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EverQuest 2 was the last great MMO experience I've had...
Venekor
Member Posts: 62
I remember it being a game where you had to group to complete quests and level up. It was so amazing because it used to be so packed out that you'd always have a group, you'd chat and complete quests together. This just makes the online experience so complete and so much fun. EverQuest 2 was so ahead of WoW in terms of what the quests asked you to do, they were so in depth and had lots of parts to them. I'll always have fond memories in CL and meeting up with other groups who needed to kill a certain mob, setting up camp and chatting. The dungeons weren't in your private instance too, so you'd meet people in there and work together. You had to take things seriously or you'd die and get XP debt, so you used to stand around talking about what the best way to do it was. You had unlock quests and armour quests to progress through the game, nothing came easy and it was just such a group effort. Nek Castle and even the first adventure pack in Nek has some of my fondest memories.
The game just sort of died because of WoW and the impact on the game was SOE dumbing it down and turning it into a solo game. So because of this and everything they've added, everyone is in their own isntance now and you hardly see anyone anymore. Infact I came back today on a trial and logged into my three characters, which are on different servers and I saw no one! I mean I saw no one in any zone I went to and that was shocking. Also what I've noticed is such a decline in the quality of content, it just feels like they've been shoving it out SOE style, really fast and it's just been made so poorly. They've obviously ditched the attempts at immersion and it being fully voice acted like they were aiming for. Also what I find funny is items that are made recently seem to lack cloth simulation and go towards the WoW style of animated. I just don't understand why they're making these cuts, instead of just optimizing the game for crossfire/SLI and multipe cores.
I just find it such a shame that one of the best experience I've ever had grouping in an MMO has turned into this solo desolate MMO. What makes even less sense is why they have more than one server, the game clearly was designed to be able to run on one, especially with how low the population is now. In beta if the zones became too popular they would just make clones and you could pick which one. Yet when I play the game it may have two versions of a zone and yet noone is in either....
I just felt fully immersed in EverQuest 2 and loved the grouping experience. The graphics were pretty amazing for their day too and this is something else we never see any more as all MMOs these days are cartoony to try and clone WoW's success. I find it such a shame that we'll never experience another MMO like it, one that was group focused and a challenge.
I can only hope for classic servers.
Comments
Yea, thats the biggest problems with MMO's the soloing crap. Rift is a good step from EQ 2. EQ2 was also the last MMO to be so large...
Sony is working on Everquest Next. Maybe it will be more of the old style than the route Everquest 2 has taken /fingers crossed
I thought EQ Next was that F2P thing?
F2P is Everquest II Extended , (Next) is their current project. I dont have a link for the article but maybe you can find it with a google search.
Apart for Darkfall, EQ2 has been the last decent MMO I played, but that was just the first couple of years before Scott Hartsman ( Mr. Rift ) ruined the game with his expansions.
Unfortunately as it is now EQ2 is a bad copy of WoW, totally different from its release.
I really hope that SoE understands that the way for the future is looking to the past.
The Everquest Lore is great and Norrath is legendary, it will be a shame if SoE will waste such a treasure to make another boring "casual" game
For SoE this is the last chance saloon, if they fail with EQ next, they will shut the house, and SoE will be incorporated with the bigger Sony game division.
In order to keep being somehow indipendent, they need to make "real" MMORPGs (winks at Mr Smedley)
I play EQ 2 off and on stil. Its my 2nd favorite mmo.
Vanilla EQ2 was a lot of fun, I tried getting back into it a few months ago and the game has just lost it's spirit due to WoW-ification.
EQ:Next is already looking like a steaming pile of CRAP. Smedly outright said that EQ:Next would be more "Colorful" that the origional EQ. From what the "Smed" has said, they're essentially WoWifieing EQ (childish colors).
Meh....
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
I have to agree with OP, EQ2 was the last online world, with a good sandbox feel to it.
LOTRO almost had it...
Right now mmo's are tarnished and just crap, to many online game/themeparks.... people don't want these types of mmo's and WoW is to blame for it.
If people want to play a WoW type game they will just play WoW... developers need to get back to the online world with the right mixture of sandbox and have the world be dynamic and evolve.
EQ2 and Fallen Earth are the only mmo's I truelly enjoy playing as they capture what I feel is an online world to explore and play in.
