Was wondering if a newbie could pickup this game today and still enjoy the game...

Are there enough players during EU prime time and is the game still triving?

NEVER to late to start, people are making alts all the time. Go for it, great game if you like fantasy.

EQ2 is a good game !

I must admit that I spent a lot of my EQ2 time bashing the game, Just to realize that this game has a very deep learning curve before I started to enjoy it.  Now some would say thats because it's hard core, others would say you have to be smart, But I say it's just AGGRAVATING to learn, more so than any other game.  The maps are harsh and not helpful in anyway, The chat is somewhat nasty to talk to others, and you start with only having levels 1-10 chat then you add 11-20 and so on. People can be rude to new players, with just cause, because people quit this game soon after they start, so the community is fed up with helping.

If you can get past this and have an iron clad will to press on, you will find EQ2 one of the best mmo's out their.

My list on only good mmos, in order :

1) WoW

2) EQ2

3) Vanguard- but too low populated

4) Lotro- but can be boring, and made for solo play

No.

EQ2 is the BEST pve game on the market.

Make sure you roll on a higher populated server like Antonica Bayle or Crushbone

This game is like wine, it just gets better in time. Also, if you like Graphics, it puts all current games to shame if you got the rig to run it.

yeah it's new player friendly first 20 levels where quick alone. i  hit lv 20 in 2 days solo. anyone who says no has no clue what there talking about.

Originally posted by page

EQ2 is a good game !

I must admit that I spent a lot of my EQ2 time bashing the game, Just to realize that this game has a very deep learning curve before I started to enjoy it.  Now some would say thats because it's hard core, others would say you have to be smart, But I say it's just AGGRAVATING to learn, more so than any other game.  The maps are harsh and not helpful in anyway, The chat is somewhat nasty to talk to others, and you start with only having levels 1-10 chat then you add 11-20 and so on. People can be rude to new players, with just cause, because people quit this game soon after they start, so the community is fed up with helping.

If you can get past this and have an iron clad will to press on, you will find EQ2 one of the best mmo's out their.

My list on only good mmos, in order :

1) WoW

2) EQ2

3) Vanguard- but too low populated

4) Lotro- but can be boring, and made for solo play

Wait! Lemme just grab my magnifying glass to see through your ears whether your brain wasn't accidentally bolted on the wrong way around at birth...

While you can level very quickly solo, I would recomment slowing your xp down by setting AA xp to at least 50%.

If you level to quickly as a new player you will find yourself undergeared and not knowing how to play your character, which in turn will result in you dying far more often than you should.

Originally posted by Haggis13

Originally posted by page

EQ2 is a good game !

I must admit that I spent a lot of my EQ2 time bashing the game, Just to realize that this game has a very deep learning curve before I started to enjoy it.  Now some would say thats because it's hard core, others would say you have to be smart, But I say it's just AGGRAVATING to learn, more so than any other game.  The maps are harsh and not helpful in anyway, The chat is somewhat nasty to talk to others, and you start with only having levels 1-10 chat then you add 11-20 and so on. People can be rude to new players, with just cause, because people quit this game soon after they start, so the community is fed up with helping.

If you can get past this and have an iron clad will to press on, you will find EQ2 one of the best mmo's out their.

My list on only good mmos, in order :

1) WoW

2) EQ2

3) Vanguard- but too low populated

4) Lotro- but can be boring, and made for solo play

 

Wait! Lemme just grab my magnifying glass to see through your ears whether your brain wasn't accidentally bolted on the wrong way around at birth...

I agree with all of those games being awesome PvE games, even though I've never really played WoW.

EQ2, Vanguard, and LoTR are all awesome.

Originally posted by Hrica

Also, if you like Graphics, it puts all current games to shame if you got the rig to run it.

I had sub-par performance on my 2.8ghz dual core (my vid card is light-years ahead but eq2 doesn't give a damn about your video card, in some cases it barely uses it), and I spent weeks trolling the support forums trying to find out if they had fixes in the works to _truly_ optimize eq2 for multi-core processors.  People with brand new 3 thousand dollar i7 rigs post over there often about how they can't break 30fps... and it has nothing to do with graphical settings.  Its like when they designed the engine they thought in 2009 we would all be on 10ghz single core processors and using onboard video.  

Keep in mind this is just my experience after about 20 days with the game, and of course not everyone would have the issue, not EVERY player is over on the Station performance forum complaining about their game.  You should be able to tell if this is going to be a problem while your on the trial.

And I'm not saying this to knock eq2... I honestly wanted to explore the massive amount of content that it has.  The sporadic framrate dips and chugging and hitching in npc heavy areas became just too distracting.  I still check the forums about once a week looking for reports that updates have improved things.  I canceled because I felt that the game was broken.

Originally posted by Haggis13

Originally posted by page

EQ2 is a good game !

I must admit that I spent a lot of my EQ2 time bashing the game, Just to realize that this game has a very deep learning curve before I started to enjoy it.  Now some would say thats because it's hard core, others would say you have to be smart, But I say it's just AGGRAVATING to learn, more so than any other game.  The maps are harsh and not helpful in anyway, The chat is somewhat nasty to talk to others, and you start with only having levels 1-10 chat then you add 11-20 and so on. People can be rude to new players, with just cause, because people quit this game soon after they start, so the community is fed up with helping.

If you can get past this and have an iron clad will to press on, you will find EQ2 one of the best mmo's out their.

My list on only good mmos, in order :

1) WoW

2) EQ2

3) Vanguard- but too low populated

4) Lotro- but can be boring, and made for solo play

 

Wait! Lemme just grab my magnifying glass to see through your ears whether your brain wasn't accidentally bolted on the wrong way around at birth...

Yes, and I forgot this game has it's 10 year olds, not as many as WoW but some :)

Its never too late to start EQ2.

Hell, even if you have been gone a while its easy to jump right back into.

I still play EQ2 from time to time and its definatly worth checking out.

Originally posted by Dactyl

Originally posted by Hrica

Also, if you like Graphics, it puts all current games to shame if you got the rig to run it.

 

I had sub-par performance on my 2.8ghz dual core (my vid card is light-years ahead but eq2 doesn't give a damn about your video card, in some cases it barely uses it), and I spent weeks trolling the support forums trying to find out if they had fixes in the works to _truly_ optimize eq2 for multi-core processors.  People with brand new 3 thousand dollar i7 rigs post over there often about how they can't break 30fps... and it has nothing to do with graphical settings.  Its like when they designed the engine they thought in 2009 we would all be on 10ghz single core processors and using onboard video.  

Keep in mind this is just my experience after about 20 days with the game, and of course not everyone would have the issue, not EVERY player is over on the Station performance forum complaining about their game.  You should be able to tell if this is going to be a problem while your on the trial.

And I'm not saying this to knock eq2... I honestly wanted to explore the massive amount of content that it has.  The sporadic framrate dips and chugging and hitching in npc heavy areas became just too distracting.  I still check the forums about once a week looking for reports that updates have improved things.  I canceled because I felt that the game was broken.

 

My $800 computer gets 60 fps.

Originally posted by Nightbringe1

 

My $800 computer gets 60 fps.

Ya, just depends on the machine.  And there is a good chance that someone with a quad core processor and/or dual video cards won't be able to run the game right.  Hopefully soe fixes it and shows customers they want the game to move in to the future, not be held back by it. 

well i run a 1.2 ghz nvidia 7900 gtx 1 gig vram with 2 gig ram and the game runs fine graphics are jaw dropping its a little better then wows graphics little blocky around the edges in my opinion but its a decent game so far (14 day trial)

though with the whole xp thing this trial gives you a quest to hit 20 in 14 days and you get a special knight title so seems like soe is trying to get ppl to lvl quickly idk

Ok, a lot of ppl here talks about the graphics but i must say, i find them horrible and i find the game very unoptimized - not that graphics matters for me!

I tried running the game in "extreme mode" and its almost a slideshow.. Between 15-20 in that forest starting village (forgot the name) and the graphics isnt even great. And no, its not my rig, its a decent rig i got, though, not the newest.

win7, Q6600 @ 3,1Ghz, 4gigs ram, 285GTX, and 2x500GB RAID1

Gonna try and get to level 20 and see if the game is for me, so far i have seen nothing new, but i can still get surprised.

Before you even try a level based linear game like EQ2, WoW or Lotro realize that if the game is more than a year old and you didnt happen to start playing when an expansion hit it will be a very top heavy experience.

Meaning most people will be max level already.

I suggest joining these games with friends. If thats not an option understand that you will be playing solo most the time if you don't get lucky with a guild that has alts your level.

Graphics wise they got a huge shader overhaul incoming that is going to be a free update.

Here is a before/after slideshow of them updating from 1.0 to 3.0

www.youtube.com/watch

Not only does it just look better they will be moving more of the work to the video card from the processor as the game is very processor heavy right now.

They also put in 'self mentoring' which basically allows people to de-level themselves in increments of 5 levels to experience older content they out leveled. This is mostly for getting AA points faster while at 80 but it has resulted in al ots of people going back and playing previously barren content.

I loved EQ2, it was by far and away my favorite game I've ever played.  On-line in off.  I had to quit though because I was horribly addicted.  I wish I could play again and tell my wife I'll just play a bit here and there, but we both know that wouldn't happen.  It's a great game and although it's been out for 5 years I feel it would not be bad at all to join and start now.  Best bet, is to find a guild when in the game that will look out of lower level toon by occasionally having the mains help the noobs.  I did that in my guild and I know some others that still do that.  Remember, to talk in chat and get to know your guild then when you ask for help they'll willing do so.

 I signed up for a 14 days trial, downloaded the launcher but it fails to connect to the server. 

Well damn! Just my luck in a lax day at work... maybe the last this year..