Norrathian Stride - Dealing With Burn Out In EverQuest 2 | MMORPG.com

System

Norrathian Stride - Dealing With Burn Out In EverQuest 2 | MMORPG.com

J is having some issues with burn out. Playing through EverQuest 2 right now as he gets his way up to the current content, doing it solo has become a slog. Is this something you feel in an MMO as well, especially when the social parts of the MMO are nonexistent for large stretches?

Read the full story here

foppotee

I sympathize with the author a bit. I'm not nearly as far along as he is but am finding it less & less worthy to continue for some of the same reasons. EQ2 is just so bloated, similar to EQ1, with back content & unless willing to pay to level-boost your character, which I'm sure DayBreak wants, it just gets dreary if mostly soloing/moloing grinding away. Luckily for me the leveling isn't the priority as much as exploring places I've forgotten or never saw initially.

cheyane

I am lucky enough to have stopped playing the original game in 2008 or thereabouts and when I came back in 2015 I did the time locked server. So this time when I jumped back I got to experience the game and expansions for the first time. I'm really enjoying it and playing a Beastlord for the first time too. The mechanics of the class is not unlike anything I have seen so am intrigued. The taming part is reminiscent of the hunter class  in WoW but the training isn't.
 
I am not interested in raiding and I am an alt fiend. I suspect I will stop playing but not because of the end game unavailability due to my lack in stats. It will be because of burnout form my alt brigade finally killing me. I still find doing the quests and reading all the quests and talking to NPCs engaging enough to continue. I am a cheap date as I mentioned before. I am quite easily distracted and entertained.

For now at least I am happy to play. This may change in a couple of months though.

SenbonFan

For anyone experiencing burnout just after the leveling process, I am afraid that is not the end of it. In a lot of cases, you will not have sufficient gear to solo the story progression zones for the current expansion.

The constant nerf to non-loot box mercenaries has reached an all time high, and since a lot of players do not have mercenary gear due to not having done previous Heroic content, mercenaries such as Daeron, Zhurgus, etc that you earn from in-game feats will not be as helpful for pushing through the quest stories in Reign of Shadows. I know this, because I was there for the first few weeks of launch and ended up cancelling after my actually somewhat-geared Swashbuckler was unable to progress without people who were raid geared basically carrying me.

If you are "late to the party" you will also find it harder and harder to get into groups for any content worth challenging, if that is your sort of thing, unless people are willing to hand you gear/plat/spells. Upgrading spells past a certain point is very much a "Spend $$$ or hope you have a lot of in-game coin" thing nowadays, with a lot of people not putting up with you in Heroics if you don't have at minimum Expert level spells.

I compare this with my experience having gone back to the original Everquest and wonder where EQ2 went wrong comparatively. Yes, I did have some help from my guild mates, but my Ranger has mostly been self-sufficient, between the loyalty platinum bags and shopping smartly on the Bazaar. I do have to do zones with stronger guild members or people who might actually be in the mood to headshot things/group, but it still at least feels fun and I do contribute, even if in small ways, due to the more grounded damage values in EQ1.

It is at the point where I really cannot in good faith recommend Everquest II to any of my friends who are interested in MMOs, because there's just no way to deal with the inevitable burnout and progression walls.

BruceYee

SenbonFan said:

For anyone experiencing burnout just after the leveling process, I am afraid that is not the end of it. In a lot of cases, you will not have sufficient gear to solo the story progression zones for the current expansion.

The constant nerf to non-loot box mercenaries has reached an all time high, and since a lot of players do not have mercenary gear due to not having done previous Heroic content, mercenaries such as Daeron, Zhurgus, etc that you earn from in-game feats will not be as helpful for pushing through the quest stories in Reign of Shadows. I know this, because I was there for the first few weeks of launch and ended up cancelling after my actually somewhat-geared Swashbuckler was unable to progress without people who were raid geared basically carrying me.

If you are "late to the party" you will also find it harder and harder to get into groups for any content worth challenging, if that is your sort of thing, unless people are willing to hand you gear/plat/spells. Upgrading spells past a certain point is very much a "Spend $$$ or hope you have a lot of in-game coin" thing nowadays, with a lot of people not putting up with you in Heroics if you don't have at minimum Expert level spells.

