The elderly service Everquest 2 (whether the joke, eight years old has been bent) do not forget to this day. Her world is spacious, unreleased and attractive so far. Among other things, Everquest 2 once lowered the domestic online from the slipways: this was the first serious mass roofing, officially published in Russia. World of Warcraft , Perfect World and others appeared much later, and they stomped along the path laid precisely EQ.
But in eight years, the mighty brainchild of Sony has been lost in the decayed shadow of new products and simply better than the promoted worlds. And so we decided to refresh the memories of him. Yes, on the pages of "gambling" and Liki about Everquest 2 wrote more than once, but the world, albeit online, is not worth. In addition, the occasion to look at the “elderly lady” from the perspective of a modern player – she recently switched to a hybrid payment model.
Beat the "ultima" and return
[[Bullet]] Although in beauty the first part of the Everquest is much inferior to the second, they still continue to play. And sometimes even with great enthusiasm!
"Eternal adventure" in Norrat began in 1999, when Sony I released the first Everquest. Then, in the era of reign Ultima Online , It was not easy to achieve recognition, but Norrat captivated the players and in a record time surpassed Ultima in the number of subscribers.
Everquest was based on a simple and not at all new system at all: the player created the character, chose a class and a race, and then went “in the field” – hunting for monsters and drinking experience. At first, there was no smell of anything “eternal” there – the players were made happy with those single tasks that from time to time helped to diversify the unfortunate “Grind”.
Everquest fell in love with the sea of charming details, a bunch of races, classes and a three -dimensional graphics stunning at that time. For a completely indescribable atmosphere. For the world, which at first was huge, and only grew from year to year, giving new opportunities and even more freedom (to this day only units can boast of that they saw everything in Norrata).
THIS IS INTERESTING: Despite the thirteen -year exposure, the first Everquest will live and now. In November last year, Sony issued as much as the eighteenth addition – Veil of Alaris. And in the same year she launched a couple of so -called “progressive” servers, where you could see firsthand how the game looked and developed in those days, but the veterans at the same time showed it in the same way (Blizzard, take an example – we want to admire the old Wow again!). In March, the old woman Everquest should switch to a conditionally paid model.
[[Bullet]] One of the starting locations. Appeared relatively recently, so it looks very cool. But many old regions would not have prevented a life -giving cataclysm … However, a couple of outdated locations have already been rebuilt.
In 2004, Sony, pleased with the success of Everquest, released a full continuation. The developers found an elegant excuse for the simultaneous existence of the two universes-the “namesake”: the events of the second part occur in a different temporary branch and five hundred years after the cataclysm, which launched the story according to two parallel directs. The second Norrat was transformed beyond recognition, and now we have virtually two different worlds.
Blood glove: About competition with wow
Shortly after the launch of Everquest 2, a dangerous opponent entered the ring – World of Warcraft. Many rushed from one world to another, unable to choose between the classic high fantasy EQ and the adventurous fairy tale of Wow. But in the fleeting struggle for the players, Everquest 2 suffered a crushing defeat. Since the start, the number of Wow subscribers is more than half the EQ base, and subsequently the gap only increased.
You can explain the victory of World of Warcraft. Firstly, of course, the Blizzard reputation-this company has long known as a forge of masterpieces, but the name of the most is associated with the technique and PlayStation, and not with online games. The second reason follows from here: no matter how Sony tried, Azerot, Azerot, promoted by the most popular strategic series, and without any PR campaigns is known much wider than purely online Norrat.
In addition, the "military craft" met newcomers much more friendly; convenience there was put at the forefront, as much as possible reduced the threshold of entry. EQs had interesting tasks, extremely moderately punished for mistakes, but scared the newly arrived with an unexpected abundance of opportunities in the absence of their sane systematization. Her interface and now you can’t call comfortable.
And one more. Everquest 2 became one of the most beautiful games of the era … But not every computer could cope with its beauty then. And many considered her style unnecessarily gloomy, while Wow attracted an easily digestible cartoon picture and flew with a whistle even on old slow -movs.
Here, as they say, neither decrease nor add.
The endless quest returns
[[Bullet]] On this map, you can clearly trace the dynamics of the growth of the world Everquest 2 – with what the game began and what came to today.
