EQ/EQ2 - Living Legacy. Accounts reactivated from today until July 25th!

[Kreugen]

In EQ2 I hear you can start finding the occasional group around level 77.

[Grizzlebeard]

Originally Posted by Kreugen

I hear you can start finding the occasional group around level 77.

Only if you're a bard or dirge...

[Lefazz]

I WANT to like the game...it does have it's charms. But it feels so clunky it's annoying to play for any length of time.

[MrGraham]

It's hard to put your finger on exactly why EQ2 is so bad. It's easy to point at generic and bland raids, but that stems from generic and bland abilities really. Oh, I have a damage ability that lessens 7 different types of a mob's casting abilities? That's great, but do I really notice any difference? Probably not. Same for -slashing/crushing/dps.

24 classes is not a feature I would repeat. Nor is their AA system. It sounds cool, but really it amounts to a really generic and unexciting talent tree.

Really it's a lot like LOTRO. Pretty much everything about the game is mediocre, it doesn't have much that's "great" about it. Mentoring system is a good feature (although I believe COH did it first), and their housing is awesome, but really those are the only unique successes I see in EQ2.

[Caocao]

Originally Posted by MrGraham

24 classes is not a feature I would repeat. Nor is their AA system. It sounds cool, but really it amounts to a really generic and unexciting talent tree.

They went one extreme of how do to classes, and wow did the other. I think EQ had it right, but no body wants to do that again so it's all good. The AA system is weak b/c you literally have your entire class tree done by accident. In EQ/FFXI their AA system had you becoming stronger at max or close to max level. The way EQ2 did it, it's expected you have your final class ability by 30/40 something. Kinda meh~

[Lyenae]

Originally Posted by MrGraham

It's hard to put your finger on exactly why EQ2 is so bad.

I haven't played since KOS, but EQ2 is classic second system effect. The gameplay is overengineered so everything that was considered taking advantage of the system in EQ is now regulated. Split mobs? Nope, linked. Kite mobs? Nope, out/in combat run speeds. Go back and do quests cause you couldn't get a group to do them at the "right" level? Nope, TLC or mentor down. Total different design philosophy. When they made EQ, they set out to make a world. You can see that in town design, the faction system, wide level ranges in outdoor zones... freedom and ingenuity in general. In EQ2 they gutted what is considered by some to be fluff, and focused on making a regulated MMO. And the shit fucking reeked of it, from using a bell to cross zones, to DDR hotekys.

Now I know EQ2 isn't along in that regulation, but it definitely takes the crown when it comes to MMO gameplay staganation. Can't barely bring new shit to the table (mentoring is all EQ2 had, that's about it) so you just overengineer/perfect loopholes of existing shit... which really guts the freedom your game should have.

[Big W Powah!]

Originally Posted by Lyenae

I haven't played since KOS, but EQ2 is classic second system effect. The gameplay is overengineered so everything that was considered taking advantage of the system in EQ is now regulated. Split mobs? Nope, linked. Kite mobs? Nope, out/in combat run speeds. Go back and do quests cause you couldn't get a group to do them at the "right" level? Nope, TLC or mentor down. Total different design philosophy. When they made EQ, they set out to make a world. You can see that in town design, the faction system, wide level ranges in outdoor zones... freedom and ingenuity in general. In EQ2 they gutted what is considered by some to be fluff, and focused on making a regulated MMO. And the shit fucking reeked of it, from using a bell to cross zones, to DDR hotekys.

Now I know EQ2 isn't along in that regulation, but it definitely takes the crown when it comes to MMO gameplay staganation. Can't barely bring new shit to the table (mentoring is all EQ2 had, that's about it) so you just overengineer/perfect loopholes of existing shit... which really guts the freedom your game should have.

AoC is the king of DDR hotkeys sir. Combo; up, left, right, left left right..Yeah, but, fuck, I don't know what I'm saying.


