With the info we have so far on next xpac. Do you all think that doing epic 2 is still worth going for? If the Epic 2 is not significantly tied to success in the next xpac...I am not sure if the time and effort would be worthwhile. Thanks for the input in advance.
Yes. Even if the weapon were to be rendered obsolete tomorrow you would still need to do the quest to get the new spells.
Everyone should do their 2.0 if they expect to group/raid. As is if you go into experts/raids in KA without your epic you are basically asking to be carried at this point. If you expect encounters not to be tuned around people having their epics next expansion that is wishful thinking. Even if they are not "required". I've done the 2.0 many times (both prior to and after the bauble) and I'm aware it's a grind and not the most fun (and we all know crafting sucks). However, there is a vast difference between how much someone can contribute to a group (raid even more so) with and without their epic. Personally, I will take someone with a 2.0 over someone without any day. Are zones doable with only half the group having epics? Sure... doesn't mean should have to carry the other half; which is pretty much what it always comes down to. Certainly not an efficient set up. Who wants to spend 30+ mins in a zone that should take 10? Just my opinion. I'm sure I'll get hate for it.
I finished the Epic on one of my accounts and with the Guise you can buy, it will make doing the Epic on other characters on that account easy. With my limited time to play there is no way I will do the faction grind of my other account, I have better use of my down time than doing mind numbing grinds. I have said this before, I would be willing to buy the Guise from the marketplace for a reasonable amount of DBC to prepare for the expansion. Without some relief from the grinding of KA from DBG I don't see buying the expansion on either of my accounts and if I'm not playing my wife will not either.
DEPENDING on your class, the Guise does very little to help you along. Many of the faction items you need to buy require that you do the entire questline in order to use them. Which would give you 40-45k faction anyway. So it does save you some time, but not enough. I think, in all honestly, it shaved maybe 3-4 hours off my fighter epic 2.0. It shaved several days off scout for me. It depends on class. They NEED TO WAIVE the silly 100 crafting requirement. I hate crafting. I am far far from alone in this.
Check the healer Othmir requirements, 50k faction and the repeatable is 200 per quest. Finishing the Othmir quest line gives you very little towards the 50k. So from -20k to +50k, you do the math and tell me how many times you have to do the 200 per repeatable. Again with limited play time that amount can be a month or two.
Once you've got a single epic 2.0, you can buy a bauble from the ny'celona merchant for a 2p or so that you can use on alts. The bauble takes care of the faction requirements.
Well said. I agree at least one or two epic 2.0's in each person's character list would be helpful. I'm more worried that people will not want to help you get your epic unless you're in their guild, due to the "optional" characterization. But even on my server there are those who regularly help out of guild, and you know who they are on your own server. If you see them on... it' a good time to ask in chat for help on an epic update. I'm just a regular pug fill-in type and I'm working on mine because of exactly what you said. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for a grouping run. Other times, not so much. You may wonder why I don't just join a grouping or raiding guild. Well first, bad experiences. But second, even if I wasn't raiding, I've had it happen several times that people "whined" when I had to log off to do something irl. You can say "find a better guild" but ultimately bad stuff like whining to the guild leaders about someone needing to bio too often (I'm ill so I can't just "hold it"), or having to go because of an appointment, one day one person will be extra keyed up... and they'll say something nasty to the GL, and form then on you're defending yourself. I'm happy where I am although things are slower. But I think people, especially in EQ2, need to chill out. Personally I don't mind spending 30 min on a "10 min" run, it's the 3 hours people who fail over and over and insist that you stay to help them fail more... that annoys me. Raiders in my experience, do that more (probably less sensitive to repeated failures, which is good - up to a point). That's why if I ever do try a populated guild again, it will be with groupers who maybe raid, but mostly just do group stuff. I wish there was more to do duo+mercs. I mean officially. My husband and I can do old heroics duo, but it feels wrong somehow that we are never officially welcomed into the new expac with an opportunity to better our characters with a friend/spouse/child. We both join groups whenever we can, so it's not discouraging us from grouping. I miss that about another game, the trios you could duo if you were good - for currency or other current benefits.
It's the most important thing to get done in my opinion. Dig in and do what needs to be done, it's not pleasant at times but it's worth it.
I did othmir faction in a few hours doing the kick barrel quest. It was mind numbing but it was doable. I picked quest up flew to barrels using the travel birdy and then got a friendly guildy to CoH me back to NPC. It really wasn't as horrific as people make out.
