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Honest thoughts from a tester now that the NDA is lifted.
jd269
Member Posts: 225
Thought I'd express my thoughts here on EQ2 since the NDA was just lifted. Well, to start out let me say that I am extremely disappointed in the game. I'll give you my ratings breakdown.
Performance: 2/10
The requirements are unneccesarily large even playing at the lowest settings.. and even while playing at the lowest settings on a medium PC there are tremendous lag issues. Many know I was a bit of an eq2 fanboy for awhile, and argued that it would perform well on current PC's.. I couldn't have been more wrong.
On my own PC, a 2400 MhZ Athlon, with 1 gig ram, and a Radeon 9800, I can barely handle playing at the lowest settings. The frame rate is terrible, everything you do lags, and at the lowest settings which I play at, it looks like crud. Nothing at all like those fancy screenshots, even when I put it up to medium (which I can't take for very long because the increase in lag drives me further into insanity).
Combat 3/10
It's no better than EQ1, sorry. Heroic opportunities are a complete waste outside of soloing, and locked combat has led to more trains in a few weeks of beta testing than in a few years of EQ1.
Classes 1/10
There is really only 4 classes.. the sub classes have very little distinction, and you wind up needing 2 healers just to survive. If you didn't like how you needed lots of clerics in EQ1 to do anything.. well, get ready for it to get even worse. As far as actually playing the classes they are all the same.. not like EQ1, where melee characters were basically all about positioning etc and a few disc's.. you pretty much auto position in EQ2 so that's not an issue, you just hit buttons the same as casters did in EQ1.
Soloing 0/10
Forget it. Completely not worth it, less worth it than EQ1. This is a grouping game.
Grouping 4/10
The actual grouping experience is worse than EQ1.. generally you want 2 healer's (which can be difficult to find), there's less amenities when it comes to finding groupmates compared to EQ1, and people leave groups often to complete quests.
Crafting - I don't craft, so I can't tell you exactly, but I have heard from crafter's that it is quite good.
Questing 4/10
Think of nearly every quest being an uninvolving Fed Ex quest, and you don't know where to get them from. One npc may give you a quest later, but you have no way of knowing.. no indicator, and when you're done for most quests you have to go back once again and search through all the npc's just to try and find the npc you originally got the quest from (and yes, it is a hassle because you can easily get 100+ quests in your quest book).
Graphics 8/10 (5/10 on my pc specs above)
You've seen the official screenshots (although I have to wonder if they've been retouched), and they look quite good. While very high poly, the game as a whole just feels very stiff, and unalive. No torso, or chest slider in character creation makes everyone look very similar, and some of the haircuts just appear plain stupid.
Sound 8/10
Voice overs are pretty good, sound is pretty good, but there's nothing gripping like the final fantasy soundtrack. You won't be disappointed with them.
Story 2/10
Story, what story?
Immersion 4/10
Just felt it very tough to get into.. immersion isn't all about sound and graphics. It did captivate me a few times early on, but after the initial oooh aaah, it's EQ2, I just couldn't get into it.
Final Conclusion
Simply put, I won't buy EQ2. From my posts you can see that I'm not a WoW fanboy, but what I saw in the WoW stress test was much further along than EQ2 (just way too cartoony). The game does nothing innovative, it is just another case of all glitter, and no substance as we unfortunately see quite often in the gaming industry. I hope that those reading aren't suckered in by the celebrity voice over's or the official screenshots. This game will not immerse you anywhere near the way EQ1 did... well maybe that's a good thing. If you play the game hardcore for a month for $60 maybe that's worth it.. since with most non-mmorpg's you don't get that.
Comments
dude...
lol wow
well I didn't expect that from ANYONE
ehm..
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/load/forums/loadforum/51/loadthread/24434/setstart/1/loadclass/35
lol
ask me questions..and be aware, my ratings aren't near his.. (except for the graphics)
http://www.facebook.com/murtb
I miss DAoC
Now playing : FFXIV
Waiting on : TBD
Best MMORPGs played : EQ, FFXI
Umh...sorry to say this but its SERVER LAG, not video lag. Its a beta and they have been fixing it.
I agree with JD on most things except the lag. Its getting better by the week so that will be fixed for release.. But gamewise? This is the stupid mans RPG. Meaning any child above 6 can understand and play it ALL choices you can ever make has been removed and everything is automated... Everything.
