Nevar's advice on race/class is top notch. For me, this flexibility is a strength of EQ2 (perhaps a declining strength though). Totally agree that you need to get to level 20 AT LEAST before deciding whether the class will work for you. I personally disagree with the idea of new players shouldn't play a tank class, but understand the reasons behind the suggestion (I just wouldn't limit new players - let them take the journey of discovery, as that's much of the fun).
The idea that Transmutation (a sub-craft) is recommended to a newbie as a way of making money is, in my opinion, a bit daft. Being repeated in this article is potentially going to send other new players down a path that they really should not go until they understand the game a bit better. However, if this article had explained some of the mechanics, pointed out that levelling up to a point where money can be made is based on a RNG and that getting anywhere in the sub-craft needs a certain mindset (or a huge bank balance!) then I wouldn't have bothered commenting. Surely when you get told something like this you should do a bit of research so that you can at least supply another link so that you and your readers have a chance to understand what it is about? e.g. a link to here:
Incorrect. Use the Wiki link in the article; do some research; don't mislead the readers.
Seriously, please don't just throw quotes at the readers without checking if they are in any way accurate.
As a newbie, presumably, writing for other newbies I thought it might be sensible to include a link to the games manual. The fact that you didn't is probably more to do with SoE's poor customer service than any oversight on your part. The manual really should be available from the same place you download the trial, but I can only find it tucked away in the EQ2players area. Anyway, here's a link:
I loved the game when the players were the heroes; when death meant something; when crafting was made sense and was a challenge. That was a long, long time ago. Now I merely like the game, but I would hesitate to recommend it to others (sad but true).
This is possibly true of all MMOs, but the one thing that I see with EQ2 is constant change. Whether it is for the better or not is a personal opinion. As a player, you need to understand that change is inevitable and that the time you spend building a character may not actually bring the rewards you hoped as the goal postsmay have been moved (again). e.g. Two years ago players would have recommended playing a Ranger as they were the "uber" class. But that changed, big time.
Many will say that the changes are not "game breaking" but that really depends on your point of view. And your patience. And, in my case, whether you were daft enough to buy an annual subscription! (i.e. I would have left after LU9)
My concern is that the constant changes (SoE call it "balancing") to game play isn't really adding that much benefit to the game. For example, Achievements - these were brought in as an addition to players existing skills and were, generally, considered to be "nice to have". However, constant tweaking has meant that Achievement Points are now an absolute must.
Much of the tinkering and tweaking (balancing [shudder]) seems to be done in reaction to what the level capped players are doing (i.e. the level 80 players) but due consideration is not, in my opinion, taken into how those changes will affect new, low-level characters. The newbies.
Apologies, that turned into a bit of a rant.
What I would suggest to any new player (and therefore the articles author) is to check out the advice given in the EQ2 Forums Tips, Tricks and New Players section (check the stickied threads first) as well as checking out the sections on the class(es) you decide to play. And then use the forums as a resource, as there are a lot of helpful players out there in the community who are happy to offer advice and help.
Thanks for the critique. I take criticsm well, and I plan to take all your advice seriously in an upcoming article.
As for what a player has said to me, one has to understand that I was taking what this player said at face value. I was under the impression(and still am) that this person knows more of the game than I. Research would only have served to make the person who was gracious enough to sit down with me look like an idiot.
I'd rather be the idiot.
My only gripe with that forum link you posted is the fact that the stickies lack any sort of tradeskill guide. I'm now researching that.
Again, thanks for the input.
“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”
The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.
well HeavySigh, I got real curious with eq2i.com DID say about Fury if it wasn't a priest class since I have a Fury character in my stable.
Quote:
"A Fury is one of the Cleric types."
Incorrect. Use the Wiki link in the article; do some research; don't mislead the readers.
Seriously, please don't just throw quotes at the readers without checking if they are in any way accurate.
