So which is it? Paladins can be evil and shadowknights can be good (like on PvP servers) or they can't (like everywhere else)? They both can't be the official lore. Maybe they've explained it on the PvP servers, but since I don't play there, things in my Norrath don't work that way.
I can easily screw up your Norrath by paying SOE $25 to move my swashbuckler off of a PvE server to a PvP server, turning him to an evil-aligned swashbuckler and moving him back for another $25. TADA...I've ruined your whole lore and roleplaying with the almighty dollar! *poof* Just like that, I'm an evil swashbuckler and there is nothing you can do to keep that from happening! I can savor your RPing tears and lore-loving angst. Alas! Oh woe! An evil swashbuckler on a PvE server! This will cause EQ2 to totally fail and crash and burn! Oh look, there goes one of my guildies who moved his Qeynos-based shadowknight from the PvP server to our PvE server. Careful, he's part of the taint that is going to ruin your idea of fun and adventure! SOE loves us so much for spending all this money by moving our toons from server to server to get what we want out of the game we have been playing since launch. Gee, I wish I rolled an assassin long ago, so I could ~flounce~ from Freeport to Qeynos and remain an assassin to do all the good-aligned quests! Oh look, I've done all the good-aligned city quests, so back to Freeport for me so I can follow an evil god. I'd then be like "hahaha too bad swashbucklers, you're stuck in Qeynos, and I can come and go as I please as an assassin." Seeing that I rarely group with people outside of my guild, and I rarely am doing anything in the overland zones. If I'm not in a dungeon with guildies or standing AFK in the guild hall, I'm in a raid zone. I doubt if we'd even run into each other if we were on the same server. Even if WE WERE on the same server, if my evil swashbuckler bothers you so much, then just /ignore me and the problem is solved.
Nice job of not answering the question and missing the point. I never said it would bother me so much that it would ruin anything. What it would ruin is the sense of good vs evil the game had at launch, but with so much neutral now, maybe it's too late. Lets just get rid of city factions altogether and let anyone just wander into Neriak and do all the quests. Why would a good character be allowed to do that? Who cares - lore doesn't matter; restrictions are bad. You better hope EQNext isn't like EQ1 - most races can't even be most classes.
The sense of good vs evil has been gone since Kunark launched, where in the world have you been? It's pretty clear SoE wants to move away from that, especially after the city revamps when they made Freeport less evil and Qeynos less good. Also if you go look inside of Neriak there are Paladin NPCs there. (Paladin helmets and buffs anyways) That sounds really cool, but how is that related to EQ2 and this thread at all? I think you're missing the point here. :\
I've played since launch on a PvE server, and I've fought alongside every class and race in the game. I've yet to take on a MOB that was aligned with an evil city or a good city. I've raided with male friends who have played ogre and troll defilers, and I am currently raiding with two female high elves who are also defilers. Both of them started out as mystics, and for whatever reasons, both of these ladies are now living in evil cities. I honestly do not care what someone's race or what city their toon is from, 'cause I'm here to raid and to group with friends and guildies. I do not care if our paladin or shadowknight are good or evil. Likewise for the alignment of our guardian, dirges, troubadour, wizards, warlock, fury, warden. It annoys me that our assassin, coercers, illusionists, templars, and inquisitors can now come and go as they please with their city alignments, and they can remain being their original class. Yet, our shadowknight, paladin, brigands, swashbucklers, necromancer, conjurer, defilers, and mystic do not get the option to switch cities and remain those classes. Allowing ALL 25 classes to be neutral hurts no one, 'cause lore got tossed to the wayside ages ago in this old game. I'd be fine with remaining a good-aligned swashbuckler, but since SOE made an additional 8 classes neutral a few years ago, then just take the final leap and make all classes neutral like it is on PvP. Class lore got tossed out when monks could be evil and bruisers could be good. Likewise with good assassins, evil rangers, good inquisitors, evil templars, good coercers, and evil illusionists. If SOE could twist the class lore for those classes on PvE servers, then they can easily do it for the last 8 classes that are not neutral. It's always been "us" (players) vs. "them" (the mobs in the game). The gnolls in Antonica were never aligned with the city of Freeport to take on the citizens of Qeynos. If that was in some long forgotten quest, then big deal, 'cause nobody but maybe a few lore geeks remember it. (Who reads quest babble anyways? It's all just spam through quest text and on to the next quest. Yes, there are a few people out there, but the majority of the players DO NOT CARE.) The giants in the T5 raid zones were never aligned with either city. I've NEVER felt any angst as a citizen of Qeynos towards anyone from Freeport. I'm ok with EQNext being like it was in EQ1...because as far as I know, SOE has not touched the race/class combos in EQ1 like they have in EQ2. If they didn't touch the 8 classes in EQ2 on PvE servers (the 8 that I listed above), then I would not be here complaining about it on the forums. As soon as they left 8 more classes go neutral, then I took issue with it. As soon as they gave us the option to go back and forth from PvP to PvE, then I had an even bigger issue with the whole process. If they gave us another "free server transfers for a day" token, I'd take a vacation day at work and move my swashbuckler to a PvP server, betray him to Freeport and then move him back to my original server that I've been on since launch...and guess what...he'd be an evil-aligned swashbuckler. I'm not paying SOE $50 to do server hop twice to get what I want for my swashbuckler, when it was given to the 8 other classes for free years ago.