I am not buying this, I have been playing games for 23 years and I really do not want the game to play itself for me. But yes, children and slightly slow people can enjoy it. Its impossible to do anyhting wrong.
Only game I wait for right now: Imperator.
Go Mythic!
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
Well I geuss I am very slow, and the 300,000 other ppl they are going to get to play in the first couple months.
Signaturen-Creator
EQ2 Qeynos Guild- http://www.imperium-arcanum.com
Yea, cant win em all can ya?
Myself i love the game, i wasnt impressed as i was when i first started playing it because i was expecting more of the game. But now ive been playing for a while (3-5 weeks), its getting more interesting, more fun, lesser lag all the time while being under stress mode, im finding my way around easier.
No game is perfect, if a game was perfect everyone would be playing the game.
Yes slow people are in majority in the world. Why do you think they are aiming for them as a consumer base?
Come to think of it.. Of course I had to explain that part.
Only game I wait for right now: Imperator.
Go Mythic!
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
http://vnboards.ign.com/EQ2_General_Board/b22210/77117512/?13
read that review.
Signaturen-Creator
EQ2 Qeynos Guild- http://www.imperium-arcanum.com
Hmm weird, I wrote something about the story and it didnt show that in my post. Ah well, screw it.
Ah yes. A review from a lvl 14... Yes, solid.
That someone likes simple does not mean simple is good. That someone thinks simple things are hard does not mean they are advanced. It means some people are satisfied with less...
Anyway back to worshipping... I am sure you need all your concentration to to understand what skill pop up automaticly next time.
Only game I wait for right now: Imperator.
Go Mythic!
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
To be quite honest.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I dont believe anything you said hehe... I think its all bullcrap how can you say what story? EQ2 has the most immersive story since Final Fantasys or Earthbound (snes) Im sorry to say but Poo on you... not just because i like EQ2 but you really need to not be so lame..
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"SOE shot my dog, killed my parents, stole my wife, and kiddnapped my lawn gnome."
This place is full of tree-huggers and tofu fartn' faeries...
Funny that most experienced hardcore players are leaning towards eq2. I think you need to quit talking out of your ass.
Signaturen-Creator
EQ2 Qeynos Guild- http://www.imperium-arcanum.com
Geesh man, what a bunch of fanboys. and using someones age? AND whats worse, it not making any sense.
I find it funny when people are in complete denial too, personaly I haven't played it yet and will reserve judgement for when I do but you guys are really pathetic. listen to what the guy has to say and make your own opinion (mature/sensible opinions, not knee jerk fanboyism)
Lol I swear this is like politics. People take this matter so serisouly, as I do
Signaturen-Creator
EQ2 Qeynos Guild- http://www.imperium-arcanum.com
Well lets see, "listen to what the man says":
- *This is the stupid mans RPG*
- *any child above 6 can understand and play it*
- *yes, children and slightly slow people can enjoy it*
- *Yes slow people are in majority in the world. Why do you think they are aiming for them as a consumer base?*
- *I am sure you need all your concentration to to understand what skill pop up automaticly next time.*
He has said nothing about the game except for a lag issue and the jibberish his been grumping at from what ive just quoted.
Yea, like anyone should listen to that very informative thoughts regarding the game. Sure, just sounds like a typical WoW forum hugger, full of them over there, aka "got a problem with something, doesnt matter what it is, heck "fcuk it" something else is coming out lets look into that now".
All glory to the Hypnotoad (monotone voices)
All glory to the Hypnotoad (monotone voices)
JD check you RAM that its work.I mean even if your computer is running the non pro 9800 it should work fine on balanced setting.
I have test this game on high performance(2 steps from lowest) on a ti4600 and it ran smoothly apart from the antontica server lag.
A friend of mine had a probem with hossible performance despite a 6800 turned out he had a faulty sitck of 512 RAM .
Also are you on broadband?
couldn't agree more with the original poster.
I am gutted that the game is so lacking, and can't see how they are going to turn it around before launch. Been waiting a long time for this, was soo excited getting into the beta, but I can't face even loading it now. 1.5 meg cable connection, and the lag makes most areas unplayable. Sure they may fix that by launch time, but are they going to be able to fix the actual lack of enjoyable gameplay.
