Everquest 2 NDA Lifts

# Oct 18 2004 at 7:27 PM Rating: Good

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1 post

I have been participating on the Beta for about 6 weeks.
All I can Truly Say is You can't even compare it to EQ1,....It is Truly the Best RPG to come out,..and will Hold the Top Spot for a Longer period of Time then EQ1. UBER,..AWESOME,...come to mind. I have really enjoyed the experience of participating in the Beta.

Beta Quick

# Oct 18 2004 at 7:04 PM Rating: Default

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10 posts

Will summerize since I am only a lvl 8 Priest. Just started late on beta and then ran out of time.

1. Game is Different than EQ1 for sure.
2. Cannot drive by heal - not sure I like that one.
3. Hard to get groups and since the experience bonus is on Groups of 3 or more, that I dont like
4. The fighting is more realistic and you can actually see your blows hitting in EQII.
5. Quests are great - and yes - as said before, exp from quests so if you are a quester you do get experience and that is GREAT.
6. Channels are set and listed so that is really good. You can do the Trade, quest, and other channels and get info from any of them.
7. Most of the commands are the same as EQ so will be familiar.
8. The UI is easy to use and very good.
9. The chat channel windows are good but they scroll fromthe left side instead of the right side - find that very diferent.

There were more but just this comes to mind. It is an Awesome game and I am getting it on Preorder. I will continue to play EQ and this will be a welcome change when EQ gets to stressful as it can.

All I can really say is Get it, Play it, and enjoy it.

Drygonfli
66th Season Druid

RE: Beta Quick

# Oct 19 2004 at 1:23 AM Rating: Default

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22 posts

No one will invite you at that level in groups, its the start of the game still and all are learning the game up until lvl 10.then the ninja invites start :)

RE: Beta Quick

# Oct 18 2004 at 11:38 PM Rating: Decent

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3 posts

Your only level 8, barely even a citizen of your home town. You shouldn't be grouping until level 10 or 11, as these levels can be reached in under 5 hours, and solely on quests.

And I have -never- found a problem getting a group, have several chars over 10.

RE: Beta Quick

# Oct 18 2004 at 10:03 PM Rating: Decent

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5 posts

"3. Hard to get groups and since the experience bonus is on Groups of 3 or more, that I dont like"

wont be as hard in the open beta or actual public release when there are more people on the servers....just a observation

RE: Beta Quick

# Oct 25 2004 at 7:04 AM Rating: Default

Anonymous

Anonymous

Just a quick reply to this post, there will be LESS people on each server when it goes live because they are STRESS testing the beta servers by putting extra people on the servers. I have been doing beta for EQ 2 for several months and I know that it's not hard at all to find other groupmembers with the community find function.

EQ2 beta opinion

# Oct 18 2004 at 6:26 PM Rating: Default

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3 posts

I won't go over what everyone else has said, the interface, the mob encounters, the skill system, etc. Instead I'll simply list what I like and dislike, and state to my best ability, why.

You get your first, and most basic skill upon leveling, apprentice 1, version, which is upgradeable to apprentice 2 via a scroll purchaseable at a vendor. Apprentice III, (3) or adept 1, or anything higher is player made.

This is frustrating, as myself, am not in any way shape or form interested in doing tradeskills. Nor am I interested in hunting down a player who is, and working out a deal with them. Having my skills limited to the second level (apprentice 2) of their total mastery without tradeskilling is in my opinion, stupid.

To think that me using my spell over and over again will not advance it naturally through knowledge, and that I must learn to scribe spells on paper then read them through tradeskilling, is unrealistic. While I find it a hassle to upgrade skills/spells via tradeskills, I feel that it should also be available via usage. As its seen in the tradeskill system, the more I do something, the better I become at it.