In eq2i.com under Classes/Priest/Fury it says this:
"Those who seek to harness the feral and destructive forces of nature will find the Fury to be a suitable profession. Although the Fury conjures his power from nature?s ferocity and is a druid of predation and vengeance, he can play a vital support role in the party by providing magical healing and protection. The Fury can enhance his allies' physical attributes and abilities in combat, and bring down destructive forces upon his enemies." [bolded portion to emphasize Fury's role in groups]
Though that's not entirely clearly a cleric type, that's what a Fury is (even if some people would like to believe they are DPS LOL). In fact, this is becoming a problem in some group situations that the players built their Fury for DPS instead of heals because they didn't recognize that a Fury is a healer, and in a group would be expected to HEAL and not DPS.
That link will probably give you more info than you'll ever need in how to tradeskill. Now, as far as making money in game, anything tradeskill (until rather high levels) is probably not going to realize much return. Most likely areas for generating funds are selling item drops from the critter you kill and spell/skill upgrades (adept 1 and Master 1 drops). You might also get some money from finding harvesting rares (rare components to make tradeskilling items), however, this can also be a tedious task (and probably not recommended for people that are truly new to the game.
Originally posted by Miustus
... only gripe with that forum link you posted is the fact that the stickies lack any sort of tradeskill guide. I'm now researching that. ...
you will find that most of the people responding on these forums are the butt hurt players who left and have made it their personal vendetta to try and steer the noobs away from perceived "evil called soe"
I've played the game since launch have 80 wizard and soon to be 80 paladin raid Veeshan's Peak as well as quite a few low level alts that I have fun playing and helping out new players.
A RL friend of mine has his own little guild of alts and has new players that are new to eq2 that join him from time to time and helps them out with mentoring crafting stuff for them etc (his highest toon is 73 conjy and has an 80 carpenter)
I've played just about every major MMO since 2004 to some extent (including wow up to 63 on live server and lots of 70s on different private servers)
I enjoyed wow it has a unique feel to it and I had fun doing world PVP. The community however was horrific. Never met a more hateful bunch of players in my life. There were exceptions but they were few and far between.
Bottom line, SOE haters are always going to be SOE haters. I don't disagree that eq2 doesn't have issues but if you can find me a game that does not have issues I'll buy you dinner. My biggest problem with eq2 is the graphics engine and how it makes use of the hardware. I can still play it turned up decent and acceptable frame rates but it needs updating to work with SMP and DX9. That being said those lazy developers everyone talks about are working on SMP support and refreshing the graphics engine. They actually hired at least 1 this summer to focus on that aspect of the game.
I keep hearing about population decline but so far I've not seen anything drastic, I still have no problems finding groups at just about any level range (being on 2nd/3rd highest pop server helps I admit) Yea when new Xpacs come out the population gets huge then falls back some but it is nowhere near as bad as games like Vanguard or Dark and Light etc.
To the OP I see you have a 12 paladin on Mistmoor I believe, I would suggest rerolling a toon on Crushbone server that has more people and I can hook you up with whatever you need. It won't take long at all to get back to lvl 12 and I can get you a guild invite to beginner friendly guild and be glad to answer any questions you may have about the game.
"well HeavySigh, I got real curious with eq2i.com DID say about Fury if it wasn't a priest class since I have a Fury character in my stable.
Quote:
"A Fury is one of the Cleric types."
Incorrect. Use the Wiki link in the article; do some research; don't mislead the readers.
Seriously, please don't just throw quotes at the readers without checking if they are in any way accurate.
In eq2i.com under Classes/Priest/Fury it says this:
"Those who seek to harness the feral and destructive forces of nature will find the Fury to be a suitable profession. Although the Fury conjures his power from nature?s ferocity and is a druid of predation and vengeance, he can play a vital support role in the party by providing magical healing and protection. The Fury can enhance his allies' physical attributes and abilities in combat, and bring down destructive forces upon his enemies." [bolded portion to emphasize Fury's role in groups]
Though that's not entirely clearly a cleric type, that's what a Fury is (even if some people would like to believe they are DPS LOL). In fact, this is becoming a problem in some group situations that the players built their Fury for DPS instead of heals because they didn't recognize that a Fury is a healer, and in a group would be expected to HEAL and not DPS."
I never said a Fury wasn't a priest. I indicated that it wasn't a cleric. Pop back to the EQ2i page for the Fury and read what it says against "Type" (in the class information box). Now repeat the process on the Templar page in EQ2i. Understand now?
After downloading the 2 week trial of Everquest 2, I have now become a full subscriber. Why? Cause I think the game is amazing. Ill tell you a bit about meyself, I started playing Online games in 1999 when I bought a copy of everquest. I didnt really get into it much because I was busy at university but overall I enjoyed what I had played. Then in 2001 a friend introduced me to Anarchy Online. This is where my serious online gaming started. I played Anarcy Online untill 2005, then I switched to WoW. I then played WoW for 3 years untill last week, when I decided it was time for a change. So I suppose, all the "WoW" style changes that have happened to EQ2 is an advantage for me, because WoW was a great game imo. In the eyes of a noob, I see everquest 2 as a clone of all my previous online games. The new starter area reminds me of the starter Isle in Anarchy Online, the cities remind me of WoW cities and the quests are very simalar to WoW quests (gather this, kill that mob, kill 10 of them etc). Through the eyes of a Everquest noob, these are the reasons I have decided to continue my subscription:
1 - The community in Everquest 2 is Fantastic. I play on Splitpaw European server. I remember the first time i chatted in lv 1-9 chat when i trial was over, i recived loads of welcomes and offers of help. I even had a friendly person invite me to a guild, who then showed me how to craft and made some Bags and armor for me. I have NEVER had this type of help in any other online game. One guild mamber even gave me a Platnium piece, and to a noob that made me feel like a millionare.
2 - The graphics are simply amazing. I have a very powerful computer and I am lucky to have all settings up very high. I remember standing on a hill in Antonica for the first time looking at the stars and the broken moon, fantastic. Also i love the weather effects, great!!
3 - The quests are VERY enjoyable, the in game speech brings the quests to life. Something I have never experienced in any other online game. I even found myself doing low level grey quests that offered no Xp reward, simply because I WANTED to complete them and see the end result!!
4 - The crafting system is much more in depth than any other game I have played. I found myself being able to make spells and amour from the harvested items that I had found that I could actually USE (in WoW crafting seemed like something you would do just to make money, i think I only ever wore one armor set that I made in WOW in my whole 70 levels)
5 The support is great, I got stuck in an area of South Queynos cause apparently my game didnt load the zone correctly, I logged off and 10 mins later I recived a reply from a SOE customer service employee who teleported me to a temple on the other side of the city, sorting out my problem.
So far I am very happy with the game. In a way, I do see it as a WoW clone but with much more depth and better graphics/community. Obviously some of the aspects of the game I have yet to experience such as raiding and PVP, but as a EQ2 Noob, I am very happy!!!
it's not as simple as don't play it if you don't like it. SOE is using this new model to develop all of their MMO games. Easy, bland and boring..and the reason they are doing it is because their players let them. They make promises the don't intend to keep, release the game that has serious potential, and instead of developing the potential they trivialize every aspect of it. In the mean time people have poured hours into character development and don't want to feel cheated of their time, so they continue to try to play the game, even though the game isn't what is used to be, and is not living up to promises made by the developer...and BAM.... instant captive audience...the ONLY way to show SOE that their "vision" isn't working is to walk away. It's a game, there is more than one, go play another if you must play MMOs. If you can pull yourself away from the keyboard, go outside, see a movie, a ball game, go to the beach...go ANYWHERE....collect rocks, collect stamps, it certainly can't be any less boring that killing the same skeleton/gnoll/orc models for 80 levels....
QFT. After years of having a blast in the early days of MMO's (including Everquest for 4 years), I found that each new "improvement" to MMO's just got less fun. There was less exploration, less meaning in your quests, less character development, just ... less of what makes an MMO a game. And it's gotten worse and worse, until now it's just incredibly disappointing to even see.
The reason wasn't that it can't be done- all the way back to Daggerfall, AI opponents were fighting like it was a real fight (and so were you), NPC's were hailing you as a friend, offering you work, brushing you off curtly, or being outright hostile to you according to what their race/class/town thought of your race/class/town/accomplishments, quests were anywhere from simple jobs for a little money to complex, convoluted stories that challenged you to figure out motivations, decipher puzzles, fight when necessary, and think all the time.
