EverQuest, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is set in a fantasy world which is divided into more than 200 zones. Zones are playable areas of the EverQuest universe that can be accessed by players. They are connected to other zones by 'zone lines' and crossing over to another zone is called 'zoning'. Zoning can take from several seconds to more than a minute, depending on the player's computer. Zones are in essence the smallest unit of seamless playable area in the game which are stored on the player's hard drive. An area such a city might be comprised of three or four zones, while a large zone might contain an entire city and a vast forest. Zones represent a wide variety of geographical features that can be found in the EverQuest, including plains, oceans, cities, deserts, and alternate planes of existence.
With the many expansions for EverQuest released over the years, there is a noticeable difference in the appearance of older zones and newer zones, which tend to have better graphics and some advanced featured such as interactive objects or scripted events with non-player characters. One of the newer features is 'instanced zones', introduced in Lost Dungeons of Norrath. These are zones where the adventuring party or raid can have an 'instance' of the zone all to themselves, and several instances can exist simultaneously.
Zones are somewhat difficult to categorize because of the nature of EverQuest. The game is constantly being updated by downloadable patches and has seen as many as nine expansions. Some of the newer expansions added new zones to previously existing continents while creating new continents and alternate planes of existence. Some zones have been added through free downloadable patches in between the release of expansions, and a few zones have been removed after the release of expansions. Because of the overlapping of categorization by geography and by expansions, zones are listed here in a sort of compromise.
The Old World comprises three continents: Antonica, Faydwer and Odus. Most, but not all of the zones were present in the original EverQuest as released in March1999.
Antonica
Befallen
Befallen is located to the west of the Commonlands. It is a crypt filled with undead beings that can be accessed easily but to get deeper that the first floor one has to jump through a well (deadly) or try to get a key from a named mob.
Beholders Maze (Gorge of King Xorbb)
This is a passage between west and east side of Antonica. It joins East Karana with Runnyeye, and was part of a popular route to bypass Kithicor Forest. With the Planes of Power expansion released, this zone is almost entirely obsolete.
Black Burrow
The home of the gnolls harassing Qeynos humans and Halas barbarians. This is an underground place which also serves as a travel path between the Qeynos Hills and Everfrost.
Cazic Thule
A dungeon in the Feerrott. A temple to the god Cazic Thule, inhabited by Lizardmen and various other jungle and swamp denizens. Was originally designed for players in their late 20s through their 50s, but was later revamped into a zone for players level 55+.
The eastern quarter of the Plains of Karana. Possibly the most dangerous of the zones due to the various hostile animal life, griffins and evil eyes. Adjacent to Highpass Hold, Beholders Maze and Northern Karana.
Eruds Crossing
Erud's Crossing is the sea between the continents of Odus and Antonica, and offers a way to travel from the city of Erudin to the city of Qeynos. The boat passes alongside a volcanic island in the middle of the sea that is the home of some Kerrans. It is also famous for the number of Will-O-Wisps that wander on the island. Near the island is a sunken boat surrounded by sharks.
Everfrost Peaks
An artic zone split into two halves. One is a icy gorge surrounded by mountains. The other is a tundra area. Everfrost has one of the highest assortments of mobs to be found in the entire game, from the newbie area to the ice giants. Everfrost is adjacent to Halas, Blackburrow and the dungeon Permafrost.
Feerrott
Freeport East
Freeport North
Freeport West
Freeport is located at the eastern edge of the Antonica continent and its port offers a (painfully slow) way to travel to the Faydwer continent across the Ocean of Tears. This is a human city, the starting city of many humans of all classes. A part of the city is a kind of bazaar which was once used as a trading place by players (although, since the introduction of The Shadows of Luclin expansion, it is seldom used and most trade occurs in The Bazaar which lies off the Nexus instead). The guards in East Freeport and West Freeport are a somewhat evil group called the Freeport Militia. Their sworn enemies, the Knights of Truth, are the guards in North Freeport. There is a system of underground tunnels enabling travel through the city by those unfriendly to the guards. The city was originally known as Wielle and constructed by the Caerthielian empire (before the rise of the Combine Empire). It was then part of the Elddar forest.
