*sighs* What "frequent server crashes" are you exactly talking about? I haven't seen on in almost a year and I play constantly.
I have the same response. What crashes? I play for hours at a time and have been in game almost 4 years. In for years I have crashes probably 4 time so that is about once a year. I also play WoW, a very solid game, and in WoW with almost 4 years of play I have crashed probably a dozen time. This is still a great track record but EQ2 on my system is more stable then even WoW.
Extreme linearity Loading Screens Constant CTD's and BSOD's with 8800 card series Graphics
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Extreme linearity Loading Screens Constant CTD's and BSOD's with 8800 card series Graphics
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Ok. I resubbed a few weeks ago. I crashed into blue screen of death with my 8800gtx 3-4 times per hour! Usually right in the character screen. I don't crash in any other game with my computer.
When I removed 8800gtx and put some old 6600 card into, it stopped crashing in EQ2. I used the lowest graphical setting possible even when I had 8800gtx in it, and it still crashed. When I contacted support, after a few protocol steps that could possibly fix it, they said there's nothing else they can do about the problem. It definetly is EQ2 issue with 8800gtx cards.
This is from a EQ2 player(well not active anymore) But the main reason why i am not active with the game now is to many x packs, I just dont have the money to keep up with that at this time, and by the time i would be able to get it will be outdated and a new xpack is out or coming which you need the old one for.
Playing: Everthing Played: DAoC,AC2,EvE,SWG,WAR,MXO,CoX,EQ2,L2,LOTRO,SB,UO,WoW. I have played every MMO that has ever come out.
Extreme linearity Loading Screens Constant CTD's and BSOD's with 8800 card series Graphics
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Ok. I resubbed a few weeks ago. I crashed into blue screen of death with my 8800gtx 3-4 times per hour! Usually right in the character screen. I don't crash in any other game with my computer.
When I removed 8800gtx and put some old 6600 card into, it stopped crashing in EQ2. I used the lowest graphical setting possible even when I had 8800gtx in it, and it still crashed. When I contacted support, after a few protocol steps that could possibly fix it, they said there's nothing else they can do about the problem. It definetly is EQ2 issue with 8800gtx cards.
First are you using Vista? Then are you getting a client not responding crash message or the well know out of memory error message? Most of the EQ2 crash issues are Vista issues not 8800 issues. You seem to know what you are doing but make sure you have the lastest nvidea drivers and have Vista up to date. If you are in XP then I can not help but if you are in Vista and actually care I might be able to help you out. Send me an e-mail here and I can offer a few suggestions. One system hog in Vista is superfetch make sure you have this disabled. Checkout my sticky here on making the game look and perform better. There are a few suggestions that might help. If you are done with EQ2 and do not care then it is to bad you did not get to enjoy the game as I do. Great graphic and solid stable performance. These things are in EQ2 but unfortunatly you need to tweak things more then other games to get EQ2 running great. More people would play if it performed great out of the box. EQ2 does take a bit of homework to get it to it's total glory.
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Ok. I resubbed a few weeks ago. I crashed into blue screen of death with my 8800gtx 3-4 times per hour! Usually right in the character screen. I don't crash in any other game with my computer.
When I removed 8800gtx and put some old 6600 card into, it stopped crashing in EQ2. I used the lowest graphical setting possible even when I had 8800gtx in it, and it still crashed. When I contacted support, after a few protocol steps that could possibly fix it, they said there's nothing else they can do about the problem. It definetly is EQ2 issue with 8800gtx cards.
First are you using Vista? Then are you getting a client not responding crash message or the well know out of memory error message? Most of the EQ2 crash issues are Vista issues not 8800 issues. You seem to know what you are doing but make sure you have the lastest nvidea drivers and have Vista up to date. If you are in XP then I can not help but if you are in Vista and actually care I might be able to help you out. Send me an e-mail here and I can offer a few suggestions. One system hog in Vista is superfetch make sure you have this disabled. Checkout my sticky here on making the game look and perform better. There are a few suggestions that might help. If you are done with EQ2 and do not care then it is to bad you did not get to enjoy the game as I do. Great graphic and solid stable performance. These things are in EQ2 but unfortunatly you need to tweak things more then other games to get EQ2 running great. More people would play if it performed great out of the box. EQ2 does take a bit of homework to get it to it's total glory.
Vista x 64 bit. It's driver nvldkmkm.sys has stopped responding but has recovered error message that after a few seconds goes into BSOD. I did try various vista settings (turned off aero, turn off UAC, ..) I have enabled automatic vista updates so it's definetly up-to date. For my card I tried almost all possible drivers that are out. The most stable seemed 169.25 a bit old, but with the newest driver it crashed in EQ2 after a few seconds.
