This new eq2 sounds total rubbish and leans towards ultima online -go forwards guys not backwards

my god.
I have never seen so many whines about an event that is almost a YEAR AND A HALF away. The game is nowhere near being released yet and everybody seems to be freaking out. 1) Yes SOE and Verant want to make money, but believe or not they also want to make the game itself. If all they did care about was money, they would just let EQ continue to stagnate, occasionally releasing half completed and poorly tested expansion sets that only add a few items and even bigger uber-mobs so that the large guilds would keep shelling out money. 2) There is no way in hell that EQ2 would allow character transfers from EQ. That would completely destroy the player economy and demographics. Can you imagine how angry a new MMORPG player would be if they make their first level character the first day EQ2 is out only to see a group of 60th levels run past them? If you feel that you have wasted your time playing EQ for three years just because you can't transfer your character to a new game that won't be out for over a year, then perhaps you should reevaluate the reasons you are still playing this game. If you haven't had fun playing, then why play? The friends that you have made in this game will move over(most likely) so you are not losing the relationships. The character itself is just some pixels, pixels that can be rebuilt in the new game so what does it matter?
I suggest that most people just take a step back, breathe, and realize that the announcement of EQ2 does not signal the beginning of Gehenna. That it will have no impact on their immediate lives and that it is still over a year away from happening.

This is going to suck as far as the graphics go there awesome but i mean its the same thing as DAOC and UO and there are so many bad parts to the game they dont make up for the good ones.

This would be cool and all if it meant something entirely fresh and different. As far as being carbon copies od DAOC and UO, it sure seems that way. couple of things I wanna address:
1) Houses/Castles. Like someone stated, it isn't fun walking through the wilderness when 80% of it is covered with PC structures. That isn't a forest, its a city! It WOULD however, be interesting to have a finite numer of spaces set (like 24) FAR apart from each other, almost like cities on Norrath. These cities are upheld by PCs/Guilds, and it's up to them to defend from/ally with others as necessary. And if you want that space, just try and take over :) Cities under siege....that'd be an interesting thing
2) Equipment. The way I see it, this is a positive change. Twinking just makes things seem too easy. Equipment breaking down just makes plain sense. It may be a hassle, but now blacksmithing is an actual profession, no longer a semi-useful tradeskill. These kind of changes help support the aforemention PC cities. A city would require a diversity of specializations in order to suceed. I don't know about the rest of you, but IMHO realism is a factor in making these kind of games fun. You may say "It's a friggin game, it's not supposed to be real" but if you think anti-realism makes a game fun, then go play Mario World 2 or something.
3) Quests. I hope the quest system is completely different. Right now, quests in EQ aren't quests, they're things you gotta do to get a certain reward. They aren't fun. We do them solely for the item we get at the end. Who here enjoys sitting at 16 hour camps to wait for a rare spawn with a rare drop to get a rare item that at least 800 other people already have? Quests should be dynamic, and if necessary, prevented from being done more than once. If the quest is something that everyone's SUPPOSED to have, like a compass, then yeah, I have no problem with that. But how special is an epic weapon if everyone of that class has it? I guess what Im saying is, the best equipment should be made by a skilled tradesman (as mentioned above) and only a few (relatively, that is) lucky people should be able to get really special items by doing REAL quests. This may sound like it'll kill the fun for the lower end players, but it doesn't. Think of it this way, we (in RL) may never get to be the president, but we still enjoy life doing what we do. That guy may have a better sword, but you still can help kill a dragon or whatever big mob will be in EQ2. This leads me to my last point...
4)The WORLD. Things should happen. Killing little furry things for experience and protecting caravans from monsters insn't enough excitement. If clans don't naturally war with each other over PC cities, then they should be induced to do so. Hiring in game actors/leaders/GMs would be an interesting way to spark an insurrection. Once the people are tired of fighting each other, throw a common enemy at them. (Insert diabolical force here) could invade Norrath, and suddenly change things. Wouldn't it be interesting to walk into Freeport to find all the guards and merchants have been replaced by life sucking zombies? Then the people work together, find a survivor, find out what happened, go on an adventure to stop diabolical force, etc. This type of thing would last a week or two, enough time for everyone to catch on to the current events. Then the in-game actors/leaders/GMs would organize various attacks and do interesting stuff like that, Kinda like a huge GM event. anyways, that's just my (overly exxtended) 2 cp.

