Originally posted by someforumguy

Im not sure why you quoted me. I was just pointing out that the review was far from complete. You dont have to tell me that the EQ2 devs have some of the worst testers in the business. I know that they are able to botch any major update with missing sometimes quite obvious bugs.

Yea,

I started off quoting you agreeing with you about how incomplete this re-review is. Then I went off on my own tangent. I meant to take your quote off.

This game has a ton of great aspects and a ton of horrible ones.  Sadly the horrible ones are game breakers and made me unsub.

1.  I hit level 90 and found I couldn't do the SOLO content in the new Velious areas due to AA's not being high enough(mine were at 177 when I hit cap), this wierd critical mitigation stat requirement for the zones and the level gap is STILL there even at level 90 because the game is so gear oriented it's disgusting.

2. The crafting while a novelty at first, becomes the most boring, tedious mind numbing grind I have ever seen in a game past about level 30.  I spent 10 levels crafting useless items JUST to progress.  The only caveat here was the few crafting quests they have in the game that give you levels without having to craft a thing.  I liked that.  sadly it only gives about 2 to 3 levels and you need to be in the next tier to get the next set of quests.

Best parts of the game are the guild system, housing, collections, music, spell/ability effects and sound.

I like EQ2. It has everything a standard AAA mmo should have and then some... but...

....

I recently got into the SWTOR Beta... and I just can't bring myself to play any other mmo, ever again. I am not some fanboi, as i'm not really a Starwars fan, but Bioware did an amazing job. It may not be for everyone, but it sure beats any of the competition.

EQ2 is a good game and I wish it well.

EQ2 is a pretty good game. IMO they went from many problems up front, and fixed them. but they lost momentum and angered a lot of players.

That aside, I came back and found the game super easy to playl...almost to easy.

 I found it odd too see a re-re-re review of EQ2. I played for 4 years. I loved the houseing..etc. The 1st several expansions were very nice. Then came The Shadow Odessey. This is my opionon is where the game took a drastic WTF feel for me. The odd direction seemed to go against the rest of the game the same way PoP in EQ1 did.

 I'm also not a fan of the instance. In raid situations it does work. But for just regular groups I'm against. I miss the place holder dungeons. Why ? It was a way of getting to know people. Yeah people did complain..ya know the I want it NOW crowd. But what made EQ1 great was doing stuff that took time. Now you get a group..when ya get a group. And it's gogogogogogogogogo. BYE. Maybe EQNEXT will bring that back.

 And last on my rant is the numbers game. Sure you may start EQ2 and get 90 in a week. But you want be able to really do anything. WHY ? What's you DPS < Biggest problem with mmo's today> What's you resist ? What's your AA tree look like. And several others. EQ2 is not a casual players game. Why have AA trees if when you get to raid content you are told " you need to respect you're tree because we need this ability"

 And my last last thing. What happened to home land pride ? It used to be if you cam from Neriak, Halas, Freeport, Grobb etc. You had a pride where you where from. Now everyone comes from pretty much the same place. Citys used to be important. EQ2 destroyed that idea. You want an idea SOE put PvP in you're next game kinda like RIFT does. And rebuild home town pride.

 I dunno. I love the EQ lore and cherrish my EQ1 days before the numbers game ruined it. Got my fingers crossed for EQ3 but not holding my breath.

In my on-going efforts to bring reviews and critics back to reality...

Under cons this review listed "Little innovation, even from its outset" and yet still gave this title an 8/10 under innovation. 

I feel as if people just pull numbers out of their asses (or are paid to do so?).  Please, at the bottom of the review write "I was paid to give this game higher numbers" or use a numbering system that is accurate.  If you feel this game is an 8/10 or 2 steps away from perfection, great, but please don't include conflicting opinions within the same article!

Shame it's owned by $0E, because EQ2 is a fantastic MMO in it's own right.

I don't play, nor will I ever again but the review is pretty spot on. Though the game itself could certainly benefit from a new parent company and graphics engine.

Originally posted by someforumguy

After reading this, I was looking for page 2. Because somehow the writer fails to mention crafting and housing. Which are major selling points for many EQ2 players.

