EQ2 BETA

[Rotj]

I haven't played the WoW beta..but I'm totally loving EQ II so far.

[mofish]

Jesus, one of you beta testers make an alias already and post some 1337 beta inf0z for us unwashed masses!

[Thon]

probably the one thing that tempers my nostalgia of EQ, and stops me from reactivating is the memories of downtime. it would take forever to regen mana.

so if eq2 lets you recover hp/mana in a minute and a half, i might have to take a look >_<

[Tacks]

WoW lets you recover ALL mana in 30-40 seconds. Or instantly by using a potion every 2 minutes.

Remember who is making EQ2...the company we all hate.

[mofish]

probably the one thing that tempers my nostalgia of EQ, and stops me from reactivating is the memories of downtime. it would take forever to regen mana.

so if eq2 lets you recover hp/mana in a minute and a half, i might have to take a look >_<

It sure does. No sitting on your ass for 10 minutes anymore. It's really looking good on the surface so far. Im retaining some skepticism, cause Ive been burned before, but its hard not to be excited about it.

I already know I like several things about the game a lot. Graphics, reduced downtime, tons of quests, locked encounters, complex tradeskill system, Any Race Any Class, kickass music (important to me), the cold war between Qeynos and Freeport (ipvp), are just a few. If they can get combat right, Im sold.

[Zanchief]

EQ2 will all be about grinding again. WoW is about quests and instance dugeons. What would I rahter play?

[mofish]

How can you say that when there are 110 xp-giving quests just on the isle of refuge?

[Lyion]

I'll play both and judge for myself.

WOW has not wowed me, and I'm not sure EQ2 will either, but who knows.

I just wish we'd get away from the class/level/item/DPS game shit that no company has the guts to move away from.

[Harrison]

Instancing fucking sucks...one of my only complaints with WoW.

[Tacks]

Instancing is the best part, what's not to like about it? Guaranteed loot, boss battles, no competing for spawns.

[Harrison]

That's 50% of the fun, competition.

I like the other pluses that instancing brings, but Im going to miss the spawn racing.

[Herko]

anyone want to trade a WoW beta account for a EQ2 account? I need WoW

[Donnel]

Got my email today, wife's downloading the client for me as I sit here at work.

[Lyion]

Cool, let us know how it is Donnel

I'm stuck just playing WOW since no EQ account

[Zanchief]

Cool, let us know how it is Donnel

I'm stuck just playing WOW since no EQ account

Fucking whiner. Be happy karma is forcing you to play a better game

[vonkaar]

That's 50% of the fun, competition.

I like the other pluses that instancing brings, but Im going to miss the spawn racing.

whaaat?

I guess you weren't in a 'big' guild during the struggling years.

[Zanchief]

He was in the cheap seats, hoping he could be part of the drama.

[Donnel]

Vonk, don't ever post another thing.

1337 posts is very leet :D

[Martrae]

What I'm hearing on the qt is the same-ole same-ole Sony "working as intended" bs.

From a friend that's in beta.

After spending two hours yesterday trying to craft two weapons, and SOE responding that it is pretty much working as intended and means for crafting to be frustrating enough to remove the casual crafter, I have had enough =) They have made a game that is designed to prevent macroers, KSers, twinkers, and everything else, but are forgetting to put the fun into the game. (For me at least)

While the newbie zone is fun and entertaining, once you leave, the zones become HUGE, and most quests require a 10 minute trek to even get to the next area. Commonlands LITERALLY takes as long to run across as it takes to run from Freeport and Qeynos in the original EQ.

The timesinks are obvious and devious at the same time. They said about a heal bug that happens when you zone "We realize that the bug exists, but providing that our zone times are significant, if you want to use it, enjoy the freebie." It takes from 30 seconds to one minute to zone, and I thought it was me - but that is standard. And zoning is a HUGE part of the game.

And every criticism is met with a "This is intended and no large changes will be made to the game at this point."

I am tired of SOE's attitude of EQ1 was a flawed and horrible game, and have left nothing but the lore and storyline intact - the original game has been wiped in favor of FXII and Horizons type stuff and marketing gimics, etc.

Each area of town is dual shared, and not what you are thinking it would be like. They are all built the same, and have no real distinguishing features (not like Qeynos, where each part looks like the old starting area of the races that share them). In Freeport, they are merely dark slums and every picture I have posted are from the newbie towns.

All the iksar speak with elongated S's (grrrr) and slow speech patterns, so I do not talk to them often. The voiceover is most annoying.

