The game is fun, no question about it however HUGE expense. By my calculations over a thousand dollars just to get your ascension abilities up to snuff. Existing players will look down on you (even friends). The game devs have created a wonderful place to play and i'm sure many would love to return however the cost to become relevant is too high. You will need to spend thousands in DayBreak Cash and then spend more on the free trade server just to get the adornments you need to be up to snuff in the current raid zones. Unless DB makes a major change, don't waste your money coming back unless you want to be the guild mascot who rubs old content for fun.
I generally agree with you but I don't think this statement is fair. I returned to the game after 3 year break and many of my friends and others on the server bend over backwards to help me gear up. I was given plat, free gear, rares, crafted gear and master spells etc. Above all they spent their time taking me on dungeon runs to gear me up in there too. Its worth pointing out EQ2 has some of best and kindest players out there and the main reason why I still play it. However it became increasing clear to me that, if I am going to repay their kindness, I need certain items (summer runes, battle ground runes and ascension upgrades) and they can only be gotten in reasonable time by paying real money. So I spent about £300 moving to IoR to buy runes and rest on DB cash upgrading ascension. So its not that they look down on you but its more like they can't do anything about it and if you insist they take you to some place where you can't even scratch the mob then I don't know what to say.... Also, I figured that if had played EQ2 during those 3 years, I would have probably spent £300 on the game anyway, so paying £300 for quick catch up wasn't all that bad either
Wow £300, almost $400 bucks, that's what I figure it would take to become viable. Thanks for the confirmation.
Most people won't need that much. I think most people can do it for £100 - £150. The must have items are the summer class rune and few ascension spells. Everything else is not important. I was splashing out and bought the most expensive expansion for nearly £100! If you think about it, most people at least pay £110 (12 month sub plus basic expansion) a year to play the game normally...
It would not be a problem if DB raises the drop rate a bit for lots again, where unfortunately they were screwed down so players are forced to move forward with real money, but only if they want to do it all. I myself and my guild player do not support this scam we only run zones but the charm of EQ2 is very limited with the limitations of Daybreak unfortunately it was once a good game that suffers more and more fixes and is more and more broken. You do not always have to buy things to play well, it is more important to know your class and to use your spells properly to play on Thurgadin or madjul. Many good players but also many of them only cook with water and know their own class not really. Also Raid player is not the same as Raid player many play worse than their Gear or Spells and are so far. The important thing is not how good a char is, but rather that you learn to play with each other, many players have forgotten in the last few years, no matter which server. Players are arrogant and ignorant of new or former players who come back after breaks, rather than helping.In the end, this also destroys a game.
I don't like the current pricing model and I have come to accept it for what it is, since I don't really enjoy any other MMOs out there. Being a good player is not enough. EQ2 is gear based game and certain content will need certain minimum gear so if you want to do that contently quickly without grinding for months, well opening the wallet is the only option. Most EQ2 players I have come across are decent people. They are not arrogant or ignorant about new/returning players but they can only help you so much.... You can't expect someone to run to thought countless dungeons to gear you up...
Gear is not the issue - you can get the gear to compete rather easy at no cost - it really is the spells - and those they have clamped down on the drops. At least it is not as pronounced - like when they had the mechanism where you needed master of an ascension to kill a raid mob. They just hide it behind pushing out the same boring ascensions but just putting II behind the name.
While how much you spend is up to you, you can level using current game mechanics although it's starting to resemble a Korean MMO more and more for the grind impact. I don't look down on people because their ascension or CA/Spells aren't up to snuff; the simple fact is that the survivability of a player in this xpac is zero if they're trying to run Heroics in last xpacs gear, or low level spells/ascensions. In the old days, you could drag a returning player through, but with this xpac, those days are gone. This xpac is far more a second job than it is a "game" where you log in and relax. We've helped more than a few players play catch up with gear, spells, etc. That said, the players I know don't mind someone who's willing to work on their toon. Where they draw the line is people who log in once or twice a week and want to be towed through heroics and spend no time doing the things the rest of us are doing. It's more about the attitude and effort of the player than anything else.
