I resubbed

[Soln]

whodda thunk it

I bailed in Dec.(?) after I hit lvl22 and the grind really kicked in.  However, after quitting everything (and I mean everything) I resubbed last night for casual play.  Hadn't played since Jan.  Never tried Freeport and started ambling around.  The whole betrayl arc looks like a good goal that I'll do to earn an "evil" race playing a Qeynos subclass.  And the "wow" effect took over with turning up the graphics to 11 (since there's no one around Freeport) and downloaded all the voice overs.  Kind of a cool casual play experience.  We'll see.

And I was surprised to see they are slowly implementing PvP.  Maybe this won't suk as much.  /shrug

[Numtini]

I thought you couldn't betray after 20 when you get your subclass?

[kaid]

If you have tried battlegrounds in WOW and liked them than the forthcoming arena pvp in eq2 probably will appeal to you. They just announced that the first big expansion is due out sept 12 and beta registration is starting now.

The biggest things I hate in most mmrpg pvp are big level gaps where level is everything, uber gear inequities and random gankage.

The odd system eq2 is going for in their arenas should help eliminate many of these issues. I am deffinatly looking forward to how these will play out.

I also am glad that pvp will not be just good vs evil. I am getting really sick of having to cool my feet for 2 or 3 HOURS to freaking get into warsong in WoW due to population imbalance.

kaid

[Soln]

I thought you couldn't betray after 20 when you get your subclass?

checked it before starting: limit is 17-18.  You can take the betrayal at 15-17.  They had this mind hopefully.

[Abel]

I also am glad that pvp will not be just good vs evil. I am getting really sick of having to cool my feet for 2 or 3 HOURS to freaking get into warsong in WoW due to population imbalance.

If you actually read the WoW lore you would know the Horde is no more evil then the Alliance (with the exception of the undead race, which is not really trusted by the other horde races as well).

The problem of course is that the average WoW player doesn't seem to get the finesses of WoW's background stories. It seems that whatever you will write up, the playerbase will simplify it into a simplistic black-and-white travesty. I remember in DAoC for example Albion was spinned into the "good" side and Midgard into the "evil" realm, despite nothing in the game actually pointing in that direction.

[Soln]

I also am glad that pvp will not be just good vs evil. I am getting really sick of having to cool my feet for 2 or 3 HOURS to freaking get into warsong in WoW due to population imbalance.

If you actually read the WoW lore you would know the Horde is no more evil then the Alliance (with the exception of the undead race, which is not really trusted by the other horde races as well).

The problem of course is that the average WoW player doesn't seem to get the finesses of WoW's background stories. It seems that whatever you will write up, the playerbase will simplify it into a simplistic black-and-white travesty. I remember in DAoC for example Albion was spinned into the "good" side and Midgard into the "evil" realm, despite nothing in the game actually pointing in that direction.

yes, truly there was nothing more evil for awhile than an Alb Scout with his stealth-fu turned way up.  Then it was Mid shadowserkz.  Last I checked (2 yrs ago), Hibbie was the core of evil with its fields of DOT turrets.  Wheel keeps on turning.

[Murgos]

I'll probably resub for a month when the new character models are introduced, see how things stand after a year +.  I understand that they have made efforts to make it much easier on soloers and not quite as grindy.

[Numtini]

Well, theres a lot more solo mobs running around, but I wouldn't call that entertaining.

I have heard that Splitpaw which is an add on has solo instanced dungeon crawl adventures as well as group ones, but I haven't gotten there yet.

[Mesozoic]

The one thing that I appreciate about EQ2 is that they do have an explicitly Good and Evil scenario.  Sadly, its not Good versus Evil.  Not even in their planned pvp apparently. 

Fantasy is the perfect backdrop for good versus evil, and the moral relativism of WoW and DAoC always seemed like a wasted opportunity.

[kaid]

Problem is good vs evil I don't think would work in eq2 because currently the population imbalance from good to evil is probably even more slanted than in WoW. Not sure why but freeport is very quite compared to qeynos. I think alot of people just do not want to be the "bad guy".


Kiad

[Murgos]

Well one reason people aren't playing from freeport maybe that Trolls and Ogres are ugly.  The WoW NE phenomena pretty much shows that there are a lot of people out there who feel the need to play 'pretty' characters.  That and for some reason Dark Elves all have an underbite.  WTF?

Another is that the starting areas in Freeport are craptastic.  I think it's been shown pretty well that people don't like spending time in zones that are obsessive with the brown and gray color palettes.  Add the whole newb playing area outside freeport to that, sure it looks like African plains lands, but what do African plains lands look like?  Brown, brown and more brown .

