Tag: EQ2

I’ve played EverQuest II since release. I never intended on making the switch from EQ1 but after picking up the game on a whim I basically never looked back. I have been a strong supporter of the game, even when others shunned it’s numerous flaws. I stood by it when the station marketplace came out, despite the fact that the majority of my friends are against RMT. I made excuses for things like shoddy graphics that should play far better on great machines, lackluster expansions, and changes that no veteran player was a fan of.

Yesterday the game crossed that ‘imaginary line’ that we all have where we say to ourselves “Ok, enough is enough.”

Don’t get me wrong. I adore the people from the community that I’ve met over the years, but the changes that have taken place in the last year made the decision for me. I won’t be coming back. As a long time veteran player of the game I am absolutely disgusted by the changes that have taken place, and it is very obvious that the game is no longer for me. I’m sure all of the new people that are supposed to be enticed by this new market place will be thrilled, and more power to them. It’s simply not for me. What was it that pushed me over this virtual edge?

Today a vampire race goes live on the station marketplace. It’s $20 for the race for your account – or you have a chance to get ONE Freeblood character in February. Without all the fancy do-dads. Anyhow. It’s $20 for the race. It’s $5 for some animations. It’s $25 for a race-specific mount. It’s $15 for a vampire house. That’s right, for the entire “Vampire Package” it will cost you a whopping $65. This is on TOP of the 15/m you pay for a subscription and whatever extra yearly costs you have for things like character transfers, station cash items, and lets not forget the yearly $40 expansion. How many of us even have a free character slot to try out this new race. You can’t even preview the character design in the character selection screen before purchasing it to decide if this race is something you really want to put down more money for.

There are so many other games out there that do their market place the RIGHT way. When I subscribe to LotRO VIP ($15/m) I have no race or class restrictions. I can quest freely, and lets be honest here the majority of the awesome looking appearance gear is also available IN GAME in case I don’t feel like forking over extra cash. PLUS VIP earn 500 turbine points a month, and you can earn turbine points in game.

Wizard101 also has a market place. They have a subscription. I’m not restricted by wizard type or zone when I am paying a subscription. World of Warcraft – for all of the hating that people seem to do on the game is still one of the only games I know of that supports itself by a monthly subscription and DOES NOT have an item shop per say. Sure, they have a very small handful of companion pets that they sell, but nothing more than that. EVE Online may sell PLEX and they also have RMT but I can fly any ship that I want and again I’m not restricted when I’m subscribed to the actual game.

In case you haven’t been able to tell by now I am INCREDIBLY upset over the path that EQ2 has taken. I feel betrayed as a veteran player. Perhaps it’s silly, but again I’ve played this game for 6 years, and supported it and defended it time and time again. I have spent over $5,000 for two accounts over 6 years including character transfers, expansions, Legends of Norrath, and other items,

I just can’t do it any more.

So. Goodbye, EQ2. I really hope EQ1 and Vanguard do NOT go the same rout. I will play either of those games before I even consider returning to EQ2. Sorry for those dedicated readers who enjoyed my EQ2 posts – I’ll be writing about whatever games I happen to find myself in but they won’t be EQ2 related any more. I suppose it won’t be that hard for me as I really haven’t played EQ2 since before Sentinel’s Fate came out. I just wanted a little finality to it.

As I’ve been redesigning my Norrathian Museum one very strong thought has been persistent. These are not simply housing objects being placed. These are memories. EQ2 does something with their housing that I think some players take for granted. Sure, there are carpenter made items for every day pieces of furniture (chairs, tables, etc) but there are so many “nick nacks” that a player can obtain in game and for each one, a memory. Take the screen shot above for example. Each of the enchanted replicas is actually the boss to an instance in game. They are obtained from the daily chronomagic quest and there are around 32+ of these miniatures. Each instance (at least for me) holds a memory. There are the guild hall trophies that come from defeating raid encounters. There are the heritage quests that can be clicked and turned into a housing item. Those ones are even more unique because they hold the memories not just of your adventures in EQ2, but EQ if you happened to have obtained them there.

Each one of the artifacts that makes up my museum came from a special encounter in the game and for that reason alone I treasure my player house more than any other single piece of gear that I’ll eventually out level. I have worked harder collecting the items for it then anything else in game. It’s quite literally an entire history of my character laid out in housing items. 6 years of game time. Every lore and legend weapon, every book, every statue has a history attached to it.

That is what makes housing in EQ2 so special.

It comes as a surprise (at least to me) that I’ve never managed to reach 250 aa (alternate advancement) on any one of my characters. The reason behind this is quite simple, I have 12 characters and I’m constantly switching between them all instead of focusing. Not to mention that 7 month break I just took. I’ve settled on a main (more or less), my defiler. She is currently sitting at 228 aa, and I’ve taken it upon myself to finally max that out. My reasoning is simple – when the next expansion comes in February I don’t want to still be working towards this expansions current cap.

While I technically could simple grind out these points via combat experience transferred into aa, I’ve decided I’d rather quest my way there and work on a few achievements at the same time. I’m attempting to complete the quest achievements for all of the shattered lands zones. Pictured above is Ellithia (the defiler on Oasis) hanging out in Antonica while I try to contemplate the prospect of doing 50 quests within the zone. I didn’t even know Antonica HAD 50 quests.

That’s the problem with the older zones. While Darklight woods, Halas, and Greater Faydark are all teaming with quests and reaching their objectives is quite easy, Antonica and Commonlands haven’t been revamped in quite some time. The quest rewards are sub par, and knowing where to go to even get quests can be a hassle.

Still, there must be at least 50 quests for me to do, or else it wouldn’t be an achievement, right? I’m looking forward to the challenge. I find it slightly amusing that I need 50 quests in Antonica where quests are sparse, but I only needed 10 quests in the Overrealm (TT, Barren Sky, Bone Mire) which has recently received an influx of new quests. I also only need 20 quests in Everfrost which was revamped not too long ago. Ah well. Hopefully it doesn’t take me too long to complete them. We’ll just have to see.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I picked up a pair of new pants for the defiler this week and needed a few more seals in order to purchase a red adornment fr them. I was invited along to clear trash and easy named in Perah’Celsis’ Abominable Laboratory, other wise known as labs. One thing became vividly clear to me. I actually miss raiding. I miss working together in a team of 23 other players to take down a goal that is “larger than life.”

The problem with raiding is that I simply don’t have the time to devote to it. After two hours of doing the same thing, I get bored. I can’t stay up late every night working on an encounter and some nights I simply don’t want to log in at all. As a raider these things are expected of you, because if you don’t show up and do your part you’re letting down 23 other people.

It was a lot of fun none the less. Maybe I’ll get back into raiding sooner or later, but for now, I’ll just have to be content to watch from the sidelines.