EverQuest 2

[Starsman]

So noticed there was no thread for this one, and I have a few questions about it.

Mainly: as a F2P player, can I:

Get a flying mount?
Play player-made-dungeons?
Create my own dungeons?

Additional questions: I am having a hard time finding in-depth information about the dungeon maker. How does it work? Is there some sort of hub? NPCs that dispatch player made dungeon quests? They just start dotting the map? What?

I also recall hearing at some point something about level-adapting... something potentially similar to exemplaring solo... how does it work? Is it players being lowered in level or dungeons being adjusted for the player level?

[JaguarX]

gave all of my EverQuest 1 and 2 stuff away to a friend who have yet to bother playing it. Maybe they will pass it on to someone else that may play but knowing her, she wont.

But what improvements to Everquest 2 over Everquest 1?

[Starsman]

But what improvements to Everquest 2 over Everquest 1?

This is an easy one: EQ2 and EQ1 are insanely different games that only share lore. I bought the game at launch and I think I own 2 expansions, they are just insanely different, to a point where you are better off listing the list of similarities than the list of differences or improvements (and again, goes down to some of the lore and landmarks.)

[JaguarX]

ah I see.

[Starsman]

Im curious: what EQ2 stuff you had? Loging into the game is enough to notice how drastically different both games are.

[JaguarX]

Everquest 1 with all expansions up to 13 The Buried Sea and Everquest 2 Echos of Faydwer, Rise of K. something, The Shadow Odyssey, and Sentinel's Fate. All still to this day in the original box never taken out. I never installed any of the stuff. Everquest 1 was passed to me by a friends who was being restationed but soon after I got part 2 Echos of Faydwer so all EQ1 stuff went into storage with intentions on playing EQ2, and even over the next few years bought the expansion packs, just to give it a try. Not so much into dragons elves and fantasy stuff, but meh, I figured I give it a whirl. But not enough time nor desire to try it. So I pack it up as I was moving and handed the stuff over to a friend who still have the EQ1 collection still in the box never taken out and same for part 2. After a while I was asking how was it, she said she never played it and after the experience of the "other" MMO game, she just didnt have the patience to deal with people online anymore and will never play another game where she had to interact in any manner even just seeing another person, ever again. Her experience went very bad it seems. I only got tip of iceberg of the whole story (ramble). So anyways it sits at her house collecting dust. Ironically I got her to play CO for a minutes since it was solo friendly and by cutting off the chat stuff so I guess she softened her position on seeing other people in game and probably was her frustration talking, but even in game she refuse to say a single word to me or anyone besides one line she used before in COX towards the last year and half "I'm not here to talk say hi be your friend or anything. I'm here to play get it done get the xp and be gone."  so she meant it about not interacting with anyone. Off the subject I went but it's one of those things where things just didnt work out as planned at all with EQ and my friend.

But it still bugs me and sometimes it come up on my mind because I thought maybe it would be good for her but it made it worse, she hates people even more now, and it's all because of me. I got her into COX, I got her into CO, and all it did was create a monster for people around her, sorry for that to anyone that came across her, and just made her even more jaded towards the human population. It was an utter failure on my part. I just had to get that off my chest to remove that dark cloud.

[Castegyre]

EQ2 is a good game if you like to decorate, role play, enjoy holiday and monthly events, are into crafting, or do light adventuring. Unless, of course, you want to pay a sub or throw money at the cash shop. Then you can raid and do pretty much whatever you want in the game.

Once you hit about level 85 you will need unlockers for almost every piece of gear you want to equip as a non-Gold member (subscription level). What items you can use freely, including mounts, is based on what sub level you have and what expansion you have access to. The dungeon maker is both better and worse than mission architect, but I believe you need the Age of Discovery expansion to even use it. And some of the items you can get from it either require a Gold sub or an unlocker to use.

I beta tested original EQ and played it until DAoC pulled me away. I have played EQ2 off and on since launch and still revisit EQ1 from time to time even though I'm an expansion behind I think. They are not the same game in almost every way except being 'old school' designed MMOs at their core and shared lore, as was mentioned.

There are some nice people that play, though, and if you do enjoy some of the things I mentioned above then a Bronze (free) or Silver (one time $5) level membership is totally viable. That game has a ton of content aside from end game stuff to keep most busy for a while anyways.

[McCreed]

Speaking as someone who particularly loved CoH for the variety of roles that one could fill on a team (recovering Defender here) I've spent the past month or so trying out other games, and settled for now on EQ2 because the Bard classes seem to actually be valued for the buffs and debuffs they bring to teams.  The same appeared to be true of other classes in other games (Loremaster in LOTRO, Bard in Rift, etc) but the more I read of forum discussions related to those other games, the less clear it became that any of these classes were valued in anything similar to the way a good Rad or Cold defender might be valued in CoH.  I'm not saying the EQ2 bard classes are going to scratch every former Defender/Corruptor's itch, but I do believe that it's the best hope I've found from all of the games I've looked into.