New player, 4 simple questions.

Namica

Starting EQ2 finnally, used to play EQ1 a great deal as a Paladin, loved the sense of exploration and the well made lore.

But I've a few questions first.

1. I'm starting on Lucan D'lere, was wondering how the RP is.

2. Can classes change to their good or evil counterpart? Like a Monk to Brawler, or Shadow Knight to Paladin.

3. I'm trying to choose a class, but all I know is that I want to melee and never range. So which melee class would you say is the most involved? Most interesting?

4. One of the big complaints seems to be that leveling is fast as hell, which is no big deal for me, I'd like to be able to check out all the old content, and I've found from playing other MMO is that it's a helluva lot easier to do it alone.

But how fast is the grind to the cap? Will I rocket up to it in a month? 

Moirae

Originally posted by Namica


Starting EQ2 finnally, used to play EQ1 a great deal as a Paladin, loved the sense of exploration and the well made lore.
But I've a few questions first.
1. I'm starting on Lucan D'lere, was wondering how the RP is.
2. Can classes change to their good or evil counterpart? Like a Monk to Brawler, or Shadow Knight to Paladin.
3. I'm trying to choose a class, but all I know is that I want to melee and never range. So which melee class would you say is the most involved? Most interesting?
4. One of the big complaints seems to be that leveling is fast as hell, which is no big deal for me, I'd like to be able to check out all the old content, and I've found from playing other MMO is that it's a helluva lot easier to do it alone.
But how fast is the grind to the cap? Will I rocket up to it in a month? 

1. Unless Lucan D'Lere changed recently, its not really an RP server, its a PvP server.

 

2. If you betray to the other side, yes you can.

 

3. Monk is the best melee class that I've seen.

 

4. Its not that fast, but its alot faster than it was when the game was created. I agree with you. I mostly solo because its just easier without having to deal with other peoples garbage. You can do up to level 10 in about an hour, maybe less. But once you hit 50, it gets much much slower.

 

5.  Only if you play constantly. If you're a casual player bent on exploring all aspects of the game, and all areas, it will take a heck of alot longer. In five years, I've only hit level cap once. There's just so much to do and I'm an alt-aholic.

drbaltazar

rp server for eq2 is antonia bale!

Novusod

1. Lucan D'Lere is an RP server it just is not as popular as Antonia Bale.

 

2. There is a betrayal quest that allows Shadowknights to become Paladins. This useful if you want to be a non-good race such as a dark elf Paladin.

 

3. Berserkers are the top melee tank class and assassins are top melee scout.

 

4. There is a xp slider that will slow your leveling down if it is too fast by granting you AA instead. Few players know about this feature.

drbaltazar

hell you can even stay neutral and be at odds with both side

i heard neutral faction will play a bigger role in the future cant wait to see this!

Moirae

Originally posted by drbaltazar


hell you can even stay neutral and be at odds with both side
i heard neutral faction will play a bigger role in the future cant wait to see this!

 

You can't really. Exile's abandoned one side and haven't yet joined the other so no one trusts them. There are ways to sneak around the cities if you're careful, it just means you'll be doing things like using the Down Below to travel.

Namica

But is there RP on Lucan D'lere? There is a guild there I'd like to join.

And can anyone elaborate on the various melee classes? What makes them fun, why you like them etc... I'm not looking for the best, just what people find the most interesting and/or fun. I only care about best and worst, when worst means nigh useless. 

arieste

Originally posted by Namica


Starting EQ2 finnally, used to play EQ1 a great deal as a Paladin, loved the sense of exploration and the well made lore.
But I've a few questions first.
1. I'm starting on Lucan D'lere, was wondering how the RP is.
2. Can classes change to their good or evil counterpart? Like a Monk to Brawler, or Shadow Knight to Paladin.
3. I'm trying to choose a class, but all I know is that I want to melee and never range. So which melee class would you say is the most involved? Most interesting?
4. One of the big complaints seems to be that leveling is fast as hell, which is no big deal for me, I'd like to be able to check out all the old content, and I've found from playing other MMO is that it's a helluva lot easier to do it alone.
But how fast is the grind to the cap? Will I rocket up to it in a month? 

I've been playing eq2 for almost 6 years, last 5 of them on LDL.

