|
|
| Author |
Message |
Goraz
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 3736
Location: Philadelphia
|
 Posted: 10/12/04 - 11:40 Post subject: An analysis of EQ2: Where it is & Where its going
|
|
|
First and foremost, do not jump into this game thinking it will be EQlive because ITS NOT. Get over it, now, just forget about EQ Live. If you like EQ Live so f*****g much, stay there and rot.
Ok enough of that, EQ2 has an endless amount of quests, like WoW, you level up fast in the early levels by doing quests. The quests are alot of fun. Very immersive with the VoiceOver NPCs. That is one nice feature I love, the voice over NPCs. There is alot to explore. I got that "exploring new" feeling that I got in EQ Live. It has the same feel that EQ Live did when it first came out.
Combat is well combat. I can only talk about melee since I'm a warrior but its alot of fun with combat moves and stuff. You dont gain skill like you did in EQ Live by using. You have to buy / acquire apprentice scrolls and work your way up to master. I think its apprentice I II III, then adept , then master. all in I , II, III.
Grouping is fun. The only thing that is p*****g me off right now is with mobs are grouped. By this I mean they have mobs grouped where you can't split or can't attack unless you want to fight all 5-15 at time. CAsters and tanks are not the same as EQLive. I dont know much about this becaus I havent grouped alot so I cant say too much about grouping. I hope they will re-write it back to EQ Lives mob method.
Graphics are awesome. Hands down, the water in EQ 2 is the BEST I have EVER seen in a game (yes better than HL2). Performance is fine but I'm running a higher end rig so I can't speak for everyone. I have my settings on high and things are smoothly except for the city I get a little stuttering.
All around, this is a keeper for me. I think i will stick with EQ2 and hopefully by retail, they will have knocked out the bad lag in some zones and memory leaks. I have yet to see any bugged quests though so bugs are not that big in terms of gameplay, its more server side issues i've seen right now.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
 |
selluplatz
Rookie
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Posts: 88
|
|
Posted: 10/12/04 - 13:17 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
thanks for the update, nice to read something actually about gameplay.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kely
Luke Warm
Joined: 23 Oct 2002
Posts: 249
Location: Orlando, FL
|
|
Posted: 10/13/04 - 12:51 Post subject:
|
|
|
I played for the first time last night. I also have a somewhat high end rig. The ground clutter (ie grass, weeds etc) is very nicely done. Watching butterflys fly around was a nice touch. Even simple little things like a bee hive on a tree was nice to see.
Questing is interesting. I'm only level 6. So I have zero clue about the future. I just hit Qeynos from the noob island. did a few quests and logged for the night.
qeynos is a bit laggy. But some of the quests there run to instanced zones which is nice. You don't have to fight too many folks for the same mobs to finish your quest.
Overall it is a pretty interesting game. Graphically nice. Nice music thusfar.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Rennol
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 3741
Location: Charleston, IL
|
|
Posted: 10/13/04 - 16:03 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
HOLY SHIT THE WATER RULES
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Gethy
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 5599
Location: Tallahassee, FL
|
|
Posted: 10/13/04 - 16:11 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
Are you digging this air? This air is awesome.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Jakanden
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Nov 2003
Posts: 5334
Location: Fuck if I know - I am always lost
|
|
Posted: 10/13/04 - 16:30 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
The NDA was just lifted enough to where Sites can talk about gameply up to level 20 (previously it was up to level 10). There are quite a few good jounals out there talking about gameplay from 1-20 =)
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Mugaaz
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 3576
|
|
Posted: 10/14/04 - 22:58 Post subject:
|
|
|
I played EQ2 a good 100 hours around a month ago. Overall It's pretty good. I was dissapointed in some faction, overall it impresses.
The world is really more alive now and every single NPC in the world is either a quest giver, a quest reciever, or a middle man in SOME quest. There is no NPC who adds nothing at all to the game and I think that is really impressive. The quest system is A LOT better and some of the rewards actually matter and impress you, overall though I still wished for a bit more.
