Long story short: I played EverQuest II back in November of 2004 when it was first released it. Got hooked on the crafting system a few months later, and then jumped ship to WoW for whatever reasons a few months thereafter.
Fast forward to a couple days ago: I download the EQII trial, and check out the Isle of Refuge.
Only, it's not the Isle of Refuge anymore. It's the Outpost of the Overlord.
And there aren't anymore goblins that I could find in the zone, though I suppose they could be on the Qeynosian version of the place. I was, however, comforted to find Bladefin still very much alive. And still very much a pain in the ace.
Why did they move the entrance to the crafting cellar outside of the tower? Was there a common problem with people standing on the hatch and not giving other players a chance to get in, or...?
But I digress.
The crafting system has also become easier, significantly so. Since I last played, they've introduced the ability to sort out your tradeskills (which used to take me ten minutes of manual labor on my own), as well as posting them by themselves in the crafting window at the bottom... and with keyboard shortcuts? Come on.
I guess what I'm getting at here is a question to those that've been here since the start: how much has changed? For the better? For the worse? Is it possible to craft anything that isn't pristine in quality? It seems like I either fail to make whatever I'm making, or it comes out pristine.
...Which takes away from the reward of crafting, I think.
Anyway, thanks for your help, and take care.
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The game has changed quite a bit over the years, all in all a very positive change too imo. The starter isles were separated a long time ago, but a lot of people tend to start in the other beginner areas. You should try them out, Gorowyn and Neriak are my favourites although Gorowyn does tend to get a bit harder to find your way past level 20.
Crafting has become easier over the years, no longer the subcombines and it's not that easy to mess up a crafting process these days. But I don't know the full story behind all the changes because I've never been much of a crafter myself.
EQII has become a very large and fun game, it's definitely worth exploring again, there's plenty to see and do!
Crafting has become easier over the years, no longer the subcombines and it's not that easy to mess up a crafting process these days. But I don't know the full story behind all the changes because I've never been much of a crafter myself.
EQII has become a very large and fun game, it's definitely worth exploring again, there's plenty to see and do!
Yes, crafting got way easier. However, it no longer takes a three-page document to explain the Reaction Arts to people, either.
The Isle of Refuge was abandoned when the Cataclysm was over and they stopped fishing us out of the water. Freeport residents start on the Outpost of the Overlord, Qeynosian resident start on the Queen's Colony. These use the IoR map but have their own quest lines.
There have been changes. At least two itemization changes I can think of, a combat revamp, spell revamps, lots of changes. Overall, IMO, it's a tighter, better game.
The Isle of Refuge was abandoned when the Cataclysm was over and they stopped fishing us out of the water. Freeport residents start on the Outpost of the Overlord, Qeynosian resident start on the Queen's Colony. These use the IoR map but have their own quest lines.
There have been changes. At least two itemization changes I can think of, a combat revamp, spell revamps, lots of changes. Overall, IMO, it's a tighter, better game.
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Depends on who you ask about the crafting changes. I feel it was a downgrade. I thought sub-combines made sense and the other profession dependencies were a terrific idea. That said, the old way was for the hardcore and SOE wanted to make the game accessible to casual players. They were successful in their goal.
There are a lot more people crafting these days. The old way involved a lot of grinding - which was OK for those, including myself, that were prepared to spend hours preparing sub-combines to make a batch of stuff. It has made it slightly more difficult to sell stuff as there are more people to undercut you now, but there are also a lot more people around to make you stuff when you need it. Crafting spells automatically upgrade now - no more shuffling icons around your hotbars.
Yes crafting is quicker & easier, but then there is a LOT more to do. There are tradeskill quests all over the place now. A lot of love has been poured into crafting by Domino and the rest of the SOE team.
As for other changes, I kinda miss not having to pick up shards, but then I barely group let alone get into raids - my shard was always relativly easy to retrieve with a sprint though the zone. The penalties for death are a lot less severe than they were, including xp debt which is now negligible.
Yes crafting is quicker & easier, but then there is a LOT more to do. There are tradeskill quests all over the place now. A lot of love has been poured into crafting by Domino and the rest of the SOE team.
As for other changes, I kinda miss not having to pick up shards, but then I barely group let alone get into raids - my shard was always relativly easy to retrieve with a sprint though the zone. The penalties for death are a lot less severe than they were, including xp debt which is now negligible.
