I just Grabbed EQ2

[SnakeCharmer]

I grabbed ProfitUI last night.  Was a bit of a shock, but it was SO much better than stock.  I need to learn everything about it though.  In many ways, its giving me more information than I really need.

Is there ANY way to resize the health/stamina/mana bar windows?  On my 24 inch widescreen, they are only about 2 inches wide.  I would LOVE it if I could stretch them the width of the monitor, or at least halfway.

[Sky]

Blah, the default UI is pretty flexible/scalable. I don't raid often, so I don't bother with raid UIs. ACT is a fun diversion now and again, but I dislike parsers because so many demandy people use them to be douchebags.

I was reading that SKs are overpowered for some reason right now. Surprises me, they're always whining pretty hard about being gimpy and un-needed. I like my SK, but he wasn't overpowered when I was playing him last year. I guess it depends on your playstyle, solo group or raid. And what you want to do within that, for soloing you can be straight solo content or you can farm nameds. The SK was a bit weak at named farming because of his slow FD, tough to travel the zone, whereas my monk could leave everything but the nameds and their encounters alive. Most classes are a compromise like that, which I think is pretty great. And then your preferred class style, finger waggly, hidey, bashy, etc.

I played the coercer again last night, got to 16 or 17. Really fun class, the charm and CC is an interesting change to the way I've always played the game. Trying to remember my pet skills, I played a Necro in EQ1. Last night I was experimenting with caster pets, setting a mage pet to /pet ranged seemed to really burn them out of power pretty fast, so I had high turnover as I'd ditch them when they were oop. Cleric pets seemed better at this level range, a few hostile spells but they also self-heal which was nice.

[SnakeCharmer]

Rolled up a warlock.  Was pretty damn fun.  Jacked the settings way up to max, and man oh man, did it bring my computer to its knees when I was in a populated area.  First game that's ever done that...

[Sky]

Yeah, I was about to comment that things had gotten better on that front, but then I had to run around fucking Gorowyn (srsly, what brain-damaged moron designed that layout?) and had a CTD last night. Got the fuck out of dodge and it runs great (as usual). Just save a graphics option profile with lower settings for Gorowyn, Neriak and Kelethin.

Warlock should be a pretty easy mode. My highest level guy being a wizard (single target focus, 'lock is AE focus of the same class) I know a bit about playing them. Basically, get over dying and the class is a lot of fun. But you'll die alot. You're only as healthy as your last root. Master your root and big nuke after level 20 or so, depending on how fast you plan on levelling, maybe after level 30. Other than that, the usual advice: get good food, use charm dolls, yada.

[Numtini]

I was reading that SKs are overpowered for some reason right now. Surprises me, they're always whining pretty hard about being gimpy and un-needed

That's probably the difference between raiding and non-raiding. The one thing SOE has never managed to do is find a real purpose in raids for something other than a guardian as MT and a pally or zerker as OT.

[Draegan]

So I've only played 2 nights since I bought this game.

I hate when life gets in the way of games.

[Sky]

And I've been staying up an extra hour playing the last couple nights. Damn games. But I do love when you get into the gaming zone, it happens so rarely for me anymore. As I was saying, it's pretty cool when a class can kinda change the way you approach a game. With the coercer I'm starting to look at things in a different light, experimenting with pet classes, had a hoeran (sp) zerk last night who was just slicing through stuff, then I made a detour to get the cleric skellie I had the night before.

[shiznitz]

Maybe I should just buy the new expansion and check it out with my wizard once I relearn him.

No reason to buy the expansion if you don't have an 80.

[Strazos]

To be fair, you can get to 80 pretty quickly if you want.

I rolled a Warlock recently, and after coming off my Illusionist....wow. Not accustomed to casting spells that slowly, and not having a combat pet that random debuffs stuns and roots.

[SnakeCharmer]

Rolled up a SK to play around with last night.  Lots of fun.  Much more fun than the warlock.  Feels overpowered with decent ranged attacks and good strong melee attacks.  Ding'd 11 I think. 

Anyway, name is Garrus, on Oasis.

Oddly enough, playing EQ2 makes me think I should be playing WoW instead...That if I am going to play fantasy diku on rails, I may as well play the best.  But EQ2 has some features that WoW doesn't (housing, etc), so there's that.

