A month has passed. Are you staying with EQ2?Follow

I have played a lot of MMPORPGs. I started with Ultima Online, then was lucky enough to get into early beta on EQ live. I played AC and AO, and most recently spent a good year in FFXI.

So, like many of you, I have been around the block with these games. After playing EQ2 for a month, I thought I would share my thoughts.

The game is far more stable than any other release I have been a part of. There are far fewer critcal bugs, server crashes, and annoying issues.

However, there are definitely issues that need to be addressed. I play on Antonia Bayle, and the lag in zones like Nektulos is literally unplayable. With over 200 people in the zone we get lag spikes that can last over a minute, and if it happens at the wrong time people die.

Still, I am sure this will be fixed with time. As people spread out through the levels hopefully zones like Nektulos wont be as crowded.

I love the quest system, I think it makes the game. The fact that I can get decent equipment that I can actually use is wonderful. I love the zones, they are very well thought out.

I don't like the access quests. Not that the idea behind them isn't cool, but lets take the Boneroom in Fallen Gate for example. I hunted there from level 15-22 or so. We killed the Trader and other named many times during that period, and I only ever saw the journal that starts the access quest drop once.

I was the one who won it, and have completed the access quest. But apparently everyone in my party needs the quest to get in. So here I am at 29th level and I still have not been inside. I am hoping against hope that everything is not already grey to me, because I really want to experience this zone.

The time between enterring zones like Nektropos castle also has to be shortened. Six days is just too much. I would suggest cutting it to three. That way you still need to plan in advance, and its still a great dungeon crawl, but then you have not outleveled the place by the time you can go back

All in all I am loving the game. I think it has more replay value than any other MMPORPG I have ever seen. Once my defiler reaches 50 I will need to take a good class up if I want to see all the zones that I missed, and probably still will not have seen everything.

The guild system has a long way to go, but they are doing the work and I like it so far. I am curious about housing and mounts, but I am sure those will come with time.

This game has more staying power than I would have thought, and I while its early i think its going to be a huge success.

So, good or bad, what are your impressions?

I'm sticking with it. Right now the only problem I have with the game is my problem, I still need to beef up my machine a bit more.

Even with the "drunken run into walls lag because I don't have enough memory", I still love the game

ouch, broke my nose again...

I think the experience is gaining too fast. Im lvl 26 now. I gained almost 3 lvls in a week. but my gears and quests cant keep up with my lvling speed. they should match that. and most of the quest rewards are coins I think 30-40% of them are. for some quest, u need to kill 40 or large amount of mobs in the zone and only rewards you 1sp or 2sp. not really worth it I would say.

and the lotto system. I donno what happan but I could won nothing for 3 days of grouping. I was thinking if the day of the character created(birthday of the character) and would effect the lottoing. Just like in FF11, no fish can be caught in darksday. Well, just a thought tho.

Not a bad game so far for me. but sad thing they nerf'd the "tricks" from EQ 1. like the pulls, use Walls or corners to avoid AEs, etc. I like those.

Well for now I'm not comfortable with EQ2, I couldnt really explain why, this post might be the opportunity to do so.

I like the quest system too, I come from FFXI where a quest was pretty much <Open iexplorer and go to allakhazam.com>, so EQ2 is a fresh breeze in that matter.
But I'm not thrilled by EQ2, I'm not playing all day long which is what happens when I really like a new game.

I miss the bazaar system, even if yes, the broker system is convenient, I can access it from my house and i dont need to run around town checking players one by one. But though... eh I like to check players one by one, it's fun..

Now for the experience system, I really dont like the debt I can get because another player died. I dont see why someone should get some of my debt because I got aggroed on my way to the party. This can be argued and I guess I'll have to work with it, not much choice anyways, but solo ( I have a hard time to kill a Yellow solo in steppes, 20 Dirge).
The party system... I cant find a good party, maybe because everyone is new to EQ2, so far the only good fellow I met was Comoc ( Hope I'm not scratching your name hehe ).

I think i'm gonna give WOW a try and I'm playing FFXI again.

