The colorful screenshot you see above was not taken in EverQuest II's latest expansion, Scars of Destruction, for the very good reason that I haven't been playing it. It's from the previous expansions, Ballads of Zimara, which is where I spent a couple of hours earlier today.
That was because to do anything at all in the new zones you have to be Level 130. Level 128, which is as far as my highest-level character had reached when SoD launched a couple of days ago, or even level 129, as that character is today, just won't cut it.
None of the locals will speak to you if you can't produce your Max Level I.D. Card. Nor will the bunch of neo-colonialists who've sailed across the Sea of Erud to stick their oars into the locals' business uninvited (The locals are pretty salty about it, too, I can tell you!)
Other than what I read in the press release, namely that Overlord Lucan has his eye on some prize and we all have to get to it before he does, I know nothing about what we're all doing here in the charmingly-named Sodden Archipelago. And if you're thinking that doesn't sound like a very scenic location you're not wrong.
It may well be that some of the zones in this expansion are as bright and charming as those in its visually delightful predecessor. I certainly hope so. So far all I've seen is the dock and immediate hinterland of the starting zone and you can judge how impressed I was by the fact that I didn't take a single screenshot.
Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I took one but only to show how far across the map I'd been able to explore without getting myself killed.
There I am, on the far side of a bridge that's barred by locked gates you can just climb around. It's the entrance to some kind of orc fortress, I think. Orcs always make barricades you can just walk around or they do in Norrath, anyway.
Probably because this is an expansion with no level cap increase, I found I had no trouble at all with the regular mobs, wildlife, orcs or kappa (Something like that...) who are kind of like Teenage Ninja Turtles that grew up. I was able to explore quite comfortably but unfortunately there wasn't much to see. The place is damn ugly.
I was somewhat worried it would be, when the setting for the expansion was announced. The original EverQuest zones on which the expansion is predicated weren't very visually appealing and neither, so far, have been most of their EQII spin-offs. As far as I can figure it, the expansion opens in the remains of Odus and moves to the extreme west of Velious, which most likely means a lot of sand and rock followed by a lot of snow and ice.
Still, I'd have persevered with my exploring and adventuring if it had been profitable in any way other than satisfying my curiosity. Unfortunately, regular mobs no longer drop anything worth having and killing them gives infinitesimal amounts of xp. The only realistic way to progress is by way of quests and since, as I said, at my current level no was going to give me any, it seemed pointless carrying on. Clearly I needed to go away, get a couple more levels and come back when someone would talk to me.
I could have carried on with the crafting questline. My Berserker is also a Weaponsmith and he qualifies, having dinged 130 months ago. Unfortunately, I lost enthusiasm for that approach when I hit the point where you have to grind faction to get the next quest. I don't have an existential problem with the concept of faction-work but I find it a bit off-putting to have to start on it about twenty minutes into the first session of a new expansion, even if the grind is flagged as "ironic" by the designer.
Of course, I wouldn't be having this problem if I'd just knuckled down and done my levels when I was supposed to, months ago. I was surprised to find, when I checked my quest journal, to find I have actually finished the Ballads of Zimara Adventure Signature Questline. I remember now that that was one of the reasons I stopped.
In the latest unnecessary and ill-advised change to the way things work, someone decided to make leveling "meaningful" again. For several years it had been reduced to a couple of sessions at most, meaning you generally hit the new cap before you got to the second zone in the expansion. I found that odd at first but I soon got used to it and I can say for certain I prefer it hugely to how it is now, when you get to the end of the story and still have several levels to go.
There are still quests to do, of course. There'd pretty much have to be, seeing as questing is just about the only way you can get meaningful xp these days. The problem is they're all either scattered among random NPCs in multiple zones or started by items that drop from mobs.
It sounds worse than it is. At this stage, every last detail of where and how has been codified on the wiki so it's just a case of following instructions. I wouldn't have wanted to be one of the poor sods who had to go out there and discover the information needed to write the guides I've been using, though. Some of the locations I visited today were really obscure and the mobs must have been a lot tougher back then, too.
Luckily for me, I don't have to think about it, just copy and paste and follow a glowing trail. Plus I can fly in all the zones and I'm already wearing gear better than the quests give as rewards because holiday and mid-expansion updates all raised the item level beyond the BoZ baseline. Sometimes it pays to take your time.
It's been a lot of fun actually, to the point that I can't quite work out why I stopped before. The zones are really lovely to look at, the questing is relaxing and if xp doesn't exactly zip along it does at least jog. I started the day about half way through Level 128 and finished just over ten per cent into 129.
I did go take a look at the new Panda quests, which I'd missed this year, just in case that might help. They're permanently available and I will almost certainly have to do them for the Augments, even though the panda gear will already have been made redundant by the free stuff in the Tishan's box next to the guy in Sodden Arcihpelago. When I checked the panda stuff, though, I found you have to be Level 130 to wear any of it, so I didn't pursue it any further.
Based on how long it took me today, I'd guess I'm going to need another two or three sessions to hit the cap on my Berserker. There's a slight danger that will take the edge off my interest and I won't want to move into the new content but if I was really worried about that I suppose I could use the free Level 130 boost that came with the expansion and get stuck in right away.
I did consider it but it seems like a waste to use it on the Berserker, when he's so close. I am most likely going to save it for my Necromancer, who's Level 125. I've been saying for years I want to swap to her as my "main" but it never happens because the Berserker has so many other hidden benefits from having done All The Things that I immediately start to miss his privileges whenever I play anyone else in current content.
Even if I don't play her as a main, though, I will definitely be using the boost to skip her past the five levels BoZ added. I am categorically not grinding any more characters all the way through that. It's put paid to any possibility of keeping half a dozen characters at the cap, as I had been in the habit of doing.
If I'm realistic, though, there was never any practical purpose to doing it, anyway. I only bothered because it was so easy. If it takes any effort, I don't have either the time or the interest to play through an expansion more than once.
Or apparently even that often, if last time is anything to go by. I'll have to see how far I get with this one. I suspect it may take a while...
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