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free 1 week trial to EQ2
bhug
Member UncommonPosts: 944
in Everquest II
05.03.18
Yes if you meet the system requirements
you can download the (18MB @1 hr on 56k) EverQuest II: Trial of the Isle and play for seven days (for new EQ2 accounts,) and create up to six characters to check out the Isle of Refue. Offer good till 31 Dec.
Comments
just downloaded it, can't wait to play!!!!
All my endings are waiting to begin.
It took me nearly 5 hours to download all the patches. It's better than I thought, but I don't like it so far.
it took me about the same time too, justa bout to play it now.
All my endings are waiting to begin.
Just finished with the trial, only took me one day to annoy me.
Sure it's a 7 day trial. Standard. But then you find out it's only for one area, the newbie island (thought it wouldn't be bad if it was a cool island, but it's not). And as an extra whammy, you can't higher than level 6 because you require citizenship to get level 7 which is *shock* not until you get off the island.
Worst 7 day trial ever.
P.S. If you try to leave the island it tells you to order the full game.
thanks for the headsup.
All my endings are waiting to begin.
Yeah thats what the ad said. It's the newbie island. What were you expecting? Granted compared to the rest of the game the Isle is absolutely tiny, but if you really want to see hwat the game is about then shell out whatever it costs these days.
The thing is most MMOs with the cohones to give you a free trial give you access to where ever you wish. A 7 day trial with enough content for just one day is just stupid.
I've already decided I'm not going to trust SOE with my money anymore (past bad experiences: EQ1, PlanetSide, SWG, etc.)
The only impressive thing I've seen in EQ2 is SOE's ability to blatently rip features from other games ;p
IMO there's no point in being on the top if there's no end content, PvP should be endgame. DAoC almost had it right I think. I'm not a fan of being uber to be uber.
I can get a character to level 6 in EQ2 in an hour in half it seems, doing most of the quests on the island, what am I supposed to do for the other 166.5 hours?
If you really think you can get a real feel for a game by getting to lvl 6, I can't help you. If you truly want full access find a friend with the game and use the buddy code.
I have to agree with Wickes here though( as usual). If you don't like it then you and the community would be better off if you didn't try it. The way I see it is Eq2 already has a strong enough community so new players is not of the absolute utmost importance. Good luck finding another game.
beacuse its international and i have affraid of my trafiic
please tell me
That's my point, what's the point of the trial if you can't get a good feel for the game? If they only offer a little taste (which according to you guys, is nothing like the full game), and the taste isn't that good, why would I want more?
Also, any game that isn't appealing to new players is bound to die out.
Anyway, I'm done here, I shoulda known better than to post in fanboi territory
Enjoy your game.
Not so much fanboy territory, just tired of all the bitching. If you don't like it, don't play it. If you do want a full preview however do like I said and borrow the game and use a buddy code.
The trial of the Isle was basically set up for people to see and try the different character types. Theres some quests there and even a named mob you have to group for if my memory serves me right. The trial is admittedly small but it was never really marketed as the full game now was it? I'm just saying you probably should have known it wasn't the full game considering it was called "The Trial of the Isle."
Fanbois'R'Us
And we deliver !
I think the trial was a great idea! For a game as resource intense as this one it is the only way to see how the game looks and moves on your system.
I was on the fence between EQ2 and WOW and kept reading reviews of both. Both had good and bad points, fans and enemies. When I found the demo I tried EQ2 and liked it, I have not been able to try WOW, so I bought EQ2. I am not saying EQ2 is better then WOW, I have never gotten the chance to try WOW.
Your seriously misinformed if you think you completed ALL the content in the first 1.5 hours. There are over 300 quests on the island, and its impossible for 1 character to do them all. I know it has been said before, but you don't "win" a MMORPG by getting to the level cap faster then the next guy. You actually miss out on most of the game by doing that. I have been trying new class-race combos so I have gotten to level 6 on the island with about 6 different chars and each time I find new content.
For those that really want to try it out here are some things to do on "Newbie Island". This is not a complete list I am sure, but should keep you very busy for the free week. Make sure to (right-click then) Examine everything you find. Many items will give you quests or more information. Most below can be soloed but some will require a group. They are not in any sort of order.
Get the jewelry quest from the crabs, make the jewelry.
Complete the class specific quests for your char.
Complete the shell collection and turn it in.
Complete the feather collection and turn it in.
Find the treasure map and kill the pirate ghost.
Find all the missing parts for the long-winded gnome.
Use tradeskills to up your combat skills or spells, not just your gear.
Kill Blade Fin and complete the quest your given.
