PART II

Corrupted dryads weave magic, heal and attack, proving a challenge for the young warrior, but there are other dangers lurking in the dense forest of Oakmyst, bears, badgers, spiders and sprites, the world is definitely a big challenge. But with big challenge also comes the prospect of big rewards.

Welcome to the Norrath of the future. Welcome to EverQuest II.

Sony Online Entertainment will be releasing EverQuest II before Christmas, the next wave in the world of massively multiplayer games. In Part I of this preview of the first 10 levels of the game, the areas of character creation and professions were looked at. In Part II we will look at Combat, Crafting and Quests in Norrath.

Combat, groups and death

All mobs can be broken down into two categories, aggressive and passive. Some will attack you if you get within aggro range. Others will let you walk right up to them, stand there and then initiate the attack. There are also “solo” and “group” mobs. The solo mobs mean that one player can usually handle them. The group mobs means bring friends, this is going to be tough. Some of the solo mobs may attack in groups (attack one and three charge you), while group mobs may only be single mobs.

Confused? It gets better. If you see a group mob with a triangle above its head, be wary. Two triangles and have help if you want to battle it. The triangles indicate that while the mob may have a certain /con (or consider) level relative to yours, it is much tougher than it appears.

Part of the EQ II combat system involves putting together combinations of attacks to trigger heroic moments, special effects and bonus damage that can swing the outcome of a battle. For example, a level 6 fighter is taking on two gruttooth orcs on Refuge Island. This may not bode well for the fighter. He is taking damage and has two pounding on him. He has one to about half health, but he between ½ and ¾ left on his health bar. He uses a kick to start his “heroic” combo (and brings up icons in the bottom right of the screen); a key is blinking to show him which attack is next in the combination. He follows with his first skill melee attack, which produces a wheel and one of the options for the finishing heroic opportunity move. There is a way to change that out, but should he use it, as in sky cleave, he will end up with lightning striking down on the mob along with his blow, adding additional damage and severely dropping the mobs hit points.

It is relatively simple but where this starts to falter is in the group setting. Other actions can interrupt the combo that a fighter (or any other class for that matter) is trying to put together. This results in no heroic moment and can prolong the fight. The developers are encouraging teams to really work together if they wish for those moments. And to see a well-timed team, triggering moment after moment is really a thing of beauty … well, not for the mob, which dies rather quickly.

Death is handled very straightforward. You die, you leave a spirit shard where you fell, Recover the spirit shard and you knock off some of the death penalty XP. But in EQII, the XP is not taken away from you, rather the XP you gain going forward from that moment is penalized until you work off the debt. To put it in quasi-mathematical terms: by attack mob A, you would gain X amount of XP. You have died so you have Y amount of debt. Killing mob A gives you X minus a portion of Y until you recoup all of Y and then you will get the full amount of X to apply to your next level. So you won’t delevel, but too much debt may make getting to the next level more of a chore.

And in a group, if a fellow party member falls, you get a share of his or her death debt. If you are one of those players who run from a battle in which your team is engaged to avoid dying, you won’t get away with that here. Grouping is a way to get into the mobs that yield bigger XP rewards, but working as a team is essential.

Another element that the devs have eliminated are those annoying players that trail others, waiting for a mob to kill a player after a big battle, and then rush in to kill the mob that is half dead – gaining XP from the work of others. If a player is killed by a mob, or disengages from the battle (by calling for help and running), the mob instantly returns to full health. If a second player attacks, they are getting a fully healed mob and will have to earn their XP.   

Crafting and the economy

EverQuest II has a terrific crafting system that actually feeds into the economy of the game. Players can generate tier III spells and skills scrolls which players can scribe and elevate their attacks.

Here is another area where devs have addressed a major problem in MMOs. The system in EQ II really will cut down on those players who sit at a crafting station (and there are several in EQ II), go AFK (Away From Keyboard) and macro-craft their way to higher crafting levels. In order to advance you have to actually participate in the crafting process because the game throws mishaps randomly at players who are crafting. Yes, you can die from these mishaps.

