Here I come!

[WayAbvPar]

Too much time off for the holidays, so I decided (with the help of Furiously and several beers) to give EQ2 a try for at least the 14 day trial. I will probably go with a Coercer, since that is the closest to my EQ 'chanter (still one of my fav characters I have ever played). I keep hearing how much more casual friendly things are these days, so there is hope I may subscribe.

What server is everyone on? Is there still a BC guild? How much plat do I need to buy?  Tell me everything I need to know- download should have finished late last night, so I will be up and running after work.

[Sauced]

 

Most people play on Oasis.  Bat Country is more like a concept than an actual guild, but chances are there will be someone around.

eq2.wikia.com is very useful.  EQ2Maps plugin from maps.eq2interface.com is pretty much a must have if you get into the game and decide to play more than the free trial.

[shiznitz]

I don't know if the 14-day trial includes RoK these days, but the newbie loot as a sarnak kicks the pants off the loot everywhere else, or so I am told. If you don't want to go sarnak, then faerie (evil or good) or dark elf and then you can go to Timourous Deep before level 10 and partake in the loot goodness anyway. There is a griffon to TD on the beach west of the Butcherblock docks.

Most of the f13 crowd has/had characters on Oasis, but there isn't an active contingent right now. I am on Permafrost which is a civilized server, not that Oasis isn't.

[Soukyan]

On Oasis, but not terribly active.

Also, I think any neutral race can start in Timorous Deep. I started an Erudite Coercer and was able to start there. It is a good idea to do so, as mentioned by others. Good loot, good quest progression, cool zones, etc.

[Sky]

     

BC is on Oasis. We're never really 'active', though we did group a bit when Tragny and Gimpyone were playing. Right now it's just me and Artificial Kid, Chorulle took off (I assume to join an active guild since he's into doing HQs and stuff, can't blame him a bit). We can all invite, so just /w all bat if you decide to pick Oasis.

There are others who play other servers, you might be better served going with them and their 'real' guilds   BC is mostly just a solo chat room. I'd do more grouping, but I don't know how much I'll play at any given time. AK and I were both on xmas eve and I was going to ask if he wanted to group and five minutes later the doorbell rang. Some days I think I'll be on for a half hour and end up playing for three. I just don't have a good lifestyle for grouping

Start in Gorowyn if you can, the 1-20 quest rewards are far better than previous starting areas. I still like Neriak best, though. Dock access to Nek and TS is the best.

[WayAbvPar]

I am probably going with a Night Elf, so Tim Deep is doable, no?

If there isn't a large presence on any server, I might just stick with AB so Furiously can mentor me and buy me shiny phat lewts.

How long/difficult is it to get UI mods working? Any others I need beside EQMaps?

[Sauced]

Night Elf

 

Maybe you should stay in Teldrassil!

How long/difficult is it to get UI mods working? Any others I need beside EQMaps?

They are fairly trivial.  You can find a bunch of UI mods, a lot of people swear by them, but I don't mess with anything other than maps.

[WayAbvPar]

Night Elf

 

Maybe you should stay in Teldrassil!

How long/difficult is it to get UI mods working? Any others I need beside EQMaps?

They are fairly trivial.  You can find a bunch of UI mods, a lot of people swear by them, but I don't mess with anything other than maps.

Doh! I have been WOW-ized. DARK Elf.

I will now go kill myself in shame.

[shiznitz]

The default UI is really easy to adjust yourself. I wouldn't bother with a thrid party UI other than EQ2Maps just for the free trial. You won't have enough abilities to fill even one hotbar until double digit levels anyway.

[Sky]

I also use the POI plugin that coincides with EQ2Map. SO much easier than playing the 'where does a Tallon forager spawn?' game. The default UI rocks imo, very friendly to my fixed-resolution widescreen setup. I guess there's one place EQ2 whips the shit out of WoW, I hated WoW's UI and also the need to go hunt down the 3rd party UI updates every time WoW patched (which of course wasn't often  )

If Furi is going to hook you up, go for it. I can do a few things for ya, but I'm broke and the trades stuff I can help with isn't much until later levels 15+ (like SoW totems), probably not enough to help during the trial period.

