I have a 59 guardian and all I do is keep my haste from Alternate things up and than pound my agro and dmg moves non stop.. rescues when needed. Because I have so much energy I never have to worry abuot what I am doing so really dont.. maybe kick after a mob casts if caster. I really enjoy so much of EQII.. but the combat kills me.. both mentally and my hand even aches after constantly pushing the 12-16 moves I haveover and over. I feel like a system that uses limited energy or rage (WoW, DAoC, Vanguard, ect.) could be worthwhile, because combat in those other games all was more exciting and thoguht invoking to me. Now maybe I am just playing wrong.. but how should combat go down, what makes it good? because I really want to get madly into this game with kunark incoming, but I just struggle with the combat.
strange usually fighters tend to have most power problems. but that also depends on how long fights are and how fast you pull mobs. looks to me like you could kill harder mobs.
what were you killing and were you solo or grouped?
EQ2 is going to take a serious amount of time to "catch up" to people at high levels as this is one of those games that doesn't start until max level. There arn't a lot of low level people to group and level up with either.
What are you talking about? At max level you mostly raid. I can't think of anything more boring. The whole point of the game is the journey, not the end.
Right now, IMO, EQ2 is The Best fantasy based MMO out there.
Do I play it? No. Wny not? Not my style...too prettyish.
The game has been nurfed alot since conception and in some respects is as easy as WoW, but has a much more mature community. There are classes that are awwesome for grouping and raids...then there are classes that destroy for soloing. With the AAs now you can customize and specialize. Tons of grouping posibilities and easy enough to make money.
If you have'nt already and seeing that you enjoyed the trials, i'd say go ahead and invest. I've been playing for around 3weeks now casually and I'm enjoying the game. There is plenty to do and you can do so at your own pace. Keep in mind that this is not WoW, by that I mean the game does have a bit of a learning curve to it. If you like a challenge and have the patience to learn about a game and its environment then this game is a good start.
Should you do decide to play, there are some things you should do first.
~ Read up on the professions. You will want to stick to one profession till lvl 70. Last thing you want is to waste time on an avatar only to realize that your not having fun anymore.
~ Read up on the guilds, There are many guilds in the game, some good some bad. Although from my experience 90% of the community on my server seem to be good natured. The general concensus tho is that Eq2 does have a good mature community.
~ Read the nooby forums, there is alot of good info there.
As for waiting for a new mmorpg to come out...True you can, However as the current trend of releases go, you'll be getting a new half finished game full of bugs with alot of propaganda from the developers saying " just buy it ! it will be fixed in time!"
I would of stayed with EQ2 if it weren't for the lack of art direction in the game. Armor, weapons and cloth clothing especially crafted gear is just uninspiring. Also usually most armor and weapon designs are repeated across several tiers of crafting without shame. Game play wise EQ 2 is good and can be fun if you find a good group to play with from time to time. Just remember to pick either Alchemist, Jeweler or Scholar so that you can make your own spells. Spells in some cases count more so then gear until you reach end game.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
EQ2 is going to take a serious amount of time to "catch up" to people at high levels as this is one of those games that doesn't start until max level. There arn't a lot of low level people to group and level up with either.
What are you talking about? At max level you mostly raid. I can't think of anything more boring. The whole point of the game is the journey, not the end. One mans trash is another mans treasure. Also the journey doesn't stop just because you run out of levels to gain. My point was that it will be a lonely journey since most people are miles ahead in terms of levels and content. I now see where I was a little misleading in saying the game doesn't start until max level, but rather most have passed by the lower level stuff already.
I don't get the title of this topic, this game is doing very well for itself and seems to be getting busier all the time.
This is the jewel in SOE's crown, and its a miracle they havent stuffed it up yet like they did SWG.
I can honestly say I love this game, and theres really no other MMO that can touch it in terms of content and quality currently. Give it a try, you might just fall in love.
Don't listen to the people that say you can't 'catch up'. That's totaly ubsurd. I started in December last year, and by 4 months time i have a great guild, all the best gear ( fabled ) max level 70, max achievments ( 100 ) and maxed out trade skills ( 70 provisioner ). It's not hard at all to catch up with the Vets in eq2
I would say give EQ2 a try if you can afford it. I am no fanboi of any game, i have played many.