Each player gets tradeskill abilities, which apply directly to crafting. During the course of crafting, you will get random accidents, which are countered by hitting the appropriate tradeskill button. If you get a noisy distraction, you hit the button that counters that (presumably shutting out the distraction and focusing on the task at hand), and can continue without a problem. If you don’t counter it, that mishap will expand and you will take damage. There are 11 types of tradeskills, but each crafting station only seems to create mishaps in three basic areas

The artisan ladder is much like the adventurer ladder. You progress by doing, and you can collect raw materials in the field, or buy them in some crafting rooms. Of course, you can’t collect everything needed in the recipe, and some elements need to be bought. This will require you to either hunt, have suppliers who hunt for you or supply you with the coppers to buy the essentials, or run various quests to gain the money to feed the crafting habit.

But in the long run, this is a skill that appears well founded in the world. Some items are not readily available and the only way to attain them is from the crafters. By way of example: most of the bags you can buy hold four items (each inventory has six slots, you can put inventory bags in there and expand the number of items you can carry). There is a quest or two, which will reward a player with an 8-slot bag, but the medium-sized bag can be made by a level-6 artisan. Of course, some of the better items for lower level players are starting to come from the crafters, and while a bit overpriced at times, this will certainly drive the economy.

As for the skill level of crafters – the more you do, the better you become and the higher your level is, and with that, the chance to create better items.

Quests

If you want quests, this game abounds with them. Not only will you get simply ‘delivery’ quests from NPCs, but you will get hunting quests that will yield valued items – which are not only better than what you may be able to buy in the merchants at the start of the game, but can sell for a goodly couple of silver coins as well. Some of the quests actually offer choices.

There is a quest that you can find in Nettleville Hollow (where humans generally start) out of Qeynos, that has a couple of choices. The quest involves meeting a hooded figure on the docks and getting some imported contraband Freeport ale. If you bother to read the quest, you will find you have two recourses for the delivery. You can either return to the one who gave you the quest, or you can turn in the ale to the captain of the guard in Nettleville. The quest yields different rewards depending on which route you take.

Not only will you have quests that will take you through the surrounding countryside, but you will also descend into the catacombs below the city to battle hordes of mobs. Some mobs may drop unusual items, but for the most part you will get items you might reasonably expect – like hides and the like.

Moving around the world that the lower levels can expect to survive in is simply a matter of zoning via the bells found on the docks. One bell will zone the traveler within the confines of the Qeynos or Freeport city villages, while the other will take players to the other areas where they can quest.

Summary

EQ II has created a graphically stunning world that pulls players in and seeks to immerse them through an incredible amount of NPC spoken dialogue. The game is heavy on crafting, and has taken the idea of grouping to new levels. Initially players could not buff or heal others outside their group, but the latest patch has changed that, which demonstrates that the EQ II team is not above altering aspects of the game as it progresses in closed beta.

The combat elements are strong, and entertaining, and the game does sport challenge. There are a variety of chat channels in place; some are professions specific (a mage does not have access to the scout channel, for instance), so players are afforded the luxury of picking at other players’ knowledge base. Whether or not other players are willing to share knowledge seems to be a hit-or-miss proposition. But that is a community issue and has very little to do with the game of EQ II as the developers have delivered it.

Graphically, there are few games on the market that can match this title at the moment. The interface is relatively easy to use, and this is a game that will require players to pay attention, not just blunder through the world half asleep.

The driving concepts of the game are very good. Perhaps not a lot of risk has been taken in terms of innovative gameplay, but when a title seems as balanced (and remember, this is only addressing the first 10 levels of character play) and delivers with solid adventure, then entertainment and a strong player community will surely follow.

This game is a RAM hog, and the development team is working to optimize game performance, but if you are running the minimum recommendations for RAM (512) expect to hit lag spikes.

EQ II is clearly part of the next evolution of MMOs, and don’t be surprised if it is one of the leaders. The EverQuest tradition is moving forward and appears to be in terrific hands.

For more on EQ II check out PART I of this Preview