EQ2 opinions?

[Ummagumma]

Anyone around have any personal experience with EQ2? How does it stack up with some of the other MMO offerings? Some of the features that turn you off, and some of the snags that have you pulling your hair out?

Thanks.

[VegasD]

I played EQ2 to level 15, and found it to be an "OK" MMO. I didn't hate it, which is more then I can say for the last year or two's worth of releases - but I didn't really have any desire to keep playing.

The graphical style, the extremely slow paced leveling, and the entire world is instanced ala CoH are the three things that I can point to as issues I felt negatively affected my expierence.

WoW, DAoC and the original EQ are three examples of games that I enjoy more than EQ2.

[DiscoJason]

I've played both EQ2 and WoW and I personally like EQ2 better. I enjoy the combat a lot more, especially with working on Heroic Opportunities (in fact, I pulled one off with a group the other day for 1235 damage that now has me ranked number 14 on my sevrer for highest magical damage). I like crafting much more as well. I find the game, in general, to be deeper than WoW, though you really couldn't go wrong playing either game.

I have played every MMORPG since Meridian 59 (with the exception of Horizons and Neocron). I think EQ2 definitely does away with some of the more frustrating aspects of EQ1 and I consider it to be superior to EQ1, even though I played EQ1 for 5 years. I am currently playing a level 24 Ranger/20 Provisioner.

Oh, and why am I doing a WoW/EQ2 comparison in response to your thread which asks to compare EQ2 to all other MMORPGs? Simple. If you are going to play a MMORPG, you should play either WoW or EQ2 as I think they are certainly the best of any that have ever come out. I also like FFXI, but it is a very hard core game that requires you invest a good deal of time into it. What I mean by this is that grouping is pretty much mandatory and it can take some time to get a group formed up and ready to go. Therefore, it lacks some of the quick and easy pick up and play that WoW and EQ2 have. I always felt like I should dedicate three hours of my life to FFXI when I wanted to play it and I just don't have that time anymore.

[Faldarian]

EQ2 is my favorite game to come out in 2004, and my favorite of all the MMO's I've played.

Certain things I don't like, like a 4 character limit and the broker system for selling items you've made or found.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a decent video card and computer to run it on. I think it'd probably work ok, but I can't see getting the most out of it with a mediocre system when WoW will probably run great on a PDA if you tried.

You -can- solo in it, and I tend to do that a lot, but you'll get the most enjoyment out of it if you have some regular people you'd play it with. With the HO system for combat, it can be a great deal of fun to just fight things and play with the system as long as you have regular people to do it with. Pickup groups are ok, but since most ignore HO's altogether it doesn't come up much.

[Ummagumma]

Great replies so far, sound like a winner. Two questions I have so far:

Can you guys expand a bit on the exact nature of Heroic Opportunities? As I understand it, they are moves that are chained together with other members of your party. How does this work in practice?

And Vegas, what is the nature of the instancing in the game, and how does it work for players?

Thanks again.

[Dramatist]

Previous MMORPGs for me.

Everquest 1 (4 years)
Anarchy Online
Horizons (whoops)
City of Heroes

I play EQ2 on Crushbone with the Wanderers. I play a lvl 28 Brigand that's also a lvl 22 alchemist. I think EQ2 is great fun and very deep. There are so many aspects of the game to focus on I kind of split it into mini games.

These mini games (for me)
Questing
Adventuring for experience
Adventuring for quests
Trade skill harvesting
Trade skill creating
Playing the market (buying and selling)

All of these aspects could be a game unto themsleves. And there are a few more guild areas of the game that I haven't really experienced (need to be a patron in a guild to do this)

I love the questing aspect of EQ2. That's what I enjoy the most and what I spend alot of time on. I've finished about 280+ quests and I'm in the top 100 for the server. Most quests involve adventuring and I enjoy that as well. As always a good group is better than a bad one.

I also think trade skills are more fun in EQ2 than any other MMORPG I've tried. They aren't my main thing but I've enjoyed doing them as well.

What bugs me most?... I have to say bugs. Bugged quests mainly. Most of them aren't bugged, but when you run into one, it can be very frustrating. It also seemed to me that the late teens and early 20s were more frustrating than the early lvls and from about 25 things in the EQ2 world seem to open up alot and it gets easier.

