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Playing the trial - surprisingly impressed
anakinsella
Member UncommonPosts: 228
Seeing as it's the holiday break, I've been on a little kick where I'm trying out games I've given the shoulder too and checking out the stuff that is out there that I've skipped over - EQ2 being one of them.
I picked up EQ2 on launch day, but my machine couldn't handle it since they built the engine futureproof, so I quickly quit after a a week or two and went to that other big game that came out at that time that some of you may of heard of maybe. Being 4 years later now, my machine is almost overkill for EQ2, so I can play it on High Settings beautifully, and finally see the game how it was meant to be seen - and the graphics are pretty stellar actually. The uncanny valley character models still look a bit awkward, but the art design and game-world overshine them now it seems. For a 4 year old game, EQ2 still is one of the best looking MMOs out right now.
I've given the trial of the isle, and the other various trials SOE has put out there since release but it never really seemed to change much. Now this time, I'm not sure what it is - but I can see the appeal. I love the voiceovers for quest dialogue - it's the first thing that struck me. It helps me feel more engrossed in the game world, rather than taking a minute to read 4 bland paragraph in a quest log telling me to go kill 4 elementals.
I've also started a Ratonga in, what I think is a new city / starting quest hub - and I think that's helping as well. I think the Trial Isle grew a negative stigma on me, after playing it at launch and the few other times I've checked on the game via trials.
I doubt I'll reactivate or pick up the new expansion as I've got a backlog of other purchases I still need to open up and dive into (Guild Wars trilogy, Mines of Moria), but I'm glad to see SOE can still put out some quality content and actually *improve* upon games they release instead of ruining them.
So if you're on the fence, give the game a good fair chance, on one of the newer starting zones, and you may be sold.
Comments
The new starting area is called Kunark. Hope you convert to a full subscription!
I too was pleasantly surprised by the trial. So much so that after three days i bought TOS and after about two weeks i am very pleased. I too tried quite a few new and old but have landed here for what looks to be a long time.
Plan on downloading it today. Thanks for the right up.
Isn't that the dragon people/kunark race starting area though (lol excuse my eq lore ignorance). This place seemed like a different place, was a lot of undead fighting and dark elves so I figured this was either newer, or I missed it at some point. Either way it's pretty engaging.
Iwinbutton.com | Gaming / MMO Blog
SOE did really turn the game after release, that is true. It is not a game for people who like solo however, it shines when you group. The dungeons are often very good.
The tips are: Stay away from EU servers and play on the US ones, EU servers have way more lagg.
Kuunark are newer, if you take a boat there as soon as you can the rewards there are a lot better than the ones in the old zones (if they didn't balance that, I havn't played since may).
I reccomend the US PvE RPG server Lucan D'lere, a lot of nice people there.
Isn't that the dragon people/kunark race starting area though (lol excuse my eq lore ignorance). This place seemed like a different place, was a lot of undead fighting and dark elves so I figured this was either newer, or I missed it at some point. Either way it's pretty engaging.
Can't start with Ratonga in TD, if its not the starter isle, its probably Neriak (New race and starter city in a patch in EoF)
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Leemeg.
Yea, my bad, Neriak is over a year old, that's why I thought it was Kunark (it's newer). But yea, Neriak is a pretty nice starting zone, as is Kunark.
It really is, to me, the best fantasy MMO game on the market. I've not always agreed with the decisions or the direction things have taken in the game, but it is still a value for me and I still have a lot of fun for $15 a month.
Good luck to you.
Its good, but TSO is way too wowish concerning armor grinding with tokens, stupid idea to copy wow.
DoF is still the best expansion imo, I want another one like this )
Thought that was copied from EQ1's years old expansion
Edit: Expansion "Lost Dungeon of Norrath"
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Leemeg.
Isn't that the dragon people/kunark race starting area though (lol excuse my eq lore ignorance). This place seemed like a different place, was a lot of undead fighting and dark elves so I figured this was either newer, or I missed it at some point. Either way it's pretty engaging.
Can't start with Ratonga in TD, if its not the starter isle, its probably Neriak (New race and starter city in a patch in EoF)
That's it, Neriak. Yeah I'm enjoying the scenery/quests there.
I'm really just blown away by the voiceovers. I don't know why other MMOs don't do VO. It gives you that epic single player RPG vibe, but in an MMO. I know a friend who just WON'T play MMOs, but has tried them, because he comes from single player RPGS and he needs the story fed to him instead of hiding behind boring quest logs.
Iwinbutton.com | Gaming / MMO Blog