Everquest 2 Planes of Power post

The word Cluster**** springs to mind more and more now for this expac.

Best bit is Combination of abilities will never now happen, as they will launch the level 100-110 versions, people will upgrade with $$$ and then it provides a perfect excuse to never combine them as it might cause upset.

 

Yup.

They managed to mention that we can "pre-order now" about 100 times during the stream but well, mentioning that the class re-vamps had been scrapped just happened to slip their minds........for 4 months.

 

While I feel bad for those people, I'm not sure why you'd pre-order the expansion to check them out, especially with the forums not being NDA'd. Let other people do the work and post about it for you.

 

Problem is, theres still only solo content. Few weeks away from an expansion launch, and we have no idea how tanks or healers will fair or if theres any change at all.

As a healer I hope theres changes because casting my tinyst heal just to see the tank shoot from 5% to 100% is pretty boring and its been boring for 5 expansions.

 

My main complaint, atm, is that all the zones are locked behind the sig quest. How many expansions did we try that with, only to change part way through, because locking content (like zones) behind a quest is not fun? What if I want to fart around in the solo's the first night and ignore the masses of people questing?

/sigh

 

I remember there was a lot of aggravation over dungeon bosses/scripts that were broken for weeks. I wonder if he fails to recall that as well. The human brain has a remarkable ability to self-edit.

It's one thing to implement unpopular changes for long term benefit - IE: Enhancement Diversification in City of Heroes - and quite another to ram your 'vision' of how the game should be down the player's throats and then tell them if they don't like it to play something else.

Things hit a whole new level when your 'vision' fails hard, and rather than address the failure, you double down and act like it's the player's fault for not liking it.

 

I'm genuinely curious as to what the dev team think "playing EQ2" means. The beauty of this game is that there are so many ways to spend time in its world, but we seem to have lost representation for many of them, and thus insight into them. The game can't keep the scope it had in the past, but it can do things to maintain the variety and validity of the different playstyles.

There may be some longer-impacting and very valid reasons for some of the choices they make, but we don't know about them because they aren't communicated to us (though I have seen a turn-around in communication and attitude shown during this beta, and I hope it continues). We don't have a player advisory council, so I would hope they listen to what some of the seasoned voices are saying and keep it in mind. Don't dismiss something that many people are saying; it's not always just rabble-rousing whining, it's often valid in-world experience speaking.

The devs designed the game, and it is theirs. But the players spend a huge chunk of time in it and some delve into it deeper than you can imagine...it is their world too.

 

TBH, if you asked me off-hand how the Velious launch was I probably wouldn't think it was too bad either (a lot of my Velious memories are clouded by the hack that happened midway through). But then you actually start to think about it and yeeeeah. Let's also not forget about the awful itemization and the crit changes shitting on a lot of older loot, dealing with ****ing giants and dragons and their shitty hit boxes for every encounter, etc. Remember the bans that happened due to people getting flying mounts faster than intended?

I think this is a very good question to ask. EQ2 means so many things to so many different people now, and it has such a small team to try to support all of it.

 

Yep.

i remember being banned for taking down mobs that "should not be killable" even though they were in the game. So. Yeah.

 

I bought the expansion, to get into beta, to try out tradeskills. I am disappoint.
I keep looking at my pony and thinking ... this can't be right. Tradeskills are a big part of my game play, the state they're in is not a good one, AT ALL.

The one saving grace is that I like harvesting, I guess. Yay .....

Tbh I don't really have anything good to say about PoP.

 

I'm honestly worried about the expansion now. After some 'words' with Gninja in channel about the current state of tradeskilling, I have come away with the feeling that they really either have no idea, or, they just don't care. It was pretty cute he sent me /hugs though. (I really hate that btw) I wonder if any of the current devs have leveled any craft to max level. Tbh I doubt it.

The pony nor the guild gatherers upgrading to gather level 100-110 mats, is huge to ME. I can see that it is an issue on forums, but I also see the normal fan boy 'omg it's all good wtf you talking about' crap in the thread as well.
The impact of crafters not being able to ... craft ... is going to have a huge impact on the economy. It won't just affect crafters, it will effect all players.

Thinking that crafters will put up with fighting for nodes is just stupid. We already have nothing but writs ad-nauseum to level us to 110, our time is just as important as theirs and most of us (their customers) have jobs and a family. I can't see myself bothering with this crap. I wonder how many will. I adventure and craft, but, OMG YOU CAN'T DO BOTH!!!!! DBG SAID SO!!!

