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Should i buy EQ2... Seriously
ColinIRL
Member Posts: 49
Well, i'm getting annoyed with ultima online, Kinda. I'm doing well have lots of money ( probly 400$ worth) and i'm thinking about selling out and playin another game, like eq2. I dont mind the 50$ or the 10+ a month, but is it worth it, installing it and trying it out??? I played EQ:OA for a while, FFXI for a while, and they both boared me with the leveling grind, which i hate. I like UO cause u can get ur chars good easly then farm and pvp and ya (and i'm not poor on it), So tell me what u think, i know the graphics look good so tell me more about gameplay, how many hours u can play at a time max and min. Leveling, quests, items are they randomly genorated with random effects with each being unique, or are they all normal like "The Fire Sword", How are parties, do you need to group to play, how are the classes; anyone over powered.
So ya there are a few ways you could help me, please only respond if you have played and have decent experience, Please dont rant and rave, just tell me if you think i would like it. I loved Diablo 2, FF 7-10, Ultima online. Thanks for the help
Comments
I played UO for about a year. EQ2 is a totally different experience. I like the fact that you get play time before choosing your final class and can (kind of) get a taste of the varieties available to you before getting to deep into things.
Its much more directed than UO in that if you want, you can do quest after quest. Many of the quests are solo friendly. Many or totally soloable. Others, you will need a group. Theres enough content to fit whatever playstyle you want. You can easily spend only an hour on and get at least part of a quest done...if not an entire short kill quest. I've played a total of 6 hours or so this weekend (I was busy...) on my Iksar Crusader (started as a Fighter...at 10 I became a Crusader...at 20 I will become a Paladin) and got just over level 10 with probably 20 quests yet to finish.
Crafting is very good. You have to buy books of recipes and gather your own resources (similar to UO, actually) and find the proper implements to make what you want (like an anvil for smithing). You can buy better quality collection tools for improved harvesting. Your crafting is actually a seperate class and works just like adventuring class. As you gain levels, you specialize in a type of crafting.
Hope that helps!
I would say no. EQ2 best feature is it's graphics. So if you can pimp out the settings I wouldnt bother, else youll just be bored.
Even though I can pimp the settings, I still think it is boring without PvP or much character advancement. So I dont play and cant honestly recommend it. It doesnt serve my labedo and im not sure how anyone else can tolerate it.
Not sure if I feel comfortable when the producer releases a letter that says their goals for EQ2 are to bring in families, skill based combat, and player created dungeons. BIG WHOOPIE DOO that should take you a month not a year.
Im done with SOE and I hope you dont feed into their capitlism on the "everquest" aura. Just because they were the first doesnt mean they are the best. And I didnt think EQ1 was even any good to begin with so..
No character advancement...riiiiiiight...
Christ R1tual. I see your name everywhere bashing Eq2. I highly doubt anyone sees your opinion as valid anymore. Why waste your time?
Heh, r1tual is still going at it strong. I remember him talking about how bad the game was on these boards back during beta. Why do you spend so much time talking about a game you don't like?
Because Blizzard bribed him with a limited edition Diablo II Amazon Action figure.
"We feel gold selling and websites that promote it damage games like Vanguard and will do everything possible to combat it."
Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online, Inc.
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
www.vanguardsoh
thats awesome,
Kane thank you for your post, it was along the lines of exactly of what i wanted to know, What about leveling how is that done. Is it extremly boaring in the first 10 lvls (i know in FFXI it wasnt' worth partying till lvl 10 so got really boaring after 7). As for the crafting, is it based on your class level also, i know in eqoa when i played you had to be like lvl 49 to make any good items, and the crafting could only go so far untill you had to hit the next level curve, which i didn't like cause i enjoy crafting.
Getting to level 10 is very easy and fast. By the time you leave the newb isle you should be 6, and FYI people do group on the newb isle - for some quests primarily. Upon reaching your main city, you'll probably have enough excess exp gain to turn 7 as soon as you do your citizenship quest. Then you can group or not, as you like. There are an ungodly number of quests available, and I would guess most people just pick up a few more fast levels from questing, which also gets you some more equipment and helps you learn your way around, etc. They had already increased the rate of exp gain considerable and made the game much more solo friendly in a prior major patch, and I gather they've done more of that in today's patch. None of it's boring to the EQ2 fans here ... don't mind the trolls like r1tual, we have quite a collection of trolls here that have some peculiar obsession with EQ2 and Sony bashing.
As for tradeskills, that's based on Artisan level, which is entirely separate and independent from Adventurer level. In theory you could become a high level tradeskiller without killing anything - of course, you'd have to buy higher level components. The tradeskill system is extremely elaborate. Being a tradeskill nut, I love it, but it's not for lazy folks. As far as making "good" items, it depends on how you define "good". IMO you certainly make good and useful items early on, but obviously you don't make items needed by high levels until your artisan level is commensurate. I've made decent or better money all along, as well as items I use for my main and alts.
