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Convince me to switch to EQII.
AcidRainO
Member UncommonPosts: 24
in Everquest II
I'm looking for a new MMO. I really enjoyed WoW, but I've gotten sick of it's horrible community, and want a better game. EQ II, LotR:O, and Vanguard are what I'm looking at. I want to know what EQ II fans think about the choice. What is it about EQII that makes it better than the competition?
Comments
Best thing to do is get the free trial. That way you can judge for yourself how you like it.
As for community that can vary depending on what server you pick. Kinda just how things go with MMOG's these days.
In the real game, multiply avg trial travel time by ten. Thats why I quit originally, at the time it was hard to find groups and the grind was slow so I would run halfway across the Commonlands to fight strong mobs then die from them or get ganked before Id made a dent in my experience. Just too frustrating, and I dont play enough to get in a big guild that will help you lvl at odd hours either.
Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice.
Actually with the living economy and the inflation of prices for the lvl 1-20 items due to transmuting, the traveling times arent a big issue any more. I got my T2 horse at lvl 20 without grinding for it at all, and could have gotten a T1 horse by level 12 if i havent opted for saving for a better one
It is funny though reading how some people tend to think EQII is too small whilest others complain about how big the zones are. Just goes to show everything is relative in people's minds.
I would suggest you download the Trial of The Isle ( i preffer it being a bit bigger and having a crafting introduction to the Try the fae), that way you can see for your self what the fuss is all about and dispense fanboisam and hate-trolls.
Personaly I have been playing for a month and I LOVE it
Offering up the illusion of choice. If you've played WoW and enjoyed it, most of WoW's strongest features are the same with EQ II. The primary reason I got 'done' with EQ II and probably won't ever look back is despite the massive class / race selection. In the end it's kind of futile. There's no really variation of game play at all between any of them. No stark difference between any melee class or casting class other than what order you'd spam the damage. Which really as dynamic as the rest of the game it, kind of brings it down. I like having choice and when I was playing EQ II merrily, it seemed I had all kind until I was finally lined out.
Lined out meaning, I pretty much did everything in the game on two extremely opposite characters but it really seemed like the trip was the same for each.
Good stories in the game to witness rather than be apart of too. If only they had some sort of dynamic quest system that would've truly put it over into a next generation MMO catagory. But, it's pretty standard faire.
Play it, expect about a good years worth of content. Hopefully get into the PvP or something and enjoy.
I kill other players because they're smarter than AI, sometimes.
- EQ2 has several nice things WoW does not: housing, more-detailed-crafting, group-combo moves, guild levels with guild banks, heritage quests (guild-type quests that get your guild xp), collection-quests, AAs (two whole seperate trees you can spend 50 achievement points in each).
- EQ2 world looks fair, runs fair, but not as smooth as wow performance-wise. More zoning in eq2.
- WoW has a better set of classes and playstyles, more varied. eq2 has 4 major archtypes, and their is not a huge amount of difference between the classes within these archetypes. You get skills in eq2, then make them stronger. WoW was better in the classes overall. More to choose from, more choices in building talent trees etc.
- WoW pvp is more balanced. pvp just slapped onto eq2 imo. Classes have to be more towards the 'hybrid' for decent pvp, and eq2 is not that. Tanks taunt and hold agro, mages/rogues dps, and healers heal. eq2 was made for group-oriented pve.
SO... if you get in a decent guild, maybe even a guild that is not max level, and you quest with them, level up the guild, throw in some solo stuff in between guild-grouping, EQ2 is a great game, and definately worth the money. If you are more into solo and pvp, it's probably not going to be as fun as wow was for you...
AH... re-read your post again.... how is eq2 better than competition?
- better than LOTRO because LOTRO is not out yet, and it was made by Turbine, so more than likely will flop.
- better than VG because VG doesn't work, and requires a supercomputer. VG is not done yet either.
And from some of your replys, it seems there are good reasons to get this. I've always liked the idea of player housing, and I'm strictly a PvE player, as I've never enjoyed PvP. I think I probably will buy EQ II. Although Vanguard is a tempting choice. . .
Well, I played it at launch and hated it. Played for 10 days and quit.
Fast forward 2 years...
Watching it climb in the ratings here at mmorpg.com I decided to try it. I bought the faydwer expansion which includes all the original client and all the expansions in between.
I love it.
