I was never good at trading card games. Not that I’ve tried many (Magic The Gathering and the Pop Up Card Duels in Chocobo Tales), but still, it seems like something I just can’t grasp. So why would I even bother with Legends of Norrath? Simple: EverQuest is probably my favorite game of all times, so maybe a familiar theme would make it worthwhile.
Unfortunately for little beginner me, it looked like Legends of Norrath: Oathbound was pretty complex. But on the other hand, familiar items, skills and spells made the extensive learning process a lot easier to digest. A series of tutorials explains the basics in a step-by-step manner, with plenty of descriptive elements to get familiar with the terminology. It’s not extremely easy to grasp since there is a lot of things to cover and tons of information to absorb. At the end of the tutorial there is an actual fight with active hints to help you along. From there on, you can pick your deck and embark on the story campaign.
In the Deck Builder you can create your own avatar and your custom deck. The quiz for avatar creation will affect your stats, so you can pick an option to see what effect that will have as far as HP, defense or attack.
Next, you must pick the four quests to add. In each game you must complete four quests to win. You can pick either yours or the one your opponent has. Each quest as a “reward”, such as drawing an extra card, healing, killing your opponent’s creatures on that quest, etc.
Starter decks are composed of 55 cards, and you begin with a free one. You can purchase more for $9.99 each. As in Magic The Gathering, the decks have different colors representing their sets: Warrior, Mage, Priest and Scout. Your custom deck depends on your avatar though, and skills will be completely different for each set. it’s up to you to put something together that works for you. I was quite fond of the Starter Warrior set. Booster packs containing 15 cards can also be purchased from the SOE Online Store for $2.99 each. You also earn cards upon defeating enemies in story mode.
Your deck must have ability cards, unit cards and item cards to be balanced. Abilities are your skills and spells, and work towards completing the quest. Item cards add bonuses such as attack or defense, they can be applied to your avatar or other units. Unit cards are your army. When building your custom deck, you can filter the cards to show just the type you are looking for.
Defeating your enemy can be done by either completing four quests or by depleting his/her HP. It’s easier said than done though, since there are items, abilities and creatures to watch over, plus picking which quest to “attack”. There is a lot going on in the “battlefield”, but at least there are indicators of what is being attacked and by whom.
What I really enjoyed was how so many familiar names came back to me right away. From Mayong Mistmoore to Firiona Vie, Lord Nagafen and Dain Frostreaver, there are plenty of playable unit cards that I remember reading about or helped kill. And, of course, the items. Crown of King Tranix, anyone? Maybe a Screaming Mace? How about a FBSS for some precious haste? Guise of the Deceiver? Oh, the memories…
While what I played was the standalone version, Legends of Norrath can be launched from an in-game menu within EQ or EQII. But there is more to it than just that, since the card game and the in-game world are connected in more than just lore. There are rewards for winning and purchasing booster packs in the form of loot cards, which can be traded for EverQuest or EverQuest II loot. But in the game worlds booster packs will become part of the loot tables, dropping from monsters.
The game is also fully playable across servers and across versions, for example,standalone players can play against others in both the EQ and EQII realms. Not only that, but there is also a trading feature and online tournaments.
Fans of EQ and TCGs will go crazy over Legends of Norrath. EverQuest’s lore is all over it, and that is exactly what I loved about EQ. There are stories that I will never forget, events that I was glad to participate in, bosses that I can say I was there to help kill, equipment that I was proud to sport on my characters. That was the key to me wanting to learn how to play Legends of Norrath: Oathbound, and I’m glad I took the time to do it.
Special thanks to Michael Shelling and SOE for setting up the account with starter decks.