Like a lot of people, I didnt spend much time with EverQuest 2 when it launched in 2004. There were several reasons for this, but the two that sealed the deal were: no PvP and World of Warcraft. Of course, all MMORPGs evolve over time, and EQ2 is clearly not standing still. In fact, the game has seen 2 adventure packs and 2 expansions in a year and half. Whats more, PvP servers have been added, the class system has been revamped, and the early levels have been completely reworked.

While it may seem like EQ2 has been marginalized by World of Warcraft, it is still a very successful game. One definite upside to playing a game that doesnt have millions of subscribers is you rarely encounter server problems or queues. Every MMORPG has technical issues from time to time, but EQ2 is exceptionally reliable in this regard.

No More Isle of Refuge

If you played EQ2 prior to the Kingdom of Sky expansion, youll recall the Isle of Refuge and a short boat sequence which introduced you to the games controls. Theyve ditched the Isle and the boat ride in favor of 2 newbie islands: The Outpost of the Overlord for the dark denizens of Freeport and the Queens Colony for the righteous residents of Qeynos. They are reminiscient of the Isle of Refuge in that they are there to teach you the basics, but it unfolds very briskly now and the rewards have been improved. On PvP servers, you are aligned with the starting city you choose.

Another big change is that you pick your profession (class) during character creation now. You used to start with an archetype, then you got to pick a class, then, at around level 20, a subclass. While it was an interesting system in some ways, you had to plan ahead.
Post Kingdom of Sky you simply choose your class right off the top and youre done with it. You have plenty of options, because the game currently has over 20 professions, although theyre not all available to both factions.

Graphics and Interface

Like a lot of fantasy MMORPGs, EQ2 creates a largely familiar-looking world, despite the fact that there are frog warlocks and such running around. The graphics engine is quite remarkable. Metal textures have a perfect shine, the water is unsurpassed for a MMORPG, the lighting is top notch, and character models have an abundance of polygons. The hitch is that it takes an extremely good PC to run EQ2 on the highest settings, but to its credit, it looks terrific even on medium settings.

It would all be that much more immersive if the world didnt have so many seams in it. The major cities are broken up into zones in such a way that you cant run across town without seeing several loading screens. There are technical advantages to this, such as enabling them to start up new instances of a zone when the population gets too high, but it feels like a step backward in comparison to games where you cross an entire continent without having to zone.

While the GUI and game controls are highly customizable, there is no mini-map, which is a peculiar omission in this day and age.

The game has met with some stiff criticism of its artistic direction, and it plainly isnt as cohesive or as immediately recognizable as some of its competition. If you prefer a world with a relatively realistic appearance, however, EQ2 does a decent job of achieving this.
Combat

Many would argue that the original EverQuest set the standard for combat in games of this kind, and EQ2 maintains this high standard. You start with more skills as a result of adjustments to the class system, which adds some fun to the early levels. RPG lovers will find themselves in familiar territory, selecting targets and unleashing the special attacks on their shortcut bar.

One unique feature that EQ2 has added to combat are Heroic Opportunities. These are special group abilities that trigger combat bonuses if the group members successfully execute individual moves at the right time. Its still another layer on the games intricate group dynamics and its nicely implemented.
 
Player vs. Player

At release EQ2 had no PvP, but several servers with PvP rulesets were made available when the Kingdom of Sky expansion launched, and by all indications they have been a hit with players. SOE has always said that they didnt want to add PvP to the game until they felt they had it right.

You fight for your home city, either Qeynos or Freeport, and chat functions, among other things, are limited to your own faction. Certain zones inside the city are quite safe unless you decide to initiate an attack, but beyond that anyone of the opposite faction within 8 levels of your level is fair game. The level range broadens in higher level zones, and the Kingdom of Sky has particularly harsh areas with no level limits.

While there is something to be said for restricting PvP to certain level ranges, it also diminishes the pool of players you can call on when defence is needed.

PvP combat has its own mechanics which can be adjusted without impacting the PvE side of the game. Some spells and abilities behave differently when used against another player rather than a typical monster. The system will inevitably be refined in future updates to the game.

Old-school PvPers will be happy to hear that there is a full-fledged rewards system to go with this. Defeated foes drop a portion of their coin, and possibly, an inventory item that can be looted. Losers incur an XP debt and victors earn XP for kills that meet "honorable" standards. You can also earn a PvP ranking within your faction, although I dont think that there are any rewards for these titles at the moment other than prestige.

In an unusual move, theyve tried to put some disincentives in to discourage the most commonly abused PvP tactics, such as finishing off players that are already low on health from fighting mobs. Initiating an attack on a player that is below 20 percent health and killing them, for example, will remove access to rewards and negatively affect your reputation with your home city.

They are even attempting to deal with out-of-range healers and such, but its a little early to say how well its going to work, especially since there are currently a couple bugs in the system that need to be resolved.

One thing I really like is the ability to pick from several spawn points when you die. You are not required to recover your corpse, so this allows you to slip away from trouble fairly easily after dying should you so choose.

You wont need to spend much time on a PvP server to experience this ruleset in all its unforgiving harshness. Given that there are no PvP objectives in the world apart from killing other players, and no instanced battlegrounds, its a gang-on-gang slugfest right from about level 10 on. Running around without a group is a death sentence unless you have stealth abilities, and even then its dangerous. It is possible to come across a group about the same size and level as your own and have a remotely fair fight, but its the exception rather than the rule.

Personally, I find the lack of something akin to Dark Age of Camelots realm wars or World of Warcrafts battleground system disappointing. Nevertheless, I know a lot of the community is vehemently opposed to the idea and prefer EQ2 PvP the way it is. At the moment its anyones guess whether SOE has plans to add such features in the future.

Crafting

Crafting in EQ2 is a cut above what you will find in most MMORPGs. Rather that merely clicking "create" once you have the necessary ingredients, you are actively involved in the process of making an item. Accidents are corrected on the fly with your input, and you have some control over the quality of the item produced, which will be rated as crude, shaped, good, or pristine. Naturally, the quality of the materials used also affects the quality of final product.

Collecting materials turned out to be quite a bit harder than doing the actual crafting. Resource nodes are in somewhat short supply for the number of players seeking them, and some nodes yeild a variety of different materials, so you dont always find what youre looking for. Coupled with limited inventory space, it takes some determination to advance as a crafter in the game, but the good news is you can develop your artisan skills independently of your combat skills.

Bottom Line

As is often the case with MMORPGs, EQ2 is getting better with age, and other games are clearly influencing the direction this title is heading. By any measure EQ2 is one of the best games in its class, and it has carried on the EverQuest tradition of releasing new content at an impressive pace. For a war between good and evil, the PvP servers are about as brutal as they come. While EQ2 and World of Warcraft are growing increasingly similar, EQ2 is a slower, harder, and slightly more complex game, which, from what I hear, is exactly what a lot of gamers are looking for.