The original EverQuest released nearly 14 years ago, and its quest and class structure helped define a genre that would soon explode in popularity with World of Warcraft. It's still active to this day, and last week, its community celebrated (via Polygon ) the return of Brad McQuaid, one of EverQuest's principal designers, back onto the original EQ team after over a decade apart.

"When I was given the opportunity to return to the team, it was something I just had to do," McQuaid writes. "I started playing right away and got a paladin into his mid-30s. I found, in addition to all of the great new features and UI elements, that the game, at its core, was still very much the EQ I was involved with. In fact, some of my first work as a game designer on the team will be working on areas that have been alluded to since launch. I can't say more than that, of course, but I'm sure you can imagine how exciting this is for me."

Apart from catching up on EverQuest's zillion expansion packs, McQuaid is also known as a co-founder of Sigil Games and designer of its sole MMO Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, which went free-to-play last August.

EverQuest continued piling on content after McQuaid's initial departure, spawning 19 expansions and a sequel in 2004, the same year that World of Warcraft launched. SOE is also working on EverQuest Next , but it's unknown if McQuaid is involved in that project in any capacity.