Should I start playing again and why?

[Jaycen]

Hey all. I'm looking for highlights that have happened in the game while I have been gone. I stopped playing around April '06 and I have a lvl 47 wiz and a 40 warden. I took a break for awhile I've been playing vanguard since it came out.  Getting kinda bored with the lack of player base on my server though. Anyhoo... I have Desert of Flames and Kingdom of  Sky from before I stopped playing. Echoes of Faydwer looks like it might be a good one to get to get me reacquainted with the game again.  Being away so long it feels like a totally new game. What major has happened, good or bad, since a year ago? Any crazy things like the CU that happened to SWG? I haven't kept up on any of the lore or updates so I'm hoping to get some info on what you guys like or dislike about the game as it stands. Thanks! And yes, I did read the "What's New in Norrath" thread or whatever. Just wanted to get player's opinion and not just what SOE is highlighting.

[xguild]

<p>Well I just came back myself about a week ago but I quit long before any of the expansions, in fact if I remember right I quit about 3-4 months after release.</p><p> The primary reason I quit was simply the difficulty of the game.  It was pretty outragous in those days, I mean I played for 3 months everyday and I barely hit 23rd Level Fury.  I however heard a lot of good changes have taken place since I quit so I came back to try it and if its any consolation it appears the reason is exactly what the focus of the development has been which is of course easing up on the difficulty of the game.</p><p>Since I left (I'm not sure how much of this was changed before you left but here is the list anyway) the following have been changed/added.</p><p> 1. Email with the ability to send stuff between players has been added</p><p>2. Tradeskill have been significantly simplied (and improved in my opinion).</p><p>3. Leveling up both in Tradeskills and Adventure class have been significantly improved, in fact you can actually solo in the game now.  After a week of playing I'm a 19th level Ranger which took me about 2.5 months under the old system.</p><p>4. The game performance has definitly improved.</p><p>5. The Interface is a whole hell of a lot smoother now and many of the smaller interfaces like the guild options and minor menus have been improved.</p><p>6. The general "balance" of the classes and races is significantly better and the fact that you no longer have to fuss around with sub classes for the first 20 levels has made the game feel more fantasy adventure fun and less "I need to level up to level 20 before the fun can begin" feeling I always had before.</p><p>7. I think the community has settled in and established the economy very well and its quite evident that every tradeskill class can make a good income and is worth persuing which to me is a sign of a very good economy.</p><p>8. Lots more quests, instanced zones and interesting "named" characters and monsters to battle with.  Intially there was some very interesting, albeit it very inaccessible things in the game which always felt out of reach for me.</p><p>9. Drops are more interesting and useful then I remembr them being.  In fact I recal as a 23rd level Fury I was yet to gain anything ... unique and at that time 23rd level was essentialy 1/3 of the whole game.</p><p>10.  Finaly I believe the community is a hell of a lot more chipper and happier then they were at launch, I mean I guess this is no suprise, but back then there was a big question mark as to wether or not Everquest 2 would be able to compete in a market with games like Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft and Anarchy Online which offered very unique and "user friendly" experiances.  </p>

[azekah]

Well I've been playing for about two years now, and it has only gotten better over time IMHO. No "drastic" changes, but definitely some big ones...but good big ones. AP's are much easier to get then when originally released...I had like 5 on my 42 coercer under old system, and under new system had 5 by like level 15. Um......new races....just added another expansion yesterday (free too!)... umm................just come and try it out...its fun. Not sure why you left in the first place...EQII is the best out there <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[bensilvi]

<cite>Jaycen wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hey all. I'm looking for highlights that have happened in the game while I have been gone. I stopped playing around April '06 and I have a lvl 47 wiz and a 40 warden. I took a break for awhile I've been playing vanguard since it came out.  Getting kinda bored with the lack of player base on my server though. Anyhoo... I have Desert of Flames and Kingdom of  Sky from before I stopped playing. Echoes of Faydwer looks like it might be a good one to get to get me reacquainted with the game again.  Being away so long it feels like a totally new game. What major has happened, good or bad, since a year ago? Any crazy things like the CU that happened to SWG? I haven't kept up on any of the lore or updates so I'm hoping to get some info on what you guys like or dislike about the game as it stands. Thanks! And yes, I did read the "What's New in Norrath" thread or whatever. Just wanted to get player's opinion and not just what SOE is highlighting. </blockquote> Come back and see if ya like it. Its only 14.95 so its not much to loose. The game is excellent!! So much has changed now with Neriak added as free content it just keeps getting btter all the time.

[JamesRay]

<p>As a person with 2 casters, you might be interested to know that there are no more fizzles.</p><p>Also, the macro system has been revamped.</p><p>Lots of alternative achievement options to customize your character with.</p><p>Quest sharing and larger boosts to AA exp for finishing them, it is a lot easier to earn those points.</p><p>The way your avoidance and mitigation works, as well as skill caps and attributes, now have a "diminishing returns" type application to them, so you can balance out your stats and not suffer too much for it.</p><p>New LFG options.</p><p>Plenty of things to do with adornments, which allow you to boost the usefulness of your equipment by adding stats/procs to them.  Two new "sub tradeskill" abilities, transmuting and tinkering.  Quite interesting.</p>

[Jaycen]

Thank you very much to everyone who has replied so far! Lots of great info and recommendations <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> The thing that has really impressed me so far is the community attitude. It seems very positive and helpful overall. The reason I stopped playing was because of work and it was summer and blah blah blah. The game and expansions are installed and I picked up a station pass. Now I think I'll buy EoF and start a new toon and get familiar with the controls and abilities again. When I logged into my 47 wiz I was a little overwhelmed with all the spells I had and I only remember what one of them actually did :p Thanks again for the responses!

[bensilvi]

after a long break unless your toon is 70 i would usually re-roll. Specually with the AA system that you start gaining at lvl 10.

[Jaycen]

<cite>bensilvi wrote:</cite><blockquote>after a long break unless your toon is 70 i would usually re-roll. Specually with the AA system that you start gaining at lvl 10.</blockquote>Well if I had a huge amount of time to devote to the game, taking another wiz up to 47 wouldn't be an issue. However, I'm looking for a house to buy and have plenty of jetskiing to do so I'm hoping to hop into the game and just enjoy it when I can and not feel like I'm grinding just to get back to where I was. <img src="/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />