I've been searching for a new MMORPG for a few days now and I had a few questions for you guys.
1.)How is the combat? Is it press a button and sit there or are there tactics?
Combat is fun. A lot of fun. Comparisons to other MMORPG games I've played. SWG = fun, and for the most part, prss button, sit, repeat. It wasn't that in-depth but when I was in a good group which was almost always, I always had a blast specially in areas like the Sand People enclave or even the giant beast thing which I forget what it was called. Eastern part of Tatooine.
City of Heroes - I thought this was a horrible boring *** game and stoppped within two weeks of playing it. Not only did every zone seem exactly the same, but so did every mob, but with different color clothing. The only cool thing about that game was the apprentice/sidekick thing. Combat in that game was completely redundant.
Tactics in EQ2 are a great part of the combat experience in EQ2. While it's not necessary, it sure makes it more fun, and u can level faster by being efficient with how u tackle mobs. Heroic Opportunities is an example of that. For example, a scout type triggers this, then a fighter uses a certain type of special, then a priest, then a wizard, and wham, a unique special move happens. If you are actually fighting something challenging then you will have to be concentrating the majority of the battle.
Another thing taht makes battle interesting in EQ2 is the xp debt. If you and/or other people in your group/raid die, u share in their xp debt. So there's consequences to not having a good strategy, unlike COH or SWG, where, if you died, nothing happened. While it can be frustrating at times, specially in a group situation, it makes it more worhtwhile to find good people to play with.
2.)Im hearing a lot of negative feedback about the aspects. Is the content enjoyable or is it just a tedious task to get gold?
Comparisons. SWG - sucked in content.. it seemed to only be about leveling, leveling leveling.. while they had an arc here, an arc there.. it was never really interesting and i didnt stay around long enough for the jedi deal. but i heard it was the same thing.. level. level.. level. then ur jedi.
COH - talk about 0 content. freaking boring boring.
In EQ2 there are a million quests to do. You can carry up to 50 missions at a time, and theres a decent variety to the types (ie. killing mobs, harvesting, crafting, finding items, exploring, etc.) Some quests relate to others while other ones are just random, which is fun to me. The storyline is good too, one cause it's not that predictable.. meaning in SWG we all know what happens cause weve all seen the movies. Not the case here.
*edit* - i didnt get my first gold piece until I was around 20 or so.. but that was because I didnt know the proper way to sell. While this is an annoying aspect of the game, if you can leave ur computer on while u go to sleep, sell then. its just a matter of setting prices, click start selling, and check it out in the morning when u wake up. after i realized this and got to a bit higher level quests, I have around 10-12 GP from selling quest reqards i didn't need, from gaining coin from completing quests (completing wholesaler, foresting, or crafting missions dishes out between 20-60 silver pieces each time u complete em, depending on level of ur craft), and selling everything i looted but cant use via the player to player selling.. selling to an npc (how i started) yields maybe 15% of what you can actually get from selling to a player. Once in a while I'll sell something completely random and overprice the hell out of it, but for some reason, someone buys it. It's usually things I can use and dont really want to get rid of, but if someone wants to pay THAT much for it then hey, they can have it. and I mean OVERPRICE!!! enjoy
3.)How long does it take to level? Is it slower or faster than FFXI?
Depending on the grup you are with you can level once every 4-6 hours. If you are with a consistent group who knows what they are doing, you can avoid debt almost always, and just whack away. I personally am not a big fan of powerleveling cause you miss out on so much other stuff by leveling fast. But that's the beauty, the game appeals to so many different types of players, solo, groups, raids, crafters, content types, etc.
4.)I heard this game and FFXI are identical true or false?
no idea, never played it.
5.)What is the soloability? Do you have to group from the getgo?
You can solo through the entire game but you miss out on the following:
1) uber lotts, drops, spawns, etc.
2) quantity AND quality of #1
3) learning about things in the game you'd never know unless you simply ask someone or overhear them in a group
4) some freaking socialization people. i mean, we still are people and need to socialize. try it sometime.
6.)I heard the arena duel area is closed, are they ever going to open it?
from what I hear it's not ever going to happen, although whoever said it above has a good point. every mmorpg implements it eventually. im sure if the demand is high enough they will do it, after all, they want to keep making money, which is what this whole lil fantasy world is about for SOE.
Edited, Thu Dec 30 15:18:05 2004 by Jobago