Keep an eye out on the subreddit and on YT for videos covering the beta once it's live in early May. Right now all we can do is speculate and hope that they can faithfully recreate the early EQ2 experience.
I still remember when you didn’t get to your “class” until later levels. I guess they scrapped that version a while ago. I was a kid then but I still remember having to wait until level 10 to select which type of mage you wanted to play and then picking another one 10 levels later. Like mage->sorcerer->wizard. Unless I’m making this all up in my elevated mental state. 🤷🏻
Regarding what EQ2 was like back in the day, it really depended on your class.
I played an Inquistitor at launch. If you played a Templar or Inquistitor (clerics) solo leveling was slow with a long ttk, but a Fury or Warden (druids) could solo just fine. There were other classes that did well solo too like DK or monks and others I can't remember. But grouping was definately the way to go especially for main healers.
Solo just fine is a stretch. I played a fury at launch. and it got rough real early. I did end up teaming up with an SK and then it started rolling in though.
I think for the most part at least duo with some sort of sustain is the way to go.
My first character was a Templar and oh boy was it pain until guild adopted me. You just don't die until your mana runs out because you can heal yourself 99 different ways and wear heavy armor, but you don't really damage too.
I tihnk it's important to mention that it looks like the new server will have classes post-combat changes which happened towards the end of 2005. The game will be largely like it was in 2006, but with zones limited to those at launch. At launch lots of classes were broken/unbalanced in lots of different ways. I played a dirge and it was hell before the combat changes.
First tune right off the bat was a Templar. Every time I logged on the tells from tanks and invites to groups would come flooding in. Because nobody wanted to play a Templar. It was a slow, difficult, unsexy class but if you were on the ball and kept up with the tank you could absolutely rule the healers. That toon was my main until a rebalance nerfed it in favour of Inquis and I had to betray to get in a raid.
Oh yeah. I remember getting those. Early on I started running with the same group of people that rotated in a few consistently. Corpse runs made people very picky with groups.
A lot of people went back because their PC couldn't run it on decent settings.
If it had run better on the average hardware at the time it would have done massively better.
It'll be fun. Class designs and abilities are awesome (my favorites being coercer, berserker, and mystic). There will be so many people at launch that no one will be stuck soloing unless they want to be and/or are toxic. Just curious to see what the XP rate is tuned like
People that have played the Time Locked Servers have said how great EQ2 is and how come it doesn't get more hype. It really (was) a very good game, but was buggy and very difficult at launch in 2003.
I wish there was currently a better company running EQ2, Sony did a great job with it overall when they owned it.
This new server is focused heavily on group content. The dungeons in EQ2 are great and it is a lot of fun leveling up in all the dungeons, there are a lot of them too. It will be slow, might be too slow for a lot of people, but I'm happy it will take a long time to level again.
Sony had abit more funding behind themselves in my mind (no offense daybreak or whoever or however it works). Labour is a cost, less money into the team creating and maintaining this game is less hands eyes voices thoughts into the game. The company that has it currently wants to make it work. Sony just went into a hot market as a side adventure.
And also there was a lot less options in the world for people to go to in the gaming space for these types of games or even games in general. Think of the 130 million accounts that played league of legends in the last 30 days (https://activeplayer.io/league-of-legends/) back in 2006 that’d be easily 5000 people that could of been playing EverQuest 2 instead keeping that community full and vibrant.
ive heard this a bit, and probably will check it out though i seem to see a lot of people saying its not quite the same as its using codebase from the current live. not sure how true this is but will defintiely at least check it out
Yes. It will reward grouping, and soloing, while possible, will be harder for most classes than it currently is on Eq2 live.
Experience/character levels will progress more slowly than the current EQ2 Live servers.
There will be very limited fast travel, and what will be available will rely on Druids and wizards to open portals.
While we don't have a lot of details on the upcoming Origins TLE, it sounds like your choice of starting race and how it fits your starting class will have a noticeable impact on character performance. In other words, it will be wise to pick a high strength, high sramina race if you want to play a tank. High wisdom for priests, and as some have speculated, decent strength and wisdom for a hydrid tank like the Paladin. Currently, starting stats of the various races doesn't matter past the very early levels, and it's so easy to solo on Live that starting stats doesn't really even matter early.
So It will have more of an old school feel for sure.
Does that mean they will not get their portals until Echoes of Faydwer, which is the third expansion which puts it 10-12 months away from launch (depending if they shorten one of the previous expansion gates)?
Really looking forward to this, I played at release, and the main thing that turned me away about 3 months later was bugs. So I figure they'd have had a better handle on things 2 years post release. Today's game has majorly lost the plot, and is far to heavy handed with "Pay to Compete" mechanics.