But, EQ2 is fun, with a nice community, far superior to the current swg or wow community imho.
Nice graphics and lots of things to do, like i say, if you can afford the game, give it a try. It's worth a shot.
EQ2 is going to take a serious amount of time to "catch up" to people at high levels as this is one of those games that doesn't start until max level. There arn't a lot of low level people to group and level up with either.
What are you talking about? At max level you mostly raid. I can't think of anything more boring. The whole point of the game is the journey, not the end.One mans trash is another mans treasure. Also the journey doesn't stop just because you run out of levels to gain. My point was that it will be a lonely journey since most people are miles ahead in terms of levels and content. I now see where I was a little misleading in saying the game doesn't start until max level, but rather most have passed by the lower level stuff already.
The point is being a higher level does not stop you accessing lower level content with a Guildmate or friend.
Just group up with someone of an appropriate level, use the mentor system to scale yourself down to their level and you can experience any content in the game you wish as many times as you like.
Level 70 isn't the dead end road in EQ2 like it is with most other games.
I didnt read all the post (yeah, i know, im too lazy sometimes) just felt that i needed to say this:
I read a thread about WoW vs. EQ2 (no troll post was there, amazingly) i was a former wow player,
and got convinced to buy EQ2, so here is my impressions on the game:
Graphics kick ass
a ton of classes
pvp/rp-pvp- and standard servers
community is WAAAYYYYY more mature than in wow
actually, i got a ton more to say, but im running short on time, might edit later, but with the EoF retail version, i think you´ll find a solid and mature game for adventurers and rpérs and soloers alike
I only read the OP and the last post in this thread... no time to read the other 4 pages...
After having played EQ2 for a couple of years (and having played many other games such as WoW, DAoC, COH, EVE, and currently LOTRO) I can say the following:
Graphics are indeed very detailed, but also require a pretty high-end system to take complete advantage of them. Incidentally I'm a huge fan of "eye candy" and EQ2 is probably the prettiest game I've ever played - LOTRO is also incredible looking and requires a lot less hardware, but I suspect its because there is less character customization... just a theory though.
Sound is also wonderful (though it gets repetitive after awhile)... the fact that many (most?) NPCs have voice-over (not just a single generic comment when you first click on them) really sets this game apart.
Gameplay is quite fun, and you can level up reasonably quickly. I was a bit of a "grinder" in the game (didn't do very many quests) and had no issues with the pace, although had I quested it probably would have been even faster! Incidentally I got to level 63 before I decided to move on to a new game (because most of my friends had also left).
Little-to-no PvP... if you're looking for PvP, look elsewhere... at least on the servers on which I played - to be fair, there may be purely PvP servers which I never tried...
Community is MUCH more friendly, "mature", and helpful than WoW. In fact the #1 reason why I could not tolerate WoW was the juvenile community. Eventually I had so many chat channels completely turned off in that game, and so many people on my ignore list, that I started asking myself why bother? Now that I've gone to LOTRO, I just turn off 1 channel there (OOC) and have found it to be a nice, mature, mostly quiet existence.
There are indeed lots of classes, though the lines between them are very, very hazy. Effectively you still have 4 fundamental archetypes, and then all of the sub-classes are mostly minor variations on one another. I played every class (except the pet classes) to level 20 to be sure I had a good feel for all of them, and they were all enjoyable. I just don't like pet classes... my loss...
If it weren't for the fact that so many friends had dwindled away over the years, and that LOTRO came out, I'd still be an active EQ2 subscriber.
I actually just picked it up again. Ive spent the past year+ beta testing Vanguard LOL. This game is much better then it was when it was released and I am truly having some fun with it. I am also waiting on a few of the new games but I think that this is an ok time to try EQ2 again; I picked up the new expansion for 39.99 at the local Best Buy and it came with all the previous ones (minus the adventure packs). Anyways if you have the 40 bones to spend its worth a try.
I actually just picked it up again. Ive spent the past year+ beta testing Vanguard LOL. This game is much better then it was when it was released and I am truly having some fun with it. I am also waiting on a few of the new games but I think that this is an ok time to try EQ2 again; I picked up the new expansion for 39.99 at the local Best Buy and it came with all the previous ones (minus the adventure packs). Anyways if you have the 40 bones to spend its worth a try.
