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Still a lonely journey?
kristov
Member Posts: 19
in Everquest II
Did this game ever go back and make the leveling faster or make soloing stuff easier? (much like WOW did to great success)
I tried this game a year ago and found it just to be too slow grindy and boring all by myself in the woods.
Just wondering if they have spent any time addressing this to make it worth going back again.
Comments
Yes, and, no. It depends o where you start out. If you choose either Qeynos or Freeport, then at low levels it's the same old grind. If you choose Neriak, Gorowyn, or Kelethin, then it is vastly improved. I started in Gorowyn, and solo'd up through lvl 35 before I hit areas that I needed help with. In Neriak I went to lvl 25 before I got sidetracked by my guild. Kelethin should be the same way, but again I hit lvl 15 or so and get pulled off to other areas.
I played a few years ago and went to lvl 51 in about 4 months. Now I hit lvl 65 in the same time, and higher lvls are much better then they once were. So much content has been added that it's easy to miss entire zones. It does become difficult to solo again around lvl 65, but I'm a mushy warlock and still soloing fairly well at 75.
i could be wrong here,but from what i saw yet(lvl 13)its not has grindy has wow even when wow speeded up lvling i played 3 year wow .but what i saw theres a lot of mini game style thing ,like proffession it will take way longer then wow but its not grind
its actually a mini game .wow you could let it prof by it self almost lol it was mindless ,in eq2 you have to think from multitude of mat to the choise you need to make while crafting
if your a powerleveller,you ll hate this game if for you a good game is take 48 hour from end to end you ll wont like it ,from what i read it take close to a month to power level to max level 80 .i could be wrong because the stuff i read i old post
hell nobody has posted xfire video since 2008 on xfire and very bad quality at that
for me after wow , i found this game fun ,very involved i some stuff very friendly player ,i like in game chat thing ,in the guild we chat etc.its cool.but this game in my view isnt for kids ,it take patience i never a spoke to kid in this game yet ,lot of adult tho
slow paced the bear on one side mouse on the other ,chitchatting away,for my self i love this game
Yes it is.
But to the OP: Levling up to 60 is really fast now.Particulary if you get one of these buddy invites, the XP bonus when you work together is amazing.
I helped a friend get from lvl 12 to 25 yesterday, took one hour or so and we could have done it faster. Of course then I mentor him with a high level char but even if you solo it is a lot faster now then before.
Still, the game is harder then Wow. And soloing is not EQ2s strongest point, it is group play that is the most fun and rewarding. Join a guild instead of being lonely and you will have a great time.
I have been in groups or raids every single time I had truly fun
I know everyone has a different experience in all games but ill tell you about mine.
I joined a guild in 2004 and im still in the same guild. The people are just insanely helpful. I get boost whenever i ask for it. OFC i do the same thing back to these people.
AND, soloing is fast if you want to reach high levels fast. I did a brigand and got it to 72 in a week. Ofc, im a jobless bum only good for recycling beer cans and eating crap food :P
yes it fairly fast the part i saw a least i leveled to 13 in like 5 hour (ya im slow )
i like to read the lore etc,was always in a hurry in wow now i WANTto enjoy content in this game
I hear ya, the amount of content is just huge. There is really no point in rushing up to 80. Take the time, do some mining, collect shinies.
hell you can say that again ,i dont know for the rest,but if this game is as deep as the proffession in it,i ll have fun a long while
at least till cataclysm
I've actually gone back to EQ2 a couple of times over the years.
I love the game for its depth but it has faults.
The game is very heavy group based at top end. You can solo very quickly to level cap (imo) and the crafting system is pretty fun. Theres a ton to do with the AA's and collections etc that will keep you engaged.
The main issues I had with it was .. EQ2 is not a growing game. The guilds in place are pretty static and well established and newcommers will have a hard time breaking into them. Basically what I'm saying is that as far as solo and group content goes you wont really have a problem. Much of the stuff I wanted to do though was raid based. Even old raids (T6 and T7) for Heratige quests etc (Claymore line anyone?) are tuff and cant really be done without at least half a raid (more for the T7 EoF raids)
It basically means that all that "old content" is closed off to you. I played for about 7 mos and never could get my claymore line finished (Lab raids) b/c the guild I was in was busy running T8 content. Never seen more than a few peaks of T7 raiding too. Guilds like I said are established so trying to get a raid spot was near impossible (I fell in with a good guild that took pitty on me and my fury / Zerker and occasionally threw me a T7 raid spot - I only ever saw 1 T8 raid and bare in mind i joined the game after RoK)
Thats what I mean by the game is not growing. There are not enough new people that are instersted in seeing the "older" content. So alot of the game will be closed for you unless you can beg your guild to run an older raid for you (unlikly) The guilds that are raiding T8 are unlikly to be looking for many more people (although you can increase your odds by playing specific classes - Templar, Trubie, Illusionist, etc) Pretty much some classes (Guardian) will have a very hard time getting a raid spot.
