At this point I am convinced that the ‘cold’ I have is actually the flu. Nevertheless, I am feeling better; not 100%, but considerably better.
I switched citizenship on my Bruiser last night, from Neriak to Freeport. As well-designed as the newer starting zones are, I prefer the launch areas of Qeynos/Antonica and Freeport/the Commonlands. Aside from that, I find crafting more convenient in Qeynos and Freeport due to easier access between banks, crafting instances and apartments. I haven’t decided on a Tradeskill for the Bruiser yet; I’m wavering between Carpentry and Tailoring. In any event I will be making alts to cover other tradeskills.
I have not yet mentioned it, but the lastest patch brought with it a significant map upgrade. I think the new maps a bit too busy, visually, but there’s no question that they’re a tremendous imrpovement over the old maps, which were both ugly and not very useful. The new maps are visually much more appealing (although, like I said, maybe a bit too busy) and far more useful. Something else that EQ2 has had for a while is a built-in web browser. I knew it was there but never really used it before. But now I’ve set up a macro button to bring it up and set the default homepage to the EQ2 wiki, and I’m finding this very handy for getting information on quests and such. While I’m at it, I might as well mention the Beginner’s Guides there, which are really well-done.
I have not yet picked up The Shadow Odyssey and do not feel any compulsion to do so immediately, given the expansion’s focus on level-cap characters. Is there anything worthwhile for lowbies in the Shadow Acheivements? Certainly I will pick it up, but maybe not until early next year.
I’m not sure why, but EQ2 is the game I have the highest comfort level with. This may have something to do with the fact that it’s so feature-rich, and that there’s always a variety of things to do even at surprisingly low levels. Even after having been gone for most of a year, I slipped right back into the world and the gameplay.
November 20, 2008 at 11:32 am
Crafting quests are nice. I don’t know what level crafter you have to be to get them; Dina is a 60 tailor, but I doubt that’s the low point. Maybe 50? I don’t know. But you don’t need to be high level in adventuring terms to do them, and you do get taken (safely) all through the expansion.
November 20, 2008 at 1:29 pm
How is it starting a new toon now in EQII? I’ve been toying with the idea, but there is so much to do in EQII that I always find it formidable and end up getting overwhelmed…
November 20, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’ve never found starting new characters to be at all intimidating. There is a lot to do, but the introducion of many of those things is pretty gradual over the first 20ish levels, and yet it’s not like you’re locked out of stuff until you hit the endgame. I’ve said before that EQ2 is the pinnacle of traditional PvE MMO gameplay, and I still think that’s true.
I typically start with the standard PvE questline for the first 4-6 levels or so, then start loooking at tradeskills, depending where I am. Once I have tradeskill level up to 10, I go back to adventurihng unless I have a higher-level character feeding me harvests, in which case I craft as needed. I do stuff like citizenship/betrayal, Heritage and deity quests as they pique my interest.
November 21, 2008 at 3:10 am
For crafting, banking, etc, nothing beats Gorowyn. Step out of your house and there’s the crafting area AND bank right there.
That said, I have 1 toon living in Kelethin (which I hardly play), 1 in Castleview Hamlet, and the other 10 share a house in NFP, but spend most of their time in Longshadow Alley.
I completely agree that the new maps are “too busy.” I’m sure I’ll come to love them as I get used to the new look, but for now, it’s a bit much to have open.
I use the in-game browser all the time myself. I have my homepage set to http://home.comcast.net/~eq2gamedata/main.html for when I’m leveling up and want to know what spells I’m looking for as I do. For the EQ2 Wiki, well… I use the Profit Reborn UI, so every item and every quest has a nice little link in its examine window (or in the quest helper window) that opens the browser *to the exact page you need* in the wiki. I love it!
As far as TSO goes, the new AA’s can be used immediately, assuming you don’t have anyplace else you’d rather use them (and since the 1st 10 are largely fluff, there’s not much point to getting them very early) but that’s about it. Everything else in it is for level 50 or higher, and the only reason it’s 50+ is that the instances scale down so that level 50’s can use them also. I’ve not been to the Moors of Ykesha yet, but I’m told it’s pretty much a 75+ zone. The only new content I’ve seen so far was to take my coercer into the Deep Forge instance in Lavastorm. It was fun, but… 13 death in about an hour. Fortunately I carry repair kits and a member of the group was a tinker with a menderbot.
Still…. one named killed us 12 times. He’s got this absolutely WICKED aoe attack. It’s uncurable and does so much damage that 2 healers couldn’t quite heal through it.
Anyway…. TSO is definitely for higher toons, other than the AA possibilities, so you aren’t losing anything by not picking it up right away.