I did the same thing and feel like a total idiot. I did the same, and bought my girlfriend a copy and we are having an extreme blast. After playing all the other MMO's out there currently, including LOTRO, nothing seems to compare to the completeness of EQ2.
The combat system sucks balls. Period. Its slow paced, its unimaginative, its undynamic, its a total mess graphicswise and a performance desaster. Oh yea, and if you scale it down so that you can still see whats actually going on, it looks ugly.
The rest is ok I guess...
But you think LotR combat is the best thing since sliced bread?
Graphics wise, think environmentally a little lower then LotR, but character model wise a LOT better... honestly, the models in EQ2 put a newly released game like that to shame. Thats why it scores overall higher then LotR on this site, despite being 2.5 years older.
Can you imagine what the LotR models will look like in 2.5 years? hehe they look like crap now...
Performance is great these days. I run it peaked out and it looks and plays fantastic.
Meridon, how can you say EQ2 is 'ok, I guess...' and rave about LotR, when that game owes so much to EQ1 and 2
The irony of that last comment just jumped out at me and I had to respond. Do you realize how much EQ2 owes to WoW in its current incarnation? After the release and runaway success of WoW, Sony completely stripped class-change quests out of the game so now, like WoW, you choose your class at the start. They added in the whole quill and book quest markers after WoW. They simplified, or "dumbed down" other aspects of the game, such as crafting, after WoW came out. For a time, people were really getting scared that Sony was about to turn it into a WoW clone.
To be fair, it has recovered from that fairly well and didn't go down that road.. but really, you need to not make comments like that. All RPGs, online or otherwise, borrow from other games in their genre. And, really if you think about it... all fantasy RPGs owe a debt to Tolkien and the LoTR saga... It's basically the grand-daddy of the whole genre.
As for your comment about broken this and that in LoTR... Do you really believe for a second that only a couple months into its release, EQII didn't still have bugs and other problems? I certainly hope not.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Don't listen to the people that say you can't 'catch up'. That's totaly ubsurd. I started in December last year, and by 4 months time i have a great guild, all the best gear ( fabled ) max level 70, max achievments ( 100 ) and maxed out trade skills ( 70 provisioner ). It's not hard at all to catch up with the Vets in eq2 I would say give EQ2 a try if you can afford it. I am no fanboi of any game, i have played many. But, EQ2 is fun, with a nice community, far superior to the current swg or wow community imho. Nice graphics and lots of things to do, like i say, if you can afford the game, give it a try. It's worth a shot.
Che.
I don't even understand the whole "catch up" thing.. Why do people seem to feel like the only good content is at the high levels where all the longer-time players are.. and so they have to "catch up" to them?
The game is meant to be challenging and enjoyable from 1 to max level... not only at the levels "everyone else is at".
I will never understand that mentality.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Personally I can't get past the Hosed combat system (lol) honestly it feels like weapons do little damage and all meele damage is spell based.. major turnoff.. otherwise game was neat, and a good community..
Personally I can't get past the Hosed combat system (lol) honestly it feels like weapons do little damage and all meele damage is spell based.. major turnoff.. otherwise game was neat, and a good community..
So, I have an old rusty sword at home. I could go home and whip that thing around lightly and do very little damage say to my bed. Does that mean if I go buy a nice shiny brand new sword it's going to do more? No, it's the person wielding the sword that affects how much damage you do with it. (IE: instead of me whipping it lightly, if I swing it with all my might, I won't have anything to sleep on for long :P)
Now to each his own. Some people are elitist pricks who have to have the big bad sword of death, some prefer to know their damage comes from their character.....not a simple weapon.
The irony of that last comment just jumped out at me and I had to respond. Do you realize how much EQ2 owes to WoW in its current incarnation? After the release and runaway success of WoW, Sony completely stripped class-change quests out of the game so now, like WoW, you choose your class at the start. They added in the whole quill and book quest markers after WoW. They simplified, or "dumbed down" other aspects of the game, such as crafting, after WoW came out. For a time, people were really getting scared that Sony was about to turn it into a WoW clone.
