Though Kasul and I play EverQuest Legends most every day, there’s not really a lot of stuff happening. Especially with me, since I get bored easily and many nights just opt to play Valheim instead.
On my side of things, I’ve unlocked several primary classes (Bard, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Shadow Knight). The rest are pretty close, aside from Beastlord. I’ve unlocked a lot of the races; I think I am missing Qeynos Human and Erudin for the non-evil races, and Ogre and Troll for the evil ones.
Kasul, on the other hand, has unlocked all the primary classes as of last night, and all the races aside from Ogre. He’s working on Ogre, spending the evenings casually foraging for fruit while he does other things.
I’ve moved my main combo from WAR/CLR/ENC to PAL/MNK/ENC, and yes, that is a flavor of the month combo. The Warrior combo DPS was just too crappy. In many cases, I’m charming a pet that is actually responsible for the bulk of the DPS (especially in the Plane of Sky, once I charm a bee), but the speed of the Monk mix-in makes it easier to keep single target aggro. I would imagine, if we get real raids, that having the Cleric available for better heals will get me to make a PAL/CLR/MNK or PAL/CLR/ENC combo, and that is totally viable.
When I unlocked Shadow Knight, I immediately made a SHD/BER/SHM combo — Shadow Knight, Berserker and Shaman. The theory with this one is using the Spell Blade incantation to proc a life tap to do automatic healing, with the Berserker stance to make it happen often enough to do the job, and the Shaman heals for an “oh no” situation. The Shaman also brings the good buffs and debuffs. I don’t know how viable this combo will be in high level content, but it does pretty well in Mistmoore Castle, though I’ve had to feign death-split larger groups.
Aside from the new combo, I’ve been gaining AAs: Almost 400 of them at the moment. My gear is slowly upgrading to max; my important spells are already there.
But at this stage, we have done all available content, many times. We’re in a lull waiting for the new race (half dark elf. What?) and the new starting city and the new dungeon. I don’t know if that will hold us over to Rules of Kunark.
Wilhelm of TAGN suggests EverQuest Legends is best seen as something like a special rules server that you come back to now and again, as opposed to an MMO that serves as your only game for months or years, and I think that is absolutely the way it’s going to play out. By making the entire game soloable, it’s easy and obvious to just dip out and in without worrying about your guild missing you, or getting behind on progression. Your guild doesn’t need you, and the race unlocking and primary class unlocking is entirely optional. And while AA points may make things easier, the important ones can be managed in just a day or two of leveling a new combo.
It’s a good game and there is no better way to explore the world of classic EverQuest. But at this point I’d hesitate to call it an MMO in the traditional sense.
