Community Manager Laura Genender has been playing on the EverQuest Progression Servers and takes some time on this New Year's Eve to give us a full report of the good, the bad, and the ugly side of this interesting approach from the makers of EverQuest.

p>On March 16th, 1999, Sony Online Entertainment opened the virtual doors to the world of EverQuest – one of the most successful and popular games of its generation. While comparatively small next to the modern EverQuest world, consisting of over 400 zones and 14 expansions, the game at release contained a large amount of content for such a relatively new genre of gaming. Many gamers began their MMO careers in Norrath, and many still reside there today.

 

On June 28th, 2006, Sony introduced two new EverQuest servers. These newest additions – Combine and Sleeper – operated under a whole new rule set not seen in EverQuest or any other game. Known as the progression servers, Sleeper and Combine opened up with original EQ content exclusively. Ruins of Kunark, Shadows of Luclin – all expansion content had to be unlocked by the defeat of raid targets and the completion of quests.

While my article in April discussed the server (by then Combine and Sleeper had merged)’s first 9 months of existence, I’ve now had a year and a half to form opinions about the concept and the reality of progression.

Read the whole thing here.