Returned player - a few first impressions of what's changed

Hi all! I last played EQ2 during KoS and briefly into EoF, which obviously was a long time ago. I actually re-subbed about 6 months ago but only played for a couple of days due to real life commitments. Recently I've had about a week straight free so I started a new toon and tried it out some more. Rather than bore you with a long wall of text I'll just bring up a few things that I've felt have made the game better, and some that might improve it better for new/returning players. Keep in mind I'm not saying I'm a good player, particular skilled. I am buck average, but I like the game lol

GOOD
- Mercenary companions. MASSIVE improvement for solo/small group casual players like me. While I've read they're not effective at higher levels, I have the Inquisitor paired with my Paladin and we were able to solo (I think you actually call it molo now or something) the majority of Stormhold at level 23. While that's nothing compared to what some of you regular experienced players can do, to me it was a big deal. In about two hours I got five Exquisite chests which contained some reactants, a Fabled leather armor piece, and a bunch of Master spell books.
- Ability to make money. While things on the market are still over-priced like when I used to play during original, DoF, and KoS (1 plat for a level 18 Treasure plate item geez) I am not as terribly poor as before. Two of the aforementioned reactants sold for 3 plat each within 30 mins of me putting them on the market. Even in KoS the most plat any character (never been into crafting nor was I a raider, just casual) had was around 30. My (now) level 27 Pally has 12 plat on him. It's nice not to be always broke or close to it.
- Better quest rewards in the newer zones. No explanation needed here.
- The "feel" of the game has not changed. EQ2 trumps most MMO's when it comes to atmosphere and rich locations, that's for sure. Maybe the higher level zones are different, but I suspect not.
- Less servers, still small population but better than it use to be. I think this game maintains somewhere around 100k subscribers so less servers means at least a functional economy and people to talk to anyway.
- Friendly player base! Even when you ask a newb question in general chat (on Oasis, where I play, at least) the "flames" you may get are just humorous ribbing. I remember asking how long it takes to mail plat from one toon to another and got a friendly whisper from someone telling me that there's now shared bank slots. That is one thing that's great in this game, a mature and helpful community.

BAD

- The AA system is still overly-complicated. While I may get flamed for saying this, it's hard to know where to spend my points to make the character I want. I'm simple, I want one that's going to kill quickly and survive tough fights. I have a pair of level 72 rangers and it took me about 15 mins to re-assign all their AA points. I thought about looking online for a guide but since I'm super casual I didn't end up doing that.
- LFG tool seems an afterthought. I actually purchased AoD just so I could do some dungeons with a merc. I tried the dungeon finder on one of my rangers and sat there for 35 mins before giving up. I would fathom a guess that at high levels it's used but at lower levels it's best just to grab a merc and go do it alone or with a friend.
- The game still has the graphical lag issues. In Qeynos I'm still getting FPS ratings at 10, and my laptop is a good gaming one. Even my brother's super gaming rig (desktop) he noted the same problems. In dungeons and cities are the worst. I know I can turn down spell effects and other stuff to help, but hey I shouldn't have to do that on a game made in 2004. For SOE to redesign the game engine and improve would be one heck of an undertaking, but you know.

Sorry guys, this got too long but I felt the need to post something to tell you all about my experiences since returning. Thanks so much for taking the time to read.

- Whisperalley

Yes English is my first language, but I'm lazy and am not gonna go back and correct stuff lol... you get the point

I agree with you about all points, but not about the AAs. I don't think they are overly complicated if you'd built your character progressively. Since you left and came back and are not sure of the changes - it IS going to take you a longer time to work out what's best...but it wouldn't have if you'd been leveling and assigning points as you go. Even AA's that are familiar - that you'd used before - have changed in some cases. You just gotta sit down and read.

Compared to other games that have talent builds like this, EQ2s is really responsive to how you want to build your character. You can set yourself up pretty much any way you want to play. If you want optimal (for raiding or whatever) a guide isn't going to help you - you need to know and understand what you can do and why you should choose that AA.

Welcome back!

You nailed it in your response.

One thing I hate about the "other" game is they really dumbed down talents and advancements, because it made me lazy and now EQ2 AA's are a lot to take in at first.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my original post is about how awesome the music is in this game. The old zones sure bring back memories, and the little bit I've heard from new zones it is definitely a strong point. Although the Greater Faydark zone went live before I quit I never really went there, but the music is borderline beautiful.

I need to find the graphics settings that reduce lag, though. Some fights (especially in dungeons, but sometimes out in the world as well) I'm seeing FPS drops to as low as 5. I hate having a decent gaming laptop (Toshiba Qosmio) and can't play the game on higher settings, that's for sure.