EverQuest II Sentinel's Fate
8.2
10
6
6
EQ2 Rocks!
Ok First off this game is amazingly put together. SoE really did well designing Eq2. This is my Favorite MMO-RPG besides Diablo II.The game really doesnt end i have been playing since day 1 (thats why its called EverQuest) This expansion is really put together. Everything is so much easier. Before the Ruins of Kunark Expansion came out the It would be like pulling teeth too level. once RoK and Moors of ykesha came out the came has been alot easier but this expansion really put the icing on the Cake. All The Gear is better the content is much better. Some of the old stuff that was introduced in MoY should have been delayed till this expansion But All in All Good Job SoE. I Definately Recommend this Game to anybody who really likes RPGs Like Diablo and the Neverwinter Night series.
3/21/10
EQ2: The MMORPG to play
EQ2 has so many things going for it. Music composed by an Emmy winning composer, graphics that rival this generation of MMORPG's, 6 years of content, amazing character customization, one of the best crafting systems, the best player housing, hardcore end game, can solo or party to max level, 24 classes, 19 races, PVP servers, PVP battlegrounds, and achievement system, etc. All this put together makes for the best MMORPG for PVE fans that want a little PVP on the side. This expansion comes with the base game and all previous expansions, plus a free month for new players. If your wanting to try it out before buying, they offer a 14 day free trial on there main web site that has all the expansions included. The community is more mature than other MMO's, and finding a guild is easy since they have a looking for guild tool. The only downside of this game is the high system requirements it needs to play.
3/17/10
Solid Game
Everquest 2 is a very deep game with great storyline and so many quests its impossible to do them all. The title has been around 6 years and so the player range is top heavy but the game is very soloable. The animations are solid and the difficulty level is really up to the player. Sentinels Fate is a good purchase as it includes all previous expansions and the new content on one disc. Very different from WoW making you buy each expansion seperately. The hold back this game has had is a real lack of advertising and a horrible launch in 2004. The game has become much more solo friendly and wow-esque over the last couple years which has helped retain a respectable following. The community is quite helpfull and for the most part a joy to be a part of. The game is a bit of a system hog and i would reccomend going to the community site and discussing your system specs with the community before purchase. Unlike Wow which can run on darn near anything past a commadore 64, EQ2 has some higher system requirements.
3/10/10
More Patch than xpac, still good
The best thing about this expansion, I think, is all the balance changes it puts through. With 24 classes things were getting a little out of hand and definitely needed some reworking. Classes got bumps where they needed it most and others were more solidified in there roles. Enchanters got more buffs and less nukes, while pure DPS classes got WAY more damage output. Tanks got a huge boost by being able to use taunts to keep aggro rather than almost solely relying on damage. Druids got a lot of help this expansion as well, with more curing power and their HoT's not being wasted if people are at max health. Getting to level cap was pretty easy but EQ2 has become more about content at 'the cap'. So rather than 10 new levels you have to think of it as a new tier of content, an upgrade to the last tier. And considering there are 90 levels now trying to make each one of them a huge accomplishment is just an unreasonable expectation. EQ2 was never strong in PvP, so anyone looking for that would and should have looked elsewhere. But with the release of the expansion came a free update that added their version of battlegrounds with 3 areas. 6v6, 12v12 and 24v24. they can be queued into from anywhere and offer tokens to buy special PvP loot from PvP vendors. Not ground breaking PvP but another little feature to pass the time while looking for better avenues of advancement like groups and raids.
3/8/10
Dumbed down
This expansion was released way to soon. Sony has really dropped the ball this time. I logged in level 80 and was tanking the new instances with mobs 88-90+ with no problems. If that wasnt bad enough people hit level 90 with in ours of the expansion going live no effort is needed to grind out these 10 levels which should feel like an accomplishment but in turn are a small stepping stone of a full day max of grinding. The new open dungeon The Hole is huge in xp gain and small in challenge it was nothing for me to run in a room pull 15-20 mobs AoE them down with a grp and not even need to be healed. PvP another aspect of EQ2 has Turned form a fun way to pass the time to a RUN from that gray mage cus he will one shot you they really messed up what once was a good challenge to a one sided nuke fest.
2/19/10
Potentially the best expansion to date
Excluding this expansion (because I haven't been able to play enough of it to compare), KoS has been the best expansion to date for Everquest 2. It was the best expansion because it combined the perfect mixture of solo, group, and raid content to appeal to all players. RoK fell short because it was 80% solo content and TSO fell short because it was 80% group content. It feels good to have the ability to group in order to gain experience again. For the past two years, soloing has been the only viable way of leveling and it seems that grouping may become the more popular alternative. I think that there are still some nerfs needed to solo xp gain to balance it out, but it is a step in the right direction.This expansion comes with a lot of promise as it is a health mix of solo, group, and raid content that matches the distribution of KoS. The Battlegrounds were delayed until 2/23, but it looks promising. I am not an open PvP person becaues I don't like getting rolled on when I am not looking for a fight, but I enjoy PvP in a controlled environment. My major concern was that raiders (including myself) would dominate the battlegrounds, but it appears that itemization has been done to the point that PvE gear will not make you over powering to the point that casuals have no chance. It was also my concern that PvP gear from the battlegrounds would impact PvE itemization, but from what it sounds like, PvP gear will not be better than the high end group gear.So far, the zones look beautiful; the artists did a great job of making the game look very good. You can tell so much of a difference between old world zones and the zones in the newer expansions. They have learned a lot over the past several years and it shows.I can't rate this expansion based on what I have played because it has just been out a couple of days and it has a huge amount of content. It is more appropriate to rate it on the potential since things are constantly changing. I look forward to seeing how this expansion plays out. EQ2 is one of the most well polished MMOs on the market today, and despite its setbacks, I would recommend anyone to pick it up and give it a try.Some things that I do not like so far:* Class balance through AA. As a conjuror, I got one of the best new AA setups, but I do not think that classes should be balanced through AA. At fanfair, we were promised real balance to the class by the addition of utility, but that never happened (due to the resignation of the lead mechanics dev). * Stat consolidation. A lot of stats were consolidated together (ie: spell crit, heal crit, melee crit, etc were combined into just one crit stat). Coefficients were used to ensure hybrid classes are not overpowered (so I am told. I have not done verification), but that makes classes less customizable.* Stat overload. Items progress exponentially throughout the game and SF doesn't take any steps to slow that down. Base damage (now called potency) used to be pretty rare to find and already I have seen it drop on several items of trash loot in The Hole. SOE keeps making stats easier to obtain and adding more stats to keep this exponential curve going. If you look at your persona window, there are so many stats to manage that it must be super confusing for new players to keep straight.* Still no voiceovers in the upper level content. Voiceovers for NPCs have always been limited to starting areas (to make new players oohh and ahhh), but once you get to level 30, litterly nothing is voiced. I'm sure Halas, the new starting zone, will be full with voiceovers when it is relased in the next game update, but I would have loved to go into the new city of Paineel and been greeting by speaking Eridutes.
2/18/10