I was monitoring temperatures and voltaiges during EQ2, well everything you could think of. I was even changing settings in my bios - memory remap feature turned off, plugged off my sound card, moved ram sticks from one slot to another, formatted disc, installed EQ2 only, with Windows XP SP2 (32 bit). In XP I wasn't getting driver nvl... error message but a complete lockup instead and the only thing I could do was to manually reset the computer. The frequency of crashes was the same. In XP when I changed 8800gtx to 6600 it went fine.
To add a final note. It almost always crashes when the system is in idle state. -> When I go afk in EQ2 for a few seconds (20-30) it's almost definetly that it's gonna crash.
ohhh nevermind yer using vista, i uninstalled vista and put in xp. Too many problems for me with vista, in any game it seems.
I admit it was frustrating at first. However with some research, tweaking, and patching I got my vista systems running great. It took more work then most would want to or should have to, to make Vista a good gaming operating system. Now I love it but for a couple month it was a pain in the ass.
Steelrose, Have you tried any hotfixes? These are not automaticlly downloaded with the windows updates. This one might help, take a look at the 64bit version. I used it on one of my boxes that I do not play eq2 on but had some game crash issues it help me out. Might help with eq2. My EQ2 box is a Vista 32 box so I did not have to many game issues. Seems like Vista 64 does have a lot more game issues. This hot fix was included in service pak 1. I used it before that service pak was released. Good luck it seems like you tried a lot.
Download KB940105 'Virtual address space Usage in Windows game
development - Fixes problems with certain games (BF 2, BF 2142, etc.)
Extreme linearity Loading Screens Constant CTD's and BSOD's with 8800 card series Graphics
I have an 8800gtx and I never crash.... I'm also running vista 64 ultimate. I have never crashed or bluescreened in eq2. I've been playing eq2 mostly in the last 2-3 weeks. Before that I played like 9 months ago and I did sometimes get graphics issues that forced me to quit the game. When they did the update to bring in guilds I've increased my playing time and frequency and I've not had a problem at all. The multicore support has also made a great improvement in performance for me. I'm running 175.70 video drivers.
Other games that are causing me problems were warhammer, I'd get a crash to the desktop after an hour or two playing sometimes sooner. In the latest patch I don't recall having this happen but I'm not playing warhammer much anymore. In Fallout3 I'm having a fair number of problems with freezing/not responding problems. Sometimes happens in a few minutes sometimes goes for an hour. Vanguard is pretty solid for me. I sometimes will crash to the desktop but it is very rare. I've played vanguard for 9-10 hours straight and never had a crash or problem.
I'm playing everything exclusively in vista 64 on a quad core intel cpu, with 4gb ram and an 8800gtx.
up until 70 it isn't that linear.... You got multiple areas you can level in and doing some dungeons along the way makes it even more non linear.... I also don't feel it is linear when playing even in a zone. It is not like guild wars or warhammer these feel very linear. This feels more like wow or vanguard. There are quest hubs and you move from hub to hub but you are not forced and there are multiple hubs you can go to at most levels.
I have played EQ2 since day one for about 4 years or so, and the main reason I stopped playing it is, that I want to see fresh meadows, thats all.
EQ2 is a really great game, but it is a kind of clumsy game. IMO there are a few reasons why EQ2 never got the attention it could have.
1) Since day 1 EQ2 was regarded as epigone, as bad stepchild of the legend EQ. It got tons of bashing as being watered down EQ, not living up to the legend of EQ1, which is just not fair since EQ1 simply was published in another era. Thus EQ2 caught a kind of bad name from many people who didnt really know a heck about the game and that bad mouthing alas stuck with the game as being something mediocre. Unjustified so, but once you have a negative fame, such things stick.
2) Unfortunately true is the fact that EQ2 is not easy to get into. A lot of later quests are very complicated, they have dozens of interwoven sub-parts, and due to the complex quests it is VERY difficult to find people who are on the exact same step of the quests than you are. In the 4 years of gaming I was just unable to finish at least half of all quests, I carried them in my journal literally for years because some I just didnt want to skip, but it was impossible to find ppl for them. Most quests have no overlapping content with other quests, so either you find someone who is on the EXACT same point as you or you need generous people who help you. Its just terribly bad quest planning and demands to be daily active in a very good guild which makes monthy schedules to get ANYTHING done in EQ2, and its just way too few people who have such dedication to a MMO. IMO thats one of the MAIN reasons EQ2 was way behind what it could have been.
