I played a lot of Everquest.\u00c2 I was never a raider nor did I make it to max level, but I played a lot. I was excited about EQ2, so much so that when I got a chance to play in the beta, I stopped playing the wow beta I was in to focus on EQ2.<\/p>\n
At launch I bought 2 copies of EQ2, so I could attempt to lure my wife into playing, and helped convince my online RP friends that EQ2 was the game (over wow) that they should be playing.\u00c2 \u00c2 Two months later, shamed for what I had wrought upon my friends I left the game.<\/p>\n
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While I have some good memories from that time it was an experience that really deserves its own post.\u00c2 For now lets just say they game did run well, or play well, for the majority of how my friends and I could play the game.<\/p>\n
Fast forward a few years to November 2007.<\/p>\n
A co-worker of mine was (is still I suspect) a huge eq2 player, and guild leader.\u00c2 I was feeling some serious WoW burnout, so I had stepped away and was decided to give EQ2 a peek.\u00c2 \u00c2 I did not know anyone on my old server (which made me sad) so I decided to roll up my new character<\/a> on my co-workers server.<\/p>\n I played for a the free month and after week and posted some thoughts<\/a>, heck I even made a post about a few mods<\/a> I liked.\u00c2 \u00c2 Yet after that month I did not make any real connections with players at my level, and without the social connection I moved on to another game.<\/p>\n Now eighteen months months later, people are discussing the game and I feel as though I am forgetting details.\u00c2 \u00c2 I want to be accurate and honest with my comments, so I figured it was a good time to take a quick peek.\u00c2 \u00c2 Since I am a cheapskate, and I wanted to look at the game from a “new” players perspective, I created a new Station account and installed the trial version of the game.<\/p>\n Installation and launcher<\/strong><\/p>\n First thing to note, the trial took most of a day to download.\u00c2 I suspect its actually the full game installer, and I urge SOE to figure out a way to get players into the game faster.\u00c2 \u00c2 \u00c2 If you want to give eq2 a try, start the updater before you go to sleep or work, and it should be ready to go when you get back to your computer.<\/p>\n Other than the time to update, I really like the functionality of the Station Launcher.\u00c2 One login for all the SOE games, one app to keep them all updated. Handy, so much so that I suspect blizzard will be doing the same thing once SC2 or D3 hit.<\/p>\n Opening screens.<\/strong><\/p>\n There was an epilepsy warning screen, that would not go away on its own.\u00c2 I had to click on it. Bug?\u00c2 I am not sure, but it was annoying.\u00c2 At least it only appeared on the first launch of the game<\/p>\n The cinematic is the one from launch. Hmm, ultimately I guess there is no need to spend time\/resources on a new cinematic for each expansion.\u00c2 It had been a long time since I watched it , so I did and realized that the game does not really match up to the cinematic.<\/p>\n There is no symbolic art style to the game style referenced in the cinematic, which is not “that” big of a deal.\u00c2 \u00c2 Though what I thought was a big deal was the Conflict represented in the movie does not match game mechanics at all (at least from what I recall).\u00c2 I vaguely recall ‘good’ and ‘evil’ characters being able to group, guild, and raid together.\u00c2 \u00c2 If that is in fact the case, then that opening movie just does not match the game at all.\u00c2 *shurg* I will simply skip it in the future.<\/p>\n After all the title screens a dialog box popped up.\u00c2 Keyboard Layout <\/em>selection, huh? What the heck is this?\u00c2 This is really only a quest for EQ1 users or advanced EQ2 players, new players should not have this screen presented in their face before they even make a character.<\/p>\n Character Creation<\/strong><\/p>\n Either I missed a point where a new player gets to pick their display or the game simply defaults to a very low resolution, since I entered character creation at 1024×768 res. which is a bit uglier than I was expecting on my 1920×1200 screen.<\/p>\n Lots of races to choose from. I am not sure what impact this choice will have on my character.\u00c2 Why is there not a short bullet point list of bonuses each race gets?<\/p>\n I had pre-decided I wanted to play one of the lizard races, so I did not worry too much about bonuses and instead looked at how they looked.\u00c2 The Sarnak where a bit to goofy looking for me, so I went with an iksar.\u00c2 \u00c2 I clicked random all a few times, found a ok looking set up and then saved it.<\/p>\n Yep. I love this feature you can create saved sets of race body features so you can apply the same features to other characters.\u00c2 Or come back if you had leave mid creation. Handy.<\/p>\n There are a lot of customization options, not as many as some other games, but more than I think a game really needs.\u00c2 Seriously,\u00c2 most of the time I am zoomed back so far that I can not see another character’s eye color, or cheek height.<\/p>\n Clicked Next, and got the Class list.\u00c2 Umm, ya that is quite a list.\u00c2 As a slightly more advanced player I liked all the options, but the list does not do a good job of helping new players.\u00c2 What I mean is there is no indication of what role the each class is, and no quick list of what the limits \/ bonuses are.<\/p>\n With my Iksar, I wanted to play a melee class, that inflicts lots of damage.\u00c2 My quick look at the class list filtered down to few. Below are quotes from their descriptions and my thoughts about them.<\/p>\n In the end I went with a Bruiser, but one of the first abilities I gained in game was one to increase my threat.\u00c2 That does not sound like an ability a melee dps would want.\u00c2 Nope it sounds sort of “tanky”.\u00c2 \u00c2 \u00c2 Which made me think that SOE should put some role key words in the class description boxes, maybe like; Tank, Melee, Caster, Pet, Healer, Buffer, Debuffer.<\/p>\n Naming and server selection where the last step in the creation process.\u00c2 Of course naming, as in most games , and there is no way to test a name before being sent into the game, if accepted.\u00c2 After a few attempts I was sent into the game with the name “Reflect”; a quick footed Iksar looking for a fight.<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Reflect](\"https:\/\/www.xenopulse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/reflect-lv7-234x479.jpg\" "\\"reflect")
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