Norrath is populated with well over a hundred different creatures, both magical and mundane, to stare at, smash into a pulp, and run screaming in terror from. You have your typical collection of gnolls, orcs, and goblins, as well as wolves, insects of both normal and abnormal size, and greater beasts as well. Giants that tower over you roam the countrysides, wooly mammoths that look as if they should be able to crush you with one massive foot can be fought and slain, and there are even rumors of dragons, demons, vampires, liches, and other deadly and reclusive beings.

Combat is pretty straightforward. There is an auto-attack mode in the game, so once you get the first attack in, the game automatically continues combat for you (unless you do something to alter that, like run away screaming or die). The game is nice enough to ensure that attacks between you and the innocent squirrels you're setting on fire are synchronized according to your latency. Should you lag a bit (which is uncommon in EverQuest per my experiences) the game will have the monster's attacks obligingly wait so they maintain a proper frequency in relation to yours.

For those of you who simply must ambush newbies or prove your mettle (and your mouth) in combat against other players, PvP (Player vs. Player, or PKing) is an option in the game. Each player can choose whether or not their character will register for PvP simply by taking a note to the local priest of Diskord (or by NOT taking it to them) and presenting it to them to become a PvP player. The game also easily distinguishes PvP and non-PvP players: PvP characters' names appear in red overhead, whereas non-PvP characters' names appear in blue.

In Phase IV beta, EverQuest has a dedicated PvP server (Rallos Zek) to cater to the PvP players' tastes. Whether or not there will be dedicated PvP servers in the final release of the game is still up in the air.