I think it's a great game and I plan to play for a long while.

I haven't tried WoW at all. Maybe someday later down the road, but not anytime soon.

[Seppe]

I played with a near minimum req pc, and it wasnt fun because of how much lag i had. My friend would get thru 2.5 zones while i just got thru one. I had to play when there werent many ppl on. So i would say have better than the min reqs. Outside of that, it was fun. I would recommend getting into a guild, it makes things much easier/better. For me, it rode that edge between boring and fun. For me, WoW and CoH is better but some of my friends are really into it...

[DiscoJason]

Great replies so far, sound like a winner. Two questions I have so far:

Can you guys expand a bit on the exact nature of Heroic Opportunities? As I understand it, they are moves that are chained together with other members of your party. How does this work in practice?

And Vegas, what is the nature of the instancing in the game, and how does it work for players?

Thanks again.

Heroic Opportunities (HO) are indeed like chains. Each archetype (scout, fighter, priest ,mage) has an HO starter. FOr the scout, it is called Lucky Strike. I play a scout (Ranger), so I will just build from this because it is was I have the most experience with. So, you click on your starter skill and a little icon thingy comes up in the interface. The center icon shows the icon of what archetype starter was used. If a scout started it, it could be an icon of a green lock. Green is for scouts, blue is for fighters, red is for mages, and yellow is for priests. Surrounding that central icon are icons of skills which can be used to chain to the initial one. For instance, when I use Lucky Strike, I get the green lock in the middle surrounded by a blue horn, a blue arm, a green coin, and I forget the last one, but I thikn it is red lightning. Now, every special attack used in the game has an HO icon associated with it. You can see these by right clicking on the ability and looking at the second icon on the window. Also, when you start an HO, any abilities you have in your hotbar will flash letting you know you can use it to advance the HO. So, if I am soloing, the only icon that I can chain with from my starter is that green coin. I have a few skills to choose from which are associated with the green coin. One is Cheap Shot, another is Evade, another is Corner, etc. So, I just use one of those abilities. This brings up the final combat wheel which I will get to in a moment.

If I am not soloing, either a warrior or a mage (if I am correct that it was a red incon that came up after I start my HO) can further the HO. The warrior has two choices since there were two different blue icons and the mage has a choice of one. They would use a skill that corresponded with their particular icon that showed up. The mage would use a skill that has the lightning HO icon and the warrior would use a skill that has either the hand or the horn icon. Depending on what they chose, it might get them to the final combat wheel next or it may bring up another set of icons. If another set is brought up, the same thing applies. With that HO I did for 1235 damage, there were actually 4 skills chained together to get to the final wheel: Lucky Strike, a warrior skill, a priest skill, and a mage skill.

It should be noted that after the chain is started, if someone in your group uses an ability or spell that doesn't correspond to one of the flashing icons, it will end the HO. So, if the priest were to have healed in my example, it would end the HO since no priest skill icons came up as linking possibilites.

Okay, so now for the final wheel. Once you get this wheel, it is safe for anyoen to cast or use an ability without fear of breaking the HO. Instead, around the HO wheel is a blue bar which ticks down. You basically have a certain amount of time to do this next part. The next part again involves using spells or abilities which correspond with the icons presented. Now, what icons appear here can vary. In fact, there are three possibilities per particular chain. There is a buff possibility, a direct damage possibility, and a rare possibility. With the example I gave of soloing as a rogue, your choices are Smuggler's Luck (a buff which raises your attack), Ringing Blow (which is a direct damage addon), and a rare one called Bravo's Dance which increases your attack speed.

That 1235 damage one I did was the rare for the particular chain we put together.

So, for my scout one, the final combat wheel has a knife icon. I have a variety of attack abilites which have that icon, so I use one of those and it completes the HO. I can then initiate another one and repeat. For the 1235 damage one, it grought up three icons ( I forget which, but it ended with me using a mask icon skill to complete it). On the final wheel, if all the icons are blinking they can be done in any order. If only the first icon is blinking, you have to do the icons in the order they appear from left to right. For that 1235 damage one, it was an ordered one and so the scout always completes it.

I don't expect a lot of this to make sense, especially since you don't have the game, but there is your description on how it works.