What do we have now after almost 2 decades of "improvement"? Sparkly killing-parks for kiddies that never grew out of pubescent aggression. Even LOTRO, my latest play, is now uninstalled- once you get past the first 20 levels, all of the neat, fun, sometimes scary quests they send you on become dumb killing errands. Kill 30 of these for a shiny sword. Kill 20 more of these for new boots. Sigh.....
So, good luck with EQ2. Every new game brings some fun at the start because it's new to you, but after awhile.... After reaching level 74 with my main char, I just absolutely could not force myself to kill one more dumb thing just standing around waiting to be killed. I just couldn't act that mindless and stupid any longer without becoming so in real life, so I had a choice to make.
So now I just play this and that while I wait for some MMO developer to build an online world that actually has a game to it. That's the only reason I come here actually, just to see if it's happened yet.
"well HeavySigh, I got real curious with eq2i.com DID say about Fury if it wasn't a priest class since I have a Fury character in my stable. Quote: "A Fury is one of the Cleric types." Incorrect. Use the Wiki link in the article; do some research; don't mislead the readers. Seriously, please don't just throw quotes at the readers without checking if they are in any way accurate. In eq2i.com under Classes/Priest/Fury it says this: "Those who seek to harness the feral and destructive forces of nature will find the Fury to be a suitable profession. Although the Fury conjures his power from nature?s ferocity and is a druid of predation and vengeance, he can play a vital support role in the party by providing magical healing and protection. The Fury can enhance his allies' physical attributes and abilities in combat, and bring down destructive forces upon his enemies." [bolded portion to emphasize Fury's role in groups] Though that's not entirely clearly a cleric type, that's what a Fury is (even if some people would like to believe they are DPS LOL). In fact, this is becoming a problem in some group situations that the players built their Fury for DPS instead of heals because they didn't recognize that a Fury is a healer, and in a group would be expected to HEAL and not DPS."
I never said a Fury wasn't a priest. I indicated that it wasn't a cleric. Pop back to the EQ2i page for the Fury and read what it says against "Type" (in the class information box). Now repeat the process on the Templar page in EQ2i. Understand now?
Just one more post. I did have some fun with my Fury, but that's because I could use Charm, and because I can play a DOT type (my main in EQ1 was a druid with Charm stats cranked up- way fun compared to the regular way to play one . Then they nerfed the crap out of the class, and guess what- Furys are now just healers and buffers, with some moderate nukage thrown in. They're only valuable because their heals over time keep the tank's health up enough so a real healer (templar or inquisitor) doesn't lose them to a sudden rain of hits.
So eventually, no matter what you find fun to play, you will be forced into SOE's little "party line" deal where you must have the tank, must have the healers, and must have the DPS. If you don't fit that mold, say for reasons of character development or god-forbid, role playing lol, you are just an unneeded extra. And as the other guy said, now you can actually be a DETRIMENT to a group. That's how dumb SOE's games have gotten - you don't play what is easy for THEM, you will still be allowed to pay to log in, but you might not be allowed to PLAY lol.
My main class was an Illusionist, so I know all about being an amazingly powerful class (if played with skill) that is still considered superfluous until the group has a tank, healer and DPS. SOE's "balance" for this? Make some raid zones drain power so you have to let an Illusionist join your group if you want to keep your power up. Which is like only being invited to a party because you can pass for 18 and buy beer fpr your "friends". Double sigh ....
Comments
About the article:
Nevar's advice on race/class is top notch. For me, this flexibility is a strength of EQ2 (perhaps a declining strength though). Totally agree that you need to get to level 20 AT LEAST before deciding whether the class will work for you. I personally disagree with the idea of new players shouldn't play a tank class, but understand the reasons behind the suggestion (I just wouldn't limit new players - let them take the journey of discovery, as that's much of the fun).
