Shadows In Motion

a deep thoughts & spiritual musings Blog

Before I get into this review I think that it’s only fair to say that I’ve had some very negative things to say about EQ2 in the past. My opinion of the game beyond the starting experience is still the same.

With that said, I have to give kudos to the folks who have re-writtin the starting experience of EverQuest 2. It’s a fun, interesting experience that will take you to at least level 10 before you realize what’s happened. This is a good thing, as the level of your character should never be a focus to begin with. So don’t be surprised if the first time that you notice your character’s level is when you close in on that 12^th or 13^th “ding”.

It’s made all the more enjoyable by being able to play the class that you want from the start of the game rather than working through 19 levels of generic “ho-hum”. I personally had a fair ammount of fun running around as a Coercer, charming a number of poor souls to do my fighting for me or to simply amuse myself. There are several other classes that I’m interested in exploring and I find myself wishing that EQ2 didn’t have such a significant restriction on the number of characters allowed per account.

Each class also has their own starting armor now. No more will every new caster be wearing the same white robe. The starting cloths aren’t pretty, which is fitting for an adventurer who’s taking their first steps, but at least they’re unique. Download the small video from the link below for a peek at each starting class’ armor.

It’s not perfect, of course. Some of us were hoping for new artwork and completely new starting areas. This is not the case. The starting island and the racial districts in both Freeport and Qeynos are all identical in appearance to their original designs. So if you were hoping for a more dark elvish look to Long Shadows Alley or unique looking islands for the Qeynos or Freeport factions then you’re going to be disappointed.

So what the change boils down to is a repopulation of existing zones. New NPCs, new quests, and in some cases new mobs have been added to existing areas. No need to fear for any of the original quests, however, because you’ll still find them in the racial districts where they’ve always been. The exception to this are the steps required for citizenship, a requirement that has been totally removed.

What they have accomplished with this repopulation is impressive. From the start you’re handed off into quests that are much more interesting than just “kill X ammount of Y”. To give some examples, as an evil character on the starting island you’re sent to burn down the tents of the Tunarians. In Qeynos you uncover a heretic by destroying a cursed gem in public view at your district’s central fountain. In Freeport, as a dark elf, you gather a few mushrooms and poison a loaf of bread to make an example of a very unlucky theif.

The quests in both Qeynos and Freeport ultimately lead you to uncovering a large, sinister plot, and consequently taking steps to thwart that plot. The end result of all of these changes has the affect of involving the player a great deal more with their character’s class, their racial story, and the fiction of each city.

Though far from ideal, the new changes to EQ2 are a lot of fun and has brought a gust of fresh air to the game. As a new player to EverQuest 2 you have a lot to look forward to, with immersion being a primary focus of your experience. If they would bring these changes to the rest of the game then I would be able to recommend it, but as it stands, the fun experience stops all too soon and is replaced by the same old uninspired MMORPG routine of “kill 20 Whoozits”.

One last note before closing. Because of stability issues with my computer as well as a general dislike of crafting there are a few things that I have not yet touched on in the game. None of my new characters have opened an inn room, for example, and I most likely will not touch on the crafting at all. So I don’t know if those experiences are any different from their original incarnation.

Here is a video of the class selection process in EverQuest 2. This gives a look at each starting class’ clothing. Click here to download the video (less than 1 MB). It’s not the best quality but I don’t have the web space or bandwidth required to host large files, so this will have to be good enough for now.

Here are some general screenshots:

The horse rider was a charmed Tunarian. The charm didn’t last long, and consequently neither did my character.

The mushroom form is not an illusionary form spell for the class. That’s the result of new mushrooms in the Peat Bog of Qeynos. You right-click on the giant mushroom and select the “shake” option and you’re temporarily turned into the mushroom form.

~Steph