[Numtini]

Sort of funny, I'm finally raiding in WoW and it just makes me nostalgic for EQ2.

[Kirth]

I was thinking about this game the other day. It's basically the only game since WoW came out that I played for more then a month (WAR, AoC, LotRO, EVE). That being said, after reading this thread I'm patching the client now 

[Sky]

So I got the Coercer to 22 and drove him down to my newbie testing grounds, WC. My monk has farmed the everloving shit out of that dungeon, so I'm pretty familiar with the mobs and layout. Went for the first named, Soulspike, and led off by charming one of his adds. Whole cave of greys jumps me, run for the door. 

Jumped on the monk and went over to BB and messed around in there, a bit tougher than WC due to tons of linked groups packed into tight rooms around the nameds, but goddamn if feign death isn't my favorite thing about EQ (I played a necro and monk in EQ1). Monks just rule for farming.

So I dunno. I like the coercer, lots of fun and charming different classes and having named pets is cool and all, but I've already got a lvl 66 cloth dps. Not sure if I'll put much more time into the coercer.

[SnakeCharmer]

I've been tempted to roll a Monk.

Before that, let me ask you (or anyone else that wants to chime in) this:  I like something that plays fast.  I'm not so much concerned with leveling speed.  By playing fast, I mean fast attacks, quick cooldowns.  I get bored fast with classes that have long wind ups and cool downs.  I don't care if it takes me 2 attacks versus 1 for something else, just as long as it feels...well...fast.

Does any of that make any sense?

[sigil]

well if you don't mind smashing button to keep yourself alive as well as beat bad guys,  it's hard to beat a fury for the mix

although in groups people want me to heal only and frankly that sucks ass. All through runnyeye I never looked at the screen, just targeted falling health bars and boosted them.  Deathfist citadel as well.  but stick me with a duo and it's great.

[SnakeCharmer]

I don't mind the button mashing, in fact, that's what I prefer.  Its more interactive.

Holy cow the Monk was painful.  Does it get better at higher levels...For instance...5?  Jeeze it was slow.

[Hawkbit]

Monk is slow, but 20+ gets a little better.  Plus you can solo a ton of stuff.  Self heal, invis, FD all that jazz.

[Sky]

Monk has good haste, but after the opening burst, it's usually a wait for timers to refresh. I open with about a dozen or 14 abilities, then have to wait for them to refresh, that's the biggest challenge fighting ^^^, surviving the refresh. But you've got FD and mend. With FD, monks are just sooo good. And the spell FD doesn't compare. With AAs, I have my SK's FD down to 2.5min from 5min refresh.

As an example, I run into a dungeon with my monk. Train my way down to the named, FD at his feet. Mobs all go home. Target the weakest mob in the named's group or other group that might aggro when I stand up (or any healer mobs). Stand up, kill the targeted mob. If I'm still jamming on health, kill off a second target. When I start getting low on health or all the adds are down, FD. Rinse and repeat until all adds dead. Stand up and take down named. If things go badly, take a dive and heal up, the stand up and try again.

I'm amazed monk FD hasn't been nerfed to hell, honestly. Which is great, because it's the main reason I like the monk, and he's not overpowered otherwise imo. But to contrast with my SK, I tried soloing a dungeon and with the 2.5min refresh on FD vs 10 seconds or whatever, think about how the above scenario plays out with the SK:

Train my way to the named, FD. Wait for FD to refresh, 2.5m. Stand and take down add, FD. Wait 2.5m. Stand and take next add, FD, 2.5m. Respawn will fuck you every time with the spell FD. Not to mention if you fail FD (mine is master and around 74%, but I fail way more than 26%!), you're probably going to die rather than having another dice roll  for FD.

My little FD rant. My monk is level 23. You can't make a call on ANY class before level 20 imo, and even then sometimes you're still missing class-defining abilities. Went back to my wizard and did all of level 66 (dinging 67) in about two hours of BURNINATION of KoS.

[SnakeCharmer]

-Lots of good info snipped to avoid a massive wall of text-

My little FD rant. My monk is level 23. You can't make a call on ANY class before level 20 imo, and even then sometimes you're still missing class-defining abilities. Went back to my wizard and did all of level 66 (dinging 67) in about two hours of BURNINATION of KoS.

Which is freaking retarded as hell. 