To summarize, HO's are chains of skills which can be used to provide some kind of effect, either a buff, a direct damage spell, or some third rare ability. Depending on what skills are used in the chain and what order they go in, you get varying results. I have seen HOs which heal the entier party of health and power. I have seen them do AoE attacks. It all just depends.

Oh...one more thing. When that final wheel comes up, you will always notice a little green coin in the bottom right. The scout, as an ability, is the only class who can "flip" the wheel. This allows you to have another chance at what effect your HO will produce. So, let's say you ar ein a battle and have done an HO that buffs your party and you go to do the same exact HO. The buff comes up again on the final wheel. Well, you arelady have it, so you want to try to flip it to maybe get another one (the rare of the direct damage). So, the scout uses an ability with the coin icon and makes it randonly pick which HO will come up. Most of the time it generates a different one, though you can certainly just get the same one again.

[DiscoJason]

I can probably answer about instancing, too, since I have the time. There are a couple of different ways that EQ2 uses instancing. The large zone right outside of the starting city of Qeynos is called Antonica. There are a limited number of players that can be in Antonica before it generates a new instance of Antonica. This basically makes it so that zones are not laggy because it limits the number of people who can be in them. This is used in most of the zones in EQ2, except for the city zones. So, when you zone from Qeynos to Antonica, you will get a window asking you to pick which instance of Antonica you want to go into if there are mutiple instances available. One nice side effect of this is if you need some rare spawn in Antonica and it isn't there, you can see if it has spawned in another instance of the zone.

The other way it is used is for the instanced group encounter areas. In Antonica, there is a zone called Firemyst Gully that you need to do a quest to even access. Once you get access, you need at least 3 people in a group to enter into the zone. It then creates a special instance of that zone for you and your group. No need ot fight anybody over mobs since you have the whole place to yourself.

[Ummagumma]

Thanks for the info, DJ. Great stuff. The HOs sound like they would really increase the strategy of attacking in groups. The instancing sounds like a good deal too, I wonder why anyone would say it was a bad feature of the game?

[tals]

I have just played EQ2 for the last few months and whilst I have enjoyed it - dare I say I am actually glad that WOW Eu Beta has started.

I have played UO,EQ, Neocron, DAoC, Eve, WWiiO, SWG, Anarchy Online, EQ2 and at the moment WOW. Both WOW and EQ2 work far more at the questing aspect of the game than my experience previously in MOGs. However tehre are still anumber in my list I would readily return to.

Instancing of zones is a good idea - although a negative is that it gives a very artficial view. Hey I need to pop over to the states, shall we make that States 1 2 or 3 - you get the drift But it does keep the populations controlled. Zones are another matter - having now returned to WOW I prefer this much freer atmosphere.

Combat is nothing short of poor in EQ2, I didn't see it first time but it is a lazy combat. Select first attack, then second - queued, third etc. Although the queueing is not as obvious as SWG it is there. Heroic opportunities recover situations and are a nice touch - in grouping they are (or felt) complex as a solo they are simplistic. Click heroic action, do 2 same spells in my case. Get a bonus hit - if that works for you then excellent. It doesn't for me.

Contrast that with WOW where the combat is dynamic and the variations of strikes or spells meaningfull and its a much more active - possibly twitch based system. Each to their own I can see why both would be enjoyable.

Quests in EQ2 are what the game is about, its not called Everquest for bad reason the game is teaming with quests, each quest a living entity that talks to you and calls to you in the game. Very nicely done. That said the further I got into the game the more group orientated the quests became. I don't mind questing in a group but I don't want to be forced into it and the lack of variety (my perspective) of solo quests beyond level 10 was putting me off. WOW has a great little ability, you party with people then you can share various quests amongst you - nice feature and certainly made group quests more enjoyable on the WOW side.

In terms of the quests, pretty much level pegging so far. First time round I preferred EQ2's with its talking etc. This time I prefer WOW's with its more dynamic story lines on its quests - ransack a castle to get to the leader, destroy battle plans etc etc.

I strongly dislike EQ2's protection system whereby when you attack a mob that mob becomes protected. You then cannot receive any assistance from a non member of your party - likewise noone else can take on the mob except you or your party. Sure some may like the comforty zone it gives but it can again give a much more artificial feel to quest areas. The castle example in WOW was liek the trolls (who I was playing) were raiding the castle - battles happening all over the place. In EQ2 there woul dhave been individual fights and not so immersive IMHO.