That was just my experiance. Pretty much if your willing to play and ignore raiding you'll have alot of fun in the game. If your a die hard raider like me .. breaking into an established game this far down the line is near impossible unfortunatly.
Best advice would be to look for a "newer" guild and hope to get in on the "ground floor" as it were. Unfortauntly there just aint many new guilds around in EQ2 (not a growing pop as I said)
I am thinking about trying EQ2 again actually, with a few friends. At least there will be four or five us us to make a core group and we'll be able to do the new shard armor's when we finally hit level cap ... things like class epic's that require VP raids for the updated versions? Doubtful we'll ever see them lol.
mm theres something going on in this game ,a hidden game i could call it
like guild very few invite i heard some are affraid of being spyed on by other = guild whats the deal here
i might have put it in wrong word,but it feels like a big competition.
i m new and some said to me why i left my max level and reroll just to spy on their guild
i was like!
WHAT
it was so hilarious lol
gamer are very friendly and helpfull
but there a undercurrent thing going ,i dont know about yet since im omly lvl 13 took me a while to choose a class lol
too many of them
i chose gnome warden evil side
There i always some assholes in every game. Doesn't really matter what you go for.
At least in single player games there is always only one asshole around
Anyway, in general i have had a good experience in eq2 if i compare to other games i have played/play. VP updates and such can always be taken care of imho. Just ask around is my advice. And i dont know about group heavy really. Of course, it depends on what you compare it with.
I'll agree with the mention that some of the guilids are hard to get into. Try the game out for awhile without joining a guild, that's my advice. The reason is, do you really know what kind of guild you want to be in? I've seen so many that are all about raiding. You have to be at 75-80% of the raids or they'll kick you out. That doesn't work for a new toon and new player. There are guilds out there that are about helping and grouping for quests and fun, not just for raids. Picking a guild can be important, but ask around before jumping into one. Find out what they are really about first. It is still very easy to find people looking to group without being in a guild.
This is in line with the reasons why every time I think I'd like to give EQ2 another try and see how it is now, I end up shying away...
I've tried EQ2 several times now... once at the initial launch and then at least once for each expansion, up to Rise of Kunark. I've played on Nektulos and AB primarily..
In my experiences, the people I've talked to have invariably fallen into 1 of 3 categories:
1. High level and have no interest in anything outside of end-game raid content
2. Leveling a new character, but are racing through it as fast as possible - being mentored by higher level guildies - to get it to end-game; no interest in playing through the low level content at a "normal" pace. Typically they're doing this to fill a needed role in a raid group.
3. People who prefer soloing and have no interest in grouping at all. They only group when they need to and then go solo again.
Now, I'm one of those types for whom this genre overall seems to be less and less intended as time goes on... I *enjoy* the social aspects of MMOs. I enjoy grouping - I don't see it as a "chore" or that I'm being "forced into it" as many others do. And, finally, to me MMOs are not "all about the end game", and it's not a race for me to get there as fast as possible. If it takes me a year to get to level cap, that's fine.. As long as I'm enjoying myself along the way and getting to experience all I want to, I don't care how long it takes.
While EQ2 itself may well provide content to satisfy my playstyle... it lacks an adequate population of players who share my play style; or has when I've tried it before. So, I find myself kicking around, solo, on a character for a while. I have no way to do a number of interesting-sounding encounters at my level range because, as has been noted, everyone's leveled way past that and has no interest in doing it again.
So... I end up getting bored and un-subbing.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
may I ask which guild and what server? Also is the new expansion any good?
This is in line with the reasons why every time I think I'd like to give EQ2 another try and see how it is now, I end up shying away...
I've tried EQ2 several times now... once at the initial launch and then at least once for each expansion, up to Rise of Kunark. I've played on Nektulos and AB primarily..
In my experiences, the people I've talked to have invariably fallen into 1 of 3 categories:
1. High level and have no interest in anything outside of end-game raid content
2. Leveling a new character, but are racing through it as fast as possible - being mentored by higher level guildies - to get it to end-game; no interest in playing through the low level content at a "normal" pace. Typically they're doing this to fill a needed role in a raid group.
3. People who prefer soloing and have no interest in grouping at all. They only group when they need to and then go solo again.
Now, I'm one of those types for whom this genre overall seems to be less and less intended as time goes on... I *enjoy* the social aspects of MMOs. I enjoy grouping - I don't see it as a "chore" or that I'm being "forced into it" as many others do. And, finally, to me MMOs are not "all about the end game", and it's not a race for me to get there as fast as possible. If it takes me a year to get to level cap, that's fine.. As long as I'm enjoying myself along the way and getting to experience all I want to, I don't care how long it takes.