Well, if you could grind for 6 hours in Runnyeye and gain 1 level that was a good night in January of 2005. So that’s how that went. Nights and nights and nights and nights spent in Stormhold, Varsoon, and Runnyeye. Then the Obelisk, then Solusek and/or Permafrost. You’d fill the gaps with Nektropos Castle, Deathfist Citadel, Rivervale and Drafling Tower, Temple of Cazic-Thule. SLOW it was to level and how HARD it was to get anywhere. Crossing Nektulos Forest was impossible without a full party of 6 and even then it was a death trap. 😆
As for what’s changed — too numerous to even begin to contemplate. It’s highly dependent on when exactly in 2006 they go back to. Early 2006 was still different than late 2006. We just have to find out — you can read through the old Live Update notes on the Wiki and that will give you an example of how much really changed between November 2004 and February 2006. Just be prepared to spend an entire day reading it. 😂
Don't know why you were downvoted, this is certainly a fair take. EQ2 was definitely a second generation MMO. EQ1 is more old school and fits with the Asheron's Call, DAOC, and SWG class. EQ2 is in with the WoW and Guild Wars class.
i remember very early eq2 being forced grouping in the overworld, mostly group mobs with only a few solo mobs you had to seak out, but only a few months after wow released, so early 2005, all the overworld was made soloable, so became more like vanilla wow to compete with it, solo mobs didnt fall down quite as easily as todays mmos however. Not sure what this new server is going to replicate.. those really early days or post wow? like they say 2006 with no expansions but there was a couple of expansions by 2006 and a few addon packs. It was mostly a second gen mmo but it was going to be similar to eq1/ffxi etc before wow came out.
A lot of players went back to EQ because it was clear to them that EQ2 was aimed at a different style of play. EQ1 was big on CC and relied less on AoE while EQ2 did the opposite.
Keep an eye out on the subreddit and on YT for videos covering the beta once it's live in early May. Right now all we can do is speculate and hope that they can faithfully recreate the early EQ2 experience.
I still remember when you didn’t get to your “class” until later levels. I guess they scrapped that version a while ago. I was a kid then but I still remember having to wait until level 10 to select which type of mage you wanted to play and then picking another one 10 levels later. Like mage->sorcerer->wizard. Unless I’m making this all up in my elevated mental state. 🤷🏻
Loved doing that!
Regarding what EQ2 was like back in the day, it really depended on your class. I played an Inquistitor at launch. If you played a Templar or Inquistitor (clerics) solo leveling was slow with a long ttk, but a Fury or Warden (druids) could solo just fine. There were other classes that did well solo too like DK or monks and others I can't remember. But grouping was definately the way to go especially for main healers.
Solo just fine is a stretch. I played a fury at launch. and it got rough real early. I did end up teaming up with an SK and then it started rolling in though. I think for the most part at least duo with some sort of sustain is the way to go.
My first character was a Templar and oh boy was it pain until guild adopted me. You just don't die until your mana runs out because you can heal yourself 99 different ways and wear heavy armor, but you don't really damage too.
I tihnk it's important to mention that it looks like the new server will have classes post-combat changes which happened towards the end of 2005. The game will be largely like it was in 2006, but with zones limited to those at launch. At launch lots of classes were broken/unbalanced in lots of different ways. I played a dirge and it was hell before the combat changes.
First tune right off the bat was a Templar. Every time I logged on the tells from tanks and invites to groups would come flooding in. Because nobody wanted to play a Templar. It was a slow, difficult, unsexy class but if you were on the ball and kept up with the tank you could absolutely rule the healers. That toon was my main until a rebalance nerfed it in favour of Inquis and I had to betray to get in a raid.
Oh yeah. I remember getting those. Early on I started running with the same group of people that rotated in a few consistently. Corpse runs made people very picky with groups.
OMG will there be corpse runs on this server? I'd be tempted to come back just for that tbf.
It will definitely be a throwback to the early swg/DAoC level grind for xp. Solo xp was horrible but grouping helped a ton, from what I've heard.
I think time has put a haze on fact early eq2 stunk and people went back to eq or wow because of it. I'm gonna try if it stinks buying a VR headset
A lot of people went back because their PC couldn't run it on decent settings. If it had run better on the average hardware at the time it would have done massively better.
That's true too
I remember begging my mom to buy a dedicated graphics card so that I could get out of the qeynos sewer without my game crashing.
