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Thinking about purchasing EQ2..
Decun2001
Member Posts: 4
Is the game worth getting? Is the expansions worth getting as well? I heard the newest expansion includes the other expansion as well as the full game of EQ2.. Can I expect a good community with the kind of experiences and amount of fun I had with the first one? Will Groups be a problem finding? How is the pvp?
Atm I am currently playing Guild Wars.. I love the game and all, but it lacks to me the amount of rpg element in improvement.. It has a max line and its very low (no I do not care abou tthe levels, but hte item system ability system etc etc).. Its great for pvp and it their strength, but pve does get hindered in enjoyment at times with this borderline that can't be crossed.
Another question is how are the Necromancer, Monk and Berserker.. Those bar none were my favorite classes in the original how do they compare now? Does the game still have the unique and rememberable enviroments EQ1 had? Are there randomized dungeons like the original EQ had with LDON?? I would appreciate any feedback be it positive or negative about the game, it usually takes me awhile to know when I am sure about the game..
The MMO's I have played in the past are WoW (for quite awhile, then quit in disgust), Original EQ, FFXI (dead community had trouble finding groups), Guild Wars (great game but the low borderline for imrpovement bothers me a ton specially when it comes to items)....
Comments
The game worth getting is subject to opinion. There will be people that will argue its worth getting. I personally think it is. I keep coming back to this game.
I left EQ after the third expansion so randomized dungeons are something I did not see. But no, they have solo instances, group instances and public dungeons when fill up, turn into multiple instances.
PVP? Necro isn't a bad choice. Bruiser better than monk, and I played a bezerker for a while, found myself not able to keep anybody around long enough for me to kill them. You can escape a bezerker really easily at earlier levels.
If I were you, I'd research which char you really wanna play, Roll on the nagafen PVP server because its fun. (Sometimes frustrating) but fun all the same. If you have any questions. Hit me up on Nihilist or Grey on there. Im a Freeporter.
Oh yeah, groups aren't really an issue, seems fine. Lots of different facets to the PVP servers, played an entirely different way.
Any other suggestions, comments, etc about the game positive or negative and whether I should purchase it would be greatly appreciated..
Thank you...
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
1) Is the game worth getting?
Yeah, I would say it probably is. At $40 if you're starting out, getting the original EQ2 and all three expansions, it's a fantastic deal. There's a lot of places for you level up and an insane amount of quests to be done (if you like questing), and a ton of places to grind to your heart's content (if you're more inclined to grind). So the price tag definitely helps it out for starting players. You could easily play for a year without likely seeing everything in the game, which is nice, since there's always something new to explore. I recently read something online that stated that there are still raid zones in EoF that have yet to be discovered by anyone, which is pretty cool, I think.
2) Are the expansions worth getting?
I would say if you just got the original game you would be very much disappointed at this point. The expansions all have more lush environments than the original content, and most of the players spend their time in the newer areas, I would wager. The members of my guild that I still talk to play mostly in the EoF areas now, because they're new. Not that I think the original content is bad or anything, but compared to the new areas, the old ones are a bit blander. They still look pretty, in my opinion. But with the EoF box bringing you all the expansions and the original game it's easy to get them (and that answers the 3rd question).
4) Can you expect a good community?
Yes, I think that, in general, the community is very good. I played on the Antonia Bayle RP server, and knew lots of very nice people, many of whom I became friends with. I did a majority of my playing on weekend mornings early, and met many people from Europe and Australia who were really cool. The Qeynos Crafting chat channel was always fun to talk to, though for some reason the Freeport channel was always dead silent. The AB folks are extremely helpful and nice. I did run across a few people who were jerks, but the amount of nice folks definitely outweighed the people out to ruin your fun. I think I probably only came across 2 or 3 jerks in the year and a half I played.
5)Can you expect the kind of experience and amount of fun you had with EQ1?
Well, like I stated above, I didn't play EQ1, so I can't answer this very well. However, EQ2's fun is really what you make of it. If you want to solo grind yourself to 70 fast, you can do it (with enough time on your hands). If you love quests and prefer to level up by doing them, there are ample amounts of them to do. I've actually considered turning off combat experience just to do quests, and likely may take that approach if/when I come back to the game.
If you like long, epic strings of quests, there are some of those for you too, though most are in the upper 40's, 50's, and 60's (prismatic 1, godkind questline, and qeynos claymore). I did the Godking questline, up til the final boss which I could never create a raid for, and found it to be a rich storyline worth all the time and effort it took to get through it. If you just want to explore, there are lots of places to visit and see as you work your way up in levels. I recall my first visit to the Feerott being a fun, and very scary, experience. Almost every new area I stepped into in the game left me a little more impressed I think, just because many areas were so completely different than I expected.