1.  Lucan is an RP server.  RP in EQ2 in general sucks, lore is terrible, world design is awful.  Storyline is being made up on the fly in order to accomodate whatever the flavour of the day is.  If you want to play a game for RP, play something else (LoTRO, AoC, FE, etc.)    That being said, if you're set on EQ2, the main difference between AB and LDL is that AB has more of your "sexy- -half-dragon-half-vampire-fogotten-queen-of-the-long-lost-drow-dynasty" types of RPers, while LDL RP is mostly tiny guilds that do their own thing in the privacy of whatever.  Open-world RP doesn't exist because - as i mentioned- the world design really isn't conducive to RP in any way.

2.  Yes you can change good to evil.  It's a bit of a pain in the ass and you lose all your upgraded spells.  So it's not something to do for fun.  Try to pick right class.

3.  Depends if you want to tank.  Tanking is the hardest job in the game, requires the most attention, the most gear and the most knowledge.  Tanks are the most scrutinized class and the hardest to slack in.  Tanks are hard to find groups in unless you're good for that reason.  If you want to tank 100% melee then Zerker or Guardian are your thing.  SKs and Paladins cast spells in addition to melee.   If you want to DPS, then your choices are Assassin, Brigand and Swashbuckler.   All 3 classes are involved and have great potential if played well.   Brigand & Swash have some cool additional tools like FD and tank-like specs for different types of group gameplay.  Assassins are hardcore damage.     Bruisers and Monks are melee also, but they are the bastard children of EQ2 and are almost extinct.  They're great solo classes, but generally never wanted in groups or raids.  

4.  Leveling is fast.  However, if you want to take it slow, what you can do is set your XP slider to 100% AA, so you'll still be progressing and getting AAs (which are very much needed and do improve your character a lot!) but at the same time you won't be outleveling the content (of which there is TONS - 5000+ quests).  On the flipside, the game also gives you the ability to scale yourself down to a lower level and play as (for example) a level 30 even though you 60.   So you can always go back and do that if you level past stuff.

 

When you'll be 90 in a month depends on how you play and how much.  You can be if you want.  Keep in mind that a 90 with 100 AAs is no better than an 80 (well they're better than an 80 because they can hit mobs and wont get one-shotted, but output-wise, it's a HUGE disadvantage).   

 

If you're on LDL and want some advice in-game, /tell Pantheya

Namica

Originally posted by arieste

Originally posted by Namica


Starting EQ2 finnally, used to play EQ1 a great deal as a Paladin, loved the sense of exploration and the well made lore.
But I've a few questions first.
1. I'm starting on Lucan D'lere, was wondering how the RP is.
2. Can classes change to their good or evil counterpart? Like a Monk to Brawler, or Shadow Knight to Paladin.
3. I'm trying to choose a class, but all I know is that I want to melee and never range. So which melee class would you say is the most involved? Most interesting?
4. One of the big complaints seems to be that leveling is fast as hell, which is no big deal for me, I'd like to be able to check out all the old content, and I've found from playing other MMO is that it's a helluva lot easier to do it alone.
But how fast is the grind to the cap? Will I rocket up to it in a month? 

I've been playing eq2 for almost 6 years, last 5 of them on LDL.

1.  Lucan is an RP server.  RP in EQ2 in general sucks, lore is terrible, world design is awful.  Storyline is being made up on the fly in order to accomodate whatever the flavour of the day is.  If you want to play a game for RP, play something else (LoTRO, AoC, FE, etc.)    That being said, if you're set on EQ2, the main difference between AB and LDL is that AB has more of your "sexy- -half-dragon-half-vampire-fogotten-queen-of-the-long-lost-drow-dynasty" types of RPers, while LDL RP is mostly tiny guilds that do their own thing in the privacy of whatever.  Open-world RP doesn't exist because - as i mentioned- the world design really isn't conducive to RP in any way.

2.  Yes you can change good to evil.  It's a bit of a pain in the ass and you lose all your upgraded spells.  So it's not something to do for fun.  Try to pick right class.

3.  Depends if you want to tank.  Tanking is the hardest job in the game, requires the most attention, the most gear and the most knowledge.  Tanks are the most scrutinized class and the hardest to slack in.  Tanks are hard to find groups in unless you're good for that reason.  If you want to tank 100% melee then Zerker or Guardian are your thing.  SKs and Paladins cast spells in addition to melee.   If you want to DPS, then your choices are Assassin, Brigand and Swashbuckler.   All 3 classes are involved and have great potential if played well.   Brigand & Swash have some cool additional tools like FD and tank-like specs for different types of group gameplay.  Assassins are hardcore damage.     Bruisers and Monks are melee also, but they are the bastard children of EQ2 and are almost extinct.  They're great solo classes, but generally never wanted in groups or raids.  

