Back Home?

Daybreak went ahead and opened up a time locked server for EverQuest 2 last week and so of course I found myself on the Isle of Refuge with a new baby coercer. All I kept thinking about was what on earth I thought I was doing. EQ2 had been ‘my game’ since it released. I wrote about it more on this 10 year old blog than I did any other game. I met friends in the game, and formed lifetime bonds. Heartache. I raided for a few years before determining that I was no longer interested in it, mostly because I didn’t have a ‘main’ character and I felt lost. Me and EQ2, we go way back. I never had dreams of recapturing how things were ‘way back then’ because lets face it things change and once you know how to do something in a video game you can’t exactly forget it and pretend that you never knew how but what I was hoping for involved a populated server, with a crowd that wasn’t bent on soloing all of the content along with their mercenary. That has been the roughest issue with going ‘back’ to EQ2 – or any game for that matter. People are content to play on their own, or only with people that they know. They’re rarely forced into situations where meeting new people or grouping up must occur in order to progress.

I created a coercer hoping that maybe (if I was very lucky) I’d be able to find others to play with, and perhaps meet new people to play with. So far the attitude of other players on the server is very different than what I experienced over in EQ1 on the progression server. Everyone seems pretty excited, happy, and most of the chat is filled with questions and people reminiscing about how long it has been since they played. Others are playing for the first time, there’s nothing quite like a brand new market and everyone starting at zero to inspire others to give it a shot. This is true for every single game I’ve ever played. Give players a fresh slate, and they will come in droves. I heard an amusing quote from someone stating that Daybreak took away our loyalty points, our fast experience, our mercenary, and all the work we have done in the past – and we thanked them for it and came to the server in masses. They’re right, too. The idea makes me giggle.

I also created 8 alternate characters. Crazy, right? Well, I’ve always been a crafter and I imagine I will once again (if I decide to stick this out, we’ll see). I enjoy being able to craft everything I want for my characters, and it gives me something to do. Even if it is slow.

Right now my coercer is level 21, and she’s a level 20 provisioner. I haven’t found a guild to join yet – well, that’s not exactly true. I did join a guild but they ended up not being a very good fit. No one was on except recruits and even then people did very little together and didn’t talk much at all. I decided to move on. Should I be less picky? Maybe, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to be picky.

Leveling is much slower than the EQ servers. No one has reached level 50 yet, but there are some mid 30s and maybe some 40s. I know this post has been all over the place, but I’m hoping to continue posting on a regular basis and talk about what I’m actually doing in game (quests, etc). I haven’t been regular with my blog posts for a few months since there’s just always so much going on. Maybe this is my chance.