I loved this game back in the day. Played from release until about 2010, have so many good memories. Went back a few times, last one about 2 years ago. Game feels so old and forgotten that it just made me sad and I will not go back again.
Same with me and EQ1. I miss what it was though, had a good story and mechanics. Wasn't dumbed down to spoon feed everything to you, and the lore was capable of getting nearly as large as Elder Scrolls or similar. (Before it got too bloated with expansions every six months) I would love for it and Eq2 to be streamlined and revamped into a new game
How did you play this game on release? Even on potato settings my computer on release burst into flames and killed me and my entire family. This is just my ghost replying to you.
hell ya! I've been playing off and on since 2000. started on Druzzil ro then merged with Xegony. Now I am playing EQ2. oh and was a guide on Tunare eq1
The most players are 125 playing heroics together makes a looot of fun. Didnt believe neither but on highend level it makes the most fun. Its also a lot of stuff to do to become powerful enough for heroics hehe
One thing that this game doesn't get enough credit for is the sound design. Walk from the outside with sounds of wildlife into a cave and you hear echoes and drops of water. Your footsteps make a different sound on bricks than sand or grass. The score of the original game (pre-expansion) was done by an actual full live orchestra.
I can 100% confirm this :) And I think EQ2 actually still supports EAX, which makes it even better when playing on a good sound system. I keep scratching my head seeing how hardly anyone notices how good the sounds and the musical score in eq2 is. Glad to have seen this comment, warms my heart.
I'm playing right now and yeah I roleplay this game alot these days rather than really get anything done lol I go for hikes in zones. One of my favorites being Tranquil Seas. The ambience there is amazing. But one thing that does make me said is i spent a lot of time in dark light wood back in the day helping people.... now.... there is almost never anyone to help. I check on dark light every once in while just to see if any new players need help but.. itsvery rare lol
was thinking about playing this game with my mom on our crappy pc’s. it’s worth an attempt, she loved the original so i figured it would be lovely to experience together. glad to know it still holds up.
EQ next was a thing before it got cancelled. Eq3 is coming out in 4 years if everything goes to plan. They just don't have the crazy revenue of other mmos like wow n FFXIV, so it takes time to get big new projects off the ground
Same, Wife and I have a Tier 2 Guild Hall we made just for us. We have played for over 10 years on and off. We are on the Skyfire server. We just started back again and are loving the game. We can level a new toon to level 20+ in just a few hours without cheesing it. We love the Evil lands. Good video.
Very well done, and what better voice actor to showcase then Christopher Lee! As you said, the housing/decoration and crafting system in EQ2 is just amazing. IMO, no one does it better. I would love to play this game again if they did a huge stat and damage crunch, got rid of 75% of their melee/casting skills, and simplified stats and resists again. They add things like Fervor and Potency. Why have more stats in the game just to complicate it. Why not just stick with your basic stats and items with bonuses to crit, haste, dodge, etc? All these new and unnecessary stats just ruin the game. It is fun and exciting to get a 15ac 10 str 5% dodge item to replace your 5ac 5 dex item. Its simple, and you have a pretty good idea of how it will impact your character. As it is now, you see an item with 10 different bonuses you have to study and compare to your old piece of gear to decide if its better. Not only that, but how does 120,750 Str compared to 189,500 Str impact you damage? I cant really grasp that concept unless I pull out a calculator. Now I have to do it for 9 more stats on that same item to get a good comparison. It just isn't fun.
I've started playing again recently. They've got one of the best FTP systems - you can level up to 100 and have the first 11 (yes ELEVEN!) expansions to play through. There are still guilds recruiting and people playing. Quite a few peeps seem to be making a return trip lately. Maj'dul seems to be the most populated server (I'm on Skyfire - still not bad). It's not for everyone, but it scratches an itch no one else seems to reach. Edit: Oh man, the pizza... You could type /pizza in game and order a pizza delivery in the US. They knew their audience.
It definitely has *tons* of free content. I still wish they'd make the progression servers in both EQ and EQ2 included as part of their free to play plans but I get why they don't.
Different strokes for different folks. The idea of 11 expansions to any game just seems bizarre to me. I like a game to end. I guess people super into MMOs don't. I'm hoping D4 is a lot more like D2 than D3 when it comes to "ending". D3 made a system where you de facto weren't beating the game unless you grinded an absurd amount of time. D2, you can kill the toughest stuff after probably 1-2 weeks of play.
@@AG-ld6rv I think most people, myself included, don't play MMOs to "beat" the game. I think it is more about community and constantly having new stuff to go do with your friends/guildmates. I never played WoW just so I could beat everything and feel like I completed it, it was always about being part of a community. That's how it is for me, at least.
Such a love/hate with this game. But I come back time to time and try it out again. Ultimately, I think it's one of the best out there...but probably just not for me anymore.
@@elbuenomalo, glad to hear AB is still going strong. Still have the player taverns opening through the week? Going to re-download, just love the housing. I need to rework my Mistmore Mansion.
Myself and my group of friends recently gave up on playing EQ2 as a group due to the extreme case of gear gating the basic group dungeons now require as opposed to how it was prior to Kunark Ascending (before the resolve stat). In the past, we'd get together and casually play through dungeons together. Some were easy, some were tough, some were long and took more than an evening and there was sometimes trial and error to overcome. But we were able to do everything as a group save for raid content. Since we returned in Vetrovia, we've gotten all the best gear you can get doing the story campaign, grinded out the post-story content for gear, repeated optional solo/duo dungeons for drops - and as a group we still cannot make a scratch on the first boss of any of the lowest tier group dungeons. Same issue in Vetrovia, same issue in Renewal. So we recently hung up our hat and decided to move on to Guild Wars 2, where we've been having a blast doing fractals together on Thursdays instead. It's sad, because I love Norrath. I've been enchanted by this world since 1999 when I got my beta disc and logged into Kaladim for the first time.
Thanks for the EQ2 content. Varsoon is fun and a great way to start for new players. However it should be noted, 99% of the population (and much of the fun) is level 125 and playing end game content. Thanks for the video!
Definitely something I missed talking about was the population. I approached it all solo so that was kind of my experience but that was a blind spot. I think EQ2 for me was always more solo than EQ which was always more group focused.
I play on Varsoon. Kinda. I am slowly leveling my DE Necromancer through Nek forest, and I mean slowly. Like whoa. It's funny because I know for sure that playing the original Darevo in his mid 90s in EQ1 *is* slower, but somehow, Varsoon *feels* slower. I blame the spammy combat system. Still, it's fun to be back. Mostly. Did I mention I hate the new Nektulos Forest? Spiders. Everywhere. And dog sized owlbear mini-bosses with fleas the size of Ratonga. I need a bath...
Oooo Nektulos is one of my favorite zones in EQ2, especially when you get up to the top. I remember the first time I saw an owlbear when I was playing it scared me half to death.
I miss the people. I miss casually getting in a group and fighting through Fallen Gate. There are so many things I just didn't get to do and can't anymore due to how empty it feels. I don't want a mentor to blaze thriugh the dungeon for me. I want to adventure with a team.
A part of me wonders if that age of MMOs is just gone for good. No matter what MMO I play these days, I don’t ever get to experience that anymore. Old or new, it feels like all anyone’s focus on anymore is endgame, and people are all sequestered away into their own separate Discords outside of the games.
Memories. I switched to EQ2 after literal years of play time on EQ. The biggest difference for me was that all classes had at least one subclass that could solo to max level (at the time). In EQ I mained a rogue which could not solo and warrior that could, with restrictions (like having a dual box druid on /follow). In EQ2 I ended up with a character max leveled in every class and for every trade skill. The max levels have increased since then, and I play games a lot more casually now, but you have me thinking about returning ...
I bought this game and tried playing it when it first came out. Not only that my computer didn't like it at launch, but I didn't find it fun at launch, either. Very recently, I jumped back into it. I've been in the game for about a month now, and I can easily say this is the most fun I have had in an MMO in years. I decided to play on a live server, Antonia Bayle, instead of a TLE. Why? Because nostalgia never meant anything to me. The very first day, I got invited into a fantastic guild. Not only that, but the community in general has been great. It took me 2 weeks to run into my first jerk, and that has to be a record. Almost every day, there is a give away sponsored by guilds to give free stuff to lower level players. You get lots of platinum, and most importantly, free bags. I thought I wouldn't see other people playing, especially since Baldur's Gate 3 came out, but I see just enough people to keep things interesting. I've tried many MMOs the last few years hoping to get some value for my time, and Everquest 2 knocked it out of the park. I feel like the game values my time. This game is a good fit if you have a few hours or more to play per day. I'm playing about 5 hours a day, and having a great time. The big bonus is your house, which is the best in any MMO. Your accomplishments are displayed for you to appreciate. The sound design is also top notch, and I find the world immersive.
I played the game at launch, but my computer was basically a potato. I would come back every now and then, but it seemed kinda glitch compared to WoW, and EQ still had a good grasp on me. I'm back playing on Varsoon, mostly because of you, Ion Blaze and Bear. So far having some fun I have a couple of 20 levels, but Commonlands is getting on my nerves, it's so huge. Not sure where to go after that, will have to read more wikis.
Oh, Fallen Gate! If you can find a group it's so much fun. Otherwise, Nektulos forest is a really fun zone with a very different aesthetic to Commonlands.
Just came back EQ2 having not played in probably 8 years and I’ve just been having so much fun just exploring and questing areas. Also not mention resource gathering!!
Currently, in my opinion, the best MMORPG - beautiful and interesting locations (also underwater), day is day, and night is night, when the ability to see in the dark comes in handy (caves/undergrounds are really dark and atmospheric), various weather conditions create a great atmosphere, great mounts (also flying), interesting plot threads of quests (cool dialogues with NPCs), the character is one of many other living and traveling around the world, without making his/her the "navel of the World", which is perceived as a hero from the first level savior of the world, we are simply a traveler and an adventurer. I've been playing for a long time and I'm still surprised by the developers 😊❤👍
I've been back on EQ2 for about a year, after taking over a decade off. I played on Kaladim, the TLE that preceeded Varsoon, and was quite disappointed when Varsoon launched and Kaladim totally died out. So be ready for that if you commit to a TLE server ... they last only so long. I'm now playing on LIVE, cuz I wanted to try out all of the new expansion zones, and some of them have been totally awesome. I'm a solo player, and you can solo the questlines right up to level 125 now. I'd say the game is well worth trying out in 2023.
Watching your video as I am asking myself the exact question in your title after last playing the game back in 2010 approx. and back then I was Truly an EverCr.. Quest addict to the game. I mean if i wasnt playing it i was looking up rare, legendary and fabled items for my Paladin that I wanted so badly to drop from our guilds x2 weekly epic content runs each week every week saving our Guilds currency for attendance each week when it came to signing up for the epic raid runs. Dragon Points. I saved and saved so when that Flaming Sword I wanted did drop no one could out bid me LOL. Over a year of wanting this damn sword it drops on the one week I couldnt do one of our weekly epic raid runs. Anyway just quickly if i ever see a lizard type creature that has hair.. wants hair or even has a Wig they want that hair so bad I will definitely let you know 😀
One thing i love about Everquest 2 is the amount of content it has. An insane amount of quests, collections, dungeons, raids, classes, crafting. Never experienced anything like it in other games.
Just hopped into this game again played it when it Initially came out haven't played since and I've been enjoying it so far was happy to see this video
The year is 3023 the latest video from synthetic Redbeardflyn drops:- "Should you play Everquest seven on your home holodeck or play the latest Everquest one TLP classic truebox"
I tried EQ 1 live, out of curiosity and it was an interesting experience, did the Gloom mines and had fun. But it's a old game so you really have be prepared for old game design. So I thought I would try EQ 2. Oh boy, that was easier said than done. It seems that EQ 2 do not like modern AMD cpus and windows 10. I did a lot of googling and found out I was not the only one that ran in to problems, the game would crash all the time, sometimes even at the character screen. Over the years, Blizzard have made upgrades to World of Warcraft, both the graphics and the engine behind the game, and EQ 2 really needs that as well in my opinion.
Agreed, EQ2 needs a facelift. They are over last year and this year upgrading some backend things for both games with their new 64 bit clients and moving to DX11 (I believe it's 11...) this year. It's not a ton but it's more than either game has seen in quite some time.
12:47 lets goooo, old school power leveling lol. Always a blast to do back in the day. I especially loved it around moors and SF, because sebilis (I have no idea if I'm spelling that right, it was like 10+ years ago for me) was just in the sweet spot for still green mobs at max level. It's like you were at max level with SF raid gear, you'd mentor down on a dps healer (in my case, a warden) and then just mass pull and AOE.. vould level someone up from like mid 60s to 80 in a few hours... I always farmed that place too for transmutes. I love this game, I look forward to an EverQuest 3 taking the industry by storm and bringing the industry back to good MMOs.
I put SOOOO much time into EQ2, probably the biggest highlight was raiding in Kunark... however now after playing many other MMOs, I think EQ2 has a major major problem with the spammy combat system. There were raid nights where the lag wasn't so bad and my dps was like 30% higher than regular, and nights where the lag was extra bad and it was 30% lower... As much as I love this game and it's actually quite tempting to go back and check out a progression server, I think the unreliable combat lag is going to be the number 1 reason I don't go back.... plus this video failed to mention if there were even enough players around to make it worthwhile. On multiple characters, I would go huge on AA experience and essentially do every quest in the game while leveling in order to maximize my AA. I really enjoyed the AA slider they added so I could level at my own pace while funneling all that extra xp into alternate advancement. Also, I wish you woulda found a well decorated house from another player to feature in the video because the housing is such a good system... you could have at least customized the floors and the walls etc in the inn room to show a small hint of the available options for the game. Anyway... I loved this video... EQ2 will always have a special place in my heart.... I actually had server first discovery on the Kunark Brigand epic weapon on Antonia Bayle and it woulda been world first had I not been too helpful giving people hints of where to go and then having to take a 2 hour break to raid while someone else was able to finish the quest... since I did all the quests in the game I was pretty much able to pick up on a lot of the quest hints that others didn't know.
All good critiques on what I could have mentioned/shown in the video! EQ2 will always have a special place for me, too. I'll never forget doing the betrayal quest for the first time to make my version of Drizzt Do'Urden, a dark elf ranger in eq2. I have some issues with it, especially on live, but where Varsoon is currently in the best era for Everquest 2 in my opinion.
EQ2 is probably my favorite MMO of all time, despite starting with EQ. It may be because I started playing when it actually released, so I experienced it at its peak. You're 100% right about the crafting and the housing, its the best of any MMO. I did try a progression server and really enjoyed it, but was pretty sad when I found out they only progress through a smallish number of expansions, then the server is deleted and you have to move your characters to the live servers.
The thing is, the time locked servers are the best but they lock out so many cool classes. They need to open all classes but lock content. I just came back, jumped on Varsoon and then couldn't play a beast master.... I was like WTF? Graphics wise, not that bad on highest settings , the game play and crafting was cool. I'm at level 15 and enjoying it. Choosing a class is always my hardest option. I went Troll Bezerker but would like more magic casting animation so will probably reroll. I really enjoy the Overlord Outpost area Quests quite dull... Kill # of mobs just boring
I have a lot of fond memories of EQ2 (newbie island was the best tutorial!). I loved being able to betray my people (high elf) and become a shadow knight. The crazy ability bloat has kept me from coming back in recent years... I need fewer buttons as I get older.
I played it heavy from 2008-2012 and loved it. I'm still on Varsoon sorta.. I log in and play broker quest for Krono mostly though. Everquest original is a different story. I always take breaks but when I come back it's always fun.
Started playing this back in 2005. 19 years old at the time. My first MMO, and the only one, along with WoW, that ever got me hooked. It literally changed my life, and to this date I still don't know if it was for the better. I usually log on every few years just to visit my favourite zones again, like Everfrost and The Sinking Sands. Glad I don't have to pay for a sub now just to play for an hour or two. I think there are better games out there today - even WoW with its many faults, is just far more accessible than EQ2.
I think I prefer EQ to EQ II. Fidelity has had the opposite effect for me, sending me back to that nostalgia trap for a good reason: it makes my imagination work harder. Love both games though.
In EQ2 the necromancer is the 2nd highest dps in raids if played correctly right under the Conjurer, well as of Varsoon. It might have changed by now due to patches or what not.
To help the game from feeling spammy and having too many spells, i made macros. All my basic melee attacks are in button 1, just spam it and they activate. All my aoe attacks are in button 2. All my cooldown buffs are on button 3, and all my aggros are set to 4. Makes it super simple and all of them are still in my hotbars so i can see the cooldowns as well as click a certain skill/spell if i need to use it.
Oh man the leveling. Back when cap was 95, around the last time I played, I toured people through the dragon city, mobbing everything and helping them power grind. I did it for free cause I had nothing better to do but you could genuinely hire people to do the same for you.
I played probably 4-5 years ago I got up to level 22-23 and ran around for a few hours, I got super close to KOS guards and npc's and travelled around as much as I could, I'm not sure if EQ2 has some super hang out spot like old EC tunnels in EQ but I never saw another player in all my time running around :( watching some vids today to see if anything has changed and so here I am lol
I like everything about EQ2, minus its combat. I hate how many hotbars I need. I have having to press 2 hot bars of things just for a basic rotation is. If they would just cut the amount by half, and increase the cooldowns of what remains it would be so much better. Make the buttons you press more impactful. Instead of spammy. I've playing every single class this game has to offer as well. I do enjoy that they allow tanks and healers to have the ability to solo effetely. With meaningful AA choices. I keep quitting this game cause of combat, but I also keep coming back cause of housing and crafting lol.
I remember enjoying the combat at first when I played as a Bruiser at launch but it quickly got too spammy for my tastes and it only got worse. I felt like skills began to just not really matter but I enjoyed tons of other parts of the game.