Also where on earth are the books going to be available? I can't of course ask anything in Beta forum because .. well ... banned. They're not available at your local craft centre. Are they faction based? Will they miraculously appear in the craft centres on release? Who knows. Are we just **** out of luck waiting for a quest line if they're faction based?

I have always leveled my Carpenter first, and, I know that SOME players are happy with the carp recipes ...... I don't get why. The majority of recipes are trees and rocks with some crap that looks like tinkerfest crap thrown in. At least now I'll level her last.
I've leveled 4 crafters on Beta so far, not one has impressed me. My plat as I see it will be made from making quivers, and repair kits. Anything else that would be of benefit to ANY player will come too late due to fighting for nodes.

Why are they making it so hard? Have they lost sight of it being a game ffs? Any crafter, and I don't mean the ones that HAD TO LEVEL TO 100 FOR THEIR EPIC (stupidest idea EVER) have earned their pony, and every expansion they have leveled with the harvesting tier. No excuse they have come up with so far is good enough to take away something we have earned. I just no longer like where this game is going.

/rant and cranky pants off.

 

You got banned Charlice?

It's so frustrating and seems hopeless. I don't think they have too much a clue anymore and it's a shame. If I were a dedicated crafter I would be pretty pissed off. Actually last expansions crafting experience I did not enjoy too much either, doing the tasks for an ultra rare chance at a crafting drop. I gave up.

I don't even buy that they even attampted crafting content this expansion, I think they just ignored it.

I hope eq2 is around a while as well, but I don't think anyone is there that can bring it back around. Still wondering how much they would sell the IP and source code for....

 

It's funny as the slogan the marketing team are using is "Save Norrath". Seems a little ironic.

By the looks of things, it looks a little bit too late to me.

 

I think your assessment isn't too far off. The current team doesn't really know what to do with tradeskills, or how to do it. Nor do I think they understand how vital the crafting community is to their game.

Then you have players that use one part of one thing the team said to support an argument that is not just flat out wrong, but presented in a very misleading way. No number of facts or reason will reach them and they don't care if the game suffers and fails for it, so long as they get to feel right.

Carpenter is, and always has been, my first to level crafter. I primarily decorate and RP. I won't buy the collector's edition, or the expansion at all - for the first year since prestige houses were included - because if I want flying house, I'll get the skyskiff and the builder pack I already have better with tinkerfest items.

The carpenter recipes are a sham. Those items would be more appropriate as additions for Moonlight Enchantment. At the very least, the base carpenter recipes should have been our existing blocks with the cut out patterns, with the advanced being things like pattern/color variety on the swooshy curtains, player crafted doors, etc - my opinion, of course.

I think some of the crafters were so grateful to get anything at all, they they've accepted... anything. And they got to pick them right? See the team does care! It wasn't just a last minute scramble and a way to pacify the torch carrying mob.

 

Another significant drop. It was pretty obvious watching in-game activity that KA didn't sell well after what came out in the beta, and large numbers of the base vacated over the year as the lack of content continued, and what did make it in was inexcusably buggy - not to mention not what the players wanted. And when they said it's not what they wanted, they were told if they didn't like to go play another game... so more and more of them did.

I was somewhat surprised that EQ2 got a 14th expansion after the past year. Beta this year makes last year look like a stroll through the roses (judging by the forums... what little activity there is). And after the debacle of last year - that they still don't have sorted out - I doubt very much if many folks will be willing to spend money until 'sometime in the expansion cycle' when they see how things shape up - if at all.

Crafters have gotten the worst of it this go, but the other side isn't much better. Take out all the grind gates and the volume of content seems more appropriate for a holiday event (in years gone by, when we used to get those updated) with a couple of dungeons tacked on than an expansion that's still full market price.

I love EQ2, with all it's bugs and flaws, I always have. I would love to see EQ2 return, but for that to happen, whatever this is has to go - because it's not EQ2.

 

I was a KA casualty after playing since 2007 or thereabouts. I waited to buy it until Kander started talking about class re-vamps. I bought it...played few weeks, and thought class re-vamps or not, this crap blows. And that was that.

I predicted over the summer that crafters were gonna get the shaft, because NO DOMINO. We saw whst happened last time she was out of the loop.

This is crazy to me, because I gotta think the crafting and deco crowd is happy to spend money in the cash shop, but only DBG knows for sure.

I know from my own experience, toward the end of an expansion cycle, I bring out the carpenter, pick a house and go to town.