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What have they done to this game?
Miffy
Member Posts: 244
Playing Everquest 2 Extended and it isn't good lol.
Everything is way too easy now and looks like WoW with all the icons above NPCs heads and even the UI looks the same. Frigging I used to love the days where it was so hard to go through the game solo, everyone used to group together to advance. I spent all the time in groups in CL and then the fallen gate (I think it is) doing armour quests. Now everyone is soloing and not talking to eachother, it feels really really dead now, there isn't a sense of community there used to be. Also where is everyone? There is 6 cloned zones of my starting area but there isn't hardly anyone in each one. Why can't they have busier zones so I don't feel like I'm on my own?
The sound design is another downfall, like it isn't really there and the game feels dead. What is weird is the sound, sounds detached from the world, like it isn't really coming from it and footsteps sound really fake. The main draw of the game was the full voice acting, but now in the newer zones it is missing. Like couldn't they be bothered? Instead we have that clicking on an NPC and they say the same recycled one liners like WoW. Only in EQ2 they are so badly voice acted now. Like Wtf? The voice acting of the original game gave it some life, now it feels even more dead.
Why I left EQ2 originally?
Lack of armour and it's bad looking
Bad character models
Zones like Antonica, TS, were really bad
No PVP
I hated all the loading screens and how you clicked on bells and warped everywhere, it didn't feel like a world.
Now coming back to the game and all that is still there. Only now the character models seem uglier and have weird skin and the Asian models look really bad too. The armour seems the same and still looks bad. The boring zones haven't changed, they shoulda done like a WoW cataclysm a long time ago to them zones. The worst thing of all is the world feels like like one because you can warp to any zone you want without travel time. What I was hoping for by now is for it to be made seamless and have boats in it like Vanguard and now loading screens in the cities.
I wont be carrying on, it feels like a casual MMO more than ever and it's all too easy now. It's become more of a soloing MMO than WoW, at least with that game I got groups. I played 20 levels of EQ2 which before took me a month of heavy play in groups, now it took me barely 2 days. There was noone to group with, was barely any group content and I couldn't get anyone to join me for that. In the original EQ2 there were often ends of quests that needed groups and lots of group dungeons, now that seems gone. Even in IoR that seems gone now had that group dungeon at the end which was do kool.
And man those character models are bad, even the Asian ones. I like how they haven't fixed the human female eyes since after they ruined them in beta of 2004. The only ones that look nice are the Animal ones.
These are the default ones people will see, I mean way to make a good impression, I woulda quit the game right there if I was a new player.
Comments
Soloing the game is much easier now, that is true. And EQ2X sucks all around, you have to pay to get to the good parts of the game. It is better to pay for a regular server, it is cheaper in the long run.
It still has some charm and they do have upgraded the noob experiences (and finally fixed the lag in Neriak but now Halas lags instead).
I wouldn't say that the game is worth now than in 2006 when I started but soloplay surely is and so is the first 50 levels or so. But the game is now starting to suffer from what happened to the old EQ, too many expansions and too high levelcap.
There are still some really fun group instances even if they all are for max level now and some good raids but I am starting to feel burnout on it myself. It might just be that I played it so long of course, but I wont play it for another year even though I might stay until next expansion comes, I do have many friends there.
Those models are the Asian designed SOGA models that came in about 3 years ago. If you dont like them, just go to Options, Alternate Models, and click "Turn all models off". And it will be back to how you remember it.
If you dont like the WoW / LOTRO style feathers above quest givers heads, go to Options and turn them off.
In fact, almost everything you mentioned can be turned on or off, except for how alot of overland zones are now soloable, which with a dwindling population due to age is a very good thing. Dungeons are still group based, and theres a hell of a lot more now too.
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
Only the first one is the Asian model, the rest are the original... though they weren't as ugly as that back when I played, the skin also on some character models seems to be fooked now.
