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Downloading the trial tonight
arlo_infidel
Member Posts: 24
So I plan on downloading the trial tonight after work and giving EQII a shot. I played EQ about four years ago..perhaps five, and have played numerous other MMO's as well. Recently though I haven't played much of anything except Runescape which was my first mmo and something to do to pass the time at work.
Any suggestions on a good solid server to join? In case my stay is more than 14 days. Any suggestions on sites to point me in the right direction for class choices and profession?
Also the biggest question I have is if I only have about 10 to 15 hours a week to play due to college and work, is EQII the game for me?
Thanks a bunch for reading!
Playing: Diablo 2, Medievia, SWG EMU
In between: Eq Mac
Retired: Guild Wars (2x), EQ, DAoC, PSO, Tibia, Runescape, WoW, SWG, Maple Story
Waiting: WaR (hesitant), New Star Wars MMO
Comments
Congratulations. EQ2 is an amazing game with great graphics, a very scalable engine and great diverse content.
I am a solo player who likes to be part of mature guilds for the social buzz so you will find this game very easy to solo and group your way around. The community is generally excellent and helpful with a huge number of EQ1 players who know the lore and are keen to reforge old friendships.
Playtime is not a problem as you can play this very casually, obviously the more you play the faster you level, but the quests are numerous and the lore is rich. My advise is to take your time to read the lore and text and explore at the pace you feel happy at.
Cannot recommend this game highly enough.
Good Luck
To err is human....to play is divine
EQ2 is a horrible game unless your a hardcore raider. Lotro is much better suited for casual play, solo, and casual raiding. This is coming from a hardcore raider who played under the best guilds on highkeep / butcherblock pre-and-post server merging since launch of the game.
The EQ2 trial limits you to level 10 and 14 days of gameplay, which took me 1 hour to hit the trial-cap, and with no revamp of the graphics engine makes the game look aesthetically like a steamy dump, neriak looks horrible when compared to its xpac RoK, or other newer MMO's. Try the Lotro trial if your a casual raider as it's by far better content and a by far better MMO if your not a hardcore raider. I played eq2 since launch and various other MMO's hardcore, and besides its decent hardcore raiding, the solo content is beyond horrible, instances are repetitive and WAY too easy resulting in a hard time grouping for these, amongst other issues.
Solo-wise, you'd have to be a fan of EQ lore to play this, which is crap in EQ2 as your required to read it now with no option of looking it over later. It's been recently WoW'ified and lost the original hardcore mode it once had back in the day. The developers are losing touch with there fan base, and the content slowly and slowly got worse and worse.
All in all, I suggest you try it for the lore, but realize the game is just beyond bad for the casual gamer after about level 25.
Everyone has different tastes when it comes to MMO's, but EQ2 has been pulled in every direction possible which eventually ended up on easy mode content, with now stupid raid mechanics based on luck and not skill. Chose wisely
Anatonia Bayle is the most popular PVE server
the trial is going to be a lengthy download,
you are for the most part, downloading the entire game of 10 Gig
(stupid I know)
for the trial, you are *not* limited to the Fae -- only your 1st character is
ignore your 1st character and you can play almost any race
Trial has level cap of 10 -- which you will reach quickly
EQ2 is more similar to WOW than EQ
-- its a *different* game than the original EQ except for the Lore
Wiki is handy for classes, etc
eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Class
and where to solo quest
eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Solo_Timelines
EQ2 fan sites
I have *never* raided in EQ2 -- I have a level 80 monk and plenty of alts
EQ2 is very solo friendly
EQ2 fan sites
I don't know how you could just rinse and repeat the same instances over and over for a year without challenging yourself to the raid content, ever. Raiding made this game fun because of the competition with other guilds, and if you haven't raided once like you said, and hit level 80 there is something wrong.
To me thats more hardcore in its own level than raiding everyday for 3 hours, because instanced content is so easy and dull and requires very little if any skill at all, it takes a short amount of time to clear an instance, and after that the game is boring (I tried to come back casually, and its so bloody boring theres nothing to do after clearing instances which took about 40-50 mins to clear everyone, mind you I hated the lore as it's played out beyond belief, and you have to read it that instant it becomes available, or you can't read it again, waste of time when people are waiting for you!!! and to be not allowed to read it after is B/S and always was). I still find it hard to believe you never raided before.
Monk's can solo and train named mobs easily though, considering they have a decent Feign death and avoidance, which makes content x2 easier to solo than any other class besides bruiser, however there roles in raids leave little to be desired.