Not to mention how AA isnt just a mix of talent trees. The fundamental difference with talent trees or other comparable alternate advancement systems in other games, is that you as player can chose how much xp is going to lvling and how much xp is going to AA. So you can even put 100% XP into AA. So fleshing out AA without lvling.

Then there is no mention of the mentoring system. Another very important feature for anyone who likes to group (like the writer). It makes it possible to always group with your friends regardless of lvl difference. The bonus xp that it gives makes it another incentive.

The write up is very shallow and incomplete, written by someone who only mentions what he/she is interested in.

 

 

I didn't mention housing since it's been there since launch, I believe, or at least since before the previous review, the same goes for mentoring (I remember mentoring my lowbie friends back in '05 or '06), though I agree both are great features and a source of a lot of fun.

As for crafting, I have no real knowledge base when it comes to crafting in any MMO. For this reason I tend not to comment on it, because I'd rather leave it blank than go off on a tangent on something I know nothing about. This being said. I should probably start looking into it in various games to get a feel for the different crafting systems so I can comment on them in the future, so I thank you for the motivation :)

Originally posted by Painlezz

In my on-going efforts to bring reviews and critics back to reality...

Under cons this review listed "Little innovation, even from its outset" and yet still gave this title an 8/10 under innovation. 

I feel as if people just pull numbers out of their asses (or are paid to do so?).  Please, at the bottom of the review write "I was paid to give this game higher numbers" or use a numbering system that is accurate.  If you feel this game is an 8/10 or 2 steps away from perfection, great, but please don't include conflicting opinions within the same article!

 

I felt there was little innovation to the genre, but innovation within the game itself as it went from launch to where it is now; that's why the scores/pros and cons are like that. I appologize for the confusion

It's a really great game!

Shame the current dev team (namely the itemization department) is UTTERLY INCOMPETENT and has practically destroyed the game with the last Game Update! /FACEPALM

It's one of the better MMOs on the market, but I find myself struggling to comprehend how it can get a score of 8/10 for innovation. It doesn't really do anything significantly different from the rest of the genre, but I'll say it does do it with a bit more variety. At the end of the day it is just a solo quester though, at least until you reach the end game and people might want to group.

The overall score is a little high, but then isn't that the norm with MMORPG.com? I'd rate EQ2 at maybe 7.5 to 8.0. The big let down is the community and that is not helped by SOE's refusal to do anything to promote grouping, but instead an insistence to chuck out solo heavy zones in every expansion.

When you consider the man behind EQ2's remergence, after a dreadful release, was Rift's Scott Hartsman, then you can fully understand why it is such a solo game. The man thrives on letting people play the game by themselves.

EQ2 could be an amazing game if people grouped, but soloing from 1 to 70 just dilutes the whole experience sadly. The game has some amazing group content but it's washed away by how easy it is to get anywhere by yourself.

I made a visit to EQ2 not long ago also and had alot of fun too. Great MMO with tons of content, but lacklaster combat made me switch to GW

Originally posted by Razeron

Shame it's owned by $0E, because EQ2 is a fantastic MMO in it's own right.

 

I don't play, nor will I ever again but the review is pretty spot on. Though the game itself could certainly benefit from a new parent company and graphics engine.

 

See this makes absolutely no sense.

EQ2 is great because of, not in spite of, SoE.  The only game with as much effort behind it at this point is Rift.  If SoE did not own EQ2 it wouldnt have half as much content as it does now.

Originally posted by holifeet

It's one of the better MMOs on the market, but I find myself struggling to comprehend how it can get a score of 8/10 for innovation. It doesn't really do anything significantly different from the rest of the genre, but I'll say it does do it with a bit more variety. At the end of the day it is just a solo quester though, at least until you reach the end game and people might want to group.

 

While its not necessarily innovative, it does have things that are different from the competition.

They were the first to have collections for one.  The housing system is more indepth then any other game.  The new leaping/gliding mounts.  The upcoming create a dungeon thing.  You have to *earn* your powerful spells.  Heritage questlines.  The mentoring system.  IN GAME VOICE CHAT WORTH USING.

While some of these arent really innovations, they do stand out from the other games.

How about adding this... great game, backstabbing slime ridden greedy corporation.

Originally posted by RJEclipse

Originally posted by someforumguy

After reading this, I was looking for page 2. Because somehow the writer fails to mention crafting and housing. Which are major selling points for many EQ2 players.

