Highlights

  • Historic MMORPGs EverQuest and EverQuest 2 are celebrating their 25th and 20th anniversaries in 2024 with year-long events and new expansions.
  • Both games will feature monthly special events like Anniversary Tower and event-exclusive mounts throughout the year.
  • The developers have remained committed to keeping both games fresh and engaging, with updates like the Personas system and taking inspiration from other successful franchises.

Historic and long-running MMORPGs EverQuest and EverQuest 2 are respectively turning 25 and 20 in 2024, and the developers have announced a full lineup of year-long events and new expansions to celebrate. The legendary franchise shows no signs of stopping, especially with EverQuest just having released its 30th expansion Laurion's Song in December.

Known as one of the most popular and influential MMORPGs ever released, EverQuest was released all the way back in 1999, while its sequel EverQuest 2 was released five years later in 2004. Despite technically being a series, both games are designed to run independently of one another as EverQuest 2 features an alternate-universe Norrath, the game's setting.

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Over 21 years since its launch, EverQuest remains a stalwart beacon of classic MMORPGs in our current gaming environment.

2024 marks the Year of Darkpaw in EverQuest and EverQuest 2, named after Fippy Darkpaw, an infamous gnoll character that spawns in one of the game's starting areas. The big highlights coming from the Developer Roadmap for this year include an unnamed expansion for both games coming in November (EverQuest 2) and December 2024 (EverQuest), notable special events such as the Anniversary Tower and Heroic Adventures happening every month, and event-exclusive mounts, just to name a few. Meanwhile, over in EverQuest 2, the Year of Darkpaw brings about the Masquerades of Divinity story event, along with various events.

Basically, there will be a lot of things to do in both games in this milestone year. While a good part of it looks like seasonal events, it should also be enough to tide players over until the new expansions arrive in the fourth quarter. The developers are currently tight-lipped about what's coming, but given their design philosophy of giving EverQuest players what they want, the new chapters will likely be worth the wait.

One of the secrets to EverQuest's longevity is the ability to cultivate its loyal player base and keep up with the times. One such example is the addition of the Personas system in Laurion's Song, which lets players try different classes on one character. This feature is very similar to Final Fantasy 14's job system, which solves a longstanding problem in MMORPGs, a genre that naturally comes with a wide variety of classes to encourage different playstyles. Though it's easy to point out that putting in that feature is directly copying another game, many players might feel that it's a welcome quality of life improvement that all similar titles should have, and EverQuest learning that lesson may be good for its success.

With 20 years of history to build on, EverQuest 2 developers are also working hard to make sure there's a lot for current players to enjoy. The game's 20th expansion, Ballads of Zimara, also released in 2023, and it brought with it changes and updates that make playing compelling, especially for those who want advanced challenges. The EverQuest 2 developers share that there's always something that can be made better, even if it means taking what other franchises and series have established and putting their own spin on it.

EverQuest and EverQuest 2 2024 Developer Roadmap

EverQuest

  • January
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Year of Darkpaw Swag for sale
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • January quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Soundtrack Volume 1 released on streaming services
      • Ask Me Anything forum thread

    • Laurion’s Song Tier 1 Raids unlocked
    • DirectX 11 API Port launches

  • February
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • February quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Soundtrack Volume 2 released on streaming services
      • Adding January giveaway item for purchase

    • Laurion’s Song Tier 2 Raids unlocked
    • Erollisi Day event returns

  • March
    • EverQuest 25th anniversary month
      • New anniversary content

    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • March quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding February giveaway item for purchase
      • Ask Me Anything responses posted

    • Laurion’s Song Tier 3 Raids unlocked
    • EQ Swag Store Launch
    • Brew Day event returns
    • Bristlebane Day event returns
    • Stomples Day event returns

  • April
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
      • April quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added
      • Adding March giveaway item for purchase

    • Tempest Festival event returns

  • May
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • May quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding April giveaway item for purchase

    • New Progression Servers (rulesets to be announced)

  • June
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • June quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding May giveaway item for purchase