BTW I think you'd probably get more responses except a lot of folks here are a bit worn out going over it, as well as arguing with all the WOW and other trolls
Nevertheless, there are other good threads to be found with good info, including this recent one: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/load/forums/loadforum/446/loadthread/35191/setstart/1/loadclass/145
Enjoy
mastercolin, Wickes summed it all up nicely! I've had a blast getting to level 10. Much like WoW, the quests drive you, not the leveling. They are fun enough that leveling is just an added bonus. Also, the isle is the single best introduction to an MMORPG ever. I learned just about everything I needed to understand the game to a point where I was comfortable with every system.
I'll back up R1tual on eq bashing. SOE didn't listen when they had their chance, this is a free country (and so is Canada where I live). Opinions aren't devauled just because its well voiced.
EQ2 cost me close to $1000 all said and done after I upgraded my system. I waited for this game in great anticipation and was let down very quickly.
I'm a former UO player myself, and I know just how into the game you can get! I also know how when its time, its time........
Everquest 2 is a half baked attempt at a MMO. Yes the graphics are good but it just feels like they stopped there for a while, realized that they were getting their butt womped by WoW and are playing some pathetic game at catch up.
The differences between UO and EQ2 are stark. UO makes a fun game! The graphics suck, but who cares its fun! EQ2 makes a game with amazing graphics but falls short on just about every bar there is. They created a beautiful world then forgot to make characters look unique. They created an excellent crafting system and then made all the items the same: Lvl 10 make and wear a ring, level 20 make and wear a ring_1.
EQ2 failed to meet my expectations and I personally regard it as a collasal failure. Compared to what I hear about SWG, EQ2 demonstrates SOE knows how to take a successful title and screw it up royally.
Every game maker wants your money, but SOE makes it crystal clear. The have (or will shortly) released content in small chunks that they charge you for. Some think this is good, some thinks its bad. I am under the impression it will make looking for a group very difficult and it will seperate the community. EQ2 has built in commands that give you "access" to a website that lets you order pizza. What kind of immersion are you left with when numbers fly above mobs' heads, encounters get locked and you can be redirected to a pizza website in the game?
Also, there is, what appears to be a very neat, web-based character tool that gives makes various stats on your character visible. The only problem is some of these stats are only available from the site, and you have to pay extra for it.
SOE calls it value added services, I call it cheap attempts at stealing my money for a half baked game that lacks content, purpose and fun.
I could be totally wrong, but coming from UO I'd recommend WoW. However, I play neither now and play EVE-Online, a product that beats the pants off anything I've ever played in my 10 years of MMO gaming.
Oh, and if you run into a problem and want customer support, good luck. Take UO's support and make it 10 times worse, then you start to begin to appreciate exactly how bad SOE support is.
As far as personal support? Wouldn't know. Have yet to have an issue. As far as bug fixes? How about once a week? Player concerns? Also about once a week. I told my roommate the fixes in todays patch and it addressed nearly everything he was having trouble with. Bad customer service? Maybe...but not bad game support.
Everquest 2 is a mixed bag, but a comparable game to WOW for someone waiting until something better comes out.
Graphics in EQ2, even at low settings, are pretty good.
Game play is trivialized with pinball-like button mashing.
The levelling to 20 before you can pick your final class is a very flawed MMORPG concept. DAOC did something like this and all it does is put you through a grind to get to a class that you may no longer be interested in by the time you get there. Best for a game to allow you to pick a final class at start, so if the class doesn't fit, so what, you just re-roll. Re-rolling after a couple of levels is much, much easier than waiting until level 20 to figure out you have made a mistake or have changed your mind.
Newbie isle and "fed-ex" quests in Qeynos are like this:
Your 1st character: Great, new and exciting
Your 2nd character: pretty cool
Your 3rd character: less exciting, but at least you know what to look for and can run through things faster. Plus it's good experience.
Your 4th character: getting kind of old
Your 5th character: definitely work. The list of quests are like compulsory exp bonuses that you should run through, but no longer enjoy.
Your 6th character and beyond: grating. Newbie isle is very old by now, city quests are old hat, and the early levels are now their own form of grind.
Of course, all of the above could have been alleviated by having starting cities for the different races and perhaps different quests for the different classes.
To answer your initial question, "should I buy EQ2?" Sure. It's not as bad a game as some have depicted. What most of the EQ2 bashing is about is not the design of the game itself but the sacrilege they have done to the wonderful world of Norrath (essentially blown most of it up except for a few remaining pieces). Had EQ2 come out with another name, I think it would have been better received. Folks had very, very high expectations which were really only met in the graphics department.
But, they are patching and the game is getting better.
Huh. How does EQ2 have character advancement?