You must be either a fan of the lore, a guild leader/officer, or a farmer :P Anyone not matching one of these criteria would drop this game in a heartbeat due to how amazingly dull it is.
I will give it decent itemization from levels 20-70 though, more so than I've seen in most MMO's, however, its horrible past level 20ish, when grouping allows you to progress way faster than soloing, then it changes from 65-80 back into the WoW questing solo is better model. Overall, they took the hardcore out of this game, and its a disappointing, dying game from what it was back in T5.
Eq2 has outdated graphics for an MMO, the graphics engine is NOT scalable, as it was designed for extremely high clock frequencies and not dual core, x2 processors, its more CPU intensive than GPU. New Video cards are not supported and the 8800 and 9800 series cards stutter an extreme amount if not using beta drivers, and even then high quality can not be attained on high end hardware without customizing your settings by dropping shadows, flora, lighting, and the engine was created almost 6 years ago.I think the people who recommend this game have not played any MMO's recently besides Eq1 or Eq2, I played this game since launch and recently quit, being the top class on my server pre and post mergers. I'm not saying raiding is the only way to play this game, but the solo content once you've maxed out will leave you saying why the f*** did I just waste all that time for?. You can trust someone who knows this game intimately, or someone who plays three times a week. Its a waste of time in the end, and to jump on board this game now, so late in its life won't be worth it.
Could not disagree with the last post more.
I have played eq2 during and since beta so I challenge your assumption that I do not know the game intimatly. I have played AO, WOW, neocron, Eve, LOTR and a whole host of other games so their goes your second misguided assumption and, if you indeed were at the EQ2 launch, you will understand the level of future proofing they tried to build into the game mechanics.
I have run the game on low spec machines to a dell M1710 and an Alienware 51 - so please do not tell me the game is not scalable - its rubbish.
To err is human....to play is divine
I raided daily in the original everquest for * 5 years *
I no longer have interest raiding in any mmo
I have plenty of fun in mmos without the grind of raids
EQ2 fan sites
LOL, that guy dont know what he is talking about. EQ2 is a great game, TONS and TONS and TONS of content for everyone. You can solo very well in that game. At launch EQ2 was very similar to EQ, it was hard to solo, but devs made changes to the game to make it more casual/solo friendly.
EQ2 is a mature game, you wont be disapointed by it.
1. its common knowledge the engine is based on CPU intensive clock cycles, its on official forums, so maybe you should attain greater information before posting made up crap.
2. You don't know the game intimately if you think the graphics engine, which is CPU not GPU intensive is scalable on todays high end machines.
3. You don't even know the definition of scalable, so you should stop using it. EVERY game would be "scalable" using your definition aslong as your hardware supports original specifications, lol! scalable is the graphics engine conforming to the processes of modern GPU's which EQ2 does not. obviously.
4. Playing in beta doesn't mean you know the game intimately, have you completed all the content? apparently not.
5. You just contradicted yourself by stating they tried to future proof this game, which ties into scalability of the ancient CPU intensive design over GPU intensive like it should be. Its all on official forums, perhaps you should get a clue before posting
LOL, that guy dont know what he is talking about. EQ2 is a great game, TONS and TONS and TONS of content for everyone. You can solo very well in that game. At launch EQ2 was very similar to EQ, it was hard to solo, but devs made changes to the game to make it more casual/solo friendly.
EQ2 is a mature game, you wont be disapointed by it.
Yeah I don't know what I'm talking about because I've only completed every bit of content besides crappy solo quests that this game has to offer, something you probably have not, I'm talking trash about a game your obviously a fanboy of and you don't like it, lool. I must have no clue what Im talking about right?
You just proved my point in your response of why the original was better. grats to you. You like soloing until 80? I've done it, you like grouping to 80? I've done that, I've killed every raid mob besides avatars that this game had to offer, so think twice fanboy.
EQ2's community is more mature than WoW for sure, but in relation to Lotro, and AoC it doesn't even compare, people are quitting this game in hordes recently and yet you still won't take any critism about the game without crying.
Your points so not back up your commentary and the cpu argument bears little reflection on my initial post in relation to my opinion on the enjoyment factor of the game.
If you judge a game by its tech factor - best of luck to you but the gaming experience is one that keeps me paying subscriptions.
So, to the original poster, I wholeheartedly recommend this game to you. I think you will enjoy it and certainly hope you do.
To err is human....to play is divine
My points do backup my commentary in regards to completely undermining your knowledge of this game. Which I just proved factually, that you have no clue what even scalability means.
I'm not judging this game by its tech factor, it was you who pointed out the "scalability facts" and its "great graphics", that I proved to be wrong, so....don't flip it on me.