EQ2 doesnt fit for me, I'm sure it does for a lot of people. I'm not going to stop playing EQ2 since hubby plays it, and maybe I havent realized all the fun I could get in EQ2 yet?

Well, I was happy with the game for a while until this new patch came on where I can't even sell my goblin meat to the vendor NPC. This has totally enraged me. I hope and pray that they will fix this patch soon.

/rant on
Nerfing crafting - My main character at the moment is a scout. So to complimet it, I decided to build up my Fletching skills by making Elm Lumber. This being the most basic form, it has to be pristine so that anything else made from it would be of higher quality. Nobody buys anything less if they buy any at all. I know I wouldn't. So now, I can't even sell these unwanted crafted items to the vendor. Now how am I suppose to get my hard earned money back?

This issue is a make it or break it for me. I mean, where are the useful patches for crafting ... ie. missing basil link from raw basil, baking up elm chests and other oddities (saw pics on station.com forums)
/rant off

Unsubscribed last night :P

Visually this game is unbeatable. The quests are very nice. I come from EQ1 of 5 years of game play. It was fun at the start getting cool gear and playing. But there are alot of things I find I just dont care to pay for. #1 Cant stand not being able to solo. Even more so when 80 percent of the game dont have a clue how to play in a group and the debt is retarded. If sony just increased the amount of solo mobs I would be fine with it. #2 No duels. Not PVP I hated pvp servers in EQ1 but to be able to duel a friend or jump in a arena was fun.
#3 Group and raid debt are stupid, when the group wipes you get around 10 percent debt maybe alittle less. Get a rez in EQ 1 lose 2 percent xp tops and I never lost a lvl, always got a good 5 to 10 percent buffer above the new ding. Although the quest system is fun and all. it is to easy. it means the gear I have means very little. In EQ 1 when ya got something uber it ment something based on how hard it was to get the item even at lower lvls. It left you feeling that something was accomplished, and when someone inspected ya, there was great comments on it. Everyone will have the best gear in EQ2 kinda like in SWG. I gave EQ2 its shot and it failed. I am off to try WoW give it a month free but more then likely their BLuebie servers will be fun but the econ will suck and will end up back in EQ1 :P. I give a shout out to all the peeps on Najena the best server out, thx for the fun battles, but time to move on. Might be back after the exp comes but I doubt it.

I actually don't mind the daily patches. But then again I'm a house mom and I can play anytime I want and market anytime I want. Hubby on the other hand has a problem with it since he tries to market when he's at work during which the patch comes on and boots him. Coming home from work he wants to relax and play, and not stay in the inn room inventory filled with stuff to sell. So day by day, this game hasn't really given him anything to be thrilled about. I believe he'll be quitting soon.

In a way, I hope the economy in this game gets better. I loved FFXI's economy, the AH (Auction House for those who don't know) where you can leave stuff to sell while adventuring and the Bazaars where you can just sit around anywhere or adventure and still sell stuff you're carrying. The Bulletin Board is great for checking what's for sale and who's selling it. But I don't like the 20% cut when buying from a broker, nor do I like trying to find the person and feeling like I'm breaking and entering.

I'll give it a few more months and see how things go. There will always be other games. :)

Personally I will be staying. I agree with some that the game does has it's flaws but overall I'm having a good time. I guess my overall thoughts when reading threads such as this is there is always such a division of those who like and dislike the game. IMO people should just realize that EQ2 is a game, and games are created to have fun playing, if it becomes no fun anymore then leave it and find something that you do find fun.

I am enjoying the quests in the games like others are, but I do wish the rewards were a little better, that 1.5 silver I get for a quest at lvl 20 is not helping much anymore. I kind of like the guild system, but it is a bit confusing. I know I will grow to understand it more with time. Anyway, loving the game, and hoping you all are too. Remember to help your fellow player and have a good time in the game!

Just got to add my two cents. First of all, it's a game, not a life. There are differences in EQ2 that make it unique. I can guarantee if the game were "another" Expansion of EQ1, well, that says it. For some, those differences will engage them to continue to play and possibly enjoy EQ2 much more than they ever did EQ1. For others, those differences will compel them to move on to a different game, or back to a game they played in the past. Such is life.