The idea that Transmutation (a sub-craft) is recommended to a newbie as a way of making money is, in my opinion, a bit daft. Being repeated in this article is potentially going to send other new players down a path that they really should not go until they understand the game a bit better. However, if this article had explained some of the mechanics, pointed out that levelling up to a point where money can be made is based on a RNG and that getting anywhere in the sub-craft needs a certain mindset (or a huge bank balance!) then I wouldn't have bothered commenting. Surely when you get told something like this you should do a bit of research so that you can at least supply another link so that you and your readers have a chance to understand what it is about? e.g. a link to here:
http://eq2.eqtraders.com/articles/article_page.php?article=g225&menustr=040000000000
"A Fury is one of the Cleric types."
Incorrect. Use the Wiki link in the article; do some research; don't mislead the readers.
Seriously, please don't just throw quotes at the readers without checking if they are in any way accurate.
As a newbie, presumably, writing for other newbies I thought it might be sensible to include a link to the games manual. The fact that you didn't is probably more to do with SoE's poor customer service than any oversight on your part. The manual really should be available from the same place you download the trial, but I can only find it tucked away in the EQ2players area. Anyway, here's a link:
http://everquest2.station.sony.com/en/manual/
"Wish me luck, and try not to kill me so much!"
Good luck, I hope you enjoy the journey.
About the game:
I loved the game when the players were the heroes; when death meant something; when crafting was made sense and was a challenge. That was a long, long time ago. Now I merely like the game, but I would hesitate to recommend it to others (sad but true).
This is possibly true of all MMOs, but the one thing that I see with EQ2 is constant change. Whether it is for the better or not is a personal opinion. As a player, you need to understand that change is inevitable and that the time you spend building a character may not actually bring the rewards you hoped as the goal posts may have been moved (again). e.g. Two years ago players would have recommended playing a Ranger as they were the "uber" class. But that changed, big time.
Many will say that the changes are not "game breaking" but that really depends on your point of view. And your patience. And, in my case, whether you were daft enough to buy an annual subscription! (i.e. I would have left after LU9)
My concern is that the constant changes (SoE call it "balancing") to game play isn't really adding that much benefit to the game. For example, Achievements - these were brought in as an addition to players existing skills and were, generally, considered to be "nice to have". However, constant tweaking has meant that Achievement Points are now an absolute must.
Much of the tinkering and tweaking (balancing [shudder]) seems to be done in reaction to what the level capped players are doing (i.e. the level 80 players) but due consideration is not, in my opinion, taken into how those changes will affect new, low-level characters. The newbies.
Apologies, that turned into a bit of a rant.
What I would suggest to any new player (and therefore the articles author) is to check out the advice given in the EQ2 Forums Tips, Tricks and New Players section (check the stickied threads first) as well as checking out the sections on the class(es) you decide to play. And then use the forums as a resource, as there are a lot of helpful players out there in the community who are happy to offer advice and help.
Thanks for the critique. I take criticsm well, and I plan to take all your advice seriously in an upcoming article.
As for what a player has said to me, one has to understand that I was taking what this player said at face value. I was under the impression(and still am) that this person knows more of the game than I. Research would only have served to make the person who was gracious enough to sit down with me look like an idiot.
I'd rather be the idiot.
My only gripe with that forum link you posted is the fact that the stickies lack any sort of tradeskill guide. I'm now researching that.
Again, thanks for the input.
“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”
The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.
well HeavySigh, I got real curious with eq2i.com DID say about Fury if it wasn't a priest class since I have a Fury character in my stable.
Quote:
"A Fury is one of the Cleric types."
Incorrect. Use the Wiki link in the article; do some research; don't mislead the readers.
Seriously, please don't just throw quotes at the readers without checking if they are in any way accurate.
In eq2i.com under Classes/Priest/Fury it says this:
"Those who seek to harness the feral and destructive forces of nature will find the Fury to be a suitable profession. Although the Fury conjures his power from nature?s ferocity and is a druid of predation and vengeance, he can play a vital support role in the party by providing magical healing and protection. The Fury can enhance his allies' physical attributes and abilities in combat, and bring down destructive forces upon his enemies." [bolded portion to emphasize Fury's role in groups]
Though that's not entirely clearly a cleric type, that's what a Fury is (even if some people would like to believe they are DPS LOL). In fact, this is becoming a problem in some group situations that the players built their Fury for DPS instead of heals because they didn't recognize that a Fury is a healer, and in a group would be expected to HEAL and not DPS.
