EverQuest has branched out over the years, providing many different servers and even versions of the game to play.
1 Live
1.1 Current Live Servers
1.2 Server Population
2 Test
2.1 The /testcopy Command
3 Other Versions of EverQuest
3.1 EQMac
3.2 Project 1999
4 Server History
"Live" EverQuest refers to the main set of servers that follow the regular rules of the game, are accessed via the Windows client, and are under SOE's subscription / Free to Play program. Even still, some servers have special rules in place or certain other conditions make them stand out.
As the game grew back in the day, more and more servers were added. As the population count started going the other way, certain servers were merged to keep the per-server population high. In March 2005, a merge combined the four PvP servers Rallos Zek, Sullon Zek, Tallon Zek and Vallon Zek into one - Zek. A second round of merges in 2005 combined 40 servers into 20, and in 2010, a merge combined 20 servers into 10.
In the old days, the population of each server was showns on the server selection screen, but this was hidden on September 11, 2001.
| Name | Launch Date | Merge History | Special Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antonius Bayle (Kane Bayle) | November 2001 | Merge of Antonius Bayle and Kane Bayle (March 22, 2005) | Hosted in Europe, provides low ping for Europeans |
| Bertoxxulous - Saryrn | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Bertoxxulous and Saryrn (June/July 2010) | |
| Bristlebane - The Tribunal | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Bristlebane and The Tribunal (June/July 2010) | |
| Cazic Thule - Fennin Ro | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Cazic Thule and Fennin Ro (June/July 2010) | |
| Drinal - Maelin Starpyre | September 28, 2000 | Merge of Drinal and Maelin Starpyre (June/July 2010) | |
| Erollisi Marr - The Nameless | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Erollisi Marr and The Nameless (June/July 2010) | |
| Fippy Darkpaw | February 15, 2011 | Progression server, starting with Classic EQ and level 50 cap | |
| Firiona Vie | October 8, 2001 | Officially a roleplaying server, not really enforced. Virtually all items are tradable, except epics and related quest items. No common language. 50% experience bonus. | |
| Luclin - Stromm | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Luclin and Stromm (June/July 2010) | |
| Povar - Quellious | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Povar and Quellious (June/July 2010) | |
| The Rathe - Prexus | March 16, 1999 | Merge of The Rathe and Prexus (June/July 2010) | |
| Trakanon | September 8, 2010 | ||
| Tunare - The Seventh Hammer | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Tunare and The Seventh Hammer (June/July 2010) | |
| Vox | March 16, 2012 | Launched with the Free to Play scheme | |
| Vulak`Aerr | February 16, 2011 | Progression server, starting with Classic EQ and level 50 cap | |
| Xegony - Druzzil Ro | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Xegony and Druzzil Ro (June/July 2010) | |
| Zek | March 2005 | Merge of Rallos Zek, Sullon Zek, Tallon Zek and Vallon Zek (March 2005) | PvP server |
A rough cencus taken by me on April 5, 2013, indicates that with the exception of a few servers, the population across the board for established servers appears to be roughly equal. A few statistics:
- The Tutorial zone (Mines of Gloomingdeep) had 5-15 players in it.
- The 'general' chat channel had 350-450 players in it.
- Plane of Knowledge had 40-70 players.
- The Bazaar had 200-300 traders, with a total of 12000-17000 items.
Only a few servers really stand out on certain accounts:
- Firiona Via had a larger Bazaar, with over 350 traders and 22000 items for sale.
- Trakanon had an extremely low population. A /who all returned a total of 32 players. The Bazaar had one single trader.
- Vox had a healthy and vocal population, but mostly in the low end, i.e. more low-levels than high-levels. The 'NewPlayers' chat channel had over 160 players in it. The Bazaar was also rather small, only 95 traders.
- Zek appeared to have the second-lowest population, judged on chat channel population and /who all, although the latter is unprecise because many people are anonymous on Zek. The Bazaar only had 50 traders, and Plane of Knowledge had 27 players.
Test refers to a single, special server, appropriately named "Test". Test is different from Live in many ways:
- Everyone gets free Gold status accounts, as many as they wish, and all expansions come free of charge.
- There is a permanent 100% experience bonus.
- All characters get all veteran rewards regardless of account age.
- Test gets patches around a week before Live does. It is in theory a "playground" for the developers to test changes on.
- From a Live server, you can type /testcopy and your character will be copied to Test (read more below).
- Players can use the /resetaa command to get all AA points refunded.
- Players can use the /testbuff command to instantly boost a character to level 25, with all spells, all skills maxed and a set of starting gear.
- Players can spawn practice NPCs in The Arena to raise skills and do parses on.
In spite of this being a test server, it is as stable as a Live server, and patches do not come at random, breaking the game or causing loss of characters nor items. There has not been a character wipe on the server in at least 11 years.
A few downsides of Test are:
- Platinum and items have no real worth as people can copy them endless from Live.