Thats my current views, aftere initially preferring EQ2's graphics I have now turned 100% and like WOWs graphics, lack of zoning is a big deal in a game that is trying to immerse you in its enviroment. When I have played longer (Only played WOW for a few days so far second time round) my thoughts may change

Tals

[AttAdude]

i dont have much else to say except that i like EQ2 better than WOW, because its more hardcore. Wow is like Diablo MMO for me. thats ok if thats what you like, and i dont mean it as an insult. They are both great games, and defiantly the only 2 worth playing since they came out.

As for things that really bug me about EQ 2, ill tell you about 2 bugs and.... a problem with instancing.

You can ride griffons around to get places fast. some times when you jump on one of these guys they dont move or your screen goes black. both cases requires you to start the game. they are supposed to be working on it.
There is also a chat bug that will make the last line of text not show up. As best as i know this also needs an EQ restart.

Lastly with instancing there is a small problem. Some times when you go linkdead you will log back in at the same place in another instance. this has been annoying at times, and at other times down right deadly.


Ohh one more complaint on my part. The broker system is crappy in my opinion. You have to be logged on to sell your stuff. i dont like leaving my PC on all night just to sell my stuff, and i definatly dont want to stand in my one room apt looking at the walls for 3 hours while i wait for my items to sell. i wish they would just let me place stuff on the market and then move on. I mean hell we are paying a mark up to buy things from the market with out having to go to the persons house to make the purchase, so i think this could work both ways. Just charge a small broker fee to have it sell automaticly while you adventure.

[tals]

I would love to know how you can define EQ2 as hardcore against WOW. They are much of a muchness in that respect with different parts appealing to different people.

I prefer the comment that EQ2 is a great MMORPG, tradeskills, equipment etc. WOW is a great game. I would agree that the game aspect appeals more than the MMORPG aspect


Tals

[YellowKing]

I don't understand why people can down the combat system of EQ2 and praise WoW's. They're essentially the same system: hit attack, then hit special attacks throughout the round. Sure, WoW has some attacks that only work when certain conditions are met, which provides a bit of twitchiness, but EQ2 has the heroic opportunities which basically provide that same level of skill. It's the same reason I was peeved off at the WoW reviews coming out - many times they were praising WoW for the same reasons they were criticizing EQ2. Perhaps that Blizzard polish and "wow factor" has fooled a lot of people into thinking they're experiencing new features rather than very well refined ones.

That said, I have nothing against WoW's combat system; I just don't think it's anything different than what the other games out there are doing. (I'm the same way about City of Heroes - many people think that's the best combat system around, but it's again, essentially, the same system. It differs in that it provides the illusion of free will (i.e. enemies teleporting around, the ability to really move around in combat) but ultimately it's decided by the dice rolls just like every other MMO.

I think people consider EQ2 more hardcore because there is a greater variety of classes/races, there is an XP-based death penalty, the crafting system is deeper, and overall leveling in EQ2 is not as easy (particularly solo) as it is in WoW. That's not to say being "less hardcore" is a negative trait. Some people prefer that faster pace and diminished grind.

I can't really put my finger on it, but EQ2 feels like a serious, steady relationship that you build for years, while WoW feels like a little fling you're having on the side. WoW in many instances might actually be more fun, but I don't have that same feeling of investment in my character.

[tals]

After 2 months of a queue based combat - WOW's feels fresh - that is totally my opinion which was different 2 months ago when I tried EQ2 for the first time.

My own belief is that in WOW I have much more opportunity if I get my attacks and tactics right to turn an attack round than I have in EQ2 - which at times unless you start taking on yellow mobs feels like its a preordained result.

I appretiate grouping dynamics changes this totally, but as I don't like the more controlled 'forced' grouping in EQ2 it is difficult for me to give a case on it.

I should clarify that I still think both games are great - just at this point in time I strongly fall in the WOW camp.

Tals

[AttAdude]

I would love to know how you can define EQ2 as hardcore against WOW. They are much of a muchness in that respect with different parts appealing to different people.

