I just have to say this. First, I love EQ II! I left FFXI for it and as of yet I see no turning back. I can't get enough of the crafting system, (even though no one is really buying all my great furniture yet...lol, too soon in the game), I thoroughly enjoy not being 'required' to be in a party to progress, even though it's a lil slower. It's a fantastic experience gameplay-minded.
But, and I really mean "BUT"...I'm horrified by the graphical error with this game. I have 2 machines, one for me and one for my wife. She has the newer, yet not-so-brawny machine, and I have an older, but beefy setup. It's sad, that even with a 2+ GHz processor, 1gig of Dual Channel DDR2 memory, and a 128mb PCI Express Vid Card, that I have to have my Game Settings on "Extreme Performance", losing the majority of the rendered Eye-Candy (and sometimes I'm just a naked Rat...) and all the goodies of the game. I can't even see the spells being casted, the settings are so low. Status effects, like being on fire from a flame spell? Nope...don't see it. All I see, is my sword swinging, their sword swinging, and that's about it. Nevermind the fact that while swinging, my equip disappears because my machine can't render it fast enough.
I play any other game (aside from Doom 3) and have absolutely no problems. In fact, the Vid card in my machine is brand new (had to upgrade for EQII) and I still can't enjoy it in a "balanced" setting. My Wifes machine, 3GHz Proc/512mb DDR2/128mb PCI Exp Vid...(very very similar setup, just less ram than me and more proc power) runs it like a dream. I don't know if it's the Pentium over my AMD, or what. But it's almost sad sitting there, getting about 10% of the graphical charm on my machine.
So although I'll say "Thanks SoE" for an awesome game, I'll say "Dammit SoE!!!" for making a game that requires the top of the line PC setup to enjoy to the fullest. I'd have to fork up basically at least another $300+ to get it running better...which is just a lil sad. ><