Played: MCO - EQ/EQ2 - WoW - VG - WAR - AoC - LoTRO - DDO - GW/GW2 - Eve - Rift - FE - TSW - TSO - WS - ESO - AA - BD
Playing: Sims 3 & 4, Diablo3 and PoE
Waiting on: Lost Ark
Who's going to make a Cyberpunk MMO?
yeh i really miss eq2 the way it was. ive gone back a few times and had the same solo lonely missing the good ol day experiences.
please devs, believe that you can make enough money NOT making a game for the masses like wow. believe that a huge mass of ppl actually would play your game because its NOT wow.
I enjoyed EQ2. I played on the PvP servers, and that had potential as well. It really needed some RvR aspects, and goals, things to fight over and capture, and it would have been some very entertaining PvP.
EQ2 was a great game indeed. I played for almost 2 years and still want to play but don't have much time. EQ2 was supposed to be the MMO leader on top of WoW, too bad the Blizzard MMO won the race.
I can't wait for EQ3 to come out.
Yea Venakor there can be no doubt about it. In its prime everquest 2 was one of the best mmorpgs out there; however I would like to mention that I believe SOE are planning a classic/progression type server
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=474419
My only fear is that a bunch of unemployed / no lifers attempt to ruin it and turn it back into a regular server as soon as possible.
Lol, what a load of rubbish,seriously RIFT a step up from EQ2?
EQ2 the last MMO to be so large?
Large as in world or content?
EQ2 was a very hard game when it was first released but as the years have gone on it has become easy mode. I have played Vanguard simce it was released and although it has a low population(better than what it was) and has had no update for a while(any noob starting would still need 2-3 years to get through all the content) it is still the best PVE mmo out today.
It's unforgiving and has open dungeons and great clases plus a very vast world and crafting/housing system that beats EQ2 hands down. It also has Diplomacy as an added feature or sphere.
Getting to top level which is 55 would take you at least 3 months if you don't want to miss out on some great dungeons and content.
XP lost and corpse(tomb) runs just like EQ1.
Nice post OP, brought back a few memories. Went straight to EQ2 from Everquest and was quite happy for awhile. Alas as a number of posters have mentioned already, the dumbing down began as SOE thought they could jump on the WoW bandwagon and it was not worth playing, they ripped the soul out of it. Vanguard was still a favourite but in the end wifey and myself plus a few friends thiught that paying a subscription to a non supported game, was out of order. SOE let it die, but it was in trouble from release, should have been one of the greats.
Not suprised to see SOE in trouble, they have milked their aging stable of games for too long. Plus wifey's account got hacked and SOE's customer services were not just unhelpful but downright rude when she asked for help. So hope TSR Andy D was one that got pink slipped.
I also no longer had time for the newer instances that took 2-3hrs to run after taking an hour just to get a group going.
I really wish they would make something like eq1 again with raids and instances taking 1hr or so. Eq next from what I heard was going to be a counsel game. ( I spell that right? ) do away with the solo junk, if anything where to do non instance stuff requiring at least 3
70 monk eq1
80 bruiser eq2
43 druid wow
Currently playing : rift
I fear for eq next(eq3) because I think it will be multi platform wowified and totally suck. If its multi platform that will be enough to make me stay away on its own.I don't want to game with console mentality players.Also gw2 i have fears for me personally I can't stand the idea of picking 7 abilities out of all the ones you know to use,totally stupid.Its like omg here comes a pack of rabid boars! But i forgot how to cast my fireball all of a sudden.....
RIP mmo's......
EQ2 was an immense disappointment for me. Just an absolute letdown far as I was concerned across the board.
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.
Yeah see it was for me too in a way because there was all this alpha footage which had a really nice art style to it and all these graphical effects that never made it into the final game. I also remember human models looking nice in alpha and there was really nice armour and clothes which never made it into the final game. I really loved the art style of the original game because it was trying to be realistic, then WoW happened and every expansion since after DOF focused on making it look more like WoW.
There was also the argument of how it wasn't like Everquest, people wanted the seamless world with no instances and we got the complete opposite. Gone were all the starter cities and in a way it was dumbed down and less harsh.
Everquest 2 and WoW were the first games where you could progress via doing quests. World of Warcraft was really a solo quest game with group quests dotted around, where as Everquest 2 was pure grouping after level 10. I even remember having to grind on ostriches or something in CL because everything else was too hard to solo or grouped with other mobs. I do not understand why they launched with so many servers when the beta clearly showed they could of had just a few and then cloned the same zone over and over. With WoW coming out and there being 30 odd servers, the population was spread so thin. Now there is the F2P version of the game, any new players are put on that and the old servers are left to die. Not only that but all the new quests are all solo so you do not meet any one in the game any more because there is no need to.