In terms of development dynamics, the second Everquest is not at all behind the first. Sony has already released eleven paid additions and over fifty of different -caliber free. The latter today from the paid – Age of Discovery – installed on servers in December last year.
Chronology
- The Bloodline Chronicles – March 21, 2005.
- The Splitpaw Saga – June 28, 2005.
- Desert of Flames – September 13, 2005.
- Kingdom of Sky – February 21, 2006.
- Launching the game in Russia – September 7, 2006.
- The Fallen Dynasty – June 14, 2006.
- Echoes of Faydwer – November 14, 2006.
- Rise of Kunark – November 13, 2007.
- The Shadow Odyssey – November 18, 2008.
- Sentinel’s Fate – February 16, 2010.
- Destiny of Velious – February 22, 2011.
- Age of discovery – December 6, 2011.
New bold mechanics are regularly rolled out to the court of players. Say, among the new products Age of Discovery, there is an opportunity to design your own dungeon, with monsters, traps and all that other. But Sony puts the main forces in the expansion and study of the contents. Makes so that Norrat is interesting to explore, saturates the world with details and encourages especially attentive players.
[[Bullet]] Globe is the main way to quickly move between the continents of Norrat.
And this is the main feature of the game. Here I really want to seal every bulge and alarm. Well, what if inon a quest or a rare artifact lurks under that stone? It is clear where the legs of Rift. There, too, quests and collection trinkets are hidden everywhere, and players regularly complain with new content patches. However, in Everquest 2, all this was much before. And more.
Usually, after reaching the highest level, only war and raids by the fuel for breakfast, lunch and dinner await us. But Everquest 2 continues to be seduced by travels and at the limit of development. Quests, as well as areas for research, do not want to end in any way! However, do not think that raids and Battlgrades fell victim to a “casual” study. EQ 2 is powerful raid content, and often you will not have time to overpower all the bosses, as something new is already being lowered on top.
From each by abilities
[[Bullet]] Choose a class. Those with yellow icons are inaccessible-please pay for subscription. Or buy classes separately. The store button at the bottom beckons ..
Creating a character in Everquest 2 – an extraordinary matter. There are as many as twenty. True, they differ only by appearance, worldview and a couple of not too significant liability. Even in choosing a class we are almost not limited.
But with the classes everything is different. They are divided into four groups by key role -playing types: fighter, wizard, priest and ranger. Each group accounts for six to seven subclasses, and they are all very different.
Take, for example, healers. Some specialize in prolonged effects and treat entire groups qualitatively. Others hang shields on comrades that prevent injuries. Still others are concentrated on the healing charms that work when receiving damage.
In addition, each doctor has his own set of blessings: Fury can increase the damage from attacking spells, because she is terribly appreciated in the team of wizards. For fighters, trackers and wizards, things are similar in a similar way: some warriors tank better, others are more painful, and others are treating and blessing.
[[Bullet]] Using the local talent system, you can study new skills or improve old ones (say, adding a paralyzing effect by lightning). True, in order to get talent glasses, you will have to sacrifice part of the experience.
The role system came out amusing (and again it is clear where the legs of Rift grow from its idea of classes-appeals), but it is very difficult to choose from all abundance. In time immemorial, at the start, one of the four archetypes were offered, and in -depth specialization was chosen at the twentieth level, when the newcomer was already more or less understood how what he was daring here.
For some reason, the whole pile is dumped on us on the move-even without detailed descriptions. Go figure it out without a hint that of the six doctors is better for you! Well, when it comes to raids, the selection of classes will turn into a complex game in the game. Although to be afraid of games – do not go to raids ..
What the gnolls think about
► the functionality of the doctors, as usual, is not limited to treatment. He waved his left – healed, waved his right – with lightning rummaged. And the priests from the Druid branch are completely thrown into different animals and tease in close combat.
Before going to the big world, it remains only to look after yourself the starting city. There are four in different corners of Norrat – two for “evil” races and two for “good”. Neutral can be settled in anyone, while choosing a dark or bright "side of power".
Magic Friends: About good, evil and world PVP
[[Bullet]] your home will become, depending on the worldview, or the bright Keynos, in which the beautiful Queen Anthony rules, or the gloomy friport, where Vladyka Lukan de Lire is tyrants.