I prefer the comment that EQ2 is a great MMORPG, tradeskills, equipment etc. WOW is a great game. I would agree that the game aspect appeals more than the MMORPG aspect


Tals

well one game (EQ2) Has much more depth than the other (WOW). Everything about EQ is deeper and as a result requires more time and effort on the players behalf to master. That goes for almost every part of the game. Dungeouns are infanatly more complex, tradeskills in WOW pale in comparison to the active approach EQ took, Quests are not always handfed, they require actual thought and investigation on the part of the player, where as in WOW they handfeed you everything you need to know to do anything. I suppose the difference for me, is that you play EQ, in WOW you follow directions. At least those are the impressions ive gained from 6 months of WOW beta, and 6 months of EQ. As i said i like both, but one is defiantly aimed at the hardcore crowd while the other is made for those with actual lives.

[Caine]

i have experienced that bug attadude mentioned and yes, it sucks. at least now i know its not just me and that it will get fixed quicker than one persons problem.

i've played up to 19 as a chanter and i am liking it very much. there is a certain tenseness to being the one to keep new aggroes off your group members' backs that i like far more than my usual scout approach. what i do like about eq2 over doac is that every class has a spot in a group. scouts tended to be ignored in doac because everyone wanted nukers/bards/tanks/healers. the scout had very little to offer the group beyond what was already available. everyone could pull.

in eq2, the scout has this nice ability called escape, which gets everyone to the zone entrance. great way to save a bad situation. the scout also has the ability to disarm trapped chests, and i can attest to a trap as being very bad for a group. had a group a while back get wiped out because of a paralyzing trap. the tank got taken down while we stood helpless to watch, and then the mobs turned on us.

if you decide to get into eq2, consider playing on lucan d'lere. its a pretty good RP server that doesn't take itself too seriously. name is kasei

[Kael]

When I play WOW it reminds of a massivly multiplayer version of Diablo. When I play EQ2 it reminds me of a massivly multiplayer version of Morrowind.

Both are excellent games. I went with EQ2 because of the depth and the fact that players have to rely on each other.

For example, the first thing I do when I jump on EQ2 is I send out a message on the newbie channel asking if anyone needs help recovering there body. Sometimes they do and I help them go get it. As a craftsman some people require my goods to make their items, and I require some peoples goods to make mine. We have to deal with each other to work. I have something other people need, we have a reason to work together.

Ironically I don't like grouping with people and prefer to adventure by myself. Mostly because I wander and explore as much as I fight so I hate that group feeling of trying to chew through monsters as quickly as humanly possible. I really thought I was going to go WOW because of this but I played 20 levels and dropped because it was to independant. So Im happier playing EQ2.

[AttAdude]

Ohh one other reason why i choose EQ over WOW. I have little faith in blizzards ability to put out timely expansions in order to increase the life span of thier game. This is Blizzards first MMO, so unfortunatly we dont have an MMO example to judge by and must look at thier other games. While they are near perfect at release and polished almost beyond reason, they are also late. In the MMO side of things i wonder if they will continue this trend, if so the results could be bad for them as thier game gets stale, and people start leaving. Ive seen it in many other MMOs, and wonder if Blizz can keep up. Only time will tell. Sony on the other hand already proved to me they could do this, infact they did it so well it kept me playing thier original game for almost 5 years.

[Faldarian]

Combat is nothing short of poor in EQ2, I didn't see it first time but it is a lazy combat. Select first attack, then second - queued, third etc. Although the queueing is not as obvious as SWG it is there. Heroic opportunities recover situations and are a nice touch - in grouping they are (or felt) complex as a solo they are simplistic. Click heroic action, do 2 same spells in my case. Get a bonus hit - if that works for you then excellent. It doesn't for me.

Contrast that with WOW where the combat is dynamic and the variations of strikes or spells meaningfull and its a much more active - possibly twitch based system. Each to their own I can see why both would be enjoyable.

I'd guess you're playing a summoner in EQ2 of some kind and you're letting your pet do most of the fighting. Try another class, ANY other class, and I think you'll get more what you're looking for.

I've had the exact opposite experience from WoW; combat is not dynamic at all, since you just do the same two or three spells/skills until the fight is over regardless of what class you play. It's exactly the same as the DaoC system I played for two years, minus the reactive styles that made you have to pay attention.... and exactly like the EQ system I played for however many years. It's probably not bad, but it bores the hell out of me just because it's not different at all.

