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BETA Testers IMHO on EQ2
hawk99
Member Posts: 16
Basically it's bloody awful.
Forced grouping - You don't group, you DON'T advance, simple as that
Solo play is seriously gimped - very few solo encounters, xp on them is so low that it will take 100's of kills to advance a level in the 10 - 20 levels and 1000 + kills to advance 20+ , not sure of the ratio above 25 but heard its the same.
Crafting it tedious beyond measure, the basic system is well thought out but the total inability to 'batch' any of the base level jobs makes it a huge time sink.
Making one scroll will require 1 Ink, 1 Quill, 1 Paper & 1 Fuel. Each of the elements to make the scroll will also need to be made from three other bits and one of those bits must also be made from three other bits. For Example a elm quill requires, Elm Board, Chloro Wash and Sandpaper(the fuel), The Elm Board requires, Severed Elm (raw gathered material), Chloro Resin and Sandpaper. The Chlorowash and Chloro resin also have to be made and each require, Roots (gathered raw), Distilled Water and a Candle (fuel) . So three stages to make one quill, each items requires the same number of earlier stages to make the three base items to make one scroll, on average each stage will take about 2 minutes to complete assuming you have all the items required and are stood by the correct machien. So, 2 minutes(chloro wash) + 2 minutes(chloro resin) + 2 minutes(Elm Board) +2 minutes(Elm Quill) = 8 minutes to make.. now repeat that for the paper(8 minutes) and ink(10 minutes), add a couple of minute for the ink as it has an extra component and your ready to make your one scroll, which will also take 2 minutes so 28 minutes to make it.. not including any time running from chemisty table to wood working table to scribing table, did I mention tedious ?
Higher level scrolls for skills and spells require very rare drop items that make them very hard to make, which makes the price for them beyond the majority of players.
Quest system is nice but you will get given quest's as a solo for your level that can only be completed by a full group of you level. Again forced group, little concern for the solo player.
Combat is like playing an electronic simon says, you'll only every use 2 or 3 of your skills and all you have to do is press them in order, someone made the comment that it was dumbed down, I can only agree.
Healers are in for even a worse time 'spamming' there instant heal which isn't instant and really dosen't deserve the heal bit either. Currently a level 10 - 20 heal will account for the damage from about two hits from an equal level mob, unfortunatly the mob will get in at least 3 and sometimes 4 hits while the heal is recharging, add in the fizzle's and hit interuption and most of the time the tank is demanding to know why you didn't heal them.
Looks pretty and has a lot of content on one hand but on the other the content is aimed towards those who perfer Dungeon Siege type of gaming rather then a RPG style.
In all I was grateful to get an invite to the Beta as the game promises a lot, unfortunatly I don't see that it will be able to deliver what it's promising with the current set up. If this changes before release I will return and tell all here.
Comments
The problem with groping vs solo play isn't that soloing is more difficult which, I agree, it should be but the difference between the two is just to much, killing several mobs solo to see a 1% increase in xp over killing the same mobs in a group to gain 4 or 5 times the xp, while it is actually easier to do as there are several of you. Please notice I said the same mobs, not solo vs group con.
I also agree that mmorpg's are not and should not be a race to the finish, but lets all at least be in the 1500 meters rather then half of us being in the 100 meter dash.
Several examples of the major problems between the two play styles are on the beta boards, which I'm assuming as the NDA has been lifted will be avalible to all now, so I will not repeat them verbatum here, beyond what I've already put in.
EQ2 is about grouping and even at that soloing is pretty easy.
Yes you get more experience from a good group and you come out with loads of debt in a bad group.
Larger mobs and named are meant for group encounter.This game is geared towards grouping with the option of soloing if you feel you need or must or have only 30 mins to play.
EQ2 is NOT SWG which is a problem it is having in beta because SWG crowd got a huge maount of beta invites.
They come into the game expecting to solo to the hardest mobs ingame and have a shocker.
There will be no solo grouping in this game which is what many EQer loyals expect.
As for crafting.Did you even craft for more then 30 mins?i am suprised you state you must make choloro resin since the vendor sells it and no scribe or sahe in his right mind will make one from scratch.It cost the nearly the same and is time consuming.Only reason i can think of is if you deicde to use it to grind which i did not personally.
And since its the main intergredent not the sub components that decide quality then making a pristine chloro wash and using shaped makes little difference.In the scribe line there is no quality on the scrolls even to begin with!They are all standard same.
And recently crafting got a boost that made the crafting so fast ppl are going from artisan 3 to artisan 9 in same day!Which in my view is way too fast even.
*sigh*
First off. As I said I agree to the grouping aspect should be faster then solo, but that the difference is to much. Please all who read this stop responding as if I want Solo & Group to be the same I don't I , and a vast number of other beta tester, just think that the difference between the two is currently vastly unfair to the solo player whatever there reason for wanting to play solo is.