WTF? They were “copying WoW” by removing the Archetype – class – subclass progression? Are you seriously trying to suggest WoW invented the idea of having people start in their final class?
The above progression was dropped because although it was a great idea on paper and gave people a chance to grow their character themselves it ultimately did not work in practice. It meant that you were not able to see what the class was truly like until you were in your 30’s, so if you didn’t like the choices you made you were screwed. It was dropped because the EQ2 dev team was smart enough to recognize a failed idea not because WoW was doing some other way. What they replaced it with was a more EQ1 style system. Any similarities with WoW are mainly because WoW used nearly a direct copy of the EQ1 class system.
EQ2 crafting was also streamlined but the result looked nothing like WoW crafting. Like the class changes these changes were made because the original looked good on paper but didn’t quite work out in practice. Too many sub-combines meant there were persistent supply/demand problems because the available crafters could not meet the demand for their products. It was also boring as hell to grind sub-combines for 3 hours just to make a handful of finished products.
The removal of sub-combines fixed both problems and allowed crafters to concentrate on the much more challenging interesting aspects like sales, pricing, finding suppliers for raw materials, etc. People like myself who got these right benefited immensely, while the whack a mole grinders didn’t fair so well. This doesn’t really sound much like WoW at all, because you seldom see anyone there who doesn’t consider crafting a mindless grind.
First, I would recommend the Faye trial if they still have that. It's loads, loads, loads more fun than the Trial of The Isle. It actually prompted me to buy the Echoes of Faydwer expansion and resub.
These days I'm no longer subbed to EQ2 (nor currently any other MMO), but I'll try to give some good/bad opinions about the game. I also see that this thread is now 3 pages long with some fussing about WoW, so I haven't bothered to read those responses. Apologies if I've missed anything pertinent. :-P
This post is going to show my jaded attitude toward MMOs, but whatever...
I did not play the PvP in EQ2 so I can't compare that to WoW's battlegrounds. Not that I'm at all impressed with WoW's battlegrounds where no one ever plays as a team and players virtually never cooperate..
The Bad:
Though the Echoes game, which allows you to start a new character (Faye or otherwise), is hella fun, it does unfortunately (and very quickly) fall back into the usual MMO gameplay. Personally I've become burned out on this which is why I'm not currently paying for any MMO.
By "usual MMO gameplay" I mean grinding on mobs, pointless "kill X amount of Y" or "gather X amount of Y items" tasks.
EVERY MMO does this though, so if you're okay with it then cool. Whatever.
The Good
EoF was a lot of fun at first and it drew me into the game. It was worth the price of the expansion. It's very well done. Playing as a Faye was also pretty darn nifty, and hearing the Kelethin music was nostalgic as all heck.
The graphics in EoF were also improved upon; or perhaps I should say that it was the art style more so than the graphics that was improved upon. In any case, it was much easier on the eyes than the old game world.
EQ2 is a stable game that runs well (see dxdiag in sig), for me at least. There's lots to do if you don't mind the above-mentioned style tasks. The combat encounters are more interesting - IMO - than what I experienced in WoW (thanks largely to the heroic opportunities).
Conclusion:
If you buy the game then you do get one month free, and I'd say that it's worth the admission price and perhaps an extra month or two after that. That depends on your attitude toward MMOs.
The first month or two will probably justify the purchase, so if nothing else you wouldn't have wasted your money. If you have the dough for it then give it a shot.
It's not exactly my cup'o tea, but then, I'm in a gamer low point where none of these games really are.
Personally, I played a necromancer (of course), assassin, and a fury and enjoyed those classes gameplay.
~Mysk
Originally posted by nick4545 Hey everyone, I was just wondering if anyone could help me with whether I should officially buy EQ2 or not. I have been thinking about it for some time, and yes I am a former player of WoW but I quit about 2 or 3 months ago. I am not sure if it would be worth it to buy it now because, many games are soon to be released such as WAR, AOC, and some other that I have been interested in. Im just searching for some honest opinions about the game and maybe some comparisions of EQ2 to some others out there so I can get a better understanding on it if I should finally buy it and join the community. FYI: I played the Trial of the Isle client, but EQ2 seems to be great from the trial but the trial is limited and the trial seems to be the main influence on my desire to want to play EQ2, although I have had my eye on it every since I started WoW some 2 years ago. Thanks in advance for input on this topic
Personally I can't get past the Hosed combat system (lol) honestly it feels like weapons do little damage and all meele damage is spell based.. major turnoff.. otherwise game was neat, and a good community..
