than the Planes of Power bullshit. From what I experienced some of, Luclin is #4 by default, because although I disliked most of the design there, at least it doesn't have fucking clickable teleportation stones all across the game and everyone beaming up into some random box in the sky. #5 is whatever, take your pick of whatever random expansion from 2005 onward, when the real Everquest was long gone, but when they were at least trying to again implement more Norrath-based zones.

[Bardp1999]

You sound like fun at parties.


Kunark
Luclin
Planes of Power
Velious
LDON (up to where I quit)

I have no doubt you talk about EQ at parties

/YIKES

[Homesteaded]

1. Velious
2. Kunark
3. PoP
4. Omens
5. GoD

[Tunabros]

1. Velious
2. Omens of War
3. Planes of Power
4. Shadows of Luclin
5. Kunark

[MarauderOHHYEAH]

1) pop
2) pop
3) pop
4) pop
5) pop

Hands down the best overall expansion ever released

[ScottBerta]

Game was best vanilla and Kunark only.

[Ooloo]

Pop was cool except for PoK, which generified the game.

Even the luclin spire system was kinda game killing. The world started feeling smaller at luclin.

Vanilla, Kunark and Velious are still the best. I hope p99 introduces some custom content based on classic zones and lore, that would be great. I don't want any cats on the moon or central hub zones.

[Croco]

PoP
Velious
Luclin
Kunark
Omens

[Allishia]

Kunark, velious, pop, omens of war, seeds of destruction hard mode.

[Endonde]

Kunark
Luclin
Planes of Power
Omens of War
Depths of Darkhallow

I know Velious gets a lot of love around here but it's pretty mediocre IMO, it's mostly just raiding content and the raiding content isn't really that great. Ring quests, and Shawl quests were really cool additions but they weren't enough to make it a good expansion. If I want an expansion focused on raiding PoP was way better.

[foxchris509]

Kunark
Luclin
Planes of Power
Omens of War
Depths of Darkhallow

I know Velious gets a lot of love around here but it's pretty mediocre IMO, it's mostly just raiding content and the raiding content isn't really that great. Ring quests, and Shawl quests were really cool additions but they weren't enough to make it a good expansion. If I want an expansion focused on raiding PoP was way better.

Ya I agree velious is kinda overrated imo. Some really cool raids like aow and vulak but luclin had awesome raid content to with ssra temple/vex thal being super legit and pop was a masterpiece of raiding design. How they designed the flagging and progression leading into time and all that glorious loot it just was epic. Plus all the faction grinding in velious gets annoying fast. Ain’t no one got time for that. It’s good but not that good.

[Ripqozko]

Ya I agree velious is kinda overrated imo. Some really cool raids like aow and vulak but luclin had awesome raid content to with ssra temple/vex thal being super legit and pop was a masterpiece of raiding design. How they designed the flagging and progression leading into time and all that glorious loot it just was epic. Plus all the faction grinding in velious gets annoying fast. Ain’t no one got time for that. It’s good but not that good.

vex thal wasnt fun when it came out, its like 11 hour clear without coth bots and waaay tooo much trash.

[Crede]

Kunark
Luclin
Planes of Power
Omens of War
Depths of Darkhallow

I know Velious gets a lot of love around here but it's pretty mediocre IMO, it's mostly just raiding content and the raiding content isn't really that great. Ring quests, and Shawl quests were really cool additions but they weren't enough to make it a good expansion. If I want an expansion focused on raiding PoP was way better.

Oow/dod was the peak of live raiding imo. Demi separated the great from the elite and anguish was just a masterfully designed zone.

[Old_PVP]

But like ravager I think vanilla + very slowly adding content to fill in the default norrath would have been way better. I like when monks had to be the worst race (humans) and had basically no items. Truly an austere class.

The way each expansion obsolete content from previous versions of the game makes me prefer vanilla when every item had a good place. When fine steel was a real weapon people used instead of like a 25pp 1/2 ratio weapon from kunark or velious or whatever.

I concur.

Build me a server with only vanilla.

