Kudos to Sony!

[EconMan]

<p>I just wanted to post a compliment to the game developers for the nice job they have done making EQ2 an enjoyable game to play.  I have played most of the major online games (EQ, Dark Age of Camelot, Horizons, FFXI, SWG, and WoW) and have to say that EQ2 holds up well in comparison.</p><p>I started playing EQ about a month after in came out (1999?) and was in awe of the whole concept even though my dial-up modem was slow and my PC turned into a slideshow if I went into BB.  I still remember a friend taking me to the top of a hill so we could see a sunset over a valley and thinking how great the graphics were.  I also remember how much it stunk to be a human once night came!!  Because of EQ I wound up upgrading my modem and my computer so that it would run smoother.  I remember how little information there was about what the different stats were for (I totally messed up my ranger) and how cool it was when I saw my first level 20 with a last name!  Those were the good ol' days for sure.  I do have to say though that the XP loss from deaths and the naked corpse runs really took a toll on my sanity once I got my cleric and necro to 50+, and the fun started to diminish.  About that time DAoC came out and my entire guild moved to that game.  I hung on in EQ for a month or so longer, but eventually made the move as well.</p><p> DAoC, as most of you know, took a different approach to death and other things than did EQ.  I would say the crafting system was slightly better in DAoC too.  Mana and health regen were much faster so there was a lot less downtime (Yay!) and the horses made getting around fairly painless.  The greatest thing about DAoC, and the reason I ultimatly quit, was the the realm vs realm PVP.  Fighting over castles in the frontiers was the most fun I have had in PvP, including all the BG's in WoW.  There were epic battles in the Hiberian Frontier (I was a hibby) which might see a 100+ or more players from the three factions fighting at a wall or gate area.  I wound up having to upgrade my PC again to handle the video lag from all the spells going off in these big fights.  Loads of fun in the early days really.  Unfortuntely, the game designers always struggled with trying to balance PvE and PvP abilities.  WoW has the same issues, but to a lesser extent it seems.  The classes I played (Void Eldritch and Bard) really struggled to stay alive in any PvP battle.  It was much worse than what holy priests face in WoW to be honest.  The expansions to DAoC made matters worse by enlarging the ability gaps between hardcore and casual gamers to such a point where the fun just left the game.  I am sure they have made changes in the many months since I left but that was the way I saw it back then.</p><p>Horizons, FFXI, SWG I did not get too far into these games to be honest.  I thought each of them had unique features but I just did not find them compelling enough to stick with once I had a mid-level character.  At that time I went back to EQ for a bit and rediscovered that game after the addition of the Planes and the teleporters and played it hard for a while and had a good time.  </p><p>EQ2 came out and I immeditaly bought it, installed it, and was disappointed in what I saw.  The game ran like a constipated snail on my PC, which while not "top-of-the-line", was a good gaming machine and this really was a shock.  Cities were a nightmare to move around in and there seemed to be a lot of bugs in quests, graphics, etc.  I struggled through all of this for awhile and got a character into the 20's but the framerate was so bad in groups that I could barely move, much less fight effectively.  I hung around trying to enjoy the game and then WoW came out!!!</p><p>I jumped into WoW about a month or so after it came out and was amazed at the polish of the game.  I have always liked Blizzard games but they really did a fine job with WoW.  It ran smooth and fast on my PC and bugs were really minimal I thought.  I was on a PvP server and it was real PvP everywhere back then.  Big battles in TM and city raids going on all the time.  Sometimes the ganking made leveling a real pain but it never seemed to be so bad that it made the game unfun to play (being in a guild helped).  As I am sure most readers have played WoW, I am not going to go into details on how it is different from EQ2, but what Blizzard did obvisoly struck a cord with a LOT of gamers (8 million?).  That being said, I have gotten to the point where I am tired of WoW.  Leveling characters in the same zones, doing the same quests, over and over again is just getting too boring.  Right now I have 3 lvl 70s (priest, warlock, and hunter) and the thrill of seeing new things is pretty much gone.  