I had 2 Active Accounts from the first moment that I started playing EverQuest II. That was down from my high of 9 Active Accounts in EverQuest. But, I had so many, and I mean a LOT of Collectables, like all the Spotted Butterflies, etc. that I had to have max number of Characters, with max storage, bags, and bank space. And I STILL had stuff left over... I LOVED the "Shiny" and would interrupt Dungeon Crawls, Raids, etc. just to pick them up. AND, I had those WONDERFUL GOGGLES that allowed me to see the BLUE SHINIES that you NORMIES couldn't see..MUAHAHAHAHA. There WAS one issue that I did have with that though... If we were in a Group, EVERYONE was able to Loot them once I clicked on them. I was NOT a fan of that.. I DID share with all of my Family Members, Guildmates, Friends, and such, and helped a GREAT MANY Folk get HUGE DOSES of Xp, both Regular, and AA, through the turn in system for all those LOVERLY SHINY Collectables... Ah yes, Great Times those.!.!.!.!
I got a veteran castle in EQ2 with view at Mistmoore. Maybe I should go back again, still can't find any MMORPGs to replace this experience, not even Mortal Online 2.
My biggest issue with any of the replacements I have tried to find for EQ2 is a genuine open world feel of good v's evil PVP MMO. Not talking care bear PVP either like - oh Im going to queue up with a few players get dropped into a small zone with whatever No. of random lets say 10v10 for example and then see who can capture the most nme flags in 5 mins and get most kills OMFG rly, If you like PVE only that up to you but EQ 2 had a real risk element even in certain Dungeon's you could bump into an nme team also running it but if you had a class that could detect other players or just knew enter at own risk it was fun. You also had the Dungeon's you could just rince and repeat with in my day my trusty group of 5 other players from our guild and as a Paladin so our groups Tank In the end was able to practically aggro control and speed run it with my eyes almost shut. I forget exact name but was like a high level haunted house where final boss would drop a piece of Armour from a set we were all farming, I was after the last part for me which was a Winged very paladin looking Helmet for a good couple of weeks before i was lucky enough that it dropped giving me my nice shiny Paladin Golden Armour set that had good stats and a heal proc buff if you had entire set equipped on it BUT was still no comparison to my fabled items from EPIC runs but it looked so cool when i was chilling in city by the bank on my trusty horse in my fancy armour ! Oh I forgot you even had a PVP rank that started at Hunter title until I believe an Overseer meant you one of best PVP players in game and you could lose the title if you lost to many pvp fights in a row but again it just added the competitive more meaningful PVP to the game. Anyway the PVP - I here ppl saying yeah but bet you just got ganked all the time - well this was great thing back then L1-10 could only fight that bracket, L11-20 until you maxed out your champion level, then it became more about how good your items were, your macro, aggro control etc etc and yes you could in theory be ganked once max level but during your level climb you worst fear was a L20 attacking you just as you had turned L11 but even then if you wanted to and the minerals and an armourer to make the best gear for that level bracket you could still give as good you got and again if 3 of us L11 with best armour for a L11-20 player and a solo L17/18 player thought he awesome because he could kill 3 players alot of the time that wouldnt happen. My point is apart from the great community and guild i was part while playing EQ2 I have not found an MMOG that comes close to EQ2's pvp combat system. I tried Age of conan when it came out, I tried the Warhammer one, I tried Guild Wars but maybe I was just setting to much expectation after being such a die hard fan of EQ2 and a WOW hater. If you can tell me any MMOG like EQ2 that has the openworld PVP combat with choosing to have some PVP. In EQ2 you used to always remind youself to make sure you banked your cash/Platinum and Gold especially when you went out because if you lost a PVP fight that was your coin purse gone and 10 plat wasnt small change back when i played but i remember a player forgetting to not put it in the city bank and then losing the 10p when and this best bit "HE decided to attack a player that was a much higher level than him LMAO" True Story ! 😀
Interesting! I've rarely seen EQ2 talked about in regards to PvP or open world PvP. When I played their Battlegrounds years ago they felt disasterous (though the armor looked *really* cool) This comment makes me interested to try their TLE coming this year that'll be PvP.
The greatest mmorpg I’ve ever played. It was full of jank, excessive systems and mechanics and an overly ambitious balance of classes. It wasn’t the smoothest of mmorpgs but it was definitely my most memorable. I remember my friends and I chilling out in Maj’Dul doing the Godking timeline and wow…what a time. I rolled an erudite for my first character. The game was also so graphically demanding that I had played for years before realizing that erudite had glyphs on their skin lol I once paid 50gold back in the day to have a player fully decorate my Seafeaers Roost apartment in East Freeport. They probably spent close to 15-20 hours alone on it. I still have it to this day. Don’t even get me started on the raid scene. It was really hardcore for a while, some guilds raiding 6+ days a week just to AFK in the city to flaunt your never-before-seen loot.
they should make eq2 as mobile game or consoles that would bring many new players, but i believe it would cost to much and bring less. but sadly to see the whole ip just hanging around. i mean eq have a massive lore and everything, sad that there are no more games in that lore. like the had a "diablo" like EQ game i really like that very much
I was prefering it to WoW as it is more complete and charachters are more customizable. I had a Bruiser focusing in bare hand combat and teleporting achivment. Love that hero. I had lot of fun in this game.
Played from de begining for 6 years straight then I lost my job and had to stop playing , but I miss the raid and group zones , it was very fun. 😂 , problem with returning is time.... also I lost all my characters I think....my server was permafrost I think....
Big Runescape (now oldschool)and Diablo 2 player from back in the day. Never got into EQ or Ultima Online, even though those were the big boys before Runescape came out and EQ looked better. UO looked somewhere in between Runescape classic and RS2/OSRS lol. As much as I loved these types of games, and I wanted to try both, I didn’t have the money for them. And now I just think nothing can compete with the fun or nostalgia I had with D2 or RS.
LMAO your house does look a bit bare hahahaha - When bored in EQ2 because waiting for everyone to get online or for whatever reason what better way to spend your time than decorating your house
@@Redbeardflynn i actually bought eq1, and it was like 2004. So my story is a little inaccurate lol. I was so bummed out. I've always wanted to try it. I may now
I played EQ2 at launch after playing EQ at launch. I loved it and played for about 5 years straight, daily. Then one day I had a minor issue that I needed SOE customer service’s help with. They dicked me around over something so trivial. Me, a long standing customer, paying my monthly sub, buying every expansion - then basically told me to f*ck off. So that’s what I did. I gave away 5 years worth of plat, gear, stacks of rare harvests, everything I had. I know Daybreak owns them now but I still haven’t found the desire to go back. Just has a bad taste in my mouth.
Daybreak may have even worse customer service than SOE! lol But I was an EQ launch player, and then an EQ2 launch player just like you, and have really enjoyed coming back to this game on a TLE server. I've also played quite a bit of the original EQ on Project 1999, which is really the only way to go with EQ imho. Both are worth a try, just for the nostalgia if nothing else.
@@Redbeardflynn nope not disabled. Only certain items are claimable on varsoon. I could long on and tell ya. The specific items that are available there. But the house will be when the server reaches that expansion that it was released with.
@@Redbeardflynn we have a guild called You Only Live Once on Varsoon. It’s a perma death guild. You die, you have to delete your toon. Rebus is the Guild Leader and does the randomization for everyone. I’m sure you either know him, of him. If not YT search it. Should come join us :). My wife and I just started some toons lol. 10 guardian and 10 conjuror.
what ultimately stopped me when i tried varsoon recently at the reccomendation from a bunch of posts was just how... empty it is. I went from levels 1-35 and i dont think i ever saw another player aside from the occasional max level person. that combined with just how slow questing is alone just made it feel so much harder to justify playing over EQ1.
I used to play this game religiously til SWTOR came out and my guild moved over to there. I still played EQ2 on occasion....up til my guild leader's account got hacked by who we assumed was a kid who he had to constantly chase off his property cause he'd hack into the wifi despite the GL changing the password. The hacker disbanded the guild and our beautifully decorated guild hall was destroyed. Something we'd considered our pride and joy and SOE claimed the guild leader's account wasn't hacked, ect. One of our guild members was a tech person and full on called them on their BS. I left the game cause of that. just left a sour note for me when the GMs ruled they wouldn't do anything. One of them did feel bad and gave a few of our guild members enough plat to make a new guild hall, but it wasnt enough to even buy the fortress level one we had. Just. UGh can you tell I'm still bitter? I'd loved the game til that experience ruined it for me
It is an ok game. If you are new to it you will spend months to years just catching up so you can group. You can pay 85.00 a spell to get it ancient level and that will really help you get a group.
@@Redbeardflynn There is a 'Research System' since Grand Master spells/ Master spells are very hard to get. You can research them which can take 40 real life days or more, or you can just pay to research them immediately for about 85.00 for spells at level 125.
Loved it on release....then a few months in they hit the ez-mode button and it wasn't worth playing since. Biggest problem with MMO's, and why they can't hold people long term, is they always make the game easier over time instead of maintaining the difficulty curve throughout. RPG's of any sort aren't good when they're too easy and that includes the MMO version.
I remember that exact moment. I was playing a shadowknight in Nektulos and everything was grouped. It was tough and the way the game was built you couldn't really split up mobs. Everything was built around groups and then suddenly...nothing was. It was crazy how massive that shift was.
I wish they would put passion back into it and just make a 3th one. or just upgrade the 1 or second. but this would be too much work to fix everything. so i guess a true old school mind, a first project passion and a will give give the people back what gaming and mmorpgs were about. this would be a dream for many and with how much games now suck. it would be a risk that has a huge chance to succeed.