Second off, the graphics, while breathtaking, are overdone. Everyone loves how the game looks, it in no way cut short the gameplay. However, I-playing on a 2.6ghz HT pentium 4, with a 400$ graphics NVidia graphics card, over 1gig ram, and DSL (Clearly a more top-of-the-line configuration) lag is incredible in cities-I shouldn't say lag, its not my connection with the problem, its my system not being able to display my movement around buildings. The game runs choppy-at best- and it can often take me 5-10 minutes to walk accross a single zone. My settings are currently on 'balanced' which is a give between performance, and quality display settings. Even on the 'extreme quality' setting, to defend my point, there is a warning the game issues upon setting this variable, something to the effect of "These settings will be unplayable on even the most currently available hardware, are you sure you wish to use this setting?" Why make it available then? To brag how the game looks that way? Upon turning these settings on, it took me over a minute to turn 360 degrees around a small room. These settings aren't unplayable-I'd bet 7 out of 10 people that turn their settings on this mode to see how the game looks, will crash to desktop.

Long story short-the graphical display is extremely frustrating, and I feel unplayable at times. I bear through it because the gameplay, outside of the big city zones is flawless and amazing, worth the occasional trek through one of the larger-city, zones. No lag is evident during multi-PC encounters, spells and massive fights go over very well, it seems so much detail went into the city invironments, that it simply boggs down gameplay. Why not turn down my settings to 'extreme performance'? Because I spent over 3k on my system because I enjoy MMORPEG's, I have possibly the best setup affordable for the casual gamer, I shouldn't have to.

Experience and quest systems are very well thought out, the story line is incredible as are the specific rewards for discovering the new areas-exploring can reward over 20% experience at <10th level. Quests are listed by both zone, and difficulty. For instance, a quest will be displayed in blue if its below your level, white if its based for someone around your level, yellow if its a little above your levels' capability, and red if it is simply impossible for you to do-for instance, a blue quest might be running an item accross a zone to another NPC, while a red quest is killing an NPC which is 10 levels over you, and requiring you to craft-up and repair the item before returning it to the NPC.

Aside from my above complaints, the game is awesome. Lower-end system users will definitly have a problem playing the game on any setting but 'extreme performance' which sacrifices most if not all graphical display features in lieu of game play-ability.

Quest system, flawness, mob encounter system is extremely well implemented. No more power leveling, ever.

BUFFS, something no one has mentioned yet. Are only for GROUP MEMBERS! Have a buff casted on you? Leave the group? NO MORE BUFF

Each caster, buffer, has concentration they must abide by. A spell such as courage takes up an amount of concentration. It constantly keeps buffed, you and your group, someone enters the group, no need to recast the buff (Some-very few-do require recasts) it automatically gets placed on your group mates.

Item-usability is not level or class based, its skill based, which levels up only upon experience advancement. For instance, you may loot iron leggings, these leggings require a heavy-armor skill of, lets say 70. Regardless of class, if you don't have a heavy armor skill of 70, your not able to wear that item, end of story.

Obviously this is appropriate, as at around level 10 a fighter will have a heavy armor class which makes available to them higher frames of armor, while a caster may only get a skill of 25 or so at level 20, therefor making some, but very little higher-armor available to them.

SO thats about it for me 2cp. Nothing else for now, hope everyone enjoys the game

RE: EQ2 beta opinion

# Oct 19 2004 at 2:03 PM Rating: Decent

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18 posts

FieryCloakMan wrote:
_______________________________________________
I playing on a 2.6ghz HT pentium 4, with a 400$ graphics NVidia graphics card, over 1gig ram, and DSL (Clearly a more top-of-the-line configuration).
_______________________________________________

Never had a problem with lag with EQII. I get more lag in EQI with the shadows turn-on then I have ever experienced in EQII.

My game settings are at balanced, and system is identical system, less the $400 NVidia video card.

RE: EQ2 beta opinion

# Oct 19 2004 at 8:59 AM Rating: Decent

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Scholar

243 posts

Quote:

"These settings will be unplayable on even the most currently available hardware, are you sure you wish to use this setting?" Why make it available then?

Lots of games are doing that now. Doom 3 has a setting that can't be used by any hardware available (it requires a 512MB video card, which doesn't exist). I don't see a problem with having a setting for future hardware.

