So I'm thinking of coming back

I've been a long itme eq2 player, since it launched. But ive been back and forth with the game. Right now im raiding in wow in a heroic raid guild but im getitng bored and catching the EQ2 itch again. I've always played DPS type toons. I have 80-something necromancer, 92 beastlord, and a 85 berserker with his mythical. I enjoyed playing them all but i didnt care for EQ2s nit che about bring the class not the player back when i last played.

For instance, i was a great DPS with my berserker, always near the top if not the top on our shard of hate raids and other Kunark raids at the time. But the guild decided we needed more scouts even though i out DPSed them and....well that was that. I then leveled my necro and again was near the top but lol they decided mroe than one summoner on a raid was not needed. That time i decdied to go back to wow and raided for a year or so.

I came back and decided to level up a beast lord and tried to find a guild to raid with. Had the door slammed in my face again haha, couldnt find a guild to fit me in because they had too many scouts! Im the type of player that cant log in and just sit there, i love to raid. If i decided to come back and raid, what would be my best way to go about it? Should i reroll yet again or will the toons i have already be in demand? Always been a good raider, been doing it since the eq1 days waaaay back.

Also how hard is it to get back into the swing of things here? Is there a ton of catch up to get A character into raiding these days?

Looking forward to your replies!

Welcome back Xinge, you should stay awhile, lots of great things are happening here.

Check the Guild Recruitment Forum and say hello, some Raiding Guilds post there.

Best of luck!

EQ2 is barely clinging to life... Good luck finding anything to do, or a guild worth your while.

Is it really that bad right now?

Not on AB. On Permafrost...kinda.

Yes, it really is that bad on ALL servers. Every server has LOW populations except for 3-4 servers reach MEDIUM populations during peak hours every once in a while. The game really is dying but the die hard players won't admit it.

Trying to chase away would-be returning players so there are even less per server, Fiction? Or are you working for a rival company?

This game has been "dying" according to you and your predecessors in belief for the past eight years. It's still here. So's that other "dying" game EQ that was pronounced dead oh twelve years ago or so.

OP: If you wish to learn your class and raid in EQ2 you certainly can do so. There's a healthy raid alliance on Crushbone server, that has several "brigades" that have various raid times. On Antonia Bayle server there's several good raid guilds and at least a couple of alliances and some regular pickup raids. First rule of thumb is: have fun. Play the class you like, then worry about finding a raid spot. After all, if they are begging for a Coercer and you can't stand playing the class, how long would you raid with one?

My account is set on Crushbone as well. Raidedwith a guild called Genesis in the KoS and DoF expansions. Was great. Raided with a smaller family type guild during Kunark.

well, tbf he has a point lol

Game isn't dying, don't be stupid.

Speaking as a raider with Revelations on Crushbone, there are a lot of raid guilds out there. Two of the CRA Brigades are in the Top Ten right now.

As you will notice watching guild recruitment spam in chat, everybody needs bards, enchanters, and shaman. But especially in the summer lull, a lot of guilds have personnel problems and may need a variety of classes. The current high end raids often need more than one tank. Everyone always needs healers. Everyone needs people who really know and understand their class and play it well.

Check the Guild Recruitment forum here, and also check Crushbone recruitment on That Other website.

Hows the ramp up to raiding these days? Gearing up to be able to get into a raid that is. I remember it taking a while the last time i played, lots and lots of instances to get currency to buy the starter crafted gear.

game isent dieing its dead

Xinge, Fiction is being honest about his assessment of EQ2's current state. The game is slowly dying and it pains me to say it. I love this game and have always stuck by it and defended it, but I can do that no longer. You can only deny reality but for so long. I know there are many that don't want to admit it as Fiction said, but once you start playing again you will see it for yourself very quickly. SOE is banking every thing on EQNext. They are managing EQ2 into the ground (i.e. screwed up gear progression, broken mechanics, rehashed old content, and adding things players don't want while ignoring what they do want). Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

Define "dead".

You mean you were not able to do the new Duo zones that were released in the Cobalt Scar update? The ones that were only unlocked after Equilibriuum downed the HM raid mob needed to unlock them? And all the whining afterwards got them released on all servers, most of which had no one geared well enough to survive the zones?

I'd say there is quite an active population in EQ2. Whether or not you're part of it is another matter.

If you define active player base as Equilibrium and a few die hard veterans then I guess it is active. Server populations with the exception of AB and FP (and they typically are only medium load) are low the majority of the time (even at peak play times). Chat is mostly dead except for the trollers, occasional auction etc. All any one has to do is read these forums to discover all that is wrong with the game right now. A couple of raid guilds won't keep this game going.

OK, I understand. You're a pessimist rather than an optimist.

I know I've been having a blast with all the new content and challenges. Can't even keep up with it half the time. Too many 95s still to get their crafting gloves and CS charms even, and now GU67 about to come out to make me fall even further behind.

Now for the raiders there are currently issues of extreme lag, but that's another matter.

I'll call this game dead when I no longer have to compete for contested mobs!! LOL

I haven't seen that yet, even on servers with "low" population.

I don't raid, personally, so I cant comment on the raiding scene, but on the AB server, grouping/casual is going along just fine. I see people advertising raiding guilds all the time on my server. The population might not be as high as it usually is, but its like this every summer-people just generally spend more time outside-or, like me, work and live in an area where the tourist season is during the summer, and with work, and enjoying the weather, don't have time to sit inside playing computer games.

I hope you find what you are looking for, this is a great game with some great folks, and as it always does, the population will get back to normal in September/October.