Game rules


 * For information on the rules for third party programs. see Utilities > Legality.

There are certain rules created by Daybreak regarding gameplay. Violating those rules may result in a temporary suspension or a permanent ban from playing Daybreak games. Here are some of the rules.
 * Daybreak Help: Everquest Rules of Conduct
 * Daybreak Help: EverQuest Naming Policy

Not allowed / exploits
And as a refresher, doing any of the following on ANY server may result in action being taken against your Daybreak Account:


 * Unattended Gameplay: Any method that lets a character take actions while you’re not at your keyboard.
 * Playing on virtual machines.
 * Any attempt to circumvent the /pickzone timer.
 * Any attempt to avoid or circumvent lockout timers.

Unattended Gameplay
It is not ok for an account to be played unattended or AFK. If you need to go away for longer than a few seconds please move your character to an empty part of the zone or log out completely.

If a character, including any pets or mercs, is found performing actions while the user is away disciplinary action will be taken against the account.

Disciplinary action for unattended or AFK gameplay can include, but is not limited to; account warning, account suspension, and account termination (ban).

Exploits
Any bug or otherwise unintentional mechanic that can be manipulated to gain extra/atypical in-game advantages or benefits is considered to be an exploit.

Performing an action that allows you to bypass a lockout timer is an exploit. The timer is an implemented mechanic intended to create a downtime that players have to wait through. Skipping this wait allowed players to repeatedly collect loot, giving them an unintentional advantage. Regardless of how long the ability to do this was in the game, this should be fairly clear cut.

If you come across an exploit, you can report it using /bug. If you repeatedly use it to gain unintended benefits, you'll likely have to face consequences for your actions.

Purposely avoiding a lockout or replay timer is an exploit, especially when doing so to repeatedly farm something, be it items, exp, faction, whatever.

Loot lockouts
What follows is an attempt at clarification and not a binding rule. The non-raid NPCs are a bit different from raid NPCs, yet in many ways the same.

The main intent of the raid instance is to support the raid events. If you have a lockout for a raid, we expect you to not participate in the raid or gain loot from it again until your relevant lockouts expire. Similarly, for the "Augment Farm" we intend you to gain augments, or parts to make augments, from a single clear of the instance per Loot Lockout.

Having a Loot Lockout for an instance does NOT mean you can't participate in a raid if you do not have a lockout for that raid. The Loot Lockout prevents looting from the non-raid NPCs. You can participate in any available raid events as normal and loot items from reward chests upon raid success.

It’s intended that you have have one chance at X per lockout, where X is clearing non-raid NPC for augments, or a raid encounter and its chest reward loot. You can clearly split raid these clears with far less than 54 characters. This is okay. But as with raid loot, it’s not okay to bypass the loot lockout to allow for more instance clears and more loot than would be acquirable normally.

To sum up: One opportunity per lockout. It should be obvious when you’re trying to circumvent the lockout to gain additional loot. I won't engage in a complicated semantics argument on this topic. Also, we may revisit this later if it proves to be problematic.

What Constitutes as Cheating?
This question has obviously been a hot topic lately with many wondering just what does constitute as cheating. Elaborating on our Knowledge Base article here, let's talk about third party cheating software. We do not allow the use of any third party programs that modify the game client or its memory data. Additionally, programs that automate movement or actions in the game are not allowed. Software that assists in allowing a few or less people to monopolize an area is not allowed. Using these types of programs will result in a suspension or a ban. Know that this is not a complete list of functionalities that can cause actions to be taken against your account and other accounts associated with it.

Regarding other activities that constitute as cheating, modifications of your computer or OS environment in an attempt to falsify or circumvent anti-cheat detection is not permitted. Any attempts to circumvent the detection will cause actions to be taken against the account and possibly other accounts associated with it. Furthermore, exploitation of bugs or game mechanics to gain a notably unfair advantage or that largely disrupt the game, its economy, or stability of the game is not permitted.

When it comes to reporting possible cheaters, know that our investigation process is a lengthy one. We prioritize gathering information and compiling evidence before suspensions and bans are levied. So, please do keep sending in reports to Customer Service, and rest assured, your report will be taken seriously.

Lastly, we will not publicly list specific names of approved third-party programs and software as we cannot guarantee that those programs will remain approved in the future.

Thank you for being a member of our community and for taking the time to read this. In addition to the above [March 2, 2022 post above], please refrain from discussing suspensions, bans, and/or specific third-party programs related to cheating. These types of discussions are not permitted on our public forums or in our official Discord channels. Those who violate our forum guidelines and/or the Terms of Service and/or Discord rules may receive a warning, a suspension, or a ban from using the forums and/or Discord. To help clarify what is not permitted to be discussed, please review the following:


 * In-game suspensions/bans typically occur during a roughly month-long investigation. Users are never suspended for the same game terms violation without proof showing another violation took place after a previous violation.
 * Here is what we look for when administering in-game suspensions or bans which has all been clearly laid out in our Rules of Conduct and EULA:
 * You may not modify any part of the EverQuest Client.
 * You will not attempt to interfere with, hack into, or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running EverQuest.
 * It is not permitted for an account to be played unattended or AFK.
 * You shall not, without expressed, advanced written permission from Daybreak:
 * mine, decrypt, or modify any data transmitted between any client and server of any Game(s);
 * use, post, host or distribute cheats, hacks, mods, macros, "bots" or other programs which would allow unattended game play or which otherwise impact game play (including, without limitation, any program which enables or facilitates mining, character kills, or level increases) in connection with any Game(s);

Based on recent discussions and unfounded hearsay, we wanted to also clarify the suspension and ban wave process.


 * “Players are being punished multiple times for the same infraction.”
 * No – a suspension list will be pulled using logs/data that hasn’t been used for any previous action that was administered. If someone was suspended 7 days for cheating on 8/1, that person will not be suspended again unless they are caught cheating after they come back from their suspension.
 * “Customer Service will just ignore my appeal.”
 * No – Customer Service reviews every single ticket and appeal that they receive. They then have the discretion on whether or not to overturn a suspension or ban. You can find more information about appealing here.

This addition to this thread is intended to a be the final word about such topics. We thank you for understanding and complying with our forum guidelines.

Allowed
Program that has autofire button (and you are still in the general vicinity of the keyboard) - Not cheating

Swimming on auto-run into a corner to raise up swimming - Not cheating

Heroic Adventure flipping/chaining
It will still be possible to chain a particular Heroic Adventure to look for a rare or collection item so long as the task is dropped before completion, but that shouldn't also be the best way to get experience. As confirmed by Ngreth, EQ Developer, on January 16, 2019, it is not a violation of the rules to chain HAs to get collection items or rare (named) mobs.