I am dying to play this. I played the WoW stress test, so that shifted my attention and excitement. But I still really want to play EQ2. My only concern (based on the comments I've heard so far) is that the graphics are so cutting edge that most top end systems will have a hard time running them well. I have a pretty fast system myself, and some parts of EQ1 lag!! This should not be. I have zero problems with FFXI and even during the WoW stress test, and they are far more graphically intensive than EQ1, but it still lags in many areas. I hope they can optimize EQ2 to run well. Otherwise it will be a great disappointment (but I'll still buy it and probably be hooked on it for 4 years like I was EQ1). :)

RE: EQ2 beta opinion

# Oct 24 2004 at 6:43 PM Rating: Default

Anonymous

Anonymous

they do make 512meg video cards, also the intel64 and athlon64 chipset should help with playing any game on there highest setting.. they are next gen tec.

RE: EQ2 beta opinion

# Oct 19 2004 at 10:18 PM Rating: Decent

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71 posts

Well, you have to think ahead, which is what Sony is doing. EQ has been around for at least 5 years now, I don't know the exact date. I think I can assume that the first EQ Engine was cutting edge or near it for its time. The EQ2 Engine is soo far ahead of current ability because the rate of graphics advancement to multiplying to much faster now than it was before. So it won't be long before we get parts to play EQ2 at a decent speed.

Near as I can tell, I think the 512s should be out for the holiday season or near the begining of next year. They shouldn't be long now. I am currently saving up to grab a 512 6800 GT myself.

A beta tester quick comments

# Oct 18 2004 at 8:54 AM Rating: Good

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Scholar

26 posts

Succinctly:

Combat is visceral and very, very intense.

The graphics and animations are wonderful.

The UI is perfect, IMO.

Voice overs add a whole new feel to the game.

The immersion factor is overflowing. I felt like a part of this world immediately. Don't underestimate how deeply they will drag into their NEW world now! You might never get out . . .

Crafting is NOT boring and tedious. It's a new "encounter" every time.

The HO's add such an extra and exciting element to this game, it's hard to describe without actually having experienced it for yourself. (they do take time to figure out, but they are very enjoyable once you get the hang of them)

--------------
Now my thoughts...

The game is a level treadmill, only YOU NEVER GRIND XP. You are ALWAYS on a quest unless you don't want to be!

BTW there ARE lots of EQlive folks who will NOT like EQ2. Those are the ones who LOVE the 12 group raids 4 times a week. EQ2 is NOT that game!

Right now I am torn between 3 chars at retail, Druid, Enchanter, Ranger. I think I am going with the druid but am still thinking about it. Scouts and their derivitive rangers are NOT COMPLETE at the moment. Tracking is NOT in for example and neither are their evacs. The next patch will have a big change for the summoner mages and peth pathing is supposed to be fixed then. I have not tried a pet class as they currently are a pain!

I found originally I spent about 14 hours on the Isle of refugee. The newbie training ground. I did not do all the quests there but almost all. I highly recommend anyone ocming into the game do the same. The drops you get there for quest items will really help you in the main game. Now I spend about 2 hours there to level up a character.

I plan to play a good char on retail so have NOT done a thing in Qeynos te good city yet. I have been in freeport the hole time. I have 17 hours on my main character right now I think he is a level 12 druid. All I have done is quests and in many different places. Freeport is a depressing slummy city. THe lower dungeon is a sewer. All in all I am very glad I am NOT playing an evil char on release.

The betrayal quest is quit hard and artificially so, you have to camp some mobs that are open to anyone to fight so they may not be there when you need them. Some currently have a 8 hour timer on them. I do not plan to do the betrayal quest at this time but will start my char in Qeynos.

There is currently no sidekicking in EQ2 so if your friends are a big level difference away you cant play with them. I have a tremendously long thread going on the beta boards about this. Currently SOE has said nothing but I am sure they have read the thread. It is one of the longest ones there.

Combat can be fast and furious or it can last 5 minutes. I was on in battle with myself a druid, enchanter and a warrior. We had a blast and by the time it was over we barely survived but we did. Heroic Encounters make a big difference int a battle. they are like skill chains in FFXI and a lot of fun.

The voice overs are fun but they are still downloading them to us. Many have no VO and there are many VO that are reperated on many chars.