- The Bazaar is quirky. There is a much lower amount of items available, and prices fluctuate extremely. On one hand, there are nice people who have deliberately copied items from Live and sell them for pennies; on the other end of the spectrum are people who charge obscene amounts of platinum for items. A new player starting out on Test will not have access to endless platinum from Live, so you'll have to either beg for platinum or forego such items.
- The population is lower than most Live servers. A rough estimate is 50-60% of a typical Live server. Test has had a reputation of being very sparsely populated in past times, but this is no longer the case.
- The raiding scene is smaller and 'weaker' than on most Live servers.
To play on Test, follow these steps:
- Run the executable TestEverQuest.exe in your EQ directory.
- In the Launcher application, click the little gear icon in the lower left (Advanced tools).
- In the menu that pops up, click "Select Game Version".
- On the right, choose "Test" in the combobox, then click Apply.
The launcher will now patch to the Test server. If you want to play on Live again, repeat the steps and choose "Live" in the combobox, after which the launcher will patch back to Live. If you swap often, it's a good idea to make a copy of your EverQuest directory and dedicate one directory to Live and one to Test.
After having patched to Test via the launcher once, you can in the future run "testeqgame.exe" with the parameter "patchme" to bypass the launcher and speed up the login process. For example:
C:\Games\EverQuest\testeqgame.exe patchmeIf the server has been patched and requires a client patch, you will get an error when attempting to log in with this method. Simply run the launcher to patch, and you can again run testeqgame.exe.
While logged onto a Live server, type /testcopy. Click Yes in the prompt that appears and wait. Within between 5 and 40 seconds you should get a message in red text in your chat log saying Test copy: Copy Success.. If it fails, it is most likely because Live and Test are out of sync, meaning that Test has received a patch that Live has not yet received. Hang on and wait until Live has received the patch.
Note that when you trade items and platinum to another of your characters and immediately /testcopy, the items and platinum will most likely not be copied, as your character hasn't been saved on the server. Zone or camp, log back in, and then type /testcopy to ensure that your freshly traded stuff gets copied.
If you get a success message, you can now log onto test and see your copied character. All the items on the character will get the "Copied" attribute, which indicates that it has been test copied. Platinum has no flag or trace of being copied. It doesn't take long to figure out that you can abuse this to copy endless amounts of platinum and items, provided you have access to them on Live. You can shuffle items and platinum around to other characters (even freshly made level 1's), copy them, and round up their item and platinum on Test.
Beware that existing characters on Test with the same name will be overwritten without chance of recovery. If you at first do a copy and start playing the character on Test, be very careful with future copies, so that you don't overwrite a character on Test that you would like to keep.
The /testcopy command has an 8-hour cooldown per character. A newly made character can immediately be copied.
A few other official and unofficial versions of EQ exist.
Visiting Boomba the Big in West Freeport on EQMac with the original UI.
In June 2003, EQ for the Apple Macintosh was released, along with a special server (Al'Kabor) solely for players using the Macintosh client. It was set up with all expansions up to and including Planes of Power, and then left virtually untouched, including the ancient client, which has only received technical updates for playing on modern computers and OSX.
EQMac provided a unique ability to play an EQ frozen in time, with rules and mechanics back from 2002, and even to use the ancient user interface that EQ launched with.
In Spring 2013, EQMac was made completely free to play. In Spring 2014, EQMac was shut down for good.
Links and Resources:
- Hoss Guild Forums - The Al'Kabor (EQMac) EverQuest Server
- Rerolled Forums - EQMac Now Free to Play
- EQmac.com
- EverQuest Mac Wiki - also has the old hand-drawn maps from EQAtlas
- Alla'Kabor - Database for EQMac
Project 1999 is an emulated EverQuest that attempts to stay as true as possible to how the game was back in the early days. It launched the Classic content, level 50 level cap and many restrictions that were in the game at the time. Since then, Kunark has been added and more is coming.
Links and Resources:
Previously active servers and their history.