Too Much Brown

[Wash]

Originally Posted by Genjiro

So yea, my gf has been playing some EQ2 on Guk (why she chose that server idk), but there is hardly ever anyone to group with. The game at low lvls (she's almost 50 now, and still don't see a lot of people to group with) seems devoid of all life.

I just started on Guk too (just cause I liked the name), and yeah, it was pretty abandoned, at the low levels anyway. I may hop to a new server if that doesn't change as I level up.

First impression is that it's a lot more polished than I expected it to be, though that may be because my computer is a beast compared to what most people had when it was released.

Combat's more complicated than I expected. I'm still figuring out why some things happen sometimes and don't happen others. I just figured out what the Heroic move system was after playing for 4 hours (instead of hitting the button to start a chain every fight, I wish you could just turn it on so it would start automatically every fight).

Qeynos is sure a hell of a mess-- I'm still not sure what they were thinking cramming every race together like that. They could have at least moved some races to towns around the city and made them more unique. There's nothing about the gnome or barbarian section that really screams "gnomes or barbarians live here".

It would have been better if, for example, they'd put Wood Elves in a tree house outside the city, barbarians in some huts by the water, High Elves can stay in the city (cause they're kind of city folk)... you get the idea. Yes, I know the lore says they all lived together like sorority girls, but, lore should serve the game. No good director will let a single line ruin his film, for example-- he'll change the line or shoot it a different way.

The bells make things kind of confusing too-- I had no idea, for a while, that these places were linked other than with bells. It's hard to get a sense of the geography until you ignore the bells and focus on figuring out where you are.

Outside the city bell-syndrome goes away and it starts to resemble what a sequel to Everquest would look like. I had fun running around and seeing how far I could get while looking for the Steppes docks (guards didn't help me when I got jumped... is this because of the tether system, or were they just lazy asses?).

Despite that stuff, I am having a good time so far and can't wait to log in tonight. For the most part I'm pleasantly surprised by the game. Maybe at level 9 I haven't reached the suck yet. But provided I can find some people to level with, I can see playing this one for a while.

[m A n i a]

Originally Posted by Wash

I just started on Guk too (just cause I liked the name), and yeah, it was pretty abandoned, at the low levels anyway. I may hop to a new server if that doesn't change as I level up.

Play on AB - at night it's usually got a "High" population.

[Kreugen]

Isn't AB euro?

[Grizzlebeard]

Originally Posted by Kreugen

Isn't AB euro?

Runnyeye and Splitpaw are the Euro servers, AB and Lucan are RP servers.

Verily, forsooth and have at thee knave!

[Braen]

I am not playing EQ2 right now, but my account is active.

If anyone on AB in EQ2 wants to join up on Mistwalkers and use it as their guild let me know. It is level 58 and has a ton of guild bank space, plus all the discounts for members for vendors and stuff.

Just send me a PM and I will pop on and invite you.

[kasey]

well i moved to Ab because it was an euro server and on AB we had a kickass competition and it was always full. NFC how its nowadays tho

[FulorianC]

If you're talking AB on EQ1, it should still be decently full. Tide and Raging Fury are still around, and Darkwind JUST broke up last month (we got most of their officers, muahaha!) So, until last month, it was tied with Maelin for the most top end raiding guilds on one server. In other words, it had a pretty good population.

[Grumpy Old Fart]

Originally Posted by Braen

I am not playing EQ2 right now, but my account is active.

If anyone on AB in EQ2 wants to join up on Mistwalkers and use it as their guild let me know. It is level 58 and has a ton of guild bank space, plus all the discounts for members for vendors and stuff.

Just send me a PM and I will pop on and invite you.

Ah, good old Mistwalkers/EQ2. It's damn sad to think of it being empty now, what with how many dozens of us were having fun there last year at this time. It's too bad that game sucked so much ass at max level. I bet the guild bank is still nice and organized, just the way THK left it before he joined that other guild.