Mystic Worlds

EQ2 Extended - Purchasable Classes Patched into Game

EVERQUEST II EXTENDED

• Classes can now be purchased individually off the Marketplace and through character creation.
• Armor crates have been added to the Marketplace selling sets of armor for all levels.
• You can now purchase Broker Credits from the marketplace!
  • Broker Credits can be used for a one-time purchase or sell action on the broker for Bronze and Silver members.
  • Selling and purchasing stacks of items count as a single broker credit so use them wisely!

Read the full post here.

EQ2 Extended – Double XP Weekend and Furniture Shop Grand Opening

Let’s start with the simple stuff first.  EQ2 and EQ2 Extended are having a double XP weekend.  The bonus XP is good for adventuring and crafting.  I think I’m going to spend the time I have available leveling my crafting.  You’ll understand why in a minute.

My Insanity Knows no Bounds
You see, I have this thing about crafting.  It’s like a nervous tick.  My character isn’t whole without crafting.  Like you have a job in real life, well – those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be independently wealthy have ‘em, I feel like my virtual world alter egos need one too. Crafting is how I earn my living, the gold I use to sustain myself in games.  Farming could be another way, but if I’m going to farm, I’d just as soon farm for crafting components instead of items to sell to vendors. 

Readers who followed my adventures in Runes of Magic know that I utilized micro-transactions to build a Crafting Workshop and it was RP-yummy-licious.  Logging in to find guild members crafting there, frequent visitors who just wanted to see what all the fuss was about and people creating characters on the server just to say hello was so much fun.  I even came in one day to find someone sprawled on the floor naked, who then proceeded to hang out and great my visitors while sitting on the stove saying, “C’mon in, I’m cooking up something saucy for ya.”  Only in an MMO can you have that sort of impromptu craziness!

Trying to Repeat the Magic
After all the fun I had crafting in ROM, how could I not find a way to have a shop of some sort now that I back into EQ2?  I can’t craft in my house because I don’t have it in me to grind out the status or coin necessary but I sure can sell from there.  My new crafting psychosis experiment is Saylah’s Halas Furniture shop.  Like I said, my madness knows no bound.  EQ2 players have been pushing the crafting and housing system in EQ2 to extreme heights for a very long time – theaters, museums, home shows, etc., are all very common.  

Weekend of EQ2 Extended

Going for the Gold

I’m enjoying myself on EQ2 Extended while the kids and my nephew roll their eyes as they pass by.  I’m New Halas aligned but questing in Greater Faydark on a Warden. Obviously, I opted to subscribe Gold in order to have access to the only class I was interested in playing.  I also purchased two Station Cash Tokens in order to copy over my 36 Illusionist / 39 Provisioner from Antonia Bayle and my 27 Conjurer / 29 Carpenter from Nagafen.  As much as I dislike snowy zones, I’m operating out of Halas because of the excellent player housing.

Greatly Simplified Travel

It’s immediately evident to someone who hasn’t played EQ2 in many months, that some ease-of-use love has gone into the game.  The two most obvious changes are simplified travel and an increase in adventure XP.  The first time I noticed the travel globes that allow you to instantly travel to any continent, I was a very pleased person.  I find it funny that people, even veterans, forget the globes are available when players ask how they can get their low character to some far away destination.  I don’t know how anyone can forget, given how time consuming travel had been previously.  Rented (auto traveling) mounts have been pepper throughout every zone allowing for convenient hands-free travel. And in cities like Kelethin – big and circuitous, they’ve added Warden-like travel rings that will port you to commonly used areas.  I realize some players feel fast travel makes a virtual world seem smaller. I’m sure it can at times.  However, in games like EQ2 where each zone is very large, the world doesn’t feel smaller, just less annoying. *smile*

A Raiding Guild Moving to EQ2X? Someone Please Explain that to me.

Tripping over EQ2 Veterans on EQ2X
It’s curious and then again not, why I keep tripping across EQ2 veterans on EQ2 Extended.  I was sure we’d see some of them around mostly playing with friends they’re trying to convert or just having a look-see on a low level F2P character.  But when I start seeing high level characters, knowing that it costs $30 $35 to copy the character across to EQ2X, that’s more than having a look.  I decided to be nosy and whisper a few folks to ask why. 

