Couple of questions about EQ2 extended

bumuscheekus

Just picked it up. Fun so far after a morning's play. I have a few questions for the veteran Everquesters:

1) Is the game worth giving a decent go to now even though it's an oldie at this stage?

2) In your opinion is it likely to be around for a while or will it go the way of Star Wars Galaxies heaven and get cancelled after I've spent time and possibly money on a character

3) Are the starting areas reflective of the later game? Am I killing 'ten of them, four of these' or 'collecting items' till end game without any sort of decent storyline? Are the areas constantly lovely with lots to do or fairly samey and grindy?

4) Can I play under bronze membership to cap level or is it made so godawfully impossible that money will need to be spent if I want to get into groups/instances/have fun? Is the one time paid upgrade to the next tier therefore eventually necessary?

5) I've started on a Templar since I like healing, is this a painfully slow class for a beginner or is it relatively survivable/soloable until group content becomes available

6) Instances - I likes my instances I do, more than say solo grinding - are they good/long/fun (relative to say LOTRO which I've just come from)?

 

Sorry for all the questions, you can be a concise as you like and you don't need to even answer all of them, I don't expect long answers thereby taking up precious Saturday grinding time :P

samuraislyr4

Originally posted by bumuscheekus

 

1) Is the game worth giving a decent go to now even though it's an oldie at this stage?

Everquest 2 is alive and kicking quite well, lots of people still play both on the regular version and the F2P version.

2) In your opinion is it likely to be around for a while or will it go the way of Star Wars Galaxies heaven and get cancelled after I've spent time and possibly money on a character

It will be around, I doubt it will get cancelled in the next decade probably longer.

3) Are the starting areas reflective of the later game? Am I killing 'ten of them, four of these' or 'collecting items' till end game without any sort of decent storyline? Are the areas constantly lovely with lots to do or fairly samey and grindy?

Mmm, yes and no, quest objectives don't really change much but there are some neat little lore stories around, sometimes you have to do a bit of reading and searching to get to the meat and bones of it.

4) Can I play under bronze membership to cap level or is it made so godawfully impossible that money will need to be spent if I want to get into groups/instances/have fun? Is the one time paid upgrade to the next tier therefore eventually necessary?

You can get to level cap, though there are a lot of restrictions at bronze, spell levels and gear are blocked most notibably (really bad decision by SOE especially since there is no way to lift that restriction besides subbing).

5) I've started on a Templar since I like healing, is this a painfully slow class for a beginner or is it relatively survivable/soloable until group content becomes available

Can't really tell you much here sorry.

6) Instances - I likes my instances I do, more than say solo grinding - are they good/long/fun (relative to say LOTRO which I've just come from)?

 About the same really, probably since it has been around longer, you'll have more instances in general to choose from.

Sorry for all the questions, you can be a concise as you like and you don't need to even answer all of them, I don't expect long answers thereby taking up precious Saturday grinding time :P

ultrastoat

Originally posted by bumuscheekus

Just picked it up. Fun so far after a morning's play. I have a few questions for the veteran Everquesters:

1) Is the game worth giving a decent go to now even though it's an oldie at this stage?

I didn't use to think much of EQ2 due to it's off-kilter visuals but now I realize that it has more depth than most if not any other MMO out there. Heritage quests, lore quests, world events, AA advancement, a Deity system that actually does something, amazing housing, multi-level (as in, dimensions, not player levels) areas with climbable walls and secret dungeons, and much, much more. It's definitely worth giving it a go, simply because after hearing about all these "next gen themeparks", EQ2 was already "next gen" eight years ago.

 

2) In your opinion is it likely to be around for a while or will it go the way of Star Wars Galaxies heaven and get cancelled after I've spent time and possibly money on a character

EQ2X should be around for a good long while. EQ is SOE's cash cow and main IP, and EQ2X is more than likely the direction they want to take this game. So, yes, EQ2X will be around for a while.

 

3) Are the starting areas reflective of the later game? Am I killing 'ten of them, four of these' or 'collecting items' till end game without any sort of decent storyline? Are the areas constantly lovely with lots to do or fairly samey and grindy?

Yes and no. Quests are quests, especially in an eight year old game. Lots of "kill x of this" quests but some of them can catch you by surprise with little elements thrown in. Moving on to the rest of the game will present you with a lot of the same quests but the environments change enough for you to really feel like you're getting somewhere.

 

4) Can I play under bronze membership to cap level or is it made so godawfully impossible that money will need to be spent if I want to get into groups/instances/have fun? Is the one time paid upgrade to the next tier therefore eventually necessary?

Here's a simple misconception. EQ2X, at the base, is a complete 1-to-1 port of EQ2 Live. None of the mechanics have changed and it's the exact same base game as on the Live servers. They have locked out some of the underlying elements for money, however. You have race and class restrictions that you can buy, you need Silver membership to talk in general and trade chat, and spell tiers will be lower for Bronze / Silver members, but this is only something that is noticeable towards end-game raiding. Even at the higher levels, if you can hold your own in a group, spell tiers don't matter THAT much.

You can progress to 90 the same as a subscribing member. No XP restrictions or instance lockouts. Everything in the game world that is there for Live / Gold members is there for Bronze and Silver.

 

5) I've started on a Templar since I like healing, is this a painfully slow class for a beginner or is it relatively survivable/soloable until group content becomes available

Don't know personally, but I see a lot of templars running around so I would think it's a good solo class.

 

6) Instances - I likes my instances I do, more than say solo grinding - are they good/long/fun (relative to say LOTRO which I've just come from)?

This one is a little tricky. EQ2 has SOME instances, but it has a LOT of dungeons. The instances tend to be contained inside the dungeons, and are sort of 'rewards" for groups that made it that far. The dungeons are just like outdoor zones and you can find other groups / players inside them alongside you.

Some of the designs are kind of bland. Especially at lower levels. But as you progress you will start to see some pretty awesome areas and designs. They are also usually a lot of fun.

 

Sorry for all the questions, you can be a concise as you like and you don't need to even answer all of them, I don't expect long answers thereby taking up precious Saturday grinding time :P

No sweat. I feel like EQ2X got a bum rap from the MMO community simply because it's SOE and it limits you with some things at start, but as far as F2P games go it's honestly probably your best deal in terms of content and advancement for free.

Like I said. There are no restrictions on XP, no "hell levels" that make you wish for either an XP potion or death, and no dungeons that you have to buy outside of the current expansion. And what's more, when a new expansion comes out, you get the previous one completely free. Lotro, on the other hand, charges you per expansion regardless how many there are.

bumuscheekus

Thanks for the headsup gents, exactly what I wanted to know ;-)

meleemadness

Oh, on the templar question....you can make an Inquisitor and solo much more effectively if you spec your spell into melee  CAs and focue on  the melee AAs.....they seem to really kick butt...a lot!

I know I solo'd some instances...to a point....because I crafted my own gear (Wailing Caves with Master Crafted armor and weapons and Adept III and Master spells).  I lvl locked to collect lots of AAs and went to all the other starting areas I could to get all those AAs by doing the quests.  I don't know if you can lvl lock with Bronze though.

Nadia

Originally posted by meleemadness

  I don't know if you can lvl lock with Bronze though.

everyone can level lock using the Chronomancer

 

its self mentoring --- you visit a npc in cities --- it locks you to a lower level but you can still make experience (and levels)

your level will never change until you unmentor

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

 

its not an AA level lock like gold members can do but its the next best thing