Returning and overwhelmed

Thanks from another renewbie. These threads have been so helpful. I haven't played since the desert expac. Man, the best thing about signing up for AoC was beefing up my PC, being sorely disappointed, too burned out and hateful on WoW to go back, and finding this promotion in my mailbox for EQ2. The game just looks glorious now and what a blast to be back. =)

Yep I love all the information that has been presented here.

Count me in as another happily "returned" player.

Welcome back!

Just a note for those who have returned and are looking to join a guild. We have news bits here (Guild Recruitment Fair) and here (in-game Guild Recruitment Tool) that might help.

We've already had over 100 guilds submit their information to be included in the Guild Recruitment Fair (total for all servers) so hopefully we'll be able to get a lot of people guilded and help the ranks of those looking to have spots filled!

Yes, i did notice the LFGu tool and that fair sounds interesting too. I'll definetely take a look.
Another question: As i mentioned before, i am a traitor who did the old style (pre Haven) betrayal quest to switch allegiance. I have my Mark of the Overlord and my city faction as well as Dismal Rage are Amiably. Yet i still get bombarded with challenges and emotes that i don't belong in the city whenever i walk trough Freeport Proper. What do i need to do to be fully accepted as a Freeporter?
Did the current class system do anything to disrupt the old archetype based balance model? IOW, could a Guardian still be exchanged for a Monk, a Brigand be exchanged for a Troubadour and a Sorceror be exchanged for a Necromancer, with only minor changes in the tactics followed to take subclass specific specialties in mind?
I got some more questions but those are specific to playing a Necromancer so i'll ask them in the Necro forum.

Ragecaller wrote:

I too am tempted to return.
I saw the summer promotion, when someone linked it on AoC forums, but I couldn't figure out how to sign up for it - does it work if I already have an account?
According to my account, last time I played was 3/2/06. Not sure if this means March or February, but about that time anyway.
I'm sure it'll take about a week just to patch.
My main concern is server pop. When I played last, I didn't see another person the entire two weeks (even though I played EQ at launch for about a year, EQ2 didn't keep me for very long because of this). What is the best server for me to start on? Are LiveGamer servers worth it? It would be nice to think that I can make something IRL from the time spent in game. I see Bazaar is low pop though, and Vox is the place to be if one wants that. But is PvP FFA or in certain areas/zones/factions?

EvokeNZ wrote:

The details will be at http://livinglegacy.station.sony.com/

EvokeNZ wrote:

Only if you have a REALLY slow dialup. Several hours, yes. Days, not usually.

EvokeNZ wrote:

When you create a character, do so at whatever will be your peak playtime. Then look for the servers with the heaviest loads at that time. I play on Lucan D'Lere (PVE RP) and while we're a lot lower population than Antonia Bayle (probably one of the highest population servers), I always find folks to play with.

EvokeNZ wrote:

I don't know if the real money servers are worthwhile or not. PVP servers in EQ2 are free-for all. You must love to be ganked and laugh in the face of death and all that while you are learning.

I went to that link and, if I understand correctly, all I have to do is reactivate the payment method? There's a link to download the installer. But if I still have the discs, can I just install through those? My bf installed it and tried to launch it, it says it's going to look for updates and then just quits. Is there some trick?

Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:

Actually, the PvP Servers are Faction based, not Free For All. Good vs Evil vs Neutrals. The Neutrals (Exiles) are FFA however. Anyone of any level and alignment (including their own) can attack them regardless of zone rules. The zones all have level limits 4, 8, 10, Unlimited. The higher level of zone you are in the higher the level limit is. You'll want to check out the PvP server forums for more information on the rules.

Aeviel@Venekor wrote:

I bow to the lady's greater wisdom. I have a baby templar on Venekor, but can't say I'm extremely knowledgeable about PVP. But the PVP Forums do have some excellent stickied topics that are very helpful for a beginner on the EQ2 PVP servers!

took about 72 hours to download the whole game (no previous install, just from the Living Legacy link) and the expansions required.
Haven't had a chance to play as I had to go to work, but the first character select screen looked pretty ugly? I guess it's an old graphics engine. Or maybe it's better once in game?
Hopefully there'll be a clear winner for servers when I log in tonight. On AoC last night, there were 1300 people online on our server, and it seemed pretty barren. I just want something similar to WoW's Ironforge I guess..
Any NZ guilds out there?

Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:

It looks like a 'not' - Live Exchange is not available for players not residing in the US.

EvokeNZ wrote:

The character select screen is a little dated, yes, and needs an overhaul. It was last changed in fall 2006.

Choose Antonia Bayle for your server for your first character, and choose one of the newer cities to start in (Gorowyn, Neriak, or Kelethin), and you should be pleased enough with the population.

Let us know what you think after a play session. For some early answers and guidelines try the EQ2i Beginners Guide.

Jonna@Befallen wrote:

I think you are right with the responses being racial. I did recently come across a DE in FP who actually praised Innoruuk for seeing an evil high elf. I still wonder why some of the guards draw their sword when seeing me though. Those should base their decission purely on faction standing with the main city faction.
As for the archetypes, yes, i know that the classes are still ordered the same way. I was more curious about whether the old statement that in a raid it doesn't matter what subclass you are as long as you are of the archetype that is wanted still held true. I read some stuff about monks being unwanted because they couldn't tank, while a monk is still a fighter and a fighter's role is mainly to tank. Is the old role/archetype balance still in place or does subclass in itself affect your desirability in performance oriented groups and raids(not going to consider raids of social guilds here as they tend to be less rigid in that regard) these days?

so I created a char last night, and went to pick a server, but all of them were Light Load. How is one supposed to make an informed choice? lol
I made one on Ant. B. in Timorous Deep, and the graphics look quite sub-par.. all edges of all objects have this look to them that reminds me of bad blue screen effects in movie. Although, logging into AoC afterwards, I guess it's not that much better..
Then I created a Fae on Najena.
Then I logged onto my character (17) that has a house on Butcherblock. All the stuff is still there, but crafting seems weird now - is there no step-wise crafting anymore? And I seem to be able to craft any types of items?
All the items have a thousand words on them, I felt. It's almost too much information, and the fonts are ugly, flat, and hard to read. Maybe I can fix it with some sort of mod?
I wanted to join a guild, and I love the guild recruiting interface. Although, the person I talked to only had 9 guildies online at the time. I was hoping there'd be some NZ time active guilds somewhere, but I still can't find them.
Then I found a butterfly in the sand and remembered how much I loved doing the collectibles. It's almost as if all the MMOs out there have one or two perfect things about them, but no one seems to have figured out to put them all together into one game yet!

During the North American prime time, the servers are all greater than light load (or nearly all). During the off-peak hours, such as NZ time, it'll be harder to make a decision about server load. EQ2's population is heavily biased to North America. For whatever reason, this game never took off in Europe etc. the way that WoW or AoC or LOTR did.

The graphics will be heavily dependent on the performance profile that you are using. Try Alt+O -> Display -> Performance and choose a higher quality setting. If you're seeing strange outlines around characters, then you are probably having some kind of technical issue. You may want to update to the latest video drivers; I know that the recent Nvidia drivers improved EQ2 performance quite a lot, and the same might be true for ATI drivers. I recall some early ATI drivers had white-outline issues.

If you're not happy with the font, you can change it. In Alt+O -> User Interface, near the top, there is a choice for "Use Small Sans Serif Font". Once you restart EQ2 all of the fonts will have switched to a non-serif font. You can go further and customize EQ2 to use any font through the config files, but I've never done it. I know that EQ2 can work with any font, because when I run it on Linux, it uses a different font for the whole UI (and all of the windows are still formatted correctly).

it's not a technical problem. Here, I've found some random screenshot on the internet, and it looks the same - http://www.eq2online.com/gallery/sc...41034538?full=1
I assume since it's from a 'gallery', then it's good settings with no issues. As you see all edges look 'edgy'.. It's hard to explain, I guess it's a preference thing.
I've tried it on extreme and all the way to balanced settings. The only thing in the look that changed was some ground got more blurry, and FPS went up.

EvokeNZ wrote:

Have you tried the settings information here? The Complete Guide to Display Settings Options

that link is for 'improving performace'. As I said above, there is no issue with performance, the game just doesn't look pretty. have a look at the screenshot I posted, that's not even my system, it's someone else's.