The quest journal is still obtuse it lets you know what quests you have but it's not very easy to find one you know you have but dont remember where it's from since they are arranged by zones..... this sounds dumb, but it's true, sometimes youll get a quest from a guy in a newbie zone but the entire quests revolves around things you're supposed to do in commonlands. You'll be in commonlands and you open your quest journal and open up the ones listed under commonlands but there is nothing listed under it. Since so many of the quests cross zones all the journal really does is give you the same power as having a notebook IRL where yer like.. shit what was that again? Let me say that some of the quests really are quite cool and the scripting for quite a few of them is really well done. Oddly enough the DIALOGUE is actually awesome especially when you become a warrior., but I won't ruin it here.
The combat is more of the same. The heroic oppurtunity thing really didn't do much for me. I have to admit I'm really dissapointed with it. I know I'm only basing it on up to lvl 13 but the effects while mildly beneficial don't really add much of anything. The best thing I saw an extra 20-30points DD and mages being able to summon a pet one level higher. There is no real skill involved, the timing is really generous, you only break it by using the WRONG one not doing the right one too slow.
I like the whole concept of "encounters' but holy shit do they overuse it. Even by level 6 you can't attack 85% of the mobs even when you could kill them solo becuase they are artificially linked. They overuse it way to much and instead of adding a nice spiciness it's more of a forced challenge to soloing. Soloing for all they go on about it still blows, it' exactly like EQ1 pre expansions. You can solo but holy shit is it boring, The only bonus is the fact HP and MANA regens 0 to full in under 90 seconds.
The leveling speed is ABYSMAL. ITS SO SLOW. I had almost 3 days played by level 13. And I tried to see how fast I could level for good periods of time. The leveling speed is sooooo bad I mean it doesnt feel like a treadmill, it feels like your scaling a mountain. If you play to gain levels you will quit soon. You have to focus on completing quests and being happy when you get a level or you'll die.
Speaking of dying, I read about it and thought it was carebear.... LOL I WAS f*****g WRONG b***h. Dying sucks ASS. Even at level 10 dying means an extra 30-60 mins to get a level. Now this is kind of ok, the problem is they f*****g PUNISH exploration. If you are in Nektulos (level 25-40 zone) as a newbie and you get creamed exploring you're not getting the body back, and honestly it's not worth it. The problem is you'll leave a soul shard which will more or less remove 15% of all your stats and hp/mana till you recover the body or 48 hours pass. If that happens you can't solo for sure anymore. You need to go leech from a group. The LAMEST thing is that even when you repay the experience you still suffer from spirit loss for the full 48 hours. I explored everywhere I could as a noob, and when you die like that a couple times your character is more or less destroyed. THe repairing items I cant comment on since it seems to free at least for now.
Equipment really p****s me off and this I just find stupid. There is no twinking in this game at all, no powerleveling, etc. All this really does is kill the world for me. The level limits on items are so severe that every item you get is basically a worthless piece of shit. All it is a temporary thing that you have to throw away. I never saw twinking as a problem in EQlive. In fact what the hell is the point of getting an item you can't equip unless it is to put on a twink? The item system is so hard coded that my desire for loot is virtually removed. I dont understand it at all. Who cares if a level 5 is using a level 35 item. The only point is to stop Level 5's from using dragon and god loot. I don't care if a level 10 ranger is strapping a ykeshas and rubicite, that means he is a long time player, has good friends, or just having fun. Only high end items should be kept from an economy.
Overall I don't know what to say. I want to like this game bad. It has everything I want. But it's so slow, it's so slow that it stops being a game. I watched my brother playing WoW and he is constantly somehow "playing a game" EQ2 is still more or less watching yourself kind of play a game. The game, atmosphere, world, graphics,etc is all well done. The combat is the same but differen. Pretty much all you want out of a MMO. However the game is just so slow that it seems obvious it's meant to be something designed to play for the rest of your life lol. And not in the OH MAN I HAVE TO HAVE MORE, but more like Oh man I'm not even close to the end.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Filamil
Rookie
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 81
|
|
Posted: 10/14/04 - 23:22 Post subject:
|
|
|
Opinions differs...
I find the leveling to be too fast personally.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Mugaaz
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 3576
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 01:38 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Filamil wrote: | Opinions differs...