So, I have an old rusty sword at home. I could go home and whip that thing around lightly and do very little damage say to my bed. Does that mean if I go buy a nice shiny brand new sword it's going to do more? No, it's the person wielding the sword that affects how much damage you do with it. (IE: instead of me whipping it lightly, if I swing it with all my might, I won't have anything to sleep on for long :P)
Now to each his own. Some people are elitist pricks who have to have the big bad sword of death, some prefer to know their damage comes from their character.....not a simple weapon. TJrx80 you know how people say it's all someone's "perspective" on a matter? Well in all honesty, the way you put it makes alot of sense... it really is someone's skill with a sword then the sword itself, unless it's magical then it's a combination i guess.. (ofcourse were talking fantasy physics) in all honesty EQII was very nice setup.. if WoW wasn't on the market EQII might be "the game". Heck it would prolly be.. Maybe i'll give it another try and keep telling myself "it's my skill, not my sword".
I hope you weren't implying i'm an elitist prick :P
Well maybe i'll reinstall and up my account again, im bored of most mmos right now..
Personally I can't get past the Hosed combat system (lol) honestly it feels like weapons do little damage and all meele damage is spell based.. major turnoff.. otherwise game was neat, and a good community..
So, I have an old rusty sword at home. I could go home and whip that thing around lightly and do very little damage say to my bed. Does that mean if I go buy a nice shiny brand new sword it's going to do more? No, it's the person wielding the sword that affects how much damage you do with it. (IE: instead of me whipping it lightly, if I swing it with all my might, I won't have anything to sleep on for long :P)
Now to each his own. Some people are elitist pricks who have to have the big bad sword of death, some prefer to know their damage comes from their character.....not a simple weapon. TJrx80 you know how people say it's all someone's "perspective" on a matter? Well in all honesty, the way you put it makes alot of sense... it really is someone's skill with a sword then the sword itself, unless it's magical then it's a combination i guess.. (ofcourse were talking fantasy physics) in all honesty EQII was very nice setup.. if WoW wasn't on the market EQII might be "the game". Heck it would prolly be.. Maybe i'll give it another try and keep telling myself "it's my skill, not my sword".
I hope you weren't implying i'm an elitist prick :P
Well maybe i'll reinstall and up my account again, im bored of most mmos right now..
vaedur Not at all Vaedur. Just trying to make a point about how weapons technically should affect a world. I agree though, it's a fantasy world and as such realism is pretty much out the window in the first place, hehe. There are a LOT of people though that come from Games like EQ and WoW (I have played them myself) and are under the impression that weapons and gear should be what makes the character.
EQ2 of course doesn't do the best job of this, but it's better than most. Combine the fact of the game having a deep story, deep content and a good community and it's hard to beat on the market right now.
In the end, everyone has their opinions of what would make a great game for them, and everyone else for that matter finds what they are looking for.
The irony of that last comment just jumped out at me and I had to respond. Do you realize how much EQ2 owes to WoW in its current incarnation? After the release and runaway success of WoW, Sony completely stripped class-change quests out of the game so now, like WoW, you choose your class at the start. They added in the whole quill and book quest markers after WoW. They simplified, or "dumbed down" other aspects of the game, such as crafting, after WoW came out. For a time, people were really getting scared that Sony was about to turn it into a WoW clone.
WTF? They were “copying WoW” by removing the Archetype – class – subclass progression? Are you seriously trying to suggest WoW invented the idea of having people start in their final class?
Do you see me suggesting they "invented" it anywhere? I certainly don't. It'd be more conducive to a debate if you actually tackled points I have made instead of challenging ones I haven't.
What I said was it's ironic to see someone saying how WoW's copying other games when SOE very obviously (and up 'til now I've not seen anyone really deny this) took their cues from WoW for some of the changes they made. They made the changes right on the heels of WoW's runaway success.