EQ2 Live Newbie Zones are Thin
The most common response was low-level zones on the Live servers are ghost towns.   For a time, newly added racial zones will have their starter areas populated but once that wave passes, it’s left to the crickets.  As I’ve said for years, even people who enjoy questing solo like populated zones.   A good percentage of the EQ2 population is comprised of veterans and even they get tired of mentoring down and repeating content to help alts.

Logic of Subscribing on EQ2 Extended

I understand why current subscribers don’t see value in anyone paying to play on the EQ2 Extended (EQ2X) servers.  However, I think they are missing a key point – different game play agendas.  They are assuming that their motivations for playing and subscribing are the only valid ways to play EQ2. They are wrong.

I don't care how you got your gear
Purchased gear seems to be a real sticking point with players who are opposed to micro-transactions being in their game.  I’m not the player who knows what gear you’re wearing by looking at you.  I don’t know what epic raid boss you’ve killed by looking at the weapon on your back.  Furthermore, I don’t actually care how you got your gear.  I can’t even recognize it, so why would I give a fart how you got it???  It’s not that I’m clueless, I just don’t care!  I’ll inspect a player when I see something pretty, fun or interesting.  In WOW, I much more likely to ask someone how they got a pet or that cool mount than a piece of armor.

I’m not an idiot. I upgrade my gear with the best that I can get for the amount of effort I’m personally willing to expend on it.  Right now in WOW, I’m rolling in all PVP gear because the BGs are instant quick-in-and-out content that I can do in small chunks of time.  If PVE was the only form of character advancement available at the moment, I wouldn’t be playing at all.

EQ2 – WOWified and ROMified

I actually smiled when I read the full patch notes on EQ2 Wire.  I’m sure there’s a contingent of long time EQ2 players that are upset by changes that many will say, “Dumb-down the game.”  I don’t see it in that light.  I see it as improving the game in a way that will provide more general appeal. Part of which, has to be simplifying the introductory experience and ensuring the feature-set is on par with what potential customers can readily get in one of the other fantasy MMO titles.  The game needs to be able to attract more new players.  And new players need other new players, in order to enjoy the experience and want to stick around for more.

Revamping the Dreaded UI
A game's UI is a big deal.  It's your portal into that virtual world and governs how you interact with many aspects of the game.  I like what I see in the Patch Notes for improving the visual aesthetics of EQ2 beyond the rendering of the world.  I never liked the EQ2 UI and spent LONG hours trying to find ways to fix it.  In the end, the game's exposed API limits what modders could change when compared to a game like WOW.  This means, it was on Sony to fix it and now they’ve taken steps in that direction.

Optimized Spell Effects
I knew the UI was getting revamped along with the release of EQII Extended.  Two other things caught my eye when reading the other updates.  First is revamping the spells.  OMG how the spell animations clog up the screen is something I’ve never experienced before.  I didn’t know if it was just me or what since I’d never seen anyone complain about it but I have on several occasions.  This statement in the patch notes shows it wasn’t just a “me thing” and I hope the change greatly improves the situation.

There and Back Again, a tale of MMO fatigue.

My Red Dead Redemption fever was cured after several weeks of playing.  It was the first time I’d ever really attempted to play a solo RPG, much less one on the console.  I didn’t get to see the credits roll but it was definitely a fun ride.  What really sold me was the open world, in which I could break away from the linear storyline at will.  I also jumped into the multi-player side every so often to get wailed on and ganked by higher level players.  No tears though, such is the nature of PVP.  I got good at the re-gank. You know, where you kill each other over and over, each racing back from resurrection hoping you got there first, so you can kill them when they arrive. LOLZ    That and stealing other player’s horses – that shit never got old!!