If you're looking for tradeskill guides, there's 2 places I'd refer to:
EQ Traders Corner
eq2.eqtraders.com
and EQ Players Tradskill Forums (listed link below)
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/forums/show.m?forum_id=2588
it has a sticky named: FAQ and Guide Links (listed link below)
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=347090
At the top of this guides listed is this link: EQ2Traders Guides Page Check here first, there's too many to link!
http://eq2.eqtraders.com/articles/article_page.php?article=g5&menustr=040000000000
That link will probably give you more info than you'll ever need in how to tradeskill. Now, as far as making money in game, anything tradeskill (until rather high levels) is probably not going to realize much return. Most likely areas for generating funds are selling item drops from the critter you kill and spell/skill upgrades (adept 1 and Master 1 drops). You might also get some money from finding harvesting rares (rare components to make tradeskilling items), however, this can also be a tedious task (and probably not recommended for people that are truly new to the game.
Thanks for the links!
“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”
The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.
you will find that most of the people responding on these forums are the butt hurt players who left and have made it their personal vendetta to try and steer the noobs away from perceived "evil called soe"
I've played the game since launch have 80 wizard and soon to be 80 paladin raid Veeshan's Peak as well as quite a few low level alts that I have fun playing and helping out new players.
A RL friend of mine has his own little guild of alts and has new players that are new to eq2 that join him from time to time and helps them out with mentoring crafting stuff for them etc (his highest toon is 73 conjy and has an 80 carpenter)
I've played just about every major MMO since 2004 to some extent (including wow up to 63 on live server and lots of 70s on different private servers)
I enjoyed wow it has a unique feel to it and I had fun doing world PVP. The community however was horrific. Never met a more hateful bunch of players in my life. There were exceptions but they were few and far between.
Bottom line, SOE haters are always going to be SOE haters. I don't disagree that eq2 doesn't have issues but if you can find me a game that does not have issues I'll buy you dinner. My biggest problem with eq2 is the graphics engine and how it makes use of the hardware. I can still play it turned up decent and acceptable frame rates but it needs updating to work with SMP and DX9. That being said those lazy developers everyone talks about are working on SMP support and refreshing the graphics engine. They actually hired at least 1 this summer to focus on that aspect of the game.
I keep hearing about population decline but so far I've not seen anything drastic, I still have no problems finding groups at just about any level range (being on 2nd/3rd highest pop server helps I admit) Yea when new Xpacs come out the population gets huge then falls back some but it is nowhere near as bad as games like Vanguard or Dark and Light etc.
To the OP I see you have a 12 paladin on Mistmoor I believe, I would suggest rerolling a toon on Crushbone server that has more people and I can hook you up with whatever you need. It won't take long at all to get back to lvl 12 and I can get you a guild invite to beginner friendly guild and be glad to answer any questions you may have about the game.
Through the eyes of an EQ2 Noob :
After downloading the 2 week trial of Everquest 2, I have now become a full subscriber. Why? Cause I think the game is amazing. Ill tell you a bit about meyself, I started playing Online games in 1999 when I bought a copy of everquest. I didnt really get into it much because I was busy at university but overall I enjoyed what I had played. Then in 2001 a friend introduced me to Anarchy Online. This is where my serious online gaming started. I played Anarcy Online untill 2005, then I switched to WoW. I then played WoW for 3 years untill last week, when I decided it was time for a change. So I suppose, all the "WoW" style changes that have happened to EQ2 is an advantage for me, because WoW was a great game imo. In the eyes of a noob, I see everquest 2 as a clone of all my previous online games. The new starter area reminds me of the starter Isle in Anarchy Online, the cities remind me of WoW cities and the quests are very simalar to WoW quests (gather this, kill that mob, kill 10 of them etc). Through the eyes of a Everquest noob, these are the reasons I have decided to continue my subscription:
1 - The community in Everquest 2 is Fantastic. I play on Splitpaw European server. I remember the first time i chatted in lv 1-9 chat when i trial was over, i recived loads of welcomes and offers of help. I even had a friendly person invite me to a guild, who then showed me how to craft and made some Bags and armor for me. I have NEVER had this type of help in any other online game. One guild mamber even gave me a Platnium piece, and to a noob that made me feel like a millionare.