I find the leveling to be too fast personally. |
You're either a masochist or an idiot.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Obmar
RealPoor Sensei
Joined: 22 Oct 2002
Posts: 1934
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 01:46 Post subject:
|
|
|
wasn't some of eq1 masochism though?
i mean we look fondly back on the old school.. and what was it... masochism to some extent sure!
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kaldon
Luke Warm
Joined: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 210
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 04:20 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Mugaaz wrote: | | Filamil wrote: | Opinions differs...
I find the leveling to be too fast personally. |
You're either a masochist or an idiot. |
Levelling is quite fast (and easy) compared to early EQ release. My lv21 templar has 5 days played, which includes a lot of exploration, learning the game, goofing around etc. A number of other people have levelled a *lot* faster and something like 2 days played to lv20 for a second character is not uncommon.
Now, original EQ probably required double or triple the time for this.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Mugaaz
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 3576
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 05:37 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Kaldon wrote: | | Mugaaz wrote: | | Filamil wrote: | Opinions differs...
I find the leveling to be too fast personally. |
You're either a masochist or an idiot. |
Levelling is quite fast (and easy) compared to early EQ release. My lv21 templar has 5 days played, which includes a lot of exploration, learning the game, goofing around etc. A number of other people have levelled a *lot* faster and something like 2 days played to lv20 for a second character is not uncommon.
Now, original EQ probably required double or triple the time for this. |
Not really I played original EQ harder then anyone. The lack of leveling speed had nothing to do with exp. It had to do with people didnt know where to hunt, you had to get binding, there were guards to dodge..etc.
Most importantly no one started grouping till level 30+. I was in a group once in Najena at 15ish, again in befallen at 17. After that there were no groups available short of duoing with zheff,exmortis, or tinee. The first time antonicans grouped was Cazic. The exp was quite fast once it started coming in. I could do 1-2 level a day 25 on no problem.
Let's say I'm totally wrong and you're right. It still doesn't matter. What does spending 10,20.50 hours to gain a level really mean? Nothing it just sucks d**k. People play games to get some type of game on. EQ2 IS SLOW PACED. There is no arguing that. SPEED is not a word anyone ever uses in a descriipion of EQ2. Evem walking and running is slow. SoW isn' even Jboot speed. The game is VERY slow. That's my beef with it. You can watch TV while playing still.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Mugaaz
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 3576
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 05:39 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Obmar wrote: | wasn't some of eq1 masochism though?
i mean we look fondly back on the old school.. and what was it... masochism to some extent sure! |
I don't know, you may in fact be right. But then again there was NOTHING to compare it to. There was no such thing as an MMO. The whole time you were like LOL WHAT IS THIS? It wasnt grinding, people didnt even see it as competitive. I had some guy yell at me that there was no reason to be level 10 yet and that all I was doing was rushing through the game haha.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Filamil
Rookie
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 81
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 07:26 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Mugaaz wrote: | | Let's say I'm totally wrong and you're right. It still doesn't matter. What does spending 10,20.50 hours to gain a level really mean? Nothing it just sucks d**k. People play games to get some type of game on. EQ2 IS SLOW PACED. There is no arguing that. SPEED is not a word anyone ever uses in a descriipion of EQ2. Evem walking and running is slow. SoW isn' even Jboot speed. The game is VERY slow. That's my beef with it. You can watch TV while playing still. |
We're certainly not playing the same game or at least not playing it the same way. You see I don't mind spending 10, 20, or 50 hours on 1 level...not if during those 50 hours I am having, if I am kept busy with quests, or diverse things to do that are not repetitive...
I have 2 characters at level 20+...and neither have grinded at any point ever...I never kill things just for XP...I kill because I have a quest for, or helping a friend with a quest...or because it's in my way to complete a quest. I take my time to explore, do tradeskills, socialize...and I still level so fast that I can complete all my quest at the appropriate level, or see most of the content to my satisfaction while it's still a challenge...
I'll grant you that if all you want out of a game is to hear the "dings" and get to 50 as fast as possible...then yes leveling is slow, and I'll even go as far as to say that EQ 2 sucks if that is all you want out of it...