Aside from the arcadish feel of CoH's active combat, EQ2's really is the only one I think has really done combat right. The duration of a fight feels right, the skills used in it aren't preordained before you start the fight, and different fights go different ways (even more so in groups). If you didn't find that, you can try another class... each of the four base classes feels and plays very differently.

[tals]

Ohh one other reason why i choose EQ over WOW. I have little faith in blizzards ability to put out timely expansions in order to increase the life span of thier game. This is Blizzards first MMO, so unfortunatly we dont have an MMO example to judge by and must look at thier other games. While they are near perfect at release and polished almost beyond reason, they are also late. In the MMO side of things i wonder if they will continue this trend, if so the results could be bad for them as thier game gets stale, and people start leaving. Ive seen it in many other MMOs, and wonder if Blizz can keep up. Only time will tell. Sony on the other hand already proved to me they could do this, infact they did it so well it kept me playing thier original game for almost 5 years.

True it made EQ the most expensive game I have yet purchased (forgetting subscription). Not sure if that is actually something I would look forward in EQ2. Blizzard have yet to put a foot wrong, they already have announced the battle grounds out due in the next few months. I suspect they will keep on the ball with this.

[tals]

Combat is nothing short of poor in EQ2, I didn't see it first time but it is a lazy combat. Select first attack, then second - queued, third etc. Although the queueing is not as obvious as SWG it is there. Heroic opportunities recover situations and are a nice touch - in grouping they are (or felt) complex as a solo they are simplistic. Click heroic action, do 2 same spells in my case. Get a bonus hit - if that works for you then excellent. It doesn't for me.

Contrast that with WOW where the combat is dynamic and the variations of strikes or spells meaningfull and its a much more active - possibly twitch based system. Each to their own I can see why both would be enjoyable.

I'd guess you're playing a summoner in EQ2 of some kind and you're letting your pet do most of the fighting. Try another class, ANY other class, and I think you'll get more what you're looking for.

I've had the exact opposite experience from WoW; combat is not dynamic at all, since you just do the same two or three spells/skills until the fight is over regardless of what class you play. It's exactly the same as the DaoC system I played for two years, minus the reactive styles that made you have to pay attention.... and exactly like the EQ system I played for however many years. It's probably not bad, but it bores the hell out of me just because it's not different at all.

Aside from the arcadish feel of CoH's active combat, EQ2's really is the only one I think has really done combat right. The duration of a fight feels right, the skills used in it aren't preordained before you start the fight, and different fights go different ways (even more so in groups). If you didn't find that, you can try another class... each of the four base classes feels and plays very differently.

Playing a priest I believe no summoning involved. I have no intention of trying EQ2 again until I have got wow out of my system, then Shadowbane tempts and then possibly WWiiO.

Anyway combat was just one I mentioned, lots about it I do like lots I don't so at the moment it can stay on my games visited to be visited possibly at some later stage - i'm not going to draw blood out of a stone on this one. I enjoy playing it - but enjoy other games more

Tals

p.s should say I am playing a warrior in wow so no spells at all But even at level 10 I have more than 2 choices - nearer 6, maybe more so not sure what you were playing

[Bob]

EQ2 was requiring larger blocks of contigious times to begin to feel like I was having fun instead of just preparing to have fun. So I tried out WoW and its a completely different animal. In WoW you can jump right in and there's always something fun to do.

Someday, I'd like to come back to EQ2, but the way my life is right now, it just doesn't work for me. I have a full time job, a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and my wife is 6+ months pregnant.

[Jafisob]

EQ2 was requiring larger blocks of contigious times to begin to feel like I was having fun instead of just preparing to have fun. So I tried out WoW and its a completely different animal. In WoW you can jump right in and there's always something fun to do.

Someday, I'd like to come back to EQ2, but the way my life is right now, it just doesn't work for me. I have a full time job, a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and my wife is 6+ months pregnant.

Bob's experience is parallel to mine in that EQ2 required too much effort and prep time. My life if complicated now and I want a game I can jump into quickly and have fun with. WoW is that game currently and not EQ2.

Also the large seemless world of WoW is more appealing than the frequent zoning of EQ2.

I was impressed with EQ2 however and do not think it is a bad game.