EQ2 killed my main class from EQ, the Bard. Gone are the heady days of song twisting, kiting and paid corpse pulls to being a...rogue with musical sparkles.
They kind of did that to one of my favorite aspects of my class, the SK. I really liked FD pulling and when mobs were linked together in groups it became impossible from a mechanics perspective. This was kind of replaced, though, with proximity pulling.
Except in EQ2 you don't have to pull a corpse! lol But yes, the Bard is not the class it was in the original, nor is the Enchanter. But soooo many other great classes to choose from in EQ2.
I played EQ2 for about 3 months from Launch. I ended up going back to EQ again. If the TLE was F2P I may have given it a go, but I aint paying $15 a month for a 20 year old game.
Very fair. I've never liked that they paywall the progression servers. I get the arguments for it but I'd rather they be the same model as live, perhaps increase the population through later expansions.
i want a TLE on this game that has some origins aspects such as no Krono, but have it start at start of the best expansions, So starting at EoF. I think that it should cut off at Velious, beyond Velious the game becomes silly.
I played EQ1 religiously for about 8 years in my childhood, and then WoW for another 8 or so years after that... and looked into EQ2 a bit... but nothing I've seen has really drawn me in unfortunately
"A bit like World of Warcraft, but worse" pretty much describes EQ2 in a nutshell. It didn't age well at all, especially its graphics compared to the stylized art of classic WoW. That being said I've ran out of mmos to play, I've played almost all of them, and have been considering EQ or EQ2 as filler until the next BDO content update. Is the f2p server even worth?
If you're going to play one or the other, I might just recommend Everquest. Everquest 2 on the live servers is very bloated skillwise. Everquest will probably feel older, more classic feeling, but you can get a feel for it a little more. In both cases, you'll probably struggle finding a group on live but you will be able to use mercenaries on EQ, I think EQ2 restricts them.
@@Redbeardflynn Thanks for the info. The UI is painful in EQ, but as an aging mmo gamer I can tolerate some old jank for the sake of that old feel we miss so much. Im still undecided on Live EQ1 vs p99(and then blue vs green). Any recommendation there? I wanna play a necro or SK and hopefully actually have people to group up with and show me the ropes.
This game was so much fun in 2006-2009. Then it just went on that steep decline as SoE started to implode. It could've easily been a massive hit with the right leadership. Obviously the talent was there, but the upper management being what it was really made truly bad decisions from its inception. The weirdest part of the original launch game is how much the concept art in the loading screens differ from the actual ingame content from that time period. You had awesome monster designs, an array of helmets, various Bixie themed weaponry...all of which weren't in the game at all back then.
I noticed a thread in the EQ2 forums that just came up recently and I read it and I have to agree with most of it. The post talked about the GAME design in general and especially post 100.I just returne after a long layoff but I do remember my last playthrough decently well. IDK about the exact level 100 but there was mention of free gear and I kind of remember something like that. First of all the design is to much like Wow it is 100% dependent on the gear>player but imo none of that should be a huge factor the number 1 is FUN and ONLY fun. What happens though is a lot of running around and zones that if your gone for awhile are super confusing the game just runs off everywhere.I do remember seeing some level numbers on the globe when looking to warp but that only helps a small bit.What else I noticed was a huge p2w added to the game and that is a HUGE no thanks. The game is 100% designed around the player having the best of what is even the point of having low tier items if they are pretty much useless or your not welcome w/o the highest end gear/items/ etc etc?Familiars....ummm again add whatever you want for FUN but not a huge monetized game the way Blizzard operates because it will turn off players.
I loved this game when it first released. The graphics were amazing. Sadly none of my friends wanted to play. Had to jump to WoW instead. Too bad nobody wants to play today. If they released a graphics overhaul expansion, I bet that would attract a tone of players.
The problem I had with EQ 2 was WOW was more like EQ 1 than EQ2 was. It was not an evolution it was a completely different game. And it just felt off in a big way.
In eq you are forced to use 8 spells + some AA ones. Eq2 spells are literally unlimited and sometimes a bit too much at high levels. No idea why are you saying it's spammy or combat is worse compared to wow. Have you ever played a max level bard for example? Yes the combat is a bit spammy but dude just like in any other tab target mmo's.
The reason I say spammy in eq2 is because you cycle through them. Some classes less so than others but essentially your cycle can get to 10+ skills. On my bruiser I just clicked through 2 hotbars worth of skills on cool down for dps while watching for auto attacks. When wow has gotten skill bloat they've reduced their number of skills. In eq 1 the original game was limited to 8 spells but that's gone up as well with aas and rotations are longer especially near live but none of them have compared to eq2 at least for me with how many skills you need to work into a rotation: source max level bruiser for several years from beta through sentinels fate as well as playing recently for this and feeling like I wasn't making any tactical decisions on spells I was just throwing them at the npcs.
I feel you. Got an Iksar bruiser alt back in the days and a kerran as well lol. Was not that complicated I agree. It depends on class as you said, but still not true for the entire game. =) If I can start all over which is impossible nowadays, I would go with heals, utility etc as main... maybe enchanter or shammy. Love your channel anyways. We were in the same boat.
@@Mirx777 The last TLE...which was it, I forget. I think it was the first time they did it, Kaladim? I tried going with Wizard just so I had a smaller skill set and it was definitely better. Plus, Big Spell Go Boom (Ice coment just looks so cool).
While WoW was awesome I was very disappointed by the Caricature images for the characters. One of the reasons I returned to EQ2, and have played EQ2, well since it's beginning. I'm a forever fan of it, and will continue to look forward to EQ3 when it finally becomes a reality. In my opinion this is an excellent "RPG" (which does not REALLY exist in computer RPG's lol)
I miss the old EQ2 good times, before Daybreak messed in... EQ2 was a LOT better than Vanilla WOW in the 2004-2007 time frame: graphics, animations, classes and races designs, quests, landscapes, dungeons and all PVE areas. More deep and complex gameplay.
played when it launched and got my character pretty high i forget exactly so what level. The points made here are exactly my problems and ultimately why i quit. The leveling was extremely tedious and super grindy. The quests were very uninterested and the mobs/monsters felt kind of lame. I also found the smoothness of everything jarring back at launch. I loved EQ and i tried REALLY hard to love EQ2 but could never get myself there.
I loved this game back in the day. Played from release until about 2010, have so many good memories. Went back a few times, last one about 2 years ago. Game feels so old and forgotten that it just made me sad and I will not go back again.
Same with me and EQ1. I miss what it was though, had a good story and mechanics. Wasn't dumbed down to spoon feed everything to you, and the lore was capable of getting nearly as large as Elder Scrolls or similar. (Before it got too bloated with expansions every six months) I would love for it and Eq2 to be streamlined and revamped into a new game
They finally plan on switching it over to Directx 11 next year cause the game runs so poorly on Directx 9.
How did you play this game on release? Even on potato settings my computer on release burst into flames and killed me and my entire family. This is just my ghost replying to you.
hell ya! I've been playing off and on since 2000. started on Druzzil ro then merged with Xegony. Now I am playing EQ2. oh and was a guide on Tunare eq1
The most players are 125 playing heroics together makes a looot of fun. Didnt believe neither but on highend level it makes the most fun. Its also a lot of stuff to do to become powerful enough for heroics hehe
One thing that this game doesn't get enough credit for is the sound design. Walk from the outside with sounds of wildlife into a cave and you hear echoes and drops of water. Your footsteps make a different sound on bricks than sand or grass. The score of the original game (pre-expansion) was done by an actual full live orchestra.
I can 100% confirm this :) And I think EQ2 actually still supports EAX, which makes it even better when playing on a good sound system. I keep scratching my head seeing how hardly anyone notices how good the sounds and the musical score in eq2 is. Glad to have seen this comment, warms my heart.
@@eq2relaxation549 What are you guys referring to by score?
actually better than most sound design in games even today
@@YavNe it means the sound and music is 10/10
I'm playing right now and yeah I roleplay this game alot these days rather than really get anything done lol I go for hikes in zones. One of my favorites being Tranquil Seas. The ambience there is amazing. But one thing that does make me said is i spent a lot of time in dark light wood back in the day helping people.... now.... there is almost never anyone to help. I check on dark light every once in while just to see if any new players need help but.. itsvery rare lol
was thinking about playing this game with my mom on our crappy pc’s. it’s worth an attempt, she loved the original so i figured it would be lovely to experience together. glad to know it still holds up.
@@nazhoni Are y’all enjoying it so far? ☺️ Been thinking about starting it with my brother, and neither of us have ever played before.
We need eq3 badly. I don't get why they don't do it. It has A HUGE following.
It doesn't. EQ2 players would never have any interest in anything that the EQ2 team have touched even remotely.
@@ytscksdabig1 thats not 100% true
It was just announced....for 2028. At least a project starts now.
EQ next was a thing before it got cancelled. Eq3 is coming out in 4 years if everything goes to plan. They just don't have the crazy revenue of other mmos like wow n FFXIV, so it takes time to get big new projects off the ground
It doesn't have a huge following... Not even close. Quite small. The idiot with a ponytail ruined any chance of a new eq
I'm playing in a live server right now with characters I've had since 2005. Love the game.
Oh that's awesome.
