EQ2Follow

So that trip in June, where ya going DF?

So why is it, despite all the hoopla on here, the only person I have seen on in the last few days is Bhodi is his various incarnations (ok, Streetkid like once for a few minutes)? Does no one else join the chat channel?

I was on for a bit two nights ago and last night for a few hours. I'll be back on tonight for sure.

Ill be on tonight, but mst likely a little later than usual. SK and I are going to sneak out for dinner.

Are you sure you want to **** me off today?

aaawwww how cute.

I enjoyed EQ2 when it came out, but that group xp death penalty just killed it for me, especially after playing WoW's no penalty death system. Is the group penalty still in the game?

That's much better. The old EQ1 death penalty was brutal, especially if I was out soloing and there was no cleric around. And the way EQ2 used to work was a royal pain.

EQ2 had some good parts. I grew to hate it immensely, but that was a long time ago. As I've said before, the people who are posting here mean well and like the new EQ2 a lot. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt (excuse me if the old bile I still carry around occasionally bubbles up) - I do hope they have fixed it.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll try it again. I'm liking WoW too much atm, but I could burn out on it.

Edited, Fri Jun 2 03:17:03 2006 by EvilGnomes

/tell Blackburrow.bodhisattva fu[Honeydew][/Honeydew]ck off

Edited, Fri Jun 2 12:12:45 2006 by MentalFrog

Okay, that's it, I'm taking the plunge.

I tried EQ2 the first month it was out and promptly dropped it to play WoW, but these days, WoW has been boring me to tears. Let's see what damage I can do in EQ2 until Vanguard hits the shelves...

i resubscribed, mainly to check out my new box for Vanguard coming this winter, and it was the only one i could think of with the most challenging graphics.

it certianly has changed alot for the better, but still needs work IMO.

changes:
1. no level limit for the newbie island. cant finnish that last encounter? wait till your level 8 or 9 and solo it.
2. removed almost all access quests. yep, you can charge right in to a level 40 plus zone to see whats up.
3. reduced aggro range making it a bit safer to get around, and made some mobs non-aggro to help there too.
4. added alot more solo content, and aparently upped the xp for solo mobs. you dont have to group if you dont want to.
5. increased the number of group encounters in dungons. backburrow for instance. group only. no more soloing in black burrow unless they are grey. not doing a dungon unless you are grouped.
6. changed the abilities of some of the characters around, but wont go into that.
7. quests. no more running around hailing eveyr NPC every couple levels. they didnt do somethign lame like put a exclamation point over their head, no, they put a feather over their head. still works MUCH better than random hailing. good job. and no more running from door to door to find your quest NPC either. it shows up as a solid dot on your map. much much improved over th erunning around in the blind, spending more time looking for someone than doing the quest itself. good job.

but its still needs alot of work.

1. the group interface is still clumsy. WoW, and D&D online both let you say what you are trying to get a group for. EQ2 still makes alot of sending tells back and forth necessary to find out whats going on even after you find a group to join. D&D online lets you not only say what you are trying to do, but lets you set level limits, class limits, and lets them join the group without any tells involved. just advertise and when some one is interested of the right level and class, they can invite themselves.

if EQ2 wants to be more of a grouping game, i personally feel this particular function is hightly important and has not recieved enough attention. the key to promote grouping is making it as easy as poosible to form a group, and enough information in the group interface so every one knows what the group is about, and what class and levels are wanted WITHOUT alot of typing, ie, point and click. D&D online did a wonderfull job with it. EQ2 still is clumsy and very uninformative requiring alot of typing, and alot of joining and disbanding to find a group doing what you want done. too much typing to get it done.

