Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
EQ2 - is it worth it?
khaelf
Member Posts: 73
I'm bored and I'm thinking about buying EQ2. I played the FP trial and I liked it - nice graphics, sounds, very immersive, though I can't decide wether I should buy or not. I've never played EQ1.
1. Is there a lot of places you can raid with big monsters to kill etc.?
2. Do the sys requirements increase when you leave the newb island or stay the same? I mean I've got 15-20fps in open areas which is bareable but anything lower than that would be bad :<
3. Is it hard to level up later on (in comparison to WoW maybe) and whats the lvl cap?
4. How many people play the game? Is it hard to find a group (I'm a priest)? I wouldn't want to spend most of the evening looking for a group...
PS. Don't tell me about WoW. Tried it, didn't like it.
Comments
I didnt play EQ2, however, I can answer your questions and have a ''positive'' attitude toward it.
1- Yes, and they will implement more.
2- No idea.
3- Compare to WoW, everything is harder. EQ2 have a serious ''challenge'' about leveling, most games are easier to level up. The gear and abilities having to been upgraded as well a LOT add much on this topic. Current level limit is 50, the game is build for 200 levels and they will add more in the future.
4- If you cant find a group inside your guild, this game is gonna lack a lot more with each new level you earn. The community is build about links toward players you know. If you are in a guild and peoples like you and group you, there is hope. I dont like this attitude at all myself.
Since you didnt tell me to not tell you about CoH, I will do just that!
- You can solo efficiently excepts the ''finishing of you toon''.
- The level limit is 50, it require a decent amount of work to get there, about 600 hours...unless you group a lot with the new features, which I dont know them at all.
- Players are friendly and will group you, you wont be waiting and if you dont find a group, if you pick the right archtype, you can solo with a LFG tag and be making fun right now, no waiting.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Enough of them to keep you plenty busy.
Not especially, no. But with any MMOG that has a lot of polygons you can easily run into some trouble if you are in a dense area with a lot of characters. All in all, performance on noob island is about the same most anywhere else.
Much harder. Significantly harder. As a priest, however, you'll probably do just fine.
There are 300,000+ active subscriptions to the game...so I think you can count on people being there. As a priest, you'll get a group.
To answer your questions:
1. I would think so, but this is speculation on my part. I currently play EQ2, have a lvl 21 Templar. So far, I have not gone to places that would require raids, but I would think there would be.
2. The system requirements are pretty high, in my opinion. The newbie area (especially where all the goblins are running around) can give you a clue as to how good (or bad) your PC will run the game once into Qeynos or Freeport. I suggest you use the "High Performance" preset. If it's too slow, try "Extreme Performance" preset. Graphics will suffer a bit, but your Fps will go up. If it's still too slow, then you need to upgrade your hardware. Note that you can fine-tune your performance presets. To give you an idea, I run the game very well in "High Performance" preset with fine-tuning with the following PC:
AMD Athlon XP 2400+
512 megs SDRAM
Creative AudioPCI
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200
80 gig hard drive, 7200 RPM
If you have a lesser system than this, then you might run into performance problems.
3. It's harder to level than WoW. I have a friend who currently plays WoW and he is already in the mid-20s within the first two weeks he played the game. Keep in mind he averages 2 hours a night for the nights he does play it. I do have to admit, levels 1 to 7 in EQ2 are child's play. It gets incresingly harder in the teens, especially around lvl 18 or so. This is somewhat counteracted by the XP bonus you get when you log on, which lasts for a while (dunno exactly).
4. Believe me, a lot of groups (in my experience being a Priest archetype, Cleric class and Templar subclass) look for healer-types. Also, a lot of people play this game, enough for you to find people to group with. I constantly keep getting random invites to groups, I turn most of them down since I like to solo a lot.
Hope this helps you desicion.
1. There are loads of places to go, some of the more exciting places require acess. You have to prove your worth before you are even allowed in. You can also sneak in between both cities. Qetnos to Freeport and vice versa. If you do lots of exploring you will get a lot out of EQ2, not every area is obvious.
2. I really am baffled as to why extreme performance is included as an option, no-one is able to use it since to do so would require a graphics card that hasnt been invented. Someone who spent loads of money on a hot PC is going to change it to extreme and then wonder why they get lousy FPS. SoE really need to take that option out as it convinces people that the graphics engine is crap. There is an excellent guide on the official forum and I get good graphics and excellent frame rate.
3. Yes it is harder to level solo, but find yourself a decent group and you will fly through the levels in no time. If you are backed up by a well organised guild then you will have no problems at all. The level cap is 50, but the designers have stated their levelling system is designed to reach a cap of 200!
4. As a priest you will be wanted in a group especially if you pick the Freeport faction since there are a lot of stronger races players tend to choose crusaders.
I must say Im impressed with recent patch, crafting interdependency has been almost removed, there is a lot more solo content especially soloable giants, new story involving pirates, more fluff has been added with overland miners, foresters etc and now that 90% of items are attunable (non-drop) you can make a decent profit.
Since I play the game.
1) Tons of places. There are raids geared toward just about every group level 15+. Tons of zones, tons of things to do.
2) not alot, however If your getting 20fps on the newbie Isle you might want to consider a video card upgrade in the near future, The city areas are going to be pretty rough.
3) As with any MMO the higher you get the longer the exp curve is, however if you get in consistant good groups, you can level at a fairly consistant rate. You will see noticable progress especially if you take the time to keep your quest journal up to date with quests in the given area you are leveling in. Trust me grinding is not the way to do it in this game. I am level 50 so I speak from experience, every level 50 on my server was constantly completing quests to augment their exp.