I honestly do not like the attitude SOE is conveying regarding beta suggestions. I think we are only here for bugs - they do not want mechanics imrovement suggestions. They have not changed at all from the SWG beta I was in.

I gave the game three more days, but honestly, it is not fun at all for me. Everything is repetitive - and while (Name Removed) is still playing, and enjoying the game, I am sick of the lack of creativity and sterile systems put in place. Every step of yours is controlled. There is nothing to *figure out* like in EQ1. All NPC text is push button, so you cannot have a unique conversation.

The game feels like a ride at Disneyland. It was great when you were 8 years old, and thought that the rides were dangerous and exciting. But now, when you are older, you realize that they are just the same thing, and there is no real danger at all and everything is poorly contrived puppetry wrapped up in a marketing ploy.

Will you have fun at the game? Most people do for the first couple of weeks, but a large number of people on the boards reflect everything I have said here, and get deleted for not having anything "constructive" to say.

If you are looking for shallow entertainment, and have nothing better to do, this game will sustain you. (Name removed) only has time to play 1-3 hours a day, and enjoys grouping - and this game is perfect for him.

If you like to solo it gets OLD fast, and they recently made soloing even more gimpy than before by making group monsters impossible to solo. SO if you want to solo you are now limited to mobs labeled as *solo* which have 1/4 the exp on them and an extremely rare chance to drop rare items, compare to the frequent drop rate on *group* mobs.

I dunno - when I play a game, I do not want to be able to click a mob, see if it will attack on site, see which friends it is bringing, know what level they all are, whether the game considers it soloable, and know pretty much what it is going to drop. There is also NO faction system in this game. Either mobs hate you or they do not. SO you will know from a distance if the mob is going to chase after you or not.

This game does everything - even the thinking for you.

And unfortunately, all of this hand-holding feels very contrived to me, and flavorless.

It is really a generic-feeling game. While the graphics are outstanding, the rest is plain and redundant. The timesinks are so obvious, and now they have reduced drops to 1 item every 5-6 creatures. So often, you get nothing but a smidge of exp. They also nailed their coffin for me by making even the green group mobs so powerful they cannot be soloed, and the exp for soloable mobs is so stupid, it is not worth my time.

The shared death EXP debt has turned into a cleric and tank blame fest when anyone dies, so groups split up rapidly.

*shrug* I am truly sorry, but I absolutely hate this game.

Sigh, don't know why I expected anything different.

[Herko]

Lyion...TRADE ME

[Martrae]

Heard another couple genius ideas of gameplay.

No regen during battles. No mana regen, no health regen. If you go OOM you are screwed and your party most likely too.

Group xp penalty upon death of a group members.

[Zanchief]

Group xp penalty upon death of a group members.

I don't like the idea of exp penalties to begin with(which WoW doesnt have!) but if you're going to have it I think this is a brilliant idea.

[Martrae]

Actually all that's happening is that if a group member dies it turns into a healer/tank accusatoryfest and the group disbands. All it's causing is bad feelings.

[Zanchief]

They get too much love now anyway, they need more hate. It's karma.

[Donnel]

Heard another couple genius ideas of gameplay.

No regen during battles. No mana regen, no health regen. If you go OOM you are screwed and your party most likely too.

Group xp penalty upon death of a group members.

Not so bad, considering after fights end, I am full health/mana in a few seconds anyway.

Level 1-8ish so far has been like soloing an iksar monk with a chloroplast, you just don't run out of health. Not to say I don't take damage in a fight, because I do, however once my "lock" is over I don't have to wait but a few seconds usually before starting the next fight.

(a lock is when you enter combat with an enemy) You have a lock by your name and so does your foe, that signifies to everyone else that you are engaged with that creature, no healing spells or other buffs can be cast while you are locked. Your Run speed and regen spells shut off during that time too.)

I think what SoE was trying to do with this one is make the emphasis more on each individual combat to make them more exciting, slash and boom filled encounters. Making it so that the incredibly boosted mana/health regen only works outside of combat gives an interesting way of doing so.

When I played wow, I had great regen both for mana and health in combat and out of combat, some monsters early on didn't feel like a challenge at all. In EQ2, I took on some stuff that very nearly flattened me, and was exciting to fight, and when it was over, I didn't have to sit for 20 mins to recover. I had to STAND for about 45 seconds. And I was busy looking at my new skills scroll by while I stood there and didn't even I had regened to full