With my interest renewed in EQ2 I decided I would spend a little more time checking out battlegrounds. There are still only three available to me, a 6 vs. 6, 12 vs. 12 and 24 vs. 24. My favorite so far is the 6 vs. 6 as a healer, the 12 vs. 12 as a necromancer. I personally see a few flaws in the system that make it a little less than enjoyable – but they’re not exactly major. I find myself wishing that there was some sort of gear rating system and that it would organize battles based on this. My reasoning? If you’re new to battlegrounds or on a non-pvp server and come up against those who have been completely geared out in toughness (the pvp stat) gear, you’re going to have an amazingly difficult time landing anything on them or taking them down. The battlegrounds have very little to do with character skill and everything to do with gear and spell/combat art strengths. Hopefully you’re teamed up with others who are sporting some of this gear so that you’re not immediately obliterated but this certainly won’t happen every fight.
I also find that healers are at a slight advantage because they work off of wisdom as their main stat. Why is this an advantage? Because wisdom is also the stat that boosts resists, making it harder to get hit with things. My defiler did amazingly well in battlegrounds, and I partook in enough of them yesterday to purchase a new fabled forearm that was a huge upgrade over my regular gear. While there is one component that only works during PvP (3% potency) the main focus (overloaded heals) works during regular spell casting. As a non-raider this gear is fantastic, and I’m looking forward to obtaining more of it.
Another interesting tid bit – I had an easier time getting into battlegrounds on my level 39 necromancer then my 90 defiler. I had quite a wait for the end game BG’s to become available, where as there was no wait at all for the necromancer. Since both characters obtain the same rewards I thought perhaps it would be more fun to play through on my lower level character and then just pass the tokens to my main. Turns out the opposite was true because my necromancer was getting smushed into the ground pretty bad, but I did have a good time.
Despite the fact that I don’t enjoy hack and slash as a constant in any game – I DO enjoy PvP a great deal. After yesterdays endeavors I’m thinking about making a character on Nagafen (EQ2’s PvP server) just to try it out. I do have that one open character slot looking at me longingly.
Oh yes. The screen shot above. It was an effect from a cloak I had claimed and it said it would cover me in dark energy. Obviously, this energy is located at the bottom of some vast sea because I came out looking like a barnacle covered defiler. The little tendrils even sway and move in some imaginary breeze.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
If you make a toon on Nagafen and join the Qs… (Qs are grossly outnumbered by freeps) check out the Kings and Pawns guild. They are great folks and are very friendly to new folks. Expect to be helped considerably by the folks in this guild. If you’re interested contact Ntsoba, Fuulin, Morgrym, Yzirian or anyone else in the guild that you might find.
Whoa, thought it was a nightmare,
Lo, it’s all so true,
They told me, “Don’t go walking slow
‘Cause Devil’s on the loose.”
Better run through the jungle,
Better run through the jungle,
Better run through the jungle,
Whoa, Don’t look back to see.
For my higher level toons, I’ve done a few BG’s here and there, but only enough to get IIRC 12 tokens. I just can’t work up the interest — inspite of the fact that nearly all of the gear is a pretty big upgrade. I’m just not willing to grind the BG’s to do it, so I am still doing instance runs and slowly gearing up that way instead.
And you’ll never ever catch me on Naggy server.