On PVP, the second Everquest was not originally designed than many and frightened. There was no rent in Norrat at that time (now there are on-duty inter-server Battlgrades). Players https://kwiff-gb-casino.co.uk/, albeit divided into "evil" and "good" did not enmity. And they could even unite in the "black and white" groups and go together by quests together.
So it was, until in 2006 the first PVP servers with completely different rules appeared: the opposite sides could fight each other, where and when they like, and even knock out their piece of money and things out of the victim. In PVE, the fines for death are not so cruel: a slight delay in the accumulation of experience, reducing the strength of equipment and a temporary fine for combat indicators. And here – suddenly – such! Fans of the "line" are delighted. Fans of Ultima Gate.
[[Bullet]] In one of the “treacherous” quests, the player should secretly penetrate the Eldar grove (area of the city of local “green”) and destroy one of the main mulberry shrines.
By the way, here, unlike Wow, Warhammer Online And even Dark Age of Camelot , you can change the side by passing a special "treacherous" quest. Its essence usually lies in a certain sabotage directed against the former homeland. Pour past the guards, go around the dangerous areas through the sewer … fun worthy of the thief of Garrett.
Immediately after landing we are filled with instructions. It catches the eye that instead of on -duty textual paintings, quests are accompanied by dialogs, simple, but interesting. Whatever answer we poke, the choice still comes down to “take or not take” … this is not close The Old Republic , But pretty.
[[Bullet]] typical of Everquest 2 dilemmas: continue to “push” NPC for useful information or just leave. Alas, nothing can be done in addition.
At first, almost all the tasks are within the power and loner, but the further, the more you feel the need for the company. Of course, not as much as in the first EQ – the quests are poured with a margin (the number 7000 appears in the reports), if desired, you can selectively swing on solo. But the most delicious, as usual, is given for group campaigns in dungeons and "heroic" missions.
THIS IS INTERESTING: Age of Discovery brought mercenaries with them – bots that greatly help in the development of group content at the initial and medium levels. Similar were in Guild Wars , But the locals demand money forward. Well, of course, bite off the share of experience. But it’s worth it – given that finding living and disinterested partners for the first group quests is usually not easy.
The quests themselves are mostly classic. However, we are almost not bothering with a protruding monstrozide, and in some quests the situations are very non -trivial. Here the quester asks us to chat with goblins. Or, say, gnolls. But they still have to be able to explain with them what the appropriate task is for. There is nothing to do, we learn to get rid of Goblin, to bark in genolls, and at the same time understand that we smeared there. Trifle, but damn atmospheric.
There, I don't know where: about quests
[[Bullet]] In the corridors of the Castos castle are dozens of lamps, but only one of them can open a secret passage.
The nectropos considered his duty to complete tasks in a gloomy castle. I had to look for secret passages, studying the notes invisibly falling into the inventory (the ill-fated hole opened one of the dozens of corridor lamps), rush about the castle with someone's eye in his pocket (it was necessary to insert it into the eye socket of the wild boar, but who would at least hint at this to this!) and read by local books in search of answers to riddles.
True, many here were stumbled – one of the user modifications (like a primitive Questhelper for WoW) pointed to key points, and it only remained to get to them safe and safety. In addition, craftsmen have long gathering entire knowledge bases, such as the domestic encyclopedia of Norrata, so it is not necessary to strain the brains at all.
In the last update, the developers themselves turned on the backlight of key zones on the map. No longer need to focus on the foggy instructions of the quest drivers and your own scent. And sorry! There was a kind of charm in this, the games of the GPS navigation era are not characteristic.
Norrat is full of similar little things. There is also a daily cycle that is not tied to real time. NPC in some villages is clearly followed by him – they go to bed at night, and in the morning they go into the field or to the counter (only city ones do not seem to sleep at all and are watching around the clock). This also applies to some monsters: say, vampires crawl out for hunting only at night.
Masters of the sword and stool
[[Bullet]] Charter from battles and discoveries, the hero can return to his home. Everything is reorganized there. You can even settle some animal.
Another strong side of Everquest 2 is a peaceful life. Firstly, already at the very beginning, anyone can acquire a resident housing for a purely symbolic fee and equip it to taste. The benefits of housing are quite practical: inside you can put craft machines or equip a retail outlet, so as not to pay the bribes to the auctioner anymore. Furniture is sold in stores, and sometimes it can be obtained as a reward or simply made it.