What they need to do is merge all the live servers into one and just have the cloned zones. Also in the extended game they need to make it so there aren't so many clone zones because everyone is so spread out. Can't ever find frigging groups even though there's like 50 odd people around my level. Everything is too soloable so noone has any reason to group.
They need classic servers tbh, I'll go back to them it was so much better when you needed a group to advance.
They havent changed the original models. You can make them pig ugly like that if you want to with the controls, or make them good looking. You can do whatever you want, with the sliders. Apart from breast size. Which is stuck on "Im a geeky developer and like em big".
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
I am very surpised of EQ2 after playing to lvl 15 in extended. I thought this game was supposed to be harder than LotrO/WoW but so far it has been much easier. Every quest is very bland and the quest giver is usually standing 5 meters away from the objective and then you run back to him and get next quest which is 5 meters away in the other direction and so on.
And is it even possible to die in EQ2? Not once have I been bellow 50% health no matter how much I pull. My playstlye is pretty reckless so I usually die from a bad pull early in WoW/LotrO but not in EQ2. Started my first character in the lizard staring zone and it looked horrible and all the gear there made my characrter look awfulll. Tried new Halas with my second and it looks/feel much better but there is no voice overs in that zone which was really good in the lizardmen area. I like the gear you in Halas though and the quests is slightly better but still very simple.
The graphics have not aged well at all and having no access to chat makes it feel like a single player game.
I like that the character custimization seems very deep and there is alot of classes, races and content. But for me quality>quantity.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
You don't get to any tough mobs or "oh shit" moments until you get out of the starter zones, which is 20+.
At that point the zones get a lot tougher mobwise. Frankly, the zones themselves are a lot easier to die in than either WoW or LotR. By far, heh, not sure if that's a good thing though or not. I get a kick out of it but not sure how the newer generation of mmo gamers feel about it and these zones have been nerfed quite a bit from how they used to be in the beginning.
Still, the game feels so dated. Really is amazing to play through the old zones in WoW and compare them to this game. WoW is showing its age as well but it just doesn't feel near as outdated as EQ2. Rather fascinating really, least it was to me.
Still, I'm enjoying the game. It's rather nice to play a game that I'm not shooting up in levels every time I turn around. I rather like the slower leveling pace of this game.
WoW and LotR are both better games, but I've played them to death (besides the Mirkwood xpac) so it's rather cool to go through all the content that has come out with this game.
Couldn't get into it at launch. Kind of nice to see that crafting isn't as insane as it was back then. That crafting system in its launch form was one of the most ridiculous and overkilled things I have ever seen in an mmorpg.
Although I subbed to the regular servers. Frankly, EQ2 Extended so far is awful due to how they're running it so I figured may as well play normal servers if I'm going to sub to the game anyways.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Yeh frigging at launch the quests were like puzzles and you had to work out what to do by reading the text. it was really kool and I remember running around for ages trying to work out some of them and that was rewarding. I got lost in the Qeynos underground area for like an hour lol, was just this sense of exploration and everything was hard. You could die so easily as a new player, it was challenging but really rewarding as a result.
Now however as you said everything is on the mini map and right next to the quest giver. The quests are really bland and the new stuff isn't even voice acted. It all just feels too easy and mobs that I would have died to so easily before, I can solo like 10 of them at once now.
Crafting as well is just too easy, there are nodes everywhere now and the recipes seem really simple and are so fast to do. It just means the market has been flooded and it's all meaningless now.
The game has just become the most casual bland game out there, as a result it has been ruined like everyother SOE game out there.
I agree with most of your points and it's funny that you mentioned the underground areas in Qeynos because the same thing happened to me haha
However, I vehemently disagree about the crating. It was way too time consuming. It used to take forever to make something. Now if we're talking some uber, super duper epic item then I agree with the concept. When you're crating things simply to level up so you're making the basic items? Yeah, that simply blows. You used to have to log in and plan on crafting all night simply to make your upgrades. It was ridculous and the shitty part was that apparently a lot of others felt the same way. Trying to buy the items on the broker was nuts because the prices were way out there because hardly anyone was selling so either they jacked the price up or it was easy for someone to buy them up and corner the market.