Sauced has it pretty well, BC is more a concept than a guild. We don't really do any of the nonsense 'normal' guilds do. Like I said, when trag and gimp were playing we did some stuff but mostly there aren't enough people or enough organization to do much, and level disparity also plays a role.

[DarkSign]

Definitely start in Tim Deep...the xp there is the best by far of any of the less-than-20 zones.

I play on Nafagen (PvP server)...if you're interested.

[tazelbain]

Xp in TD is about the same as DL but TD's drops are much better.  But really you can do the second half of both, regardless of which one you start with.

[Chorulle]

      

BC is on Oasis. We're never really 'active', though we did group a bit when Tragny and Gimpyone were playing. Right now it's just me and Artificial Kid, Chorulle took off (I assume to join an active guild since he's into doing HQs and stuff, can't blame him a bit). We can all invite, so just /w all bat if you decide to pick Oasis.

There are others who play other servers, you might be better served going with them and their 'real' guilds  BC is mostly just a solo chat room. I'd do more grouping, but I don't know how much I'll play at any given time. AK and I were both on xmas eve and I was going to ask if he wanted to group and five minutes later the doorbell rang. Some days I think I'll be on for a half hour and end up playing for three. I just don't have a good lifestyle for grouping

Start in Gorowyn if you can, the 1-20 quest rewards are far better than previous starting areas. I still like Neriak best, though. Dock access to Nek and TS is the best.

I actually did leave BC for those reasons (was getting harder to do HQs on my own and activity had dropped off to the point I had not seen anyone in weeks).  However, I quit a day or so after out of burnout and am playing WoW currently on Twisting Nether.  I imagine when I burn out on it I will end up back in EQ2, either back in BC or joining a more active guild.  I will definately be on Oasis tho, since I really like my character there and would go back to him before any of the others I have

[WayAbvPar]

The trial forced me to start as a Fae (or the  equivalent). I made a throwaway Fae Templar on Oasis, then went back to the character creation screen to make my real character. I chose to start her in Neriak, which prompted a 70 minute download (on top of the 12+ I went through yesterday). Got in, played around a bit, and leveled to 7 while waiting for Furiously to come pick me up and guide me to Tim Deep. Fur showed up, I followed to the edge of the zone, and was told I had to purchase EQII in order to leave. WTF?

Like the weakwilled sop I am, I dropped $15 on a 1 month subscription, which then prompted more downloading. Sure would be nice if they would open the spigot a bit on their end- 15+ hours of downloads doesn't scream "Instant Action" to me.

If anyone wants to look me up, I am Anyaala on Antonia Bayle- Dark Elf Coercer.

[Furiously]

I would have plopped $39 on the latest expansion for everything and a free month.  Or maybe you don't get a free month now.

[Montague]

I would have plopped $39 on the latest expansion for everything and a free month.  Or maybe you don't get a free month now.

Yep, you do.

You also get a metric buttload of rewards

[WayAbvPar]

I wonder if it will still let me do that? I will email support and see.

Question re: trainers- when do I need to visit one? I seem to get spells automagically as I level. Do the trainers sell the higher versions (adept/master, etc)?

[Sauced]

They only sell App II versions, so you never really need to use them.  You don't stop getting spells automatically until 51, and by that point you can easily afford the Adept I versions from the broker for 4-6g, at least.

And, uh, apologies in advance for the response you are going to get from support.  They really fucked up the whole "steering new users to the only version worth buying" thing.