Is that EQ2 is a complete replica of the game called the Realm by Sierra. And, I must say, it was the best RPG game ever.

EQ2 will be more suited for hardcore Roleplayers.

It is worth buying the game, or sell my EQ1 account and concentrate on EQ2

Just one players immediate reactions to the news I read. Opinions all, and subject to change without warning =)

"Required: PIII 733 or athlon XP, 512 MB RAM, GeForce3 or better video card."

Fine by me really. I've got those specs covered now and my PC is over a year old already. Understand that those specs are not even high-end NOW. I think that by the time this one rolls around, everyone will be in the ballpark. If they aren't, they really should be. That said, I hope the engine is good (read MUCH better) or it'll run like crap even on a highend system. I know that right now SoL does not run good on my machine. It's not THAT BAD either, but it definitely still needs alot off tweaks.

"Back to original 3 continents. Velious, Kunark and Luclin are explained away. Freeport has fallen to evil and the Pallys have retreated to a Fortress of Marr. Likewise, Qeynos has ousted the Rogues and they have a new city. Iksar still walk Norrath though their Homeland is gone. No Moon, no Vah Shir. Kerrans replace them."

WTF is all this? Unless it is set in the future after a nasty cataclysm. The world just won't seem right without LOIO, OT or DL. Where will everyone level, lol? No more Mort and Gage. And the Vah Shir players have to be feeling the love about now. "We're sorry, you were all just a big mistake. You will be replaced by inferior heathen cats who aren't smart enough to complain about anything." Right. Not sure what to think about this. Doesn't feel right.

"50% of zones are new, the other half re-imagined. Zoning will be faster, but MOBS can chase across zones. Some will cease to pursue after a while."

One word. SCARY. If they do this, then they also need to put in a sprint button like DAoC. That or make ALL enemies break off the chase after a bit. Maybe not boss mobs, but everything else. People NEED to have a way out, period.

"You start picking a race, appearance and sex. No stat points or classes."

While I do think this is cool, it also has alot of inherent pitfalls. While it gives the player a lot of flexibility in what they want to do, there is also a lot of room to totally **** your toon up. Just read DAoC or AO boards for a day and see how many rants you find about Skill point allocation issues and IP resets. I dare ya. It's brutal, especially when the devs change the rules AFTER you spent the points. AO is finally bending over and allowing folks to reset for a period of time. No such luck in DAoC. Knowing VI's hardball stance in regard to most CS issues, I'd expect no more from them. Could be cool, could be a nightmare. You make the call.

"Newbie quests provide good rewards like a compass to end sense heading tedium."

GOOD. It's about time! Hopefully a tradition is made of the excellent armor quests that have recently gone live. I have had tons of fun doing these. Newbs deserve good, worthwhile stuff.

Takes 30 minutes to attain level 6. Then you decide to be fighter, priest, mage, rogue or tradesman. At 15 you start to specialize. Fighter for instance can choose among warrior, Crusader or Brawler. At 30 you finally specialize. Crusader can become Paladin, ShadowKnight or Ranger. Leveling will be faster and top out at 100 with support for future expansions to attain 200. Skills will include Knowledge, Technique and Arts."

See above about the problems with skill trees in games like these. Unless there is a way to hit the rewind button, lots of problems arise. Smacks of AO. With so many damn levels, each one means less. I feel like 75 is about the max. After that it becomes too diluted IMO. You want to feel elated when you get the ding. This is one thing that turned me off about AO. (another game where you can hit level 6 in under an half-hour EASILY)

"These will determine your ability to use items, weapons and armor which will be "transient" and breakable. This will put an emphasis on player made high end items that break and need to be replaced providing for a better economy."