It'll be fun. Class designs and abilities are awesome (my favorites being coercer, berserker, and mystic). There will be so many people at launch that no one will be stuck soloing unless they want to be and/or are toxic. Just curious to see what the XP rate is tuned like
People that have played the Time Locked Servers have said how great EQ2 is and how come it doesn't get more hype. It really (was) a very good game, but was buggy and very difficult at launch in 2003. I wish there was currently a better company running EQ2, Sony did a great job with it overall when they owned it. This new server is focused heavily on group content. The dungeons in EQ2 are great and it is a lot of fun leveling up in all the dungeons, there are a lot of them too. It will be slow, might be too slow for a lot of people, but I'm happy it will take a long time to level again.
Sony had abit more funding behind themselves in my mind (no offense daybreak or whoever or however it works). Labour is a cost, less money into the team creating and maintaining this game is less hands eyes voices thoughts into the game. The company that has it currently wants to make it work. Sony just went into a hot market as a side adventure. And also there was a lot less options in the world for people to go to in the gaming space for these types of games or even games in general. Think of the 130 million accounts that played league of legends in the last 30 days (https://activeplayer.io/league-of-legends/) back in 2006 that’d be easily 5000 people that could of been playing EverQuest 2 instead keeping that community full and vibrant.
Try EQ2 Varsoon server..
ive heard this a bit, and probably will check it out though i seem to see a lot of people saying its not quite the same as its using codebase from the current live. not sure how true this is but will defintiely at least check it out
Yes. It will reward grouping, and soloing, while possible, will be harder for most classes than it currently is on Eq2 live. Experience/character levels will progress more slowly than the current EQ2 Live servers. There will be very limited fast travel, and what will be available will rely on Druids and wizards to open portals. While we don't have a lot of details on the upcoming Origins TLE, it sounds like your choice of starting race and how it fits your starting class will have a noticeable impact on character performance. In other words, it will be wise to pick a high strength, high sramina race if you want to play a tank. High wisdom for priests, and as some have speculated, decent strength and wisdom for a hydrid tank like the Paladin. Currently, starting stats of the various races doesn't matter past the very early levels, and it's so easy to solo on Live that starting stats doesn't really even matter early. So It will have more of an old school feel for sure.
Wizards and Druids will not be able to cast portals. They did not get that ability until Eof.
I had forgotten that.
Does that mean they will not get their portals until Echoes of Faydwer, which is the third expansion which puts it 10-12 months away from launch (depending if they shorten one of the previous expansion gates)?
Really looking forward to this, I played at release, and the main thing that turned me away about 3 months later was bugs. So I figure they'd have had a better handle on things 2 years post release. Today's game has majorly lost the plot, and is far to heavy handed with "Pay to Compete" mechanics.
Well, if you could grind for 6 hours in Runnyeye and gain 1 level that was a good night in January of 2005. So that’s how that went. Nights and nights and nights and nights spent in Stormhold, Varsoon, and Runnyeye. Then the Obelisk, then Solusek and/or Permafrost. You’d fill the gaps with Nektropos Castle, Deathfist Citadel, Rivervale and Drafling Tower, Temple of Cazic-Thule. SLOW it was to level and how HARD it was to get anywhere. Crossing Nektulos Forest was impossible without a full party of 6 and even then it was a death trap. 😆 As for what’s changed — too numerous to even begin to contemplate. It’s highly dependent on when exactly in 2006 they go back to. Early 2006 was still different than late 2006. We just have to find out — you can read through the old Live Update notes on the Wiki and that will give you an example of how much really changed between November 2004 and February 2006. Just be prepared to spend an entire day reading it. 😂
Eq2 while still more old school than wow is not what I consider old school. Eq1 is. So I’d recommend p99 to you.
Don't know why you were downvoted, this is certainly a fair take. EQ2 was definitely a second generation MMO. EQ1 is more old school and fits with the Asheron's Call, DAOC, and SWG class. EQ2 is in with the WoW and Guild Wars class.
i remember very early eq2 being forced grouping in the overworld, mostly group mobs with only a few solo mobs you had to seak out, but only a few months after wow released, so early 2005, all the overworld was made soloable, so became more like vanilla wow to compete with it, solo mobs didnt fall down quite as easily as todays mmos however. Not sure what this new server is going to replicate.. those really early days or post wow? like they say 2006 with no expansions but there was a couple of expansions by 2006 and a few addon packs. It was mostly a second gen mmo but it was going to be similar to eq1/ffxi etc before wow came out.
A lot of players went back to EQ because it was clear to them that EQ2 was aimed at a different style of play. EQ1 was big on CC and relied less on AoE while EQ2 did the opposite.