I get that it's more realistic to make the potions to make the ink; to make the quill; to make the parchment all to make the spell but come on...realism isn't always fun when taken to that extreme.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I always favour the more time consuming crafting because it means the people who love crafting can get into it and it take sup so much time and keeps you busy. Now it just feels like a mini game rather than the second half of the game and everyone can get into it so easily so the market is bloated.
It's like old SWG Pre CU when the good crafters were so rare to come by because they had to put so much time in to making good quality stuff. However now under the NGE it's so easy that the market is flooded with too many items and you lose that sense of community.
I like how Fallen Earth did it in how you have to wait days or it could take months to make something. Just makes everything feel more epic and special, rather than the WoW way of having it right away. Star Wars Galaxies when they did DWB and crafters had to following the adventure classes to the end of the dungeon to make a jetpack.
I don't want everything to become easy, want a hard game for the players who will put the effort in and use their brains. It's really challenging to find the fastest and most efficient way to do something. New games have lost that by making it all too easy or posting guides on the net.
Nothing thats the problem , with age the graphics , the game play, everything is goiing to get worse, nuff said
Yeah, but in FE you don't have to sit there clicking buttons the whole goodamn time. FE's concept worked for me. I know some still complained about it but that I could deal with.
That I like. I'm all for things taking time just within reason. Taken days/weeks works for me if I don't have to stand over it clickey clacking away.
I wouldn't even have minded EQ2s initial crafting scheme if it didn't directly effect your skills/spells. That was what really pissed me off. Normally if something is that over the top I'll just say fuck it, but since it was tied into your abilities it changed everything.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Hmm when I look at those shots I wonder why I never noticed how bad they looked. When I played I never realised it. I was thrilled by the crafting , the houses and the furniture options. I just adored doing the quests and getting the items for my house. I doubt I will go back though and this dumbing down is it on the paid servers too ?
First of all that's is the soga models so the folks in the asian market will like them. They wanted to get away from the US models as they don't appeal to the asians that much. You can select the original models but it takes some doing as they are now the alternate models.
Second they nerfed down the spell effects and toned down the graphics so they will run on junk computers now, thus again catering to who they think the market will be, and that is the asian market with rented laptops and rented computer that are not as good as some of the gaming rigs we have.
So we cheeping the graphics, turned off half the spell effects, added some cartoon like wow stuff, all in hopes of pulling in the asian market.
I will say this again sacrificing your current player base, in order to get a new player base is a bad move. I see this happening to several games now. It just shows that soe does not understand, nor do the appreciate their current player base.
I actually don't see what's so bad about those pictures except for the second to the bottom.
Rather indifferent to them really besides the one photo.
I'm more amazed by the fact that after this many years one still has to watch where they pull a mob to otherwise it could end up int the floor or wall to a point where you cannot use your abilities on them yet they can on you.
That has to be one of the most disappointing observations I made with the game. Are you kidding me? How many years now and they still can't fix that?
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Hmm. Yes, I think you're right about the new starter zones. By contrast, there is the old Qeynos newbie adventure zones... In Oakmyst Forest, Grubdigger (named heroic bear) wandered around every so often, and would one-shot you if you didn't pay attention. Lurkblister does the same down is the Peat Bog. The Forest Ruins lack a wandering named, but there are tough mobs of pirates or zombies running thru every dawn and dusk. Then you are directed down to the Caves where Slaverjaw may chew you up if you don't keep an eye out.
If you're playing EQ2 for levels 1-80, don't bother. This stuff is all severely outdated and while it wasn't easy 6 years ago, it has been made easier over the years to allow people to level quicker and without needing groups. So yes, low level stuff that required groups 6 years ago can now be soloed. This was done on purpose, so people could get to the end-game faster.
