EQ2: Disappointed in Steamfront Mountains

I was EXTREMELY disappointed to see that the Steamfront Moutains zone is basically the same as Butcherblock Mountains, with some Gnome gadgetry sprinkled around.  The look of the zone is almost identical – dry and rocky, with small caves and canyons.  Many of the core mobs are the same– spiders, bears, foxes, etc.  Imagine my disappointments, when the day before I was so excited to finally exit the zones I’d done several times during the course of trying to find the right race, class and EQ2 server rule set.  I didn’t play much after I realized it was going to be more of the same. I used an invisibility illusion to ride through the zone to uncover most of the map and get some exploration XP then logged out.

Ugh, I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of ButcherBlock Mountains, a zone that I had initially considered scenic with its barren vistas but after a while became OMG, not another rock or cliff. Right now, the disappointment is too keen to summon any interest in leveling there.  I might head back to The Enchanted Lands and go deeper into that content.  I did notice many mobs at the 35+ level available. I think I’d rather do that than hit the rocks again for now.

I know some people think it’s jarring for zones that are adjacent to have drastic differences in climate and layout but it’s something I enjoyed in WOW.  It adds a lot of diversity to the content and breaks-up the monotony of leveling.  Boo, for Steamfront Mountains being a re-hash of BBM!  Granted the higher the leveling content you reach in WOW the more isolated or barren some of those zones feel.  Do the designers not notice how alive a zone seems when it's populated with regular inhabitants that aren't just the quest NPCs standing around?  I want to fight mobs on behalf of the people of that world not just because Quest Giver X wants 10 wolf skins!!!!  And sure it's still 10 wolf skins when it comes down to it, but it feels more heroic when I got those skins from wolves that were attacking a homestead or harassing the locals.  For God's sake give me zones that seem to be populated with life other than the mobs I have to kill.

I want Goldshire, Darkshire, Lakeshire, Booty Bay, etc from WOW.  Or Greater Faydark, Commonlands, Nek, Enchanted Lands from EQ2.  Please stop giving me zones full of  nothing but wild animals and mobs designated for death. *Bangs head on desk*  Apparently no one lives in these zones anyway so why do I care that they are these beasts running about????  *Grrrr*  I feel a few days of The Sims 2 coming on.

Comments

[Mythokia]

Enchanted Lands is an excellent alternative too. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the Steamfont questline, and I think it's one of the best written in the game (yay for gnome humor!) - story wise that is, even though it ultimately boils down to still killing mobs mostly.

[Solidstate]

Actually Booty Bay isn't a zone, it's a town in Stranglethorn Vale, which is exactly the type of zone you seem to dislike - big and with almost no NPCs except at the very north and very south ;p

Netherstorm is much better in this regards, with Netherstorm NPCs, and others, scattered throughout the zone. I really enjoyed questing there for that reason.

[Saylah]

@Solid - you're right but I skipped all that jungle nonsense! I did the quests that were on the shorts/beaches. The pirate quests - for some reason I never get tired of killing pirates. I did the Naga in their little encampments and the trolls. That other stuff I couldn't be bothered with each time I leveled. Netherstorm - hmm, skipped it mostly. It was already where I had to farm stupid motes for crafting, I couldn't stomach leveling there too.

[Heattanu]

Feerott is pretty different looking and starts at about level 35 if you like jungle. It also has some pretty good quest lines, one set for good and one for evil in different camps a short way into the jungle from the entrance. There are manticores, dryads, lizardmen and mystails (variant on rats) as well as the typical snakes and spiders.

[Heattanu]

Feerott also has the final leg of the "Journey is half the Fun" HQ which is a blast. It starts in Antonica near the North Qeynos gate and continues in Commonlands, Thundering Steps, Nektulos Forest, Enchanted Lands, Zek and finally Feerott. The grand tour of Norath with a nice pair of run speed boots at the end.

[Saylah]

@Heat - Thanks for the tip. Will check it out. I popped my head in that zone once curious where the the bell went. Didn't go far enough to see the mob levels.

[Syah]

I loved Steamfont mountain actually, but maybe because I didn't spend too much time in Butcherblock. I loved the quests, with plenty of humour. The little gnomish town on top of a mountain made me think of Toshley's station in Blade's Edge (WoW). There is also a little instance in Steamfont (Klak Anon) with a very challenging named. The downside of this zone is that mobs are packed, but for an illusionist it wasn't really an issue thanks to the crowd control spells.

Also do not forget the Bloodline chronicles as it should become interesting around those levels (30-40):
- Solo instances: Dire Hollow - Grim Tidings or Underrot caverns - Moldy Crypt. In Nektulos near the timberfalls north-west talk to Nasrara or Danho depending on your alignement and choose the "Alone" option (instance choice is offered randomly therefore you might want to decline and talk again to the NPC to get the one you prefer).

- Group instances: you choose your quest line which will open various zone-accesses or instances, based on your alignement: "Hand of Marr" for Good and "Brethren of Night" for Evil.

- Optional: There's the D'Morte quest line (by inspecting the D'Morte insignia in your inventory and also /claim the Ring of THaen).

[Saylah]

@ Syah - Looks like I shouldn't judge the book by the cover. Thanks for the very detailed options which aren't immediately apparent!