Same, Wife and I have a Tier 2 Guild Hall we made just for us. We have played for over 10 years on and off. We are on the Skyfire server. We just started back again and are loving the game. We can level a new toon to level 20+ in just a few hours without cheesing it. We love the Evil lands. Good video.
Can feel the quality of your videos improving, this is great mate.
That's so nice of you to say. Thank you very much.
ITS WORTH IT! Varsoon is going great, and the storyline is actually really really good! Even the Live signature quests are great.
I am playing again after 20 years. Still an awesome game!
Hi friend! On which server do u play??
@@elbuenomalo I play eq 1
Very well done, and what better voice actor to showcase then Christopher Lee! As you said, the housing/decoration and crafting system in EQ2 is just amazing. IMO, no one does it better. I would love to play this game again if they did a huge stat and damage crunch, got rid of 75% of their melee/casting skills, and simplified stats and resists again. They add things like Fervor and Potency. Why have more stats in the game just to complicate it. Why not just stick with your basic stats and items with bonuses to crit, haste, dodge, etc? All these new and unnecessary stats just ruin the game. It is fun and exciting to get a 15ac 10 str 5% dodge item to replace your 5ac 5 dex item. Its simple, and you have a pretty good idea of how it will impact your character. As it is now, you see an item with 10 different bonuses you have to study and compare to your old piece of gear to decide if its better. Not only that, but how does 120,750 Str compared to 189,500 Str impact you damage? I cant really grasp that concept unless I pull out a calculator. Now I have to do it for 9 more stats on that same item to get a good comparison. It just isn't fun.
I've started playing again recently. They've got one of the best FTP systems - you can level up to 100 and have the first 11 (yes ELEVEN!) expansions to play through. There are still guilds recruiting and people playing. Quite a few peeps seem to be making a return trip lately. Maj'dul seems to be the most populated server (I'm on Skyfire - still not bad).
It's not for everyone, but it scratches an itch no one else seems to reach.
Edit: Oh man, the pizza... You could type /pizza in game and order a pizza delivery in the US. They knew their audience.
It definitely has *tons* of free content. I still wish they'd make the progression servers in both EQ and EQ2 included as part of their free to play plans but I get why they don't.
I completely forgot about ordering pizza in eq2!
Different strokes for different folks. The idea of 11 expansions to any game just seems bizarre to me. I like a game to end. I guess people super into MMOs don't. I'm hoping D4 is a lot more like D2 than D3 when it comes to "ending". D3 made a system where you de facto weren't beating the game unless you grinded an absurd amount of time. D2, you can kill the toughest stuff after probably 1-2 weeks of play.
@@AG-ld6rv I think most people, myself included, don't play MMOs to "beat" the game. I think it is more about community and constantly having new stuff to go do with your friends/guildmates. I never played WoW just so I could beat everything and feel like I completed it, it was always about being part of a community. That's how it is for me, at least.
@@joshleenall I dunno man IRL some
Me and my partner are playing EQ2 for the first time on Varsoon, we are having a blast! I'm a Berserker Froglok and she a Fury Arasai. Great video!
Oh that's a great combo! One of EQ2s strengths I think is that it can be duo'ed well. Great for couples imo. Glad you're having so much fun!
Such a love/hate with this game. But I come back time to time and try it out again. Ultimately, I think it's one of the best out there...but probably just not for me anymore.
If u come back again pls feel free to hit me up i play on antonia bayle server. Playing heroics makes a lot of fun
@@elbuenomalo, glad to hear AB is still going strong. Still have the player taverns opening through the week? Going to re-download, just love the housing. I need to rework my Mistmore Mansion.
Myself and my group of friends recently gave up on playing EQ2 as a group due to the extreme case of gear gating the basic group dungeons now require as opposed to how it was prior to Kunark Ascending (before the resolve stat). In the past, we'd get together and casually play through dungeons together. Some were easy, some were tough, some were long and took more than an evening and there was sometimes trial and error to overcome. But we were able to do everything as a group save for raid content. Since we returned in Vetrovia, we've gotten all the best gear you can get doing the story campaign, grinded out the post-story content for gear, repeated optional solo/duo dungeons for drops - and as a group we still cannot make a scratch on the first boss of any of the lowest tier group dungeons. Same issue in Vetrovia, same issue in Renewal. So we recently hung up our hat and decided to move on to Guild Wars 2, where we've been having a blast doing fractals together on Thursdays instead. It's sad, because I love Norrath. I've been enchanted by this world since 1999 when I got my beta disc and logged into Kaladim for the first time.
Let's also not forget that Antonia Bayle was voiced by Heather Graham.
First!
Love me some EQ, thanks for the look at it now
Thanks for the EQ2 content. Varsoon is fun and a great way to start for new players. However it should be noted, 99% of the population (and much of the fun) is level 125 and playing end game content. Thanks for the video!
Definitely something I missed talking about was the population. I approached it all solo so that was kind of my experience but that was a blind spot. I think EQ2 for me was always more solo than EQ which was always more group focused.
@@Redbeardflynn Yeah good point. Low levels are certainly all solo these days.
I play on Varsoon. Kinda. I am slowly leveling my DE Necromancer through Nek forest, and I mean slowly. Like whoa. It's funny because I know for sure that playing the original Darevo in his mid 90s in EQ1 *is* slower, but somehow, Varsoon *feels* slower. I blame the spammy combat system. Still, it's fun to be back. Mostly. Did I mention I hate the new Nektulos Forest? Spiders. Everywhere. And dog sized owlbear mini-bosses with fleas the size of Ratonga. I need a bath...
Oooo Nektulos is one of my favorite zones in EQ2, especially when you get up to the top. I remember the first time I saw an owlbear when I was playing it scared me half to death.
I miss the people. I miss casually getting in a group and fighting through Fallen Gate. There are so many things I just didn't get to do and can't anymore due to how empty it feels. I don't want a mentor to blaze thriugh the dungeon for me. I want to adventure with a team.
A part of me wonders if that age of MMOs is just gone for good. No matter what MMO I play these days, I don’t ever get to experience that anymore. Old or new, it feels like all anyone’s focus on anymore is endgame, and people are all sequestered away into their own separate Discords outside of the games.
Christopher Lee looks like he is making a Hostage Video.
Excellent video! Thank you, Ionblaze is a boss!
Thank you! And yes he is!
Memories. I switched to EQ2 after literal years of play time on EQ. The biggest difference for me was that all classes had at least one subclass that could solo to max level (at the time). In EQ I mained a rogue which could not solo and warrior that could, with restrictions (like having a dual box druid on /follow). In EQ2 I ended up with a character max leveled in every class and for every trade skill. The max levels have increased since then, and I play games a lot more casually now, but you have me thinking about returning ...
I bought this game and tried playing it when it first came out. Not only that my computer didn't like it at launch, but I didn't find it fun at launch, either. Very recently, I jumped back into it. I've been in the game for about a month now, and I can easily say this is the most fun I have had in an MMO in years. I decided to play on a live server, Antonia Bayle, instead of a TLE. Why? Because nostalgia never meant anything to me. The very first day, I got invited into a fantastic guild. Not only that, but the community in general has been great. It took me 2 weeks to run into my first jerk, and that has to be a record. Almost every day, there is a give away sponsored by guilds to give free stuff to lower level players. You get lots of platinum, and most importantly, free bags. I thought I wouldn't see other people playing, especially since Baldur's Gate 3 came out, but I see just enough people to keep things interesting. I've tried many MMOs the last few years hoping to get some value for my time, and Everquest 2 knocked it out of the park. I feel like the game values my time. This game is a good fit if you have a few hours or more to play per day. I'm playing about 5 hours a day, and having a great time. The big bonus is your house, which is the best in any MMO. Your accomplishments are displayed for you to appreciate. The sound design is also top notch, and I find the world immersive.
I played the game at launch, but my computer was basically a potato. I would come back every now and then, but it seemed kinda glitch compared to WoW, and EQ still had a good grasp on me. I'm back playing on Varsoon, mostly because of you, Ion Blaze and Bear. So far having some fun I have a couple of 20 levels, but Commonlands is getting on my nerves, it's so huge. Not sure where to go after that, will have to read more wikis.
Oh, Fallen Gate! If you can find a group it's so much fun. Otherwise, Nektulos forest is a really fun zone with a very different aesthetic to Commonlands.
Just came back EQ2 having not played in probably 8 years and I’ve just been having so much fun just exploring and questing areas. Also not mention resource gathering!!
I'm curious are you playing on the TLE or on live servers? I'd love to see Everquest 2 get some more love.
Currently, in my opinion, the best MMORPG - beautiful and interesting locations (also underwater), day is day, and night is night, when the ability to see in the dark comes in handy (caves/undergrounds are really dark and atmospheric), various weather conditions create a great atmosphere, great mounts (also flying), interesting plot threads of quests (cool dialogues with NPCs), the character is one of many other living and traveling around the world, without making his/her the "navel of the World", which is perceived as a hero from the first level savior of the world, we are simply a traveler and an adventurer. I've been playing for a long time and I'm still surprised by the developers 😊❤👍
I've been back on EQ2 for about a year, after taking over a decade off. I played on Kaladim, the TLE that preceeded Varsoon, and was quite disappointed when Varsoon launched and Kaladim totally died out. So be ready for that if you commit to a TLE server ... they last only so long. I'm now playing on LIVE, cuz I wanted to try out all of the new expansion zones, and some of them have been totally awesome. I'm a solo player, and you can solo the questlines right up to level 125 now. I'd say the game is well worth trying out in 2023.