If you want a challenge, get to 80-90 and do some of the harder instances or raids, you'll find tons of challenge. The game has just been adjusted to make it easier for new players (of whom there were very few prior to EQ2x) to level and join the masses.
This is why eq2x is total fail on the devs part, it brings new players in for the game's worst content and doesn't allow them to play with experienced people doing the cool content. It's completely moronic.
I've been subbed to EQ2 for 6 years now. I enjoy the game everytime I log in and I am continually challenged every weekend when I raid or when I run a hard instance on weekdays. But I wouldn't be able to stand having to level up another character at this point unless i had a permanent group of about 5 people to do with it with quickly. So i feel your newbie pain.
I really wish i could defend the game more and bring more people into it, but the developers are trying to sell the worst parts of it to you all and there isn't much i can do other than tell you that it's pretty awesome once you get through all that shit and on a pay server.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
The dugneons and stuff are still there and do require a group for the majority of classes even when decked out (when level appropraite). The problem is finding a buncha people at the right level that want to do what ever dungeon. Sometimes higher levels will mentor down but knowing that there is virtually zero chance of failure has got to be the most boring thing there is.
Part of the problem is that the extra effort to do a dungeon is not properly rewarded. For the most part, exp is better solo. Equipment turnover is quite high because the leveling rate is very high. Then, why should they bother to spend weeks of dev time revamping the old dungeons when everyone flies through it in days of played time and the chance of finding enough people online and in the right level range is slim on most servers. (there is a reason WoW has dungeon finder)
The game is different. It is different because they did not get enough people that wanted the old hardmode. It is also different because hardmode to catch up to the content the majority finds interesting DOES NOT get new subscribers into the game.
Forever looking for employment. Life is rather dull without it.
This reminds me a lot of the other thread I just posted in. Those screenshots made me laugh because they're a great example of what I was talking about. Some of the art design is just so horrible it would make any art teacher /facepalm if they heard 'professional' designers created that.
The OP also mentioned the terrible sound design. I love how my character can take about twenty steps in the length of time that I hear 4 or 5 "footsteps", and it takes a few seconds for there to even be that much relationship between my footsteps and the environment, as if swimming or walking over wood takes a minute to make a sound lol Just a good example of why character design, environment design, and sound design need to work closely together and dependent on each other or this mess of throwing it all together with no proper relationship occurs. Just take the WoW free trial and start as a dwarf or gnome to see how every footstep is perfectly synced with the environment it contacts, and the sound it creates. I'm not a fan of WoW anymore, but the art and sound design was very, very well done.
Lets see if i get this right, someone doesnt like the way the toons face looks even though you will spend every waking moment looking at the back of your own head..... ok
It isn't like other characters and NPCs use a special set of character faces and someone will never have to look at those while playing.
First of all, there is a first person perspective and an adjustable camera, so you're wrong. Second of all, gamers have preferences. Some gamers couldn't care less about graphics, often prefering that sacrifice for enjoyable gameplay. Other people can't make that sacrifice. That has been so overstated and debated in so many other forums and threads that I can't begin to comprehend how this is news to you. Lastly, everything looks terrible. Not just the faces.
Edited: Changed for clarification on first and second points. Added 3rd point. Becoming an editaholic because I post too often with a headache. -_-
First person view yes, cant see your face. Adjustable camera yes, didnt consider the fact that anyone would ever gleen at thier own toon. Your right, I am wrong, you wont spend every waking moment looking at the back of your toon, you will spend most of your time not looking at your face would be more accurate, sorry.
When I saw the screens and read the complaint, it was of the faces, musta missed something there, sorry.
I care very much about the graphics, just not what the face looks like because I dont look at it... To each his own
Good point, I think I mixed up this post with the other one I replied to about all the art design - not just the character models. Sorry 'bout confusing that.