I am not a hardcore raider so I will never get to see the new high-end raid instances so that content is meaningless to me.  That is not Bliz's fault, but the lack of new zones for the lower level characters is a real drag I think.  I know that you can add too many zones and spread your population too thin (EQ had a problem with this at times) but there is a happy balance somewhere I think.  Which brings me back to EQ2...</p><p>I still have my WoW account but a friend told me a couple of weeks ago that EQ2 was a great game now.  This is the same friend who got me started in EQ1 back in 1999 so I listened to him with an open mind.  He told me about the improvements and the expansions, etc. and that he was really having a good time.  I had tossed my orginal EQ2 disks a long time ago so I had to ask myself if it was worth the money to buy the game again.  I finally saw the "All-in-one" package at Best Buy and decided to take the plunge.  I have to say that I thought the installation and patching would never end!  I think it took me about 2.5 hours to get everything installed and downloaded.  For some reaon, the patcher would slow to crawl every few minutes and I would have to restart it for it to get up to speed again.  Eventually it was done and hit the "Play" button and entered the game!</p><p>I have to say that the materials included in the game box were weak.  I had no clue what each of the different classes did.  Luckily I checked these Forums and got a fair idea of what they each class was about.  I decided on a HE Conjourer.  I have always been partial to pets for some reason so this class looked fun to play.  The first thing I noticed when I entered the game was "this looks great and it runs fast!"  I have bought two new PC's since I last played EQ2 and the current one has plenty of power so I have not had any framerate issues at all.  Playing around in the newbie area made me appreciate how much faster mana and health regens in EQ2 compared to EQ1 and the quests were well thought out and logical.  I like the EQ2 interface but I do miss the mini-map feature that WoW has, especially how it shows quest turn-in NPCs.  I have a bad memory I guess and I sometimes have a hard time remembering where to turn quests in at, especially in Kelethen.</p><p>Once I made it to Kelethan, I confess to being totally confused by the crafting and broker systems.  It took me forever to figure out that you had to buy a bag or box before you could sell anything.  Then I found out that the number of slots was limited by the size of your house, Ack!  *grumble*  With my mighty twig room in the tree I got two whole slots..wow!  The prices that boxes were selling for on the broker made my pet cry so I knew there was no way of buying them there with my few pieces of silver.  Finally I found the merchant selling the 4 slot ruckbag and bought a couple of those and filled them up with stuff.  Luckily, I sold an item for 3g within an hour so I was able to purchase some bigger boxes and get more stuff out of my inventory.  Inventory mgmt is a big part of EQ2 it seems.  I am spoiled from WoW in that I am not used to having to worry about weight and decent sized bags seemed to be fairly easy to get.  With the harvesting system in EQ2, I am always running out of inventory space it seems.  This problem is probably more of me just not knowing what items are worth selling and which should just be deleted but I wish I had  more space.  Crafting boggled me for a little while but I got the handle on that as well.  I wish the Recipe window had a few more sort and filter options to make it easier to see what you can make but it is a nice system I think.  I have had a lot of fun running around, gathering things, and then making really decent food and drink.  I think I can already made items that last for 5 hours each, awesome!</p><p>Combat seems fast and fun in EQ2 as well.  The Heroic Opportunity system adds a bit of flair to things and spells and abilities seem balanced with your level.  I confess to being a bit lost by the Apprentice, Adept, and Master spell level system.  When I read the spell descriptions for APP I and APP II, for example, I often do not see any difference.  I know there has to be something better about the higher level spell but it is not easy to see what it is.  I am sure that by reading the Forums, FAQs, and guides available I will get a grasp on the system soon.</p><p>I am only level 15 so far so I know there is a ton of the game that I have not seen.  I just wanted to compliment the developers for the changes and improvements they have made in the game since it first came out and share some of my online gaming thoughts with the players.  I am really looking forward to playing more of the game and grouping with as many of you as I can.  See you in Norrath!</p>

