EQII is very different from EQ. First, most, if not all, classes can hold their own soloing. You can also usually outrun your foe if you see you're losing (especially if you start running early enough). If you break the encounter (by outrunning or using the break option) you won't get any experience or drops if you decide to re-engage the mob. This is a kind of anti-kiting code, I guess. Gray mobs will drop their normal stuff (i.e., <mob> meat) but all "treasure" drops in chests and these will NOT fall from gray mobs. However, if you're busy pharming a "green" for its treasure drops and get close to leveling, you can turn experience off so you don't level and can continue pharming for a while.
One thing I like a lot is that most quest items do not take up space in your inventory, so there's no danger of accidently destroying or selling them. There are a LOT of quests - some better than others, but it's an easy (although time-consuming) way to build up some funds and get equipment in the early game. Your quest journal keeps accurate track of how many quest items you've found and what steps of a quest you've completed.
Tradeskills are nicely done. You "gather" most raw materials from "nodes." There are nodes for wood, metal, food, pelts, herbs and roots. Food and pelts can also drop from mobs, but it's easier getting them from nodes. Particularly, roots and metals are used to make resins and tempers used in making finished products. For the most part, you only have to buy fuel and mixing ingredients for food, although buying some ingredients is more cost-effective than trying to find/make them. One thing I don't like is that most raw materials cannot be sold to merchants. The crafted items can be sold but the raw materials are worthless unless you sell to other players.
Crafted items have 4 qualities. As you specialize, you are more likely to make top quality items within your specialty. You also get the "tools" to help insure that you do. These tools are in the form of spells to boost production factors and offset problems that pop up during the crafting process. Crafting is a very involved process, however, and takes some planning. For intstance, to make a backpack and starting only with raw materials in your inventory, you will have to make NINE different components before you can attempt your backpack. Truly, it's not for the faint-hearted, but once you catch on to the processes, it becomes easier. Basically, you're not going to try to make just one backpack in a sitting, but several. And, if you're going to craft, you're going to need lots of space to keep your stuff so you'll need those packs.
You're usually awarded basic level (Apprentice I) spells and skills when you earn them. You can buy Apprentice II spells from a vendor, but Apprentice III and IV spells are made by crafters. The next level, Adept I, are found in treasure drops. Crafters can make higher level Adept spells but they require rare ingredients, and when I say rare, I mean rare. Many players have never seen some of these rare items and they are so rare that the game announces with a sound flourish and a message when you find one.
EQ and EQII are entirely different games. Although I never got very high in EQ, I can honestly say that so far, I prefer EQII. This may change as I get higher in level and need to group more as I tend to like to solo. However, if you are joining EQII expecting an EQI experience, you're going to be majorly disappointed.
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
The 3 larger reviews all are fairly accurate. EQ and EQ2 are very different from each other. SOE does seem to keep with their mantra of time sinks in EQ2. I guess that makes us believe they have more content.
Saying that EQ2 is geared towards the casual gamer seems off base though. Many of the things you do take hours to do them, and you need to remain focused on doing them instead of logging off to take the dog for a walk.
If you are a fan of MMORPG's you should find EQ2 to be enjoyable. There are also other games out there that might be more enjoyable. Personally I am glad I do not listen to the board trolls and am willing to try various games out. Life is much more fun that way.
EDIT: I noticed you asked about the trading bazaar. There is no trading bazaar in EQ2. Instead there is a system where you can set your character up to be a merchant in your private room. Players can the find your items on a broker. They can pay the broker fee of 20%, or run to where you are and buy it off of you.
If someone else posted about this already excuse me. The thread got rather long with the attacking back and forth that went on.
Originally posted by Radmuz The 3 larger reviews all are fairly accurate. EQ and EQ2 are very different from each other. SOE does seem to keep with their mantra of time sinks in EQ2. I guess that makes us believe they have more content. Saying that EQ2 is geared towards the casual gamer seems off base though. Many of the things you do take hours to do them, and you need to remain focused on doing them instead of logging off to take the dog for a walk. If you are a fan of MMORPG's you should find EQ2 to be enjoyable. There are also other games out there that might be more enjoyable. Personally I am glad I do not listen to the board trolls and am willing to try various games out. Life is much more fun that way.
So far, I've found very few things that really take hours to do. What EQ2 has done is make it so it's difficult to get immediate results. Some quests, like cataloging quests, may stretch over several levels, especially if you travel solo, because areas can be dangerous, etc., or you may need a group to get through to where you need to go. Patience is the key.
With tradeskilling, making items (or related items) in bulk seems to be the key. You have to make 9 items in order to make one backpack, for a total of 10 steps. It's pretty obvious that making components for 10 backpacks is more time effective than making components for 1 backpack. If you're making a set of armor, the same principle holds - pieces of a set require many of the same interim pieces. If you make your WORTs (short for washes, oils, resins, tempers) in one session, refine your various raw materials in other sessions and make finished items in yet another, the time sink is less noticeable. You just don't get instant results.
As a fan of RPGs, you should find EQ2 enjoyable, however, as a fan of what most online MMOs have become, you may not. It's difficult to treat EQ2 as some kind of hybrid-shoot-em-up and go through your game life doing nothing but finding and killing the next uber mob. Not everyone has to be a tradeskiller, but you shouldn't ignore your gathering skills, even if you do nothing but destroy most of what you collect. Doing gathering quests for your wholesaler can bring in some decent coin, and you have to walk past all those nodes anyway when out hunting.
