I know most of you already read Brandon Reinhart’s blog anyway, but I just wanted to highlight this post he just made about Everquest II. His points are absolutely spot on. EQ2 may have made a lot of mistakes early on, but the game is in a great state right now and Mr. Reinhart’s post highlights some of the awesome things about the game.
Check it out.
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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EQII was always one of the games I wanted to tryout, but never got around to it. I gotta say that after reading the article it sounds pretty good. Who knows if Tabula Rasa doesn’t work out for me, maybe I’ll try out EQII.
Yeah I was one of those who played EQII right at release for a few months and everything he notes was true. Horrible lag and performance issues, graphics and characters models that looked slightly weird, and grindy camping and overcrowded dungeons. All of that was a forumula for me to quit the game three months in.
I played again for a few months in 2006 and the game had gotten much better by that point. I’ve now been back into EQII for about three weeks and I can say it’s even better. I’m having so much fun seeing some of my old stomping grounds, but also really enjoying all the new content in Faydwer that I had never seen before.
Can’t wait for Kunark to release this week and to spend the next few months playing EQII before WAR hits. I would definitely second his recommendation that previous subscribers go back and check it out, especially if you haven’t played since launch or even the entirety of 2005.
If you all come to Nagafen, my guild “Viral Rage” would be happy to have you.
I tried EQ II awhile back on one of the trials and to be perfectly honest the limitations (specifically the level cap and zone limitation) on the trial completely kept me from purchasing the game because I didn’t feel like I had any clue as to what my character was meant to be.The limitations are almost the same as on the WoW trial but in WoW the level cap on my trial was at level 20 by that point in WoW I knew what my role in a group was and what I could expect in the future. I did not get this feeling at all on the EQ II trial (on any of the SoE games I tried actually). I was definately willing to give the game a chance (my guild had basically dissolved and I was not going ot look for a new guild at level 70) and EQ II was my first choice. What little bit of the world and my class i saw I liked but it was too little ot make a judgement on.
One day I hope to give it another go on a less limited basis (who knows maybe I will get it as a gift
)