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Thinking of playing again, need some stuff answered.
Siveria
Member UncommonPosts: 1,419
So, after getting bored with rift I am thinking of going back to playing eq2, the last expansion I owned was the one which added the Fae and Asari races if I remember right. Anyway, I have some questions.
1) Is there a way to buy eq2 and get all the expansions that are currently out? I know I am 2-3 behind but I can't afford to pay 120 bucks for the 3 expansions I missed plus a sub fee on top right now.
2) I heard there is a mercenary system or something, that lets you hire npcs to join you, how exactly does this work?
3) Are shadowknights still good?
4) Anyway to be a shadowknight AND be on the good side? or at least have access to a house in halas?
5) Is it worth coming back? as I said last expansion I had was realm of the fae or whatever it was called, I am thinking of actually starting over since I am sure the game has changed massivly since I played and it'ds be too confusing to try to catch up.
6) Have they improved the graphics or combat system at all? Not such a big deal on the graphics because I thought it was fine with the newer char models (old ones look like ass wish they would get rid of them already). But I found the combat to be a bit.. lackluster at times depending on class.
Thanks for any and all answers you can provide.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
Comments
As I understand it, only the two most recent expansions are for sale: everything prior to that is free.
Last time I played for a bit (earlier this year), the combat was still as horrible as ever. So once again I abandoned the game after a couple of weeks, same as every other time I've tried to get into EQ2 over the years. I doubt it will ever be fixed, they'd basically need to rebuild every class from scratch.
While I love Norrath, in either version of EQ, and Nostalgia can rear it's ugly head..
I just wanted to encourage you to play for free for a couple of weeks before you rush into anything. I love the games, but I have never been able to return to either of them for more than a month myself.
This may not apply to you at all. I just figure since you *can* play for free that you could give it a shot for a little while before commiting your wallet to the cause.
I understand, like me, that you wouldn't be able to try the Mercs and what-not..
Just a friendly suggestion. Get back into it for a little while. No doubt by the time you know for sure that you want to return, you will know the status of the expansions and how much it would take to get current.
Other than that, best of luck to you. I hope you enjoy yourself and find what you are looking for.
2.) You basically go to a major city (Halas, Qeynos, Freeport, Gorowyn) and a certain set of Mercenaries are available for hire there. The basic Mercenaries are based on normal classes and have a scaling cost - you pay an inital fee to hire the Merc, then you pay a smaller fee every thirty minutes or hour (I forget). At level one this amount is measured in copper; at level 85+ it is measured in multiple gold. Some of the advanced ones are only hirable out in the middle of no-where in certain zones - the advanced Mercs are generally two classes in one and boast much better stats than an average Merc.
Once you've hired a Merc you can 'equip' them with cosmetic gear. Their stats are static, but while leveling they are MUCH better than you as they are considered to be max level mentored down - so their HP and damage can be fairly insane. Their AI is decent, but they can certainly get you killed through stupidly agro'ing everything, especially in a dungeon. Since their stats are much higher than normal, if you're playing a healer or tank you can pick up the opposite Merc and effectively solo most lower end dungeons.
3.) I haven't played the latest expansion but it depends on your definition of 'good'. Raid tanking? No. Last I heard they were relegated down to offtanking adds. Soloing and group content? Yeah, they were pretty good last I saw.
Additionally, Crusaders were given a new stance called 'Recklessness' that upped their damage by an insane amount. It may be nerfed by now, but for a while well geared Crusaders were entirely viable as full DPS.
4.) Yes and no. You can't be a 'good' Shadowknight. You can have a Halas house, though. Halas is, like Gorowyn, considered 'neutral'. You have to be a good guy to buy something there, but if you switch afterward you can still freely roam around Halas; you just can't use the broker or bank.
The 'easier' way to do this would be to use all of your Legends of Norrath packs on one specific booster pack - I forget the name, so you'll have to look through the loot cards in the newer sets. One of them has a Halas Prestige house (I believe it's actually named 'New Halas License') as a loot card drop. This is basically the biggest Halas house, ownable by anyone, and it doesn't require upkeep. Additionally, Prestige houses have teleporters that you can place in other houses or in guild halls - so you can have a basic free or cheap house in your 'main' city with a teleporter to your Halas home to make it more convenient.
5.) Can't really speak to that. The game as more PvE content than anything else on the market, easily. The number of quests is well into the upper thousands, there are dozens of dungeons and plenty of raids. So as far as value, I'd say it's worth it. But it really boils down to if you're able to put up with the craptastic combat.
6.) See above. Combat was still as bad as ever last time I played. To put it in better terms: I was leveling a Paladin when I last played. At around 82 he was hitting for double 4000 hits with a two-hander in Recklessness. His abilities were, at best, hitting in the low thousand range; some of them even sub-1000. So the vast majority of my character's damage was autoattack.
That certainly isn't true with every class, and I'm sure you could find one that's been tweaked around into something you like or can at least tolerate, but combat will never be EQ2's strong point.
regarding expansions - buying COE and AOD will get you everything
COE is latest expansion and includes DOV expansion
the content in both of these are for levels 86-95, you wont get any benefit under 85
AOD is a feature expansion - has no new content but buying it will allow you to use mercenaries or play a beastlord
AOD still sells for $40.00, you dont need it but mercs are helpful
EQ2 fan sites
I tried, again, to go back recently. Without subbing and without the merc expansion * I * felt like a second class citizen.
