|
i have zero expectations for pantheon but i wanna say yo those gnomes are cool
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2018 17:41
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 08:14 |
|
|
EQ2 was pretty miserable on release in terms of actual gameplay plus the engine was (and sort of still is, but less so) absolutely awful as they decided to focus on single-threaded CPUs, believing we'd get bigger and better single cores instead of multi-cores. It got a hell of a lot better around Kingdom of Sky (the second expansion) and, IMO, had a really good run up through Tears of Veeshan (the 10th expansion) with the game peaking in Rise of Kunark (the 4th). Post-ToV the game has had a lot of mismanagement and poor design direction. Encounters were never super complex except at the ultimate top end, but the good encounter design there was dropped off a cliff post-ToV. The game itself became a laggy hell in raid environments due to designs of gear and player buffs that focused on tons of procs which brought combat to a literal standstill. There were a few bosses in Altar of Malice (expansion 11) that we would engage, all the procs would pop, the boss would do his adds/procs, and we'd stand there for 2-3 minutes while nobody attacked or got attacked. This was improved by the end of AoM and then kind of resolved in the next expansion, but still reared its ugly head from time to time. The game has slowly devolved into a 'haves vs have nots' where the have nots do mere fractions of what the haves do in terms of damage output. They also went the opposite direction of WoW where instead of combating number inflation they embraced it. Multi-billions of player DPS is normal, and caused issues like int overflows making some spells do 0 damage, etc. Kunark Ascending, the 13th expansion pack, introduced a time-gated Ascension system which had 4 ascension classes with their own set of skills. They were so ridiculously powerful that DPS in bosses came down to popping your CDs pre-pull then unloading ascension abilities and murdering them sub-1m. You could upgrade these with spell scrolls, but the scrolls were rare or literally missing, so you had to wait on Research (more timegate) or spend real money to advance them. A person who maxed them out as magnitudes of power stronger than someone who didn't. You've also got familiars which are big stack sticks/buff procs that cost real $$$ in loot crates. I haven't played since KA but from what I understand the game has continued on this way. Gearing is also a bit of a mess, not in that it's hard to get items, but that it's utterly loving confusing and there's a poo poo ton of stats and unclear functionality. It's a 'spreadsheet all your stuff and hit the dummy for some hours or hope another player will teach you all this poo poo' situation. Bosses in KA and the expansion after didn't really DO a whole lot either outside of one or two unique encounters. They were largely 'can you make your numbers big enough?' fights rather than mechanically engaging. I should also add that I am brain damaged and I actually like some of this degenerate gameplay and the spreadsheeting poo poo, I just wish the gulf between players who set their wallet on fire and those who don't wasn't bad. I didn't whale but I managed to keep in top 10 DPS in our raids in KA by just knowing more about the game than other people who didn't take the time to figure their poo poo out, which was very satisfying in its own way. I guess I'm focused more on the design direction flaws here than things like them being bought by the Russian mafia or all the firings etc. because those have been discussed to death. One thing I will give it credit for is that you can go in their discord and talk tot he devs and poo poo. I've personally talked to Kander and the others and helped point out bugs and balance issues, some of which have been solved due to the player feedback provided. I think most of the issue with EQ2 at this point is really having their hands tied by DBG and their budget/time constraints tight. They basically pop out an expansion a year. e: god i turned this into a rambling loving mess didn't i? i have such a love/hate relationship with eq2 and i desperately want it to be good because i really liked the setting/lore. Tsurupettan fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Mar 24, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Mar 24, 2019 18:42
|
|