This is probably one of the main reasons why playing DAoC was so boring. I for most melee classes, you have ZERO money to have any fun with until level 40+. All your cash has to go toward upgrading and repairing your equipment. Getting the crimson dye just isn't an option when you BP just turned green on you or ran out of Con points. On the other hand casters have tons of money since they can live off the low AC dropped armor. As long as it boosts the stats to the cap, they are fine. If they get beat on they are dying anyway. So it makes for a huge disparity in cashflow between different classes. Not sure how the system will really work in EQ2, but items that break and wear out just suck IMO. It really takes almost all the fun out of looting uber items, since they won't last. And if there are long camps for the item, ****** forget about doing it AGAIN. I think this is the worst thing about the news here. On par with the banking issue.

"A 50th level weapon will also require the 50th level of Knowledge to equip it properly. Giving said item to a 10th level player will greatly reduce its effectiveness and increase the chance of breaking it. Goodbye to twinking."

I think this sucks. Let me make that clear. BUT, everyone had to see the writing on the wall. You knew this was gonna happen so what's the point of ******** about it. DAoC = Anti-twink. AO formerly a twinkers wet dream = soon to be Anti-twink. UO and AC = basically Anti-twink. Looks like it's the trend in gaming atm. As much as I hate hAtE HATE it, we gotta deal with it. It also serves to almost totally obliterate whatever market there is for Ebaying individual items. Be that good or bad in your eyes, it is the truth.

"Dying becomes less onerous. Your corpse will remain for a time to provide for a rez, but you will spawn at your bind point with your equipment, minus an item or 2 depending on the circumstances. You will not, however lose experience. You will incur an experience "debt". You will continue to gain experience from the point you died, but a portion of what you gain will go into paying off the "debt".
Bind points will be liberally scattered throughout and you will never be more than 5 minutes from one. No bind points in dungeons however."

Direct and total ripoff of AC. Not a bad system on the whole. It's much better than EQ's current system for sure. But if they aren't going to enforce CRs, why the crap with the items staying on the corpse? It's like bait and switch. "We will eliminate CRs, but you will still REALLY really want (read need) to go get your corpse, since your 3 best items will be rotting there." Get rid of the item stuff and you have a real winner. AO has a great system. If they would implement it like that, it would be even better. For those that don't know, in AO, when you "bind" yourself, you also "save" your character. So if you happen to die, you respawn at that site with the same amoubnt of exp you had when you saved. All of your possessoins are returned to you (barring bugs). All exp gained since then is lost. But NO CRs and no hassles. The scanners are placed conveniently all over the place. But you have rez effects, so there is no kamikazi zerg tactics used. It's elegant, makes sense and works.

"Banks will be localized and you will have to carry stuff from one bank to deposit into another. Players will need to buy horses, carts and boats for this purpose. There will be need to hire mecenary PC's to protect caravans with PC's good from NPC attacks on long journeys."

Seriously, WTF is this? Whoever dreamed this up should be shot. I always say, making a game too realistic makes it less like fun and more like work. Bad bad bad idea. "Going Postal" is one thing, but going banker is just stupid. I thought this game was supposed to be about making things LESS tedious.

"PC's will be able to buy plots of land and build a simple, upgradeable structure on it. Invite friends to locate nearby and reach a minimum level to become a community with a guard tower and NPC guards patrolling your community which now can support community stuctures eventually resulting in playhouses providing entertainment as in weddings, plays, tournaments and so forth."

I guess this is cool as long as it doesn't ***** up the landscape. UO and player housing was a nightmare. Sea of Lag. And ugly to boot. If anything, there should be residential disctricts in towns that you can zone/port into. But please for the love of god, don't MAKE me look at it if I don't want to. I'm all about customization and guild houses. I think it's great. But it need to "fit" with the rest of the scenery. If it doesn't then it's not worth it.

"Fighting will include picking a specific hit location for attacking MOBS and creature animation is said to be stunning. Griffons will be specks in the sky before they come rocketing down on you."