Btw, you can solo, or duo, in EQ2. Most people who really wanted to solo in EQ1, boxed. EQ1 also had many "exploits" that made solo'ing more desireable than it really should have been (i.e. Druid's that quad kite, or Bards that kite 25 mobs simultaneously, or power leveling my lvl 40 with my 65 necro who gets experience just because they're grouped) Anyway, I boxed in EQ1, I 3boxed for a while too. I box in EQ2 and think that I can do the same, duo, in EQ2 that I could do in EQ1. I can take down a blue two arrow up or even two white single arrow ups at lvl 26. So why can't you solo in EQ2? I solo'd a red 5 levels higher than me yesterday, and my pet didn't even get below 75% health without a heal. You can't solo a group of 3 or 4, but I am personally glad that EQ2 comes sans the exploits that tainted EQ1 a little imo.

Have fun whatever you do. You may have to die a few times to find the right mix with your toons, but you can do a lot of the same with EQ2 as with EQ1, without the cheats, so to speak.

Syph - Mistmoore

Well, Ive found lots of pros and cons with this game (wont go into them because all have been said before) and Im going to give WoW a run here come next week to see if I like it more or not. Its a good game but I want to see if its the right game for me ATM, god knows I jump from one MMO to another all the time I just want to find one that Im comfortable with for awhile.

Im staying and im happy.

The questing is excellent and unlike a lot of the loners I like grouping as it adds a social and tactical dynamic to the game play.

And anyone who says the quests are too easy are not on their armor quests yet. The AQ3 part is hard, damn hard and later I have to kill a named Giant who is Double Red with two red adds.

TS is brilliant and dangerous and a lot more like EQ1. If the higher zones get harder then EQ1 will start to look easy.

As for the debt, I dont mind it at all. I think it encourages groups to stick together after a wipe and not just log out, which was a major problem in EQ1. I personally lost a few levels on my warrior in EQ1 because of people just dropping after a wipe.

My experience hasnt included crafting or guilding yet and I am going avoid them until later down the line to let the kinks get ironed out. I will eventually be fletching to help me pull.

Dont think for a second WOW or any other MMO is going to have everything, SWG had brilliant crafting and look how borked that got!

For a more in depth review of EQ2 check out my journal:

http://www.outsidecontext.com/wordpress/index.php?p=51

Yagyu

/Highkeep Guardian

I will not be staying with EQ2. I canceled my account today, and it will expire at midnight.

Why?

Access quests. I absolutely despised them in the original EQ, and was surprised to find so many of them in EQ2 (starting at much lower levels). This is probably the biggest reason I'm leaving.

4 Character Slots. I have chronic newbyitis. I love making and developing new charaters, but I don't necesarily want to delete all of my old ones to do so. The availability of 4 more slots if I fork over more money for All-Access to the rest of Sony's games, which I do not, and will not play, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Beyond that there is the forced grouping. I like to group, I really do, but I hate being compelled to do so. Once in a while I like to solo, if for no other reason then to explore and go sightseeing. But even at levels below 20, there are zones in EQ2 you can't even enter without a group.


And that was enough for me.


Edited, Fri Dec 10 17:19:59 2004 by Deathwysh

To Quote Popsi :

What I really miss is the "soul" of EQ1 - taking the abilities given your class and using them to creatively solve problems presented by the environment. Like kiting, charming, swarming, splitting mobs when pulling, etc.

This is EXACTLY my problem too with the game. I've logged in like 4 days in a row, then logged out within an hour bored and uninvolved. The splitting mobs and kiting are the main reason I'm not planning to renew.

Secondly, the game feels like WORK. Forced grouping, forced tradeskill components that need to be made from others.

XP Debt makes people avoid pickup groups and makes me feel like I'm paying off another mortgage :P

All in all .. the game was shiny for the first month but I canceled my subscription and am planning to try WoW. According to posts on the WoW Web, there is pulling and solo strategy there ...

Cheers