There are alot of reasons why I like it.
Crafting: It is a large part of the game. In WoW, I never felt I had a chance to get any real good gear as I never (ever) raided or grouped. My lvl 60 characters were models of mediocrity. In EQ2, you can buy entire sets of mastercrafted armor, jewelry and weapons. I've even managed to haggle my way to owning some fabled gear as well. You don't have to enjoy crafting, but you will enjoy buying player made items.
Collections: There are collections that when completed get you adventure experience and Achievement point experience. In your travels you will find occasional "glowies".... you harvest these and either add them to your collections, or if you added that particular item to your collection already then you can sell it. I have paid for many nice things selling some of the lower lvl collection items that are required for the higher lvl collections.
Achievement points: If you get the faydwer package you will have the ability to get up to 100 achievement points. You'll be able to spend these points in two different trees (50 per tree). You get experience towards these points by completeing quests, exploring and killing named NPC's. If you prefer, you can lock your combat xp (means you do not get experience for killing mobs... just for Quests and exploration only). Locking your combat xp slows down your lvl'ing drastically. What this does, is allow you to aquire the wealth necessary to afford the things you want without leveling past all the content. This is the first game I have ever played where I log on just to play. I feel absolutely no pressure to lvl. The result is I have a lvl 40 character with about 40 Achievement points. I have met players at my lvl with only 12. So not only do I have a full mastercrafted set, I also have more achievement points then I would have had if I had chose not to lock my combat xp. I spend the plat on things I want knowing I'm not going to outgrow them in 3 days. As I approach lvl 42 (the next set of mastercrafted equipment) I have managed to purchase 3 fabled plate pieces for my berzerker. Even though I haven't leveled, I have grown in strength through better armor and Achievement points.
Dieties: In WoW you had to either disenchant unwanted/outdated equipment or vendor it. In eq2 you have the option of vendoring it or offering a treasured item to your god. This gets you points of favor with your god that, depending on your level and how many quests you have done for your god, you can spend those points for spells.
Quests: I've enjoyed a majority of the quests. Some are standard fare, some are really clever. In WoW you had a questlog of 20. In eq 2 you can have 75 quests running at once. Once you have outgrown a quest, you can mentor down to a lvl to complete it which brings me to another feature about eq2 that I like.
Mentoring: Taken from a page of City of Heroes, EQ2 allows you to "mentor" another player. By mentoring you lower yourself down to another players lvl. So if you find some of your quests have turned grey and no longer offer you experience (or more importantly the prized Achievement Award experience) you can opt to group with lower lvl players and mentor down to thier lvl. You get to clean up missing quests or kill named NPC's you missed along the way and still get full credit for them. The player you mentor gets a 35% bonus to their combat experience for having you as thier mentor.
Mounts. Choices. In WoW... if you were a night elf, you rode a tiger unless you were willing to grind faction with another race (and from what I understand it was quite a grind). Also you had to run around on foot in a huge world till lvl 40. In eq2, you can buy a mount at lvl 1 if you so desire(and can afford it). At just under 10 plat you can have really nice horse that increases your run speed by 40%. For less you can have slower horses. If you want to save some loot, you can have the same horse for about 60 percent of the price if you have managed to earn 112,000 status points through city quests (or writs) However, do be eligible for this you must be in a guild that has a lvl of 25 or more which reminds me of another cool feature (guild levels) that I'll talk about later. There are Warhorses that offer stat buffs and even better speed boosts. I've seen many characters riding magic carpets that are rendered beautifully. YOU CAN ALSO FIGHT FROM YOUR MOUNT...YOU DO NOT DISMOUNT WHEN YOU RUN THROUGH WATER (ONLY TO BE FORCED TO SUMMON YOUR MOUNT AGAIN)...WHEN YOU ZONE YOU DO NOT LOSE YOUR MOUNT. I've only been exposed to T1 mounts so far and I'm thrilled and I know it only gets better.
Guild levels: This is an excellent idea and it seems really well implemented here. Guilds level in a way similar to characters. There are certain quests that give you "status points" that you can spend as a character. When you do these quests, an amount of status equal to 10% of your status point reward goes to your guild. The larger your guild, the more people doing quests the faster your guild levels. Once your guild has achieved a certain level, your guild members are rewarded with access to things non guild members cannot buy, or lower lvl guilds cannot buy (the +50% speed buff warhorses with +7 stats for example require a guild lvl 0f 60). Leveling a guild to 60 is no small feat. I know of a two year old guild that just recently obtained lvl 50.