<modedit>
EQ2 is very casual friendly. If you only have 10-15 hours a week then thats fine, thats all ive had on occassion and still enjoy logging in.
First off, before you throw around the fanboy term, I have played EQ2 since launch, and lotro for 2 months, and quit, because I need a hardcore raiding / pvp MMO and currently every MMO to date just doesn't cut it for me, or an MMO that isn't plagued with crappy raid mechanics, and poor content which both are in excess of at the hardcore level. Being in that piss-poor guild on AB proves that you don't even raid at a high level so how would you know whats good and what isn't?
LOL! and once again, I said lotro was a better casual game, and it is! I said that EQ2 was a better hardcore raiding game, and it is! learn how to read before your rage posting furthers your ignorance lmao.
Lotro is directx 10 supported and scalable, while EQ2 is not, so your engine comments are guttered. There are by far more original quests in lotro than eq2, and like I said in my first post if you could read, each to there own.
Lotro is better fitted for a casual raider with play times of 10-30 hours a week, and like you and I both said (if you could read), EQ2 will run better on pre core 2, x2 systems, why is that so hard to understand when lotro is dx10 with WAY more complexity to its engine? grats on having a sub-par PC and then trying to flip that on me lol. Cruddy animations? lol! what class did you play? because in my unbiased opinion the only thing good about eq2 animations were auto-attack, considering every CA was the same animation, while lotro has unique animations for every CA/Spell, hmmmm facts before fiction please
however, eq2 character models look better, the animations however do not.
Lotro is a borefest? yeah it is once your 50 and done the content, just like eq2, so then you fall into raiding, and lotro raids are by far better suited for the casual raider than EQ2 is because EQ2 raids are either luck based (actually, you wouldn't know that since your guild is horrible), I played lotro for 2 months and its by far a better casual experience than EQ2, and yes I am 50 and completed rift raiding and rank 7 on pvmp 4 1/2 stars :P
You think I would talk sh;t about a game that I played since launch 3 years ago? if it wasn't bad? lmao.
The UI is the exact same as WoW, the exact same as EQ2 besides a mini-map, different icons, and regardless you can change any UI in any game. I don't even play Lotro lol so as far as fanboy status concerns I'm not, the only fanboy I am is that of Diablo 2 because to this day I am still only 1 of 5 players in the world unbeaten in ladder tournaments :P crying about the UI being the same in an MMO when you can change it = fail.
Really the big difference is reading comprehension, instead of this fanboi'sh attack you should have read my posts, I never said lotro is the best game in the world, I simply stated that lotro has better casual solo content, and better casual raid content, and that has already been reviewed by countless MMO sites and proven to be unbiasly true. It's okay that your in a sub-par guild pretending to be an elitist, nothing ever good has come from AB as that server is for rejects and roleplayers :P
<modedit>
I recently started playing EQ2. Ive played almost Every MMO on this site. EQ,WoW, and DAoC being the MMO's that ive played for 3 years+
Not that my gaming past makes me any sort of expert.
All i can say is that my time so far in EQ2 has been great. Great Graphics,Great Community, and great classes/gameplay. Give the trial a whirl and if your still having fun at the end of it go ahead and suscribe. Don't push this game to the side just because some "high horse uber epic MMORPGS4LIFE" player doesn't like the game for various technical reasons.
I mean what MMO takes skill really??? You push diffrerent keys on your keyboard and react to different situations the game throws at you.If thats skill I should be famous. Well typing is a skill ill give you that.
Considering this post is most undeniably directed at me cause I know I am an elitist, yeah who cares about the technical reasons why this game is sub-par! lol everyone play it because your reasoning is so awesome!
I'm happy that your time in eq2 is great, and if you play 10-20 hours a week, any MMO will be great and have its user base especially for those who enjoyed eq1. makes sense doesn't it?
What MMO takes skill? I don't think you've raided hardcore in EQ2 to be the judge of that, have you tried raiding Djinn Masters Prism when it was hard? (placing those instruments and playing them perfectly while under attack took skill) how about avatars? how about Mutagenic Outcast and its spawning waves of adds? that took some skill, how about Darathar in T5 when it was hard? that took skill, how about 3 tanks switching mobs on 3P on call when it was required, while half the casual guilds wiped we destroyed it, due to skill? naww couldn't be, we just button mashed. I beg you to prove me wrong, but I bet your just another casual talking up EQ2 like its the best game ever. Oh wait! your a new player to EQ2 ! and talking about things that you have no clue about
sad. Every encounter takes skill at first, you take what you've learned from past encounters and see what works with the new ones, until the basics are learned and it becomes routine, maybe you haven't been in a guild that has figured out strats for mobs, or learned class mechanics enough to know how to parse #1 or heal and cure effectively enough to keep your group alive.