[Effie]

<p>A good read.</p><p><blockquote>I confess to being a bit lost by the Apprentice, Adept, and Master spell level system.  When I read the spell descriptions for APP I and APP II, for example, I often do not see any difference.</blockquote></p><p>At lower levels, you will frequently see no difference between App1/2/3/4 spells. The percentage increases are often less than a single stat point on a buff or a single point of damage after rounding. As you get higher in level, the difference in spell/skill quality is much more noticeable.</p><p>Another thing to keep in mind is that when it comes to damage spells/skills, higher level version are less resistable. You are much more likely to land the Adept1 version of nuke than you are the Apprentice 1 version.</p><p>It's less important to upgrade your spells at lower levels as you tend to level up very quickly. Especially from 1-10. Don't be tempted to pay several gold for an Adept1 version of a spell because you will likely have it upgraded to the next tier in a few hours of gameplay.</p><p>I recently came back to EQ2 and the character I started got on just fine for the first 15 levels using a couple of adept1 loot drops and the rest all app1.</p>

[Ig]

Wow...that was a fantastic read and I have to say that I feel like I could have written that same piece as our circumstances are very similar. I came to EQ2 about a month ago (lvl 31 atm) and the only thing that bugs me now is why I didn't come to this game a bit earlier! <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Effie]

Igby@Everfrost wrote: <blockquote>Wow...that was a fantastic read and I have to say that I feel like I could have written that same piece as our circumstances are very similar. I came to EQ2 about a month ago (lvl 31 atm) and the only thing that bugs me now is why I didn't come to this game a bit earlier! <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </blockquote> I've been ping-ponging around a lot of different MMOGs for the past 3~ years. WOW, Vanguard, Matrix Online, EVE and even LoTRO... but I always end up back in EQ2. And the game is better each time I come back.

[EconMan]

Thanks for the advice Effie, it is much appreciated.  I finally found the online manual for EQ2 on the forum and most things make more sense now that I have read through it.  I hope I get lucky and get some higher level spell books to drop that I can use.  So far all the Adept books I have looted are for other classs.  Grrrrr!  Oh well, that is the way it is sometimes, lol!

[Stuge]

<cite>EconMan wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thanks for the advice Effie, it is much appreciated.  I finally found the online manual for EQ2 on the forum and most things make more sense now that I have read through it.  I hope I get lucky and get some higher level spell books to drop that I can use.  So far all the Adept books I have looted are for other classs.  Grrrrr!  Oh well, that is the way it is sometimes, lol!</blockquote> <span style="font-family: courier new,courier">So what you do is sell those books on the broker and use the proceeds to purchase your adepts from other players. </span>

[EconMan]

Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote: <blockquote><cite>EconMan wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thanks for the advice Effie, it is much appreciated.  I finally found the online manual for EQ2 on the forum and most things make more sense now that I have read through it.  I hope I get lucky and get some higher level spell books to drop that I can use.  So far all the Adept books I have looted are for other classs.  Grrrrr!  Oh well, that is the way it is sometimes, lol!</blockquote> <span style="font-family: courier new,courier">So what you do is sell those books on the broker and use the proceeds to purchase your adepts from other players. </span></blockquote>Aye, that is what I am doing.  The books I have gotten so far do not seem to be in high demand at the moment.  I try to keep my prices in line with what other people are selling their books for but I will keep an eye on that.  I have only been playing the game since last Friday as well.

[Gnobrin]

First and foremost, welcome to EQII!  You'll find that selling off unnecessary items is a lucrative trade unto itself, something that can earn a tidy profit, if you're frugal enough in what you choose to sell off as well as how much of the loot you find that you're willing to "pack-rat" (Excuse the phrase, my Ratonga friends) around.  After a good evening of gameplay, you can come back to your home to sell off a great number of skill books as well as other rarities that others may indeed want to use.  Yes, I myself am a sellaholic and I know I have a problem...  I promise to change after I sell off these few things I just looted. ~Gnobrin!

[Rahatmattata]

<p>Group up and head to a dungeon. Learn where the named mobs are and kill them. If you are lucky and get a good group with experienced players, you can have tons of fun hunting named in Fallen Gate and doing the Vault instance and get really nice loot including legendary equipment, master spells, and rare crafting components. Wailing Caves is also good and... well, pretty much any dungeon.</p>

[EconMan]

<cite>Rahatmattata wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Group up and head to a dungeon. Learn where the named mobs are and kill them. If you are lucky and get a good group with experienced players, you can have tons of fun hunting named in Fallen Gate and doing the Vault instance and get really nice loot including legendary equipment, master spells, and rare crafting components. Wailing Caves is also good and... well, pretty much any dungeon.</p></blockquote>I have to admit that I have not been in a group yet.  I have been able to solo all the quests fairly easily so far though I know the crushbone ones will require a group.  I plan on trying to get in a group tonight and seeing how that goes.