Kill the Shadow Serpent.
Gather bones for the priestess.
Find the statue of Lasydia and complete the quest it gives.
Become a "Hunter of Goblins" by killing 500 of them.
Rotate camera so you can see the front of your char and try all the Socials.
Not an in-game event, but make sure to try various graphic settings. I found I could turn on Fauna (grass) and some other effects to make the game look MUCH better without slowing game play noticably.
I have to agree with techpriest on most of his points.
With exception to one. The isle of refuge is about as resource intensive as quake 1 (exaggerated but you get the idea). The second you get off the isle and go to freeport or qeynos, you realize that there are about 20 times more polygons per 50 square feet than the isle in 100. (exaggerated again...maybe...but you get the idea)
I'm going to be trying EQ2 again now that my WoW addiction has gone down to "playable but if you play it every day you might as well just kill yourself"
So far the only thing I can remember about EQ2 that I truly hate is the music. It's not bad, in fact it's far from bad in terms of "quality", but IMO it doesn't have enough piano (personal taste thing), seems too "invasive" (if you will) and feals like it belongs in a motion picture as opposed to a game.....
IMO they should at least let you get to level 10-15... (just passed citizenship and gained access to the first mob area after qeynos/freeport with exception to dungeons and other smaller dungeons) before they cap you out...At least then you get a more realistic idea of what the game is like.....
The download is quite large enough with just the isle. The whole game takes up 9 CDs, it is not reasonable to make it a downloadable demo. Limiting it to the island keeps everything fairly well controlled. They can add tons of content to the cities and not bother forcing the trial users get it.
I still think it is a good judge of PC performance in general. There are always slow zones with every game, but I don't judge overall playability by the slowest zone I can find. I thought EQ1 ran great, even if the nexus bank crowd always caused my PC to choke.
If the trial is to slow for you to play, then you know the game will not work, don't buy it. If the trial works pretty good, then you may have some sluggishness in specific areas, but you can adjust graphics in those areas if it bugs you. With this in mind if you can not play the demo with the default settings, but have to crank them back, you will have a real bad time in the cities, so don't buy it. In my case I turned up the graphics on a number of settings and it still ran great. I knew when I got to a slow zone I could back things down if needed.
"My kingdom for a hawk feather!" -Argis, Ratonga Priest
FYI
I wanted to install the trial on my laptop (Just for the fun of it) but EQII Requires a videocard that support 4 Texture mapping ..
...
Just be sure to test it before..
Orkhan
I have a couple of complaints about the "trial of the isle".
The Island of Refuge in no way represents what the game is like once you get off the isle. The isle is very solo friendly and everything to do is within a 2 min run at most. This is not the case once you get off the IOR. Adding to the frustration is that during your time on the IOR you don't ever have to zone to do anything(with the one exception being the cave with the orc in it). Once you leave the IOR you'll find that on average you'll have to travel through 3 zoning screens to do any quest.
Plus once you leave the IOR the game becomes extremely group oriented. I know they have been adding alot of solo content but its still a long ways away from being a solo friendly game. The reality is that you will end up spending most, if not all, of your playtime trying to get a group. I add this as a complaint because the "trial of the isle" is very misleading in that it makes you think that you can play EQII without having to put together a perfect group to do anything.
Performance wise the IOR is also misleading. Even on a lower end system you can get pretty good performance on the IOR. This drastically changes once you leave the isle. When you hit Qeynos you will notice a massive drop in performance. Unless your running a higher end machine you'll be stuck turning down alot of the eye candy just so you move around without it looking like a slideshow.
I guess my biggest gripe is the IOR does not do a good job of representing what the real game is like. I feel sorry for anyone that tries the IOR and decides to purchase EQII thinking that the game is like the IOR past level 6. Once you leave the IOR EQII becomes an entirely different game.
I absolutely disagree. I played through the trial and that prompted me to get the full version. Runs just as well as the isle on my mid-range PC and the overall game still feels the same. Yes, theirs more group content than solo, but finding a group is as easy as turning on the LFG flag. Not to mention, its still not difficult to find solo content if you look. Noting the quests as solo or group would be nice though.
Yeah the Isle is not less intensive. The thing is the first 12 levels or so you spend a lot of time in the cities. The city areas are by far the most demanding aspect of the game as far as hardware goes. Once you get past 12 or so, you spend little time in the cities unless you are selling/buying/tradeskilling or something else here and there.
Once you get out into the world areas, the vast majority of the places have pretty much the same outdoor type environments as the isle does.
Habit is not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed down the stairs one step at a time. - Mark Twain