Hey, I was hoping for something special with all the talk of EQ2, but when I come to play it I'm pretty disappointed. The performance issue isn't something I have a problem with, unlike so many others, sure it slows down a lot on maximum everything, but I still get 20-30fps at 1680x1050 so thats fine. Its the gameplay that gets me down. Combat is very dull. For example, I tried out a swashbuckler and my attack was the same every time. I could have taught a monkey to fight mobs. Sneak, 2, Auto Attack, 3, 4, move behind target, 5, 6, go back to 3. It was the same with all the classes, it was hitting keys in sequence then wait for recharge to do it all over again. I was having flashbacks to City of Heroes, which was even worse as you only have like 4 attacks in that game unless you spend a week going up 2 levels. My main character was a Templar, after I'd tried out a few, levelled up to 20 through the Qeynos area. Equipment was pretty poor, +3 sta rings, etc. A bit bored I decided to try out the new Kunark expansion and, no surprise, SOE are up to their usual tricks. Make the expansion have bigger and better equipment so people will buy it. It worked for EQ1, right? The equipment I was getting at 1st level in Kunark, my Templar hadn't even found anything to compare at level 20. How stupid is that? Then theres the quest system, which is a bunch of static quests in different areas. What incentive does that give to restarting a different character in the same place? I'm very much reminded of LOTRO in that regard, its just playing through the story you just did. The challenge is also non-existant, I haven't found a need to group yet, everything dies in three attacks, especially on my new Warlock. My Templar its just, Heroic, Smite, (other damage), repeat until mob is dead. Even the multiple mobs are easy because when they're grouped they're all 'vvv' - 3 down. I rarely see other players, and when I have they're all two or three boxing. i.e. solo. Isn't that the saddest thing ever? A person joins a massively multiplayer game and is so lonely and/or anti-social that they play by themselves in their corner. Its like watching a child enact a war game on his own with his toy soldiers. Sad. So, not a lot of draw here. How is the game at later levels? Does it get harder? Do people actually group, or is it solo all the way? I'm really disappointed. After EQ1, which was the Holy Grail of MMO's, EQ2 has gone so soft that I sometimes feel like I'm playing in a cartoon world. Where are the crunches and cries of EQ1? Whats with all the flashy effects and lack of impacts? Is this game for kids?
EQ2 is a lousy watered-down game. Funky abstract game mechanics, a botched class and skill system, and easy "gimme" challenges. Just not worth playing. Makes even Vanguard look good.
Hey, I was hoping for something special with all the talk of EQ2, but when I come to play it I'm pretty disappointed. The performance issue isn't something I have a problem with, unlike so many others, sure it slows down a lot on maximum everything, but I still get 20-30fps at 1680x1050 so thats fine. Its the gameplay that gets me down. Combat is very dull. For example, I tried out a swashbuckler and my attack was the same every time. I could have taught a monkey to fight mobs. Sneak, 2, Auto Attack, 3, 4, move behind target, 5, 6, go back to 3. It was the same with all the classes, it was hitting keys in sequence then wait for recharge to do it all over again. I was having flashbacks to City of Heroes, which was even worse as you only have like 4 attacks in that game unless you spend a week going up 2 levels. My main character was a Templar, after I'd tried out a few, levelled up to 20 through the Qeynos area. Equipment was pretty poor, +3 sta rings, etc. A bit bored I decided to try out the new Kunark expansion and, no surprise, SOE are up to their usual tricks. Make the expansion have bigger and better equipment so people will buy it. It worked for EQ1, right? The equipment I was getting at 1st level in Kunark, my Templar hadn't even found anything to compare at level 20. How stupid is that? Then theres the quest system, which is a bunch of static quests in different areas. What incentive does that give to restarting a different character in the same place? I'm very much reminded of LOTRO in that regard, its just playing through the story you just did. The challenge is also non-existant, I haven't found a need to group yet, everything dies in three attacks, especially on my new Warlock. My Templar its just, Heroic, Smite, (other damage), repeat until mob is dead. Even the multiple mobs are easy because when they're grouped they're all 'vvv' - 3 down. I rarely see other players, and when I have they're all two or three boxing. i.e. solo. Isn't that the saddest thing ever? A person joins a massively multiplayer game and is so lonely and/or anti-social that they play by themselves in their corner. Its like watching a child enact a war game on his own with his toy soldiers. Sad. So, not a lot of draw here. How is the game at later levels? Does it get harder? Do people actually group, or is it solo all the way? I'm really disappointed. After EQ1, which was the Holy Grail of MMO's, EQ2 has gone so soft that I sometimes feel like I'm playing in a cartoon world. Where are the crunches and cries of EQ1? Whats with all the flashy effects and lack of impacts? Is this game for kids?