4) Alot, you should never be without a group for any length of time, especially as a priest. Heck for that matter if your going priest..Would you hurry up and buy the game and get 50..bloody impossible to find a priest when you need one at level 50 =/
As an addendum, if you get tired of priest for any reason and find it simply is not your style once you get a few more levels and start specializing. Scouts are a huge demand class, any of them honestly...Dps dps..dps that is all. And of course Wizards just got a MASSIVE buff and are just Sick sick dps now. Some of their spells got upwards of a 325% Boost in damage, they deal Crazy amounts of damage now.
Thank you guys for answering these questions so thoroughly
I have a few questions to follow up with. First of all, I played the original EQ for over five years, so I'm curious about how they compare.
I just got a new computer so I could actually run EQ2 now, whereas before I couldn't even beta test it because my computer just didn't run it
Anyways, now a lot of my old EQ1 friends are playing EQ2 so I'm almost sure I'll be picking up a copy, but just wanted to hear a bit more about it first.
Secondly, I'm curious about the differences in the Shaman - Mystic/Defiler classes compared to EQ1. Is there still the ablility to cannibalize? =D And is there a significant difference in the two classes of Mystic and Defiler, or is that just flavor? Reading from the EQ2 website left me with little to go on...
My third question involves soloing; is it relatively easy to do so? Is it like the original EQ where certain classes can solo much easier than others?
And my last question would be this: how hard would it be to catch up to my friends? They are casual gamers all around level 30. Is this insanely hard to achieve even if you powergame? I know you guys said everything's harder than WoW, which is no surprise since WoW is so easy, but I'm hoping to get an actual timeframe assuming something like five hours a day played, and a reasonably competent player.
Thanks!
I'm in pretty much the same position myself. I'm cancelling WoW this month because I recently signed back up with SWG. I just tried the trial for EQ2 and I'm thinking that, if I want to play a fantasy-based RPG, getting a cheap copy of EQ2 and signing up for Station Access would be an affordable way of going about things. But, of course, is EQ2 even worth that?
From my time playing EQ2, it seemed a lot to me like a cross between FFXI and WoW with better graphics, more classes, and better customization. Which I like a lot. Never played EQ1.
One of the reasons I quit FFXI was forced grouping. By the time I reached lvl 22, I had a hard time finding a good zone and group. EQ2, though, looks like it has a better combat/class system so it may work out better here. Is that the case? I have no problems grouping with people, it's just the sometimes-inevitable "lvl 20-30 can't find ANYONE to group with" part that I find with a lot of MMOs sometimes.
Another question I have for EQ2 is about mounts. One of the things that bugged me about WoW was waiting until lvl 40 for a simple mount. SWG is great in that you can buy a mount any time you want. Is EQ2 similar in this sense? Are there low level mounts and higher level mounts? Are they usable in combat or anything?
I liked WoW and thought it was a great game, but didn't want to pay $30 a month for two games. Now, $22...
Same person new account? or different person?
anyhow..
How does EQ2 compare to EQ. I played EQ for 5 years as well, from phase 2 beta till just before the release of GoD. There are few similiarties, outside names basically nothing is the same. The world is different, the item system is different, stats are different, combat is different. If your looking for the same game as EQ, your going to be disappointed. Honestly from my perspective I think thats why alot of people turned from EQ2 to wow, they were disillusioned as to what type of game EQ2 would be. They expected much the same and the cold splash of reality was very very different. I honestly would not have even considered playing had it been the same game..Afterall I left EQ because I was tired of the same old same old...Plane of time burnt me out.
Shaman/Defilers are as usual over powered, Nothing has changed here much. They can solo pretty well if played decently. But plan on playing it much differently then EQ. as for the difference between mystic/defiler ..basically Evil vs good..There are a few differences in spells but I could not say for certain what they are as I do not play them. I believe they get a form of cannibalize...not 100%.
Soloing is not bad, yes some classes do it easier, they are continually adding solo content and bonus's to the game..I do not consider it a solo game yet but its getting better about it.
It would not be that hard, honestly if you play that much you should catch up to them in a month and a half tops.
Edit: to answer the mount question, you can buy a mount as soon as you can afford it.
Same person new account? or different person?
Different person. Thanks for all the answers
Heh, sorry for being confusing, aye a different person who was still thankful for so many answers
I also left EQ1 because I was so tired of it... the monotony of it nearly killed the whole genre for me. Now that I've heard its so different, I've begun to grow curious
I'm leaning towards playing a Guardian, a healer, or a Mystic. Is the Mystics' role support via buffs and slowing the enemy? If so, I will probably be going with that, as I fell in love with it in EQ1. It would also be nice if they are towards overpowered, as by the time I started playing a Shaman (played it for my last year and a half of EQ) they were definately not overpowered anymore, even to the point of having a hard time finding groups, at least on Firiona Vie.
Does EQ2 still rely on the trinity as the core of groups?
Thanks so much for prompt and thorough reponses, I
these messageboards =D
Does it rely on the trinity?
Yes and no..
Yes there is a basic core 3 classes you must have for a good group..no its not the same.
The EQ2 trinity
Healer, Tank, Dps
This is pretty broad reaching in this game. good example there are differing types of heals as far as your defiler vs inquisitor ( cleric ) Shaman types rely more on wards which absorbe damage to prevent it in the first place as well as the usual debuffs. Cleric types rely more on the direct heal type, as a fyi CH is gone and will not be coming back.