3) Finally I feel the game was bogged down with bad loot and bad XP output in the first 2 years and the expansions Desert-thing (what was the name?) and Kingdom of Skies (not sure about the names anymore) were just very mediocre expansions. Only with Echoes of Faydwer they really made a very good expansion, but at that point EQ2 was already old. It took them LONG to really make interesting loot and halfway decend gear. In the first 2 years I just gathered endless trash loot like Badger claws, zombie brains or such vendor trash and there was almost nothing of small, fun items to loot or find. Also 2/3rd of the quest rewards were usually trash as well and the XP output made the last third of the game quite a grind. Actually I feel thats still the case in the last 20 levels. Beyond level 50 the game looses quite some speed and coolness in terms of skills to learn. It gets kinda more like work IMO.
Overall I always had the feeling EQ2 was one of the best chances to be a real killer game, but the devs kinda lacked spirit and fantasy. It took them way too long to realize the trend. Most gear still locks lackluster and is only dyed variations of the ever same gear, and that after all those years. I havent seen ONE really new gear design, its all just with different colours. Overall its too clumsy, slow paced and complicated to really attract people with less than total dedication. EQ2 has MUCH to offer when you play daily with a big, active guild and you really want to dive into a MMO. if you have a bit less time and patience for planning your doings at least a month ahead you will always just scratch the surface and EQ2 is not really helping you along.
I recall after I had left EQ2 and returned later my guild was gone and most friends, and without a social network to help me through the content 80% of the time I found myself waiting in Qeynos calling for a group in vain or soloing green or grey quests while waiting for a group to find. You just cant do a THING worth doing without an established network and long preparation and daily gameplay, because once you play casual everyone you made the complex quests with will have finished them without you and you are lost.
I find it a great loss the EQ2 devs never succeeded in making EQ2 the hit it could have been.
For me, EQ2 has none of the things I liked about EQ1, none of the things I liked about WoW (and War), and it actually has many things I dislike about Wow and war...
No MMO dev ever used the best feature EQ1 had, freedom and different strategies (depending on class and location) to kill mobs; EQ1 was indeed a sandbox game. I think in the end DEVs never liked that; it was more an accident than an actual thought out feature.
They forgo EQ1 racial towns and lore! For example, playing a Troll or Ogre was an unique experience, because of the complex faction system, you'd have to be careful about where to go, even when interacting with allies (DElf); the swamp was home. Same for other races and classes.
I detest the many little quests that demand no thinking and give very little rewards that pretty much all MMOs implement nowadays; there is absolutely no feeling of accomplishment.
The lack of PvP is a problem nowadays; no matter how good your AI is, fighting other players with different tactics and styles is just better. DAOC had the best form of PvP IMO and WaR hasn't been able to capture it just yet (not very optimistic here).
I'm currently playing WAR, but have already cancellend my sub.
I have played EQ2 since day one for about 4 years or so, and the main reason I stopped playing it is, that I want to see fresh meadows, thats all. EQ2 is a really great game, but it is a kind of clumsy game. IMO there are a few reasons why EQ2 never got the attention it could have. 1) Since day 1 EQ2 was regarded as epigone, as bad stepchild of the legend EQ. It got tons of bashing as being watered down EQ, not living up to the legend of EQ1, which is just not fair since EQ1 simply was published in another era. Thus EQ2 caught a kind of bad name from many people who didnt really know a heck about the game and that bad mouthing alas stuck with the game as being something mediocre. Unjustified so, but once you have a negative fame, such things stick. 2) Unfortunately true is the fact that EQ2 is not easy to get into. A lot of later quests are very complicated, they have dozens of interwoven sub-parts, and due to the complex quests it is VERY difficult to find people who are on the exact same step of the quests than you are. In the 4 years of gaming I was just unable to finish at least half of all quests, I carried them in my journal literally for years because some I just didnt want to skip, but it was impossible to find ppl for them. Most quests have no overlapping content with other quests, so either you find someone who is on the EXACT same point as you or you need generous people who help you. Its just terribly bad quest planning and demands to be daily active in a very good guild which makes monthy schedules to get ANYTHING done in EQ2, and its just way too few people who have such dedication to a MMO. IMO thats one of the MAIN reasons EQ2 was way behind what it could have been. 3) Finally I feel the game was bogged down with bad loot and bad XP output in the first 2 years and the expansions Desert-thing (what was the name?) and Kingdom of Skies (not sure about the names anymore) were just very mediocre expansions. Only with Echoes of Faydwer they really made a very good expansion, but at that point EQ2 was already old. It took them LONG to really make interesting loot and halfway decend gear. In the first 2 years I just gathered endless trash loot like Badger claws, zombie brains or such vendor trash and there was almost nothing of small, fun items to loot or find. Also 2/3rd of the quest rewards were usually trash as well and the XP output made the last third of the game quite a grind. Actually I feel thats still the case in the last 20 levels. Beyond level 50 the game looses quite some speed and coolness in terms of skills to learn. It gets kinda more like work IMO. Overall I always had the feeling EQ2 was one of the best chances to be a real killer game, but the devs kinda lacked spirit and fantasy. It took them way too long to realize the trend. Most gear still locks lackluster and is only dyed variations of the ever same gear, and that after all those years. I havent seen ONE really new gear design, its all just with different colours. Overall its too clumsy, slow paced and complicated to really attract people with less than total dedication. EQ2 has MUCH to offer when you play daily with a big, active guild and you really want to dive into a MMO. if you have a bit less time and patience for planning your doings at least a month ahead you will always just scratch the surface and EQ2 is not really helping you along. I recall after I had left EQ2 and returned later my guild was gone and most friends, and without a social network to help me through the content 80% of the time I found myself waiting in Qeynos calling for a group in vain or soloing green or grey quests while waiting for a group to find. You just cant do a THING worth doing without an established network and long preparation and daily gameplay, because once you play casual everyone you made the complex quests with will have finished them without you and you are lost.
