To all of those thinking of starting...

Aesper

Pros:

• Amazing spell graphics
• Classes feel different.
• Clean character creation and customization
• Impressive and fearsome minotaurs, dragons, golems, giants, elementals, etc!
• Solid programming (very few bugs)
• Decent quest systems
• Excellent class diversity
• Helpful, mature community (for the most part like always)
• Diverse character models
• Massive world
• Clean, smooth graphics and animations
• Grouping is not a chore
• Player housing. Simple but interesting
• Interesting crafting system
• New player friendly
• Meaningful and in-depth character development such as Alternate Advancement (Talent point like advancement), adventure experience as well as achievement experience for these "AAs".

Cons and Pros/Cons (mostly personal preferences and most can be construed either as pros OR cons)

• The UI is a little bare for my taste. Can change that with custom UIs though.
• Lack of armor diversity. While diversity is definitely there, you dont see a huge amount of different types and characteristics.
• Mobs run really, really fast (LOL)
• Many expansions (Which I dont like because it always leaves neglected content, but as far as I know many people still do raids in the Kingdom of Sky expansion)
• Ive got like 6 full spell bars (As a Necro) (Good or bad, up to you)
• Non-personal-instanced dungeons (I like it, but many dont)
• Tradeskills for me havent proven to be very useful, depending on what you train
• The auction house/broker/markeplace can be a pain in the ass
• Things tend to be pretty expensive
• Spell advancement (Apprentice I,II,III Adept I,II,III Master I,II,III etc.) can be expensive, but adds a dimension to progression.

Gettin late, but thats my 2 cents. I love the game and I think you will too. Amazing PVE, havent tried PVP but I hear its pretty loppy and one sided. I play on Najena, very nice server, good population.

Efrath

Well, since PVP isn't covered up here, might as well say what I think about it, having played on the EQ2 PVP servers for years.

 

First of all, if you're going to try PVP in EQ2 for the first time, be prepared to die.

 

Alot.

 

Now is this a bad thing? I don't personally think so, it just means that what you have for equipment and spells actually matters. Some people hate it of course but really, how fun would any game be if all the equipment and weapons were just as strong? It actually makes it more worth it to go trough the effort of getting the equipment as there is makes a helluva difference (DRINK MILK FOO').

 

Some people might really dislike the PVP in this game if they are impatient or bad losers because as I previously noted, you will die alot. The PVP is fairly balanced when it comes to classes though, though o'course some classes are easier to become good with and some harder with. THe only class I find that really *really* sucks in PVP is the necromancer, which is sad because the necromancer is a really fun class.

 

Also, unlike World of Warcraft, you actually get something from killing someone (Other than satisfaction that is) as the player you kill drops about half of the money he currently has on him plus there's a chance of him dropping a treasured item.  Now this means you can drop money too so I suggest you bank at all times before moving out. There's also a title system so as you kill players, you will sooner or later gain a rank.

 

The title system is both loved and hated due to the fact that many players tends to hug their title and do all in their power to avoid losing it (In other words, run away unless the battle is in your favor). But the same happens in every MMORPG I think that has PVP where you can gain someone and then lose it if you die so eh, it makes PVP more interesting I say.

observer

Great summary.  Last time i played EQ2 was about 6 months ago, but it was still fun.  It's too bad EQ2 had a very bad launch which hurt it's future development, but now it's a lot more polished and refined.  I recommend it to people who don't really follow the MMO scene, because it's a nice simple game to get into at first and then gradually grows on you while the learning curve gets more higher.  But if you're an MMO veteran, you'll find many things that you dislike from other MMO games out there.

 

Efrath also makes good points about the PvP.  It's not for the weak that's for sure, but i like the risk vs reward that comes with it.