EQ2 is a lousy watered-down game. Funky abstract game mechanics, a botched class and skill system, and easy "gimme" challenges. Just not worth playing. Makes even Vanguard look good.
Vanguard has always been a good game in its core concepts and game design "vision". The game has had it share of technical issues and it didn't fully deliver on some of the concepts it aimed for, but the core is solid. Vanguard has alawys had potential to become a really great game depending on it getting sufficient resources to continue that path.
It is much easier to fix a game like that than it is to redesign a game with bad core mechanics and game design choices. I think that is why some people get that blah feeling from EQ2, because it has never been true to itself and seems to have an inconsistant direction.
Vanguard has always been a good game in its core concepts and game design "vision". The game has had it share of technical issues and it didn't fully deliver on some of the concepts it aimed for, but the core is solid. Vanguard has alawys had potential to become a really great game depending on it getting sufficient resources to continue that path.
Vanguards “Vision” never extended to the people actually developing the game. The people in charge of Sigil were to caught up in power struggles, office sex, drugs and trying to swindle Microsoft with fake demo’s to actually oversee development of the game. The actual game design and development was left to a handful of first time MMO developers who deprived of essential tools and asked to develop the game from the ground up in the 18 months prior to its release.
Given the complete F*** up of Sigil management I doubt the original vision of the game that Sigil publicized was ever represented in its code.
Sure the staff making the game might have acted like they were on the set of a daytime soap opera, but that doesn't change the fact of what they delivered in the core concepts of the game.
While it was busted and unfinished, deep down Vanguard has a very solid base for a fun game and the vision is in there if not somewhat incomplete.
It is going to be much easier to "fix" Vanguard than it ever was to redesign EQ2, because the core gameplay of VG was well designed and it doesn't have to suffer through a series of combat upgrades for every system. Not that I think the game is ever going to recover due to being resource starved, but the potential is there.
Comments
EQ2 is a lousy watered-down game. Funky abstract game mechanics, a botched class and skill system, and easy "gimme" challenges. Just not worth playing. Makes even Vanguard look good.
EQ2 is a lousy watered-down game. Funky abstract game mechanics, a botched class and skill system, and easy "gimme" challenges. Just not worth playing. Makes even Vanguard look good.
lol, nothing makes Vanguard look good.
SOE have begun to make Vanguard look good..a long,long way off EQ2s polish but my my its getting thier
Got to love station access.
It is much easier to fix a game like that than it is to redesign a game with bad core mechanics and game design choices. I think that is why some people get that blah feeling from EQ2, because it has never been true to itself and seems to have an inconsistant direction.
Sure the staff making the game might have acted like they were on the set of a daytime soap opera, but that doesn't change the fact of what they delivered in the core concepts of the game.
While it was busted and unfinished, deep down Vanguard has a very solid base for a fun game and the vision is in there if not somewhat incomplete.
It is going to be much easier to "fix" Vanguard than it ever was to redesign EQ2, because the core gameplay of VG was well designed and it doesn't have to suffer through a series of combat upgrades for every system. Not that I think the game is ever going to recover due to being resource starved, but the potential is there.