I find it a great loss the EQ2 devs never succeeded in making EQ2 the hit it could have been.
Possibly the most sensible post about EQ2 i've read..kudos to you!
I have to disagree fozzie. I'm not sure what he's talking about but he's definately wrong. I've never ever sat in a city waiting for a group or soloed green or grey. I've had a problem finding a group maybe once or twice in all the years I've played and I pretty much always solo and have never had to just solo green or grey unless they are ^^^.
Either he left in the beginning 6 months of a game or he hasn't played the game.
People tend to go and play the game their friends do. This is probably a huge contributing factor of the sub numbers for WoW. Along with the apparent 4 million China subscribers. If your friends are playing one game, you will be all alone if you play a different one. Thankfully there are those that shop around.
As written before, there are many reasons, why EQ2 never became as successful as it maybe should have been.
The launch was subpar. I joined the game five months after launch and it was actually not too bad. Bugs were pretty much gone (well, for an mmorpg), but it took years until people stopped talking about the bugs, the bad performance etc.
Another real drawback was that It was sooo hardware hungry. There were pages and pages in the forums how to make the thing run on a normal PC with it still looking halfway decent. The graphics itself were a question of taste. They looked fairly boring on low settings (and that was what most players could run it on), but I liked them and I think now, that I can run it on the highest setting with all the bells and whistles, EQ2s graphics still look better than WARs...But at launch and for several years after, it limited their playerbase considerably.
The lack of marketing really has been appaling (perhaps even worse here in Europe) and I don't quite understand how this is possible with a big company like SOE.
I also have to agree, that they changed the character of the game, although for me that was possibly the reason why I did stay with EQ2. When I joined it was very, very group orientated and the death penalty was very harsh. They changed that and made it more accessible to solo players, BUT in my mind they didn't go far enough with that (yes, I will be slaughtered for that )
There were so many quests chains I started and I could solo the first few steps without problems and then all of a sudden for the last couple of steps I needed a group or even a raid. Now this quest design made things very complicated, because you have to find people who are roughly on the same step wihing the chain as you are. And if you are not in a raiding com, you have no chance ever to experience the "end" of that story you have worked so hard on.
In the end, the game lacked focus. It was not hard-core enough for the ex-UOler and ex EQler, but not solo friendly enough for the casuals.
With the last expansion, I think, they took the final step towards a heavily raid orientated game. Leveling has been made easier for people to be able to push their twinks to lvl 80 and then use them for the main purpose of the game today: Raiding.
Almost all non-raiders in my middle sized guild have by now left the game.
I still like EQ2 a lot. It has so many good things, housing, crafting, a lot of content, a nice community etc. It has made it hard to find another mmorpg to take its place, because it has set the standards so high and that is the biggest compliment I can make EQ2.
1) The nerf bat the put on stats. The made stats alter your character performance in combat by a great deal. Now, it seems there is no point in raising stats.
2) Nerf bat to the Splitpaw Saga. I loved that AP, and they nerfed it to hell and back, because some people already lvled past it and felt others shouldn;t enjoy the content.
3) Lack of solo dungeons. They quit making them, even though, this is basically a solo game.
4) Nerf to crafted items. Crafted items used to be a lot better.
5) Combat revamp/nerf. Just didn't sit well with me.