Not to mention how AA isnt just a mix of talent trees. The fundamental difference with talent trees or other comparable alternate advancement systems in other games, is that you as player can chose how much xp is going to lvling and how much xp is going to AA. So you can even put 100% XP into AA. So fleshing out AA without lvling.

Then there is no mention of the mentoring system. Another very important feature for anyone who likes to group (like the writer). It makes it possible to always group with your friends regardless of lvl difference. The bonus xp that it gives makes it another incentive.

The write up is very shallow and incomplete, written by someone who only mentions what he/she is interested in.

 

 

I didn't mention housing since it's been there since launch, I believe, or at least since before the previous review, the same goes for mentoring (I remember mentoring my lowbie friends back in '05 or '06), though I agree both are great features and a source of a lot of fun.

As for crafting, I have no real knowledge base when it comes to crafting in any MMO. For this reason I tend not to comment on it, because I'd rather leave it blank than go off on a tangent on something I know nothing about. This being said. I should probably start looking into it in various games to get a feel for the different crafting systems so I can comment on them in the future, so I thank you for the motivation :)

You dont really give a reason to not review certain features.  Housing and crafting has changed too, just like pve content. More recipes have been added and every toon can now be the owner of more then 1 house. There are also new types of housing. It is quite obvious that this would be a big deal for players that like EQ2 housing.

If you leave out features on purpose in your review, then you shouldve at least mentioned why. The way it is now, its not really a re-review. Also, anyone who just checks the most recent review of a game, wouldnt even learn about the existence of the features you left out.

EDIT: I just realised that it makes no sense to give a score to a MMO if you only review part of the features. Then what is the score really about?

Originally posted by teakbois

Originally posted by Razeron

Shame it's owned by $0E, because EQ2 is a fantastic MMO in it's own right.

 

I don't play, nor will I ever again but the review is pretty spot on. Though the game itself could certainly benefit from a new parent company and graphics engine.

 

See this makes absolutely no sense.

 

EQ2 is great because of, not in spite of, SoE.  The only game with as much effort behind it at this point is Rift.  If SoE did not own EQ2 it wouldnt have half as much content as it does now.

[Mod Edit]

But seriously:

$0E doomed EQ2 by trying to compete against Blizzards reputation and established fanbase with a hardball EQ1 sequel. (Not to mention alienating IT's fanbase with EQ1 shenanigans. Aka Omens of War.)

All changes made to EQ2 that significantly improved gameplay were in response to what's popular on the WoW side of the fence. They have a fantastic design team, developers. Poor artists, coders (Someone needs beaten with a pillowcase full of doorknobs for that poor excuse of an engine.) and a bad parent company that warrants, nor deserves further cash from it's previous customers.

Neither Rift nor WoW are anything compared to the EQ2 of present day.

Whether or not the parent company is respectable, dependable and trustworthy has little to do with the talent of their design team and how they nix, or improve upon features from other titles. Be realistic, they would've never, ever, in a million years put THIS much effort into the game were it a real financial success. (No competition equates to zero motivation for innovation and quality. Need proof? See: WoW, and Rift.)

"Little Role Play" is a con?

Thats something I dislike strongly about this website.

All of their reviews are so random and there's absolutelyh no system of guidelines that they base this junk on.

Reviews.  What a waste of time.

I have major gripes about EQ2. 

The biggest has to be by far its an idiotic content design. The devs do not know if this is a solo, group or raid game. Yet, the population of the game should clearly define how the devs should adjust content. Its not uncommon to run through the lower levels areas(1-60), and see no one.

Sure, there is a ton of content, too bad if you want to experience that content you're gonna need to find 3-4 more people. Good luck with that in this game. You're going to skip all content until you're max level. Then good luck getting a guild that actually plays together and invites outsiders. I doubt many people even make it that far, since by level 60 the game has worn thin.

Its fun for a few weeks, then one just realizes its the same old stuff just a different level. On top of that one is passing up all the lore and dungeons, because it takes a group to experience the content. This game could be fun if the devs got their heads out of their butts and adjusted content to the actual dismal population.

Granted, I like the classes, and I love the mentoring system. Sadly, the population doesn't justify group content during the leveling portion of the game. Missing out of way too much of the game.