Graphics: I have played alot of mmorpgs... UO, AO, WoW, L2, COH, COV, EvE, AC2, and even Vangaurd. The graphics in EQ2 are in my opinion superior to anything I have played. Especially in terms of character animation. Everytime my gnome dances or climbs a wall i'm impressed with the fluid and realistic movment of my character. The older zones are not as awe inspiring as the zones in Faydwer. Zec, Thundering Steppes, and Nektulos Forest are kind of average in my opionion but they are older zones and only make up a portion of the entire game world.
Travel: Like WoW, you can fly from point to point on many of the continents, and like wow you can travel from continent to continent on a boat or simply by clicking a "mariner's bell" (depending on where you are at) and as mentioned earlier you can have a mount at any level (provided you can afford it).
Player housing: This is a wonderful distraction and something you can always enjoy. Throughout the game you aquire books that you can read or give you quests. You can collect these and place them in your house. You can furnish your house with player made items and other cool loot. While your house is "instanced" you can set access to your house so that anyone can come in and check it out (they just can't move or take anything). You can also make a friend a "trustee" so that you can have a virtual roomate if you so desire. More than one person can be in your house at one time. The type/size of your house determines how many broker slots you can have to sell things. Which brings me to the way EQ2 handles sales.
The Broker: Many times in WoW I've spent as much money trying to sell something in the Auction house as I made on it. In EQ2 I can place an item on the market and not pay a penny. The buyer pays the extra 20%, not me. It will stay there untill it sells or until I remove it. If i remove it I incur no cost. Items are arranged by price. Enter the name of an item you are looking for specifically and you'll get that item only and you'll get it in order of cost. No more accidentally buyting a piece of copper of 100 gold. You are also prompted every time you buy something over 10 gold to insure no mistaken purchases.
Characters: So many races to choose from, and many classes. Gnomes, Dwarves, Halflings, Humans, Euradites (spelling), Barbarians, Trolls, Ogres, Ratongas (rat people), Froglocs (frog people and one of my faves), Fae (little winged fairies), Dark Elves, High elves, Wood Elves and two I can never remember thier names... they are lizard people (iksar?) and a cat race (no clue). I'm sure I've left some out.
Community: I've been really impressed with the community on my server. Generally helpful and mature. After a couple months I get the impression that the player base is alot older than in WoW.
If I could improve EQ2, I would ask that the amount of zoning be reduced. The cities can get laggy (as they do in most games). If you start, I suggest you start in Faydwer. It is a large zone with very little zoning. If you start in Qeynos, get used to staring at a loading screen.
One huge gaping deficiency I find in EQ2 is the LACK OF CHARACTER SLOTS. With a basic account you can have only 6 characters total. 6 (six). Thats it. With all the races to choose from i would think that sony would allow for more. Of course, if you are willing to shell out about 5 more bucks a month (Sony's station pass) you will get 4 more slots (10 total). The station pass allows you to play all the other MMorpg games they offer (matrix, eq, eq2 and vangaurd come to mind).
One last mark against the game is the customer service I have recieved. Miserable. Fortunately I was able to solve my problems through my own efforts.
I once waited 90 minutes for live chat tech support. AFter about 3 minutes of conversation the "tech" (and i use that term loosely) says "What game are you playing?". JEEEZE. After describing my issue to him (an issue that had sprung up since a recent patch) he tells me... with a cut and pasted response that my video card is not on the list of approved video cards. I run an NVidea 7800 GS and I can assure you and Sony that the issue was not my video card as it was solved by clearing out my cache files.
I have 4 tickets for other issues that I have petitioned since december. Not one response. Don't expect alot of customer service. Fortunately the game is mature and you shouldn't have alot of problems. You should be able to solve most issues you run into in forums and by asking the community itself. I have.
I hope this helps you and anyone else contemplating trying out EQ2.
Have fun and good luck!
(You are sure gonna need it with Vsoh)
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
I did manage to see some very beautiful environments but I am completely disapointed in the character creation (only 4 styles of hair!) and the character animations.
I hated EQ2 when it first came out. Maybe when Vangaurd improves and I get a better rig I'll change my mind about it as well.
Enjoy your adventures in Telon.