As for EQNext, I doubt if I'm going to play it. I've beta tested several "recent" MMOs, and enjoyed the games enough to buy Collector's Editions, only to be highly disappointed in end game content of those games for the class style I like to play (rogue). As much as we all gripe about various flaws in EQ2, there's something about the game that keeps us here. For me, it's the friendships that I've made over the years that keeps me around more than the game itself. I wish I had a dollar for everyone that has said "I'll never play another SOE MMO again." If I luck out and get into beta testing for EQNext, I'll be very wary of the game, and not to get suckered into the "brand new shiny" like I have done with Conan, Rift, and SWTOR. I'm happy that my old computer couldn't handle beta testing in Vanguard, or else that would have been another $60 down the drain on an MMO that I quit a few months post-launch. Heck, I had so much fun with SWTOR at launch, that I got a 6 month subscription, only to not even bother logging in for the last half of those 6 months. Anyone want a $150 STWOR CE box? Comes with a Darth Something statue and a "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine" decoder ring! If SOE has not touched the race/class alignment in EQ1 since launch, then that is awesome. They caved in EQ2 because they started up the F2P and then forcing people to unlock certain races/classes. Since they are getting rid of race/class unlocks, then they can do away with the alignment of the last 8 classes.
Kind of like how you totally ignored my question? If the Queen is ok with murderers-for-hire, why does she reject people who beat up others for their money? If Lucan is ok with Templars, why reject Templars? The sense of good and evil the game had at launch has been watered down so badly, having these last remaining 8 faction-locked classes almost doesn't make sense. The new Combine has changed things, and Qeynos and Freeport are seen working together more often than working to undermine each other. Don't throw lore at us, then choose to ignore the fact that most of the lore of the game has pointed to a decided change in the way Qeynos and Freeport deal with each other. Its not so much "Good" and "Evil" anymore. More like "Kind" and "Selfish".
I am a lore fanatic and I agree with Mae. The game itself has changed, and the lines between good and evil aren't what they were 8 years ago - heck, they weren't what they seemed to be back at game launch. Anyone who went through the old archetype-class-subclass system as a Qeynosian scout-rogue-ranger should remember this. Remember, back then assassins were evil, so if you were picking rogue for your lvl 10 class, you were aiming for ranger (or betrayal). But guess what the Qeynos rogue test was back then? Assassinate someone. When the Eye of Bayle came out into the open, I wasn't surprised in the least - assassins HAD always been a part of Qeynos, and the game lore supported it. Beyond that, individual choice opens up a lot of things for the player, even if they don't make sense in the wider story - or it should, at least. Conjuror and necromancer make good examples, I think. The conjuror is considered a "good" class - but he can just as easily be enslaving elementals as forming constructs, so just how is that unmitigated good again? Necromancers are always evil, even if the spirits they work with are willing participants, or if they consider old bones of ages past no different from rock or metal, since it has no life and no soul. If someone cares about story, they can develop whatever story they like to explain their choices. And if they don't care, then the restrictions are nothing but frustration with an expensive work-around.
