EverQuest II: Chaos Descending Expansion Announced

If you don't raid, you don't get the complete story. At least I've never got it, so I assume it's in the raids.

 

The servers have not condensed into one. There is only one EU server, but there are 4 US servers and one TLE server.

I never pay attention to the story, so someone else will have to answer that question.

 

If you enjoy the old zones...well I'd say you're cracked, but go ahead.

If you enjoy well-done content, don't bother.

 

I can only speak to Terrors of Thalumbra and Kunark Ascending, but I'd say no. There's barely a coherent story, the content is really grindy, and they got rid of RoIs which means you have to have the wiki up constantly because the NPCs don't actually tell you where to go anymore. I didn't play ToV, but it's a significant step down from CoE or AoM in just about every way. I've heard people say Planes of Prophecy is better and I've heard other people say it's worse, I wasn't willing to risk $35 on it after KA.

 

All I ever hoped for out of the game is to run around and do stuff and maybe find something shiny at the end of the night, but everyone else seemed to treat it like they were training for the Olympics with min/max. The zones were built for min/maxers not for people who just want to pal around with a few other people and be as social as an IT introvert may ever get.

 

I don't know if I can give you the best advice since I have quit the game and did not buy the last expansion, but based on the two expansions prior to the last one I would say no. I'm not even sure what the story is anymore and everything seems centered around driving you towards the store rather than exploring and enjoying the game.

 

The current expac is absolutely beautiful and, aside from the 'secret' and convoluted mess that is the healing debuff in group content, well done. The story doesn't feel as cohesive as the previous two, but it is still interesting.

 

I didn't think much of the story at all for the previous two, other than showcasing Lanys. But as much as I support Her, I never felt She was a credible threat to Norrath. I would have been happier with Her returning as a deity to worship and fighting a different threat. I wanted to help Lanys to win... I saw no compelling reason to oppose Her, after all. Every one wants to destroy Norrath, or remake it in their image or just out right wipe it clean and forget about the mess it was. I don't blame them for the last one. Oh well. I keep hoping Lanys will return one day again...

 

Can't say what you should do with your $40. All i can do is share why I'm not playing anymore.

When CN/Epstein/?? bought SOE, they gutted staff and quality. This will not be the eq2 you remember.

The expansions are small, and soon enough, you'll be running the same half a dozen dungeons ad nauseum.

The revenue model is solidly p2w. The way it works these days is a combination of glaring grind with the probability of getting the drops required for progression summing to near zero. I've heard accounts of players spending $2k-$3k per expac to upgrade and optimize their characters.

Classes have been effectively homoginized with the introduction if ascencion spells. Everybody gets access to the same spells.

The primary mechanisms driving the p2w environment are buying/selling kronos, spell research, and cash shop potions/items intended to relieve a whole host of intentionally tedious leveling mechanics encompassing gear, familiars, mounts, etc.

So, it depends on what you're interested in. If you're looking for the old eq2, you'll be disappointed.

Certainly, if you're just interested in tooling around on a casual basis, you won't need to spend any additional money in the cash shop. And as Mermut noted, the art folks are still knocking it out of the park.

If you are a serious raider, you'll probably need to spend some more money, partly because of likely raid leader expectations, and partly because it will be difficult to progress through the more challenging stages without doing so.

 

Honestly, you've probably come to either the worst place in the world or best place in the world to ask about returning. The majority of the people here (note I said majority) have stopped playing, don't like the company, and will have nothing good to say about returning. It's like a refugee camp for recovering EQ2 addicts. They will tell you that the "bubble gnomes" on the official forums are putting their heads in the sand and ignoring anything negative about the company or the game. Ironically, these anti-bubble gnomes are doing essentially the same thing regarding anything positive about the game or the company.

Try the game and see what you think. Without buying a thing you can play all the way up to the ToT expansion. After you try it for a while, you will know what you think is best for you and can ignore both versions of the bubble gnomes.

 

I can't even get my head around this! Especially to dump that much cash into a dying game. I guess that's what's keeping it afloat.

 

Some people just have that kind of spare cash, it's not that big of a deal to them.

The industry calls them "whales".

 

Actually, the only way he will know for sure if he likes the game will be to buy it and experience it for himself. Playing content prior to KA will be largely uninformative with respect to what KA, PoP, and CD have to offer him.

And a point of clarification regarding Bubble Gnome Syndrome:

No one here holds any player at fault for liking the game. To each there own.

The distinction is the tendency to misinform, mislead, or fabricate deceit in defense of their position.

I don't demand people agree with me. But I will call out that which is misleading or dishonest, especially since candor is often not tolerated on the OF.

This place actually allows for and encourages healthy, honest conversation that is free of Bubble Gnome and Moderator manipulation.

 

Same.

Everyone is entitled to do what they want with their own money. For me personally, there no utility in spending that kind of money on any game - opportunity costs and whatnot.

 

And the fact you don't really own what you're buying. They can flip a switch at any time and poof there goes your purchase.

 

If you are into crafting the story line for ToT was good and the one for KA was great in my opinion. I have no idea about PoP as I had left the expansion just when the crafting storyline was added in. Others will need to provide that opinion.

 

One minor point not already addressed by Fuli:

Many of us here don't refuse to believe or recognize when The Team does something positive. In fact, we often give them kudos for it, and will point out negative misinformation, just as often as standard Bubble Gnome(tm) tactics.

The difficulty is, these are often subjective points - not to mention positive action happens far less often than it used to.

 

KA's crafting questline was pretty good. The crafting questlines in general are usually super good, some of the best solo content in the game imo.

 

Well that's no good especially if it's a step down from CoE, which at the time of its release in 2012 was a major step down to the era of expansions like RoK-TSO-SF ect. I played the game from 2004 to early 2015 when the company became DBG. It was around 2010-2011 when the EQ2 team saw major decrease in staff size but I knew it was only going to get significantly worse when the transfer happened. Real shame.