[rajax]

From memory most fun to least my opinion:

Kunark- best "exploration" expansion and came at the perfect time.
PoP (access to PoK probably should have had a modest level requirement)
LDoN (before a series of severe nerfs killed enthusiasm)- Early on was lots of fun for random pickup groups and organized long term parties alike.
LoY (Simple fun times, this from a guy who had a maxed troll shaman who never accepted Froglok characters & Grobb change)
Velious (Rep grind and chaining together zones hurts),
honorable mention: Any of the major updates that added zones and new places to explore that filled in the original game map, such as Stonebrunt. This was bite-sized content that casual players could enjoy.

Luclin other than AA, QoL changes and to some extent the Bazaar never clicked to me. Too wierd, too many places that looked the same with questionable mob AI and pathfinding and wayyy too damn many cat beastlords complaining constantly.

[Endonde]

vex thal wasnt fun when it came out, its like 11 hour clear without coth bots and waaay tooo much trash.

Not all of the raids in Luclin were great, although I think SSRA is better than any Velious raid. Raids aren't what made Luclin better than Velious though IMO, it was all the other content that came with Luclin that you didn't really get in Velious.

If I wanted an expansion focused on raiding PoP is just better in every way compared to Velious. PoP had a sense of progression with it's flagging system that really made raiding more interesting. The fights also weren't all generic tank and spanks like what almost every fight in Velious is. Plus going into each gods realm to fight them felt really good thematically, ToV on the other hand just doesn't fit thematically and the zone is pretty generic, as far as dragon's lair type zones go, VP and SolB are infinitely better than ToV.

[foxchris509]

vex thal wasnt fun when it came out, its like 11 hour clear without coth bots and waaay tooo much trash.

Way too much trash for sure

[Graahle]

1. PoP (unquestionably the best expansion)
2. GoD
3. Luclin
4. Kunark
5. Vanilla

Velious is completely overrated. Anybody who says nOThInG aFTeR vELIoUs has no idea what they’re talking about whatsoever.

[Jimjam]

People saying Velious has nothing but faction grinds and raids is also wrong about the expansion though.

Loads of great 30-45 content ... it’s just no one is interested in actually playing Everquest (they wanna join the queue for pixels to dress up their dolly as fast as possible).

[Penish]

Gates of Discord was without a doubt the best xpac introduced, really separated the riffraff from people who could actually play.

Good times.

[Croco]

Gates of Discord was without a doubt the best xpac introduced, really separated the riffraff from people who could actually play.

Good times.

Found the no-hit dark souls twitch streamer.

[Graahle]

TLP Gates has been literally so much fun. DPS races for the open world goats that spawn every 2-3 hours to collect muramite armor pieces has been awesome. I’ve never seen a cleaner open world target contesting in my life.

Zun’Muram, Cynoshure, Bloodfeaster, and Tunat are incredibly fun fights.

[Worry]

Interesting to see all the Omens picks! Think I overlooked that one when I played.

[Tunabros]

Interesting to see all the Omens picks! Think I overlooked that one when I played.

oh man it was crazyyyyy

:D

[Trexller]

omens of war was really good.

anyone remember Overlord Mata`Muram?

one hell of a boss fight.

[Crede]

omens of war was really good.

anyone remember Overlord Mata`Muram?

one hell of a boss fight.

I do, a lot of guilds had already moved onto Demi without even being able to consistently beat OMM. OMM/Mayong had so little room for error.

[Croco]

omens was great, gates on the other hand was pure garbage

[Jimjam]

Interesting to see all the Omens picks! Think I overlooked that one when I played.

Omens was good because the gear required to tank group content wasn’t as good as the reward for completing that content.

Many expansions had a problem where a tank would struggle to survive an encounter but the reward for winning the encounter would be worse than it was already wearing - effectively dead ending any group tanks that weren’t also able to be carried through raids / completed the previous expansions top tier raiding.

GoD had this problem at release. Wars with full AA and ele armour would get 1 rounded in GoD xp content, so enchanter pets were being used as main tanks in xp groups.

Eventually GoD got ‘fixed’ but the problem would recur in subsequent expansions too.