[EconMan]

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote>First and foremost, welcome to EQII!  You'll find that selling off unnecessary items is a lucrative trade unto itself, something that can earn a tidy profit, if you're frugal enough in what you choose to sell off as well as how much of the loot you find that you're willing to "pack-rat" (Excuse the phrase, my Ratonga friends) around.  After a good evening of gameplay, you can come back to your home to sell off a great number of skill books as well as other rarities that others may indeed want to use.  Yes, I myself am a sellaholic and I know I have a problem...  I promise to change after I sell off these few things I just looted. ~Gnobrin! </blockquote> Tis true Gnobrin, I am a *looks ashamed* pack-rat too.   I hate not picking up items and I always clog my inventory with stuff of dubious value.  If I had 100 slot bags I could probably fill those up in one night!  Thank you for your kind welcome as well. 

[Illmarr]

<cite>EconMan wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I have to say that the materials included in the game box were weak.  I had no clue what each of the different classes did.  Luckily I checked these Forums and got a fair idea of what they each class was about.  I decided on a HE Conjourer.  I have always been partial to pets for some reason so this class looked fun to play.  The first thing I noticed when I entered the game was "this looks great and it runs fast!"  I have bought two new PC's since I last played EQ2 and the current one has plenty of power so I have not had any framerate issues at all.  Playing around in the newbie area made me appreciate how much faster mana and health regens in EQ2 compared to EQ1 and the quests were well thought out and logical.  I like the EQ2 interface but I do miss the mini-map feature that WoW has, especially how it shows quest turn-in NPCs.  I have a bad memory I guess and I sometimes have a hard time remembering where to turn quests in at, especially in Kelethen.</p><p><span style="color: #ff9900"><i>In options, (Forgive me, I don't recall where off the top of mu head) There is a checkbox to show quest icons for NPCs. When running around Kelethin, if you see a hollow circle on your map, it means that is an NPC that will give you a quest (within your level range, so some quests don't open until you reach a certain level, and you won't see some quests if you are too many levels above it). A solid circle is an NPC you need for a quest you currently have.</i> </span></p><p>Once I made it to Kelethan, I confess to being totally confused by the crafting and broker systems.  It took me forever to figure out that you had to buy a bag or box before you could sell anything.  Then I found out that the number of slots was limited by the size of your house, Ack!  *grumble*  With my mighty twig room in the tree I got two whole slots..wow!  The prices that boxes were selling for on the broker made my pet cry so I knew there was no way of buying them there with my few pieces of silver.  Finally I found the merchant selling the 4 slot ruckbag and bought a couple of those and filled them up with stuff.  Luckily, I sold an item for 3g within an hour so I was able to purchase some bigger boxes and get more stuff out of my inventory.  Inventory mgmt is a big part of EQ2 it seems.  I am spoiled from WoW in that I am not used to having to worry about weight and decent sized bags seemed to be fairly easy to get.  With the harvesting system in EQ2, I am always running out of inventory space it seems.  This problem is probably more of me just not knowing what items are worth selling and which should just be deleted but I wish I had  more space.  Crafting boggled me for a little while but I got the handle on that as well.  I wish the Recipe window had a few more sort and filter options to make it easier to see what you can make but it is a nice system I think.  I have had a lot of fun running around, gathering things, and then making really decent food and drink.  I think I can already made items that last for 5 hours each, awesome!</p><p><i><span style="color: #ff9900">Sounds like you finally got the Broker system fingued out. For crafting advice, read the guides stickied at the top of the Tradeskills forums here to learn what all the flashing icons and tradeskill arts are for.</span></i></p><p>Combat seems fast and fun in EQ2 as well.  The Heroic Opportunity system adds a bit of flair to things and spells and abilities seem balanced with your level.  I confess to being a bit lost by the Apprentice, Adept, and Master spell level system.  When I read the spell descriptions for APP I and APP II, for example, I often do not see any difference.  I know there has to be something better about the higher level spell but it is not easy to see what it is.  I am sure that by reading the Forums, FAQs, and guides available I will get a grasp on the system soon.</p><p><i><span style="color: #ff9900">You won't see a big difference for each rung in the quality ladder for your spells, especially with a recent change that gave all apprentice versions of a spell the same resistability as Adept 1, maybe a couple of points of damage. You will notice a nice jump from Apprentice I to Apprentice IV, which is player made and usually a couple of silver at the lower levels. Honestly, save your money and do not buy Apprentice II. Adept I I'm sure you've seen in a Treasure Chest or two. Sell on the broker what you cannot use and be sure and check the price others are selling it for so you don't shortchange yourself or drastically overprice yourself. You said you are harvesting, which is good. As a Conjuror, keep an eye out for rare gem clusters (Copper cluster, Silver cluster, Palladium cluster and so on...) If you get one of these, ask in your local crafting channel for a Sage willing to make you an Adept III of your pet (IMO the most important upgrade a Conjuror can make)</span></i></p><p>I am only level 15 so far so I know there is a ton of the game that I have not seen.  I just wanted to compliment the developers for the changes and improvements they have made in the game since it first came out and share some of my online gaming thoughts with the players.  I am really looking forward to playing more of the game and grouping with as many of you as I can.  See you in Norrath!</p><p><i><span style="color: #ff9900">Yeah, they have really done a great job making the game great.<img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Welcome back to Norrath!</span></i></p></blockquote>