Good graphics are always a good thing. I hope it looks great and performs well. I really do. As for the "pick your shot" system. I'm not to sure about this one. It worked well in Fallout, but that was a slowly paced turn-based game. In a real time combat system it just seems to be asking an awful lot of the player. The interface HAS to be very good for it to work. Time will tell on this one.

"Spirit of the Bear will show the PC slowly morphing into bear shape. A Bonewall damage shield will actually appear as a cage of bones topped with skulls all around the PC.
Lastly a much higher level of polygons will allow for incredibly detailed landscapes and structures."

Excellent, sweet and 'bout damn time, respectively. Sounds like there'll be plenty of eye candy for the kiddies. Nothing wrong with that. One thing that came to mind and has continued to stick while I wrote this: I'm not sure that this game should be called Everquest at all. It just doesn't feel right somehow. Dark Age of Norrath maybe. I guess we'll see next year.

everyone complaining about not being able to move their characters, think about this. its not simply a fact of ruining a brand new game with a hord of 50+, but that this EQ2 will use a totally different character generation idea, so the characters of EQ1 and EQ2 might not even be comparable.

personally i am looking forward to see what this will be about. but who is with me in saying that SW: Galaxies will rule all MMORPGS when it is released next spring?

So I sit and listen to some of the posts and I have to say my 2 cents.

EQ2 must happen or else EQ will devolve.

The game is written in a code in such a way that the only way to allow the changes that many have for so long asked for is to rewrite the game entirely in a sense.

People do searches online and see what comes up for mmorpg games. EQ is not the only game out there especially by end of the year. Many others are coming out that improve upon many of EQ's flaw's. Many will try these games and may never return to EQ. From a business standpoint you keep up with the competition or fall by the wayside, it is the way it is. Now to touch on some of the new points.

1) Breakable weps? I hate to say this but it truly is best for the game. Let me show the cycle. lvl 60 toon goes and sits on said camp site for 10hrs. then gets item goes to ebay sells said item for real cash, then said newby acquires in game plays to lvl 20 has no real knowledge of the old days of questing nor of proper group play and yet has better stuff than most 50+ out there. Or another: 6 days after SoL was released we see a lvl55 beastlord???? K nuff said. The game integrity has been seriously breached and yes the fact is the char should be built not so much the equipment and when u do get that high end item it is no drop so that it is unique to you. I love twinking as much as anyone else just cuz i worked my tail off to get to be 50+ to acquire loot only to have work another year on yet another char...naw it stinks to face that challenge but if i am truly developing a toon with a unique style then i will forsake the rest to have the opportunity to wipe Ebay and the so called you gotta lick my toes for 3 months uber guilds off the map at least for a while then that in itself will increase my gameplay.

2) Communities....YES about time. This game all about you and your buddys and getting together, encourage group play and yet we have no where to go to call our own. Shadowbane and some other games coming out are highly based on the community factor and the ability to have a guild literally build their own city from the ground up, the masses have called for it, yet again change with the times or be left behind.

3) You will still get to experience EQ as before but now you get to develop a char and learn to play that char based off his abilitys versus the uber equipment he has. More to be posted later but that's it for me for now.

I am basically against the idea of EQ 2 if this does not include the possibility to keep our character. This is the first i would take against EQ 2. Spending time and money on leveling my character made it so i now value it and want to progress from the point i have reached. I have one and only character since i find playing alternates a waste os time. Now starting anew not in a hundred year.

EQ 2 promising player housing, diversified classes, A large number of level for your character to increase his power. Sound like the same publicity we heard about EQ 1 and that was not accomplished. As i read it, Verant will sell us EQ 1 + (with a couple patches to the graphic engine and to the class system) and will promise us to put the rest in eventually eheh. We already got this one too.

EQ 2 will have breakable equipement ! What an improvement. now instead of camping once my Ykesha i will have to camp it every month. I hope that is trademan there will be a class that is Beggars and will let you adventure without any equipement but the single copper you can beg off the NPCs.

EQ 2 will have a unique bank in each town. Great now tell me we all get sow and teleport spells. I dont want to spend my time in anymore running around that i am actually in EQ 1.

