EQ2 Goes Free to Play too

[Fordel]

I kinda expect all new mainstream MMO's to just include those in the box by default now. Or something like them.

[Rendakor]

Or at least include smartphone apps.

[Kirth]

Just re-subbed (lvl 80 Dirge). took about 45 minutes of running around randomly mashing buttons to have it click how to play again. No interest in the eq2x, should hold me over tell ToR comes out.

[Sky]

I'm planning on hitting EQ2 around the end of next month, using up that 45 day credit. I think my wizard is 74 or so.  Root and nuke should be easy to remember :)

[Kirth]

So I just found out about chrono mentoring. 

[Sky]

I don't know what that means. The last time I played I kept forgetting about the research assistant thing to upgrade spells (even though my wizard is also a sage).

[shiznitz]

So I just found out about chrono mentoring. 

I think that means higher levelled PCs can mentor down to your level to group with you.  This also gives the lower level guy an exp bonus.  This was a great way to play new content that came out after you levelled past it.  A level 80 mentored down to level 40 was also way more powerful than a regular level 40.

[Tyrnan]

So I just found out about chrono mentoring. 

I think that means higher levelled PCs can mentor down to your level to group with you.  This also gives the lower level guy an exp bonus.  This was a great way to play new content that came out after you levelled past it.  A level 80 mentored down to level 40 was also way more powerful than a regular level 40.

It's where you talk to an NPC (chronosomethingorother) and you get choose what level you mentor to, in blocks of 5. I seem to remember there being a special task/dungeon that you could do for them too, think it changed daily.

[Nebu]

Do the dungeons in this game ever have any interesting encounters?  I've been playing a bit and am about level 65 now and the boss encounters are nothing more than tank and spank.  It's a shame.  While the dungeons are amazingly complex and beautiful to look at, the combat is dull dull dull.

[palmer_eldritch]

So I just found out about chrono mentoring. 

I think that means higher levelled PCs can mentor down to your level to group with you.  This also gives the lower level guy an exp bonus.  This was a great way to play new content that came out after you levelled past it.  A level 80 mentored down to level 40 was also way more powerful than a regular level 40.

With normal mentoring, you just need to group with a lower level player. Chrono mentoring is when you pay the NPC to lower your level, ie it is a solo version of mentoring allowing you to go do lower level solo material you may have missed.

In EQ2 this can be particularly useful because doing quests gives you AA experience, and one approach players can take is to gain as much AA experience per level as you possibly can, even if this slows down your levelling.

[Numtini]

My understanding is that you're also overpowered when mentoring, so its common to mentor down and grind out heroic mobs you wouldn't be able to at your normal level.

[Ruvaldt]

The last time I played I kept forgetting about the research assistant thing to upgrade spells (even though my wizard is also a sage).

You can now choose your research and claim it directly from the knowledge screen that contains all of your abilities.  No need to talk to a research assistant anymore.  It was a great change.

I've returned to the game as well, but not to the extended version.  Just playing on Crushbone.

[shiznitz]

Do the dungeons in this game ever have any interesting encounters?  I've been playing a bit and am about level 65 now and the boss encounters are nothing more than tank and spank.  It's a shame.  While the dungeons are amazingly complex and beautiful to look at, the combat is dull dull dull.

It is hard to remember exactly, but there are definitely boss mobs in the higher level instances that have tricks to them.  Still, once you learn the tricks, it is just execution like always in a DIKU.  Solo boss fights have to be plain vanilla so all classes have a chance. 

Bottom line, EQ2 is a tank and spank platform.  No way around it, really.

[Kirth]

The last time I played I kept forgetting about the research assistant thing to upgrade spells (even though my wizard is also a sage).

You can now choose your research and claim it directly from the knowledge screen that contains all of your abilities.  No need to talk to a research assistant anymore.  It was a great change.

I've returned to the game as well, but not to the extended version.  Just playing on Crushbone.

I'm on crushbone as well, name is Htrik.

[Sky]

From the stuff I saw while raiding in Rift, the "tricks" are just gimmicks to break things up, but really no more involved or taking any more skill, than the "tank/spank". Oh, don't stand in the circle. Now everyone jump. Now swing your partner round and round. SASHAY TO THE LEFT.