[EconMan]

Ilmaaaaah@Lucan DLere wrote: <blockquote><cite>EconMan wrote:</cite><blockquote><p><i><span style="color: #ff9900"> You said you are harvesting, which is good. As a Conjuror, keep an eye out for rare gem clusters (Copper cluster, Silver cluster, Palladium cluster and so on...) If you get one of these, ask in your local crafting channel for a Sage willing to make you an Adept III of your pet (IMO the most important upgrade a Conjuror can make)</span></i></p></blockquote></blockquote>Save the clusters for a pet upgrade?!? ACK!  I think I have sold 3-4 of those things so far.  *beats head on wall*  Well, I know what I will looking for tonight!  Thanks a lot for the tips!

[Tomanak]

<p>if you are harvesting raws appropriate to your current tier, you can make ALL of your level 1-9 AppIVs and Adept 3s. </p><p>IIRC Scholars make lvl 10-19 skillups </p><p>Sages make all mage and healer skillup for lvl 20+</p><p>Jewelers make all Scout skillups for level 20+</p><p>Alchemists make all Fighter skillups for level 20+</p><p>You can save a LOT of money making your own AppIVs. The advent of transmuting made the lower level Adepts much too expensive for the short time they are used. </p>

[EconMan]

Sugota@Butcherblock wrote: <blockquote><p>if you are harvesting raws appropriate to your current tier, you can make ALL of your level 1-9 AppIVs and Adept 3s. </p><p>IIRC Scholars make lvl 10-19 skillups </p><p>Sages make all mage and healer skillup for lvl 20+</p><p>Jewelers make all Scout skillups for level 20+</p><p>Alchemists make all Fighter skillups for level 20+</p><p>You can save a LOT of money making your own AppIVs. The advent of transmuting made the lower level Adepts much too expensive for the short time they are used. </p></blockquote>I see, thanks for the information.  I will definitly try to get some spells crafted.  I remember what a nightmare it was to make spells in EQ back in the old days. *shudder*

[Sedenten]

<cite>EconMan wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I like the EQ2 interface but I do miss the mini-map feature that WoW has, especially how it shows quest turn-in NPCs.  I have a bad memory I guess and I sometimes have a hard time remembering where to turn quests in at, especially in Kelethen.</p></blockquote><p>First of all, that was a well thought out and written post.  I enjoyed reading it and even had a few memories of "the old days" of EQ1 pop back into my mind.  It made me smile <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Anyway, to help you out with what I've quoted, I would suggest trying out EQ2 maps (<a href="http://maps.eq2interface.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://maps.eq2interface.com/</a>).  Basically, it's a huge collection of "points of interest" that players have compiled and submitted.  You can download their UI deal and have your in-game map covered in little colored dots (complete with mouseover text explaining what the dots represent), or you can just use the website and do searches for points of interest.  If you're on a quest and scratching your eyes out trying to find an NPC, you can do a search for that NPC and more than likely some other player has found that NPC and submitted a dot on the map.  That tool really helped me out and I've even submitted my own corrections and additions to the system.</p><p>Good luck and I hope you continue enjoying the game!  I agree EQ2 has come very far and has done nothing but gotten better since release.  </p>

[EconMan]

Thanks Sedenten for your kind words and especially for the map interface link.  That really looks like a handy thing to have.  I will download it tonight.  Sometimes I wander around for quite a while trying to find "pink squishy crawlers" or whatever it is I am supposed to killing!

[Effie]

<p>The EQ2 Map updater is my only <i>must have</i> UI addin for EQ2.</p>