I've never understood this design decision.  Every freakin' class should be fun as hell from to max, and your 'class-defining abilities' clearly presented early and often - as in the first 5 levels.  Having to quest/grind for a few days or weeks before you get to the fun and find out whether or not the class you're playing is for you is beyond stupid.

That said, I ran out of patience with the Monk last night at 14 or so.  Cycling through the attacks then waiting...waiting...waiting...to continue the assault is nothing but a snoozefest.

Maybe the problem is me.  Maybe I've been playing too many single player RPGs and shooters.

[Nebu]

Maybe the problem is me.  Maybe I've been playing too many single player RPGs and shooters.

Not you.  People like what they like.  Perhaps EQ2 just isn't your style. 

On a similar note, I had been playing a defiler the last time through EQ2. I enjoyed the class but found that solo I sucked unless I blew my mastery stuff on offense... then I was worthless to groups.  So I was forced to choose if I wanted to be a solo toon or a group toon.  Even in groups, I was tertiary in role at best and mostly just shielded and debuffed. 

Not sure what I'd play if I resubbed again.  Necro was fun, but I get bored watching my pets do everything.  Enjoyed the brigand, but found groups kicked my ass.  Tanks were alright, but you go broke keeping your gear current. 

Maybe I'll try CoH again. 

[Lantyssa]

When I duoed with a Fury, my Bruiser was a lot of fun.  It was way too easy to drain my power so I had to sit around regening though.

Solo I loved my Shadow Knight (using a legendary halberd) and Brigand the most.  The SK is just a beast unless I'm getting swarmed and the Brigand is incredibly deadly against a single target with all her stuns.

[Sky]

Yeah, I'd really like to play my SK some more, but I want to get my wizard to the cap so I can twink him a little bit. SK is probably my overall favorite EQ2 class, can't count how many times I've surprised people with my skill, saving situations that people thought were wipes. I used to like that in EQ1 with my necro, once the cheap necro heal saved our tank from dying and I laughed my ass off. It's mostly paying attention and knowing how to use all those little side abilities that rarely get dusted off. Like my wizard's mez, I totally forgot I had that spell until last night when I was womping some heroics in Bonemire.

My SK's gear is pretty meh, though. Life of a soloer, I am almost all MC gear that I made, plus a MC club as my main weapon Not nearly enough masters, though I do have a fabled shield I bought. So...burninate to 80 and twink! Of course, this plan has been in the works for three years now and I'm level 67...

[SnakeCharmer]

Not you.  People like what they like.  Perhaps EQ2 just isn't your style.

I like the game.  It has a lot to offer.  But damn.  I suppose I'm just finding it hard to put up with this sort of crap anymore.  I don't mind slow leveling.  But the gameplay pace has to be there.

Maybe it's late onset adult ADHD.

[Sky]

Can't be, I've got the ADHD in a bad (good) way. Not sure what you mean about slow leveling, if I didn't take my time (and I do), I could probably hit 20 in a couple hours with the new amusement park style newbie zones (which I dislike, I feel a lot of the vibe is missing). If you're bored by level five, which is maybe ten minutes? Dunno, man.

[Lantyssa]

Neriak has been the only newbie area to keep me entertained.  I think the large amount of collector items on the ground might have something to do with it though...

The others on Team Evil were only worth one trip through for something new to see.  I've only do the Fey area on the other side, and it's okay, but still only worth going through once.

[Sky]

I just do TD for the phat lewtz. After running my coercer through, I made him some lvl 22 MC armor and only used a couple pieces because the +spell dam stuff on the quest gear was just too good vs quite a bit more int on the MC stuff. Also beats out the legendary stuff you can get in the old world (because my monk just got a legendary drop in BB that sucked compared to MC or TD quests.

[SnakeCharmer]

Can't be, I've got the ADHD in a bad (good) way. Not sure what you mean about slow leveling, if I didn't take my time (and I do), I could probably hit 20 in a couple hours with the new amusement park style newbie zones (which I dislike, I feel a lot of the vibe is missing). If you're bored by level five, which is maybe ten minutes? Dunno, man.

Didn't mean to imply about slow leveling, it's actually quite fast (at least up to the high teens).  Edit:  I don't mind a slow leveling curve as long as I'm doing cool shit and killing shit in a cool way. 