4.  Leveling is fast.  However, if you want to take it slow, what you can do is set your XP slider to 100% AA, so you'll still be progressing and getting AAs (which are very much needed and do improve your character a lot!) but at the same time you won't be outleveling the content (of which there is TONS - 5000+ quests).  On the flipside, the game also gives you the ability to scale yourself down to a lower level and play as (for example) a level 30 even though you 60.   So you can always go back and do that if you level past stuff.

 

When you'll be 90 in a month depends on how you play and how much.  You can be if you want.  Keep in mind that a 90 with 100 AAs is no better than an 80 (well they're better than an 80 because they can hit mobs and wont get one-shotted, but output-wise, it's a HUGE disadvantage).   

 

If you're on LDL and want some advice in-game, /tell Pantheya

Well as long as there is RP, that's enough. I've played AoC and WoW, the first people say has alot of RP, but that's a lie beacuse most people RP the same character (if you get my meaning), and WoW is just... not so great unless you get the right guild.

 

I was thinking Paladin mostly beacuse I used to be one, and I also want to be a Ratonga, which is why I was wondering about the whole class thing.  Though if I'm going to be shunned for not having tanking super gear, guess I'll try something else.

arieste

 A paladin is an excellent class.  And ratonga is the most awesomest race in the history of MMOs!

It's worth it to betray if you want to be a ratonga! (and you absolutely have to be a goodie).

Good gear is not super-hard to obtain in EQ2.  The thing with tanking is that unlike every other member of the group, you have to be THE BEST in the group, otherwise you won't hold aggro.  I've seen some godawful tanks and they do get by, so if you really want to be a paladin, go ahead and be one.  Just be aware that you'll have more pressure on you at any given time than a non-tank class.  It's just how it is.  No one ever notices slack healers, slack dps can easily get by, utility classes (bards, chanters) are pretty much designed to not have to do antyhing... but a tank.. if a tank sucks, the group breaks and everyone hates you.  

Some people love being in charge, leading, etc.  A lot of people roll tanks because of the perception of "big, dumb warrior" or whatever, but the reality is that tanking is the most attention-intensive and complex role in EQ2 (and most other MMOs).  

I don't know to what extent you play alts, but if you tend to roll other characters later, I'd definitely suggest rolling something other than a tank first.  

All that being said, if you want to play a paladin, play one!  They're a great class.  My point was just that you shoudln't go into it blindly  Plus RPing a ratonga paladin is made of win.  My first character was a Ratonga and i was one of the first people in the game to betray him!    

Namica

Originally posted by arieste


 A paladin is an excellent class.  And ratonga is the most awesomest race in the history of MMOs!
It's worth it to betray if you want to be a ratonga! (and you absolutely have to be a goodie).
Good gear is not super-hard to obtain in EQ2.  The thing with tanking is that unlike every other member of the group, you have to be THE BEST in the group, otherwise you won't hold aggro.  I've seen some godawful tanks and they do get by, so if you really want to be a paladin, go ahead and be one.  Just be aware that you'll have more pressure on you at any given time than a non-tank class.  It's just how it is.  No one ever notices slack healers, slack dps can easily get by, utility classes (bards, chanters) are pretty much designed to not have to do antyhing... but a tank.. if a tank sucks, the group breaks and everyone hates you.  
Some people love being in charge, leading, etc.  A lot of people roll tanks because of the perception of "big, dumb warrior" or whatever, but the reality is that tanking is the most attention-intensive and complex role in EQ2 (and most other MMOs).  
I don't know to what extent you play alts, but if you tend to roll other characters later, I'd definitely suggest rolling something other than a tank first.  
All that being said, if you want to play a paladin, play one!  They're a great class.  My point was just that you shoudln't go into it blindly  Plus RPing a ratonga paladin is made of win.  My first character was a Ratonga and i was one of the first people in the game to betray him!    

 

Aw, well if it's not a gear problem then I think I'll be fine. I was looking for a more involved, none-face roll type of class anyway. 

When can ya "betray"? If I have it right, I can just grind out to that level, do the quest, then switch my exp meter to AA mode from then on?

arieste

 I actually don't know when you can betray.  It used to be level 15, but they changed the quest since the last time I did it, so I don't know.  

If you're rolling evil (and you are if you're a ratonga), see if you can pick Gorowyn as your starting city, it has an awesome new player experience.   If you can't start there, you can always travel there. (tip:  best way to travel from evil city to evil city is to take the carpet from the East Freeport dock to Sinking Sands and then directly to another city.  All cities connect to sinking sands, but you can only travel to the ones of your alignment).