[qp]

For example, the first thing I do when I jump on EQ2 is I send out a message on the newbie channel asking if anyone needs help recovering there body. Sometimes they do and I help them go get it. As a craftsman some people require my goods to make their items, and I require some peoples goods to make mine. We have to deal with each other to work. I have something other people need, we have a reason to work together.

Ugh corpse runs! One thing I don't miss from EQ1, and one thing that'll keep me from even considering EQ2.

[Kraegor]

all u WoW people

---------

WoW = simple. quick. solo
EQ2 = complex. involved. group oriented.

apparently most folks at OO are solo players who only have 20 mins of spare gametime per night

[AttAdude]

For example, the first thing I do when I jump on EQ2 is I send out a message on the newbie channel asking if anyone needs help recovering there body. Sometimes they do and I help them go get it. As a craftsman some people require my goods to make their items, and I require some peoples goods to make mine. We have to deal with each other to work. I have something other people need, we have a reason to work together.

Ugh corpse runs! One thing I don't miss from EQ1, and one thing that'll keep me from even considering EQ2.

you might wanna investigae what a corpes run reall is in EQ. its a totaly different animal than it was in EQ1.

[Kraegor]

heh corpse run in EQ2 does matter to an extent.

I tested it out once. :p

Had 5 shards in Blackburrow.

Power pool with shards was at 183.
Once i recovered all my shards power pool jumped to 450

Usually 1 shard is no biggie...but once ya start gathering multiple shards it pretty much cripples yer char.

[qp]

For example, the first thing I do when I jump on EQ2 is I send out a message on the newbie channel asking if anyone needs help recovering there body. Sometimes they do and I help them go get it. As a craftsman some people require my goods to make their items, and I require some peoples goods to make mine. We have to deal with each other to work. I have something other people need, we have a reason to work together.

Ugh corpse runs! One thing I don't miss from EQ1, and one thing that'll keep me from even considering EQ2.

you might wanna investigae what a corpes run reall is in EQ. its a totaly different animal than it was in EQ1.

How does it differ? WoW also has corpse runs, but if you make the run (in ghost form), there is no further penalty, or you can opt to rez in a graveyard for a modest penalty. In EQ, as I recall, it's get your corpse or lose everything on it, PLUS take a rather large hit to your XP - or beg for rezzes to have a bit less of a hit. Has EQ2 improved this situation?

[DiscoJason]

How does it differ? WoW also has corpse runs, but if you make the run (in ghost form), there is no further penalty, or you can opt to rez in a graveyard for a modest penalty. In EQ, as I recall, it's get your corpse or lose everything on it, PLUS take a rather large hit to your XP - or beg for rezzes to have a bit less of a hit. Has EQ2 improved this situation?

When you die in EQ2, you can either way to be resurrected by another player or you can revive at spots available to you from a menu. If you revive via the menu, you will teleport to the spot you chose with all your items on you and a certian amount of xp debt. You will also get some resurrection sickness effect that lowers your stats for a minute or two. You will have a quets in your journal to go retrieve your spirit shard and a glowing trail will be presented to you that leads you to that location. You can choose not not get it, but if you do go retrieve it, you will lose a good amount of the xp debt given to you.

So no forced corpse run, but it behooves you to go get your shard unless you won't be playing for a few days, when you will get your shard back automatically and you will have lost all that xp debt since it degrades while you are logged out. You never have to fear losing your items, though.

[Caine]

and you take a small hit to your items quality, which can be mended for a small fee. i've never let anything degrade more than 50%, and that was after a long night out hunting and a few bad groups. i didn't notice any effectiveness to my items or AC due to the quality though, and it didn't cost me much to get it repaired back to 100%.

[qp]

How does it differ? WoW also has corpse runs, but if you make the run (in ghost form), there is no further penalty, or you can opt to rez in a graveyard for a modest penalty. In EQ, as I recall, it's get your corpse or lose everything on it, PLUS take a rather large hit to your XP - or beg for rezzes to have a bit less of a hit. Has EQ2 improved this situation?

When you die in EQ2, you can either way to be resurrected by another player or you can revive at spots available to you from a menu. If you revive via the menu, you will teleport to the spot you chose with all your items on you and a certian amount of xp debt. You will also get some resurrection sickness effect that lowers your stats for a minute or two. You will have a quets in your journal to go retrieve your spirit shard and a glowing trail will be presented to you that leads you to that location. You can choose not not get it, but if you do go retrieve it, you will lose a good amount of the xp debt given to you.

