Fired up an old account this morning and noticed that one of my lowbie toons was in Queen's Colony which brought back a flood of "good ole day" memories. On a whim, I loaded the toon and there she was, in Queen's Colony. I thought this zone had been deleted long ago, but no, there it was; just as complete and playable as I remembered it. Queen's Colony was such a nice, ease, playable zone with good linear quests and mob levels. I know Halas is the general starter zone now, and is playable through level 25ish, but it is So cold. Its quite obvious that the Queen's Colony zone received a lot of developer attention as everything there just meshes well; smooth and polished. Just seems a shame it is no longer accessable. It got me to thinking, could SoE unlock the connections to this zone for a while. After running around for an hour, it appears everything there is still intact so little or no programer-developer time would be needed. I realize its quite small in relation to Frostfang but its something different and all races, classes, and alignments can start there. I'm willing to bet there are a number of old timers that would gladly buy an unlock token in the maket place, I know I would. I'd love to start my grandkids here instead of Frostfang with level 92 folks flying through and alts on mounts. Please consider restoring this zone for a while, or as a promotion, or festival event or some such.
There are already several threads about this, it comes up all the time for some reason. Personally, I can't think of any particularly good reason to bring back the starter islands. If you just want to see them for nostalgia purposes, just run Isle of Refuge: Darathar's Flight. The content from the starter island isn't anything special, and it has exactly zero relevance to the modern game. People only seem to care about it because it's gone.
Queens colony was the best. I really wish they would bring it back. It was a lot of fun and is very relevant to the present game due to the fact that it was FUN.
Weebee wrote: No it wasn't. It had the same "kill ten of ____" quests and no, it's not relevant anymore. In Norrath Time, it happened decades ago, the populations of the shattered lands are no longer refugees from various small islands. It's presence is no longer relevant. Maybe they can bring it back one day as a quest related thing for training in the New Combine army. But I highly doubt that will stop the waterfall of tears from a vocal minority.
Actually, I like it Becaues its "kill ten of ____" quests. That part anyway is no different than any of the other starter zones. My 8 year old neice (brother's son's daughter's little girl) was watching me clear Sebilis the other day; grinding AAs. She thought that was fun and wanted to play. I loaded up a spare account on a spare system and sat her down at the character creation screen. She had no real problem with that but after entering the game it was a constant stream of "Grandpa, where is the _____". Where's the refugee camp, where's the signal fire, where's the X. I realize EQ2 wasn't designed for 8 year old little girls, but it got me thinking. It just looks like the bean counters at SoE require so many time loops build in that a new player spends more time running around than they do building their character. Queen's Colony is an easy starter zone that a complete newbie can conquer in a few hours. My neice ended up with a nice little level 5 BL but I just couldnt help but think it would have been so much easier for her to have started in Queen's Colony. I realize I'm an Ole Phart, but I really liked Queen's Colony as a starter zone. Just in case this was missed in the first post... Sony: I would ---BUY--- a market place ----TOKEN--- to unlock this zone for my account to play as a newbie.
Bakamon wrote: don't forget the overlord's outpost! i started playing just before they wiped the starter islands. i enjoyed them a lot more than i did neriak and kelethin (only other options at the time). as a new player, i appreciated all the details in explaining how to play the game. that is not (or was not) present in the other starting cities. i had a friend that started in kelethin and he was not going to continue playing the game until i convinced him to try one of the starter islands. when the EQ2 team added new halas & tim deep, they were superior to neriak & kelethin with the beginner player details but they still lacked the amount of details/ease for a brand new player. all four remaining zones are more beginner detailed than they were a couple of years ago; however, im no longer a brand new player so i cannot say if they are or are not as good for a brand new player as the starting zones were. i, too, would buy a reasonably priced market place token to unlock that zone for my accounts to play as a newbie. p.s., yes these threads pop up every now and then, ppl are not always cheery in their replies, some ppl love the idea, others hate it. the devs never reply. this thread will be no different, i'm sure.
With all the voice overs, you cant deny the opening cinematic boat scene and starter island will draw you into the game far more than any of the current bland starting areas. While teaching you the basics of the game better than current starting zones. With better music, tons of voice overs, and overall deeper, more immersive ambiance, its a wonder why this still isn't in the game. Even if its 2012, bring back the beginning boat sequence and starter island. A far more epic intro into the world of Norrath!!! Don't give me the boo-hoo lore doesn't make sense excuse, what do you think happens when you start in Frostfang or Tim Deep? You washed up on shore from the ocean. Apparently there is still people out there, send back the Far Seas Trading Company to save them! As for the quest rewards, it can't be that difficult to run your Auto Reitemize Bot2000 program to upgrade them can it? (in all reality, they don't need upgraded)
Mohee wrote: Mohee makes an excellent point here on all the voice overs. That is what initially drew me to EQ2, and to this day when I play other games and every quest giver gives me the same basic voice it seems so meh.
If they bring back the Twin Islands, I vote for a Revamp so that at least the brickwork reflects Qeynos or Freeport: also a Fly-friendly zone, and that it can be reached by bell.
I have a feeling most people who play eq2 play very few or if any other games outside of it. Because what you find impressive with it, is not impressive at all in the industry. The voice dialogue in the trial islands was ....ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I mean rather have good dialogue from Oblivion with only 4 voice actors then akward dialogue with akward voice acting. Then again, this is why I keep npc voice dialogue on mute though because the stuff spouted in old qeynos and freeport drove me nuts.
I notice that the Queen's Colony zone is now unavailable. Wondering if they are going to actually remove it or is it possible they are going to remodel it a bit for Halloween? Anyone been on test or beta heard anything?
Bakamon wrote: It's been unavailable for a week or so now, my toon there is stuck in the can't log in mode. Haven't heard anything about it though. I do know that a guildie had their toon in Queen's Colony kicked off and was in Frostfang Sea.
So much for having an unique and epic entrance into an MMO. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... The opening boat sequence followed by the island is by far the best entrance into an MMO. Right off the bat everything seemed cinematic, epic, action! Engaging dialogue! Fire breathing Drakota! This was an AWESOME way to get people hooked into the game immediately! Now all you have is extremely boring, extremely quiet, uninteresting newbie zones that probably turn players off faster than anything... I feel sorry for the new players that can't experience the greatness that was the opening boat scene. I also feel sorry for the new players who have to endure the boring, lifeless newbie zones available these days. http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/...uest-ii-gt-ship
Revamp the zones for an expanded city quest. At 90 you are sent to the island to figure out why they havent been sending fresh recruits, when ya get there you become entangled with a host of problems and eventually wipe the island from existence