[WayAbvPar]

Charming. I am chatting with "TSR Danny L." as we speak. /crosses fingers

[WayAbvPar]

Chat transcript-

TSR Jack Y: Hi, my name is TSR Jack Y. One moment please, while I read your question.
Unknown: I was speaking to TSR Danny L. And got disconnected...any chance we still has my info?
TSR Jack Y: May I know your issue?
TSR Jack Y: May you elaborate your issue please?
Unknown: I had a trial account last night for EQ II. I decided to subscribe so I could go out of the zone and adventure with my friends, so I signed up last night. Today I was advised to purchase the latest expansion (ROK) so I could A) get all the content, and B) get 30 days of play time included in the price (for new accounts)
Unknown: I need to know how purchase ROK and apply the 30 days to my account, and then be billed from 30 days forward
Unknown: my station account name is xxxxxxx, and my name is xxxx xxxxxxx
TSR Jack Y: You can buy ROK from store or  through digital download.
TSR Jack Y: A 30 day free trial period is available on all NEW game subscriptions created with both the retail CD-Key and our Digital Downloads.  In order to take advantage of your free 30 day trial period, you must first create an account and then choose a method of billing. You will then be required to either enter valid billing information via Credit Card or use a valid Game Card to activate the 30 day trial for the account in question. When your billing information or Game Card is validated, your 30 day trial period will begin. You will not be billed until after your 30 day trial has expired.  You may cancel the account while within your first free month and not receive a charge to your Credit or Debit Card. If you entered a Game Card to activate the 30 day free trial, the Game Card time will take into effect once the initial 30 days have ended.
Please note that all initial 30 free days are only for newly created accounts.  Also, once a game card has been registered to an account it cannot be removed and is non-refundable & non-transferable. 

TSR Jack Y: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Unknown: If I purchase ROK, will the 30 days be applied to my account automatically?
Unknown: it is new as of yesterday
TSR Jack Y: In order to take advantage of your free 30 day trial period, you must   choose a valid method of billing.
Unknown: I have already established a billing method
Unknown: I am trying to avoid having to pay for my initial month of play twice- once via subscription and once via expansion purchase
TSR Jack Y: As I told you that 30 days period is only available on new account.
Unknown: So you are telling me that by activating an account 14 hours ago, I am not eligible for 30 free days?
TSR Jack Y: I'm sorry if there is a delay in response.  Thank you for your patience.
TSR Jack Y: I will suggest you that you will not get 30 days free day on your account,But as we value the customer we will grant you 30 days.
Unknown: I would appreciate that. How do go about getting everything set up? I am logged into my station.sony.com account on another browser as we speak.
TSR Jack Y: You should first register the ROK on your account.Then contact us back we will grant you 30 days.
TSR Jack Y: You can buy ROK through your account.
TSR Jack Y: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Unknown: I have just purchased ROK will we spoke. Please have whoever is responsible credit my account, and then I will have no further questions. Thanks!
TSR Jack Y: Ok I am escalating your issue to concern department after this chat is over.They will grant you 30 days manually.
TSR Jack Y: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Unknown: That is it. Thank you for your assistance.

So it sounds like I might actually get credited. Any normal company would do it without batting an eye, but it seems like a major step for SOE.

[shiznitz]

Boy, you have to use a hammer to get them off script.

[WayAbvPar]

Yeah, I could almost hear the cutting and pasting as I waited for the responses. I tried to narrow things down so I could get an actual ANSWER. It was like pulling teeth.

[Furiously]

I'm still impressed they didn't make you create a new account and level your character to level 6 again!

Think how far we have come from "I cannot help thee."

[WayAbvPar]

Level 7, I'll have you know!

Looking around, it seems I was going to need ROK to get to Timorous Deep anyway, so this was bound to happen. I wonder how much downloading I will have to do before I play tonight...I am guessing 4 hours. Wheeee.

[ArtificialKid]

As he already said, Sky and I are the current backbone of BC (meaning we are too casual/socially retarded to join a real guild).  Just wanted to add that there is a 'f13' chat channel on Oasis as well since we're kinda scattered.  My char is Fizzt.

Uh also I've been playing around with LoN lately, once you get the ruleset down (having only played mtg before) it's pretty fun.

[Sky]

Eh, for me it's not that I'm too casual or socially retarded. I find most guilds I've been in to be socially retarded, I don't really care for online chat culture, even putting up with it to get shiny stuff and see dungeons.