Played EQ2 using 3-Day Consecutive Sub Plan
After RDR, I did two rounds of EQ2 using the 3-day sub payment model.  As always, I wish I enjoyed the questing more.  I might have re-subscribed for the PVP which was actually entertaining, except for two things.  First is a regular complaint from me – the graphic animations are over-the-top in an intrusive way.  In group fights, I can never tell what the hell is going on because of the game’s particular style of doing combat animations.  I’m just pressing buttons in the order that makes sense.  I can’t actually tell what’s landing because the combat zone is completely cluttered with animations. And yes, I've played games with lots of combat animations but there's something about EQ2's that clutter up the screen in a fashion that the other games don't.  Hard to explain - they look like they happen in a 2D space so that they're all stacked over each other, not actually occurring "over there" where that player is that is executing the move.  Strange.

Gaming is Entertainment - Kinect is Full of Win

With the exception of my son and I, our family is casual gaming.  The only hardcore or serious gaming that has taken place is our MMO experiences.  My nephew, who is a frequent visitor, has done the console thing with my son, playing Halo and EA sports titles.  Aside from all the females playing The Sims – every iteration and incarnation off and on, nothing reigned like MMOs.  The recent addition of a new console, XBox 360, has gotten my girls, brother, sister and other non-gamers into the mix.  As I posted recently, we're playing Red Dead Redemption, which is the first time I've ever seen my sister pick-up a game controller.  My daughter is obsessing over Fable II and Halo: ODST has finally been opened.

They're playing enough now that commercials about E3 caught their attention.  After I finished working for the day we sat down together looking for coverage and highlights.  We ran across the Kinect demonstrations and my house was electrified.  Their voices became loud and boisterous, their movements eager and animated.  They can't wait to get their hands on Kinect and the games that captured their imagination.  Like the Wii changed the gaming demographic and WOW the MMO audience, I think motion is going to redefine what we call games.  Those who consider themselves hardcore gamers might not be happy but I sure as hell am.

Snorting Red Dead Redemption: Early Impressions

The 360 and Red Dead Redemption (RDR) have scored a one-two knockout so far in our house.  This has the unexpected side effect of arguing for face time with the console.  Fable II is getting some love from my daughter who already owns a house, several rental properties, is married and started a family.  I guess you can take The Sims out of the console drive but you can’t take it out of the player.  Right now no one is all that interested in Halo 3: ODST.

I like western movies well enough but to date, fantasy has been my preferred genre for gaming.  The only sci-fi MMOs I’ve played are EVE Online and a very brief stint in Star Trek Online.  I would jump all over an opportunity to play a quality Steampunk game but barring that, fantasy is home.  It’s not just the fantasy environment that’s a draw.  Using magic is equally as compelling and usually a necessary component.  I’m also not into playing single-player RPGs.  Purchasing RDR was a stretch on many levels.

We’ve played console games before.  We, is mostly my kids.  I’ve only dabbled in them.  Back then we didn’t have them hooked up to high definition television.  Seeing RDR rendered in high def is jaw dropping when you consider it’s just a video game.  The graphic style, tone and rendering immediately suck you into the Wild West.  The ambiance is dead on.  I haven’t had the chance to play as often as I would have liked.  The bodies were queued up all weekend as my sister, nephews and friends came by to check out the new setup while we BBQ’d and relaxed outside in between turns.

New WOW Account Scam Making the Rounds

Remember that you should NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES follow a link from an email to Blizzard's Account Services!!!! If you're not sure the email is legit and want to check on your account, go directly to worldofwarcraft.com and use those links to access Account Management type services.  Better yet, go once (like now) and save yourself a bookmark to Account Services and Battlenet directly, to avoid the painfully slow loading of the official WOW site.  I grit my teeth anytime I have to go there myself.

I received an email a couple of days ago supposedly from Blizzard but it contained so many spelling errors as to be laughable. I couldn't resist replying that they should first use a spell-checker and then drop dead.

Today I received the same email but it was immediately flagged as spam. I couldn't resist taking a peak.  The spelling mistakes had been corrected but like who are you idiots trying to fool??? The first email was so hilariously bad yet you corrected it and sent it back out to the same list??

I really hope people mature enough to be paying for a WOW account are wise enough by now, not to click links in an email that will send you somewhere asking for a log-in name and password. Consider yourself warned, that the destination URL looks pretty darn authentic but it ain't!