That's right, "complex" mmo boss fights are lame square dances. I said it.

I forget what server I'm on...the Bat Country server, since I am (was?) the leader, hah. Although for the last several months I played I mostly just used it as a shared bank for my characters, but did have the first bank open to hand out sow totems and whatnot (I'm crafty).

edit - I guess I could've looked. We're (BC) on Oasis, which I think is still Oasis after the merge with Befallen? My 75ish wizard is Caviglia, and I've got a slew of alts, too. Lots of craftards.

[Numtini]

I haven't raided in a couple of years and I don't know what they've done to it since then, but at least what I saw back then compared to Rift and WoW was that raiding in EQ2 was a lot more about playing your character and a lot less about doing a square dance. I think there's a bunch of things going on there, but a really big one was EQ2 had a lot more abilities and they weren't automated, so making choices of spell casting and such were a bigger factor than WoW where everything is automated and Rift where everything is in a giant macro chain. There also seemed to be a bigger diversity in how you could succeed at something.

But it was definitely challenging. And I've yet to see single player combat in any MMO that is.

[shiznitz]

There is no business incentive to make soloing dangerous. 

[Nebu]

That's right, "complex" mmo boss fights are lame square dances. I said it.

I guess I like lame square dances.  Take the Plutonus fight at the end of DSM in Rift.  While the mechanics are easy to master, they require my attention and make the encounter interesting.  What I enjoy about the mechanics of boss fights in WoW and Rift are that they reminds me that I have to look at the encounter and the surroundings.  In EQ2, I spend all of my time staring at my UI so that I don't miss a cooldown.  I don't want to play my UI.  I want to interact with the beautifully detailed game environment that EQ2 has.  

I think there's a bunch of things going on there, but a really big one was EQ2 had a lot more abilities and they weren't automated, so making choices of spell casting and such were a bigger factor than WoW where everything is automated and Rift where everything is in a giant macro chain. There also seemed to be a bigger diversity in how you could succeed at something.

But it was definitely challenging. And I've yet to see single player combat in any MMO that is.

Combat in EQ2 feels slow.  I also have a false sense of decision making in that many of my abilities are similar.  Often, I just hit the one that isn't on cooldown abd that seems to be enough to maximize my dps by parser.  I've read the forums and understand how each class that I play works (I think I have 6 toons between levels 40 and 65), but it seems that many of the abilities I have could just as easily be replaced by a single ability with a shorter cooldown.  As above, I want to play the game... not my UI.  

Perhaps EQ2 just isn't for me.  I like the open world.  I like the sandbox elements (love crafting and housing).  I even appreciate the classes (though many of the pairings are nearly a carbon copy... more redundancy).  I just enjoy a bit twitchier game.  Might also explain why I gravitate toward pvp in these games.

[Ruvaldt]

I've returned to the game as well, but not to the extended version.  Just playing on Crushbone.

I'm on crushbone as well, name is Htrik.

Neat! I mostly play Snarkles, a Halfling necromancer.  I have a max level troubador named Aerieon as well, but that one mostly just gathers dust.

[Simond]

GU61 went live: http://eq2.zam.com/wiki/GU61

WARNING! WARNING! WALL OF TEXT BEHIND SPOILER!

tl;dr (from the notes themselves):

*    All dungeon and overland loot items have been re-itemized. What does this mean? It means loot everywhere should be legitimate for the level it drops for, no matter where you go now. Go explore some nooks and crannies you haven’t seen for a long time and get off the Golden Path! The loot's good again.
*    The Velious saga continues as you journey past the Citadel of Drunder to the Plane of War itself in a new dungeon and raid, and a continuation of the Signature quest line.
*    New dynamically-scaling dungeons have been added. These scale to your group between levels 60-90 and are designed as new single group heroic content that’s more re-playable. We’ll be watching your reactions to these initial two dungeon experiments and improving on these in the future!
*    The new House Rating System lets you publish your house so other players can rate it, as well as adding house leaderboards, easy access to housing, and more! (And we increased House Ownership limits to 20, instead of 10!)
*    If you ever wanted to show EQII to your friends, it’s now very easy. Push a button, record, and post your footage to YouTube with our new Video Capture system.
*    The Eastern Wastes area in Velious now has a lot more overland content added to it (the new quests start at the Ry’Gorr keep).
*    A big revamp of the class AA tree so that it's easier to select the AAs you want, and adding more utility to the AAs that were weak previously.
*    Many stats have been un-capped so that they have meaning as your characters progress. This doesn’t result in massive power increases, but it does let all stats continue to have meaning as you earn new items and power. Additional mechanics changes were made to increase power for many classes. (See below for things like spell auto-attack, flurry improvements, etc.)
*    Tradeskillers now have their own AA tree to chase!
*    And yes, Fae and Arasai now have a level 85 quest that can unlock their ability to FLY!