The above progression was dropped because although it was a great idea on paper and gave people a chance to grow their character themselves it ultimately did not work in practice. It meant that you were not able to see what the class was truly like until you were in your 30’s, so if you didn’t like the choices you made you were screwed. It was dropped because the EQ2 dev team was smart enough to recognize a failed idea not because WoW was doing some other way. What they replaced it with was a more EQ1 style system. Any similarities with WoW are mainly because WoW used nearly a direct copy of the EQ1 class system.
Funny... I don't recall anyone ever complaining about the class change system. I certainly don't recall any outcries or demands to change it. No one I knew in-game ever did. I know it's worked just fine in other MMOs. And... just can't seem to get past the timing of it ... Mind you, I think what they did with it is great. I think it ultimately makes a more interesting character development system the way it is now. I'm only saying that the timing of it was awfully coincidental.
EQ2 crafting was also streamlined but the result looked nothing like WoW crafting. Like the class changes these changes were made because the original looked good on paper but didn’t quite work out in practice. Too many sub-combines meant there were persistent supply/demand problems because the available crafters could not meet the demand for their products. It was also boring as hell to grind sub-combines for 3 hours just to make a handful of finished products.
It doesn't have to look like WoW's crafting. It was still simplified, or "streamlined" as you put it, right after WoW came out.
And, of course, there's the one obvious point you didn't dispute (probably cause there isn't one) - that they added the quill and book symbols to indicate quest NPCs. I thought the NPCs calling out to you was supposed to be their revolutionary way of presenting quests... Funny how that changed... wow... how about that.. soon after World of Warcraft came out!
Look, I do think they're still different enough games. However, to pretend that all those changes weren't made due to any influence by WoW's success, especially with the timing of it all, is just plain naive. They weren't trying to outright "copy" WoW... but they were certainly trying to bring the overall experience closer to it.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Comments
what were you killing and were you solo or grouped?
Do I play it? No. Wny not? Not my style...too prettyish.
The game has been nurfed alot since conception and in some respects is as easy as WoW, but has a much more mature community. There are classes that are awwesome for grouping and raids...then there are classes that destroy for soloing. With the AAs now you can customize and specialize. Tons of grouping posibilities and easy enough to make money.
Good luck!
Should you do decide to play, there are some things you should do first.
~ Read up on the professions. You will want to stick to one profession till lvl 70. Last thing you want is to waste time on an avatar only to realize that your not having fun anymore.
~ Read up on the guilds, There are many guilds in the game, some good some bad. Although from my experience 90% of the community on my server seem to be good natured. The general concensus tho is that Eq2 does have a good mature community.
~ Read the nooby forums, there is alot of good info there.
As for waiting for a new mmorpg to come out...True you can, However as the current trend of releases go, you'll be getting a new half finished game full of bugs with alot of propaganda from the developers saying " just buy it ! it will be fixed in time!"
Goodluck on whatever you decide to do.
I would of stayed with EQ2 if it weren't for the lack of art direction in the game. Armor, weapons and cloth clothing especially crafted gear is just uninspiring. Also usually most armor and weapon designs are repeated across several tiers of crafting without shame. Game play wise EQ 2 is good and can be fun if you find a good group to play with from time to time. Just remember to pick either Alchemist, Jeweler or Scholar so that you can make your own spells. Spells in some cases count more so then gear until you reach end game.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
I don't get the title of this topic, this game is doing very well for itself and seems to be getting busier all the time.
This is the jewel in SOE's crown, and its a miracle they havent stuffed it up yet like they did SWG.
I can honestly say I love this game, and theres really no other MMO that can touch it in terms of content and quality currently. Give it a try, you might just fall in love.
Don't listen to the people that say you can't 'catch up'. That's totaly ubsurd. I started in December last year, and by 4 months time i have a great guild, all the best gear ( fabled ) max level 70, max achievments ( 100 ) and maxed out trade skills ( 70 provisioner ). It's not hard at all to catch up with the Vets in eq2
I would say give EQ2 a try if you can afford it. I am no fanboi of any game, i have played many.
But, EQ2 is fun, with a nice community, far superior to the current swg or wow community imho.