Gukta, Outpost of Marr
The city of the Frogloks, formerly the home of the Trolls and known as Grobb, but was invaded by the Frogloks as part of the events that happened after the release of The Legacy of Ykesha expansion. The surviving Trolls have now moved to Neriak Foreign Quarter.
Halas
The city of the Barbarians.
Highpass Hold
Highpass Keep
Innothule Swamp
Jaggedpine Forest
Kithicor Forest
Kithicor Forest is probably what is left from the old Elddar Forest together with Nektulos Forest. It is connected to the West Commonlands, Rivervale and Highpass Hold making it an important travelling zone for adventurers travelling by road from the east coast of Antonica to the middle of the continent. At day it is safe to travel through it, although some bixies and orcs can be dangerous to lower level characters. When the Plane of Hate (home of Innoruuk) opened, the undead came to the Kithicor Forest and continue to roam it by night. The forest is inhabited by zombies and ghouls every night, making it a dangerous and edgy place for the traveller, most of whom are wise enough to wait until morning before making the crossing.
Lake Rathetear
Lavastorm Mountains
Revamped in early 2005, connects to Sol A (Soluseks Eye), Sol B (Nagafens Lair), the Temple of Soulusek Ro, Najena and Nektulos Forest.
Lower Guk
Lower Guk is only accessible through Upper Guk. The zone itself is split in two areas, Dead side, on account of the number of undead frogloks (led by the Ghoul Lord), and Live side, home of minotaurs and froglok nobles lead by the Froglok King. They are the ruins of the Ancient Guk city and consists of a vast network of dark tunnels. In the original game (before any expansions were released), it was one of the two top zones in the game (with Nagafen's Lair). It was never safe to adventure alone in it and only groups of level 40 or higher can get deeper inside. The undead frogloks are socially organised as they have a king, preacher and a savant.
Misty Thicket
Nagafen's Lair (Solusek B)
Nagafen, or formally, Lord Nagafen, is a fiery dragon from the early days of EverQuest whose lair is in the dungeon of Solusek B. Nagafen has a legion of underlings including fire giants, gnolls and a multitude of other fire creatures. Nagafen is a fire dragon and uses a mixture of his voracious claws and fire to defeat his foes. As the game has progressed, the players became more powerful than Nagafen. Now a skilled high-level player could probably kill the dragon all alone if he were not protected by enchantments that would teleport such strong players (above 52) out of his lair once they struck him.
Najena
A low-mid level dungeon full of undead, elementals and ogres. The dungeon was created by the dark elf sorceress Najena.
Nedaria's Landing
Nektulos Forest
Neriak 3rd Gate
Neriak Commons
Neriak Foreign Quarter
Northern Desert of Ro
Northern Karana
Oasis of Marr
Ocean of Tears
Oggok
The city of the Ogres.
Permafrost
Qeynos Aqueducts
Qeynos Hills
Qeynos North
Qeynos South
Qeynos is a human city on the west coast of Antonica.
Rathe Mountains
Rivervale
Rivervale is home to the race of halflings. As a consequence of the buildings being constructed for characters of shorter stature, players of races less vertically challenged may experience some difficulties entering or exiting some of the buildings and facilities of the city. It adjoins the zones of Misty Thicket and Kithicor Forest.
Runnyeye
Solusek's Eye (Solusek A)
Southern Desert of Ro
Southern Karana
Splitpaw Lair (Infected Paw)
Surefall Glades
Surefall Glades is the home of Human and some Half-Elf Rangers and Druids.
The Temple of Solusek Ro was made available as a free download on October 13, 1999. The residents of this zone offer many quests, and everyone can safely enter the temple from Lavastorm Mountains. It is not usually used as a combat zone, although players may have to fight there to acquire some powerful items. The most important quests made available in the zone are the class specific armors. These were introduced to replace the Rubicite Armor which was removed from the game when this zone was implemented. Nowdays, with new expansions, these items are comparatively a lot less powerful.
