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EverQuest II: Why EQII? Character and Quests
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com EverQuest II expert Phil James writes this look at EverQuest II and some of the reasons that people who may have missed the game might want to try it out. Today, he focuses on some of the character and quest elements.
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It isn't news that there is an abundance of MMOs. To some people this isn't an issue; they are still playing their favorite, possibly the only one they've ever played and have no intention of switching. Some people bed-hop, working their way through dozens of the games on offer but never find a permanent home. There are others, and I fall in this category, who spend most of their time in one or two main games, but are always trying out different ones. I'm a sucker for trying out a new release or even an old game I've heard a lot about - I've worked my way through the free month of so many different titles. I would love to get around to playing them all, but it's just not possible and there are some great games, with so much to offer, that just slip through the net.
I imagine that there are many players like me, who love to play most MMOs, but somehow Everquest II has passed them by. Or maybe you have been playing a single MMO for years and have tapped it out and would like to see what else is out there. In any case it's, you might be interested to know, what sets apart one MMO from another before trying them out.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
The only thing EQ2 managed to do when it was created was start a trend among developers in how to clone quests and take shortcuts in design just to make a cheap buck. All spellcasters, no matter the class, use the same animations and every quest is a variation of the same 'ol "Kill X creatures for Y reward". The same cloned animations apply among the melee classes as well by the way.
That boring formula has chased off any intelligent gamers and the only ones left are a pack of elitists who spend their time farming and mocking any newcomers asking questions in general chat. Not to mention if you happen to try a pvp server, those same elitist farmers have insane twink alts that camp the newbie zones, killing all new players repeatably until they get bored.
So um, yah, great game to try out if you don't mind wasting your money.
Nice article. Everquest 2 got my eyes as did Vanguard
I want to play both, they got unique feel and are somehow different from the other MMOs.
(The only problem is that my debit card isnt accepted from SOE ....tragedy
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On these boards, I often hear folks refer to "intelligent gamers." What exactly is that?
Vanguard is just a cheap imitation of EQ2 with a different skin to sucker more money out of gamers. Like my earlier post, EQ2 isn't exactly the best game to imitate either.
Intelligence is defined as general cognitive problem-solving skills. A mental ability involved in reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, calculating, learning quickly… etc.
A Gamer is a devoted player of electronic games, especially on machines especially designed for such games and, in a more recent trend, over the Internet.
That being said, I believe the combination of the two terms would be someone involved in games, always striving to use their mental ability to the fullest in learning the game quickly and achieving the best ability with the best results. Someone who accepts a dull game without any real challenges to that gamer's potential, is not an intelligent gamer I believe.
http://www.brainmetrix.com/intelligence.htm
http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/gamer
Personally, I liked the article. It definitely reminded me of why I enjoyed EQ2 when I did, but then there's the negatives...
Totally dead cities, as well as most of the world. Given how spread out the population is amongst the vast world of EQ2, it's rare to bump into other folks. Instanced guild halls and player housing, as well as an extremely top-heavy population makes this far worse.
Poor performance for the graphical quality. I actually got used to the game after a bit, and enjoyed it for what it was. Then, on a brief break from the game, played something else and was nearly disgusted by EQ2's graphics all over again. For how poorly it performs (and I ran it with pretty high settings, with vysnc holding my FPS at/near 60 in most places/cases) you certainly don't get a payoff in beautiful/stunning graphics.
Article points at character customization as being great in EQ2 - and it is. Sadly, once you start wearing armor the majority of that goes to waste. Worse still is that, in spite of having a ground-breakingly awesome system with appearance gear, you're still just going to be wearing re-painted variations of the exact same thing. The look of gear in that game still makes me cringe just to think about.
You're giving your money to $OE. Seemingly paving the way for subscription + micro-transaction cash shops, $OE isn't worth paying per month. Some of the best looking appearance gear in the game isn't able to be earned from the game itself, but instead bought with cash. Same for housing items that look amazing. You can say it doesn't impact gameplay, but isn't that a pretty massive part of EQ2? Appearance and housing? Not to mention some of the potions you can buy there, or the card game, which is really just an extension by which people get even more game items that have monetary value.
Community. Mixed bag here, because some will call them mature, and others will call them elitists. I call them both. Mature once you're in, but elitist until then. Mostly I think they're gamers completely fed up with folks not willing to help themselves before crying for help, which I can certainly relate to. That said, region chats were just as full of conversations about other games as any I've been in, with a particular hatred for WoW (albeit well-deserved, if you hate the game so much, take it to your room and f*** it, but quit talking about it). Fortunately, at least, most trolls merely got ignored in my experience, so they'd get bored and move on. Bottom line for me; the whole thing somehow left a bad taste. I didn't particularly enjoy or hate the EQ2 community, but I wouldn't want to be around it again.
