EQ2 Orientation

Andreios · 03-28-2009, 04:37 PM

I am coming back into EQ2 and am looking for some sense of EQ2 for levelling and endgame. I would appreciate suggestions for websites, forums or guides. I come from WoW as a reference where all the points I make below are covered in incredible detail.

I have played EQ2 casually and have these candidates for a Main character:

44 Defiler, 35 Provisioner;
35 Brigand, 34 Alchemist;
33 Coercer, 38 Jeweller;
25 Warlock, 35 Sage.

I also have other alts:

17 Bruiser, 33 Carpenter;
22 Illusionist, 34 Tailor;
11 Dirge, 30 Woodworker.

I am not averse to starting a new character.

Of primary importance:

Smart, thinking persons classes, in particular: support classes such as healers, buffers, debuffers and dps classes that require some thought rather than hitting one or 2 buttons.
Is there anyway of measuring how effective shaman wards and cleric reactive heals are?
I prefer cooperation and therefore grouping and smart, mature players. How much coordination do lower level grouped encounters and endgame raids require?
Strategy and encounters with a challenge. How much thought needs to go into planning and preparing for encounters?
Evaluating gear upgrades
Theorycrafting and generally understanding the games mechanics
Is there an ACT guide that is intelligible without being simplistic?
Beating the boss or encounter
Maximising AA points

Of secondary consideration, but still important are:

Crafting
Housing as a means to an end (ability to have more slots)
Soloing to level and attain AA points
Supporting the guild with HQs

I am not pre-occupied by these:

PVP in any shape or form
Lore
Tanking classes
Socialising for its own sake
Role playing
Customisation of the character or house
Collecting arbitrary titles, pets and such like

Additional areas

Are deities relevant? Which deities suit which classes/roles?
Do I need to visit every zone and complete the quests there?
I find a lot of quest-lines extraordinarily complex, e.g. Nek Castle. Is this something that continues into higher level areas?

I am adding some reference material I had bookmarked and have found during the last few days. Some of it is old so may no longer be accurate.

Coercers and Illusionists

Aoine's Coercer Charm Guide

Sir Dinadan's Defiler Guide 5th post

What to do with your first 50 Defiler AAs

Early Defiler AAs

Snargh's Brigand Tips and Tricks

Lord Pantz's How to be a Brigand

AA progression for a soloing warlock

LightCC's Warlock Spell DPS/efficiency

Mezelline's The Mathematics of Warlockery

Daray's Wizard DPS Guide

Race and Class Comparison

Dusty97 and the "I need class advice" topics

Best Class/Race overall for noobs

What class requires more skill?

Didi's How to dress for success Guide

Leanan's A guide to critical damage

+CA Damage, Weapon Speed

Maximising critical hits

EQ2i Stat Caps

Victer's Hard Caps, Soft Caps and you

Cap Diminishing Returns

EQ2 Display Settings

Mob Difficulty

Understanding your Enemy

Item Rarity

Game Goals

Tentonhammer's Choosing a deity guide

Faabio · 03-28-2009, 04:55 PM

If I had to say what EQ2's orientation was I'd say homosexual.

Muph · 03-28-2009, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andreios

I am coming back into EQ2 and am looking for some sense of EQ2 for levelling and endgame.

Smart, thinking persons classes, in particular: support classes such as healers, buffers, debuffers and dps classes that require some thought rather than hitting one or 2 buttons. Where are these classes in EQ2 when it comes to raids? Everyone has their same routine, it's mundane.

Is there anyway of measuring how effective shaman wards and cleric reactive heals are? You only really need one shaman on a raid and a cleric will be better suited for group healing for extra healers besides the tank groups

I prefer cooperation and therefore grouping and smart, mature players. How much coordination do lower level grouped encounters and endgame raids require? Wrong game, lower level grouped and everything up until RoK? Absolutely no coordination besides mindless button mashing. Endgame raids? Tank + Spank for Tier 6-7, and 1/2 Button-clicking-take-people-out-of-the-fight encounters and 1/2 Avatar-Contested-Mobs-were-beaten-before-the-instance-content for tier 8. So basically, being able to use your sense of sight and touch to look and press keyboard keys.

Strategy and encounters with a challenge. How much thought needs to go into planning and preparing for encounters? You buy the same temp adornments as everyone else depending on your characters stats, if anything you bring cure potions. There is no planning and preparation of encounters. You learn them and either are ready to apply them, or you're wasting time on a fight you've already learned. The only preparation is knowing if you need to switch out 2-3 pieces of gear for resists and bringing cures; real in-depth shit here.

