Any EQ2 Players?

[Kanegrundar]

I'm playing a dwarf fighter (level 7) named Drazen on Lucan DLere (RP server). Not sure if I'll be on much until Monday morning and night of the 15th, but I may be on for a while tonight. Look me up!

Adios,
Kane

 

[Hopping Vampire]

Liddhara half elf rogue on BlackBurrow

 

[Sam Witt]

I've been playing a ratonga assassin-in-training (Skritch, on Lucan D'Lere), so if anyone's looking for some backstabbing fun, drop me a line. So far, it's been a lot of fun, even if the graphics are stressing my poor two-year-old machine to its limits.

Sam

 

[Thanee]

How is the RP on the EQ2 RP server?

Are people actually trying to stay in character?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Kanegrundar]

How is the RP on the EQ2 RP server?

Are people actually trying to stay in character?

Bye
Thanee

Not really, sadly, but I am still in the very early stages of the game, so I don't know what it's like among the established players. I hope to find out some more this week.

Adios,
Kane

 

[Sam Witt]

On Lucan d'Lere (RP Server #2), the mix is about the same as for most tabletop games I've been in for the past 20 or so years, which is:

• 50% hack-and-slay gamers who want to kill stuff, or otherwise advance, and don't bother with roleplaying most of the time. A small portion of these folks will get in your face if you RP, but they will quickly shut up if you RP and you're good at getting your job done. A larger portion of these people will RP with you, provided RPing does not end up in dumb tactical choices or weird group restrictions ("But my ratonga would never adventure with a dark elf, because dark elves ate my pet halfling.")
• 25% Roleplayers who get into character and stay there, often using obtuse language to get around talking about game mechanics.
• 15% Part-time roleplayers who will roleplay along with you, but may break roleplay from time to time in order to more efficiently communicate about game mechanics.
• 10% Roleplay nazis who insist that everyone roleplay as they do, even if the way they roleplay is not accurate as shown by the NPCs of the world. These are the 'elves always hate dwarves' and 'dark elves should be called drow and look I have two scimitars and my name is Drizzzzit' people.

Overall, you only interact with a small portion of the user base during your online gaming time. If your social network is approximately 300 people, that means you regularly deal with less than 10% of the population of your server at any one time, and potentially with less than 3% given that the actual server population is probably 5x larger than the numbers shown online at any given time, due to different time zones and work schedules.

On the roleplaying servers, don't expect to see every one running around making flowery speeches and loud proclamations - most are like people in the real world, trying to get their jobs done or otherwise in a hurry to get somewhere and they don't have time to talk to you.

But, if you find a few friends to hang out with, the roleplaying is as good (or as bad) as you want it to be.

Sam

 

[Felon]

So, how soloable is it? The official FAQ assures solo gameplay will be an option, but the one review I've read so far says there's little to do outside of a group.

 

[Sam Witt]

Soloing isn't bad - my ratonga cleric has very little difficulty soloing things at or near level and has completed a lot of quests (107 or something) without group assistance.

That said, there are things that are a lot easier to do as a group, especially some quests. If you have to kill 20 orcs, and each of your friends has to kill 20 orcs, it's a lot easier to kill orcs together because group kills count for each of you. So, instead of needing to kill 120 orcs for fighting seperately, a group can kill 20 orcs, total, and all get the credit needed to complete their quests.

Solo play relies heavily on quest stacking to achieve decent experience gain - find quests that call for the same victory conditions, so you get multiple quest credits for completing a single set of requirements.

Still, if you solo, there are some things you're going to have a hard time with. Some zones are heavily stilted towards grouping, because they have large camps of mobs that you can't take on by yourself. There are a few upper-end quests that you also can't solo.

Basically, there's plenty to do on your own, but there is more you can do in a group.

Sam

 

[MaxKaladin]

What about archery? One of the things that really turned me off about EQ1 (in addition to the lack of support for soloing) was that you couldn't fight effectively with bows. That was when I played in 99 -- I've heard they made minor improvements since. It was virtually impossible to kill anything with a bow and you spent far more on the arrows than the monster dropped in treasure. Has this changed?

 

[Sam Witt]

Can't say much about archery as none of my characters use it. I have hunted with a few archers and they do all right - their damage is useful as the monster closes to combat and they can move around the edges of combat and fire arrows at the critter once it's engaged.

One thing about EQ2 is that they discourage 'kiting' or anything that looks remotely like it. So, while you can do good damage with arrows, you need to have some way to either make them stand still (mages with root spells are good) or have a party that keeps the things attention.

Sam

ps - After playing WOW for a couple of days now, I agree more and more with EQ2s stance on ranged combat. There has to be some sort of risk involved or missile fighters dominate. The hunter class, for example, can brutalize at opponents at range, which makes hunting up until the low-20s trivially easy. It may get more difficult later, but the ability to fire away for large damage at extreme range doesn't seem very sporting to me.