The game is NOT on rails. You can be going in a thousand different directions if you want.

You get new spells/abilites every level and do not have to seek them out. You are given the baseline of the spell Apprentice one, you can buy APP2 at vendors and then all levels above are player made.

there is no central bazaar. You put your character in your house and make him your vendor. there are central brokers you go to find where to buy things, you can buy direct from brokers for a fee or get directiosn to the merchants house. there is black market for items sold in both evil and good cities.

There is no bind or gate. Everyone gets a spell to return to their home city then it has a 30 minute timer. There is a cleric spell to send anyone home and it has no timr but uses a cheap reagent.

My highest weath so far is about 10s at a time. It goes plat, gold, silbver, copper. Each is 100x the other. I have usually had about what i needed so money is not an issue yet.

To get aorund the very big city there are a a number of ways. The four main zones N,W,E, W Freeport you can run via the zone doors. they are connected to the starting villages. each starting village also has a dock which allows instaneous transport to the other villages. there is also a theive's way running under the city that allows you to get aorund faster when you learn it, but it is also dangerous and fun at the same time.

YOu get quests from NPCs and even items. You pick up a a dagger and see a false gem, removing the gem you find a requistion from a trading company. there are many fedex quests, kill x quests and other styles as well. Most are well written and entertaining.

You can have 100s of open quests at a time. The quest journal keeps track of where youa re in each quest. You can use guards ina a zone to help you find NPCs.

the maps are complete only for the city and villages, outside zones have no maps and they can be big. You see yousel fon the map as a dot.

there is a waypoint window with glowy trails to slect palces in zone also can be used for shard retrieval.

When you die you get weaker, all items and yourself spawn at a local safe spot, or if ina fight a priest can rez you. You need to get back to yourr corpse and get a spirit shard off it. Otherwise each death yu get weaker and weakrer, you can have numerous corpses. After 3 days a shard will reintergrate automatically. Also all items take a damage hit when you die, when they reach 0% they are unusable. You can repair them in the field with the right skills and tools or you can have an NPC in town do it for you for a very cheap cost.

There are also griffin rides for vast distances which i have not seen yet. I have yet to see 1% of the game at present. the game is basically build aorund island continents. there will be boat rides to some too that are interactive. There are locked zones and dungeons that you have to do access quests for.

Mobs are setup as either solo or grouped and are obvious. You see a mobs con and then around it you may see a red border which indicated it will agro. If you invis or sneak the border turns white if they no longer see you. Sneak and invis can drop protection. Sneak is a scout ability and is great for exploring. All classes can solo but some solo better. XP comes faster for groups though as group mobs have an xp bonus.

When a mob dies it is looted. Loot comes from tables appropriate for the mob. Also mobs will drop treasure chests. the bigger the chest the bigger thre reward. Chests are all trapped and only scouts can disarm them. Opening a chest will usually not kill you though but may give you 30 seconds downtime. Usuably loot is basically levle locked by colors. There is no twinking in this game, nor is it possible to powerlevel some one as encounters are locked. When locked only those in the original encounter can effect it. they can yell for help and unlock the encounter but they wont the xp or reward then.

Downtime betwee fights is low. You regen your power and health at an accelerated rate if you have eaten or drunk something. During battle the accelerated rate is removed but there is still a minor regen. You buy food from vendors, you quest for special foods, players are supposed to make foods but not seen that in yet, and priests can summon basic food.

Priests can summon a phoenix feather which will allow another group member to rez the priest if he dies.

Scott Adams
Not Dilbert,Adventure!
www.msadams.com

EverQuest II

# Oct 18 2004 at 1:36 AM Rating: Decent

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29 posts

This Game by all means is not like EQ1, the lore takes place 500 years after the old world of everquest has been destroyed by the shattering of Luclin, yes the poor Vah Shir are gone and the moon is in piece's, the major surviving Cities are Freeport(evil) and Qeynos (Good), where you begin your adventuring after a 6 level stay on the Island of Refuge, to get you used to the interface and how the game basically works, with quest , armor , and weapons . etc.