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Mugaaz
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 3576
|
|
Posted: 10/15/04 - 19:16 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Filamil wrote: | | Mugaaz wrote: | | Let's say I'm totally wrong and you're right. It still doesn't matter. What does spending 10,20.50 hours to gain a level really mean? Nothing it just sucks d**k. People play games to get some type of game on. EQ2 IS SLOW PACED. There is no arguing that. SPEED is not a word anyone ever uses in a descriipion of EQ2. Evem walking and running is slow. SoW isn' even Jboot speed. The game is VERY slow. That's my beef with it. You can watch TV while playing still. |
We're certainly not playing the same game or at least not playing it the same way. You see I don't mind spending 10, 20, or 50 hours on 1 level...not if during those 50 hours I am having, if I am kept busy with quests, or diverse things to do that are not repetitive...
I have 2 characters at level 20+...and neither have grinded at any point ever...I never kill things just for XP...I kill because I have a quest for, or helping a friend with a quest...or because it's in my way to complete a quest. I take my time to explore, do tradeskills, socialize...and I still level so fast that I can complete all my quest at the appropriate level, or see most of the content to my satisfaction while it's still a challenge...
I'll grant you that if all you want out of a game is to hear the "dings" and get to 50 as fast as possible...then yes leveling is slow, and I'll even go as far as to say that EQ 2 sucks if that is all you want out of it... |
maybe you're right, I don't know.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kaldon
Luke Warm
Joined: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 210
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 03:10 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Mugaaz wrote: | | Kaldon wrote: | | Mugaaz wrote: | | Filamil wrote: | Opinions differs...
I find the leveling to be too fast personally. |
You're either a masochist or an idiot. |
Levelling is quite fast (and easy) compared to early EQ release. My lv21 templar has 5 days played, which includes a lot of exploration, learning the game, goofing around etc. A number of other people have levelled a *lot* faster and something like 2 days played to lv20 for a second character is not uncommon.
Now, original EQ probably required double or triple the time for this. |
Not really I played original EQ harder then anyone. The lack of leveling speed had nothing to do with exp. It had to do with people didnt know where to hunt, you had to get binding, there were guards to dodge..etc.
Most importantly no one started grouping till level 30+. I was in a group once in Najena at 15ish, again in befallen at 17. After that there were no groups available short of duoing with zheff,exmortis, or tinee. The first time antonicans grouped was Cazic. The exp was quite fast once it started coming in. I could do 1-2 level a day 25 on no problem.
Let's say I'm totally wrong and you're right. It still doesn't matter. What does spending 10,20.50 hours to gain a level really mean? Nothing it just sucks d**k. People play games to get some type of game on. EQ2 IS SLOW PACED. There is no arguing that. SPEED is not a word anyone ever uses in a descriipion of EQ2. Evem walking and running is slow. SoW isn' even Jboot speed. The game is VERY slow. That's my beef with it. You can watch TV while playing still. |
I think you expected soloing to be profitable up to mid levels in EQ2. It isn't =/ You can solo white and even yellow cons, sure, but it doesn't net you much in exp and rewards. Past lv10 it is all about grouping.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Xieroth
RealPoor Sensei
Joined: 17 Oct 2002
Posts: 1902
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 05:24 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
EQ2 IS NOT EQ1 ... Different games!
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Occulis
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 13293
Location: Moral Relativity Central
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 06:23 Post subject:
|
|
|
Here's a neat review I did not write:
| Quote: |
Recently I managed to pick up a key for an EverQuest II beta account. I didn't particularly like the direction that the game seemingly is going in but f**k, who can say no to a free game?
Before I begin I'd like to state a few things; First of all the game is beta, and by the looks of it, very early beta at that. In other words, everything is subject to change and you shouldn't.
Secondly, betas are no longer beta tests. They're viewed as ‘previews' of upcoming games. No one plays them to test and brutalize them for bugs, they play to get a glimpse of what's to come, to memorize all the flaws and exploitable ways to level so they can be the fastest to level 50, 60, or 65, or whatever. Beta tests are seen as gaming "previews" and even SOE realizes this, which is why in their terms of service they note "SOE reserves the right to charge a fee for Beta Test participation at any moment."
Third for anyone wondering, the system I played this game on was a P4 3.2 Ghz machine with 1 gig of ram running on a Radeon 9800 XT 256 meg card. On this system I was bottlenecking constantly, especially in the Qeynos Harbor. Needless to say, you will likely yield better results if your system has an excess of 1 gig in ram. Framerate was very good on this system but I had turn dynamic shadows down to a bare minimum. In city areas it cripples performance.
