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I have played EQ2 for the past 3 years off an on. I followed Vanguard for 2 years and then played from release to March. Recently I came back to VG and I love it, right?
Well, admittedly, the Producer's Letter and the proposed "dumbing down" (dare I use the term) of the game has me worried. If the proposed exp, death, and travel changes go through, I may as well switch to EQ2.
ROK came out and it looks really good. Anyone from VG I talk to hates it since experience gain is so much faster, crafting is worthless, etc. They "dumbed down" EQ2. But RoK looks really good, and the EQ2 officials forums aren't hostile. :P Everyone seems to like it.
So what is it? Is it a good game? Is it a lot easier? Did they dumb it down? How is crafting? Etc. Thinking of coming back, but I *do* want some challenge... :P
Thanks! ^_^
Comments
I quite honestly see very little difference in the isle, and faydark. I think you level far too quickly in RoK and the armor you get as rewards for quests is better than anything you'll find on the broker, even the rare armor.
However, RoK is fun. Alot of fun. The quests are interesting and engaging. The graphics are simply beautiful.
One of the things you'll notice is that the Sarnak aren't really evil. You'll never find a quest there like the one in Neriak that says "Go find a certain number of pure souls, harvest them and then release them in the well of nightmares to suffer forever". The Sarnak are more... simply racially self interested. But they help each other out and are fairly polite to one another.
Like Neriak, Kunark isn't covered in nothing but red rock. You see ocean, grass, and trees as far as the eye can see. Its a truly beautiful island.
The music is distinctly tribal. Skin drums, reed instruments, and the sound of mild tribal chanting. Its quite beautiful.
The Sarnak sound a bit like Ferengi when they talk, which is kind of funny if you think about it.
Crafting has always been one of my favorite parts of the game. They removed the chance that you'll create different levels of a thing. Like... there used to be a chance that you could create a spell that would be an apprentice two, apprentice three, or an apprentice four spell (for a regular spell, not a rare). Each level had different attributes with level 4 being the most powerful. That no longer happens. Now, if you accidentally fail to make an item in crafting (which I don't know how that would happen because, since the release of kunark, I haven't gotten ANYTHING from crafting thats less than a level 4 so long as I pay attention) you'll simply get something back.
Like, if you fail a tailor spell, it will just give you a certain number of filaments to use in your next spell rather than the item you wanted to make.
Which is both good and bad.
EQ2 in general is a good game. The community is wonderful and its alot of fun. However, don't grind, quest. Its called Everquest for a reason. You'll get far more exp from questing than you will from grinding and its alot more fun.
If you are looking for a EQ1 like challenge, I don`t think EQ2 is what you`d be looking for. If you are looking for a fun game experience, EQ2 might just fit the bill. I`m only lvl 72 atm but the quests seem pretty easy right now (a lot of them are extremely simplistic). I realize that this is just to get players familiar with the new area however, and to get non-raiders some decent equipment. The new mobs do hit a lot harder but my Conjurer and Monk handle them pretty easily. I know the quest lines give some major xp now. I for one am happy about this. I don`t want to see EQ2 becoming a grind fest and the great quest xp will keep most people on a quest line and actually playing the game. The crafters are selling the new items at pretty high prices right now. The Adept 3`s are insanely steep in price. The Mastercrafted gear is still some top notch stuff. You`ll be happy if you have a crafter.
I`m about to head into more new area`s with the expansion and I bet the quests are going to ramp up in difficulty. I am glad that the questing was set up like it was however. It`s not challenging at first but guildies have mentioned that it gets pretty rough in certain areas of the game. I`m looking forward to finding out. Overall, EQ2 is just a fun game experience, not to difficult yet, but very fun.
Thanks all. Just really confused. I want a challenge, but I want fun.
Plus Norrath nostalgia is hard to beat. :P