Producer's Letter: EverQuest Turns 20

Happy 20^th Anniversary, Norrathians!

Holy ogre drool, my friends. What an amazing accomplishment you’ve brought us to! Above all else, I and everyone on the Dev Team and across the studio, are truly humbled and grateful for each and every one of our players for this unprecedented achievement. EverQuest has stoked magic in all of us – it’s why we are all here 20 years later. Reflecting during this occasion has given us time to share our own memories as well as hear many of yours.

With that in mind, we are working diligently to make this year special and Live the Legacy as we honor what brought us to where we are today – you, the players.

Today, we celebrate our anniversary with the launch of two new Progression Servers, Selo and Mangler, which launch at 12:00 PM PT! Our new Preserving the Past Anniversary content is also live today for all players on non-progression servers. Join us in game!

While we always plan and hope for the best, our experience has shown us that the first couple of days with new progression servers aren’t always perfect. Ahem. Rest assured, we will all be here at the studio over the weekend and throughout the next week tending to any issues as they arise and working to find solutions. We need to get creative at times with a 20 year-old game with over 3 million lines of code that was never intended to handle the impressive numbers you bring us.

So, if you find yourself in a login queue or the server hamsters trip and pull a hammy, here’s a recipe for newbie and master bakers you can make at home to skill up:

• Nillipus’ Brownie Shooters (Level 1)
• Hludwolf's Loaf of Bread (Level 150)

But of course, the celebrations don't end there!

We are collaborating with the upcoming Comic-Con Museum in San Diego to hold an EverQuest fan event and exhibit that will be open for three days in April. We will be creating a fun, interactive exhibit that includes miniature live quests, developer chats, and of course, another chance to get a taste of Brell's Blessed Stout. We are also putting together a collection of all our history to display, and sharing a special look at not just the game's development, but significant events in our history as well. We'll have more news on that coming very soon, but be sure to save the date ahead of time!

In addition, the EverQuest original soundtrack is in the final stages of being distributed to several music streaming sites. This has been a passion project for one of our devoted devs and the audio team and we’re excited to provide a simple way to access our incredible library of game music - we’ll get you details on where to find it as soon as it goes live!

You’ll probably see some press articles about our beloved game as the days pass that recognize our players as much as the studio. We are truly honored to be part of the recognition of this historic game-changer (literally) that we call EverQuest.  Even EverQuest II and Planetside 2 will be honoring the game this month in their own ways.

Be sure to join us in Norrath today in EQ, or in EQ2 with their new servers and Mischief and Mayhem Game Update at 10 AM PT. And be ever watchful for more news on what’s coming up for EverQuest!

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for helping us create 20 years of magic!

Much love to all,

Holly “Windstalker” Longdale
& THE EVERQUEST TEAM (PAST AND PRESENT)