Besides, we're almost guild level 19! Thanks to Cho for his time in BC, adding a ton of HQ points and to trag and gimp for being super craftwritards. (I have contributed both a bunch of HQs and craftarding like crazy, hehe). Haven't been writarding much because the one craft I've been working doesn't need it (sage). Planning on doing some tailoring, so I'll probably bump us up to guild level 19 by next week. Then maybe clean up some old HQs and try to push for guild level 20 early next year. This should probably be in BC Notes :P

[WayAbvPar]

I very well may play a character on Oasis as well. Will clamor for an invite when that happens.

Finally got everything patched overnight. Loaded it up this morning and tried to run to Neriak. Crashed (exception error) after about 20 steps. Started again. Ran to the gate of Neriak, tried to harvest something on the side of the road. Black screen, can still hear game, but no video at all (this has happened more than once already). Rebooted and came to work.

Sure hope things are a bit more stable when I go to play tonight.

[Sky]

I have to notch my graphics back in a few places. Neriak is one of the worst, also Qeynos Harbor, Gorowyn and sometimes Kelethin. Luckily, you can save and load option profiles pretty easily, though there is a bug with shadows in EQ2 that seems to be unbeatable (you'll just lose shadows at some point, humorously happened to Scott H when he was demoing Kunark).

I can run with everything cranked in almost everyplace except those I just mentioned, and for some reason the docks at Zek.

Mine's usually a memory problem (app requested x amount of memory with y available or whatever), so it might be something different...

[Rendakor]

I also have nasty glitches in Neriak. Had to scale back to Balanced settings, when i run in Very High Q everywhere else. Doing VHQ in Neriak gives me an out of memory error.

[Wasted]

To stop crashing in the 'hotspots' (Qeynos harbour, Kelethin etc) I've created a setting profile where, as well as turning shadows off, I have most of the character model sliders right down.  Haven't crashed once now since doing that.  I use the alternate models for all races as well.  Before doing that i was often getting the app required memory blah blah error

[Rendakor]

I haet the alternate models. Too animu. Also, I played at launch and got used to how the characters looked, so "change is bad" factors into my opinion.

[DarkSign]

Woot! My dark elf inquisitor has hit 40. Im really digging this character...so much that I left my Coercer at 16. That's something for me...since my Ench was my favorite in EQ1.

[Sky]

I was going to play for a while sunday. I did some craftarding saturday night, which is endurable because I use it for critical listening time. Had my 5-disc Big Bill Broonzy set loaded in the ipod, jamming out. Actually crafting is VASTLY superior to any form it's ever been in, but it's still too long and boring for characters who can't make spells and have to grind writs (like my tailor, daddy needs a new robe).

Anyway, hit 35 tailoring, ran out of supplies (over 200 roots, and hey, you can stack to 200 instead of 50 now, woohoo!). Hit up Zek sunday. Had about an hour to groove to Big Bill and hoover up some roots and pelts. Except there were 3x as many people as normal in the zone and it was desolate. Nodes were scooped up by big-guild twinks (Ka Tet of Honor, pshaw, honorably running up to a node I'm harvesting and sneaking the last harvest, mebbe), riding steeds every one; or by level seventy-something people just brushing past the mobs the rest of us had to contend with at level-appropriate...err..levels.

I decided it was a waste of time to try and compete with these guildtards, so I headed back to the docks. There was a level 35 paladin hitting whiote-con stuff (non-crit) for more than my level 45 SK with mastercrafted gear could hit a white-con for.

There are days I forget to ignore guildtards and how the game is set up for them. Those days I anger. And log off and play guitar.

[WayAbvPar]

Got tired of dying over and over again, so I bagged my coercer in AB and started a Ranger (Liryk) on Oasis. Level 5 now...watch out!

[Jayce]

As a maybe interesting side note, I work with offshore (read: India) consultants, and that chat log has India written all over it.  It's the same minor grammatical errors and idiosyncrasies.

Maybe that's well known already, but I thought it was sort of funny.