As of the writing of this post: I plan on subscribing to EQ Legends monthly (for now.) There are a lot of elements that really draw you in, keep you hooked, and things I want to do in the game.. But, that doesn't mean it's without its flaws.
-The multiclass system is complex, dynamic and holds lots of possibilities for exciting gameplay. I've tried multiple combinations, and kept re-rolling to try different races and starting areas. Some classes are way better than others at being self-sufficient, but that's the way it was in OG EQ.
-The stance / invocation system adds another layer of complexity and allows for the "uber" gamer to feel even more involved. Different stances are useful depending on the situation. Pulled too many? Evasive stance. Need mana? Recovery Invocation. Situation stable and ready to destroy? Switch from Evasive to Offensive mid-combat. Etc. This gives the game a very high skill-ceiling.
-Travel is much easier, but not too easy. Every toon gets a jboots style clicky (that's fragile like Spirit of Cheetah.) There are translocators at the Docks so you don't have to take a boat from Freeport to Butcherblock. But you still have to run across zones to get anywhere. There is the option to "Gather Party" to your location, and Origin AA to return to your starting city. There is also, of course, Rituals. If you memmed Gate on any class you played, and then switch to all melee / hybrid toons, you can still use Gate (with a 20-second cast time, and cost of 100% of your mana)
-Grouping is alive and well. D4 dungeons are difficult solo. I am liking my enchanter build, for the Mez and AOE Mez purposes - but without that, I definitely need teammates to burn down adds, CC, and DPS, etc.
-Instancing means nobody can mess with your gameplay. No intentional trains, no zone-disruption, no monopolizing a spawn. You can log in for an hour, run through a dungeon, and log out - completely undisturbed by the antisocial folks that play MMOs.
There are more, but those were the main good takeaways I saw this week.
-Meta everything. This is just gaming in 2026, but everyone talks about the Meta of which classes to play. Every decision is theory-crafted by people who've watched hundreds of hours of Closed-Beta, before they even booted up the game to try and decide what to play and how to play. It's much different experience than OG EQ, and even on p99, where most people just spin-up a toon and start playing - and find out by experimenting what class they like, how they like to play, and what they don't like. EQ Legends playerbase has a large population of folks that have been planning their first toon for months.
-Chat channels. Server-wide OOC chat is not a good thing. I had to put many people on ignore because they were arguing in General or NewPlayers this week. Typical behavior for MMOs, sure, but it's not something I want to deal with in game. I wound up leaving all chat channels, and only join momentarily when LFG, or needing help with something.
-The game attracts no-lifers. Although its a far-cry from the difficulty of OG EQ, and very casual friendly: This game brings out the worst quality of modern gamers. People who play for days in a row without a break. Many servers had level 46-50 toons with hundreds of AAs after just 3-4 days of servers launch. For nothing else: it's sad knowing that people are destroying their lives still over this game. In a Beta, where every character will get wiped on July 28th, nonetheless. Especially because most of the people playing these days are in their 30s, 40s, 50s and onward. Sitting for long periods of times at those ages does irreversible damage to the health of your body. I imagine they are not exercising at all, eating healthy, etc... It makes me sad, is all.
-The game is complex, but it's also easy. That means that folks do not have to "get good" in order to succeed. It always amazed me on P99 how people could reach level 50 or so on their toons and not know every in and out of their class. It's even more in Legends. I grouped with healers who didn't heal, pet classes that didn't have pets out, etc. To each their own, and everyone should be able to play the way they want - but it made a few group instances on level 4 difficulty frustrating, and actually more difficult than a solo instance at level 4 difficulty.
-Most people will want to solo. I started feeling this way after a few group encounters where people wouldn't heal, or wouldn't stop combat so I could rez. It felt less like the other players were grouped to enjoy a social experience with other gamers, and more because it would make them getting loot easier. Nobody watches the group window to see how groupmates health is, or pays attention to what everyone is up to. Because of the low skill floor, its easy to just faceroll the keyboard and be successful. Only downside is when you are grouped, sometimes your group mates forget you are grouped, and that you might be relying on them.
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Overall, I enjoyed the few days I played. After about 10 hours of play time this past week, I'm hooked. My suggestion, as its what I did - Don't look up anything about the game. Using your existing EQ Knowledge: spin up a toon, play around for a bit, and then decide what classes you'd like to play.
TL;DR: The game has complexity that makes it feel like there is a high skill-ceiling. The QoL improvements feel well-balanced, but there is a fine line between challenging players so that they get better and spoon-feeding them content. Without some balancing, it may tip to the latter.