So I started playing EverQuest 2 again. I don’t really know why- I haven’t heard much about the upcoming expansion (I’ve read some, but I’ve not sought it out and that’s the difference) and I never really enjoyed Desert of Flames or Kingdom of Sky. In fact, I quit because of Desert of Flames, so that’s definitely not the reason. No, maybe I’m just in the summer slump of gaming and the internets in general.
Between the releases of DoF and KoS, I somehow managed to get my Wizard from 50 to 57. My gear was pretty stacked from raiding and the crafted legendaries from old world EQ2, so I haven’t really actually upgraded anything since DoF save my cloak (which is a horrible color- why the hell would they make a bright red cloak when all of the t4 caster robes are a deep purple color? I’ll be rational and blame Brad McQuaid for that one). I’ve still got the Enchanted Maj’Dul carpet that was available to level 30 guilds before DoF, but it seems less impressive now compared to the guild level 60 mounts that are, wait for it, 2% faster. Also the fact that they gave everyone a carpet in DoF (although it’s a different color) sort of steals whatever thunder the status carpet had to begin with.
Anyway, I did my rounds exploring all of the KoS content that I could in order to get some AA experience. Other than that, I’ve been grinding solo in the Tenebrous Tangle and catching up on the ~9,000,000 collection quests that SoE added. I have maybe 1 piece in each collection and I’m convinced that they didn’t even finish them since no one can actually find all of the no-drop pieces on their own. The solo experience is slow, but it’s not as bad as I remember it being. I grinded up to 58 and got about halfway through on the droag and insects in TT and it got monotonous really quickly.
Being without a guild is excruciating; I’ve never had so little social interaction in an MMO in my life, so it’s a really weird adjustment. There’s only one person still playing since I quit, so he’s probably getting annoyed with my bombardment of tells! I don’t own Echoes of Faydwer (yet- I want to see if I stick with it for more than a couple weeks before I drop $40), so finding a group is damn near impossible. I did get invited to a Meeting of the Minds raid yesterday, which was incredibly nostalgic despite the complete lack of teamwork displayed by the raiders. It must be very easy to solo to high levels now, because I’ve never seen so few cures dished out by healers or so many people standing so near an ae. I felt like I was humping a doorknob in an Upper Blackrock Spire raid.
Anyway, I’m hoping it stays fun; I think once I get to 60 I’ll go ahead and buy EoF and see if that’s entertaining enough to sustain me for 10 levels and then see where it goes from there. I would love to start at cap when the new expansion comes out!
If you’re ever bored or wandering around in the Kingdom of Sky on Kithicor server, drop me a line! I’m the dorky looking guildless wizard on a white carpet, Novitiate Galois of the Shard (LFG). I’m in their world now.
Cheston said,
8-14-2007 in 16:13:48I have to say I really enjoyed this article as I’ve recently picked up EQ2 as a possible cure for my summer MMO slump. And though I haven’t experienced any of the high end(except for accidentally clicking on teleporters and finding myself in 50+ zones that scared the living daylights out of me) I can empathize with your collection quest frustrations as I’ve been unable to complete a single one in the weeks I’ve played, I’m starting to feel it is all a tease. Also I’ve been playing nearly solo as you have without a guild and have none to talk to. Good luck with your push to 60, and good call blaming Brad, I mean really what can’t he be blamed for?