So no forced corpse run, but it behooves you to go get your shard unless you won't be playing for a few days, when you will get your shard back automatically and you will have lost all that xp debt since it degrades while you are logged out. You never have to fear losing your items, though.

Well that does sound a whole lot better than EQ1!

[morlac]

Ohh one other reason why i choose EQ over WOW. I have little faith in blizzards ability to put out timely expansions in order to increase the life span of thier game. This is Blizzards first MMO, so unfortunatly we dont have an MMO example to judge by and must look at thier other games. While they are near perfect at release and polished almost beyond reason, they are also late. In the MMO side of things i wonder if they will continue this trend, if so the results could be bad for them as thier game gets stale, and people start leaving. Ive seen it in many other MMOs, and wonder if Blizz can keep up. Only time will tell. Sony on the other hand already proved to me they could do this, infact they did it so well it kept me playing thier original game for almost 5 years.

True it made EQ the most expensive game I have yet purchased (forgetting subscription). Not sure if that is actually something I would look forward in EQ2. Blizzard have yet to put a foot wrong, they already have announced the battle grounds out due in the next few months. I suspect they will keep on the ball with this.

Soo you wouldn't look forward to new content?

[tals]

I think that is what I pay for in my subscription price!

Blizzard in their last news release said they are committed to providing additional content to ensure the player base. They didn't clarify whether this would be at a cost or not.

I would say I never got value out of any of the EQ expansions bar the one which allows gating around

Tals

[morlac]

I think that is what I pay for in my subscription price!

Blizzard in their last news release said they are committed to providing additional content to ensure the player base. They didn't clarify whether this would be at a cost or not.

I would say I never got value out of any of the EQ expansions bar the one which allows gating around

Tals

Well most of EQ's later expansions catered to the highend raid level game. Which actully makes sense as they were in the 3rd year of the game. So if you weren't into that you were kinda SOL. I loved the Lost Dungeons expansion, though as it was for levels 20+.

Blizzard will be charging for expansion packs don't kid yourself. However, I think that COH has shown that regular free content goes a long way to keeping your fan base in game and also giving former subscribers a reason to 'reup' for awhile. Both EQ2 and WOW seem to be following this trend with both pay for expansions and little new content pathces for free.

[DiscoJason]

However, I think that COH has shown that regular free content goes a long way to keeping your fan base in game and also giving former subscribers a reason to 'reup' for awhile. Both EQ2 and WOW seem to be following this trend with both pay for expansions and little new content pathces for free.

Even CoH has an expansion coming out that wou will have to pay for: City of Villains. The thing to remember here about EQ2 is they will still continue to give you free content. They are just exploring a money-making opportunity of having short little "modules" and see if people are willing to pay for them. If they aren't worth it, people won't pay and they'll stop. Simple as that. In the meantime, though, you will still get free content.

[Bob]

apparently most folks at OO are solo players who only have 20 mins of spare gametime per night

...

.. a full time job, a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and my wife is 6+ months pregnant.

But actually I did group last night. 4 of us were able to find each other, reach the quest area, and complete several quests in about an hour.

[YellowKing]

Let's not forget that SOE's "adventure pack" approach is hardly an innovation in the game industry. Consoles have been doing it through Xbox Live, Neverwinter Nights did it, etc. It's a growing trend and one that I think will continue, especially with the enormous costs now associated with PC game development.

I think it's a "glass half-full/half-empty" phenomenon. The pessimists will say that game companies have just found a way to charge for content that in the past would have been free. The optimists will say that if optional adventure packs give incentive for companies to continue to support their game with content then gamers ultimately win.

[Kraegor]

heh i wasnt knocking you Bob.

My post was more in response to the fact that WoW has massive buzz on these forums and EQ2 gets da shaft.

which, in context to the culture of OO, could be equated to

EQ2 = Robert Jordan
WoW = George R. R. Martin

so hell we should at least be able to recruit RM9 into EQ2....

[Ummagumma]

Is there any kind of Wanderers presence in EQ2? Or a reasonable equivalent?