While EQ2 itself may well provide content to satisfy my playstyle... it lacks an adequate population of players who share my play style; or has when I've tried it before. So, I find myself kicking around, solo, on a character for a while. I have no way to do a number of interesting-sounding encounters at my level range because, as has been noted, everyone's leveled way past that and has no interest in doing it again.
So... I end up getting bored and un-subbing.
I would definitely have to agree with you wsimike for the most part about eq2. I really like the game it's the best pure pve game on the market imo. I have played off and on for several years rerolling on several different servers with the same results that you have pointed out in your post. I ended up inheriting the last guild that I got into after it's leadership imploded after an argument over some dungeon runs. I abandoned eq2 for quite a while but came back and tried to get the guild going again with the idea of setting it up along the lines that you mention and after begging for months have never gotten a single person who wanted to partner with me to level up the guild and actually play the game. Not just power level to get on the raiding treadmill or to have a closed loop of snobs who won't play with anyone they either don't know personally or who doesn't fit their version of how the game should be played.
Although eq2's community is pretty mature most seem to have tunnel vision . I hear over and over again "I only group with guildies" which means for most the same handful of people that you have been playing with for last 5 years or are just totally obsessed with "raid raid raid" they don't see anything else. The quests and such are just a means to an end to get that shiny. Most "active" guilds won't even let you in if you don't adhere exactly to their vision of the game and I know a bunch who won't let you in unless they know you personally. That's fine you are paying your sub you can play how you want and run your guild how you want but then don't whine how the population keeps dwindling as very few people that I have ever met in game are very new player friendly despite pretending to be so if asked. Sure they may answer a question or help with a quest if you are in the same zone they are at the time but beyond that it's back to the tunnel vision and the real new player is left out to dry again.
I am currently finishing up a stint in age of conan and will be going back to eq2 towards the end of this month to finally level up my main to 80 currently being level 65 and I will for the last time try and find some people who would like to partner with me to have a guild which is actually interested in the game content and story at all levels not just end game raiding and open to anyone who feels the same.
I have similat issues like the last people posting in this thread, I love EQ2 and i think it is a great game probably the best PVE game at the moment. BUT when you reach high 70s there is nothing to do as a casual gamer, you can soloquest 2 to 80 if you like (boring if you like to group), few does the RoK dungeons except for quest lines and fabled updates, you will not get a shard group if you are not 80 and when you are 80 you will not get a shard group because you are new and no one has patience with someone that lacks knowledge of the shard zones and their scripts (and do try to join a PUG shard group and say "I do not know this zone" and you will be amazed of how the other group members has a family emergency or is needed by their guild and has to leave). Also in many guilds people are used to fast and efficient shard runs and do not invite guildies along that lack the needed skills, they may leave it open for you in the end though.
As other said the raid content is also unavailable to you as "no one does t7 raids anymore the loot is not good enough" and you will not get a spot on the t8 raids as you:
A Do not have good enough gear (and t2 shard is not good enough for a lot of stuff nowadays)
B Do not have the needed skills to raid T8 (and you will ge the skills by doing T7 raids that . . . . )
I have run a duo from level 1 to 78 with my wife as a zerker mystic team and always been able to get a group organized and hit a dungeon and have fun, now at 78 that option is gone. We are looking at a lot of content that is unavailable to us for all sorts of reasons, several of them never intended by SOE. Also the current trend of "I do not group with people that does not have t2 and their mythical' does not help either.
There are still guilds out there that does things for casual players who are approaching 80 and we are currently looking for one but be clear what your goals in game are, and be observant what your guild will do when the time comes for you to try for those goals. Most guilds move with the expectations and goals of the majority playerbase and as fewer and fewer new players get to 80 those new players have an increasingly harder time to reach their goals.
Plays on AB server
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
Finding a guild compatible with your interests makes all the difference in EQ2. For the poster who wanted to raid all the tiers as they leveled, yeah might be more difficult to find guilds that regularly do that. Usually, you see these lower tier raids formed in chat channels, rather than in raiding guilds. But if you want to experience group content in all tiers, there are tons of casual guilds that would be happy to group with you.
Sometimes, it's more a matter of being proactive and taking some initiative. If someone is quiet in guild and off doing their own thing, there might be an assumption that's how they prefer to play. Ask in guild chat if someone might have an interest in grouping up later for a dungeon crawl, or post on their forums to see about getting some folks together. Put forth some effort and you might be surprised at the response.
And maybe try spending some time on a couple different servers to see what's out there. I play on Lucan D'Lere, and they have many great guilds to experience all levels of content with.