2 - The graphics are simply amazing. I have a very powerful computer and I am lucky to have all settings up very high. I remember standing on a hill in Antonica for the first time looking at the stars and the broken moon, fantastic. Also i love the weather effects, great!!
3 - The quests are VERY enjoyable, the in game speech brings the quests to life. Something I have never experienced in any other online game. I even found myself doing low level grey quests that offered no Xp reward, simply because I WANTED to complete them and see the end result!!
4 - The crafting system is much more in depth than any other game I have played. I found myself being able to make spells and amour from the harvested items that I had found that I could actually USE (in WoW crafting seemed like something you would do just to make money, i think I only ever wore one armor set that I made in WOW in my whole 70 levels)
5 The support is great, I got stuck in an area of South Queynos cause apparently my game didnt load the zone correctly, I logged off and 10 mins later I recived a reply from a SOE customer service employee who teleported me to a temple on the other side of the city, sorting out my problem.
So far I am very happy with the game. In a way, I do see it as a WoW clone but with much more depth and better graphics/community. Obviously some of the aspects of the game I have yet to experience such as raiding and PVP, but as a EQ2 Noob, I am very happy!!!
Marcelino
QFT. After years of having a blast in the early days of MMO's (including Everquest for 4 years), I found that each new "improvement" to MMO's just got less fun. There was less exploration, less meaning in your quests, less character development, just ... less of what makes an MMO a game. And it's gotten worse and worse, until now it's just incredibly disappointing to even see.
The reason wasn't that it can't be done- all the way back to Daggerfall, AI opponents were fighting like it was a real fight (and so were you), NPC's were hailing you as a friend, offering you work, brushing you off curtly, or being outright hostile to you according to what their race/class/town thought of your race/class/town/accomplishments, quests were anywhere from simple jobs for a little money to complex, convoluted stories that challenged you to figure out motivations, decipher puzzles, fight when necessary, and think all the time.
What do we have now after almost 2 decades of "improvement"? Sparkly killing-parks for kiddies that never grew out of pubescent aggression. Even LOTRO, my latest play, is now uninstalled- once you get past the first 20 levels, all of the neat, fun, sometimes scary quests they send you on become dumb killing errands. Kill 30 of these for a shiny sword. Kill 20 more of these for new boots. Sigh.....
So, good luck with EQ2. Every new game brings some fun at the start because it's new to you, but after awhile.... After reaching level 74 with my main char, I just absolutely could not force myself to kill one more dumb thing just standing around waiting to be killed. I just couldn't act that mindless and stupid any longer without becoming so in real life, so I had a choice to make.
So now I just play this and that while I wait for some MMO developer to build an online world that actually has a game to it. That's the only reason I come here actually, just to see if it's happened yet.
Best of luck!
Just one more post. I did have some fun with my Fury, but that's because I could use Charm, and because I can play a DOT type (my main in EQ1 was a druid with Charm stats cranked up- way fun compared to the regular way to play one
. Then they nerfed the crap out of the class, and guess what- Furys are now just healers and buffers, with some moderate nukage thrown in. They're only valuable because their heals over time keep the tank's health up enough so a real healer (templar or inquisitor) doesn't lose them to a sudden rain of hits.
So eventually, no matter what you find fun to play, you will be forced into SOE's little "party line" deal where you must have the tank, must have the healers, and must have the DPS. If you don't fit that mold, say for reasons of character development or god-forbid, role playing lol, you are just an unneeded extra. And as the other guy said, now you can actually be a DETRIMENT to a group. That's how dumb SOE's games have gotten - you don't play what is easy for THEM, you will still be allowed to pay to log in, but you might not be allowed to PLAY lol.
My main class was an Illusionist, so I know all about being an amazingly powerful class (if played with skill) that is still considered superfluous until the group has a tank, healer and DPS. SOE's "balance" for this? Make some raid zones drain power so you have to let an Illusionist join your group if you want to keep your power up. Which is like only being invited to a party because you can pass for 18 and buy beer fpr your "friends". Double sigh ....