The Arena
The Arena is a huge circular stone building with no roof. The only entrance and exit is a small tunnel that leads to Lake Rathetear. Upon entering the zone, the traveler would then move into a huge cirular area between the outer rock wall and the arena itself. The only entrance into the Arena proper is on the opposite side of the building, to make sure players do not stumble into the actual fighting ground by accident. Moving into the entrance one sees huge stands, and in the center of the grounds is a huge square platform, where the actual fighting will take place. The Arena used to be the main site for many events in the game including online weddings, guild wars, etc. On many occasions there were many events organized by game masters as well. However, the zone is mostly abandoned.
The Caverns of Exile (Solusek C)
The Forgotten Halls
Upper Guk
West Commonlands
Western Karana
Faydwer
Ak'Anon
Ak'Anon is the city of the Gnomes.
Butcherblock Mountains
Crushbone
Dagnor's Cauldron
Felwithe
Felwithe is the city of the High Elves.
Greater Faydark
Greater Faydark is the lower end forest zone in Faydwer, and is adjacent to Lesser Faydark, Felwithe, Crushbone, and Butcherblock Mountains. Greater Faydark houses the Wood Elf city of Kelethin, made up of numerous platforms on trees to hold the buildings. Greater Faydark is a zone which allows for levels 1-12 or so to level up off by killing the orcs, bats, rats, spiders and skeletons which roam the zone. After level 12, Crushbone is the logical progression for players seeking to slay higher level orcs.
Kaladim North
Kaladim is the city of the Dwarves.
Kaladim South
Kedge Keep
Kedge Keep is located off of Dagnor's Cauldron where its entrance is under water. It is wholly an underwater dungeon, the character entering must be able to ensure that he or she can continue to breathe, either by use of a spell, or by an item which allows the player to breathe.
Lesser Faydark
Mistmoore Castle
The castle of the vampire Mayong Mistmoore. Recently revamped into a zone for characters of level 65+.
Steamfont
Unrest
The Estate of Unrest is a haunted mansion and grounds. Garanel Rucksif was a dwarf who went insane and his ghost still roams the premisis.
The city is mainly known for its palace, home of to some of the most powerful magicians of Norrath, and location of its bank. There is also a library from which may be purchased spells of great power, some of which cannot be obtained elsewhere. No direct paths exist between docks, the palace and the main city, instead they are connected by magical gems that teleport the visitor from one place to the other. The zone being a city, there are few things to fight, although one can find sharks at the docks or try to fight with the Erudin guards. The boat leads to Erud's Crossing whereas the back side of the city lead to the mysterious Toxxulia Forest.
Kerra Island
Kerra Island is located close just off mainland of the Odus continent (one can swim to it easily). It can be accessed from the east coast of Toxxulia Forest, then entered by way of an underground path to enter the zone itself. The island is a shelter for the Kerran race after they were chased from the mainland by the Erudites. The Kerran queen and her court are heavily guarded but the city is peaceful to newcomers. Most players have never visited the island, and know little about Kerrans. This is probably because the island is well hidden (it can't be seen from the coast) and conveniantly accessible only by Erudites, who usually leave Odus to go to Qeynos to continue their adventures.
Paineel
Paineel is the city of the Heretics, a breakaway faction of Erudites who practice necromancy.
Ruins of Old Paineel (The Hole)
Stonebrunt Mountains
Toxxulia Forest
The forest is usually the logical place for new Erudites' first adventures. The darkness makes it hard to start a career and Kobolds will attack Erudites on sight. From the west coast it is possible to swim to the Kerra Island. In a downloadable patch, a new city was added to the end of the Forest: Paineel which also leads to The Hole. The druid and wizard teleporters to access the Odus continent are located in the middle of the forest.
The home of Innoruuk, the God of Hate. The Plane of Hate had been revamped since it was first released and is now a completely different zone than it used to be. Two versions of the zone were for a while both accessible on the Test Server, hence the newer version being called Plane of Hate B.