The going rumor from an unnamed Canadian friend of mine is that SOE is trying to push the game out in November. After playing the beta I personally I think that is the dumbest move they could possibly make.
Finally, this is basically just a brief overview of my experiences of the FIRST TEN LEVELS. No further than level 10.
With all that said, let the beatings commence.
The first thing you'll notice when you enter the game is that the term "hair helmet" was seemingly created solely for the purpose of describing the characters in this game. There are literally 25-30 possible hair choices for every race/gender and all of them look like complete shit. Furthermore the textures for the hair are roughly as attractive as a shit streak on a pair of mighty whities.
SOE hardly has the greatest track record for making player models that even meet amateur quality standards but these take the cake. It seems as though they poured everything into polygon count without hiring a decent texture artist to make the models look natural. Every time I hear the moronic art director boasting "photo realistic characters" I go through the vomit motions faster than a cheap w***e gagging on a penis.
Any of you remember at about the age of five, you used to flip your eyelids inside out and push up your nose and blow your cheeks up on the glass? Yeah, that's what designing your characters face is like. Everyone has the same face, all you do is distort it and f**k it up, stretching places out, rearranging features, etc. Since the textures are practically non existent it becomes difficult to settle on a facial distortion that you actually like.
One of the things I was really disappointed in was that despite the fact that SOE is hyping their game as trying to be the most immersive MMO ever created, you still can't change your characters voice. This was something I really liked about Neverwinter Nights and given the fact that they're already doing massive amounts of audio dialogue, I don't really see why this would have been a problem.
Once you start to play you'll immediately be forced into a s****y tutorial because apparently SOE thinks that most of their players have never seen a computer or a video game before. As you start to play through the tutorial it will dawn on you that they've managed to create the shittiest user interface EVER! Who knew there could be something worse than the unresizeable blue frame that Verant managed to put out with the original EQ launch?
After about 10 minutes of flipping through your options you'll have finally changed the horrid default settings for the UI to acquire minimal suckability. The inventory and selection still blows but hey, you'll get used to it, and if you don't, sucks for you b***h; Download a different UI.
After completing the tutorial you play around a bit. After 15 minutes you start to realize the game runs like shit, period. Even if you're on a system high enough to run at great FPS, it still chokes constantly because of having to frequently load extremely resource heavy models.
Any of you old EQ players remember when Ruins of Kunark came out and everyone was playing on their Pentium 300 mhz systems and the swaying trees reduced your CPU cycles to laps around a c**t muffin? Well the swaying trees are back baby! Unfortunately now they're the least of your problems.
If you're like me, you like stuff that looks good and (ignoring the groundbreakingly bad characters) the environments (particularly the landscape) look very pretty.
I only cared about the environment, because it looked good. If you're like me then basically you can reduce player model quality to minimum and the game runs much better. As an added bonus, it's not like the characters can look uglier than they already do! So going from high detail models to low detail ones increases your performance with no negative costs!
As you wander around your chosen city (in my case, Qeynos) you'll probably notice that the designers made NO attempt what so ever to make the world feel seamless! You ‘click' teleport your way to different locations by clicking on dock bells, gates, doors, invisible walls, shitwagons, cockboats, etc. To give them credit, this does have an advantage. You can teleport to 3-5 different ‘instances' of the same location, so if one instance of a zone gets crowded you can simply teleport to a different one. However typically crowding isn't a problem if you have enough content to keep everyone happy...
You might have been impressed with the fact that the game uses voice overs for practically all quest NPCs. Don't worry, your satisfaction will fade the instant you start walking by an NPC with a quest you don't want to pick up. See, quest givers like to spout the same audio shit NON STOP in order to get your attention, "Gee if only I had a nice jug of jum-jum!... Gee if only I had a nice jug of jum-jum!... Gee if only I had a nice jug of jum-jum!" On the plus side the voice acting is very good, which as most of you know isn't common in video games. In addition, I assume they'll fix the spamming because if they don't a lot of people are going to be playing with their sound turned off.
