A Holiday get-together prevented me from commenting on our EQ2 adventures last week, but we did embark on them just the same. We were joined by our friend Erich, who’s as much or more a MMOG veteran as I am. With two newbs and two old farts on our team, we were golden. Nich (Erich -> Enich -> Nich) took on the role of Assassin, given us a shockingly balanced and efficient team.

We finished up the last quest or two we had on the island quite quickly, and began the painful experience of clearing Temple Street of its xp-giving content. Again, I understand why low-level quests are by default soloable and not group oriented. Given the amount of time it took us just to find some oil, buy some parts, and kill a pig, I wish we’d had the option of doing the quests in a more group-friendly environment.

Once we’d cleared that unpleasantness, we headed directly for the Sunken City. There, I had the most fun I’ve had so far playing EverQuest 2. I have learned now, firsthand, that groups in this game are really built for dungeons, and less so for the exploration of cities. The chained quests in the Sunken City were a *lot* of fun to work through. We went from about level 8 up through level 10 or so just clearing out the place of bandits, undead, and rust monsters.

Most satisfying in that stretch was the somewhat involved gang-killing quest. Getting two of each baddie proved fairly easy once we had our pulling technique down. We chewed through those mooks, though they were two and sometimes three level higher than we were. We did experience a TPK, regrettably, in the form of a Named gentleman who advanced on us with guardsmen. They were quickly followed by some respawns, and even with my mighty healing skillz I was unable to our Shadowknight tank on his feet. Six vs. one odds will do that to you.

By the time we came back to the ganger area, night had fallen in-game, and at first I thought the gang spawns had been replaced by creepy ghosts. There was many exclamations of amusement when we realized that the ghosts didn’t replace the gangers; the ghosts were killing the gangers as soon as they spawned. With fewer mooks in the area as a result, we gave the named guy some payback. We even had the aid of an angry spook, who hated the gang members even more than it aggro’d on us. Good times. Definitely the highlight of our (admittedly short) experience so far.

After we’d cleared out the Sunken City, we headed back to Freeport to do the ‘Citizen’s Guide’ quest. I figured it’d be a good way to introduce us all to the lay of the land, and pick up some new quests for the Commonlands and other areas. Instead, it reminded me that Everquest 2 lacks one of my favorite World of Warcraft features: Quest sharing. You’re required to wander all to hell and gone across the several zones of Freeport just to make sure everyone has the same quest.

I know it’s not ‘RP’, and I know it may be just me being lazy, but still. Sunken City was our first real group experience. By the time we’re heading out for the Commonlands I would hope we’re starting to get to ‘group’ content. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier on us if the group leader could grab a quest and then share it with everyone on his team?

Additionally, the hard cutoffs for quest requirements was extremely offputting. Erich’s rogue hadn’t quite dinged 10 by the time we left Sunken City, and we quickly grew to regret leaving so ’soon’. We found that many quests were unattainable by our comrade because he lacked just a few experience points that we were in possession of. It would have been much more enjoyable had the quest cutoff been a bit less stringent. I can’t say that I’ve done a lot of grouping past 20, so it may be that this is just a strange situation. I know that level 10 is an odd level (gaining Achievements, writs, etc.). In the future, I’ll make sure we’re all the same level before we head back to town.

One final kvetch, and the reason for this post’s title: Folks with bad internal mapping software are hard-pressed to enjoy navigating Everquest 2’s cities. I’ve a.) been there before and b.) have an actual physical map of the zones right here at my desk, and I still had problems getting around sometimes. I know that the goal was for a real ‘living’ city, and you’ve certainly captured the sprawling essence of a medieval town. Just the same … maybe some more prominent signage? Guards that are more helpful, less willing to kill me? Maybe?

One thing I do want to compliment is the ease-of-use I found in the group-leader-looting scheme. Chosen simply because there was no turn-taking option (*cough*), it ended up being a great way to ensure everyone had the loot they needed. Nicely implemented.

Tomorrow we should be heading out to the Commonlands for some more questing. I’m very much still having fun, and look forward to a more easygoing experience than our previous two outings.