In the original Everquest 2 you had to group on the starter island, it was harsh even there. Everquest 2 was far more creative with it's quests than WoW was at that time, you'd always be in groups doing some amazing things. The fallen gate armour quests are things I'll never forget, Nek forest with the first adventure pack or Nek castle. I'll even remember the starter dungeons around each city for being harsh, non of it was instanced and you'd get groups just to do things like The Forest Ruins.
The community was close because you had to group and it was so social. The cities used to be thriving places where masses of people would meet up in beta, yet now look at them, they're empty and dead... would be better to just remove them.
Also any one remember the first boat ride when you entered the game back in those days? It was amazing to see that in an MMO for it's time, why didn't they build upon it? Why didn't they do more things like that? Why didn't they just create better ways to find groups or merge all the servers into one? Instead they just dumbed it down, made the whole game a solo game and now it's very lonely, that is the reason why people do not play any more.
The funny thing is now, Everquest 2 is even easier than WoW and WoW still has great grouping moments. Everquest 2 offers nothing until end level and it's all such a bloated mess the quality of content is all over the place and most of the map is useless.
Well EQ2 may have been as you put it dumbed down I honestly can not say WoW was my first MMO. All I know is that it is still better than WoW and at least still caters to tradeskillers as well as questers/raiders which is a lot more than I can say for the newer MMO's. WoW stopped the tradeskilling benefits other than a flasks might last longer or crit might be higher or stamina and such when they brought out Wotlk.
As far as Rift goes I tried a free weekend of it and could not even bring myself to finish out the weekend. I did get out of the beginning area because I was giving it the benefit of the doubt and did not feel that I could make a true decision based on the starting area. As soon as I saw candy ore and fake flowers to harvest I ran as fast as I could logged out and deleted it off of my computer.
I can say that the new expansion in EQ2 is harder questing than the last one. I soloed most of the questing in the last expansion and even with some of the new gear, am 2 manning the latest x-pac quests. Sword and board for a nice challenge. I am a true believer in always going into something with an open mind giving it the benefit of the doubt no matter what anyone else says and I am sorry for you old timers from EQ2 that they made it too easy for you. I would have liked to have seen the old challenge that it was when you guys are talking about. However I am a fairly newer MMO player. I do so love a challenge though.
As far as class trees I have not seen a better one yet. I love that they made everything beneficial to everyone in EQ2. Something always counts for something even if it is AA. Tradeskilling counts to help level the guild if you level through writs and the tradeskilling items are still viable no matter what level your tradeskilling is at.
Decorating the guild halls and houses is a total blast and having to go back and grind faction is still fun no matter what level you are due to the lore and epic questlines for both tradeskilling and PvE. Also some of the recipes are totally awesome and I love to collect recipes.
If you feel burnt out on one thing you can take a break from it and go do another until you feel like going back to the other. Never nothing to do. And grind farming is optional unless you need the rares but in this light I would have to say I don't quite understand all of this hate toward EQ2 when it is still after 12 years one of the best MMOs out there.
Yes hopefully EQnext will be as great as EQ2 was in the beginning but it is still great IMO so why tear apart a good thing? There are a lot worse games out there than it is and by all means constructive critisism is a must at times but they have done a great job of keeping EQ2 alive for this long and actually there are groups that go do things all of the times in chat still to this day.
I gotta agree with OP. Most MMORPG's are more a single-player on-line RPG these days than an actual MMORPG (LotRo is doing the worse job there).
I started playing EQ2 myself only recently (early 2010 and active since october 2010), and I have to say, that the content of EQ2 is quite mixed though. There are huge amounts of solo area's, but there's also a lot of grouping required starting at around level 25. Right now I'm in the Enchanted lands, and there the gouping area's real;y seem to start. Around Runyeye and other spots, there's a huge amount of heroic monsters mixed with normal ones. You either got to pick your targets very carefully and avoid the agro of the heroics, or be with a group.
Only problem at lower levels in EQ2 these days is that it's hard to find a group to play with. Most players are already at the cap (or at least 70+), and the mentoring system is somewhat broke for me (I don't want a lvl 70+ to be my tank and I just follow him). Good thing I've found a guild with a lot of active lower level players ;-)