Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
EverQuest II: Is New Halas Really New?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
It has been said that developers have a very short window of opportunity in which to grab a player's attention and, most importantly, to keep it. To that end, MMORPG.com's Phil James has a review of the recently overhauled starter zone in Everquest II. Find out if Phil thinks the reworked starter zone in EQII is enough to capture and retain a player's interest.
Earlier this year, New Halas, the latest starter zone for EQII, went live. SOE described this as the best new player experience – a bold claim. It’s not clear if this means it has everything that a newcomer to mmos needs to become hooked, or if it’s the best of all the newbie zones from any MMO, or if it means that it has the best levelling progression of all EQII’s zones. SOE is keen on pulling new players into the world of Norrath with the new free to play EQII Extended server, so I decided to investigate what new players would find upon washing up on their shores.
Read more about Is New Halas Really New?
Comments
got to agree with reallynow. i was very underwhelmed with new halas. very unimaganitive. quests were paint by nubers standard mmo fodder, and new halas itself was a joke. I was expecting a magnificant city to rival Permafrost. however it turned out to be a few well spaced huts with some blue dwarfs in them
hardly jaw dropping!!
I truly feel that sometime over the last couple of years someone, somewhere made the decision to stop really trying with eq2. i remeber being so impressed at the attention to detail that was put into the rise of kurnak expansion. however that was the last time that eq2 managed to impress me. the last expansion was awful when compared to ROK.
looking forward to eqnext as eq2's appeal has finished for me now
If someone is talking in general chat in a language you dont understand, chances are they're not talking to you. So chill out and stop bitching about it!
EQ 2 is a million miles wide and a half inch deep. thats the plauge of most MMOs currently.
You do know that EQ next is gonna use alot of the systems that EQ2 has but with better graphics as well as meshing more concepts that are seen in mmos today. Oh and an FYI they are shooting at the casual market. SOE is in this for money.
There is no ways omeone could give this review of New Halas and not be paid to do it....New halas is the same, if not worse in some areas, as all the other starter zones. I find it worse than the other starter zones. The story is worse. The quests are worse. Even the collections are worse. As said before the city of new halas is VERY underwhelming.
Maybe gamers need a wake up call and see that there is no reason for a company to make a game for whiners that will bail the frist time something happens that they do not approve of?
New Halas did nothing for me. If I roll a new toons it will go to neriak. I hated the entire zone, it was pourly done. If they want that to grab new players they are going to have problems.
I still long for them to put in the queens colony or the freeport colony. The new starter zones well just suck, and being forced to roll toons there even made it suck worse.
I know why they did it they wanted to force folks to the new area and content, and a lot of folks really dont like it.
This times Millions
I like the Timorous Deep/Gorowyn starting area, even though Gorowyn itself leaves something to be desired. The Neriak and Greater Fay/Kelethin areas were ok, too. . I didn't really get that far into the New Halas starting area, but I wasn't feeling it.. I am just not into the ice-and-snow theme, I guess.
I really hated the original newbie islands, and I hated Freeport and Qeynos even more than that (too many zones!), but to each his (or her) own. I just know I was really glad when my warden had leveled up enough to not be spending too much time in Qeynos anymore.
I thought it was cool ''shrugs'' to each there own.
playing eq2 and two worlds
I think the review is well layed out actually with a good eye for the both bad design spots (no crafting tables but crafting introduction and too many house items when people still fight for inventory space). New Halas is a nice zone in my opinion, the atmosphere and graphics are nice, the quests have a good variety what to do. I prefer it over all the other ones. Taste difference is a nice thing.
Played: Pretty much any fantasy MMO, some did not even make it to release ...
Favorites: UO, EQ2, Vanguard, Wurm Online, Salem, ESO, Creativerse
Playing: ESO, Creativerse, Guild Wars 2
Anticipating: (sigh) ... maybe Ashes of Creation
New Halas is easily the most uninspired noob zones in EQ2. Timorous Deep was amazing as a starter zone and I find it hard to buy anyone finding Halas the 'best yet'. Neriak and Gfay have a great feel to them, and the attached cities are standout and different.Even the new zones at release were pretty good once you got to Qeynos or Freeport - at least they had a variety of locals and lore.
It's a functional starter zone sure, but that's where it ends. Big step down for EQ2.
Currently Playing: The Game
Agree with the New Halas feel. The ice/snow theme isn't my favorite, and have yet to complete the whole area questline. (FYI - there is a shortcut to town from the first 'settlement' after the start area. You have to know it's there, but it drops you in the town proper.)
I have a fondness still for the original island setting for Q and F, and liked the distinctively different feel of the two major cities (now ghost towns), and would love to see those revamped and return.
Any alt I've rolled this past year it's Gorwyn over Neriak or Kelethin area. Although all the start areas are a bit boring for anyone that's played more than a handful of MMO's - it's the learn your character, get your gear time, run around kill 10x - so not very inspiring. Most MMO's get interesting about level 20+ or later IMHO.
Proud member of Hammerfist Clan Gaming Community.
Currently playing: RIFT, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO
Retired: Warhammer, AoC, EQ
Waiting: SWToR & GW2
ok, i played all of the "newbie" zones. And ich find New Halas nice but nothing came close to the good old Greater Faydark
<gets on her flameproof vest>
Actually, I came back to check out the beta of EQ2Ex and I don't mind the new areas at all. It's not earth-shatteringly different or new, or the bestest of the best, but it's not horrendously horrible either. I've played a hell of a lot worse. I'd give it a 7/10, with nothing I've ever played getting a 10/10 (nothing is perfect).