2.interface still needs work. the right click, drag down thing for almost everything is just.....clumsy. period. it is not intuative. not smooth. the only action your going to do on a monster is attack. once you are in a fight, why make you press attack AGAIN for every monster after the first one dies? should just be an attack mode where you whack what ever you target for a melee. so while your sitting there getting beat up, your fumblinng with the right moustr button to scroll down to attack, or your trying to double click a monster during battle spam with 3 or 4 other toons in your way.

im sure you get used to it, but it really takes away from immersion to have to "choose" what you want to do during the heat of battle. if your a melee, you are only going to do one thing, ATTACK. should just be able to target the mob and already be in attack mode, not just standing there getting beat up waiting for more input.

and whats up with auto-facing what you are attacking? where is the challenge in that? where is the skill in making sure your atelast facing the monster you are attacking? that just makes the whole fight encounter seem just that much more thought less. which brings up monster AI.

3. monster AI. there is none. none at all. it just stands there trading hits till one of you dies. just like EQ. doesnt go after the casters, doesnt run around to get a back shot, just stands there till it runs out of hit points.

4. the grind. oh yea. its still there. ding 20 ,and it starts. begging for groups if you want to see a dungon, or whacking solo mobs for little to no gain endlessly in a race to the top. no point in spending time and effort for equipment on the way up. no point in spending money for it either. but in all fairness, it is like that in every mmorpg, except mabe D&D online. with only 10 levels, and only 5 levelsd of equipment upgrade, what you get at mid level wil work for you at the top. the game is about the challenge, not the equipment.

yes, its improving. no, it is not there yet.

what EQ2 does well, and what EQ did well are their dungon and city zones. NO ONE does dungons better than EQ. NO ONE. which brings me to graphics and why i reopened my subscription.

ALL melee classes look the same. silver armor, silver sword, with a silver or brass looking shield. casters all look the same. a robe with a staff, usually in purple, red, black or grey. cept clerics, they look like melee classes.

one word. crayola . buy some COLOR.

The game is still too restrictive IMO. Can't get loot if the mob is grey, every piece of armor in the game is the same just every 10 levels it gives a % of more stats. There is never any new spells or armor to look forward to since 90% of your spells are just a upgrade to a spell you allready got. I mean armor wise seems like you just save up some money by ebon, cobalt, or whatever tier your on and BOOM you now have good armor and weapons. Just no excitement in the game. They are just too blasted restrictive on everything. In eq1 always looking forward to that next spell, and you can always go farm that 1 green mob so you cna get a decent piece of armor for a alt. Raiding IMO is poorly done in eq2.

Eq2 is better then when it first came out, but its still not great. And the game is allready starting to get to be lvl 60+ everything. IT can be hard sometimes to get low level gear made because all your artisans are lvl 50+ and assumeing they will even take the time to make lower tier stuff they expect the same labor fees that they would charge a lvl 50+. I have a 32 necro alt sitting on tox server with lvl 20 gear because I simply can't find anybody making tier 3 armor.

GitSlayer and I were out wreaking havoc in the Commonlands last night and I saw my first dragon in EQ2 - granted, it was only a level 22 named dragon, but it was still pretty cool. We were out killing dervish thugs, cutthroats, etc. It was a blast.

Only died once due to my bad pull of some ghostie things prior to going over to the dervs. The evening's experience truly felt like the good aspects of the original EQ. Kastigir hopped on later as well for the first time in our chat channel.

Seriously, we need to get a guild going to really experience the guild perks of the game. And no worries, I'm not considering myself to run it so don't get all snarky on me - ***** you, hippies!

We'll get some other foo- er, fine individual to do it. I know Git is considering it.

Granted, we need more folks to join us in the game as well. Let's see, those unguilded so far in-game are me, Git, Kastigir, Ambrya, Nobster, and Tomec. That's six folks right there and if I forgot anyone else, sorry, but remind me on this thread. Bhodi, DSD and DSD's hubby are already in their own guild, but if they wanted to make alts for this Asylum guild that would rock.

Anyhoo, something to think on. We could call the guild, "Followers of the SmasharooNobbyTotemMoeYanariNexaDSDBhodiTacoPatricianJophFleaTareAegisGoatKatieAllakhazam" or something.