6) Raiding. In EQ2's early days we were constantly assured that this would not turn into EQ1. Of course, we were lied to.
Another point is the POV in combat. My character moves like he is spazzing out in combat. Very twitchy movement.
I just recently resubbed and I'm shocked how desolate it is. And I'm on AB, which I heard was one of the more populated servers. I played for about a year starting on the release day, so I was expecting more players. How things have changed. There's a few folks at the high traffic areas in Freeport and Qeynos, but once you get out into the wide world population drops off to nothing.
At first I was smitten with nostagia, seeing all the places I remember and doing some of the same quests again. But it's so easy now.....it took me months to do most of the quests in the Commonlands the first time around. Now, it's taken me a couple of weeks to reach 30 and everything is greyed out. I have zero sense of accomplishment. And the quest rewards are altogether crappy. Since XP is so plentiful why waste my time attaining an item when I can buy the same or better at the Broker for a few gold? I realize everything is funnelled to the high level and new content areas, i was just shocked at how it affected gameplay.
rofl... Rendus... you just resubbed and you think you know everything about the game.
Do you know why there's no one in the Freeport cities? because there doesn't have to be any longer. People can just immediately zone to their guild and out bypassing the cities entirely. Most people don't bother going to the cities anymore.
rofl... Rendus... you just resubbed and you think you know everything about the game.
Do you know why there's no one in the Freeport cities? because there doesn't have to be any longer. People can just immediately zone to their guild and out bypassing the cities entirely. Most people don't bother going to the cities anymore.
Don't talk about what you don't understand.
You know, the subject of this thread is about why EQ2 doesn't attract more people.
Rendus just made a very valid point about how the game looks from a new player, which is obviously something you do not understand, because you are so busy calling everyone liars and telling them to shut up.
Comments
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Ok. I resubbed a few weeks ago. I crashed into blue screen of death with my 8800gtx 3-4 times per hour! Usually right in the character screen. I don't crash in any other game with my computer.
When I removed 8800gtx and put some old 6600 card into, it stopped crashing in EQ2. I used the lowest graphical setting possible even when I had 8800gtx in it, and it still crashed. When I contacted support, after a few protocol steps that could possibly fix it, they said there's nothing else they can do about the problem. It definetly is EQ2 issue with 8800gtx cards.
This is from a EQ2 player(well not active anymore) But the main reason why i am not active with the game now is to many x packs, I just dont have the money to keep up with that at this time, and by the time i would be able to get it will be outdated and a new xpack is out or coming which you need the old one for.
Playing: Everthing
Played: DAoC,AC2,EvE,SWG,WAR,MXO,CoX,EQ2,L2,LOTRO,SB,UO,WoW.
I have played every MMO that has ever come out.
Like I said above crashing is not an issue. To say it is an issue with 8800 series is not true. I am running 8800 gt oc cards and have no crash problems at all. If you are crashing it is probably not your 8800 card.
Ok. I resubbed a few weeks ago. I crashed into blue screen of death with my 8800gtx 3-4 times per hour! Usually right in the character screen. I don't crash in any other game with my computer.
When I removed 8800gtx and put some old 6600 card into, it stopped crashing in EQ2. I used the lowest graphical setting possible even when I had 8800gtx in it, and it still crashed. When I contacted support, after a few protocol steps that could possibly fix it, they said there's nothing else they can do about the problem. It definetly is EQ2 issue with 8800gtx cards.
First are you using Vista? Then are you getting a client not responding crash message or the well know out of memory error message? Most of the EQ2 crash issues are Vista issues not 8800 issues. You seem to know what you are doing but make sure you have the lastest nvidea drivers and have Vista up to date. If you are in XP then I can not help but if you are in Vista and actually care I might be able to help you out. Send me an e-mail here and I can offer a few suggestions. One system hog in Vista is superfetch make sure you have this disabled. Checkout my sticky here on making the game look and perform better. There are a few suggestions that might help. If you are done with EQ2 and do not care then it is to bad you did not get to enjoy the game as I do. Great graphic and solid stable performance. These things are in EQ2 but unfortunatly you need to tweak things more then other games to get EQ2 running great. More people would play if it performed great out of the box. EQ2 does take a bit of homework to get it to it's total glory.
Ok. I resubbed a few weeks ago. I crashed into blue screen of death with my 8800gtx 3-4 times per hour! Usually right in the character screen. I don't crash in any other game with my computer.