At launch, the initial concept for crafting was that the different disciplines would be inter-dependent and this mutual 'need' would create an environment of cooperation. Instead, the result was rampant greed on the part of alchemists who saw the demand for their chemicals (needed in all sub and intermediate combines) as blanket permission & tacit approval to rob everyone else blind!
Like socialism, the concept of crafting interdependence may have looked good on paper but was a disaster in practice.
Instead like many other crafters, I chose to level up a variety of different skills in order to supply everything I needed without depending on the kindness of strangers! This created a situation in which I needed to craft almost every day of the week in order to prepare for creating enough final combines to have finished goods to sell over the weekend.
My normal routine involved creating chemicals on Monday evening, sub combines on Tuesday & Wednesday evenings and finals on Thursday evening. All this to support a tailor and a woodworker. (I also needed a provie to keep everyone fed!) On Friday I put all my finished goods up for sale and then spent a good portion of the weekend harvesting for the coming week!
This created a pattern of less adventuring and more tedium, all in support of profitable crafting.
The decision to eliminate sub-combines in favor of a more streamlined system was (in my opinion) a good choice. With the current system, I can adventure when I like and craft when I choose... all while creating a steady income stream from crafted goods. The change to crafting wasn't 'bad'... it was carefully thought and intelligently executed.
Like socialism, the concept of crafting interdependence may have looked good on paper but was a disaster in practice.
Instead like many other crafters, I chose to level up a variety of different skills in order to supply everything I needed without depending on the kindness of strangers! This created a situation in which I needed to craft almost every day of the week in order to prepare for creating enough final combines to have finished goods to sell over the weekend.
My normal routine involved creating chemicals on Monday evening, sub combines on Tuesday & Wednesday evenings and finals on Thursday evening. All this to support a tailor and a woodworker. (I also needed a provie to keep everyone fed!) On Friday I put all my finished goods up for sale and then spent a good portion of the weekend harvesting for the coming week!
This created a pattern of less adventuring and more tedium, all in support of profitable crafting.
The decision to eliminate sub-combines in favor of a more streamlined system was (in my opinion) a good choice. With the current system, I can adventure when I like and craft when I choose... all while creating a steady income stream from crafted goods. The change to crafting wasn't 'bad'... it was carefully thought and intelligently executed.
2 posts
So it sounds like the changes that were made to the crafting system were ultimately to cater to the casual player.
...Which is a shame, I think.
It's one of the reasons (minuscule, though it may be) that I stopped playing WoW a few months ago.
The changes that help tailor the game to the casual "couple hours here and there" player completely removed what I thought were serious milestones when I had to do it on a given character. Here, for example, now there's nothing special about cranking out a whole slew of pristine backpacks, swords, armor, etc.
I'd actually forgotten about subcombines completely until I read through your guys' responses on the subject. But now, I distinctly remember having to craft buckles and various other pieces to make a specific item. And honestly, I miss that. I miss that added level of complexity, because it made crafting a bit more special, in that not everyone wanted to do it because it was more trouble than it was worth to them.
Still, it's a lot more in-depth than WoW, and for that, I killed around ten hours on the Isle the other day making a full armor set, a bank full of strong boxes, and filling all my bag slots with pristine backpacks.
So though I don't fully appreciate the changes that were made, I commend Sony on not completely mutating the game.
And thanks for all your insight.
...Which is a shame, I think.
It's one of the reasons (minuscule, though it may be) that I stopped playing WoW a few months ago.
The changes that help tailor the game to the casual "couple hours here and there" player completely removed what I thought were serious milestones when I had to do it on a given character. Here, for example, now there's nothing special about cranking out a whole slew of pristine backpacks, swords, armor, etc.
I'd actually forgotten about subcombines completely until I read through your guys' responses on the subject. But now, I distinctly remember having to craft buckles and various other pieces to make a specific item. And honestly, I miss that. I miss that added level of complexity, because it made crafting a bit more special, in that not everyone wanted to do it because it was more trouble than it was worth to them.
Still, it's a lot more in-depth than WoW, and for that, I killed around ten hours on the Isle the other day making a full armor set, a bank full of strong boxes, and filling all my bag slots with pristine backpacks.
So though I don't fully appreciate the changes that were made, I commend Sony on not completely mutating the game.
And thanks for all your insight.
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