Watching your video as I am asking myself the exact question in your title after last playing the game back in 2010 approx. and back then I was Truly an EverCr.. Quest addict to the game. I mean if i wasnt playing it i was looking up rare, legendary and fabled items for my Paladin that I wanted so badly to drop from our guilds x2 weekly epic content runs each week every week saving our Guilds currency for attendance each week when it came to signing up for the epic raid runs. Dragon Points. I saved and saved so when that Flaming Sword I wanted did drop no one could out bid me LOL. Over a year of wanting this damn sword it drops on the one week I couldnt do one of our weekly epic raid runs.
Anyway just quickly if i ever see a lizard type creature that has hair.. wants hair or even has a Wig they want that hair so bad I will definitely let you know 😀
Still best classes I've found in any game
I played it like 3 years ago and it was amazing. I love how detailed it is!
One thing i love about Everquest 2 is the amount of content it has. An insane amount of quests, collections, dungeons, raids, classes, crafting.
Never experienced anything like it in other games.
Just hopped into this game again played it when it Initially came out haven't played since and I've been enjoying it so far was happy to see this video
I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it! Eq2 was a great home for me for several years.
I miss dying at the forge and the days of /pizza 🍕
The year is 3023 the latest video from synthetic Redbeardflyn drops:- "Should you play Everquest seven on your home holodeck or play the latest Everquest one TLP classic truebox"
I'd still make the same dumb jokes tbh.
Man i remember all the hours played. I was in Vitality at the time #1 raid guild. It was so fun trying to figure out the new Raid bosses.
I tried EQ 1 live, out of curiosity and it was an interesting experience, did the Gloom mines and had fun. But it's a old game so you really have be prepared for old game design.
So I thought I would try EQ 2. Oh boy, that was easier said than done. It seems that EQ 2 do not like modern AMD cpus and windows 10.
I did a lot of googling and found out I was not the only one that ran in to problems, the game would crash all the time, sometimes even at the character screen.
Over the years, Blizzard have made upgrades to World of Warcraft, both the graphics and the engine behind the game, and EQ 2 really needs that as well in my opinion.
Agreed, EQ2 needs a facelift. They are over last year and this year upgrading some backend things for both games with their new 64 bit clients and moving to DX11 (I believe it's 11...) this year.
It's not a ton but it's more than either game has seen in quite some time.
@@Redbeardflynn That is good news, I will revisit EQ2 when that happens 👍
12:47 lets goooo, old school power leveling lol. Always a blast to do back in the day. I especially loved it around moors and SF, because sebilis (I have no idea if I'm spelling that right, it was like 10+ years ago for me) was just in the sweet spot for still green mobs at max level. It's like you were at max level with SF raid gear, you'd mentor down on a dps healer (in my case, a warden) and then just mass pull and AOE.. vould level someone up from like mid 60s to 80 in a few hours... I always farmed that place too for transmutes. I love this game, I look forward to an EverQuest 3 taking the industry by storm and bringing the industry back to good MMOs.
I put SOOOO much time into EQ2, probably the biggest highlight was raiding in Kunark... however now after playing many other MMOs, I think EQ2 has a major major problem with the spammy combat system. There were raid nights where the lag wasn't so bad and my dps was like 30% higher than regular, and nights where the lag was extra bad and it was 30% lower... As much as I love this game and it's actually quite tempting to go back and check out a progression server, I think the unreliable combat lag is going to be the number 1 reason I don't go back.... plus this video failed to mention if there were even enough players around to make it worthwhile.
On multiple characters, I would go huge on AA experience and essentially do every quest in the game while leveling in order to maximize my AA. I really enjoyed the AA slider they added so I could level at my own pace while funneling all that extra xp into alternate advancement.
Also, I wish you woulda found a well decorated house from another player to feature in the video because the housing is such a good system... you could have at least customized the floors and the walls etc in the inn room to show a small hint of the available options for the game.
Anyway... I loved this video... EQ2 will always have a special place in my heart.... I actually had server first discovery on the Kunark Brigand epic weapon on Antonia Bayle and it woulda been world first had I not been too helpful giving people hints of where to go and then having to take a 2 hour break to raid while someone else was able to finish the quest... since I did all the quests in the game I was pretty much able to pick up on a lot of the quest hints that others didn't know.
All good critiques on what I could have mentioned/shown in the video!
EQ2 will always have a special place for me, too. I'll never forget doing the betrayal quest for the first time to make my version of Drizzt Do'Urden, a dark elf ranger in eq2.
I have some issues with it, especially on live, but where Varsoon is currently in the best era for Everquest 2 in my opinion.
EQ2 is probably my favorite MMO of all time, despite starting with EQ. It may be because I started playing when it actually released, so I experienced it at its peak. You're 100% right about the crafting and the housing, its the best of any MMO. I did try a progression server and really enjoyed it, but was pretty sad when I found out they only progress through a smallish number of expansions, then the server is deleted and you have to move your characters to the live servers.
That's the intro I remember from back in the day. Last time I booted it up it was totally different.
The thing is, the time locked servers are the best but they lock out so many cool classes.
They need to open all classes but lock content.
I just came back, jumped on Varsoon and then couldn't play a beast master....
I was like WTF?
Graphics wise, not that bad on highest settings , the game play and crafting was cool. I'm at level 15 and enjoying it.
Choosing a class is always my hardest option.
I went Troll Bezerker but would like more magic casting animation so will probably reroll.
I really enjoy the Overlord Outpost area
Quests quite dull... Kill # of mobs just boring
I have a lot of fond memories of EQ2 (newbie island was the best tutorial!). I loved being able to betray my people (high elf) and become a shadow knight. The crazy ability bloat has kept me from coming back in recent years... I need fewer buttons as I get older.
I'll never forget betraying my tier'dal assassin to become a ranger. Such a great quest
@@Redbeardflynn my first main was a ratonga that I betrayed with to become a swashbuckler (Reepicheep from Narnia ftw).
I played it heavy from 2008-2012 and loved it. I'm still on Varsoon sorta.. I log in and play broker quest for Krono mostly though. Everquest original is a different story. I always take breaks but when I come back it's always fun.
Started playing this back in 2005. 19 years old at the time. My first MMO, and the only one, along with WoW, that ever got me hooked. It literally changed my life, and to this date I still don't know if it was for the better. I usually log on every few years just to visit my favourite zones again, like Everfrost and The Sinking Sands. Glad I don't have to pay for a sub now just to play for an hour or two.
I think there are better games out there today - even WoW with its many faults, is just far more accessible than EQ2.
wait what
I think I prefer EQ to EQ II. Fidelity has had the opposite effect for me, sending me back to that nostalgia trap for a good reason: it makes my imagination work harder. Love both games though.
In EQ2 the necromancer is the 2nd highest dps in raids if played correctly right under the Conjurer, well as of Varsoon. It might have changed by now due to patches or what not.
How many times can a game break my heart?
Too many
To help the game from feeling spammy and having too many spells, i made macros. All my basic melee attacks are in button 1, just spam it and they activate. All my aoe attacks are in button 2. All my cooldown buffs are on button 3, and all my aggros are set to 4. Makes it super simple and all of them are still in my hotbars so i can see the cooldowns as well as click a certain skill/spell if i need to use it.
is there mouseover targeting? I always get to max lvl and get bored.. macro your spammy skills together
Oh man the leveling. Back when cap was 95, around the last time I played, I toured people through the dragon city, mobbing everything and helping them power grind. I did it for free cause I had nothing better to do but you could genuinely hire people to do the same for you.
I played probably 4-5 years ago I got up to level 22-23 and ran around for a few hours, I got super close to KOS guards and npc's and travelled around as much as I could, I'm not sure if EQ2 has some super hang out spot like old EC tunnels in EQ but I never saw another player in all my time running around :( watching some vids today to see if anything has changed and so here I am lol
I like everything about EQ2, minus its combat. I hate how many hotbars I need. I have having to press 2 hot bars of things just for a basic rotation is. If they would just cut the amount by half, and increase the cooldowns of what remains it would be so much better. Make the buttons you press more impactful. Instead of spammy. I've playing every single class this game has to offer as well. I do enjoy that they allow tanks and healers to have the ability to solo effetely. With meaningful AA choices.
I keep quitting this game cause of combat, but I also keep coming back cause of housing and crafting lol.
I remember enjoying the combat at first when I played as a Bruiser at launch but it quickly got too spammy for my tastes and it only got worse. I felt like skills began to just not really matter but I enjoyed tons of other parts of the game.
This is why I’ve realized I prefer a limited action set. 1000 skills seems cool till you actually have to know them all and when to use them lol
@@Redbeardflynn Agreed
@@aaronmiller4871 Yea, I find myself enjoying MMOs like GW2 and ESO more, as far as combat goes.
