EverQuest Sanctuary is what happens when someone loves EverQuest so much they turn it into an entirely new game.
It’s a fully custom EverQuest emulator server where classes, subclasses, tradeskills, and progression have all been rebuilt from the ground up. It still looks like EQ, but the Sanctuary wiki flat-out says it’s “an entirely different game that just uses the EverQuest engine.”
If you come in expecting a classic Shadowknight, Druid, or Wizard experience, you’re probably wrong. Sanctuary’s whole thing is taking your EQ muscle memory and making you re-learn the world from scratch.
Sanctuary at a Glance
From the Sanctuary EQ wiki and original dev posts, here’s the quick snapshot:
- Platform: EverQuest Emulator private server (EQEmu)
- Design goal: A brand-new MMO that just happens to run in the EQ engine – custom world, custom systems, custom soundtrack
- Level cap: 50
- XP curve: Intentionally slow; XP “drops off drastically at level 25,” giving you around one-third the XP of level 24 on the same mobs
- Classes: 15 custom base classes that branch into subclasses, giving 30 different class paths overall
- Progression style: Heavy emphasis on horizontal progression (crafting, discovery, housing, farming, etc.) instead of just racing to max level
It’s not “PoP-locked EQ with a twist.” It’s more like a weird, ambitious indie MMO wearing EverQuest’s skin.
Classes & Subclasses – How Characters Actually Work Here
Sanctuary uses a class → subclass system that completely ignores live EQ archetypes.
The wiki explains it like this:
- Each class is unique, and almost certainly different from its live EQ counterpart.
- Every class can be further split into a subclass starting at level 20.
- Up to level 20, your spell/ability list is a mix of roles that class could become.
- At level 20, you choose a subclass that “focuses” the class into a more specific role and expands certain aspects of it.
The Classes page lists the base classes:
Adventurer, Alchemist, Archer, Assassin, Bard, Dragoon, Enchanter, Monk, Necromancer, Occultist, Priest, Summoner, Tamer, Witch, Sorcerer
Each has two subclasses. A few examples from the wiki:
- Adventurer → Merchant or Warrior
- Alchemist → Philosopher or Shaman
- Necromancer → Grim Reaper or Demonologist
- Dragoon → Dragoncaller or Knight
- Tamer → Shifter or Breeder
- Witch → Vodouist or Hedgecrafter
- Sorcerer → Chronomage or Sage
The wiki even calls out that what you think a class is in normal EQ is probably wrong here—Occultist, for example, takes the Shadowknight slot on character creation but is actually a healer/DPS, not a tank.
So the fantasy is: start as a broad archetype, then at 20 hard-pivot into a very specific identity that can be anything from a front-line warrior to a crafting-obsessed merchant.
Leveling, AAs, and Progression Philosophy
Sanctuary does not want you smashing your way to max level in a weekend.
According to the Server Information page:
- Max level is 50.
- XP is “intended to be somewhat slow.”
- XP drops off drastically at level 25 – you only get about one-third the XP of level 24 killing the same mobs.
Alternate Advancement (AA) is also different:
- AAs are granted on character creation, and
- You get more AAs when you choose your subclass.
- As of that page, those are the only known ways to gain AAs (players expect more in the future).
The dev’s own description on Reddit drives home the progression idea: Sanctuary is built around one main character, lots of horizontal progression, and a focus on the journey over the destination. Boxing multiple characters is explicitly not the intended playstyle.
Tradeskills & Player Economy
If you’re a crafter brain, this is where Sanctuary starts sounding cracked-out good.
The Server Information page says tradeskills are fully custom, use multiple containers, and often have class or subclass restrictions. There are no in-game recipe books or hints – every recipe on the wiki exists because someone experimented and discovered it.
The original Sanctuary dev post describes tradeskills as a huge part of the game’s identity:
- Player economy is vital.
- Many recipes are exclusive to specific classes, subclasses, or progression points.
- You’re not intended to master every tradeskill—it’s actually impossible.
- Success comes from specializing in one or two tradeskills and trading with others.
Crafting is pitched as “Minecraft on steroids” inside EQ’s world: you start by combining something simple like a stick and coal to make a torch and eventually work your way up to complex items like ornate bows or high-end gear.
So if you like being the “only armorer on the server who can make X,” Sanctuary leans into that fantasy hard.
Server Rules & MacroQuest (MQ2) – Read This Before You Log In
The wiki and main page hammer on rules and expectations pretty bluntly:
- Don’t be a jerk; don’t cause extra stress for the dev.
- There’s an IP limit of 3 characters, and trying to get around it (especially with MQ2) is flagged as ban-worthy.
- There’s a list of “definite things that will get you banned,” including major MQ2 exploits like zone/warp/fast camp/map hacks.
On MacroQuest specifically, the main Sanctuary page says:
- Cheating using MQ2 WILL get you banned.
- The only allowed plugins are
mq2itemdisplayandmq2moveutils. - Using any other plugin (including
mq2map) “WILL get you banned.” - They even link an approved MQ2 build for Sanctuary so players don’t have to guess.
So yes, MQ2 exists in the ecosystem—but only in a very narrow, quality-of-life way. This is not a “fire up your bot army and warp around” type of server.
One-Dev Project & the “Skeleton of a Game” Disclaimer
Sanctuary is developed by a single person, Zerjz. The Server Information page includes a long dev note explaining what that actually means:
- What you’re playing right now is a skeleton or outline of the full game.
- No class, subclass, or zone is considered finished. Even level 1–10 spells are subject to change.
- The dev estimates about 10% of development is complete, but there is a 100% complete plan on paper.
- Everything that exists is there for a reason—either as a placeholder or as part of the final design.
There’s also a very clear boundary with feedback:
- Players are encouraged to report bugs.
- Suggestions and design requests are explicitly not wanted until the game is closer to finished.
- This is not a group-designed project; it’s one person’s long-term vision.
So you’re stepping into a living, evolving experiment. Things will change, sometimes dramatically, but always according to that internal design document rather than community votes.
Is EverQuest Sanctuary for You?
You’ll probably vibe with Sanctuary if:
- You want a fresh experience built on the classic EQ look and feel.
- You’re into slow leveling and actually having to think about pulls, builds, and gearing instead of steamrolling.
- You like deep, weird crafting systems and a strong player economy.
- You enjoy discovering things with the community instead of tabbing through a finished Wowhead-style database.
- You’re okay with a game that’s still in development, where classes and zones may be reworked as the vision evolves.
If that sounds like you, the next step is actually getting into the game.
Ready to Actually Play Sanctuary?
Reading about Sanctuary is cool, but the real addiction starts when you log in and feel how different it is.
If you read all this and thought, “Yep, this is my kind of server,” then your next stop should be my step-by-step setup guide:
👉 Next: EverQuest Sanctuary New Player & Setup Guide – Install + MacroQuest 2
In that post I’ll walk you through:
- Where to download the Sanctuary client
- How to install it and connect to the server
- How to grab the approved MQ2 build and get it running
- Beginner-friendly MQ2 commands that stay inside Sanctuary’s rules
Click that next post, get set up, and by tonight you could be theorycrafting your first Sanctuary subclass.
If you want, next I can write the New Player & Setup Guide intro + section layout in the same style, so you can just keep chaining posts together.