Nice graphics and lots of things to do, like i say, if you can afford the game, give it a try. It's worth a shot.
Che.
The point is being a higher level does not stop you accessing lower level content with a Guildmate or friend.
Just group up with someone of an appropriate level, use the mentor system to scale yourself down to their level and you can experience any content in the game you wish as many times as you like.
Level 70 isn't the dead end road in EQ2 like it is with most other games.
To the OP:
I didnt read all the post (yeah, i know, im too lazy sometimes) just felt that i needed to say this:
I read a thread about WoW vs. EQ2 (no troll post was there, amazingly) i was a former wow player,
and got convinced to buy EQ2, so here is my impressions on the game:
Graphics kick ass
a ton of classes
pvp/rp-pvp- and standard servers
community is WAAAYYYYY more mature than in wow
actually, i got a ton more to say, but im running short on time, might edit later, but with the EoF retail version, i think you´ll find a solid and mature game for adventurers and rpérs and soloers alike
I only read the OP and the last post in this thread... no time to read the other 4 pages...
After having played EQ2 for a couple of years (and having played many other games such as WoW, DAoC, COH, EVE, and currently LOTRO) I can say the following:
If it weren't for the fact that so many friends had dwindled away over the years, and that LOTRO came out, I'd still be an active EQ2 subscriber.
But you think LotR combat is the best thing since sliced bread?
Graphics wise, think environmentally a little lower then LotR, but character model wise a LOT better... honestly, the models in EQ2 put a newly released game like that to shame. Thats why it scores overall higher then LotR on this site, despite being 2.5 years older.
Can you imagine what the LotR models will look like in 2.5 years? hehe they look like crap now...
Performance is great these days. I run it peaked out and it looks and plays fantastic.
Meridon, how can you say EQ2 is 'ok, I guess...' and rave about LotR, when that game owes so much to EQ1 and 2
The irony of that last comment just jumped out at me and I had to respond. Do you realize how much EQ2 owes to WoW in its current incarnation? After the release and runaway success of WoW, Sony completely stripped class-change quests out of the game so now, like WoW, you choose your class at the start. They added in the whole quill and book quest markers after WoW. They simplified, or "dumbed down" other aspects of the game, such as crafting, after WoW came out. For a time, people were really getting scared that Sony was about to turn it into a WoW clone.To be fair, it has recovered from that fairly well and didn't go down that road.. but really, you need to not make comments like that. All RPGs, online or otherwise, borrow from other games in their genre. And, really if you think about it... all fantasy RPGs owe a debt to Tolkien and the LoTR saga... It's basically the grand-daddy of the whole genre.
As for your comment about broken this and that in LoTR... Do you really believe for a second that only a couple months into its release, EQII didn't still have bugs and other problems? I certainly hope not.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
The game is meant to be challenging and enjoyable from 1 to max level... not only at the levels "everyone else is at".
I will never understand that mentality.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Now to each his own. Some people are elitist pricks who have to have the big bad sword of death, some prefer to know their damage comes from their character.....not a simple weapon.
First, I would recommend the Faye trial if they still have that. It's loads, loads, loads more fun than the Trial of The Isle. It actually prompted me to buy the Echoes of Faydwer expansion and resub.
These days I'm no longer subbed to EQ2 (nor currently any other MMO), but I'll try to give some good/bad opinions about the game. I also see that this thread is now 3 pages long with some fussing about WoW, so I haven't bothered to read those responses. Apologies if I've missed anything pertinent. :-P
This post is going to show my jaded attitude toward MMOs, but whatever...
I did not play the PvP in EQ2 so I can't compare that to WoW's battlegrounds. Not that I'm at all impressed with WoW's battlegrounds where no one ever plays as a team and players virtually never cooperate..
The Bad:
Though the Echoes game, which allows you to start a new character (Faye or otherwise), is hella fun, it does unfortunately (and very quickly) fall back into the usual MMO gameplay. Personally I've become burned out on this which is why I'm not currently paying for any MMO.
By "usual MMO gameplay" I mean grinding on mobs, pointless "kill X amount of Y" or "gather X amount of Y items" tasks.
EVERY MMO does this though, so if you're okay with it then cool. Whatever.