I compare this with my experience having gone back to the original Everquest and wonder where EQ2 went wrong comparatively. Yes, I did have some help from my guild mates, but my Ranger has mostly been self-sufficient, between the loyalty platinum bags and shopping smartly on the Bazaar. I do have to do zones with stronger guild members or people who might actually be in the mood to headshot things/group, but it still at least feels fun and I do contribute, even if in small ways, due to the more grounded damage values in EQ1.

It is at the point where I really cannot in good faith recommend Everquest II to any of my friends who are interested in MMOs, because there's just no way to deal with the inevitable burnout and progression walls.

Feels intentional to get people to guild up and devote themselves long-term like they did in EQ1. Keeping paying players for over two decades may be the reason for their decisions when it comes to EQ2 or maybe they just want to sell cash shop stuff.

cheyane

SenbonFan said:

For anyone experiencing burnout just after the leveling process, I am afraid that is not the end of it. In a lot of cases, you will not have sufficient gear to solo the story progression zones for the current expansion.

The constant nerf to non-loot box mercenaries has reached an all time high, and since a lot of players do not have mercenary gear due to not having done previous Heroic content, mercenaries such as Daeron, Zhurgus, etc that you earn from in-game feats will not be as helpful for pushing through the quest stories in Reign of Shadows. I know this, because I was there for the first few weeks of launch and ended up cancelling after my actually somewhat-geared Swashbuckler was unable to progress without people who were raid geared basically carrying me.

If you are "late to the party" you will also find it harder and harder to get into groups for any content worth challenging, if that is your sort of thing, unless people are willing to hand you gear/plat/spells. Upgrading spells past a certain point is very much a "Spend $$$ or hope you have a lot of in-game coin" thing nowadays, with a lot of people not putting up with you in Heroics if you don't have at minimum Expert level spells.

I compare this with my experience having gone back to the original Everquest and wonder where EQ2 went wrong comparatively. Yes, I did have some help from my guild mates, but my Ranger has mostly been self-sufficient, between the loyalty platinum bags and shopping smartly on the Bazaar. I do have to do zones with stronger guild members or people who might actually be in the mood to headshot things/group, but it still at least feels fun and I do contribute, even if in small ways, due to the more grounded damage values in EQ1.

It is at the point where I really cannot in good faith recommend Everquest II to any of my friends who are interested in MMOs, because there's just no way to deal with the inevitable burnout and progression walls.

This genuinely has me worried. You cannot even get through the story hmm that is bad. I'll check with my guildmates on this.

Deathtognomes

Having played several MMOs, EQ1 for 10 years, I seen the change from large to small guilds. Content being the blame mostly, attitudes and tolerance making up the 2nd half of that. Also, the cluster of those humorless schmucks that cant take a joke. Guilds that kick you out for saying the wrong thing, or being too brazen, doesnt help create that good vibe and it creates an overly serious atmosphere. There is no more large scale raiding like EQ1 had, such a disappointment, thanks to childish people that just cant follow simple instructions (Raiding is serious business! Well, back then ;p ). I do miss those days.

I have no desire to go back to any of them. I am looking forward to Pantheon, which I plan to devote 3 months to see how it pans out.

Taranx

I recently poked around for old times sake and was keep interested for the first 20 levels with a new character. I started to research end game as I have a couple of high level toons that I could Heroic click up. After being completely confused and overwhelmed on all the requirements for raiding/grouping gear wise, I put it back on the shelf because I was fighting to get past the graphics by looking for a good game again.

Even progression server talk is disappointing and can't get into the new upcoming PVP server excitement(been there done that)

A decent graphic overhaul and fresh start regular server might initiate another interest to check it out. So more than likely will sit on said shelf as don't see that happening

Theocritus

I went back to EQ2 a couple of years ago when they allowed us to create a level 85 character....My highest before was 71 I think, so I thought it might be fun to see some new content.....I rolled a Magician so I could solo and went on my way......Two days later, I probably did about 10 quests in that area and gained a whopping 8% to next level...The grind was boring and tedious and the quests were not enjoyable at all.....EQ2 was only fun when there was a decent amount of people to do dungeons with, and that was about it...The crafting was fine if there werent any groups, but it just was not a good solo experience, even though it was doable.