Evaluating gear upgrades
Theorycrafting and generally understanding the games mechanics
Is there an ACT guide that is intelligible without be simplistic? ACT is simple.

Beating the boss or encounter Awesome the first time, cool the next couple times, then you realize how boring and simple it all becomes since the fight never varies.

Maximising AA points Generally not needed for most classes, 180-185 is about most all of the good abilities for nearly every class, the last AAs are usually fluff.

Of secondary consideration, but still important are:

Crafting
Housing as a means to an end (ability to have more slots) That only requires money, which is overly abundant in this game now.

Soloing to level and attain AA points Well that's what about 80% of the game is anymore, so you'll enjoy that. In fact, from 70-80 you'll be doing hardly anything butsolo questing.

Supporting the guild with HQs Why do HQs when killing raid mobs is 10x as fast, you said you were interested in raiding; HQs are a more casual aspect that you could do with alts.

I am not pre-occupied by these:

PVP in any shape or form
Lore
Tanking classes
Socialising for its own sake
Role playing
Customisation of the character or house So you want your toon to be like everyone else's? Welcome to EQ2!
Collecting arbitrary titles, pets and such like

Additional areas

Are deities relevant? Which deities suit which classes/roles? Pick a class then ask this question, some deities can be better or worse for classes. You wouldn't want a Monk going Tunare for all the uber heal blessings and miracles Tunare gives.
Do I need to visit every zone and complete the quests there? If you want to maximize your AA, which was one of your points.
I find a lot of quest-lines extraordinarily complex, e.g. Nek Castle. Is this something that continues into higher level areas? Lol no, and they just get even more boring.

Overall man, it sounds like EQ2 isn't what you're looking for.

Niber · 03-28-2009, 05:28 PM

Your expectations of EQ2 are pretty lofty.

For one, there are no "thinking persons classes" in EQ2; they're all a variety of button pounding. Encounter design? Coordination? It's non-existent in heroic zones and rare in raiding outside of don't cure X-condition and you wipe the raid.

Andreios · 03-28-2009, 05:33 PM

Thankyou Muph for taking the time to reply point by point. That is exactly what I was looking for. I'll have to reconsider and look for alternatives.

Edited: 30/3:

What MMO to Play

Eurogamer's MMO Knockout

This might be out of date (edited 18/10/08), nevertheless the topic is still useful. Personally I am limited by a 2/3 year old machine and a dislike of pvp, so games like AoC and Warhammer are off limits. I did try the Vanguard trial (didn't like the graphics) and LotRO trial (interesting game, but I'm not so keen on deep lore, the classes were weak and game mechanics were rather poor in my mind). Overall, I prefer PVE WoW, EQ2 and GW (I love the spells and tactics).

Thundaarr · 03-28-2009, 06:03 PM

I think you are letting some bitter people guide you. At the end... every MMO out there will leave you dissapointed if you listen to what these guys say.

'Omg this game is just mashing buttons, and then once you learn the encounter it becomes boring and easy.'

News flash, that is every fucking MMO out there.

Overall eq2 at the end game right now has a pretty good variety of tactics and strategies employed to kill a mob, and are more than just "tank and spank" (although I must admit in the latest expansion they went overboard with the "cure this effect or you wipe the whole raid" thing)

There are quite a few questlines, and some of them are interesting and yield some decent rewards.

Overall of the classes you listed I would say you would be happiest with coercer. They are very easy to solo, and are always welcome in groups and raids.

Pink Poodle · 03-28-2009, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thundaarr

I think you are letting some bitter people guide you. At the end... every MMO out there will leave you dissapointed if you listen to what these guys say.

'Omg this game is just mashing buttons, and then once you learn the encounter it becomes boring and easy.'

News flash, that is every fucking MMO out there.

Overall eq2 at the end game right now has a pretty good variety of tactics and strategies employed to kill a mob, and are more than just "tank and spank" (although I must admit in the latest expansion they went overboard with the "cure this effect or you wipe the whole raid" thing)

There are quite a few questlines, and some of them are interesting and yield some decent rewards.

Overall of the classes you listed I would say you would be happiest with coercer. They are very easy to solo, and are always welcome in groups and raids.

QFE there. WOW is button-mashing, EQ2 is button-mashing with more buttons, etc etc.

Also wtf Muph, EQ2 is one of the better games for character customization. I've take it you've not played FFXI?

Kantaris · 03-28-2009, 06:16 PM

1111111111111111111111

Pink Poodle · 03-28-2009, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kantaris

1111111111111111111111

this is mmos in a nutshells

Noodle · 03-28-2009, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faabio

If I had to say what EQ2's orientation was I'd say homosexual.

Can't argue with that, the game certainly has gotten more gay over the years.