Once you've chosen the race and the faction that you will play, you are deposited on the Refuge Island. There you will experience the ins and outs of the interface as well as learning how to play your new character. On this island you will receive quests from your designated trainer. Your trainer will give you armor and items upon completion of these quests so that you are not wholly unprepared for the Cities. You can stay on the Island until you gain level 6, but be warned that you will not be able to level any higher until you complete what is called a Hallmark Quest. For the city of Qeynos it is the city key quest.
Speaking of quests, EQ2 has put the Quest back into EverQuest. For those of you who have come to dread the EverCamp, this game will be for you. There are an abundance of quests. Varied and plentiful, you will find yourself leveling off of quests alone if you choose. There is a great new feature that gives you a walkthrough or a stepper of your quest. It will keep track of where you are in the task itself as well as give you pointers of where to go or what to do next. There are no more vague references to things that only the developers themselves will have a clue about. Quests are very straightforward and they all have a "con". If a quest is a bit hard for your level it will be appropriately colored. The same cons used in EQ are used here; Green, Blue, White, Yellow and Red.
Another thing that is different is the BAF or "bring a friend" aspect of mob aggro. When you click on a monster, it will be labeled as either Solo or Group. If it belongs to a group it will also highlight the group that will come after you if you're unlucky to be alone and pulling. Good news everyone! There are solo mobs of each monster out and about. This makes it easier for the people who don't want to have to group. Sony has made EQ2 very solo player friendly. It's also great for the casual gamer who only has an hour or so to play. You can do a few quests or kill a few mobs and you have the feeling of satisfaction that you never had with the previous version of this game. When you've finished everything that you want to do in the Refuge, it's time to travel to your city. The details are beautiful. The races have settled in towns all around the city.
Qeynos has quite a few different "suburbs". When you arrive at your race's town, you will be directed to your new home. That's right folks; everyone gets a pad in EQ2. There is an upkeep cost and you can move out at any time, but this is the place that you will sell your wares. So don't lose it quite yet. There is always a chance to upgrade. Every town also has a crafting zone within. These crafting zones have every tool you need to make your wares. There are also vendors that sell most of the items that you need as well as the recipe books. Not all items or spell books are sold. You can harvest resources as well as kill monsters for the drops. Bad news for the people out there who rely on macros. If you don't pay attention to what you're doing you WILL die. In your knowledge book there are icons that give you skills that you will utilize in crafting as well as fighting. As you craft, an icon will pop up on the crafting GUI and you will need to click the corresponding icon in your toolbar. If you don't follow this rule you will take damage to your health.
Outside of the towns there are zones that house the monsters and other quest NPCs. Fighting isn't twitch combat but it's not the press the attack key and watch TV until either you or the mob is dead. You have combat abilities that you utilize to defeat the mobs. Griefers are hosed in this area as well. No more KS'ing. Once you've engaged a mob, that mob is yours until you break the engagement, kill it or die trying. Unfortunately this means no more fly by buffs or heals. You cannot be healed while you're engaged in a fight and the only buffs you get are from group members. It's definitely a challenge that won't bore you.
In EQ2 you have huge amount of different races, 16 to be exact, and each race have 5 archetypes, the fighter, the priest, the mage, the scout and the artisan ( for more information about each race and archetype visit the official EQ2 site by clicking here, or by clicking on the EQ2's logo on top of this page)
The backdrop for EQ2 is pleasing. With a huge graphics upgrade, you won't be disappointed with the eye candy. Everything is very vivid and lush. The towns are each unique in their design and the water and particle effects are unmatched. Be sure to upgrade your graphics card because it's taxing even on a 9800 pro. However, you won't be sorry you did
System Requirements:
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
Processor: 1 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
CD-ROM: 16x CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
Video Card: DirectX 9 compatible. Pixel shader and Vertex shader compatible hardware with 64mb of texture memory
Sound Card: DirectSound compatible audio hardware
Recommended Specifications:
Operating System: Windows XP
Processor: 2 GHz or greater
RAM: 1 GB
CD-ROM: 16x CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
Video Card: DirectX 9 compatible. Pixel shader and Vertex shader compatible hardware with 128mb of texture memory or greater
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy
All right reserved to Nicole Hamlett, the review was written by her.