Unlike the first EverQuest game which was essentially a non-stop grind with as little questing as possible, EQ2 rewards players who quest with a good amount of experience and usually a worthwhile piece of equipment or some amount of cash. It's unfortunate that it took this long for them to figure out how to make quests worth doing.
Combat in EQ2 is practically identical to EQ1 with only one real noticeable difference. That difference is "heroic opportunity." Heroic Opportunity is essentially an amusing way of saying "combo system." Similar to calling letterbox, "cinematic widescreen view." It's exceedingly simple. You press a button, a "heroic opportunity" UI piece pops up, the button you need to press next starts flashing. When it flashes, can you guess what you have to do? That's right! You PRESS it! This circle continues until you complete the cycle which will usually unleash some beefy attack.
It's really complicated, I know. But if Heroic Opportunities are baffling your mind, you better get a grasp on it because most group encounters are a pain in the ass without it.
One of the things that really p****d me off was player death. When you die in EQ you don't lose your loot or have to run back to your body naked. You're resurrected at a spot of your choosing within the zone (you just have to guess which one is closest...) When you die you don't lose exp. You gain "Experience Debt." Experience Debt is the same thing as EXP loss except with a slightly more positive spin on the name. On the bright side there is a waypoint system to your corpse (which, unlike asking guards where NPCs are, this waypoint usually works), so you can pretty much always find your way back with ease.
I mentioned group encounters a paragraph ago. Basically the games monsters are divided into two types (similar to World of Warcraft! Imagine that!) Those two types are "solo" monsters, and "group" monsters. Group monsters, as expected, are significantly more difficult than solo monsters and as such, yield much higher experience. Personally I just solo'd low level "group" monsters rather than sticking to the low xp solo content, but hey, it's there... for whatever it's worth.
The game basically has instanced housing. You start off by renting a "room" in an inn. As with the rest of the game, you click-teleport to your room via the only door in the Inn. Housing has an initial cost followed by weekly upkeep costs. Rooms in Inns are cheap, houses are more expensive, and Keeps... Well I haven't seen a Keep yet. You can furnish your place by buying crap from local vendors.
The great thing about player housing in MMOs is that it seems like a great idea at first but as soon as you get into it; it quickly becomes astoundingly uninteresting after about 10 minutes.
Once you get to level 9 you'll start getting quests which will give you information about the classes you can become. In my case, I was shown the various melee classes. I chose to become a monk (which, apparently are now called "brawlers") – In order to become a "brawler" (that's a monk, you dumbasses) you have to complete your initiation to the class. For me this entailed going to a dojo and beating the hell out of 4 of the disciples.
After completing your initiation quest and attaining level 10, your class will be assigned to you. In my case, I'm now a monk... err... brawler.
After the first 6 levels I was dying to stop playing. Even when the World of Warcraft beta servers went down I would sit on the internet browsing porn and hammering the WoW login rather than play EQ2 beta. I found the game to be wildly uninteresting and very annoying to play.
I kept playing anyway, because when I bashed it people said I "didn't give it a chance." And really they were right; I didn't really give it a chance. I expected it to hold my interest for the first 10 levels, and it didn't, so I basically had given up on it.
In my defense though, I've played pretty much every major MMO that's been released since 1999. EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, Knight Online, Lineage II, Asheron's Call 1 and 2, and now World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2. Every one of those games except EQ2 held my interest for the first 10 levels, most of them held my interest for more than 30 levels. Hell I bet if I played Star Wars Galaxies it would still be interesting for more than 10 levels. EQ2 is the only game where when I hit level 6 I felt I was having as much fun as having **** with a cactus.
Overall, that's the summary of my first 10 levels and impressions I got from the game. In general the game is largely unfinished and I pray to god that the UI is a placeholder for something that sucks less. If they wanted to make the game more newb friendly they should spend less time making ridiculously drawn out tutorial missions and focus more on shaping up their complicated, s****y UI.
As mentioned before, the terrain and generally the architecture as well all look fantastic. Unfortunately the effect is offset by the traditional SOE "My Eyes Are Bleeding" Player models. If they trashed the current player models in favor of some more texture detailed and anatomically correct ones then they would have a game that looked great; Rather than one that tries to look great and fails horribly.
