Disclaimer: I'm a player since launch, a staunch, fee paid EQ2 head who has loved this game since the beginning. So, as the heading says, Is this really it? I just finished the long solo quest line for dungeon access in CoE Beta. I looked for peoples lost objects on the ground. I flew, slowly, from one NPC to another to get irrelevant updates that just prolong an otherwise bare bones quest line. I did many small and meaningless tasks for a cause that seemed to have no relevance, other than NOT doing them prevented me from being able to enter some dungeons. I was rewarded with a variety of Housing Items that will be sold on the broker, as I am not and never will be, a Norrathian Homeshow type player. The few adventuring rewards I picked up were duly transmuted, as even though I am not a raider they were sub-par to the items I had collected grinding through the same 3 dungeons for the past however many months in Skyshrine. As I finished the quest line, I realised I could buy new faction gear. Even though there is no faction required to buy it, simply finishing the quest line opens it up. Scratching my head, I asked in channel - where is the rest of the expansion? Ha-ha! came the reply - that's it... Now go grind for your dungeon set. What? No Heroic quest lines, no Heritage Quests, no Faction to do, one small contested dungeon to go to, only one lore and legend, really nothing to do? Yap came the reply... Go grind dungeons. So I decided to do some crafting. 26 minutes later I was level 95, after doing a bunch of level 89 writs, the same ones that we have been doing since... Sentinel's Fate! And then I asked about the tradeskill quest lines. Ha-ha! came the reply. There isn't any tradeskill content. So my question is, what is this CoE? It doesn't appear to be an expansion, at least not in terms of what we have been used to over the years. Where are the far reaching 'prismatic' style quest offerings; the gearing up process which is based on content covered rather than collecting tokens and buying what we want; the large and immersive contested dungeons with their own involving heroic story lines; the HQs which we ***** and moan about but ultimately are a badge of respect once completed. Is CoE a small feature bundle? Is it the beginning of a ton of free content as we are presented with CoE Pt.2, Pt. 3 and so on, or is CoE the model for the future? Why do I, and other players I have spoken to, feel like this is a cynical money grab from loyal customers who love EQ2 and have supported EQ2 and SOE for over 10 years. Sincerely yours, Sad Peeler.
As with most of the expansions released since Shadow Odyssey, a lot of the meat and bones of the storyline comes from the Signature Quest series; a prolongued, multi-part quest chain that leads you through the storyline of the expansion and all dungeons/content related. Chains of Eternity really is no different. The difference this time is that you can do the entire signature quest line solo. So is there more? Likely, if i'm reading your post correctly.
I don't think we'll ever see another true expansion, I don't think what's left of the EQ2 team can manage it without too long of a gap between expansions. What we get per GU now, we used to get half of in a GU when they were once per month, what we get in an expansion is barely more than what passed for the third $15 DLC. I think SoE is in the same mindset with this game as EQ1, keep it going at a slow pace to keep the remaining population busy and paying. Honestly I almost feel like I got more real content out of the most recent $5 Skyrim DLC than I'm getting from a full $40 expansion for this game, but what can you do, the games old and SoE is moving on. If nothing else at least the art team is doing a fantastic job, it's worth something just to see how beautiful everything looks.
I didn't want to buy CoE and certainly not the CE, until SOE threw in the Wyvren mount. That thing looks great, so I pre-ordered the CE. I agree that you can buy a brand new game with a lot more content for $59.99, but sadly I've been addicted to EQ2 for 8 years. I've tried to give up my addiction and play other games, but I keep coming back. I'd have caved in and bought CoE anyway
Yes, that´s why i ordered, im just so addictat.... if you look at the xpac with clear mind, you would not buy it in any ways.... but well, i also smoke, so i dont look that close anymore Its more like the featuresets are now called xpacs ^^
This is defently not worth 40 or 60$, if it took us to lvl 100 with new HQ and epic signature quest and all that it would.
Well, thank you for the information. I won't be paying 40$ for this, so I'll wait until I see it down to something like 10-15$ which feels more appropriate for what it brings.
Perhaps they put in some more content, then again, on regular updates ^^ as done with DoV ^^ at least i hope so
If your gonna level to 95 and raid with guildees and remain relevant, you have to purchase it. That's where I am at, my guildees have talked me into staying for 1 more expansion. We will see what happens.
I go with the idea that every expansion/GU can't be perfect for me. There will be some I don't like or agree with overall. Need I mention Depths of Darkhollow in EQ1?
Yeah this is the first expansion I'm waiting to purchase since the game released, I just started over on a new server so I'm not even in a position where I need the expansion, but I probably wouldn't buy it right away anyway unless I was in a raid guild. :\
If you decide to cancel your pre-order it works like this Go to your account on station. http://www.soe.com/ Go to your account hit the "payment history" button At the top will be your 'pre-order with a number of some kind that is a button hit that button hit "Cancel order" button
I'm feeling very underwhelmed about this expansion as well. Hopefully some more quests are added soon.
Let's put this in perspective. Let's say you have 10 people working on CoE for 6 months to make this content, and they each have a salary of $40k per year. Thats $200k in labour alone. So at $40 a time SOE needs to sell 5000 copies to break even just on labour. These are of course made up figures, but they're not unrealistic. $40 is not a lot these days. If you want to experience end game content, you gotta buy it!
I think I was the player answering "Ha-Ha". I counted 114 quests, 1 L&L and 12 collections (probably missing a couple collections, I didn't search for them). Add to that the fact that the TS content is still heavily bugged on the day before launch and I can't even force myself to laugh anymore.