The game is easy to get lost in, as far as content richness, playablity, and story line.

There are quest from about ever 3rd NPC in any givin zone, not to mention scrolls and other items that give you quests as well, and the hardest part about doing the quest is just all the running around you do to find out who gives them, which is quite a few.

Early on most quests give you small trinkets of armor and money, along with Exp. , it's not very hard to get to level 10 by just doing quest for a couple of days, and your there.
After lvl10 the xp starts to slow down from quests, but not much. Another key feature are Status points, you get these from doing favorable quests from the city guards or Caretakers of various orders, which award you with status points and some Exp to which you can buy certain items.
Now back to leveling, at about level 6 you should be ready to journey to the big cities from the Island, and really get the ball rolling. After arriving from the island to one of the cities you are givin a room at the Inn, and some furnishings to get you started, you then begin your first quest in the big city, which is your access quest to the city proper, you have to prove yourself to the leaders of the 2 cities to become and full fledged Citizen, and you will be directed to this quest from the room you are givin to start it, and its requirements that are to be met.

Once you finish this quest you are rewaded with some better gear, and sent out into the world to fend for yourself, and this is where it gets really fun!
Now you get to run around and find your quests in your home area and others to complete them for rewards and Exp. once you hit level 9 , you can start your Archeclass quest or Hallmark quest as they are refered to ingame, so if you chose Priest , Scout, Fighter,or Mage classes, this is where you make a choice to be a Cleric , Shaman, Druid , Warrior , Crusader, etc. ( refer to the EQ2 site for more detail) and do certain tasks for each Archeclass type that fits into the archeclass you have chosen. T

To familarize you with the pro's and cons of each. After you have decided on what class you wish to be, you complete your final quest and recieve your new class title, and some appropriate gear to help get you started on your way, from then on , it's just a lot of fun to find quests , for gear , coin exp, and some serious fun.

As far as tradeskills go, you can chose between an Adventure or a Scholar, and make a lot of nice things, tradeskills start out slow and tedious , but at higher end become a very fruitful endeavor, They are much different from EQ1, in as far as you have to do a number of actions while doing them, not only to keep the quality of the item you are making better , but to keep from being killed , by a mislabeled items, or daydreaming, bad measurements etc.

You are givin tradeskill , skills to counter act these mistakes to help you make better items and to save your life, believe me I died a couple times from these mistakes. A vending system for PC characters has been put in place for tradeskillsman to sell their wares throungh a couple different Venues. You can sell from your home as long as you do the appropriate measure to arrange this or you can sell them through the city Brokers placed within the city, but the price is increased as the broker marks up your items for shipping and handling, but you recieve the price you set for said item, and your customers pay a inflated price due to brokers mark up from what your prices are originally.

Also in this game all classes can forage, mine , and trap for tradeskill raw materials for their wares, and make most of the things they need to make other items from these.

In conclusion , I find this game a refreshing change from EQ1's mega monsters as far as leveling and questing, although my highest character is only lvl 20 , I have managed to achieve this level rather quickly, but things are starting to come to a crawl now, so I dont think anyone will be maxing out levels in this game very quickly, but for the casual play this game has a lot of content, along with plenty of group activity, and it seems to be well rounded for both type gamers,and Sony has been very good about adding content for both type of gamers.

I see a lot of potential for this game in the future, and a never ending storyline, that will keep even the casual player entertained and coming back for more. Gratz Sony, I think you got a hit here B-)

Carman lvl 20 Barbarian Guardian
Gustoff lvl 15 Barbarian Shaman
Raistlinn lvl 12 High-Elf Summoner

Duty and Honor above everything, except quest drops

Ok, Edited for all you english Major whiners out there, sorry to hurt your eyes, but if all you can do is complain about someones english, your missing the point, besides it's my god given right to slaughter the english language as an AMERICAN...lol

Edited, Fri Oct 22 14:34:03 2004

#REDACTED, Posted: Oct 20 2004 at 1:33 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Wow my fricking eyes are hurting, A little less EQ2 and a bit more time in english class there buddy. Paragraphs are your friend.

first taste of eq2