Vxar

I don't think theres a certain level you need to be, since the betrayal quests scale to whatever your level is, though I've tried to betray in the past prior to 20 and it was a severe pain.  I'd suggest getting between 25-30.  As you mentioned, do all you can on the evil side and soak up AA before you betray.

Soon as you're done with Freeport/Gorowyn, turn your AA to 100%, scale yourself down to level 10 and go to the city you didn't do yet and work on the quests as if you were leveling all over again.  I'd be surprised if you didn't have 15-20AA by then.  Though, make sure when doing Freeport, you do the Commonlands as well!

CasualMaker

I don't know how low you can betray, but I've done it at level 9. Being a level 9 Exile on Nagafen is a royal pain: everyone can attack you but you can't hit back because "PVP starts at level 10". Losing your upgraded spells/combat arts isn't a big deal if you do it before you have many to worry about. Just make apprentice upgrades and save your adepts/experts to use later. Most of the quests to raise faction with the other side are easy, if a bit tedious, you just have to keep a sharp eye out for patrolling guards.

Knytta

The town square is the site for all EQ2 roleplayers and i am certain you can find a fun RP guild on LdL. Go to

www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx and take a look.

 

 

gekkothegrey

I can only answer 2 of the questions. You can change your faction, and leveling is not that fast. It takes far longer then something like wow. I would compare lvl speed to a little bit slower then Aion. Best thing about EQ2 is community, it has the best one around right now imo.

Dasterdly

1.)  Cant answer the RP of Lucan as I run on Blackburrow.  I can say that we are not an RP server, but there are still plenty of guilds that have some form of RP within them.  Your best advice would be to talk to that guild you mentioned and ask what their policy is.  Even amongst RP guilds, you will find they dont RP all the time.

2.) Everyone can betray their good status for bad and as such a Paladin will become an SK.

3.)  I think right now SK is probably the most fun melee class with the greatest DPS/Mitigation ratio.  They are certainly FOTM right now and as such, you may have a hard time finding groups outside of a guild and when you do, you will most likely be the main tank.  Don't count on just being able to murder with impunity like a scout.  You will actually have to work

4.)  Contrary to what an above poster noted, leveling speed  is NOTHING like Aion.  EQ2 is much closer (but still slower than) WoW in terms of leveling speed.  You can level very quickly in EQ2 if you choose.  

You can also mess around with the AA slider to slow down level progression and earn your Alternate Advancement.  This is more and more becoming the preferred method for people to play.  I rolled an SK who has been locked at level 10 for a week and has near 20 AA points.  I am still running around the noob zones and have to watch for level 14 stuff that might hurt me.  Thankfully having a boat load of AA at level 10 makes me a bit harder to kill.

I like this method because, like you, I want to explore some of the older content before moving on.  You can stay in old world content as long as you like by locking your AA slider and only advancing when you cant handle the content.

That said, you will probably find it easier to solo in the early stages of the game and only group for dungeons and the like.  Of course, grouping with guildmates is usually more fun no matter how trivial the content is to a group.

Blazeyer

 As someone who knows hardly anything about the game, I'm curious as to the whole "betray" thing. Sorry I didn't do research before this but I figured it would be better to hear exactly what it is/means from players rather than websites.

demarc01

Originally posted by Blazeyer


 As someone who knows hardly anything about the game, I'm curious as to the whole "betray" thing. Sorry I didn't do research before this but I figured it would be better to hear exactly what it is/means from players rather than websites.

 

Some classes/races in the game are restricted to either "good" or "evil" sides. (Those being Freeport - Evil and Qeynos - Good)

In order to play a race / class combination that you want you sometimes have to betray to the opposing side. For example the original poster wants to play a Ratonga, a race which is evil / neutral so can be evil or neutral classes upon creation, and a paladin class which is restricted to good races ONLY. (Neutral races / classes get to option on which side they want to allie with upon creation) So to play an evil / neutral race but with a strictly good class you start with a Ratonga Shadowknight (The evil version of the paladin) and Betray it to a Paladin at a later time to get your choice character - the Ratonga Paladin.

Each class has an "opposite" that it can betray to, so its not a case of saying "I'm a paladin I want to be a wizard I'll betray" ... you can only betray to your "opposite" class.

Betraying requires you becomming an Exile and then running quests to up your faction with the opposing side until they like you. Its kinda ruff as an exile but it wont last too long if you work on the faction quests.

