I started in '99.
I knew it was coming out in the months leading up to release in March from following the hype etc, but all I was able to play was that Soandso demo )
Being from Oceania I ordered my copy of Everquest to be delivered from the US to my house since in those days 'worldwide release' dates weren't the norm yet. Games were sometimes up to 2-3 months behind US release. It took about 3-4weeks to arrive, and turned out local retailers were starting to stock EQ just before my copy was delivered.
It didn't matter, I was stoked to finally install it - albeit about a month after US release. I'd pre-arranged to use my parents credit card and reimburse them - which in those days was a big deal, credit cards and internet conned dubious to alot of people still.
Despite all apparent hurdles I was as happy as a dog on the beach to be able to make my Half-Elf Ranger on Quellious, learning the ways of the Glade and burrow. I'd pre-picked my class as Ranger from the awesome character description in the Verant literature. Truly a do-it all sounding barrel of fun. It wasn't till later levels that people started seeing them as abit gimped, but by then I'd moved on to other characters, and servers.
Played classic, kunark and abit of velious, with various breaks in between. My friends tried to get me back into it for luclin and subsequent expansions but somehow the world just got too big and it wasn't the same, so we parted ways.
P1999 is a perfect fit for my taste, a grand huzzah back to the glory days of Norrath - before all the 'newbification' that occurred attempting to make EQ more accessible. Screw them - there's plenty of outlets for that hand-holding style. Gimme race/hybrid exp, naked corpse runs, begging for ports and boxy graphics.
WB 1999, I still have the original box
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