Crafting. Yup, crafting. Granted it's better than pressing a button and magically creating whatever item you sought to create, but it's as tedious - if not more so - than any other system. Gathering materials I never did mind. Nor did I mind the recipe system. What I hated, at a point, was pressing 1-5-6, 1-5-6, 5-1-6, 6-1-5, 1-5-6, 1-5-6 ad naseum for hours on end to grind up a few levels in crafting. It becomes so monotonous and routine that I would sit and watch TV while repeating the cycle above, without the variation, and still successfully create item after item without fail, just for the skill. It's a novel approach, and while initially fun, falls to extreme repetition after a time. It didn't make me somehow feel more accomplished or a "better" crafter for having leveled through its system than Joe Bob over yonder who makes the same stuff. Stale as any other after a while.
In all, I actually really enjoyed my time in EQ2, in spite of my list of why-nots. That said, the above is why I wouldn't bother to return, personally, after having played the game. The most glaring issues to me, of course, being the graphical look of the game vs. its performance, and the poor look of armor you may spend a rather huge amount of time to earn. Woo-hoo! I just spent 12 hours on this quest to get Item of Ultimate Awesome! Oh wait, it looks exactly like the thing I had at level 5, except re-colered. It's also sad when you choose a race based on its innate abilities for the class you prefer to play, then end up using illusions to look like a totally different race for 99.9% of your game-time (I was an erudite coercer, but played as a ratonga with illusions for the vast, vast majority of my time), and even still end up hating the options because of just how bad the game just looks. Again, though, I will compliment EQ2 for those options. Illusions that make you look like another race; appearance armors; variety of mounts; items that change your size, or add a graphical effect to your toon - all stuff that's really unique and stands out to EQ2, and were really nice, albeit sadly unsatisfying in the end.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Get used to a build in EQ2 and they change the game. happened twice to me so i will never play again.
the first time, they took my class out of the game completely.
That's a pretty accurate description. EQ2 is a great idea on paper, lots of choices.. In the beginning. The story quest lines for the areas (there's always one and it's ALWAYS the same) are entertaining.
But the lack of real growth, the odd gear dependency, being locked in to battles, the cramped map design, the fact that there's all of those classes but essientially your ROGUE plays almost the same as your WARLOCK in actual game play. What do I mean? Assassins have spam attacks that cause damage and some that reduce hate with a stun and a debuff here and there. Oh and his own buffs that have to be spammed to help you normally stab something. Take all of that, and just put in WARLOCK and you're golden.
It's a colorful game, has some good storytelling here and there. It has a lot of bad design choices and I heard a few of the maps are getting revamped, but it's like 4 years too late.
Try it, love it with one character, and know you WILL move on. There's a reason why EQ2 is where it is. Note it was OUT before WoW and a lot of other games and had a TON of press behind it. Better games came along, it wasn't some hidden gem.
I kill other players because they're smarter than AI, sometimes.
I just resubbed but I don't know. Vanguard is a better game on a fraction of the budget. Then I think about how great Vanguard could have been and I get mad at SOE for keeping it under the rug while they prop up their beloved Eq2. EQ2 seems like and ok game but it feels just like that - a game.
I dont get the same feeling as I did traversing the old zones and I feel really boxed in.
I've tried to like this one several times over the last few years but I struggle to find anything today that compells me to jump on the button mashing treadmill.
Isn't that what you trying to do? make your post superior??
oh and please tell us what kinda game are you playing?
because it sounds like you found something we all dying to play but unfortunately stuck with all those MMO's with quests....
i always think of Vanguard as the game that EQ2 should have been, particularly the classes, then there is the issue with all the expansions you have to buy if you want to play EQ2, it just seems like a bad deal. and a holdover from EQ1 days when expansions actually meant something other than additional income... my biggest problem with the game though, was the lack of grouping, i dont know whether its because it was the wrong server, or the wrong time, or just that it was because it was new/low level char's, but, having to try and do things solo because you can't get enough people to form groups with, makes for very boring gameplay, even getting into a guild was dissapointing as they didnt seem interested in helping out with quests. sometimes even commuicating seemed too much effort! Its been over 5 months now since i last subbed to the game. as far as EQ2 is concerned, i doubt i ever will again, although Vanguard.. is a possibility, perhaps the community there will be more inclusive, than exclusive!
Honestly i dont see EQ2 and VG to be the same with different skin. The two games for me are quite different. The feeling while playing them is different. But everyone has its own taste so gl hf in any game
thats what matters most FUN 
Like the author, I am the type to play one game for a long time while trying out tons of other games. EQ2 didn't slip by me, though, because it is where a lot of my former guild and alliance mates went after EQ (of after CoH, for those who went to that game between EQ and EQ2). My opinion of the game has changed over time. I would recommend checking it out now, though I wouldn't have made that recommendation the first time I tried it.