Which is a shame because the actual Freeport city zones are, I think, some of the best examples of architecture in a video game ever.  Stand outside the temple and watch the sun rise and strike the stained glass and the shadows move down the wall, and then go inside and watch what happens.  If your video card can handle it it is way cool.

[Kitsune]

As long as you haven't hit 18th level yet you can betray.  I did the Freeport to Qeynos betrayal, and it was annoying but not too arduous, just damned glad when it was over.  There is evidently a huuuuuge population imbalance going on, because Freeport is a tomb compared to Qeynos.  In all my time in Freeport, I saw exactly one high elf betrayer who'd gone dark side; not a single dwarf, halfling, or wood elf to be seen.  But while on my betrayal quest stomping gnolls, I saw an easy ten other folks doing the same quest to go to Qeynos.

It doesn't help that most of Freeport looks like shit.  As in literally, the place is mud brown on the streets, walls, ceilings, everything.  Yay, you can be evil and live in a muddy hovel in a hellhole, isn't that all adventurous?

Qeynos's SEWERS look nicer than Freeport.

There are nice bits of archetecture in Freeport, like Murgos said.  The temple, the mage tower, the high-class spots in town are some bitchin' evil-looking iron towers with freaky-colored fire all around them.  If the whole city looked that good, nobody'd want to leave.  And I vastly prefer the Commonlands to Qeynos's Karanas, because the Commonlands are blessedly flat, very easy to see things a good distance away, while the Karanas are full of hills and trees that make it a bitch to find things.

One hint, though.  If you want to play EQ2, get this program: http://www.eq2interface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=3509  It's a vastly improved map over the default game maps that makes it infinitely easier to find what you're looking for, and that particular version will check with a central server, see if there's any updates to the maps, and download them automatically for you.

[schild]

I'm tempted to start an evil toon, never read any forums, news, maps, item databases, anything. And just play. I've had an active account since launch and never played it (go go stationpass etc). Haven't played Planetside or SW:G either. I'm a tard.

[HaemishM]

Free syphiliis is still syphilis.

[Mesozoic]

Free syphiliis is still syphilis.

...and downloading syphilis is at least more entertaining than the free trial.

[WindupAtheist]

If you actually read the WoW lore you would know the Horde is no more evil then the Alliance

Yeah, and let me restate that everything about the Horde sucks.  We don't get the noble good side, and the ravaging blood-drinking evil side.  Noooo.  We get the good side, and the butt-ugly good side with hooves.  My, is that a population imbalance I see?     If I'm gonna make an orc character, it's gonna be so I can smash humans and eat their eyeballs.  Rape and pillage.  It's not gonna be so that I can, you know, go on vision quests and act all stoic after Whitey kills all my buffalo or whatever.

Shit, maybe that's it.  Make the Alliance the evil side.  Give my pally quests to burn heathens at the stake, to put smallpox in blankets and give it to the Tauren, things like that.  Gimme *something* here.

[Wasted]

I've been thinking about resubing to check out the splitpaw saga which I have been hearing is pretty fun.

Just thinking though, if I had nothing else to play I probably would actually resub but until then, I'll just think about it.

[Signe]

Thinking is free and you probably won't get syphilis from it.

[MrHat]

If you actually read the WoW lore you would know the Horde is no more evil then the Alliance

Yeah, and let me restate that everything about the Horde sucks.  We don't get the noble good side, and the ravaging blood-drinking evil side.  Noooo.  We get the good side, and the butt-ugly good side with hooves.  My, is that a population imbalance I see?     If I'm gonna make an orc character, it's gonna be so I can smash humans and eat their eyeballs.  Rape and pillage.  It's not gonna be so that I can, you know, go on vision quests and act all stoic after Whitey kills all my buffalo or whatever.

Shit, maybe that's it.  Make the Alliance the evil side.  Give my pally quests to burn heathens at the stake, to put smallpox in blankets and give it to the Tauren, things like that.  Gimme *something* here.

Try Undead.  They are decidedly evil.

[kaid]

Yup if you want to play true ebil in WoW the undead are pretty much it. The only reason they are allied with the horde is because if they didn't they would get steamrolled by both sides. They are only in it for themselves and they are quite and truly evil to the core.

kaid

[Mesozoic]

...but so are warlocks, and they're on both sides of the fight.  Heck, the Alliance description in the char creation screen defines the Alliance as anti-demonic.