Not your typical patch for a seven year old game.

[Hawkbit]

What is this? 

BEASTLORD PRELUDE EVENT #1

[Nebu]

I thought that beastlord was the new player class being added in the next expansion. 

[Strazos]

I had some good times in EQ2...I think it was 2008, when I brought along an Illusionist up into the 60s.

[Kirth]

so the gear upgrade was  I went from having to use most of my CA's and songs in a fight to basically 2 shotting things.

[Zetor]

Hm... I do have a mid-level illusionist (from 2006) kicking around. However, I read that enchanter types are buffbots now, and cc isn't necessary. c/d?

[palmer_eldritch]

Hm... I do have a mid-level illusionist (from 2006) kicking around. However, I read that enchanter types are buffbots now, and cc isn't necessary. c/d?

I last played a couple of months ago, and had a level 90 illusionist. Their main strength is buffing, but they make such a massive difference to the DPS output of the group that they love having you there, and that's pretty cool. Crowd control is useful only in a few specific encounters, such as boss fights where you are faced with three bosses at once. Basically, it's not needed most of the time. What illusionists can do, however, is to stun and stifle enemies (ie, the one you are actually killing) which not only helps groups but allows you to kill, slowly, some heroic stuff on your own.

Illusionists can also put out decent DPS now. They are a fun class.

[Soln]

is there any kind of LFD tool now?  I don't remember as of last year the LFG tool being that good, which was mostly about population.   I'd love a F2P sub to solo explore that game whenever I want, but I also want to see some of those dungeons at least once.

[Simond]

It should be in the next patch. Technically, it should have been in this patch, but they couldn't get it working in time.

[Modern Angel]

Wait, they're actually putting in LFD?

Hrmmmmmm

[Numtini]

Yeah, LFGrief, random assholes ragequitting or kicking you out of a group if you're not overgeared by at least 3 tiers will be mandatory as they are in WoW and Rift. Rah.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Actually, I've had very little issue with PUGs (and even the few PURs I've been on) like that.  Granted, I've not been into the most recent dungeons/content because I don't have DoV, but overall random groups in EQ2 seem much more sane than anything I ever saw in WoW.

[Modern Angel]

Yeah, LFGrief, random assholes ragequitting or kicking you out of a group if you're not overgeared by at least 3 tiers will be mandatory as they are in WoW and Rift. Rah.

And I'm adamantly opposed to LFD in those games because they don't have population issues. But in a game with a dwindling population? Yeah, I'm for it. That might be enough for me to check it out.

EQ2 is still the game I want to love so badly.

[luckton]

Yeah, LFGrief, random assholes ragequitting or kicking you out of a group if you're not overgeared by at least 3 tiers will be mandatory as they are in WoW and Rift. Rah.

And I'm adamantly opposed to LFD in those games because they don't have population issues. But in a game with a dwindling population? Yeah, I'm for it. That might be enough for me to check it out.

EQ2 is still the game I want to love so badly.

WoW didn't have a population issue at the time, but it did have the issue of "It takes an hour+ to form a group due having to rely on chat channels and random luck", along with a number of other social and archaic issues.  LFD may have it's problems, but it's a vast improvement over the past.

[Modern Angel]

I disagree but my intent isn't to rehash arguments that I was tired of having nearly two years ago which aren't going to change my mind anyway. In *this* game, LFD may prove a godsend.

[Sky]

So many cool new additions to the game...maybe too many to get back into it cold turkey.