Plane of Sky
The Plane of Sky is contains many powerful denizens and is famed for the length of time it used to take for a raid to clear it. There are many quests both originating and involving the Plane of Sky.
Firiona Vie is a High Elven outpost, which is the destination of the Elven boats from Timorous Deep. This is where the good races begin their adventure in Kunark. The zone itself is infact much larger, and the outpost occupies only a fraction of it.
Frontier Mountains
Kaesora
Karnor's Castle
Kurn's Tower
Lake of Ill Omen
Mines of Nurga
Old Sebilis
Skyfire Mountains
Swamp of No Hope
Temple of Droga
The Overthere
The Overthere contains an outpost for the evil races to use as a base in their exploration of Kunark.
Timorous Deep
Trakanon's Teeth
Veeshan's Peak
When The Ruins of Kunark was released, Veeshan's Peak was the hardest zone of the game. It is the fortress of the Ring of Scale faction of dragons and is inhabited by six dragons: Druushk, Hoshkar, Nexona, Phara Dar, Silverwing and Xygoz. To access the zone, you need to do a long and difficult quest to obtain a key. Players are then able to pass through the portal located in Skyfire Mountains. Once inside, players have to keep moving constantly as it full of Racnar and Lava Drake which are quickly (2 minute respawn timer) replaced once they are killed. When the zone was new, teleportation was not possible inside the zone, the players had to clear the zone to the end to get out of it. This restriction was lifted several years later, and players can now exit the zone by any of the usual methods. Recently the zone had been revamped and a new, though no less difficult, quest has been added for obtaining the key.
This zone is the source of many legends among EverQuest players. The Sleeper's Tomb was at the time of the expansion the most difficult zone in the game. After all four guardians of the Sleeper, Kerafyrm, have been killed, it awakes and goes on a rampage killing all in its path. Kerafyrm himself was not intended to be killed, though this has been tried. After that the zone's name changes to Kerafyrm's Lair on that server.
Prior to The Shadows of Luclin, on most servers, the EverQuest community gathered and traded equipment in the East Commonlands zone, or sometimes in the bazaar area in Freeport. Each player would announce its offering to the whole zone and wait for interested people to contact him. Players had to stay behind their computer and manually manage each transaction. With The Shadow of Luclin expansion, Sony implemented an automatic trading system only available in the Bazaar, which is located off the south of the Nexus. The zone itself is not particularly big but features vendors, bank and stables. Due to the number of players gatehred there, The Bazaar is notorious for lag and slow response times. Users can buy trading bags and put in the things they wish to sell, be it armor, weapon or quest items. They then choose a price for each item and switch to Trader Mode. Once in Trader Mode you appear to other players as a standard vendor, and your customers can then buy you things. An interface allows one to search for items available for selling.
The Plane of Time was the hardest zone in the game at the time of The Planes of Power expansion. One had to go through all the other zones in the expansion and kill all of the gods in order to get access. The act of killing the boss mob of Time, Quarm, was the zenith, at one point, of EverQuest activity.
These instanced zones were added by the Lost Dungeons of Norrath expansion in September2003. All of them are geographically located on the Old World continents of Antonica and Faydwer. The zones come in five themes as listed below, whith minor variations in dungeon layout, which are in fact separate zones, therefore the expansion contains 48 separate zones.
These zones were added by the Dragons of Norrath expansion in February2005. This expansion was similar to the Lost Dungeons of Norrath in that much of the content is instanced zones, with a quested theme, success in which brings a reward in the form of either radiant crystals (for a good expedition) or ebon crystals (for an evil expedition), which can be accumulated and traded with merhcants for spells and equipment.
With the patch from June 29, 2005 the (revamped) tutorial now supports players up to lvl 10 (used to be lvl 5 prior to the patch).
Shadowrest
A Graveyard zone, it allow players whose corpses have decayed, after 7 days, to retrieve them. The zone can be accessed by talking to one of the appropriate NPCs who will transport the player there.