Why EQ 2 have to redo half the zones. It's basically the same game in the same world. That can be done in an expansion. Why would have the whole PC population have to die during these modifications of Norrath.

Not lose your level anymore great... Now when you receive the xp credit bill at the end of the month wont you just say **** if only i had known i was so much indebted i would have been carefull ! Losing levels is part of the EQ learning curve.

I do believe EQ 2 is aimed at people not actually playing EQ 1 since the solutions brought by EQ 2 do not resolve the actual problems of the game. Lack of quests, lack of balance between classes, advancement curve slowing alarmingly at the higher end, the faction system that is more of a time sink than something to live with, creeping and recurent bugs,... Those are the things we would like solved in an EQ 2. Only someone who would have never played EQ will find in the new edition something really appealing.

I dont post this to convince people not to move to EQ 2, i am writing this down in hope that this kind of opinion can open Verant eye on the future of EQ X if they can wipe the characters like that for no reason to give us the same game with slightly different rules and hope we will be glad to start anew.

Overall EQ 2 have to get some solid proof laid down about those "nifty" features. We dont take that for cash or if not at least if EQ 2 is a whole new game we might find it appealing to look around on what is on the market when it come out.

Ulysse Alakashnok
Enchanter
Quellious

I will be the first to tell you that I jumped ship to play DAoC when it came out. After 2 years of playing EQ and no customer support at all I felt I needed a change. However the other games havent really lived up to what I thought they would but I refuse to re-start all over in EQ again. This new version might be the answer. It sounds like they are taking the best of the other games(except housing, I agree about the Karana's Trailer Park thing hehe) and melding them into a game we all know to be succesful. The ones making the comments about just adding this content to the existing game know nothing about programming. Stop to think about this. EQ with SOL is a monster hog to run full out. The reason for this is the game engine wasnt meant to do what they are asking it to do now. Look at Anarchy Online it is without a doubt the prettiest game out now with half the system requirements. Sony is not gonna force anyone into EQ2(until its not profitable to run EQ1 anymore) but this is the only way to incorporate the new changes and the new graphics into something thats playable without needing a bank of servers to play with. Like someone else said however its way to early to make judgements about what sony is gonna do. They havent even announced the game yet. But if nothing else comes along that is stable and has good gameplay then this might be the ticket for me at least. And just for the record I think not being able to twink is awesome and I also am in favor of items breaking. While it could lead to the uber's constantly camping sites if its done properly the best items with be tradeskill items like in DAoC so it would almost be a mute point. Just my 2cw

1) Housing, The Number #1 Killer of UO!!
2) Read #1
3) Even with my comp that currently runs well with SOL I'll still have to do major upgrade to it just to play a game thanks but no thanks
4) Read #1

Well, despite having a couple of 50+ and a couple close to 50 in EQ, I would use a possible EQ2 that won't allow me to export as an excuse to quit my addiction. My wife and daughter would be quite happy and I could go back to using the 'puter as a 'puter, not as an EQ machine. Roll on EQ2 and R.I.P EQ.
/cheer EQ2
/cheer real life
Pantha

I just got SoL and I'm now at level 49, I'm very sceptical of how it sounds... I'm really just glad it's not due till fall of '03 cuz by then i'll be 60 and ready for a change... or maybe not : ).

Harkoes Battlesmasher
49th Beastlord of the Strange Brew
Druzzil Ro

EQ2 has been in development for nearly two years, people. DAOC had *one* year of development, since all their hard work was done for them by Verant. Most of these things that are similar to DAOC are just logical progressions towards the next generation of MMO, and they'll all include them to some extent.

And WHAT the HELL were you people smoking when you thought you'd ever get to transfer characters to EQ2 if it was ever made? Are you NUTS? Gee, let's see, let's allow all these people to come in with all this equipment and high-level characters and ruin the game! NOPE. It's an entirely different game. There will still be an EQLive team, making improvements, adding content etc. But you have to think of EQ2 just like you think of Shadowbane; different. I can almost guarantee you'll see a package deal with subscriptions between EQ, EQ2 and SW:G but character transfers? You're out of your mind to even consider it.