The FTP restrictions and the lack of a merc really made it hard for me to enjoy. YMMV
It is too bad really. I have one of those "free house" cards (the one in Gorowyn) and a bunch of other stuff and I just can't get in to it enough to enjoy the toys. If I could afford the merc expansion and the sub fee (right now times are tough, but things are looking up) I would probably be playing EQ2 right now.
But...
Trying the free play turned me off and did not endear me to drop 55$ to feel like I was on equal footing with everyone else.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
You are a second class citizen if you play for free. Its designed to give you incentive to actually pay for a subscription to get access to the full game. Paying a one time $5 fee will open up Silver status for your account and that will open up more options.
Membership Matrix
EQ2 are more solofriendly than ever.
Mercs are great if you wanna solo dungeons but hardly worth buying the xpack to get them if you have a great guild to do the dungeons with you.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
Oh, I have a bunch of station cash stashed. I did get silver, and teh frogs, gotta have teh frogs. It still was too restrictive for me.
I also feel it is too late to jump on this bandwagon. It just felt like I was left too far behind and have too much to make up on my own.Really need that merc too but spending cash on an old game that I have not even gotten one toon within sniffing distance of max level is just a risk I am unwilling to take. I might only make it a week or two, (like the last couple times) then I wasted 55 bucks.
I had an account even before it went free to play. I have veteran rewards stacked up Phat on every toon.
I played the card game attached EQ2 quite a bit. Maybe even more than EQ2 itself . LOL. So I have a ton of Paintings and house decor items just sitting there waiting to be used. Love the loot cards ... LOL
Just can't get (back) into it for some reason. Really looking forward to EQ NEXT though. Gonna get in on that right at the start.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
1) You only need to buy the latest expansion to get access to all the content. Age of Discovery is an optional 'expansion' that gives you Mercenaries, Dungeon Maker and Reforging (the latter being important once you reach max level).
2) See above. You hire them, they follow you around like a summoner pet. They cost you money every 30 mins, but its pretty negligible. There are rarer mercenaries that cost a lot more money and are more efficient. Most people just get the inquisitor for its buffs, curing, healing and ressurections. The DPS and tank ones are pretty useless.
3) Shadowknights are still overpowered. More so now with the addition of Reckless stance which allows tanks to DPS. Shadowknights can now do as much damage as T1 DPS on AoE fights.
4) Shadowknights are still evil only, unless you are on Nagafen. There are no alignment restrictions for classes on PvP servers. You can own a house wherever you want though, and Halas has no guards that will stop you from freely accessing the town.
5) Its not confusing really, and the game is fun still, its worth a shot at the very least. If you are starting again, perhaps hold off on the expansions until you are higher level and decide whether you want to play again.
6) Yes and no, they have made tweaks, still runs like crap on multi processors though. They have upgraded the spell effects, they make more sense now and are generally better.
Koldbludd
You can maintain a sub very easily by farming platinum. Two PR raid runs a month (easily done solo with most level 90 characters, even in mastercrafted gear you are restricted to with F2P) can get you enough plat to buy a Krono subscription. I had a stupidly large plat collection from when my guild sold raid gear, so my subscription is paid up until 2015. Haven't paid for a sub in EQ2 since they introduced time cards / Station Cash to be honest.
It is not too late to come back if you actually want to and plan to play. Yes that means a sub acct until you can farm plat to buy kronos. And yes buying CoE once you get to lvl 85. We have many people who came back in the past few months and are leveling up. Also leveling up is not hard with mercs and soloing or in a guild with others grouping.
It just depends if you like the game or not.
I agree. Lots of new people join all the time. There's just so much to do before you hit level cap. It's one of those games that is really worth subbing to so you can avoid all the restrictions. It sounds like that is what was really turning you off. I tried a FTP account just to see what the limitations were like and I hated it. But, then again, I had been paying a sub for many years so the differences were glaringly evident.
its worth subbing to, IMHO, but you have to make that call for yourself.
If you are a silver sub you can easily follow the Golden Path and solo up to the 70s at least. You do not need legendary or fabled equipment for soloquesting. If you buy some gear unlockers and broker tokens you will do ok. It will not be free but silver costs $ 5 and the rest is optional. That way you can certainly play up so you know if you want to subscribe or not. Me and my wife played free from 78 to 85 when we subbed again.
The gold limitations for the silver accounts was recently removed too. I do not agree that the ftp is extremely limiting you can enjoy a lot of the content for very little money.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
It looks like other folks have answered your questions. I want to say Hi and give you some new / returning player perspective. EQ2 is a really great game, it is a bit dated but has some great systems and TONS of content. If you just want to get your feet wet start with FTP for a couple weeks, you can always upgrade subscribe later.
The Age of Discovery expansion gives you Mercs which can make solo'ing alot better but hnestly most of the lower level content is fine wihtout a Merc. Many folks in my Guild didn't even start using a Merc until late 30's so you can even wait to buy expansions untill later.
Now for the shameless plug...
Our Guild I N S T I N C T started a couple months ago on Antonia Bayle, it was started by a post on MMORPG.com that was trying to pull together people that wanted a fresh start or are new to EQ2, people that wated to have group to play with and experience the game instead of the typical solo to "End Game". After just a few days we had 80+ players join and now two months later we have a solid guild of over 50 active players ( at least 30% of the Guild are new to EQ2).
If you are curious about EQ2 look us up (instinctguild.guildlaunch.com) we are working hard to keep the guild grouping with scheduled events, dungeons runs and even a new Progression Team that will be starting on Sunday.