And finally, if you'd rather sit and create food or items, then you can do that to your hearts content. I personally greatly loved the crafting system, although it did get hard to be a carpenter in my 50's, and would suggest at least trying it out. The new crafting changes made before EoF came out made it a lot easier and quicker to create items, and you actually have to do something while you craft, which makes it a little more interesting than say, FFXI's crafting system (which I thought was a total waste of time).
I don't know if this answers your question or not, but I hope it does.
6) Will finding a group be a problem?
In one word-no. Players can have, I believe 4 characters (might be more, I can't honestly remember) on an account, and hardcore players have paid for more than the maximum and level all the time. It's pretty easy to get into a group, or was on AB, and the level-specific chat channels help you find people faster than searching for folks. Some times it can be a little challenging to find groups when people are mostly sleeping, but these times are relatively small. Also any of your guildmates or higher level friends can always mentor you which drops their level to yours and gives you a small percentage of exp gain (1 mentor=+5%, 2 mentors= +9%, 3 = +12%, 4 = +14%, and 5 =+15%). When my girlfriend started playing, I used my bruiser and mentored her until she caught up to me in levels, as did a few of my guildmates when we needed more than 2 people to help us.
7) How is the PvP?
Never tried it, so I can't really say. I did play some hero battles in the arena that were pretty amusing, but only 1 on 1 fights that usually were very lopsided. If I come back again, I'll likely try making a pvp character just to see what it's like, though I haven't heard much in the way of good things about the pvp servers.
All that being said... if you like PvP, guild wars is probably going to stay more interesting for you. I liked the look of the huge battles available in the Factions expansion. Though I can't really say much of the PvP in EQ2, it could be rewarding if there aren't as many gankers as it sounds like there are (though I've heard other PvP games have exactly the same problem). If there's actual roleplaying on the RP PvP server that could be a pretty fun thing too, since you could act out the "war" between Qeynos and Freeport in more of a way than you can in the PvE servers. I agree with you though, the lvl 20 cap on GW is kind of frustrating, though it does present a nice balance for team in PvP. You dn't have to worry about folks being 20 levels higher than you coming and kicking your butt.
But back to more EQ2 questions--
Necromancers are great solo characters, great group support characters (they get a rez spell at some point which came in handy for me, even without being a necro), and they can kick a lot of butt. I never felt inclined to try them though, as I'm not a big fan of pets. I did know several necros though, and they all thoroughly enjoyed the job. I did play a conjurer, but after soloing for 20 levels or so I got bored and deleted her.
Monks are decent soloers, crappy tanks for the most part unless they have an extremely high avoidance, and fantastic damage dealers. I played a bruiser to 44, and had lots of fun with it, and the monk class is pretty similar. Feign death abilities are great for when you get screwed or your group tanks it and you have a rez token to raise your healer. If you like up-close, personal fighting and ability to dodge a lot of attacks, monk/bruiser is a great class.
Berserker- Good tank, better damage dealer, I always thought. If you want to be a great tank, go with guardian, they have a slight edge. If you want versatility, go berserker.
strangely though, I never played any of these three classes. I had a templar, bruiser, wizard, swashbuckler, and a shadowknight. All were pretty fun, but I loved my templar the most
I'll put in a final word here-- I've quit playing EQ2 twice now. Both times because I started to feel kind of bored with the gameplay, and then 4 or 5 months later, I start getting the craving to play it again. I don't know why I feel like it's more worthwhile than other games, per se. I did have a lot of fun with it both times, though I had more the 2nd time around. My guild was always a lot of fun people bent on helping each other out which definitely made it a lot easier to enjoy. And again I find myself wanting to go back, to get the EoF expansion, and see what areas of Norrath I'm missing out on. I think that I'm just the sort that needs a break after playing something for so long, and after I've had a sufficient break, I want to come back and check things out.
Hopefully this novel I've written helps you out. I think if you're looking for a game with a diverse and rich amount of content, EQ2 is great. If you're looking for a quick grind and lots of PvP you may want to look elsewhere. I do suggest doing the trial of the isle thing though, if you havent'. Thtat will give you an idea of what the combat system is like, and has a nice little series of quests to it. Since they've remade the isle it's more interesting, particularly with the seperation of the good and evil citizens. Unfortunately I don't think crafting is availbel through the trial, so you don't get to test that out. Whether you decide to go with getting EQ2 or not, I wish you luck on your purchase. Nice to know I'm not the only person in the world who like to deliberate awhile before I make a purchase, especially with an MMO you might dedicate a lot of time to. You want it to be a worthwhile purchase, and you don't want to waste money on the software and monthly fees. Good luck!