My fortress: about householding, ratings and homemade dungeons
House management in Everquest 2 – at the same time both an art form and a competitive system. How to do it beautifully, they show, for example, here and here. There is a whole Russian -speaking resource dedicated to the design of game interiors.
There is a special rating for real estate owners. You can invite guests, and those, in turn, if they want, will appreciate your artistic talent, giving the house an assessment. There is no sense in “winding up” the popularity of housing: this does not give any material goods – only status and achievement.
In Age of Discovery, you can design not only housing, but also combat dungeons. There is a similar rating system. The creator who created an interesting dungeon receives high marks from the players and is awarded for the efforts.
By the way, this is one of the cases when the characteristic mood of the EQ communities makes itself felt: personal dungeons usually go not so much for the sake of rewards as for pleasure. In addition, nothing can be taken out from there anyway, and they have to go through “rolling” avatars. The passage of other people's instances is paid only by tokens that can be exchanged for equipment, similar to trophies from the initial raids. But it cannot be repaired and, having broken once, you will have to buy again.
Local crafts – separate song. Any character, in addition to the combat level, has a craft, it grows in the process of production. But it makes no sense to rivet the same things for a long time, earning crumbs of craft experience. You can do things to order NPC – for this they give much more.
All heroes begin in the rank of artisan and can only collect resources and make the simplest things. At the tenth craft level, it is proposed to deepen the specialization in one of the three directions.The scientist makes potions, jewelry and scrolls for studying new class skills, the equipment produces weapons, armor, bags and more, and the artisan prepares miraculous west, collects furniture, and also leads onions, shields and tools.
[[Bullet]] Raising the craft level is not easy, because you need to constantly monitor the process. Our task is to fill four blue scales until the green. There is no automation, although you can resort to the help of the bot. But this is, firstly, illegal, and secondly, not too profitable in terms of experience. It is better to execute NPC orders.
At the twentieth level, specialization is again deepened. For example, a scientist can become an alchemist and continue to improve the skill of potions and poisoning. There are two more side professions, one of which can be taken in addition to the main one: the mechanic looks like an engineer from WoW and makes all kinds of useful mechanisms, and the technomag knows how to disassemble objects on components and strengthen the characteristics of the weapon.
Separating the craft skill from the combat level, Sony actually excluded battles from the mandatory program. After all, we have self -sufficient peaceful crafts! The manufactured things are going on in vain – and there are enough arrivals from them to live happily. But, of course, in practice, few will put up on the same crafts-after all, there is still a bunch of interesting things in Norrata!
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Convenities and free: On tariff plans
December 6, Everquest 2 became conditionally paid. The hybrid system includes “silver” and “gold” options for access to the game. Free travels are given by four out of twenty races (the rest can be purchased) and eight out of twenty -five classes. They are limited in the level of spell development, the maximum number of bags and gold, they are forbidden to wear legendary and epic equipment. Limited access to chat, guilds and an audio broker.
For 150 rubles, an eternal "silver" status is bought. With it, you can develop spells to the expert level and drag with you more gold and bags, learn to create guilds and unhindered cracking forty in the chat. This, in general, is already enough for a comfortable game (well, for the first time for sure).
"Golden" status costs 349 monthly rubles – in fact, the previous subscriber. All restrictions are removed, all races and classes open to us, and so on.
Separately, the last two additions are sold from the subscription fee for subscription. The basic (non -poial) version of Age of Discovery will cost six hundred rubles, and Destiny of Velious – three hundred. They don't ask for previous money. Another assortment of the store includes pretty clothing, decorations for houses and personal dungeons, pumping accelerators, additional characters for characters, new races and classes for those who do not want to pay for “gold”, and other useful, but not critical things.
In relation to this game, I really want to draw a parallel with cinema. Having transmitted the laid Oscars Wow, the second EQ went to the art house and continued to steal mmo shows furtively. Take at least the local class system. And crafts. And the arrangement of housing. Where else did you see something like? Everquest 2 is little like modern virtual worlds and this is especially valuable.
Meanwhile, Sony is working on the third iteration. They say that there will be a "slasher" warhead that make the game on the engine from Planetside 2 and that the action will unfold in a new parallel version of Norrat. Who knows, maybe the next continuation will return Everquest to the general public?