I hope a load of other folk are enjoying it, but sorry to say, it's not for me. Looks great, sounds great, but it's got nothing else going for it
I agree alot with the first poster, I have tested EQ2 for 2 months or so and it's really missing alot, I think they try too hard to make it good so they are missing that the game have to be fun too.
The graphic is nice, need a super computer for it to look really good tho, but the whole gameplay really lacking in smoothness.
Most of the quests I have done is just a big joke, you just target every NPC you see and hit h (h is to hail the npc) and hope someone have a quest if they do you just continue to next one and do same thing all over the zone, after that you move to next zone and do same thing, you will get 50+ "quests" that are totally pointless and are mostly just personal services for the NPCs, at higher lvl the quest change abit and have abit more feeling like you actually do something to develop and not just run errands.
IMO EQ2 have a very long way to go before it will be ready for release, if they release it before christmas then I think they will have alot of dissapointed customer, the big EQ fanbois will ofcourse play and love the game anyway tho.
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Azzazzimon
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Azzazzimon
Well. I agree with Harafnir, and the OP in some ways, and disagree in others.
The game does feel dumbed down. There are very, if any, real choices that you get to make about your character. Alot of people complained about this on the beta forums. The devs basically said that you can pick what gear you use.
The game, to me, can't seem to decide who it's trying to cater to, and apparently, neither can the devs. I seem to remember alot of hot air about appealing to the casual gamers that Everquest left behind, but this game is not for casual players in the least. But the gameplay is not really made to appeal to hardcore gamers, either. Any need for skill or thought has been stripped away, so that no one can really stand out It's like a mish mash of Everquest, and DAoC, with a dash of FFXI for good measure.
And then there is healing. The holy trinity of EQ has been replaced with a new holy trinity. tank and 2 healers. the other 3 spots in a group are dps, or maybe a chanter and dps. While having a chanter can help, I haven't seen much of a difference with or without one. If and when Enchanters get some form of AE crowd control that might change things.
I really didn't notice the lag too much in the Commonlands as I did in Qeynos. and Antonica. And they've gone a long way to fixing the lag, and the crashes. That's not what I'm worried about though. What worries me, is with them aiming for the Nov 15th release, and the lifting of the NDA certainly seems to point to that, is that they won't be able to fix all the broken quests in time. Like the Fallen Gate access quest. Fallen Gate is a pretty important zone for the upper teens, and 20's in Freeport, because of all the quests that require going there, and the Lvl 20 armor quests. They said they fixed it, and it would be in the next patch. Next patch came and went. FG still broken. Many of the Heritage quests are broken. And that's not going to fly with people. The Betrayal quests work, but once you finish, they aren't switching things over. My ratonga did the quest, and while I can get into Qeynos now, I can't access Qeynos chat, if I try to use the merchant board to buy or sell with other players, I only get a list of Freeport players, and since getting into Freeport is really hard, and I can't use anything there once I do get in, that makes buying/selling a bit difficult. And if people had a house in Freeport, then do the quest without getting rid of the house, they can't get one in Qeynos.
There are still some pathing issues in some dungeons. Most notably that I can recall was in Blackburrow. Mobs get trained to the exit, and it looks like they stay there visually on the client side, but the server has them in their actual positions, so you come to the area they are at, and see nothing, til they start beating your ass.
There are also the usual class balance issues, and a couple hundred other things that need some tweaking, like traps on chests, and so on.
I just wonder if the devs can get all this fixed in the next 2 to 3 weeks. Because if not, they'll fall victim to the same problem as SWG, where they're so busy trying to fix this issue, or that issue with the database, or whatever takes precedence, that people will chew through enough content fast enough that they will have to start diverting dev resources away from bug fixing to crank out an expansion, so things end up never getting fixed, and from there the situation just starts to spiral out exponentially.
I would, however, like to know where 90210 gets his magical 300,000 players number. You expecting everyone that's playing SWG, DAoC and UO to suddenly quit, and play EQ2? Will everyone drop EQ, and star playing EQ2? Or are the boxes going to be sprinkled with some sort of magical pixie dust that will get 300,000 people that previously had no interest in MMO's to rush out and buy EQ2?
No the number for a name guy is just doing the same thing he has criticized another poster for
"talking out of his ass"
ROLEPLAYERS UNITE!!!!!
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.
I know, but I just thought I'd offer him the chance to try and get that hoof out of his mouth