Its been awhile since I played EQ2 but if I recall correctly you can just betray your faction and not class too .. so you can become a Shadowknight (Evil class) allied to Qeynos (Good city)

 

There's alot of Depth in EQ2, hopefully I've answered  your question tho

Vynt

Originally posted by demarc01

Originally posted by Blazeyer


 As someone who knows hardly anything about the game, I'm curious as to the whole "betray" thing. Sorry I didn't do research before this but I figured it would be better to hear exactly what it is/means from players rather than websites.

 

Some classes/races in the game are restricted to either "good" or "evil" sides. (Those being Freeport - Evil and Qeynos - Good)

In order to play a race / class combination that you want you sometimes have to betray to the opposing side. For example the original poster wants to play a Ratonga, a race which is evil / neutral so can be evil or neutral classes upon creation, and a paladin class which is restricted to good races ONLY. (Neutral races / classes get to option on which side they want to allie with upon creation) So to play an evil / neutral race but with a strictly good class you start with a Ratonga Shadowknight (The evil version of the paladin) and Betray it to a Paladin at a later time to get your choice character - the Ratonga Paladin.

Each class has an "opposite" that it can betray to, so its not a case of saying "I'm a paladin I want to be a wizard I'll betray" ... you can only betray to your "opposite" class.

Betraying requires you becomming an Exile and then running quests to up your faction with the opposing side until they like you. Its kinda ruff as an exile but it wont last too long if you work on the faction quests.

Its been awhile since I played EQ2 but if I recall correctly you can just betray your faction and not class too .. so you can become a Shadowknight (Evil class) allied to Qeynos (Good city)

 

There's alot of Depth in EQ2, hopefully I've answered  your question tho

 

I think you can only betray your faction and keep your class on the neutral classes like druid, wizard etc. You can be an evil druid, and betray and become a good druid (or warden). The classes like the SK have to turn into paladin.

I liked the betrayel system. I had a ratonga swashbuckler.

Namica

Originally posted by Blazeyer


 As someone who knows hardly anything about the game, I'm curious as to the whole "betray" thing. Sorry I didn't do research before this but I figured it would be better to hear exactly what it is/means from players rather than websites.

Did it the other day on my SK at lv 16.

 

More or less, you do some minor running around quests in whatever city your in first (me, was freeport) from a specific quest giver, eventually they give the option to betray your city, you do an instanced quest, and are moved to a place called haven and both good and evil sides now hate you.

You now go to the oposing newbie zone of whatever faction you want to join (Neriak-Kelethin, Qeynos-Freeport, in my case I went to commonlands) and grind the hell out of quests to get better reputation with a good faction. You can either do basic quests for 1000 rep each, bounty quests for 3000 rep each, or sabatoge quests which make you go into the city, dodge guards, and do an instance for 5000 rep each. You need 60,000 rep to get the next part, where you are sent to your new city and do a last few easy quests for citizenship.

The first part takes about half an hour to an hour, the rep grind took me about 4 hours (did sabatoge quests, they are easy once you get the hang of the sewers), and another half hour for the citizenship.

 

Moirae

Each major city has a "betrayal" quest line you can start that means you can move from the good side to the bad side and back as many times as you like. Every time you do so, you lose all powerups to your spells (which can be an extremely expensive proposition for your character in game) but you don't lose your level. The betrayal quests are some of the best in the game but they do get boring after a while if you do them alot.

 

For example... you can start out in Timorous Deep (the best starting area of the game) which is an evil side (though they aren't really evil... more like self centered). You move to the main city through a series of quests. The city is called Gorowyn. While this is the best quest line, the city of Gorowyn is aggravating as hell to navigate so most people betray or at least join Freeport.

 

There is someone you can talk to in Freeport that will start you on the betrayal series of quests to take you to the good side.

 

The good side currently consists of Qeynos, and Kelethin. The new good side city for the barbarians is supposed to have been added during the newest expansion but they ended up making us wait for it for some idiotic reason.

 

The bad side consists of Neriak, Gorowyn, and Freeport. Make no doubt, the only one thats "selfish" is Gorowyn. The others ARE evil. For example, as part of the evil side when you start in Neriak, one of the starting quests is that you harvest souls and release them into a well where they will be tormented forever.

 

There is a neutral zone where you are called Exile. The problem is that all the good quests are in the other zones, and as an exile, both sides hate your guts so any of the guards will attack you on sight.

 

I find the best site to go to for help with the game is

 

http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

They have pretty much everything you should ever need to know about the game.