The Good
EoF was a lot of fun at first and it drew me into the game. It was worth the price of the expansion. It's very well done. Playing as a Faye was also pretty darn nifty, and hearing the Kelethin music was nostalgic as all heck.
The graphics in EoF were also improved upon; or perhaps I should say that it was the art style more so than the graphics that was improved upon. In any case, it was much easier on the eyes than the old game world.
EQ2 is a stable game that runs well (see dxdiag in sig), for me at least. There's lots to do if you don't mind the above-mentioned style tasks. The combat encounters are more interesting - IMO - than what I experienced in WoW (thanks largely to the heroic opportunities).
Conclusion:
If you buy the game then you do get one month free, and I'd say that it's worth the admission price and perhaps an extra month or two after that. That depends on your attitude toward MMOs.
The first month or two will probably justify the purchase, so if nothing else you wouldn't have wasted your money. If you have the dough for it then give it a shot.
It's not exactly my cup'o tea, but then, I'm in a gamer low point where none of these games really are.
Personally, I played a necromancer (of course), assassin, and a fury and enjoyed those classes gameplay.
~Mysk
Now to each his own. Some people are elitist pricks who have to have the big bad sword of death, some prefer to know their damage comes from their character.....not a simple weapon. TJrx80 you know how people say it's all someone's "perspective" on a matter? Well in all honesty, the way you put it makes alot of sense... it really is someone's skill with a sword then the sword itself, unless it's magical then it's a combination i guess.. (ofcourse were talking fantasy physics) in all honesty EQII was very nice setup.. if WoW wasn't on the market EQII might be "the game". Heck it would prolly be.. Maybe i'll give it another try and keep telling myself "it's my skill, not my sword".
I hope you weren't implying i'm an elitist prick :P
Well maybe i'll reinstall and up my account again, im bored of most mmos right now..
vaedur
Now to each his own. Some people are elitist pricks who have to have the big bad sword of death, some prefer to know their damage comes from their character.....not a simple weapon. TJrx80 you know how people say it's all someone's "perspective" on a matter? Well in all honesty, the way you put it makes alot of sense... it really is someone's skill with a sword then the sword itself, unless it's magical then it's a combination i guess.. (ofcourse were talking fantasy physics) in all honesty EQII was very nice setup.. if WoW wasn't on the market EQII might be "the game". Heck it would prolly be.. Maybe i'll give it another try and keep telling myself "it's my skill, not my sword".
I hope you weren't implying i'm an elitist prick :P
Well maybe i'll reinstall and up my account again, im bored of most mmos right now..
vaedur Not at all Vaedur. Just trying to make a point about how weapons technically should affect a world. I agree though, it's a fantasy world and as such realism is pretty much out the window in the first place, hehe. There are a LOT of people though that come from Games like EQ and WoW (I have played them myself) and are under the impression that weapons and gear should be what makes the character.
EQ2 of course doesn't do the best job of this, but it's better than most. Combine the fact of the game having a deep story, deep content and a good community and it's hard to beat on the market right now.
In the end, everyone has their opinions of what would make a great game for them, and everyone else for that matter finds what they are looking for.
Do you see me suggesting they "invented" it anywhere? I certainly don't. It'd be more conducive to a debate if you actually tackled points I have made instead of challenging ones I haven't.
What I said was it's ironic to see someone saying how WoW's copying other games when SOE very obviously (and up 'til now I've not seen anyone really deny this) took their cues from WoW for some of the changes they made. They made the changes right on the heels of WoW's runaway success.
Funny... I don't recall anyone ever complaining about the class change system. I certainly don't recall any outcries or demands to change it. No one I knew in-game ever did. I know it's worked just fine in other MMOs. And... just can't seem to get past the timing of it ... Mind you, I think what they did with it is great. I think it ultimately makes a more interesting character development system the way it is now. I'm only saying that the timing of it was awfully coincidental.
It doesn't have to look like WoW's crafting. It was still simplified, or "streamlined" as you put it, right after WoW came out.
Look, I do think they're still different enough games. However, to pretend that all those changes weren't made due to any influence by WoW's success, especially with the timing of it all, is just plain naive. They weren't trying to outright "copy" WoW... but they were certainly trying to bring the overall experience closer to it.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops