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Is EQ2 right for an old EQ1 player?
Clobster
Member Posts: 94
in Everquest II
I've tested out EQ2 only a little so far and want the opinion of players who have been in for awhile. And sorry if my post is messed up but I'm typing on a phone. I want to know if EQ2 is similar to EQ1. Ignore graphics. Are zones still very individuali2d and cool? Are classes still very speciali2d, or is it like WoW where any class can solo the entire way through? I used to play a cleric, and my job was healing and nothing more. Monks were dps and master pullers, nothing else. What is it like now for classes?
Comments
EQ2 is very different from EQ1 in the fact that it's very solo friendly and there's hundreds and hundreds of quests. People still group but generally not till after lvl 20. This game is like 20 times easier then EQ1 but it's more "deep" then WoW and the community is great. EQ1 was great back in the day (I played it for 4 years off and on) but EQ2 is more suitable for the present day and there is far less inconviences in the game.
Class roles are basically the same but unlike EQ1 all healers in this game are equally useful. In EQ1 a cleric was required or your raid was auto-failed. Every class can indeed solo all the way through to max level, some faster then others. Although I hear the latest expansion is more focused on group content (haven't got that high yet).
You will be very disappointed in EQ2 if you are looking for something similar to EQ1 especially classic EQ1. EQ2 is all about soloing. SOE continuously makes it easier to solo and doesn't foster grouping.
If you want a MMOG that fosters grouping and cooperation and will challenge you then you should try Darkfall once more slots open up. It is a PvP oriented design so you need to be open to PvP.
I actually enjoy Everquest 2 and the ability to solo some encounters.
It's certainly more group centric than World of Warcraft ever was, which is refreshing for me.
It may not be as hardcore and group necessary as classic Everquest, but the ability to solo some portions of the content provides accessibility to all MMO player types.
EQ2 is a great game, with some nice depth and a huge amount of interesting classes to try out. It is also Norrath, even if you will have a hard time recognizing it, but still the lore is nice and the zones are well crafted. The crafting system is fun and involving. Otherwise, as above, you can solo the entire way to max level, but on the other hand you have raids and group dungeons meaning that if you want to experience the whole game you will still have to group. Also, even if all the healers are viable in all content, they still heal in very different ways making their playstyles unique.
On the other hand Vanguard actually feels more like a follow up to EQ than EQ2 does. VG also has a lot of interesting classes, involving crafting and a diplomacy is a nice touch (I bet Sony would like to switch diplomacy for one of their trading card games). VG also has a wide open world with lots of exciting exploring to offer, flying mounts that you control and the ability to actually get to all places that you can see. VG also is much more group centric than EQ2, eventhough it is possible to solo. VG still suffers from the poor launch 2 years ago though and has a rather limited population as well as some rough edges in the performance department (it is a lot better than at launch though).
I don't think Darkfall is for you if you liked the specialization of classes from EQ1, or the pve content. On the other hand Darkfall seems to have a nice open world, albeit with rather few mobs, but it is very pvp centric and you can build clan cities, fight for resources etc. However it seems to suffer from an even poorer launch than VG, and at the moment you can't even buy the game, despite them launching it on the 25th of february...
I started playing EQ before there was a Kunark and I played EQ2 the day it launched. I stoped playing eq2 shortly after there were too many bugs in it to begin with but about a year later I gave it another try. They fixed most of the problems and the is beautifull to look at, quests are great and at low levels easy to solo. Even at some of the higher level content you can still solo effectively. One part that I dont like is that the classes all feel the same, a tank is a tank and other than a few abilities I think they tryed to take the balanceing too far. EQ used to have a lot if diversity but #2 just seems to have lost that feel. I feel like in some ways it got dumbed down on some of the group dynamics.
I've played EQ and EQ2 extensively, and love both of them for what they bring to the MMO world. When EQ2 first came out I cancelled my EQ subscription and dabbled in it for about 3 months but since original EQ was my first MMO I was expecting a similar challenge from it's predecessor and was dissapointed that it was in fact a completely different game so went back to EQ only to realize just how slow the pace of that game was.
I think I flip flopped 3 or 4 more times before I finally settled on EQ2 for good. Basically it took me that long to accept that they were two entirely different games which shared the Everquest name. EQ2 has continued to add content to the point where I don't think I can ever catch up with it all. It's very solo friendly but a soloer will never see the whole game as there is a huge amount of content geared towards small groups, and a large amount of content geared towards full groups and raids.