EQ2 is full of quests, some given by NPCs, some dropped from mobs, some found in other places, and questing can be a great way of finding new and different hunting grounds. Guides that tell you to kill "mobx" from level 1-5 and "moby" from levels 6-10, etc., cause you to lose out on a lot of great experiences in a game, as certainly, mobs x and y aren't the only thing you can kill, however killing only mobs x and y may get you from level 1 to 10 faster than exploring and having fun. And aren't we, after all is said and done, here to have fun?
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EQII is very different from EQ. First, most, if not all, classes can hold their own soloing. You can also usually outrun your foe if you see you're losing (especially if you start running early enough). If you break the encounter (by outrunning or using the break option) you won't get any experience or drops if you decide to re-engage the mob. This is a kind of anti-kiting code, I guess. Gray mobs will drop their normal stuff (i.e., <mob> meat) but all "treasure" drops in chests and these will NOT fall from gray mobs. However, if you're busy pharming a "green" for its treasure drops and get close to leveling, you can turn experience off so you don't level and can continue pharming for a while.
One thing I like a lot is that most quest items do not take up space in your inventory, so there's no danger of accidently destroying or selling them. There are a LOT of quests - some better than others, but it's an easy (although time-consuming) way to build up some funds and get equipment in the early game. Your quest journal keeps accurate track of how many quest items you've found and what steps of a quest you've completed.
Tradeskills are nicely done. You "gather" most raw materials from "nodes." There are nodes for wood, metal, food, pelts, herbs and roots. Food and pelts can also drop from mobs, but it's easier getting them from nodes. Particularly, roots and metals are used to make resins and tempers used in making finished products. For the most part, you only have to buy fuel and mixing ingredients for food, although buying some ingredients is more cost-effective than trying to find/make them. One thing I don't like is that most raw materials cannot be sold to merchants. The crafted items can be sold but the raw materials are worthless unless you sell to other players.
Crafted items have 4 qualities. As you specialize, you are more likely to make top quality items within your specialty. You also get the "tools" to help insure that you do. These tools are in the form of spells to boost production factors and offset problems that pop up during the crafting process. Crafting is a very involved process, however, and takes some planning. For intstance, to make a backpack and starting only with raw materials in your inventory, you will have to make NINE different components before you can attempt your backpack. Truly, it's not for the faint-hearted, but once you catch on to the processes, it becomes easier. Basically, you're not going to try to make just one backpack in a sitting, but several. And, if you're going to craft, you're going to need lots of space to keep your stuff so you'll need those packs.
You're usually awarded basic level (Apprentice I) spells and skills when you earn them. You can buy Apprentice II spells from a vendor, but Apprentice III and IV spells are made by crafters. The next level, Adept I, are found in treasure drops. Crafters can make higher level Adept spells but they require rare ingredients, and when I say rare, I mean rare. Many players have never seen some of these rare items and they are so rare that the game announces with a sound flourish and a message when you find one.
EQ and EQII are entirely different games. Although I never got very high in EQ, I can honestly say that so far, I prefer EQII. This may change as I get higher in level and need to group more as I tend to like to solo. However, if you are joining EQII expecting an EQI experience, you're going to be majorly disappointed.
Very good post, thank you Cillasi.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
The 3 larger reviews all are fairly accurate. EQ and EQ2 are very different from each other. SOE does seem to keep with their mantra of time sinks in EQ2. I guess that makes us believe they have more content.
Saying that EQ2 is geared towards the casual gamer seems off base though. Many of the things you do take hours to do them, and you need to remain focused on doing them instead of logging off to take the dog for a walk.
If you are a fan of MMORPG's you should find EQ2 to be enjoyable. There are also other games out there that might be more enjoyable. Personally I am glad I do not listen to the board trolls and am willing to try various games out. Life is much more fun that way.
EDIT: I noticed you asked about the trading bazaar. There is no trading bazaar in EQ2. Instead there is a system where you can set your character up to be a merchant in your private room. Players can the find your items on a broker. They can pay the broker fee of 20%, or run to where you are and buy it off of you.
If someone else posted about this already excuse me. The thread got rather long with the attacking back and forth that went on.
So far, I've found very few things that really take hours to do. What EQ2 has done is make it so it's difficult to get immediate results. Some quests, like cataloging quests, may stretch over several levels, especially if you travel solo, because areas can be dangerous, etc., or you may need a group to get through to where you need to go. Patience is the key.
With tradeskilling, making items (or related items) in bulk seems to be the key. You have to make 9 items in order to make one backpack, for a total of 10 steps. It's pretty obvious that making components for 10 backpacks is more time effective than making components for 1 backpack. If you're making a set of armor, the same principle holds - pieces of a set require many of the same interim pieces. If you make your WORTs (short for washes, oils, resins, tempers) in one session, refine your various raw materials in other sessions and make finished items in yet another, the time sink is less noticeable. You just don't get instant results.
As a fan of RPGs, you should find EQ2 enjoyable, however, as a fan of what most online MMOs have become, you may not. It's difficult to treat EQ2 as some kind of hybrid-shoot-em-up and go through your game life doing nothing but finding and killing the next uber mob. Not everyone has to be a tradeskiller, but you shouldn't ignore your gathering skills, even if you do nothing but destroy most of what you collect. Doing gathering quests for your wholesaler can bring in some decent coin, and you have to walk past all those nodes anyway when out hunting.
EQ2 is full of quests, some given by NPCs, some dropped from mobs, some found in other places, and questing can be a great way of finding new and different hunting grounds. Guides that tell you to kill "mobx" from level 1-5 and "moby" from levels 6-10, etc., cause you to lose out on a lot of great experiences in a game, as certainly, mobs x and y aren't the only thing you can kill, however killing only mobs x and y may get you from level 1 to 10 faster than exploring and having fun. And aren't we, after all is said and done, here to have fun?