Disregard. My computers suck and i don't play anything but EQ1.
For what it's worth, I played EQ2 for almost as long as I played EQ1. It was a great game with a player base equal to that of EQ1. After the 5 (or 6th?) expansion I stepped away from the game due to my long time guild disbanding. I just didn't have the heart to keep playing and in all honestly, the real world was starting to catch up...work, dating, eventual marriage, kids, etc. 2008 was the last time I played ANY mmorpg with friends.
I've played a ton of games since then, I just solo through all of them. I played WoW for the first time, Neverwinter, Divinity, etc. Got to max level on mulitple characters on all of them but it was hallow achievement. They have made those games SO EASY it isn't even a challenge anymore. I eventually went back to EQ2 and was surprised to find that they made that game extremely easy too!
I now have 4 max level characters and have never joined a group with any of them. Sure, I don't see the raid content or other high end stuff, but it's all just the same ole stuff. What makes these games special (in my opinion at least) is when you play them with friends, make those memories, and acomplish things that you otherwise couldnt' do on your own. But I am pretty sure this is all stuff you know as your post is just saying it's something to kill time with while waiting for Pantheon.....
So getting back from that tangent......of all those other games, EQ2 was my favorite. Yes they have dumbed it down ALOT, but overall it's still a fun game with lots of neat places to explore. It's hard to do with games now (at least for me!) but slow down and read the text (or in rare instances, listen to the chat!) of the quests, learn the history, and enjoy the lore.
Good luck, and have fun. Perhaps we'll cross paths in either EQ2 or Pantheon. Good hunting!
I played EQ2 for years too. What finally drove me away was the ease of getting to maximum level. It took literally one or two days doing level-agnostic dungeons.
Granted I didn't *have* to do those but I felt a somewhat irrational (I admit it) feeling that there was simply no point to spending months questing when I could get all the levels that way so much faster.
Note that I knew almost every quest by that time and had done them on multiple characters so it wasn't at all the same as if I was new to the game and enjoying content that was new to me. Speed-leveling is much harder to resist when slow leveling consists of redoing content one knows.
I moved to LOTRO where there is no equivilant way of getting to maximum level very very fast (other than buying a boost in the accursed store).
All Gods of Terminus may Pantheon come sooner than most of us expect. ((adds rather plaintively)) Please ....
I'm currently playing on Kaladim. It's fun, but yeah, they have certainly dumbed the game down over time. Simplified stats, incredibly easy content, super fast exp. It's okay, though, the community is pretty active and there are some good people on that server, even a whole guild dedicated to waiting for Pantheon. EQ2 was fanstastic during its early years, the KoS, EoF, and RoK expansions being the golden years. It had the best community I've ever been a part of. So for now, it's fun to hang out in along with some single-player games until Pantheon releases.
kreed99 said:The third reason was that i wanted to pick up an easier and more seasoned mmorpg. (that wasnt WoW) and had similar systems that pantheon plans on tweaking and creating better versions. I also needed to diversify my viewpoint and see a game for better or worse from a fresh standpoint. I have read topics on EQ2 and its like watching a trainwreck..... i need to see this for myself.
If Vanguard were an active and dev backed game i would prolly have started playing that. While the emulator interests me i want to test out this EQ2 thing and report back how good or bad it is when i start Pantheon Beta as it will be a while before that comes around(no hate, i am patient)
I'm curious as to which systems you think will be similar in Pantheon.
I didn't know there was a Vanguard emulator... I am now going to look into that! (I played EQ2 for a few years and hope Pantheon is not like that personally).
After playing for a few I can list a few things. Mentoring is a powerful team building and friendship keeping device. Pantheon should make a GOOD version of this. Some of the bag systems and monitary systems are cool. Like having a resource bag. Or alternative money systems for different cities. Could make commodity trading a real thing. I "like" heroic combo's but dislike having unlimited hot bars. I dislike the map system. I dislike the quest hub system. I hate soloing, but am glad I can.
From my initial reaction I like it better than guildwars 1. But I like dungeon seige 1 better at this point.
And yes they have been working on vanguard emu I have not played it yet, but I'm curious also.
If your looking for the VGemu go here http://vgoplayers.com/index.php
I also used to enjoy EQ2, was a very good game in the beginning. Many of the concepts they had then people are desiring now, sadly Smedly dumbed it down for WoW players to handle.
Originaly left right before the Velious expac for several years, came back and blew thru 4 years content in 6 weeks. With the expac from last year being nuttin but a copy/paste of the previous expacs and Crafting being more or less a joke I left and never going back, the game jsut not the same any more.