After three straight weeks of EVE Online (EO), I need a bit of a break. I will continue logging into to do skill training but that’s about it. My next adventure in EO will be to find a new corporation and decide on a profession. I keep thinking about Science and Industry but that probably requires more time than I'm willing to commit. I've made good money just from ratting so perhaps I'll just stick to that for money. Whatever I decide, for the moment I need a break from deep space. I needs me some magic and fantasy lovin'.
I thought about going back to WOW for a bit to do some more PVP. My Feral Druid is in three pieces of Season 1 Arena gear but needs a weapon upgrade. I could work on getting enough gold to purchase the epic flying mount skill so that I can start the quest for the Druid Epic Flight Form. As it turns out, neither of those were options. My son, completely tired of his WOW toons and my other ones, hijacked my Druid. What to do, what to do?
I thought about returning to The Sims 2 and my fantasy themed neighborhood and families. I’d spent a lot of time decorating the entire area medieval. I’d subscribed to custom content websites to get everything I needed from furniture, to clothing, to accessories and hairstyles. Surely, I should make sure I get my money’s worth by playing it again. But having played MMOs for many years now, I get bored and lonely playing alone. As I was thinking about how cute my elf family looked in TS2 it occurred to me that if that slow paced fantasy experience was suitable for now, why not just go back to EQ2? Isn’t that a nice in between? Quiet slow paced but with other people??
After careful consideration, I selected EQ2 EOF as my destination. As an added bonus, going back would also get some value out of my Sony Station Pass. Since I’m not going to purchase Pirates of the Burning Sea and Gods and Heroes is no more, it’s definitely time to downsize back to an EQ2 only subscription plan. Sony doesn’t have anything new on the MMO horizon that I’m even remotely interested in playing so I don’t need the Station Pass now. But I can at least go play some EQ2.
I have a level 24 Illusionist on Antonia Bayle. She’s in a very small guild created and managed by StarGrace from MMOQuests. I’ve always liked EQ2 and after my hair-raising visit to EO Trinity, I could stand a bit of simple fantasy. Before returning to EQ2, I spent some time thinking about the reasons why I always end up bailing after a couple of weeks. I wanted to see if I could make a conscious decision to avoid those pitfalls or adjust my expectations. It would be nice to hang around a bit longer. I mean, I don’t have anything else fantasy to play unless I pick up my Warlock in WOW – something I have no interest in doing. I really need something to play along side EO for diversity and a change of pace when needed.
The things I came up with that discourage long stays for me in EQ2 are:
- Too much questing required
- Too much forced grouping required
- Slow leveling curve
- Gankfest style PVP environment
- Uninspiring combat
- No sugar rush
- Little heroic god-like factor
For me to stay in EQ2 longer than I’ve done in the past I need resolutions for these issues and I think I’ve found opportunites to correct what I can. The last three items on the list are game mechanics/style and I can't do anything about them. WOW is fantasy on steroids to EQ2's fantasy on valium. To stay for longer periods of time in EQ2 I have to be willing to adjust to a more sedated gaming experience.
Here's what I came up with to transition my point of view, in hopes for a longer stay.
- I’ve resolved that leveling won’t be the primary measurement of my character progression. I have to lose the expectation of the fast leveling that I’ve become accustomed to from WOW.
- I won’t quest if I don’t want to quest. I hate it so don’t do it. This goes hand-in-hand with my previous statement about prolonged leveling curve, as it will make leveling take even longer. This time, I will see if I can find a guide for people who solo in EQ2 for some pointers.
- Measure my progression based more on crafting and exploration. Those are my two favorite things to do and EQ2 has an abundance of opportunities for me in those two areas – take advantage of them.
- Lastly, set some small milestones for myself as markers of progression since pure leveling won’t be a major area of concentration. Having worked out a plan in my mind, I logged into the game.
StarGrace was online. She wasn’t on that particular character but she was there. We chatted for a bit. She was working on a level 72 out in the new ROK content areas. She helped me out with a few technical things I’d forgotten and after a time the chat was quiet. She gets me and I like that about her. It’s okay for me to be there and talk for a bit. After a while however, I have a need to move into the private space of my own thoughts. She understands that about me and isn’t offended when I stop chatting.