Any newb can button mash, and call themselves good, even think they are good while offering up excuses that they only suck because they can't raid 2-3 hours a day for 5 days in a hardcore guild, or 2 hours a day 3 times a week in a casual guild, but thats just dilerium setting in, and excuses being made because I have no doubt even in a casual raiding guild, you wouldn't have the skill required to complete the end game content; or even be raid in a top5 WW guild because it takes skill you lack
Take a look at any top guilds recruitment page, they all pretty much state if your a button masher you won't be accepted, you can call it skill, or critical thinking, or possessing the jesus fingers, whatever floats your boat, MMO's do take skill at one point in time, failure to realize that is another step towards ignorance. You think any level 80 in full exact fabled can perform as well as a player who took the time to develop and improve himself and his skills? To you, yes, but evolution should kick in for you pretty soon when you wind up in a guild that can't accomplish anything.
I love it when newbs say MMO's don't take skill, maybe when your playing casually in guilds that don't care what you parse or heal for or if they suck or not, but in top end guilds son you need skill, you even said yourself your gaming past doesn't make you an expert, and while playing for all that time you never raided anything hard? I couldn't stand playing a game for 3 years and sucking at it enough to form an opinion that no MMO takes skill and its all button mashing but then again, this kind of thinking is why you were never in a top guild. but prove me wrong
Played EQ2 since launch. Mostly group with some solo and am a casual raider. I really enjoy the crafting, and have two accounts w/ multiple 60+ crafters. I dig the graphics and the community. For me it's the best MMO out. There have been sweeping changes to the game since launch, and i didn't agree with many of them. It definetly has gotten easier to solo, and level in general, but all in all i've found nothing i like better than EQ2. I've given VSoH, L2, WoW, LoTRO, and EVE an honest shot. I like aspects of each of those, but i prefer EQ2 by far.
Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as i have. If not, hey it's just a trial.
With ROK i'll agree they dunmbed it down far to much (and i say this as a dedicated soloer) but we can hope that the next expansion will be better balanced than that one was,as for it being dull well hey thats your call,if you found it dull then it wasnt the game for you,i and many others have a good time ingame and as for it dying since ROK the servers havent been quiet that much (even my observation last week that my server had gone a bit quiet was just tempory) so if anything the games thriving rather "dying".
And to the OP..the trial is awful,it really doesnt give you any sense of what awaits you once you go away from the newbie areas.
I probably over-estimated the boredom factor of instances considering there is replay value in attaining your masters and gear that you can sell for masters (I took it for granted considering I was always fully mastered within a month 1/2ish of an xpac 75ish plat guild splits a month does that to you, so instances never offered anything to me, besides boring content when I wasn't raiding) I'm man enough to admit it when I'm mistaken.
I also hope the next expansion does some justice to the raiders, groupers, and soloers alike, I wasn't impressed at all with RoK, in fact I thought it to be the worst xpac yet, and thought it to be overly rushed and it was, proven by the missing content that was added months after (with itemization still a buggered up). I've come to realize that perhaps if you haven't raided at all then there is more replay value in running these, to me, dull and boring instances because you can use the stuff from them. In pickup groups for instances no tank could hold agro from me unless he had massive xfer or the mt was a paladin, so I'd have to half ass the instances unless it was with my guild, that was another negative.
With the buggered up raids there are alot of raiders leaving the game, personally some of my good ingame friends have all left EQ2 in RoK aswell to other games due to how bad it was for us, raiders are quitting in hordes and perhaps I failed to mention raiders, not everyone quitting, thanks for that.
Thanks for those that did input with both positive and negative thoughts. And I think I will go with the 'it's a free trial, whats it matter' approach.
Thank you all once again for the input and am glad to see both sides of the spectrum.
Playing: Diablo 2, Medievia, SWG EMU
In between: Eq Mac
Retired: Guild Wars (2x), EQ, DAoC, PSO, Tibia, Runescape, WoW, SWG, Maple Story
Waiting: WaR (hesitant), New Star Wars MMO
Don't start in Neriak! haha
Considering this post is most undeniably directed at me cause I know I am an elitist, yeah who cares about the technical reasons why this game is sub-par! lol everyone play it because your reasoning is so awesome!