Secondly, The trade skill was an example, some components can be bought from vendors but then you lose out on the xp factor of making them yourself also the cost of buying the compentes is not cheap and finally it will only save you 6 - 8 minutes in the total time to make one finished item.
Also people have managed to get from 3 - 9 in crafting in one day then they are slacking, you can get from 3 - 9 in a few hours if you've got the cash for the fuel, the crafting levels are like the adventure levels really, really easy from mid to late teens depending upon what your doing. Then it gets starts to get hard.
Finally I never played SWG, so pointless make a comparison there. I have played EQ, DAoC, AO, Neocron, Horizons (please don't laugh) AC & AC2(or at this one) and have beta testing in half of them. I know that the devs will not listen to the majority of what the beta testers say so I use my time in these games to try and tell over people what I think of them. It's up to them weather they want to listen to what I'm saying or listen to others who don't see the same problems.
People tried making these complaints, and were beaten down by the rabid core of fanbois that would tolerate no one questioning their game. I believe the responce de jour was 'Shut up, this has already been discussed to death on the top secret fanboi forum 2 years ago'
The devs usually just made the stock 'EQ2 is not like EQ1. These things are set in stone, and immutable' post in responce. Though, if enough people raised enough of a stink, they did change things.
Originally, you could only heal people in your group, but the healer community had a fit, myself included. And the Devs did change it so you could use your base Priest heals on people not in a locked encounter. No wards, or HoTs, though.
<Throws his body in harms way to protect Namja from WoW fanbois>
I like what you said, thats what I want in a game, to really earn, not exploit a game fo items ect. I hope EQ2 was designed that way purposely and not that way by poor programming.
I haven't seen exactly what the grouping bonus is:
For example, a mob solo is worth 100XP
If a 2 person group kills it:
If they get 50XP each there is no bonus
If they get 100XP each there is a 100% bonus
You almost word it as if there is a 500% reward for grouping, which I'm sure there isn't. Can you give us the grouping bonus for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 players? (Assuming the bonus changes based on party size)
Minxx
Minxx
Speaking on the healer part, I have to disagree. That disagreement comes with a provision, however. If you are in a group with people who have no concept of tactics, letting ONE person pull, having ONE main tank/main agro and the other who melee /assist the MT/MA, then yes, healing is a pain. I try to avoid people who don't understand this and like to run off and pull stuff when it has already been stated that someone else has that function.
Now, if you are in a group who understands these basic, basic rules, you'll have no problem. Another thing I've found that eases the healing process is making use of all your spells that can be used before/during a fight. Casting Nettleshied (druid spell that does dmg to creature that hits the enhanced player) before the fight on the main tank speeds up the fight that much more. THe dmg isn't huge, but those hit points it ticks off are one the melee types don't have to worry with. Also, just because you are a Cleric or Druid that doesn't mean you should ignore your ward spells you have available. Sure, they aren't as powerfull as a Shaman's but the creatures attacking the warded still have to go through the ward.
I have a lvl 15 Druid and a lvl 11 Cleric and I enjoy playing a healer. No, I'm no fanboi and there are minor things that I personally think should be tweaked, but my purpose here is to balance the negativity with some positive.
Cheers!
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Just want to say once you get past 15 it absolutely is forced grouping, at least for most classes.. unless you want to spend your entire life going from lvl 15 to 16. Grouping is the only way to go.. perhaps they will change things (although only a month to go.. I guess they will perhaps change things after the game is out like SWG) the game is far from being balanced from the solo to group player.. it's not just faster exp when you group, but soloing is completely and utterly useless past lvl 15.
Is that because you can't solo even the solo-mobs?
The grouping bonus lets you XP decently even on solo-mobs?
The solo-mobs are always worth too little XP but you hunt group-mobs in a group?
Sounds fun
hehe
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EQ2 Qeynos Guild- http://www.imperium-arcanum.com
Soloing is entirely possible up to level 50. I've just finished soloing an entire level today from 18-19.
Is grouping XP faster? Yes. And it should be. At my level it seema about 1.5x faster, which I think is perfect.
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"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
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"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
Interesting, what class? Wonder how you're having a completely different solo exp from everyone else in beta.
The locked enounter system needs to be the next thing compromised.
I'm not sure what you mean by extinct. There are still many of us who practice christian apologetics. There are far too many people who think you must abandon reason or logic in order to believe in christianity.
Not extinct but far too few in my opinion.
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.
At level 10 i went and collected as much quests as i could in the city, i got over 100 quests, and I completed them all solo, it only got me 4 levels of xp, but my gear is far better then my current level, i know alot of zones by heart, i made alot of cash, upgraded my spells and am able to kill higher con mobs with ease...
It just takes some time to figure stuff out and switch from the 'i have to level as fast as possible to get more powerfull' idea, to 'i am enjoying everything and seeing all content for my level' idea.