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EverQuest II: Looking at Halas Reborn
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com EverQuest II writer Phil James recently sat down with EverQuest II's Update 56, Halas Reborn. Today, he shares his experiences.
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If you are over here in the UK it means that, like me, you are enjoying a bank holiday weekend or at least you will have done by the time this goes out. For those who don't have bank holidays, it is basically a Monday off work (unless you are in retail then it's business as usual). Usually a long weekend means drinking, gardening, short trips away. For me, however, the only place to be was in Norrath. Why? Game Update 56, 'Halas Reborn', is why.
This update was quite a revamp for EQII, adding a fair amount of new content and also doing away with some of the old stuff. First off was the addition of New Halas, named after the destroyed city of Halas from Everquest. New Halas is open to good-aligned characters who want to make a home for themselves in the harsh wintry isle of Erollis. The isle also offers a new beginning area designed to guide you from level 1 to 20.
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Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
the update was indeed awesome, My favorite part was the travel updates, it was such a pain having to go through 4 loading screens plus waiting on boats to get to an area, there was a time when that was cool, but not anymore, I'm glad they realized that and changed it.
My Thoughts on Content Locust
I disagree, making travel so quick and easy takes away an element of immersion that zone based games have a problem with to begin with. It doesn't feel like a "world". Just my 2 cents, I don't play EQ2 anymore, disliked TSO. Grinding instances was a major bore...
And, not surprisingly, I disagree with you. Having played for a while, off and on, it was nice to see actual WORLD PROGRESSION. The travel system needed updating, and being able to go from any overworld dock to any other simply makes me feel like the Shattered Realm isn't quite so shattered anymore.
Combine that with the crafting quests to rebuild the Druid Rings that haven't been working, and it feels like the actual game is moving forward in a positive direction, and not sort of holding steady on the brink of doom. SF left a lot of us feeling like the entire game was going to end at any moment. Halas Reborn has given us some hope that the game will continue, and life moves forward, even in this bleak virtual realm.
However, since you don't play anymore, I guess you don't really understand what I'm talking about. You left just as the game started getting good again.
lol what? EQ2 is all instanced zones already. Not a seamless world. The immersion was already lost.
It's true.
You never really got to ride a boat to a new area or fly in to a new area. You bottle necked here or there anyway. At least not you can pretend you're sailing your own boat to a new land.
I kill other players because they're smarter than AI, sometimes.
Immersion is overrated.
Saying something is "overrated" is overrated.
I Lol'ed.
Hmmm...just my 2 cents....
I logged into this (fileplanet sent me a free account) I already have an old account and I have babbled in this game since launch.
Yeah...um...the first thing that struck me was the new starter area isn't voiced over like all the old stuff was.
Next...the mute NPC asked me to kill 5 or 6 rolling rocks which I didn't even have to move to do.
This is an improvement...? Seems like a "fast food style" starter area designed to stuff a bunch of XP down your throat but the quality of the content is severly lacking...
Games are moving past this "kill 10 rats" stuff. No one wants to play it anymore. SOE needs to learn that or they are going to be left in the dust...
EQ2 should have stayed on course from launch, it was a higher quality, and more difficult game. Trying to keep up with Blizzard has been SOE's downfall across the board.
You're judging a game based on the starting area? Of course the starting area is going to be filled with moronic quests and fast XP. The game's over five years old and is quite top heavy. The starting area is nothing more than a fast track for new players to get into the game.
In terms of overall design, the lack of voice acting didnt' bother me that much as I haven't found the voice acting in EQ2 to be all that appealing since the original voice overs in the base game. Graphically, I think it's a rather inviting place and is certainly easier to navigate than Timorous Deep was.
ICE MOTHERFUCKIN RIGHT !
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No, if you read my post, I am basing it on my overall experience since launch. Additionally I am specifically writing about the "Halas Reborn" area in which this article is primarily about (hence on topic)
Why do you have such low expectations for starting areas? I'm not even going to touch on that too much, if you are satisified with "moronic quest" at any point in a paid service, more power to you. I wish I could adjust my expecations to that level vs the original starter areas at launch.
The backslide from high quality (voiceover) to a lower standard (no voiceover) perfectly illistates my point.
I didn't address graphics. The game looks fine, the style is a matter of taste I suppose.
There were better quests back on the Island that they removed such as a quest where you had to kill 3 hawks but could not kill them because they were flying too high. You had to bait them down with little rats and then kill them. Took a little bit of thinking the first time though. There really is no need for dumbing everything down as much as possible. If someone couldn't figure out how to reach the hawks in the old quest all they had to do was ask another player in zone. That is the kind of stuff that built community.
Agreed. EQ2s endgame is really hard and by making the way there too easy you risk having players who are useless there.
And then they whine that the endgame is too hard, SOE listens and we have Wow all over again.
I agree. I think that EQ2 should have stayed the course instead of trying to compete with WoW. EQ2 is still a wonderful game and their is a lot of things I liked about the game. I have given up the ghost on it though because at end game its all about raiding and I didnt have the time to put into a 3-4 day raid schedule. I have heard from many of my friends still playing that Halas is an excellent addon and the new expansion is awsome. I say give it a try , its better then WoW in my opinion but to each their own.
Speaking of TD, you would think by now they would allow you to jump off the griffon so you wouldn't have to run all the way back to the spot you just flew over.
New Halas serves its purpose. It gets people from 1-20, gets them into good current treasured gear which can rival "old" T2 mastercrafted gear, and also gives a nice place to live for the housing aficionados.
If you pay attention to the New Halas lore in-game, the isle is basically a giant iceberg and rock broken off of Velious...
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Actually if I remember right, that quest actually told you to lure them down with the bait they give you. So, all it really required was reading the quest dialog and it was a piece of cake.
But then... asking some players these days to read quest dialog is like asking them to dig out their own eyeballs with a spoon. Hell to them would be playing a MMO without any quest helpers.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
i stopped reading when the guy said "UK and bank holiday"... typical englishman right.. knows fuck all...
Most of Scotland had their bank holiday last week... so why say the UK... jeez
ignorance, if he can't get THAT right... then i fail to see why i should bother to read what else is there.
Get a decent writer who doesn't sprout crap... "i'm from england, therefore the UK does everything we do i don't have to check", yeah... fucking moron.
still saturday, Scotland and Ireland will stand united with America... when the USA destroys England in the world cup game . Let's face it... no ONE likes England. Most hated country in the world.... some people think it's the US.. until you mention "england".. and they're like "Oh yeah.... bastards"
"nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week
He's talking about last week. Read it again, he says you will have already enjoyed the bank Holiday by the time the article goes out;
"If you are over here in the UK it means that, like me, you are enjoying a bank holiday weekend or at least you will have done by the time this goes out."
Maybe you should have carried on reading it or at least read it properly before you "sprout crap". If you would have checked you'd have known the whole UK had their BH on the same day - May 31st. What was it you said? Ignorance? Oh and, "yeah... fucking moron".
You have too much hatred in your life.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame