EverQuest The MMO that started it all

Norrath is huge, old and indifferent, and that is the point. Dozens of continents hold hundreds of zones: dungeons, hidden corners, quests with no quest markers. You talk to NPCs instead of grabbing objectives, you learn where things are the hard way, and a boat ride can take fifteen minutes while you watch the coast go by. The game never explains much, so finding your own way through its weird little corners becomes the adventure. It is atmospheric in a way modern MMOs rarely manage: the world feels like it existed before you arrived and will keep going after you log off.

You choose from 16 races, dwarves and elves among them, and 16 classes, each with its own spells, abilities and a real job to do. An enchanter is not a damage dealer with a different hat; it is an enchanter, with a role in the group that only it fills. Progression runs past 120 levels, and Alternate Advancement abilities let you keep shaping your character long after that. Grouping matters: parties and raid forces take down the game's toughest foes, and camping a spot with your group, pulling one foe at a time, is a rhythm as old as the genre. Come for the world and the fights more than for convenience.