I know that this might be taken as being stereotypically female of me, but I do like the character customization in EQ2. If you're a dark elf, for instance, you can be any color from black-black to a light blue or purple. I liked tweaking my characters until I was happy with their looks.
I am really not all that fond of quest-driven gameplay, but I think it works ok in EQ2. Heritage Quests were the best of the lot, IMO.
The newer cities and starting areas are so much better than the island and Qeynos/Freeport that I enjoyed going back a couple of times and playing new characters.. The first time I played EQ2, I hated all the zoning involved in getting around Qeynos. It wasn't a total dealbreaker, but it was close.
All this talk about EQ2 vs VG just makes me want to try Vanguard. It's on my list to try after I get my new computer assembled. (Waiting on parts from the guy who is hooking me up with decently new used components. In retrospect, I should have ordered from NewEgg.)
I am still playing EQ2, and I try almost every mmo that comes out, but EQ2 is still my favorite I think the mature community and amont of content really sets it apart. Also the commen goals of your guild, so everything is not just about you as some mmo's. I also love how it rewards you with bounes xp for caping more then one player class and crafting class.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
After the big change EQ2 made right after its launch I thought the game was awesome. I loved the Splitpaw Saga. After some elitist raiders starting whining that the expansion was too fun(after they got their use out of it of course), SOE for some reason went against what most of us wanted and nerfed it(is that a surprise?). Their next adventure pack was a dud, and not inconsequently their last. Also there was the huge nerf of LU42 if I remember correctly. The one that nerfed crafting into oblivion, and basically made most stats worthless(just like EQ!!). EQ2 is a shell of where it was headed. Ruined by the same crowd that ruined EQ; raider aka loot whores.
No clue why EQ2 changed direction, but I bet it has less subscribers now than before they went and nerfed everything to make the raiders feel more powerful.
SOE's blunders with the content of the game pale in comparison to how bad the engine is and how horrible it runs.
EQ2 is a great game, with loads of content, great lore, awesome dungeons. It just runs like absolute crap. You might be able to get it running smooth with no AA, no shadows, low resolution... but WTF?? To get the game to run decent it will look like crap and in 2010 that just doesn't cut it.
EQ2 is the best game out there hands down.
The original crafting system was a lot more time consuming to create anything. You started with a lot of ingredients which you combined into various parts which you combined into a finished product. The end result is that there weren't that many crafters. For those who put in the time, the monetary rewards were nice. Now it's become so easy to craft something the market is flooded with so much product that it's better to sell to an NPC than to bother with the broker, which has fairly killed any reason to do crafting.
With every update they have simplified the game and made it easier to play, which has killed any challenge. I remember when you really had to be careful if you were going to wander around solo. Now it's kind of hard to get killed and if you do, so what, there are no penalties. All of this equals "BOREDOM". There is no longer any sense of accomplishment when you complete any of the quests. You show up and you win, no child left behind. Yawn.
Now don't call me an elitist, because for the most part I suck at most video games. I have to set them to the easy setting to have any chance of winning, and as for PvP, well it's just kind of sad. So when I say a game has become too easy, I think that's saying something.
Really? Took your class out of the game completely? Because I have played EQ2 since beta and they have never removed a class to my knowledge. Changed them, yes, but removed completely? Don't think so.
And to the person who mentioned that it came out before WoW - sure did. A whole month before. ::insert eyerolling here::
EQ2 is not for everyone, but I have played (and still play) most of the MMOs out there (well, ok, never EvE Online), and it is still one of the best.
I dont think he is referring to a class being removed... I think he is reffering to the changing of the classes and skill/spells so much that it is a redesign of the class itself making it no fun to play at all.
@Czanrei
"Someone who accepts a dull game without any real challenges to that gamer's potential, is not an intelligent gamer I believe."
I think you are wrong here. The psychologist John WIlliam Atkinson found out that people enjoy facing challenges and risks independently on their potential skill. In German this is called the "Risiko-Wahl-Modell"(literally translated: Risk-Taking-Model). I hope I do not mix up something. You better look it up on the internet if you want to be sure.
With reference to your post that would mean that some people like the thrill of possibly failing (=a really challenging mmorpg) and others just prefer it if the risk of losing is very low. (=a not so challenging, easy mmorpg)
I hope I did not tell bullshit here because I did not look it up and only remember this from my studies (social science and history teacher). So I am not an expert for this topic
Vanguard is much more in depth than EQ2 will ever be, it just has no budget and practically no devs, if polished it would be a wonderful MMO.