When I removed 8800gtx and put some old 6600 card into, it stopped crashing in EQ2. I used the lowest graphical setting possible even when I had 8800gtx in it, and it still crashed. When I contacted support, after a few protocol steps that could possibly fix it, they said there's nothing else they can do about the problem. It definetly is EQ2 issue with 8800gtx cards.
First are you using Vista? Then are you getting a client not responding crash message or the well know out of memory error message? Most of the EQ2 crash issues are Vista issues not 8800 issues. You seem to know what you are doing but make sure you have the lastest nvidea drivers and have Vista up to date. If you are in XP then I can not help but if you are in Vista and actually care I might be able to help you out. Send me an e-mail here and I can offer a few suggestions. One system hog in Vista is superfetch make sure you have this disabled. Checkout my sticky here on making the game look and perform better. There are a few suggestions that might help. If you are done with EQ2 and do not care then it is to bad you did not get to enjoy the game as I do. Great graphic and solid stable performance. These things are in EQ2 but unfortunatly you need to tweak things more then other games to get EQ2 running great. More people would play if it performed great out of the box. EQ2 does take a bit of homework to get it to it's total glory.
Vista x 64 bit. It's driver nvldkmkm.sys has stopped responding but has recovered error message that after a few seconds goes into BSOD. I did try various vista settings (turned off aero, turn off UAC, ..) I have enabled automatic vista updates so it's definetly up-to date. For my card I tried almost all possible drivers that are out. The most stable seemed 169.25 a bit old, but with the newest driver it crashed in EQ2 after a few seconds.
I was monitoring temperatures and voltaiges during EQ2, well everything you could think of. I was even changing settings in my bios - memory remap feature turned off, plugged off my sound card, moved ram sticks from one slot to another, formatted disc, installed EQ2 only, with Windows XP SP2 (32 bit). In XP I wasn't getting driver nvl... error message but a complete lockup instead and the only thing I could do was to manually reset the computer. The frequency of crashes was the same. In XP when I changed 8800gtx to 6600 it went fine.
To add a final note. It almost always crashes when the system is in idle state. -> When I go afk in EQ2 for a few seconds (20-30) it's almost definetly that it's gonna crash.
the crashing is weird cant say i have had that happen, i have left my eq2 open for hours afk never crashed, all my food was gone though lol.
playing eq2 and two worlds
ohhh nevermind yer using vista, i uninstalled vista and put in xp. Too many problems for me with vista, in any game it seems.
playing eq2 and two worlds
I admit it was frustrating at first. However with some research, tweaking, and patching I got my vista systems running great. It took more work then most would want to or should have to, to make Vista a good gaming operating system. Now I love it but for a couple month it was a pain in the ass.
Steelrose, Have you tried any hotfixes? These are not automaticlly downloaded with the windows updates. This one might help, take a look at the 64bit version. I used it on one of my boxes that I do not play eq2 on but had some game crash issues it help me out. Might help with eq2. My EQ2 box is a Vista 32 box so I did not have to many game issues. Seems like Vista 64 does have a lot more game issues. This hot fix was included in service pak 1. I used it before that service pak was released. Good luck it seems like you tried a lot.
Download KB940105 'Virtual address space Usage in Windows game
development - Fixes problems with certain games (BF 2, BF 2142, etc.)
involving low frame rates and crashes.
support.microsoft.com/kb/940105
Thanks, I'm sure I tried some hotfixes as well some time ago, but I don't remember which precisely. Ill try to download the one you recommended.
Lionexx,
Expansion packs come once a year, and include every single expansion previously released with them.
I have an 8800gtx and I never crash.... I'm also running vista 64 ultimate. I have never crashed or bluescreened in eq2. I've been playing eq2 mostly in the last 2-3 weeks. Before that I played like 9 months ago and I did sometimes get graphics issues that forced me to quit the game. When they did the update to bring in guilds I've increased my playing time and frequency and I've not had a problem at all. The multicore support has also made a great improvement in performance for me. I'm running 175.70 video drivers.
Other games that are causing me problems were warhammer, I'd get a crash to the desktop after an hour or two playing sometimes sooner. In the latest patch I don't recall having this happen but I'm not playing warhammer much anymore. In Fallout3 I'm having a fair number of problems with freezing/not responding problems. Sometimes happens in a few minutes sometimes goes for an hour. Vanguard is pretty solid for me. I sometimes will crash to the desktop but it is very rare. I've played vanguard for 9-10 hours straight and never had a crash or problem.
I'm playing everything exclusively in vista 64 on a quad core intel cpu, with 4gb ram and an 8800gtx.
up until 70 it isn't that linear.... You got multiple areas you can level in and doing some dungeons along the way makes it even more non linear.... I also don't feel it is linear when playing even in a zone. It is not like guild wars or warhammer these feel very linear. This feels more like wow or vanguard. There are quest hubs and you move from hub to hub but you are not forced and there are multiple hubs you can go to at most levels.