All in all, the game has potential, I just fear that SOE won't be able to utilize it and instead will push it out without fixing obvious flaws in fear of losing revenue.
|
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kaldon
Luke Warm
Joined: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 210
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 06:56 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
One of the things i like about EQ2 is that apparently it repels whiners and fanboi f**s. Great community so far in Beta.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Occulis
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 13293
Location: Moral Relativity Central
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 06:57 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
You mean attracts?
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kaldon
Luke Warm
Joined: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 210
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 08:38 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Occulis wrote: | | You mean attracts? |
No, i mean repel. The kind of self-hating, easily-swayed lemmings that infest internet gaming. The less of them in EQ2, the better.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Maelstrom
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 4072
Location: Montréal
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 09:08 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
So if you get an exp debt in EQ2 it means that you cannot lose your level?
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Occulis
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 13293
Location: Moral Relativity Central
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 14:11 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Kaldon wrote: | | Occulis wrote: | | You mean attracts? |
No, i mean repel. The kind of self-hating, easily-swayed lemmings that infest internet gaming. The less of them in EQ2, the better. |
lol
Taking it a bit far, aren't ya? Don't be so personally offended. You'll realize the game sucks, too. Then we'll all get along.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Cellen
Luke Warm
Joined: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 234
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 15:15 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Maelstrom wrote: | | So if you get an exp debt in EQ2 it means that you cannot lose your level? |
Pretty sure I went from level 4 to level 3 by dying twice and having no idea how to find my corpses. Then I /ooc'd "how do I find my corpse in this terrible game?" and I was told to use the waypoint system, which is basically the same system as the EQ "find" command, drawing a "mystical line" to your target. It's better than nothing but its pathing suggestion is terrible. Marking your target on your compass would be far more effective. I expect them to ripoff WoW's map-marking system sooner or later.
Very immersive:
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Xieroth
RealPoor Sensei
Joined: 17 Oct 2002
Posts: 1902
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 15:38 Post subject:
|
|
|
|
It's too bad WoW's system is based of a game that came out way before WoW was even a pipe dream. /wave AC.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Grizmaster
Banned Scammer
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 377
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 15:41 Post subject:
|
|
|
Grrrr, I want in beta BAD 
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Cellen
Luke Warm
Joined: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 234
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 15:52 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Xieroth wrote: | | It's too bad WoW's system is based of a game that came out way before WoW was even a pipe dream. /wave AC. |
WoW's system isn't great because of who invented it, it's great because it's logical and makes the game much less annoying. In terms of blatant idea thievery, I think this may take the cake.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kurel
RealPoor Sensei
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 1877
Location: Cali
|
|
Posted: 10/16/04 - 21:21 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Cellen wrote: | | Xieroth wrote: | | It's too bad WoW's system is based of a game that came out way before WoW was even a pipe dream. /wave AC. |
WoW's system isn't great because of who invented it, it's great because it's logical and makes the game much less annoying. In terms of blatant idea thievery, I think this may take the cake. |
Owned.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Xieroth
RealPoor Sensei
Joined: 17 Oct 2002
Posts: 1902
|
|
Posted: 10/17/04 - 00:29 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Cellen wrote: | | I expect them to ripoff WoW's map-marking system sooner or later. |
Ok so...
| Xieroth wrote: |
It's too bad WoW's system is based of a game that came out way before WoW was even a pipe dream. /wave AC.
|
And you reply:
| Cellen wrote: |
WoW's system isn't great because of who invented it, it's great because it's logical and makes the game much less annoying. In terms of blatant idea thievery, I think this may take the cake. |
Huh?
I agree.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
Kaldon
Luke Warm
Joined: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 210
|
|
Posted: 10/17/04 - 08:43 Post subject:
|
|
|
| Maelstrom wrote: | | So if you get an exp debt in EQ2 it means that you cannot lose your level? |
You cannot lose your level in EQ2, the exp penalty is applied to your future experience (one death is 5% lv exp extra atm you have to work out, around 10% if you don't recover your shard), not to the one you already have. There is also the group exp debt rule, if one member of your group dies, you get a small exp debt too, which can quickly add up if there are multiple group wipes. Makes people be on their toes and watch out for other group members.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