I had 2 Active Accounts from the first moment that I started playing EverQuest II. That was down from my high of 9 Active Accounts in EverQuest. But, I had so many, and I mean a LOT of Collectables, like all the Spotted Butterflies, etc. that I had to have max number of Characters, with max storage, bags, and bank space. And I STILL had stuff left over... I LOVED the "Shiny" and would interrupt Dungeon Crawls, Raids, etc. just to pick them up. AND, I had those WONDERFUL GOGGLES that allowed me to see the BLUE SHINIES that you NORMIES couldn't see..MUAHAHAHAHA. There WAS one issue that I did have with that though... If we were in a Group, EVERYONE was able to Loot them once I clicked on them. I was NOT a fan of that.. I DID share with all of my Family Members, Guildmates, Friends, and such, and helped a GREAT MANY Folk get HUGE DOSES of Xp, both Regular, and AA, through the turn in system for all those LOVERLY SHINY Collectables... Ah yes, Great Times those.!.!.!.!
It was enthusiastic people like you in the community that made my childhood great. I played on Oasis
I got a veteran castle in EQ2 with view at Mistmoore.
Maybe I should go back again, still can't find any MMORPGs to replace this experience, not even Mortal Online 2.
My biggest issue with any of the replacements I have tried to find for EQ2 is a genuine open world feel of good v's evil PVP MMO. Not talking care bear PVP either like - oh Im going to queue up with a few players get dropped into a small zone with whatever No. of random lets say 10v10 for example and then see who can capture the most nme flags in 5 mins and get most kills OMFG rly, If you like PVE only that up to you but EQ 2 had a real risk element even in certain Dungeon's you could bump into an nme team also running it but if you had a class that could detect other players or just knew enter at own risk it was fun. You also had the Dungeon's you could just rince and repeat with in my day my trusty group of 5 other players from our guild and as a Paladin so our groups Tank In the end was able to practically aggro control and speed run it with my eyes almost shut.
I forget exact name but was like a high level haunted house where final boss would drop a piece of Armour from a set we were all farming, I was after the last part for me which was a Winged very paladin looking Helmet for a good couple of weeks before i was lucky enough that it dropped giving me my nice shiny Paladin Golden Armour set that had good stats and a heal proc buff if you had entire set equipped on it BUT was still no comparison to my fabled items from EPIC runs but it looked so cool when i was chilling in city by the bank on my trusty horse in my fancy armour !
Oh I forgot you even had a PVP rank that started at Hunter title until I believe an Overseer meant you one of best PVP players in game and you could lose the title if you lost to many pvp fights in a row but again it just added the competitive more meaningful PVP to the game.
Anyway the PVP - I here ppl saying yeah but bet you just got ganked all the time - well this was great thing back then L1-10 could only fight that bracket, L11-20 until you maxed out your champion level, then it became more about how good your items were, your macro, aggro control etc etc and yes you could in theory be ganked once max level but during your level climb you worst fear was a L20 attacking you just as you had turned L11 but even then if you wanted to and the minerals and an armourer to make the best gear for that level bracket you could still give as good you got and again if 3 of us L11 with best armour for a L11-20 player and a solo L17/18 player thought he awesome because he could kill 3 players alot of the time that wouldnt happen.
My point is apart from the great community and guild i was part while playing EQ2 I have not found an MMOG that comes close to EQ2's pvp combat system. I tried Age of conan when it came out, I tried the Warhammer one, I tried Guild Wars but maybe I was just setting to much expectation after being such a die hard fan of EQ2 and a WOW hater.
If you can tell me any MMOG like EQ2 that has the openworld PVP combat with choosing to have some PVP. In EQ2 you used to always remind youself to make sure you banked your cash/Platinum and Gold especially when you went out because if you lost a PVP fight that was your coin purse gone and 10 plat wasnt small change back when i played but i remember a player forgetting to not put it in the city bank and then losing the 10p when and this best bit "HE decided to attack a player that was a much higher level than him LMAO" True Story ! 😀
Interesting! I've rarely seen EQ2 talked about in regards to PvP or open world PvP. When I played their Battlegrounds years ago they felt disasterous (though the armor looked *really* cool) This comment makes me interested to try their TLE coming this year that'll be PvP.
The greatest mmorpg I’ve ever played. It was full of jank, excessive systems and mechanics and an overly ambitious balance of classes. It wasn’t the smoothest of mmorpgs but it was definitely my most memorable. I remember my friends and I chilling out in Maj’Dul doing the Godking timeline and wow…what a time.
I rolled an erudite for my first character. The game was also so graphically demanding that I had played for years before realizing that erudite had glyphs on their skin lol
I once paid 50gold back in the day to have a player fully decorate my Seafeaers Roost apartment in East Freeport. They probably spent close to 15-20 hours alone on it. I still have it to this day.
Don’t even get me started on the raid scene. It was really hardcore for a while, some guilds raiding 6+ days a week just to AFK in the city to flaunt your never-before-seen loot.
I wouldn't play on a live server, but I'd definitely keep an eye on the EMU development.
I remember marverling at these graphics when I was a wee lad.
I've put many hours into both, I think EQ2 is the better game, lore wise, and gameplay wise, FOR ME. The combat flows a little faster
they should make eq2 as mobile game or consoles that would bring many new players, but i believe it would cost to much and bring less. but sadly to see the whole ip just hanging around. i mean eq have a massive lore and everything, sad that there are no more games in that lore. like the had a "diablo" like EQ game i really like that very much
I was prefering it to WoW as it is more complete and charachters are more customizable.
I had a Bruiser focusing in bare hand combat and teleporting achivment. Love that hero. I had lot of fun in this game.
Played from de begining for 6 years straight then I lost my job and had to stop playing , but I miss the raid and group zones , it was very fun. 😂 , problem with returning is time.... also I lost all my characters I think....my server was permafrost I think....
That lizard dude dancing is compelling
Big Runescape (now oldschool)and Diablo 2 player from back in the day. Never got into EQ or Ultima Online, even though those were the big boys before Runescape came out and EQ looked better. UO looked somewhere in between Runescape classic and RS2/OSRS lol. As much as I loved these types of games, and I wanted to try both, I didn’t have the money for them. And now I just think nothing can compete with the fun or nostalgia I had with D2 or RS.
LMAO your house does look a bit bare hahahaha - When bored in EQ2 because waiting for everyone to get online or for whatever reason what better way to spend your time than decorating your house
I bought this game 20 years ago and it never worked on my computer. It just collected dust
Oof, I feel that. I had that issue with EQOA because I couldn't get it to work on my ps2.
@@Redbeardflynn i actually bought eq1, and it was like 2004. So my story is a little inaccurate lol. I was so bummed out. I've always wanted to try it. I may now
Do Entropia Universe!
I played EQ2 at launch after playing EQ at launch. I loved it and played for about 5 years straight, daily. Then one day I had a minor issue that I needed SOE customer service’s help with. They dicked me around over something so trivial. Me, a long standing customer, paying my monthly sub, buying every expansion - then basically told me to f*ck off. So that’s what I did. I gave away 5 years worth of plat, gear, stacks of rare harvests, everything I had. I know Daybreak owns them now but I still haven’t found the desire to go back. Just has a bad taste in my mouth.
Daybreak may have even worse customer service than SOE! lol But I was an EQ launch player, and then an EQ2 launch player just like you, and have really enjoyed coming back to this game on a TLE server. I've also played quite a bit of the original EQ on Project 1999, which is really the only way to go with EQ imho. Both are worth a try, just for the nostalgia if nothing else.
There are also Veteran reward Houses you can get if your account is aged enough. To check just hit /claim in-game
So I was actually wondering if this is disabled on Varsoon? I didn't have any claims, not even the 1 day claims.
@@Redbeardflynn nope not disabled. Only certain items are claimable on varsoon. I could long on and tell ya. The specific items that are available there. But the house will be when the server reaches that expansion that it was released with.
@@Redbeardflynn we have a guild called You Only Live Once on Varsoon. It’s a perma death guild. You die, you have to delete your toon. Rebus is the Guild Leader and does the randomization for everyone. I’m sure you either know him, of him. If not YT search it. Should come join us :). My wife and I just started some toons lol. 10 guardian and 10 conjuror.
The rewards to claim on Varsoon looks to be, “a pet monkey collar” and “a mysterious egg” offers the quest “The Mysterious Egg”.
Bring back /pizza 🍕😆
what ultimately stopped me when i tried varsoon recently at the reccomendation from a bunch of posts was just how... empty it is. I went from levels 1-35 and i dont think i ever saw another player aside from the occasional max level person. that combined with just how slow questing is alone just made it feel so much harder to justify playing over EQ1.
A group of P+ folks were playing last summer. Had fun for a couple months, then it just kind of fizzled out /shrug
So many names!{It is cheaper to buy a house in EverQuest II than it is in real life isn't as fun as EverQuest II!?
I used to play this game religiously til SWTOR came out and my guild moved over to there. I still played EQ2 on occasion....up til my guild leader's account got hacked by who we assumed was a kid who he had to constantly chase off his property cause he'd hack into the wifi despite the GL changing the password. The hacker disbanded the guild and our beautifully decorated guild hall was destroyed. Something we'd considered our pride and joy and SOE claimed the guild leader's account wasn't hacked, ect. One of our guild members was a tech person and full on called them on their BS. I left the game cause of that. just left a sour note for me when the GMs ruled they wouldn't do anything. One of them did feel bad and gave a few of our guild members enough plat to make a new guild hall, but it wasnt enough to even buy the fortress level one we had. Just. UGh can you tell I'm still bitter? I'd loved the game til that experience ruined it for me
It is an ok game. If you are new to it you will spend months to years just catching up so you can group. You can pay 85.00 a spell to get it ancient level and that will really help you get a group.