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Ethion
I have played EQ2 since day one for about 4 years or so, and the main reason I stopped playing it is, that I want to see fresh meadows, thats all.
EQ2 is a really great game, but it is a kind of clumsy game. IMO there are a few reasons why EQ2 never got the attention it could have.
1) Since day 1 EQ2 was regarded as epigone, as bad stepchild of the legend EQ. It got tons of bashing as being watered down EQ, not living up to the legend of EQ1, which is just not fair since EQ1 simply was published in another era. Thus EQ2 caught a kind of bad name from many people who didnt really know a heck about the game and that bad mouthing alas stuck with the game as being something mediocre. Unjustified so, but once you have a negative fame, such things stick.
2) Unfortunately true is the fact that EQ2 is not easy to get into. A lot of later quests are very complicated, they have dozens of interwoven sub-parts, and due to the complex quests it is VERY difficult to find people who are on the exact same step of the quests than you are. In the 4 years of gaming I was just unable to finish at least half of all quests, I carried them in my journal literally for years because some I just didnt want to skip, but it was impossible to find ppl for them. Most quests have no overlapping content with other quests, so either you find someone who is on the EXACT same point as you or you need generous people who help you. Its just terribly bad quest planning and demands to be daily active in a very good guild which makes monthy schedules to get ANYTHING done in EQ2, and its just way too few people who have such dedication to a MMO. IMO thats one of the MAIN reasons EQ2 was way behind what it could have been.
3) Finally I feel the game was bogged down with bad loot and bad XP output in the first 2 years and the expansions Desert-thing (what was the name?) and Kingdom of Skies (not sure about the names anymore) were just very mediocre expansions. Only with Echoes of Faydwer they really made a very good expansion, but at that point EQ2 was already old. It took them LONG to really make interesting loot and halfway decend gear. In the first 2 years I just gathered endless trash loot like Badger claws, zombie brains or such vendor trash and there was almost nothing of small, fun items to loot or find. Also 2/3rd of the quest rewards were usually trash as well and the XP output made the last third of the game quite a grind. Actually I feel thats still the case in the last 20 levels. Beyond level 50 the game looses quite some speed and coolness in terms of skills to learn. It gets kinda more like work IMO.
Overall I always had the feeling EQ2 was one of the best chances to be a real killer game, but the devs kinda lacked spirit and fantasy. It took them way too long to realize the trend. Most gear still locks lackluster and is only dyed variations of the ever same gear, and that after all those years. I havent seen ONE really new gear design, its all just with different colours. Overall its too clumsy, slow paced and complicated to really attract people with less than total dedication. EQ2 has MUCH to offer when you play daily with a big, active guild and you really want to dive into a MMO. if you have a bit less time and patience for planning your doings at least a month ahead you will always just scratch the surface and EQ2 is not really helping you along.
I recall after I had left EQ2 and returned later my guild was gone and most friends, and without a social network to help me through the content 80% of the time I found myself waiting in Qeynos calling for a group in vain or soloing green or grey quests while waiting for a group to find. You just cant do a THING worth doing without an established network and long preparation and daily gameplay, because once you play casual everyone you made the complex quests with will have finished them without you and you are lost.
I find it a great loss the EQ2 devs never succeeded in making EQ2 the hit it could have been.
For me, EQ2 has none of the things I liked about EQ1, none of the things I liked about WoW (and War), and it actually has many things I dislike about Wow and war...
No MMO dev ever used the best feature EQ1 had, freedom and different strategies (depending on class and location) to kill mobs; EQ1 was indeed a sandbox game. I think in the end DEVs never liked that; it was more an accident than an actual thought out feature.
They forgo EQ1 racial towns and lore! For example, playing a Troll or Ogre was an unique experience, because of the complex faction system, you'd have to be careful about where to go, even when interacting with allies (DElf); the swamp was home. Same for other races and classes.
I detest the many little quests that demand no thinking and give very little rewards that pretty much all MMOs implement nowadays; there is absolutely no feeling of accomplishment.
The lack of PvP is a problem nowadays; no matter how good your AI is, fighting other players with different tactics and styles is just better. DAOC had the best form of PvP IMO and WaR hasn't been able to capture it just yet (not very optimistic here).
I'm currently playing WAR, but have already cancellend my sub.
Possibly the most sensible post about EQ2 i've read..kudos to you!
