This game came out around the same time as WoW, and I actually bought it first. At the time though it was much too close to the original Everquest, a game I detested due to the long corpse runs with experience penalty on death, forced grouping, etc. I went with WoW a few weeks later and haven’t looked back since. In its release state, WoW was simply better in just about every way. I followed the EQ2 development cycle for a while though and it seemed like they worked hard to get rid of the annoyances and expand on the good parts of the game. It’s been years since I’ve checked so I’m wondering what state it’s in now, if anyone still plays it.
There was a fairly recent discussion about it back here that might help.
EQ2 has plenty of players (it’s obviously no WoW) and they have pretty much ironed out or removed all the annoyances from the bad old days. Art direction is still uneven but that’s about the biggest complaint I’d level at the game these days. It’s a decent alternative to WoW and in fact does a number of things better than WoW. Check Fugitive’s link for more.
Are the avatars still cross-eyed?
haha
Yes.
(except the ratonga, frogloks and sarnak)
I logged in during a free weekend over the summer I think.
It looks like crap and I remembered how annoying it was. I logged off five minutes later and uninstalled it.
shrug
A few nice cookies tossed to high level players with the last expansion although the travel sucks. Zoning is so five years ago, and the classes are getting more and more bland with every iteration. That said, the world is beautiful to behold and the size is impressive. Plus lots of options are available if you raid AND whenever you get a character to 80, all future chars get an xp bonus on their other chars on the same server.
It wasn’t enough to hold me (did I mention I hate the new expansion?) but that’s fine because I’m digging LOTRO all over again.
I HATED EQ1. EQII’s got me hooked. More than that I’m not going to repeat myself about. :)
EQ2’s probably the best game out there in the ding/gratz genre next to WoW. It suffers from ugly avatars, zoning, low population and some other things but overall its pretty fun. Other thread will give you more details. I recommend it, but it is a lot of same-old, same-old.
Aside from EQ1 nostalgia, why do you guys like EQ2 over more recent fantasy MMO games like LOTRO, AOC or Warhammer.
I would be curious to know as well (what Desslock asked). I tried it and it didn’t do much for me. As I mentioned, Vanguard struck me as more intriguing. And right now AoC is really satisfying my MMO itch.
It’s enormous, sprawling, and full of stuff. It doesn’t always gel perfectly, but that’s okay. Where it works it works very well, and there’s lots of that.
It’s got the best housing implementation I’ve seen (and as far as I know LOTRO’s the only one of the above even to attempt housing), with guild halls being particularly spectacular. It has an excellent tool for connecting with recruiting guilds - something I’ve never had much luck with doing in most MMOs.
My necromancer has a whole lot of cool powers to play with including several specialized utility powers - more than I’m used to - including the very excellent invisibility spell, something that makes solo exploration waaaay more palatable.
Their version of the talent-tree specialization system that games like WoW, AoC, and WAR all use is almost completely untethered from your actual level and relies on achieving certain milestones (exploring new areas, killing named foes, questing, and finding rare items).
You can also be a straight up tradeskiller with an entirely separate tradeskill level and experience system, helped along by the fact that the crafting system is substantially more interactive than the norm.
There are collection quests that have their own sidebar in the quest journal.
They’ve found a way to make loot drops more exciting for spell-focused classes by having scrolls drop (or be crafted) that provide substantial bonuses to existing skills. You get your new spells/skills automatically every level instead of having to go train them. Buffs almost all last until cancelled (or you die), removing that extra bit of unnecessary effort rebuffing periodically. (Helps, because I’m typically running at least 8 maintained spells.)
There are a dizzying array of quests, more than you could ever reasonably do in a single character’s run from 1-80 by several fold. I mean, just going from ~10-22-ish was one zone, the Commonlands and I had to abandon quite a number of quests simply because I’d comprehensively outlevelled them. There are at least two or three other main zones for that level range - not counting smaller subzones that are typically designed for groups, like Bloodskull Valley, the Tower of Zarvonn or the Wailing Caves (no relation to WoW’s Wailing Caverns instance), all of which are reached off the Commonlands. Now I’m in Nektulos Forest, am starting to outlevel the quests there and still have a log full of them, including quests that are one step or another in a quest chain with several to go, and not including quests that call for harvested resources (I haven’t kept up my harvesting skills) or quests started by random drop items I haven’t found. I’m ignoring the Thundering Steppes zone of similar level entirely, and it’s not alone in that.
There are Lore and Legend quests that start off hidden books in various areas which involve a comprehensive study of a monster type (collecting several items of its anatomy and examining them, in particular), with the reward being a specialized attack designed to devastate that particular monster type.
You don’t get just three or four racial traits (although that’s about what you start with), but can every ten levels pick another one from a pool of about ten. My Iksar started with Defensive Coloration (temporary stealth) and Aquavision (lets you see better underwater), along with something else I don’t recall, but has subsequently picked underwater breathing and a permanent bonus to my spell crit chances and my focus skill.
Plus you sometimes get giant loot chests crushing your slain opponents!
EDIT: If you’re really bored and want to read my (long) take on EQ2 dating back from two years to just a few weeks ago, I posted my recollections here.
I hate you guys and the game’s armor and clothing. Still, I was debating heading back into CoX, but now you’ve put EQ2 in front of me also. :(
I was bored and enjoyed very much your accounts on EQ2! Great stuff. I was really into it a good 4 years ago. Looking at your pics brings back a lot of memories. This Blackburrow pic in particular is sweet. You can jump down that cliff and end up in the lowest levels with those nasty spiders. Funny how things are so terrifiying when everything attacks you then you level up to the point where everything is grey and ignores you.
Glad you enjoyed it. My first trip into Blackburrow was rather hair-raising. :)
Yeah it was a great read. I particularly enjoyed this pic:
It definitely evokes the best part of grouping (and my own P&P experiences). A small group of heroes surveying their challenge. :) I always enjoy small groups too and even though I dislike much of EQ2s art, the one thing I do like is its attempt at simplicity. The simplicity brings back a lot of nostalgia from my early D&D campaigns, unlike the brash and flashy art of other games.
As a side note, that’s one of the things Conan almost got right. Armor can be simple and yet still be beautiful. Some of Conan’s concept art really demonstrates that, er concept. They were a little less successful translating it to the game.
Yeah, good stuff, Ned. I play EQ2 off and on (mostly off lately) and enjoy the combat more than WoW but I’ve never been able to stick with it because none of my friends will play it. It’s too bad – healing in EQ2 was miles ahead of WoW back when I played my Inquisitor.
By the way, EQII just started a WoW-esque recruit-a-friend program, so if anyone would like an invite of that variety, PM me. Details are on EQII’s website. Basically you get the same trial anyone else would, but if you sign up after that, I get free time, an in-game mount, and the first one gets me free Legends of Norrath cards and Station Cash (I don’t even know what that does). You get triple experience when grouping with me (and an additional 10% if I mentor down to you) and some free Legends of Norrath cards.
Yes, like WoW the rewards definitely skew towards the recruiter, but hey, triple exp is nothing to sneeze at. Those first levels will pass by in the veritable blink of an eye.