I'm happy that your time in eq2 is great, and if you play 10-20 hours a week, any MMO will be great and have its user base especially for those who enjoyed eq1. makes sense doesn't it?
What MMO takes skill? I don't think you've raided hardcore in EQ2 to be the judge of that, have you tried raiding Djinn Masters Prism when it was hard? (placing those instruments and playing them perfectly while under attack took skill) how about avatars? how about Mutagenic Outcast and its spawning waves of adds? that took some skill, how about Darathar in T5 when it was hard? that took skill, how about 3 tanks switching mobs on 3P on call when it was required, while half the casual guilds wiped we destroyed it, due to skill? naww couldn't be, we just button mashed. I beg you to prove me wrong, but I bet your just another casual talking up EQ2 like its the best game ever. Oh wait! your a new player to EQ2 ! and talking about things that you have no clue about
sad. Every encounter takes skill at first, you take what you've learned from past encounters and see what works with the new ones, until the basics are learned and it becomes routine, maybe you haven't been in a guild that has figured out strats for mobs, or learned class mechanics enough to know how to parse #1 or heal and cure effectively enough to keep your group alive.
Any newb can button mash, and call themselves good, even think they are good while offering up excuses that they only suck because they can't raid 2-3 hours a day for 5 days in a hardcore guild, or 2 hours a day 3 times a week in a casual guild, but thats just dilerium setting in, and excuses being made because I have no doubt even in a casual raiding guild, you wouldn't have the skill required to complete the end game content; or even be raid in a top5 WW guild because it takes skill you lack
Take a look at any top guilds recruitment page, they all pretty much state if your a button masher you won't be accepted, you can call it skill, or critical thinking, or possessing the jesus fingers, whatever floats your boat, MMO's do take skill at one point in time, failure to realize that is another step towards ignorance. You think any level 80 in full exact fabled can perform as well as a player who took the time to develop and improve himself and his skills? To you, yes, but evolution should kick in for you pretty soon when you wind up in a guild that can't accomplish anything.
I love it when newbs say MMO's don't take skill, maybe when your playing casually in guilds that don't care what you parse or heal for or if they suck or not, but in top end guilds son you need skill, you even said yourself your gaming past doesn't make you an expert, and while playing for all that time you never raided anything hard? I couldn't stand playing a game for 3 years and sucking at it enough to form an opinion that no MMO takes skill and its all button mashing but then again, this kind of thinking is why you were never in a top guild. but prove me wrong
Please refer to http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/173030
I double posted this for you because everyone should see it, If you honestly believe top end players have no skill at playing the game, you're an ignorant fool.
Math skill (what spells to fire off), skilled co-ordination (fd, firing off spells on long duration, curing at the right time, dps on and off, listening to verbal commands and executing them), critical thinking during AoE's, where to run, when to run, how far to run, using past experience and applying it to new encounters are all skills related and bundled into every MMO differently, its called game mechanics. Therefore you can chose to understand and apply this knowledge set of mechanics, a.k.a SKILL SET to either suck or be elite. If you believe every player does the same thing in a monotonous motion of pressing 1-2-3-4-5-6 *encounter dead, you obviously were never good at MMO's in the first place, or you, yourself fall into the category of a shitty player.
Have you participated in learning a new strategy? have you been in server best, world best guild? have you had the dedication to learn your class and the most effective way to utilize it? probably not, but most people have, now I'm talking about raiding, because 1 hit mob encounters obviously take no skill to push 1 or 2 or even 3 buttons, but when you have an encounter that takes 10+ minutes to beat, with multiple aoes, damage shields, spawning adds, etc, you can't tell me that those participating in the kill have no skill. (Thats like saying hockey takes no skill because all you have to do is windup for a slapshot, fire the puck at 100mph and you'll score, or that since dodging a hit in real life is something your naturally going to do, taking a hit the proper way is not a skill, because hey there both games being played just on a different medium, or lets use golf as another one, wind up fire your ball, is judging the wind speed and direction, and lie of the pin a skill? when all your doing is clubbing a ball?) Its obviously something you have never done, so why don't you create a poll on the subject, and you'll find your ideals are severley mistaken.
I've seen my fair share of retards with damn great gear and full masters apply to the guild I was in and fail horribley because they sucked, now is sucking due to lack of skill? or sucking due to lack of math skill because they couldn't parse higher than a dirge and obviously weren't hitting the right spells/ca's? which is chalked up to experience, potential, aptitude, and ability, all of which constitutes as a skill.
The dicitonary spells it out for you, yet you still believe they take no skill?
Edit: to save the feelings of others, as per request of the moderator.