Shadows of Luclin: Your views

Is Shadows of Luclin worth the time and money?

Shadows of Luclin is an expansion pack for the online role-playing game, Everquest.

You will need the original Everquest game, an internet connection, and lots of time.

"You cannot expect to dip into it occasionally, and get any real satisfaction. But if you are prepared to spend the time, and the monthly fee, there is a highly complex and rewarding world awaiting you," wrote the BBC's Damian O'Neil.

But what do you think?

Is Shadows of Luclin worth the effort? Or is it too specialised and exclusive?

The long awaited release of Luclin has been a huge disappointment in all honesty. It hasn't changed Everquest in the way previous expansions have. All it has done is force people to upgrade their computers to an unreasonably high specification so that they can cope with the new graphics engine.

It is still early days and as such there isn't any way that anyone can say how good the new "zones" are until they are fully explored.
Dave, UK

I have to agree with Dave's comments.

Im sure on a top spec machine its lovely to look at, however Verant have really shot themselves in the foot with this release. Not only have they instantly cut off around a third of their player base by no longer supporting particular system configurations, they have made the new zones and models so graphically intensive that most people cannot play with them.

Your options are either upgrade your machine to epic proportions or as most people I imagine are doing turning off the graphic options and going back to playing in the existing EQ world.

I consider the money I spent on this expansion wasted. If you like EQ stick with Velious and Kunark, unless you have a 2ghz machine that is.
Matt BW, UK

I disagree. I got SoL more or less when it first came out. I have no issues because of the (new) spec of my PC. If you don't have the power to run SoL fully then don't bother getting it. But before I upgraded I just simply turned off the extra models and reduced the texture quality to low. Anyway, I only have a 900MHz PC with a VooDoo3, hardly expensive these days, which runs SoL fine.
Melek, England

Sorry Melek, you are about the only person that isn't having trouble with this. It is commonly known that you cannot attend raids with the new graphics turned on, the new zones are not great, though they are slightly more dynamic than the Velious zones. The constant patching to eliminate the bugs is terrible. Everquest remains a good game but they have tried to push too far and failed.
Dariarn, England