By pace, I mean the rate(s) at which you attack, your spell/special attack timers and when you can use them, that sort of thing.  I'm not looking to nuke a mob in one hit - although that sort of gameplay is wicked fun.  Hell, 3 or 4 attacks is more than fine.  But what grinds my gears is the rate at which you can use them.  It makes the pacing feel awfully slow to me.  A monk would be awesome for real fun if everything were faster.

My attack (with a monk anyway) to an equal con mob consists of cold fist, start the heroic op thing, frontal punch (I think?), stare, then kick, and something else.  By that time, I'm STILL waiting on special timers to rotate back around and the mob has half health - despite I just unloaded 5+ attacks on it.  I tend to wait to use the AoE attack until I need it since it's such a LONG recharge timer.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

[SnakeCharmer]

So I rerolled another 'toon, a Bruiser human, starting in TD.  Not sure if it's just the familiarity coming to play or what, but I've been steamrolling through mobs/npcs.  A good bit more fun than it was before.  I'm now look like a bastardized version of the Green Lantern or a slightly more masculine Robin Hood.  Green tights with silver boots.  Awesome.

I keep waiting on my guy to break out into showtunes or something.

Is there anywhere to get up to date info?  EQ2flames is fairly worthless, and the EQ2 official forums bring a new meaning to the word worthless.  The bruiser forums FAQ sticky over at the o forums hasn't been updated in 4 years, and the last post in it was 9 months ago.

[Numtini]

One of the things I found most frustrating about EQ2 was that since the game has changed so much so many times and there were so many zombie sites that current information was very hard to come by. I found EQ2 flames was about the best spot with the official forums being about equal.

[Kirth]

So I rerolled another 'toon, a Bruiser human, starting in TD.  Not sure if it's just the familiarity coming to play or what, but I've been steamrolling through mobs/npcs.  A good bit more fun than it was before.  I'm now look like a bastardized version of the Green Lantern or a slightly more masculine Robin Hood.  Green tights with silver boots.  Awesome.

I keep waiting on my guy to break out into showtunes or something.

Is there anywhere to get up to date info?  EQ2flames is fairly worthless, and the EQ2 official forums bring a new meaning to the word worthless.  The bruiser forums FAQ sticky over at the o forums hasn't been updated in 4 years, and the last post in it was 9 months ago.

http://eq2.wikia.com/

Layout can be confusing but there are some gems.

[Sky]

I usually use the official boards and flames to read about popular builds, AA and whatnot. Most people are much higher level so I don't care about most of the posts about raiding some jackmob or whatever high-end ability. The official boards = whiny and the flames = jerkoffs, so there's not a whole lot of good discussion of EQ2 without a lot of crap.

The wikia is my homepage for the ingame /browser. Since the last time I played they restructured and added some stupid ad that covers up part of the page. I mostly just use it if I'm stuck on a quest step, I used to use it a lot more for the timelines, but the last few times I just got fed up with the new layout, which really sucks.

Also, I'll add a token gripe about making dungeons so group-oriented, especially for older content. I had four city tasks that required me to go deeper into dungeons than I could comfortably solo with my 67 wiz. I might've been able to swing it after a bunch of dying to clear the mobs, but I said fuck it and deleted the tasks rather than have a frustrating night and massive repair bill. It only took me about a week before that got to me! :) At least we get AA for grey quests now, so it's not a total cockblock, but it does suck not getting the named mob AA, too.

[Nebu]

This is the primary reason that I left EQ2 and WoW.  Great games with a dedicated group get reduced to an amusing pastime for the solo/duo.  I understand why they do this, but it sure would be lovely if you could zone into a dungeon and complete quests/tasks solo albeit for a lesser reward.  The splitpaw method of selecting difficulty would make implementing this nearly trivial. 

[Sky]

Well, I won't beat the horse about my idea for that, I forgot they did something similar in splitpaw. Though even with the harclave buff I got whomped with my sk...

But I disagree about a lesser reward. Soloing != easier. Just less cat herding. In fact, I'd say soloing should get MORE rewards, because you don't have the safety net of healers, tanks and dps 

[Nebu]

I'd be fine with that, but how do you calibrate it by class?

[Sky]

I wouldn't, really. I see it as more players calibrating themselves by the class they choose. I can solo amazingly with a couple classes, decently with others, and poorly to nil on the rest. Since I don't like to group, it never occurs to me to play a Guardian or Templar.