I've always seen EQ and EQ2 to change slowly and those changes tend to be fairly conservative. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you don't like EQ2's style, no reason to try it or keep playing it. The new areas are true to the genre.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
The game is just too dated, and looks it age.
"It’s not just the scenery that looks good, the mobs have to be some of the best looking I’ve seen, particularly the humanoid ones (if you can ever consider an Orc to be good looking). EQII has come in for some flak over the years due to its visuals. On its release, you needed a pretty high end computer to be able to appreciate the scenery. Now, however, anyone with even a half decent rig can be wowed by some of the finest graphics that the devs have created to date."
Nope, you still need a high-end PC to run it with the eye-candy on, which is quite remarkable considering how old the game is. It's an obvious case of terrible programming. Furthermore, the game doesn't look particularly good, even on the highest settings. The textures themselves aren't too bad but the animation is poor, lighting is still weird and the terrain seems to lack that 'something' that makes the locations look decent rather than random objects plonked on random terrain.
I really think EQ2 has many aspects of the perfect MMO - loads of PvE content and features, an interesting world (except for the overrealm) but the graphics and engine make it unplayable for me.
New Halas was ok though the quest design was a bit uninspired. Timourous Deep is leagues better and is easier on the eyes. Felt like I spent more time swimming between the various islands and commuting back and forth between the underwater cave and the two quest givers on the beach in relation to the orc/elemental cave. It is better than the quest design in Kelethin at least, several of the 'solo' quests in that starter area were almost demanding a second person.
Looks wise..well Kelethin > Timourous Deep > New Halas. Can't say much about the other 'evil' starter area as I havent played though it yet.
anyone else miss old school eq2?I had more fun with eq2 at release then I ever did now.I actually miss the old zones like starter island antonica and TS.Maybe it's nostalgia,but those had a much more eq feel then any of these new zones.I loved stepping into qeynos for the first time and getting my first apartment and seeing the city at night all lit up.I loved doing BB runs and grinding giants in TS with a good group.
Yeah, New Halas, for me....was totally underwhelming.
In my opinion, the very BEST starter experience is starting in Timorous Deep. Kelethin and Neriak are so difficult to learn your way around and New Halas just seemed....boring....to me. The quests in TD are great. Most have full voiceovers on NPCs, which you either love (I do) or hate (easy to skip), and the quest rewards in TD starting zone are measurably better than the other zones. I still don't understand that last bit...but trust me...they are.
I always suggest TD as a starting zone for new players. Besides, it's VERY easy to get around to ALL of them now, so you can actually go do quests in ALL of those areas and if your alignment is right, you can even jump over and do all the newbie quests in the zone you didn't start in anyway.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
My only complaint about the starting area (and this is coming from a complete noob to the game as a whole, Silver membership) is that, exactly as was said in the article, I have a crapload of crafting items and nothing to do with them. My bank space is filled with furniture, and as far as quick leveling, I haven't reached New Halas yet and have been playing for 3 or 4 long sessions. Level 16 or 17 and no city with crafting or whatnot in sight for another few sessions. Ugh.
This thread is about EQ2, not EQ2X and no....they're not the same game, no matter how much someone (including SoE) tries to tell you they are. The game has so many restrictions that it is but a DIM shadow of EQ2, imo.
If you were playing EQ2, you woudn't have some of the issues you just referred to....no offense, but the bag limitations and whatnot for EQ2X are just STUPID. But so far as I know.....(I don't play EQ2X, I play EQ2) there are crafting areas in EVERY starting zone. So the crafting stuff that you have "nothing to do with," unless they also removed crafting areas in EQ2X (wouldn't surprise me, since everything else is so restricted and NOT like EQ2)....you should be able to use those things, you just need to find the crafting area.
Furniture...same thing. Go get your apartment or house in the city you live in....unless EQ2X also is keeping people from doing THAT. There's a quest by the housing. You'll get the house for free with the first week's rent paid.
You can get to most zones in the game from either a dock, or a spire, including New Halas which is a city IN a zone, not a zone name itself.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I think that the starter zone was fairly neat for what it is: a dated MMO that like the post above, is a million miles wide and an inch deep. I always had that thought that exact thing. EQ2 is huge, but the richness of content just isn't there. I've done a few low level instances, and while they are fun, it still seems bland.
Also, I had to call the grammar police because the few comments above totally slaughtered the English language. It's 'poorly' not 'pourly' and 'first' not 'frist.' </rant>
insanex
To be fair the article focuses on a new players experience in halas and EQ2X is where almost every new player is going to start the game now. The latest game update centered almost entirely on revamping that experience.
You have a point.
Well...I'm getting to that place where GW2 or TSW can't come out soon enough, because, even though I love EQ2 (the game itself) I really can't stand SoE and all of their stupid bullshit any longer. It's kind of the same as tolerating Blizzard's crap for 5 years. Now I've put up with SoE for almost 6 and I've pretty well had my fill.
The things I will hate to leave are the things that have always been fun...the collections, my houses, the high end zones that are so pretty, my guildmates that I've grown to truly be friends with, etc., etc. What I will NOT miss....is all of the screwing with the game that SoE does.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
all that snow hurts my eyes. I wished many time while questing through the isle that my character could wear shades. The running back and forth got old fast.. especialy at the last 2 quest givers. the over use of furniture and jewelry for quest rewards was bothersome but they were good fortransmuting. The armor all looking so much alike was sad too.
Over all it did not live up to the hype but things rarely do.