Oof you can buy spells now?
@@Redbeardflynn There is a 'Research System' since Grand Master spells/ Master spells are very hard to get. You can research them which can take 40 real life days or more, or you can just pay to research them immediately for about 85.00 for spells at level 125.
@@syllinx1 I remember when they added the research system but I thought it had limits. That's frustrating
I played this back in 2004 until I decided to switch to world of Warcraft. My friends had already switched by the time I got into it pretty good.
Loved it on release....then a few months in they hit the ez-mode button and it wasn't worth playing since. Biggest problem with MMO's, and why they can't hold people long term, is they always make the game easier over time instead of maintaining the difficulty curve throughout. RPG's of any sort aren't good when they're too easy and that includes the MMO version.
I remember that exact moment. I was playing a shadowknight in Nektulos and everything was grouped. It was tough and the way the game was built you couldn't really split up mobs. Everything was built around groups and then suddenly...nothing was. It was crazy how massive that shift was.
I wish they would put passion back into it and just make a 3th one.
or just upgrade the 1 or second. but this would be too much work
to fix everything.
so i guess a true old school mind, a first project passion
and a will give give the people back what gaming and mmorpgs were about.
this would be a dream for many and with how much games now suck.
it would be a risk that has a huge chance to succeed.
EQ2 killed my main class from EQ, the Bard. Gone are the heady days of song twisting, kiting and paid corpse pulls to being a...rogue with musical sparkles.
They kind of did that to one of my favorite aspects of my class, the SK. I really liked FD pulling and when mobs were linked together in groups it became impossible from a mechanics perspective. This was kind of replaced, though, with proximity pulling.
Except in EQ2 you don't have to pull a corpse! lol But yes, the Bard is not the class it was in the original, nor is the Enchanter. But soooo many other great classes to choose from in EQ2.
I played EQ2 for about 3 months from Launch. I ended up going back to EQ again. If the TLE was F2P I may have given it a go, but I aint paying $15 a month for a 20 year old game.
Very fair. I've never liked that they paywall the progression servers. I get the arguments for it but I'd rather they be the same model as live, perhaps increase the population through later expansions.
Kingdom of Sky is still my favorite expansion. Back when weapons had some ridiculous procs.
We went back with about 8 of us. Lasted less than 2 months and we were all done with it.
i want a TLE on this game that has some origins aspects such as no Krono, but have it start at start of the best expansions, So starting at EoF. I think that it should cut off at Velious, beyond Velious the game becomes silly.
I played EQ1 religiously for about 8 years in my childhood, and then WoW for another 8 or so years after that... and looked into EQ2 a bit... but nothing I've seen has really drawn me in unfortunately
Killing a wilderbear cub just minding his own business... XD
I felt worse about the bee to be honest.
@@Redbeardflynn 🤣🤣🤣🤣 true, the bee really had no chance.
Dont forget about Ratonga bro.
Plz do UO. There's already so much content for SWG as its recently experienced a bit of a renaissance
I'll run a new poll here in a bit that'll just be UO versus SWG. In the last vote EQ2 came 1st by a wide margin and UO and SWG were close.
"A bit like World of Warcraft, but worse" pretty much describes EQ2 in a nutshell. It didn't age well at all, especially its graphics compared to the stylized art of classic WoW. That being said I've ran out of mmos to play, I've played almost all of them, and have been considering EQ or EQ2 as filler until the next BDO content update. Is the f2p server even worth?
If you're going to play one or the other, I might just recommend Everquest. Everquest 2 on the live servers is very bloated skillwise. Everquest will probably feel older, more classic feeling, but you can get a feel for it a little more.
In both cases, you'll probably struggle finding a group on live but you will be able to use mercenaries on EQ, I think EQ2 restricts them.
@@Redbeardflynn Thanks for the info. The UI is painful in EQ, but as an aging mmo gamer I can tolerate some old jank for the sake of that old feel we miss so much. Im still undecided on Live EQ1 vs p99(and then blue vs green). Any recommendation there? I wanna play a necro or SK and hopefully actually have people to group up with and show me the ropes.
@@Saiku they're finally gonna revamp the UI in EQ1, let's see what they do to mess it up :P
This games graphics were nuts on release
My computer could barely run it!
This game was so much fun in 2006-2009. Then it just went on that steep decline as SoE started to implode. It could've easily been a massive hit with the right leadership. Obviously the talent was there, but the upper management being what it was really made truly bad decisions from its inception. The weirdest part of the original launch game is how much the concept art in the loading screens differ from the actual ingame content from that time period. You had awesome monster designs, an array of helmets, various Bixie themed weaponry...all of which weren't in the game at all back then.
eq II needs a graphics remaster
I'd love that but for me? I'd want a stat squish and ability squish first to go back to the live game.
I noticed a thread in the EQ2 forums that just came up recently and I read it and I have to agree with most of it.
The post talked about the GAME design in general and especially post 100.I just returne after a long layoff but I do remember my last playthrough decently well.
IDK about the exact level 100 but there was mention of free gear and I kind of remember something like that.
First of all the design is to much like Wow it is 100% dependent on the gear>player but imo none of that should be a huge factor the number 1 is FUN and ONLY fun.
What happens though is a lot of running around and zones that if your gone for awhile are super confusing the game just runs off everywhere.I do remember seeing some level numbers on the globe when looking to warp but that only helps a small bit.What else I noticed was a huge p2w added to the game and that is a HUGE no thanks.
The game is 100% designed around the player having the best of what is even the point of having low tier items if they are pretty much useless or your not welcome w/o the highest end gear/items/ etc etc?Familiars....ummm again add whatever you want for FUN but not a huge monetized game the way Blizzard operates because it will turn off players.
I loved this game when it first released. The graphics were amazing. Sadly none of my friends wanted to play. Had to jump to WoW instead. Too bad nobody wants to play today. If they released a graphics overhaul expansion, I bet that would attract a tone of players.
The problem I had with EQ 2 was WOW was more like EQ 1 than EQ2 was.
It was not an evolution it was a completely different game.
And it just felt off in a big way.
In eq you are forced to use 8 spells + some AA ones. Eq2 spells are literally unlimited and sometimes a bit too much at high levels. No idea why are you saying it's spammy or combat is worse compared to wow. Have you ever played a max level bard for example? Yes the combat is a bit spammy but dude just like in any other tab target mmo's.
The reason I say spammy in eq2 is because you cycle through them. Some classes less so than others but essentially your cycle can get to 10+ skills. On my bruiser I just clicked through 2 hotbars worth of skills on cool down for dps while watching for auto attacks. When wow has gotten skill bloat they've reduced their number of skills. In eq 1 the original game was limited to 8 spells but that's gone up as well with aas and rotations are longer especially near live but none of them have compared to eq2 at least for me with how many skills you need to work into a rotation: source max level bruiser for several years from beta through sentinels fate as well as playing recently for this and feeling like I wasn't making any tactical decisions on spells I was just throwing them at the npcs.
I feel you. Got an Iksar bruiser alt back in the days and a kerran as well lol. Was not that complicated I agree. It depends on class as you said, but still not true for the entire game. =) If I can start all over which is impossible nowadays, I would go with heals, utility etc as main... maybe enchanter or shammy. Love your channel anyways. We were in the same boat.
@@Mirx777 The last TLE...which was it, I forget. I think it was the first time they did it, Kaladim? I tried going with Wizard just so I had a smaller skill set and it was definitely better. Plus, Big Spell Go Boom (Ice coment just looks so cool).
EQ2 definitely has too many spells/abilities, live is even worse and many are pointless. I would much prefer 8 to 12 max. Quality over quantity.
While WoW was awesome I was very disappointed by the Caricature images for the characters. One of the reasons I returned to EQ2, and have played EQ2, well since it's beginning. I'm a forever fan of it, and will continue to look forward to EQ3 when it finally becomes a reality. In my opinion this is an excellent "RPG" (which does not REALLY exist in computer RPG's lol)
Pzjynn will drop GRS "Nevermore".
I tired the live server and it was a mess, didn't want to commit with a sub because of that
I miss the old EQ2 good times, before Daybreak messed in... EQ2 was a LOT better than Vanilla WOW in the 2004-2007 time frame: graphics, animations, classes and races designs, quests, landscapes, dungeons and all PVE areas. More deep and complex gameplay.
played when it launched and got my character pretty high i forget exactly so what level. The points made here are exactly my problems and ultimately why i quit. The leveling was extremely tedious and super grindy. The quests were very uninterested and the mobs/monsters felt kind of lame. I also found the smoothness of everything jarring back at launch. I loved EQ and i tried REALLY hard to love EQ2 but could never get myself there.
We need an influencer to promote eq2 for like a month straight , if we got a few thousand regulars it would make the servers feel so much more alive
Static Group Live has essentially done that by grouping and raiding in Eq2. I believe they'ved moved on but definitely check them out.