I played the original EQ from launch till about right before the release of Velious. I was forced to quit due to a lack of play time and for me it was a money sink. I loved the game though. It was new to me, my first MMO (as with many out there).
When I was ready to head back into the MMO scene, I was prepared to go back to Norrath and enjoy it all again. Peer pressure from friends lead me to DAoC, which I remained there for quit sometime, until, right before the release of Trails of Atlantis expansion.
During that time, I also dabbled in Asheron's Call 2, SWG (which is horrid), and many others. I always kept an eye on EQ and it's progress though. Then I decided to finally jump back in. Right before LoY was released, I picked up all the expansions and jumped in. Due to a lack of old buddies no longer in the world and none of my close friends wanted to touch EQ with a 10 foot pole (ex-UO players), I was quickly disgruntled and felt a little left behind due to the massive changes since Kunark to PoP. Maybe too much for me.
I began to follow EQ2 and it progress as well as World of Warcraft's. I was able to get in the beta for WoW, and I was extremely impressed. EQ2 on the other hand, I was out of luck. No one I knew was in the beta either to give any first hand impressions. So I have been in the dark except for what I read here and there, usually rantings of fanboys, and the media, which we all know, they should be used only as guidlines of buying games.
I have purhcased WoW and have had a blast with the title, BUT, I am still keeping my options open. I love the combat in WoW and the solo-ability (due to work schedule, that is a higher priority to me), it's great questing and enough content to mask the boredom of grinding.
I wouldn't want to get left behind the EQ community again and from what I understand, SOE has somewhat learned from their mistakes of EQ1... or least addressed some concerns to the core mechanics. I am willing to give EQ2 a shot. I do have some questions though.
Is the grind as bad as it is in EQ and SWG, or do we have great content to help drudge through the grind? That also leads to my next question... The length of exp between levels, would I feel like I am accomplishing something rather then the slow grind? Now I have always been a big PvE player and my next question is exactly that, how is the PvE content in terms of groups and soloing and can one even solo in this title, beyond being a pet class? Have the devs been keeping their fingers on the pulse of it's gamers and listening to them? Is there instanced dungeons? I tire of camped zones which are rampant in the previous EQ title and in games such as FFXI. How is the quests? Can some of them be solo'ed or is soloing in this title, as a whole, a plain ol' mob grind?
I am the kind of person who is forced to solo a good deal, but I do prefer the group scene, just sometimes I can't just sink the time or effort to that on a daily basis (on a weekend basis maybe). Which how is grouping? Has it been fairly organized as far as the community goes? How are the quests in general? Have they been varied and enjoyable or simple kill tasks or delivery type of thing?
I think you guys get the jist of what I am aiming for. Like I said, I love WoW, but I do want to keep my options open and I want to play EQ2 and not get left behind like what happened in EQ1. Any and all help is apperciated.
Thank you
Edited, Sat Jan 1 01:38:21 2005 by Verse