EverQuest's high-level expansion finally hits the UK. Was it worth the wait? Our resident EQ guru Chris Anderson investigates... 1 Feb 03 When Planes Of Power was first announced, the EverQuest gaming community was up in arms. An expansion for high-level players only? How dare they... claimed 80 per cent of the EQ populace. Accusations were duly thrown around the place with gay abandon: 'they don't care about low-level players' was very common, 'EQ is for powergamers not casual gamers' was also bandied about, but the big one was always 'why should I pay more money for an expansion I am too low a level to play?'. As always, the knee-jerk reaction to a supposedly 'controversial' release proved to be wholly unfounded. Yes, in hunting terms, Planes Of Power is aimed squarely at high-level players, there is absolutely no doubt about that, and this review will, for the most part, assume you are a high-level player and understand the game since the expansion was made for you. The rest of you, hold tight and don't disappear. There is a lot more to the Planes Of Power expansion than meets the eye. Refer yourself now to the More Than An Expansion panel for reasons why every EverQuest player needs to own this title. WORLDS UNKNOWN Planes Of Power introduces a new set of planes into the world of EverQuest for high-level players to explore and conquer. There are 20 new zones in all, and each one is markedly different from the next in terms of look and feel, and in some cases, in terms of difficulty level and challenge. Given that EQ has been around a long time now, high-level players (of which there are many) will see this as just what the doctor ordered. Shadows Of Luclin introduced new world content and an alternative experience system, and this kept people happy to an extent in the short term, but Planes Of Power is a different prospect altogether. It's not just a collection of new zones thrown together for people to hunt in. There is an ongoing main quest, which is well scripted and involves travelling through many of the new zones in order to unlock other areas that will otherwise remain inaccessible. TOTAL IMMERSION This is EQ's first real attempt to actually immerse players in new land content instead of just throwing them in and letting them get on with it, and it works beautifully. You won't need to be part of one of the bigger guilds to get through it either. Many people are forming ad-hoc pick-up groups in the new zones and working together to attain items they need to go further in the quest. So don't be disheartened if some of the challenges appear out of your depth to begin with. GAINING EXPERIENCE There are so many quests in the new zones it would be impossible to go into them all here. Suffice to say, they are many and varied and yield some great rewards. There are countless new item drops with statistics that put items in the old world (and Luclin) to shame. Gaining experience in Planes Of Power is also far quicker than you'll be used to. Imagine spending a whole day in Sebilis, Velk's, Chardok or even the new revamped Cazic Thule. Do the same in one of the Planes Of Power zones and you'll receive four times as much experience. What's more, attaining higher levels is no longer impossible for people who don't have lots of time on their hands. I could go on about all the reasons you should buy PoP, but I'm running out of space. Let's just say once you get it you'll wonder how you ever got by without it. Buy it now. Chris Anderson