Is Everquest 2 worth playing?

Hi, I don't mean the title to be aggressive, I didn't know how to word my question. I'm looking for a game to play and Everquest 2 looks awesome. The problem is that I have a newborn baby so there is no way that I could do dungeons or raids. Is there a way to earn high end armour without dungeons etc? I would rather not play in a game where I can never be as good as other players. Also are there other things to do in end content besides raids? And no I don't mean the same battlegrounds over and over again.

Thanks for your time

Well, the questing armour for your first 80-ish levels is not much to speak of - it certainly isn't what one would call "epic". There are solo dungeons that you can do at your own pace once you are 95 - they give a nice piece, but not as good as if you were raiding. Also, the questing armour does get much better in the 90's.

There is also the option of bidding on raid armour that is put up in the Auction chat channel by guilds that don't need the piece. But, you will have to earn the plat to buy it.

Your question is interesting but not telling. Do you want to play a game that has more Lore and quests that would take you years to do? Then yes. Do you wish to rush to end content and be viable? Then yes you can also. Do QUESTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, if you just play the free content there is enough for months and months, maybe more if your always busy with a baby.
However I would recommend subbing so you can alter you EXP flow with the AA slider and not out level some of the great early game content.
Ill give you an example, I'm currently in a guild on Freeport server named Antiquity.
We have a level cap right now of 30 so we can all participate together in low level content.
This cap will be raised slowly so we can experience all the content the game has to offer instead of rushing through to end game.
And we can also Mentor down to new members or alts as well.
So if your looking forward to a lot of content for a little money then EQ2 is the game to play IMO.
If you want more info on our guild here is the website http://theregulatorsclan.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=417109&TabID=3543953

Good luck with your decision and the baby!

EQ2 is huge, there is a lot to do and would suit most play styles. Most people rush to end content these days but if you would like to experience the games full potential then I would suggest that you join a guild as DrunkenShamen has suggested. Although you can pretty much play the game solo now even up to max level (I do).

I keep playing eq2 since start of servers, yes, its not the only game i play, to be honest. But the only game i stay loyal to ^^
So there is a huge load of content that needs to explore, with takes you ages to go through, if you want.
If you want, you can skip those pages, with walk throughs, which keep you even longer in the game and you have to find the clues to the quests and so on ^^

Raid armor is the best, there is no way around that. But the gap between solo and raid gear has never been closer IMO. Some of the jewelry effects will specifically benefit the playstyle they were earned through, so solo gear has effects that'll be more useful to solo players, and raid gear has effects that are useful to raiders. Group dungeon stuff falls somewhere in between, although some of the group jewelry is nice enough that it's useful to pretty much everyone.

There is a ton to do in this game, even if you never raid or group. You have advanced solo versions of every dungeon in the current expac except one, and then you have all of the content from previous expansions too, which as a first time player will be fun to experience at least once, and most of the old raid and group content can be solo'd with a merc fairly easily. Then there's housing, crafting (if that's your thing), shiny hunting, heritage quests, signature quests, and just a ton of other random stuff out there. I would definitely recommend joining a guild though - lots of friendly players out there who are more than happy to help someone new to the game.

I would say, raidarmor ist as good as heroic ^^ Why? Simpel... how long does it takes to get green gems? How long does it takes to get red gems.... point ^^
I have a chest with 3 green gems compared to an ungemed raid chest. The heroic one beats the raid one (not huge, but have higher stats). Yes it will turn, when you put on a red gem.... but.... are they so comon right now?
So yeah, the gap between solo - heroic - raid gear was not that much closed (not close) then before ^^ (some other parts are realy better then heroic or solo sure ^^).
PS. When the timer on sanctum will be reduced, so you can clean it 3-4 times a week... maybe they will become comon (red gems) ^^.
Highend will be highend and need more time to get and will not be possible to be solo, or part time.
But you can have a living in eq2 for a long time and the community is mostly mature

What? You realy think so? (Maybe play some FPS games.)
Define the word "Good" ^^

There is a lot you can do in the game to relax and explore, but it sounds like you want to invest minimal time and yet become as good as those that play for hours every day. Not going to happen. I think you need to look at your goals and what is really important.

EQ2 is a great game. Not only is it good to play once, but re-playability is huge. Unlike a lot of games, the are a lot of different ways to level (ok, full disclosure - at higher levels, the paths do converge) You can run though new Halas, Kelethin, Neriak, or Gond. If you are feeling like exploring a bit, you can also do antonica/commonlands, etc

If you are a quester, there are tons of quests available to help guide your leveling experience. if you are a grinder, you can go into dungeons and grind xp, or find a higher level outdoor area and do the same. There is no right or wrong way to play EQ, but I would advise that you don't rush though it. EQ2 is a huge world and you should take your time. Don't worry about the end game, but instead, enjoy the leveling experience.

As for getting the best gear....as with ANY MMO, getting the best gear means putting in a huge investment in time. If they just gave the gear away, people would get it, then quit. That said, the difference between group/solo gear and raid gear isn't as big as it is in other MMOs like WoW.

EQ2 is a great game, and you can use short time frames productively. Have 10-20 min, pop a progress potion and craft, run an easy quest or two, or just solo kill mobs. Got a lot of time, there are major quests you can run, or you can run a raid if you have a raid group, etc. Either way, you are covered. Good luck.

There are better casual games. MMO are based on time invested for the risk vs reward.