EQ2 is an odd one for me because I usually need good graphics, and I don't think it has that. I think there is just a feeling of how so many features are woven together that I enjoy. Like when I'm on a quest, I'll run across nodes to harvest, assisting me in crafting later on for an upgrade, while getting an achievement for finding a new area or killing a certain amount of mobs, while obtaining one more part to a lore & legend quest, as my storyline fills in based on the continuation of a quest, as I gain more AA and regular experience, while getting drops to help increase the status of my guild... the list goes on. It's like a multitasker's heaven. I'm doing a dozen things at once every time I login. There aren't a lot of MMOs that throw that many interwoven achievements at you at once. I think it lends itself to feeling like more is achieved in a short span of time, where some MMOs are such a monotonous grind with no other aspects to it that it takes awhile to feel you've achieved anything.
I think that is more SOE's focus with how the game has evolved. There is a lot more to do now then in the past, although EQ2 always had a lot going on at once.
I'm surprised they haven't nerfed them. Since I've come back I will admit the only zone I've bothered with is Halas so didn't run through those again.
Never really had a problem with most of them when I first played except for that damn bear. For some reason I always ended up aggroing him it seemed when I was running around that zone.
I tend to enjoy those types of things though in games. I get a chuckle out of them.
Speaking of which I was reminded yeasterday in rather brutal fashion that wandering around harvesting in Thundering Steppes and not paying attention is not the wisest of moves when Windfeather is flying around
Heh
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
It's sad really how things are these days. Nobody seems to stick with one MMORPG for a respectable period of time. People jump from MMORPG to MMORPG trying to satisfy something. Perhaps their looking for that taste of nostalgia, the immersion and addictiveness they got with the first MMORPG they played. Well if you're coming from WoW or anything post 06' you're going to have a hard time finding that satisfaction with EQ2 in 2010. To me this f2p service is a ploy to get new players in EQ2 paid and the New Halas update was suppose to be what got them playing past 30 levels hooking them into the game. Doesn't seem to be working very well... or maybe people just like to complain? I mean you don't see people generally post "This game is great!" threads for any game... people only want to voice their opinion when it's negative? Well you got some points here regardless..
As a player who's been playing EQ2 for many, many consecutive years... I must agree on a lot of things you stated and others are stating.
1. Explained many times... EQ2 was coded to perform with the CPU. Yes your new PC runs EQ2 like crap... this screws with all of us. Those like me that stuck it out this long don't even notice anymore, we've evolved... You need to tweak your graphics at certain times to gain a playable FPS. Is that right? Not at all... but it's not going any where so if you can't stand that, move to the next MMORPG you'll play for 3 weeks and quit.
2. EQ2 graphics are not for everyone. I hear people think that WoW graphics are great (even in 2010)... obviously not everyone agress with that. It really comes down to what you eyes and mind feel looks good. Again... tweak your graphics if you can't stand them. What helped me through the years was forcing AA/AF. Remember to edit you eq2.ini if you do this...
3. Models look horrible. Some are better than others... some people like SOGA more... some don't... if you hate them both then I don't know what to tell you. As for armor looking bad, yeah EQ2 has had that rep. but it's improved. You're talking about level 20 armor... remember there is level 80 and 90 end game raid armor. Looks a bit better... but yeah a lot of recycled stuff with new colors. It's annoying to some, doesn't bother me.
4. No groups? Plenty of guilds... join one. This is how you meet people in most games. Besides, PUGs suck 60% of the time. If you are anti-social and don't have the balls to request guild invites to active guilds than quit and move to the next MMORPG you'll play for 3 weeks and quit.
Anyhow, there isn't much to defend. I played EQ2 for so long because I enjoy the game lore and I've invested so much time into the game. I feel it has a large amount of PvE content, more so than any other game I've played on the side till end game. I also enjoy the raid content more so than I enjoyed WoWs. I've met people that I've played with for years... some leave, come back... things get excited, things get boring. Just like every other MMORPG. Point is, I think EQ2 is more for the people whom played end game that quit and then decide to go back after a new expansion rather than refugee players from other MMORPGs that will play noob characters and think they know the game inside and out. I'm sure this isn't always the case and there are exceptions.