Everquest goes FTP

http://www.everquest.com/

Seems it's ftp now and I'm giving it a chance (though I have not found a good free MMO besides DDO so far). Has anyone played this?

I tried it when it was pay to play. It is time consuming, even for an MMO.

If I were to start fresh in the EQ universe today, it would be with EQ2, not the original. What EQ had going for it, once upon a time, was the groups you became involved with on your way to 50. Nowadays, that is gone, replaced by a race to become raid-ready.

Still one of the best MMOs out there when it comes to raiding, but it's a ghost-town otherwise.

I gave it a spin some months ago. Not the best of impressions coming from such a polished thing as World of Warcraft, but I'm downloading this updated release to give it another try.

Btw, a guy named Sir Mutton Chops has some youtube videos shows of gameplay (and fun musings).

I disliked it upon release, and I can't imagine disliking it less now

Also, it was never about the money for me.

I have good memories from Eq-like Drithius said, good grouping game and I tried out all the race-class combos. I was in from the beginning when it was a very dangerous world and leveling was slow. Now you get pushed to a very fast beginning zone with Mercs to help and a tome to make the trip even easier. I don't think you even loose all your stuff any more when you die. I read you are limited to 4 class and race combos with bag restrictions but not true for returning players as I logged in and all my characters were still there with their stuff and bags. Empty? I heard the new server has a lot of people starting over and with some total newbies so some might want to jump in there. I think you can easily solo it to 65 now but raiding will always make you get in a guild.
Anyways, I don't have the time for that any more. Huge timesink