The perfect group compostiton is not set in stone like EQ1, there is a lot more flexibility getting a viable group put together. Looking back at EQ LDoN for example, when that first came out we always had to have an enchanter with us, granted we probably could have done it without one if we were extra careful but the enchanter was our security blanket, I can't remember more than 2 times we have had an enchanter with us up to lvl 65ish in EQ2 ( later on they are indespsible though ). You'll still need someone to take the damage, someone to dish out the damage, and someone to heal in EQ2 but you won't be locked into a Strict Cleric/Warrior scenario. I apologize for this somewhat incoherent post as I stayed up way past my bed time.
Vanguard felt more like EQ1, then EQ2 does. Atleast to me, but I only played EQ1 a short time.
There are a lot of things I liked about EQ2, but as the previous couple posters mentioned, it has a different feeling to it from eq1, especially in group dynamics. I also agree Vanguard seems more of a sequel to eq1.
I did enjoy the lore of eq2 and how the world was different. It was cool when they stated adding new things in that you remembered from eq1, but most of it was flooded and there were only islands and such, hehe. It has been a while, so I can't recall specifics, I just remember when I came across something familiar, I was like, ah, cool, I remember this.
Give the free trial a shot. You might like it or not. It kept me busy for a while (6mo- 1year). I was also playing casually which is easier to do in eq2, well as far as soloing that is. Although, never really had problems soloing in eq1 lol.
Well it is like most say here, it is not the same as EQ although there are strong similarities. Most of the awful grind, mob camping and sitting LFG for hours are gone. Dungeons are designed so you actually go through them from beginning to end. But it is easier to solo you do not NEED a group but as someone said you will miss a lot of the fun content and the good loot if you do not group, as before the good equipment and the fun encounters are usually in dungeons. It is a lot about what you liked in EQ, I liked EQ but did not have the time for the camps and I hated sitting LFG for hours.
EQ 2 is still more "hardcore" (in a loose sense of the word) than other major MMOs but it is not old EQ, I guess Vanguard is more like EQ in actual game experience. I played Vanguard a bit and did not like it. But it is really about what you are looking for.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
i played eq1 for 5 years from kunark to omens of war or the one after that, cant remember
i also played eq2 off and on from launch to a few months ago.
i like them both, but eq1 was so much better then eq2 is. when i first come back to eq2 it has the new sheen again, but it wears off fast. i get mind numblingly bored with eq2 in weeks
not like eq1 where i played for years straight and loved it
so it just depends on you, i love and hate eq2. to me the only thing that eq2 has from eq1 is the races/classes, the name of the world, and gods, and zone names are the same in some places. the rest is completely different. i also like mob grinding with a group then solo quest grinding by myself
What i have found out when playing Vanguard, WOW, EQ2 and LOTRO that these games are easy to solo and quest driven games. Unlike EQ1, which i played for 7 years, people tend to group to complete quests/dungeons rather then go for the experience and the occasiona drop like you do in EQ1, this is a major difference in experience the game play, groups are far more short lived then in EQ1, when people have completed their quest they move on, sometimes even inspite that you haven't completed it, also you dont stick to one place, you have to keep moving as mobs are easier so quicker killed and the spawn place are different, not like as in EQ1 where a group can keep hunting at the same spot and have a puller brought the mob to the group,
Vanguard comes closest to the old EQ1 feel, but till now there is no game out there that can give you an equivelant of EQ1 but i doubt there will ever be on in the future, EQ1 was unique and all the other games are unique also, sure they have similar features but each games has their own playing style. The games are not better or worse then EQ1, they just play different.
You just have to keep trying to find a game that fits you best, just play the demo's / trails and find a game that suits you best, but remember that its never will be exactly the same as EQ1.
Yes you can solo the whole game with any class if you want but to be honest, EQ2 is not a fun solo game. It's in group action and RAIDs the game shines, and in the load of content it have.
It is however very different from the first game, if you want something closer you should try Vanguard instead.
well i played eq2 from when it went live.
the only time i soloed in eq2 was till lv20 i played a mystic (heal,ward) .
you play eq2 how you want to play it be it solo to max level/ group up,/ or run round doing quests.
my play style in eq2 is grouping going into dungeons and haveing a blast
solo bores me to tears in eq2 and if you were to solo to top level you would miss out on so much content
and has for quests you dont have to do them i only did the ones you had to when game went live for access to a place but they have done away with alot of them type quests now. so take it from me i went to top level just grouping up with people and haveing a blast in dungeons. i was not there just for quests but for the advenure.
and yes zones have there own look and feel.
i would recomend eq2 to anyone try it you will have a blast and not forgetting the people playing eq2 are a great crowd very helpfull one of the best ive seen in a mmorpg and ive played them all
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Yeah, EQ2 have the best community of any game I played
I wanted to thank everyone for their input. You've given me a good idea of what to expect, and I do think I'll try out vanguard a little bit and see how that goes.
For those of you who reccomended Darkfall, I actually am in the process of selling my account to someone :P It wasn't for me, but not a bad game.