Keeping to my plan of only doing things that please me, I noticed once again how dark and dreary Kelethin felt. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the EOF expansion areas but the Fae city is just too dark for my tastes. I’m a child of the sun both in game and in my real life. Dim spaces make me cranky. Besides which, I wasn’t looking forward to doing the BB zone again as I’d done it twice already on Nagafen and a half-hearted attempt on Antonia Bayle. Then and there I elected to move to a different city.
I asked Star what was required for me to move to Qeynos Harbor (QH). I figured QH would be a good choice for me. It was centrally located the near the zones I'd have to travel to for leveling and not far from the boat over to the EOF zones for when I'd moved beyond the ones I'd done before.
Star said that I had to do an easy citizenship quest and told me where to find the quest starter. Off I went, and that’s how the first day and half of my time has been spent back in EQ2. The quest was easy enough – comprised of four sub-quests. Once it was over I headed to the QH Inn to look for a room.
Oh my, when you don’t have any Status Points apartments are VERY expensive. With the appropriate status I could purchase a two-room apartment for only 23G. Without, the same size apartment was 48G purchase price and 1G a week rent. That’s a lot for a level 24 character. I had just fewer than 2 plats, an amount I'd been saving the last time I played to purchase my first mount. Once again I lamented leaving behind a relative fortune on Nagafen, where'd I'd been able to cash-in on people trying to power level tinkering and transmuting when EOF first released. Oh well, I really wanted the apartment I'd visited versus one in a starter Inn. This was the kind of place I could grow into over time. Can't take it with ya, so I decided to spend my savings on the room. It was what I wanted and where I wanted to be. I’d just have to glide around on foot a bit longer.
Choice made, I purchased my two-room suite. Upon entering I found my meager belongings had been automatically shipped to my room and placed inside a crate. I set the four items I owned into the little stone nook near the window and called it my office. I splurged a bit more and upgraded the floor tiles and the walls panels, then headed out with my first priority being to make more gold!
And so it began. I’m out in TS killing and harvesting. I’ll try to find a guide to help with effective solo options. I’ll take every opportunity to explore and taken pictures like I did in the good ole days. Beyond that I have a few other goals that I think will keep me going, but more on those later.
Laying off on Eve??? Say it is not so!! After reading your posts about Eve I finally decided to give it a shot. I got the 14 day trial and loaded it last night. It is quite the change from WoW for sure. The UI is massive and will take a while for me to get used to. The graphics are very nice to look at and the music seems very peaceful. Depending on how my trial goes I may get a full subscription and retire (for now) my WoW toons.
Posted by: Steve | January 24, 2008 at 03:09 PM
Not leaving just taking a fantasy break while skilling up some more. :-) Shoot me an email to #####. I wont be on there this week am working too many hours.
Posted by: Saylah | January 24, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Interesting blog. My experiences are very much like your own, although no WoW for me! My choices have been driven in large part by which game companies support/dont support Linux users via Transgaming or wine contributions for their game clients, but I found myself back in EQ2 recently because of my son. My experiences in EVE consisted of Industrial for about the first week of the free trial, and then I chanced upon a really good PVP corp out in 0.0 and from then on it was all about non stop, blood thirsty, unrelenting PVP. My goodness, that game truly has the best aspects of PVP mastered, unlike any other game I have tried. However, losing ships in that game can be devastating enough to set you back months, so, after losing my second pimped out Drake, it was time to take a break and retry EQ2, which I have not played since the Beta tests long ago. Back then, you had to work hard just to get access to your subclass, and a couple races were locked awaiting a server-wide quest to unlock them. A lot has changed...
My son and I have made level 20 in just under two days of off and on playing, so solo/small group play seems to have really improved. Also, were still running around with mostly starter gear because the player market on najena seems to be hyper inflated and we simply cant afford to buy anything. Level 20 and barely have just 2 gold to our names, yet even the crappiest of lowby items on the market that we need is over 5 plats! Who has that kind of money at those low levels when those items would actually be needed?!.. In any case, it seems like having tricked out gear is not really needed until much higher levels so I wont lament too much.
Posted by: davemc | April 01, 2008 at 09:55 AM