Candy crush. Or bubble witch.

If you aren't planning to do raids, then I don't think you need to worry about absolute top-of-the-line gear. I've been playing this highly entertaining game since it's release and I'm still discovering wonderful new quests in zones that have been around awhile. I mainly quest, craft, dungeon design, and house decorate and all of those can be done in variable smaller chunks of time. The game can easily be played casually, as long as you don't have the mindset of competing with people sinking time into raids or elaborate housing design or vying for the most quests done or some other achievement parameter.

In EQ2 "being as good as other players" means different things to different people and nothing much at all to some. There are raiders, decorators, questers, dungeon designers, explorers. This game has a whole wardrobe of shoes to try on.

To be honest, I have played since Nov. '04 (wife took original account over so I had to make a second one). We have had a ton of fun and raised 2 kids. There is casual guilds that motto a "No Rush" theme. We run one and it's great for say running a dungeon and having to stop to tend to the little ones. Kids can bring stress naturally to individuals and joining a "xp grind rush to end game content guild" or path of game play will bring you more stress than the baby will, trust me. I would strongly recommend EQ2 to anyone especially w/ the amount of FREE content you have access to. I'd say join and see where the first day/chunk of time takes you and make an assessment. If you ask for help to power level people will more than likely help but just like DrunkenShaman said, try to pay for 1 month so that you can accumulate AA points faster than levels so that you can improve your characters abilities. Cheers and Happy Hunting!!

Thankyou everyone for the replies. Most of you have provided me with great information. Some of you I think misunderstood.

Tinkerbe - I did not say at all that I wanted to be as good as everyone else with little time. What I DID say is that I cannot spend a lot of time at once (meaning dungeons and raids). I would be quite content spending a lot of time questing etc. There's no point to a game if it is easy. I loved WoW before WOTLK where everything became too easy and it meant nothing that I had spend 2 months earning an epic flying mount.

Logoszanta - Not a very useful reply. I created this thread to find out what content there is on EQ2. I know what MMOs are. I was a high end raider on WoW and have played through Rift, Guild Wars 2. I found that all of those games lacked differentiation. There wasn't much to do at all once you were max level unless u raided or did heroics.

What is the housing like in EQ2? That is something that could keep me really interested as long as it isn't too easy to obtain everything. How customisable is it?

EQ2 housing? Infinitely customizable. You'll want to raise yourself a carpenter though. They can make a lot of the basic house items. You'll also want...Oh, heck just roll a level 1 toon, hit the EQII button bottom left corner of the screen. Select Housing Leaderboard....and start visiting houses others have decorated and put out there for everyone to enjoy.

On every server Cloudrat has a dojo that is published on the leaderboard. It's a transportation hub meant for utility. Some houses are for fun, and others are examples of what their decorators charge guild halls to do.

Edit: If you are a talented decorator, there is a market for your talents in EQ2.

I think its fine - you can solo large chunks and not worry about RL interuptions and getting groups down if thats your concern, There are years of content to play but if you want to get in at the higher end of the game you can also buy a heroic level 85 toon if yu don't fancy the full grind.

Virtually infinately if you're so inclined (I'm not). I recommend that you visit the Norrathian Homeshow forum to get an idea.

There's plenty to do, at every level, in all aspects of the game. Each part of the game is almost a game in itself. ie: crafting, housing, collections.

End level you can choose to use quest gear, advanced solo gear, player made gear or PvP gear and still be fine. You might not have access to raid gear, but if you're not raiding you won't miss or need it.
The Advanced Solo instances are awesome and I imagine would suit you very well. If you find you can't complete one for any reason, you can always just finish it later without disrupting a group.

I started playing in 2006, took a break for various reasons and have recently come back. I now wish I'd never left ... so ... much ... to ... do. And I still haven't set foot back in bg's.

Also I don't know what you've played before, but in EQ2 you can level your crafter to max with a low level adventurer. Just putting that out there in case you really want that carpenter. And yes, the housing is awesome.

You haven't explained what you mean by "as good", though. Amongst best in game? Up there with the average casual player? What do you mean so we can advise. BTW if you get into decorating and like it you'll forget there is a raid content in this game. It is an addiction I've so far managed to avoid ... mostly because anything I try looks like crap, hehe.

Well, speaking as someone who was raiding in EQ1 while nursing my new baby lol, I'd say even as a mother of a newborn you would be able to play, level & enjoy EQ2 just fine. You could choose to raid & group as well, particularly if you found a good guild & explained to them your situation. Not every guild out there raids for hours on end or requires you to be available for every single raid.

You can get decent gear (not the highest quality, but more than serviceable for someone who states they will not be able to group or raid.

There are 94 levels of content I personally consider fun before you would even need to worry about whether or not your gear was awesome or not. 92 of those levels are available completely free to play (though I definitely recommend dropping the $5 for silver, bronze is too restrictive IMO for serious play.)

Crafted armor (easy to get) is quite good even if you decide you don't feel like questing for gear on the way up.

As others have stated there are quite a few solo dungeons available at 90 + and on the way up many other dungeons you could probably solo if you make sure your gear & spells are decent. There is the whole crafting side of the game which many get quite into as well as the housing & decorating.

You can also always set personal goals for yourself, for instance you can aim to finish every collection. Or every quest possible, or a specific number of quests. You can attempt to explore every place. Some of these are achievements in game and some of those have actual in game rewards. Some are easier to complete than others.