I have to disagree fozzie. I'm not sure what he's talking about but he's definately wrong. I've never ever sat in a city waiting for a group or soloed green or grey. I've had a problem finding a group maybe once or twice in all the years I've played and I pretty much always solo and have never had to just solo green or grey unless they are ^^^.
Either he left in the beginning 6 months of a game or he hasn't played the game.
People tend to go and play the game their friends do. This is probably a huge contributing factor of the sub numbers for WoW. Along with the apparent 4 million China subscribers. If your friends are playing one game, you will be all alone if you play a different one. Thankfully there are those that shop around.
As written before, there are many reasons, why EQ2 never became as successful as it maybe should have been.
The launch was subpar. I joined the game five months after launch and it was actually not too bad. Bugs were pretty much gone (well, for an mmorpg), but it took years until people stopped talking about the bugs, the bad performance etc.
Another real drawback was that It was sooo hardware hungry. There were pages and pages in the forums how to make the thing run on a normal PC with it still looking halfway decent. The graphics itself were a question of taste. They looked fairly boring on low settings (and that was what most players could run it on), but I liked them and I think now, that I can run it on the highest setting with all the bells and whistles, EQ2s graphics still look better than WARs...But at launch and for several years after, it limited their playerbase considerably.
The lack of marketing really has been appaling (perhaps even worse here in Europe) and I don't quite understand how this is possible with a big company like SOE.
I also have to agree, that they changed the character of the game, although for me that was possibly the reason why I did stay with EQ2. When I joined it was very, very group orientated and the death penalty was very harsh. They changed that and made it more accessible to solo players, BUT in my mind they didn't go far enough with that (yes, I will be slaughtered for that
)
There were so many quests chains I started and I could solo the first few steps without problems and then all of a sudden for the last couple of steps I needed a group or even a raid. Now this quest design made things very complicated, because you have to find people who are roughly on the same step wihing the chain as you are. And if you are not in a raiding com, you have no chance ever to experience the "end" of that story you have worked so hard on.
In the end, the game lacked focus. It was not hard-core enough for the ex-UOler and ex EQler, but not solo friendly enough for the casuals.
With the last expansion, I think, they took the final step towards a heavily raid orientated game. Leveling has been made easier for people to be able to push their twinks to lvl 80 and then use them for the main purpose of the game today: Raiding.
Almost all non-raiders in my middle sized guild have by now left the game.
I still like EQ2 a lot. It has so many good things, housing, crafting, a lot of content, a nice community etc. It has made it hard to find another mmorpg to take its place, because it has set the standards so high and that is the biggest compliment I can make EQ2.
Couple of reason why I quit playing EQ.
1) The nerf bat the put on stats. The made stats alter your character performance in combat by a great deal. Now, it seems there is no point in raising stats.
2) Nerf bat to the Splitpaw Saga. I loved that AP, and they nerfed it to hell and back, because some people already lvled past it and felt others shouldn;t enjoy the content.
3) Lack of solo dungeons. They quit making them, even though, this is basically a solo game.
4) Nerf to crafted items. Crafted items used to be a lot better.
5) Combat revamp/nerf. Just didn't sit well with me.
6) Raiding. In EQ2's early days we were constantly assured that this would not turn into EQ1. Of course, we were lied to.
Another point is the POV in combat. My character moves like he is spazzing out in combat. Very twitchy movement.
I just recently resubbed and I'm shocked how desolate it is. And I'm on AB, which I heard was one of the more populated servers. I played for about a year starting on the release day, so I was expecting more players. How things have changed. There's a few folks at the high traffic areas in Freeport and Qeynos, but once you get out into the wide world population drops off to nothing.
At first I was smitten with nostagia, seeing all the places I remember and doing some of the same quests again. But it's so easy now.....it took me months to do most of the quests in the Commonlands the first time around. Now, it's taken me a couple of weeks to reach 30 and everything is greyed out. I have zero sense of accomplishment. And the quest rewards are altogether crappy. Since XP is so plentiful why waste my time attaining an item when I can buy the same or better at the Broker for a few gold? I realize everything is funnelled to the high level and new content areas, i was just shocked at how it affected gameplay.
rofl... Rendus... you just resubbed and you think you know everything about the game.
Do you know why there's no one in the Freeport cities? because there doesn't have to be any longer. People can just immediately zone to their guild and out bypassing the cities entirely. Most people don't bother going to the cities anymore.
Don't talk about what you don't understand.
You know, the subject of this thread is about why EQ2 doesn't attract more people.
Rendus just made a very valid point about how the game looks from a new player, which is obviously something you do not understand, because you are so busy calling everyone liars and telling them to shut up.