| Name | Launch Date | Merge History | Fate | Special Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayonae Ro | December 2000 | Created as a split server, allowing players on Cazic-Thule, Karana and Solusek Ro to transfer to it | Merged with The Tribunal (April 21, 2005) | |
| Brell Serilis | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Cazic Thule (April 7, 2005) | ||
| Discord | December 19, 2003 | Shut down as planned (January 12, 2004) | A PvP pseudo-permadeath server created intentionally for a short while as a promotion for Gates of Discord expansion. When a player died, they lost everything and were reset to level 1, as if they had just created the character. One character per account, level 50 cap, increased experience rate. Players gained points for killing other players, and by January 12, 2004, the six players with the most points were promised to have class-appropriate items in Gates of Discord named after them. Read more - New "Discord" server launched in EQ universe. | |
| Druzzil Ro | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Druzzil Ro and Xev (May 19, 2005) | Merged with Xegony (June/July 2010) | |
| E'ci | March 16, 1999 | Split along with The Rathe to Zebuxoruk (March 2001) | Merged with Tunare (May 30, 2005) | |
| Fennin Ro | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Fennin Ro and Torvonnilous (May 23, 2005) | Merged with Cazic Thule (June/July 2010) | |
| Innoruuk | March 16, 1999 | Merged with The Nameless (May 2, 2005) | ||
| Karana | March 16, 1999 | Split to Terris Thule (June/July 2000) and Ayonae Ro (December 2000) | Merged with Bertoxxulous (April 28, 2005) | |
| Lanys T'Vyl | March 16, 1999 | Merged with The Seventh Hammer (April 11, 2005) | ||
| Maelin Starpyre | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Maelin Starpyre and Vazaelle (May 9, 2005) | Merged with Drinal (June/July 2010) | |
| Mayong | June 30, 2009 | Merged with Tunare (September 6, 2010) | Also called the 51/50 server. Allowed players to start characters at level 51 with 50 AA, a set of Flawed Defiant armor, all spells, abilities and skills maxed. Created after a poll amongst players where they could choose which type of server they would like to see. | |
| Mithaniel Marr | March 16, 1999 | Split along with Tunare to Drinal (September 28, 2000) | Merged with Saryrn (April 18, 2005) | |
| Morden Rasp | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Povar (April 11, 2005) | ||
| Morrell Thule | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Erollisi Marr (May 16, 2005) | ||
| Prexus | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Prexus and Terris Thule (May 26, 2005) | Merged with The Rathe (June/July 2010) | |
| Quellious | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Quellious and Rodcet Nife (May 12, 2005) | Merged with The Rathe (June/July 2010) | |
| Rallos Zek | March 16, 1999 | Merged to Zek (February 8, 2005) | PvP FFA server with item and coin loot | |
| Rodcet Nife | April 27-29, 1999 | Merged with Quellious (May 12, 2005) | ||
| Saryrn | March 16, 1999 | Merge of Saryrn and Mithaniel Marr (April 18, 2005) | Merged with Bertoxxulous (June/July 2010) | |
| Solusek Ro | March 16, 1999 | Split along with Cazic-Thule and Karana to Ayonae Ro (December 2000) | Merged with Bristlebane (March 23, 2005) | |
| Stormhammer (Legends) | February 12, 2002 | Shut down (February 1, 2006) | "Premium server" where players paid a higher price for a subscription. In return, they received new content before Live servers, more GM attention, GM events and an exclusive zone (Marauder's Mire). As the server shut down, players were offered free transfers to regular servers. | |
| Stromm | May 3, 2003 | Merged with Luclin (June/July 2010) | ||
| Sullon Zek | June or July 2001 | Merged to Zek (February 8, 2005) | Deity-based PvP server, with your deity's alignment (good, evil or neutral) determined your allies and enemies amongst players. No level limit on kills, coin loot. Officially "no rules", meaning no GM action could be taken against training, corpse camping, kill stealing or unfair behavior. Read more - Project 1999 Forum. | |
| Tallon Zek | March 16, 1999 | Merged to Zek (February 8, 2005) | PvP team server with coin loot (originally item and coin loot, changed February 17, 2000) | |
| Tarew Marr | March 16, 1999 | Split along with Povar to Xev (November 21, 2000) | Merged with Drinal (April 14, 2005) | |
| Terris Thule | June/July 2000 | Split from Karana (June/July 2000) | Merged with Prexus (May 26, 2005) | |
| The Combine | June 28, 2006 | Merged with Druzzil Ro (January 21, 2009) | First attempt at a progression server, along with The Sleeper, starting at Classic with a level 50 cap. Players had to defeat end-game encounters of each expansion to unlock the next expansion. | |
| The Nameless | March 16, 1999 | Merge of The Nameless and Innoruuk (May 2, 2005) | Merged with Erollisi Marr (June/July 2010) | |
| The Seventh Hammer | March 16, 1999 | Merge of The Seventh Hammer and Lanys T'Vyl (April 11, 2005) | Merged with Tunare (June/July 2010) | |
| The Sleeper | June 28, 2006 | Merged with The Combine (March 21, 2007) | First attempt at a progression server, along with The Combine, starting at Classic with a level 50 cap. Players had to defeat end-game encounters of each expansion to unlock the next expansion. | |
| The Tribunal | March 16, 1999 | Merge of The Tribunal and Ayonae Ro (April 21, 2005) | Merged with Bristlebane (June/July 2010) | |
| Tholuxe Paells | September 28, 2000 | Merged with The Rathe (April 18, 2005) | ||
| Torvonnilous | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Fennin Ro (May 23, 2005) | ||
| Vallon Zek | March 16, 1999 | Merged to Zek (February 8, 2005) | PvP team server with coin loot (originally item and coin loot, changed June 22, 2000) | |
| Vazaelle | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Maelin Starpyre (May 9, 2005) | ||
| Veeshan | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Luclin (April 25, 2005) | ||
| Xev | March 16, 1999 | Merged with Druzzil Ro (May 19, 2005) | ||
| Zebuxoruk | March 19, 2001 | Split from E'ci and The Rathe | Merged with Xegony (May 5, 2005) |