    • Pride Month Familiars
    • Hardcore Heritage event returns
    • Scorched Sky event returns

  • July
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • July quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding June giveaway item for purchase

    • Potential server merge - Thornblade to Mischief
    • Death, Death, Death event returns
    • Living Legacy Raids event returns

  • August
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • August quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding July giveaway item for purchase

    • Extra Life incentives announcement
    • Stone Cold Summer event returns

  • September
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • September quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding August giveaway item for purchase

    • Talk Like a Pirate Day event returns

  • October
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • October quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding September giveaway item for purchase

    • EverQuest's 31st expansion beta + Pre-Order opens
    • Nights of the Dead event returns

  • November
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • November quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding October giveaway item for purchase

    • Champion’s Festival event returns
    • Extra Life Game Day
    • Raid, Raid, Raid! event returns
    • Feast of Giving event returns

  • December
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collection, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Anniversary Tower
        • December quest, Heroic Adventure, and merchant items added

      • Adding November giveaway item for purchase

    • EverQuest's 31st expansion launch
    • Frostfell event returns
    • New Year’s event returns

  • Throughout the Year
    • Server performance improvements
    • Ongoing conversion of Suite windows to the New UI Engine
    • Anti-cheat improvements

EverQuest 2

  • January
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Year of Darkpaw Swag for sale
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Soundtrack Volume 1 released on streaming services
      • Masquerades of Divinity
        • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant added

      • Zimara Breadth: Crested Expanse [Raid] unlocked

  • February
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Soundtrack Volume 2 released on streaming services
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding January giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Ask Me Anything forum thread
    • Aether Wroughtlands: The Delves [Raid] unlocked
    • Erollisi Day event returns
    • Varsoon unlocks The Shadow Odyssey Mid-Content
    • The Emperor's Athenaeum, Kurn's Tower, Munzok's Material Bastion, Ward of Elements, Miragul's Planar Shard

  • March
    • Chronoportal Phenomenon event returns
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding February giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Brewday Festival event returns
    • Beast’r Eggstravaganza event returns
    • Game Update 125 Beta opens
    • DirectX 11 API Port on Test Server

  • April
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding March giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Ask Me Anything responses posted
    • Bristlebane Day event returns
    • Game Update 125 launches
    • Varsoon unlocks Sentinel's Fate

  • May
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity Altars
      • Adding April giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • DirectX 11 API Port launches
    • New TLE Server Beta opens
    • Patches of Pride event returns

  • June
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding May giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Summer Jubilee's Tinkerfest event returns
    • Summer Jubilee's Scorched Sky event returns
    • New TLE Server launches
    • Varsoon unlocks Sentinel's Fate Mid-Content
    • The Icy Keep: Retribution, Underfoot Depths, Zraxth's Unseen Arcanum

  • July
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding June giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

  • August
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding July giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Extra Life incentives announcement
    • Summer Jubilee's Oceansfull Festival event returns
    • Game Update 126 Beta opens
    • Game Update 126 launches
    • Expansion Prelude begins
    • Varsoon unlocks Destiny of Velious

  • September
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Masquerades of Divinity
      • Adding August giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • New Panda, Panda, Panda content

  • October
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Adding September giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • EverQuest 2's 21st expansion beta + Pre-Order opens
    • Nights of the Dead event returns

  • November
    • EverQuest 2 20th anniversary month
    • Heroes' Festival event returns
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Adding October giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Extra Life Game Day
    • EverQuest 2's 21st expansion launches

  • December
    • The Year of Darkpaw
      • Monthly collections, giveaway, limited edition items
      • Adding November giveaway item for purchase
      • Missions, achievements, and currency merchant updated

    • Frostfell event returns

EverQuest
Everquest
Platform(s)
PC
Released
March 16, 1999
Developer
Daybreak Game Company, Ubisoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, 989 Studios
Publisher
Daybreak Game Company, Ubisoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, 989 Studios
Genre(s)
RPG