I searched for new to EQ2 threads, and found many, but none that answered key questions I have now that I've started to look into it:
Little bit about myself first, I played EQ from about a month before Kunark to a month before PoP, I left for Worlds of Warcraft alpha (cousin worked for blizz) and got roped into that till now basically, avoiding EQ2 because I had heard so much bad press on the Fires of Heaven forums, but after seeing my first positive thread on the subject, I did a little research, and the game looks amazing from what I can see, so onto the questions:
1) Zones in this game, how are they done, I hated all the excess zoning in EQ, and WoW only had zoning for dungeons and different continents, so I am curious as to how EQ2 deals with this issue?
2) In cities, how is trade handled? (through bazaar like things, channels, auction house, etc.)
3) Can evil and good races group and communicate?
4) I'm looking to play certain classes, and any info on them would be key: Berserker, Monk/Bruiser (I'm very interested in the difference between these two), Paladin, and some sort of stealthy "adventurer" type
5) One thing that pissed me off in EQ, and I loved in WoW was shields, they had no effect in EQ, and a great deal of effect in WoW, how are they handled in EQ2?
6) I saw something about the Splitpaw adventure pack, that when you zone in the instance is catered to you, that if you're 20, it will be geared to 20's, if you're alone, it's geared to solo encounters... I am curious how true this is and how much of it is just hype
7) I'm going to be playing very very casually (for me) and only about 5-10 hours a week because of work and school, will I see any reasonable advancement on a weekly basis? (this is key)
8) Along with my last question, is soloing viable? Soloing was a pain in the *** even at 60 for Alternate Advancement Exp in Sebilis on my paladin, and wondering if its going to be a pain in the *** in this game, a huge attraction to WoW for me was the fact if I couldn't get a group I could usually manage as good of exp soloing
Alright thats about it for now.
Thanks for your time,
Felen Brightblade
Mil'il Darkblade
Heiroko Saki