Tactics, Trianing, and Traditions! Wahooo. NOT!
Leveling! W00t We get to level and get a new spell. WHOOPIE! We are the same as everyone else!
Upgrading spells! W00t we get to kill 1 billion gnolls in hopes we get a master drop to trade or use for yourself! w00t! Awesome!
NOT!
There is no character advancement. Everyone follows the same apth. THere is no real specilization. There is no real being better then everyone else unles syou in the 1% who get a master drop.
So save your breath, EQ2 is not all that fun.
PvP is the only thing I would look forward to.
Don't bother, EQ2 is about as fun as staring at a snail crawling up your garage door at the age of 7 when your best friends are riding bicycles and want you to join them...
Comparing EQ2 to WoW is like comparing the intelligence of a high-school drop-out who never stood a chance in society due to environmental factors and a nobel peace prize winning genius who just cured AIDs.
Also I don't understand how EQ2's graphics are that good, some annimations just suck (see the gryphons) and the characters look completely out of place in the world...
Those two words destroyed any kind of argument you're trying to make because anyone that has given EQ2 half a chance should know that it has more content than most players will ever see, not to mention new FREE content gets added about every 2-3 weeks. You can say the game doesn't "feel right" or "have heart" all you want, it's easy to say and it sounds "deep". But I call bullshit on "lacks content".
Knoxay, what's the point of having content if no one will ever see half of it?
Sure, the game has...content, if that's what you want to call it, but it also has a MASSIVE grind to see any of this content and lacks true substance. SoE made a great demonstration for their new graphics engine, but beyond that EQ2 really has nothing going for it other than being made by a company that is known for their massive time sinks and constant nerfing followed by a lack of true substance (stated twice for EMPHASIS) and sub-standard customer service... (...the graphics for characters suck, too, and look out of place...)
Ok, you're right. You have to grind to all the content in the game. I must not be seeing any content at all since I haven't grinded any yet, and I'm only level 38. I must have not completed 7 challenging "heritage" quests that give me very nice items, personal status points, and status for my guild (which increases it's level and opens up guild "perks" like reduced cost of mounts and being able to live in the main part of the city). And since I'm only level 38 there's no way that I have access to raid zones yet, except the ones I did through out my teens and twenties and the one I do now in my 30's. And the 250+ quests I've completed must not exist either. And don't get me started on the dungeons, I mean there are only dozens of quests related to each one.
So basically that was my sarcastic rant. I'm sure you'll just dismiss it all by saying "it lacks substance" (whatever that means), and that SOE is using a Jedi mind trick on me (if you will) to make me THINK I've had fun playing this game and going through it's content, when really the game I've been playing the past few months has been pong. DAMN YOU SOE!
And I didn't say most people wouldn't see half of it, I said most people wouldn't see ALL of it.
People still have their panties in a bunch about previous SOE games. This game has had awesome updates and contenet added. People wanted more solo content. They got it. People wanted it to be easier to level, they got it. The list goes on.
SOE had made mistakes in the past but this is not one of them. They are fully commited to Eq2 and it shows. And whoever said it lacked content must not play the game. If you look at any review of Eq2, whether they liked it or not, the reviewers have always pointed out the game has massive amounts of content. There is never a point where you have nothing to do.
THANK YOU Kane, its about time someone give the isle credit where it deserves it. I thought it was brilliant and even a person that has never played a computer game in their life could log into EQ, start there and get a good headstart into gaming. Thats something that EQ 1 lacked BADLY, I used to always be on the phone with people I brought into gaming and EQ 1 teaching them the basics of gameplay and the keyboard and commands.
- 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
Actually I think you can't "pimp" out the graphics and it has you simmering, so you have sit and flame the game all day long. And I think you need a lesson in capitalism, you speak about it like its facism.
- 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
ok so the game has content or it doesn't? Make up your mind, your story is falling apart fast.
"I don't need to see his identification. Move along, move along."
- 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
Well I only played in the EQ2 beta but there is a grind in EQ2 plus in my opinion it does get boring... that said a lot of MMO games get boring it all depends on what makes you bored. I am now playing WoW and like it a lot, even though I wish there would be some more content added but they say soon... I also like PvP so EQ2 is out for me otherwise I might give it a shot. I am looking at 2 new games coming out int the future. Dark and Light and Vanguard. Well good luck!
Bilas
'She just left. She didn't even care enough to cut off my head or set me on fire. I mean, is that too much to ask? You know? Some little sign that she cared?"
Funny how you say this. WoW is the most boring piece of crap I've played in awhile. It's too easy, horrible graphics, horrible community, unfinished game, very unstable servers, little to no immersion, absolutely no sense of RP, and a completely overhyped RIPOFF of the Warcraft NAME.
EQ2 on the other hand, while definetly not perfect, holds my attention much better and it has steadily improved since launch.