This is a more complete writeup.
First, Everquest is a beast. You download a 5 MB installer file, and it then proceeds to download about 4 GB in files. It also has massive system requirements. On a AMD AthlonXP 3000+, 512MB RAM, Radeon 9600XT the settings have to be turned to the second setting (out of 8 or so settings). In order to run it at the highest setting, you will need at least 1.5 GB RAM and a 256MB or 512MB video card, probably the latest $600 card from ATI or nVidia. It is a beast. The more you have, the more it will take.
Everquest II takes place 500 years after Everquest I. The moon, Luclin, has disintegrated and fallen into Norrath. Instead of grouping by race, people are grouped by faction. Good people start in Qeynos, bad people start in Freeport.
When you start the game, you are prompted with this screen:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/eq1.jpg
Next is a login screen, and then the status screen:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/eq2.jpg
This is the main screen
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/EQ2_000000b.jpg
Creating a character screen 1:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/EQ2_000001.jpg
and screen 3 (screen 2 is just choosing between good vs evil)
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/EQ2_000002.jpg
And the options window:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/EQ2_000003.jpg
Creating a character is easy. You get to pick your race, alignment, your looks, your name, and the server. That is it. No stat modifiers, no class, nothing. When you enter the game for the first time, you have an option to start on the Island of Refuge, or to go through the tutorial. The tutorial is set on a boat on the way to the Island of Refuge and will tell you how to kill, trade, talk, and so on. Once on the Island of Refuge, the fun starts.
The first 10 levels are very easy. You level incredibly fast because quests will give you a lot of experience. Before continuing, I have to explain the class system.
You pick your main class type at level 2. You specialize a bit at level 10, and lastly at level 19. For example, at level 2 you can choose between mage, priest, warrior, or scout. I picked a scout. At level 10, I had to pick between bard, rogue, or predator. I picked bard. At level 19, I will pick between a dirge (offensive bard), or a troubador (defensive bard).
On the Island of Refuge, the tutorial continues. You are assigned basic FedEx type quests, but by doing them you kill a few baddies (and thus get some xp), and by handing in the quest items you gain LOTS of xp. You can do level 1 to 10 in under 7 hours.
At level 6, you have to leave the Island of Refuge. The Island of Refuge is like a newbie zone, and is instanced. If there are too many newbies, another instance is created. Anyways, there is only this one newbie zone. Leaving the island is easy: you talk to the captain, and you then go to either Freeport or Qeynos depending on your alignment. I went to Qeynos.
Once in Qeynos area, you can't enter the city yet because you're not a citizen. In order to enter the city, and in order to level into level 7, you must complete the citizenship quest. It is basically to prove your loyalty and consists of kill various monsters. Don't worry, all of levels 1 to 10 is designed to be completed by yourself. If you are 99% into level 6, just about to level to 7, but don't have citizenship yet, you will not level. You will go into "overdrive" mode of sorts, and you can get up to 220% xp of your level before you *really* need to complete the quest. When you complete the quest, you will ding automatically.
So, you can't go into the city. Around the city of Qeynos are various villages. Baubbleshire is one of them. Willow Woods is another. You are now subjected to instituted racism. You are automatically bound, based on your race, to a certain village. Gnomes and halflings go to baubbleshire. Elves and humans go to Willow Woods. You can easily travel between them, but it is essentially different "cultures." For example, the little people live in smaller homes. The elves are tree huggers again, etc. Quite interesting.
Once you complete your citizenship quest, you continue on to level 9. Then you talk to your "guide." He will give you a "hallmark" quest to do. This quest will let you specialize. You can't go to level 10 without finishing this quest. Once you ding level 10, you have specialized to whatever class you picked.
Now, it is just playing, leveling, and having fun.
Game mechanics is indeed different. Questing is MUCH better. You have a journal with all the quests that are issued to you. It keeps track of objectives, who you need to see, and where. When you collect a quest item, it is NOT stored in your inventory. Rather, it just checked down in your journal. You can no longer accidenly destroy it!
There are MANY quests. Almost every person has a quest of some sort. Quests give a fair bit of XP, and this is really EverQUEST.
What is different about this game is the spell/abilities system. As you level, your spells and abilities are automatically given to you. However, you're given a very "basic" version. All spells and abilities have versions. 9 actually. Apprentice I, II, III, Adept I, II, III, and Master I, II, III. Apprentice I is given to you. Apprentice II can be bought from vendors. The rest have to be found by questing, buying, looting, researching, or some other form. It is essentially "upgrades" for your spells.
The voice in Everquest is amazing and really adds to the game. Honestly. You attack a gnoll, and occasionally they will tell you orally how you're going to die. All quest NPCs have voice. You can read if you want, but I find it more relaxing to actually listen to them tell you about their problems. Thumbs up.
The interface:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rrahl/EQ2_000000.jpg
I customized it a bit. As you can see, a very clean interface. Yes, there are black bars at the top and bottom. I'm essentially making it "widescreen." It increases performance, and I'm never going to look under the buttons! Why render it?
Combat is a little different. You don't have to "con" a mob. Simply holding your mouse over one will indicate to you how they think of you. The color of the mouse pointer, and of their name, indicates their difficulty. If their name is bordered in red, it means they are aggressive.
Social creatures are now "grouped." When you target one mob that will cause his buddy to come along for the ride, they are actually grouped together. Target one, and the rest are also "soft" targeted. You can still attack only one mob, but the rest will follow, and you have to kill all of them. This makes it much easier to know whetehr you're going to end up fighting one mob or 5.
Once you engage a mob, a lock icon appears beside your name. This means you have LOCKED the combat mode. No one can help you, or interfere. There is no kill stealing. If you need help, you have to press that exclamation mark you see on the screenshot. The lock will disappear, and no experience will be given.
Most dungeons are instanced. If you and your group wants to do a dungeon, it will simply create another one for you and only your buddies. A lot of zones are instanced in a way you can pick which instance you want to go to. If a zone reaches 85% or so of its capacity, another instance is spawned. When you try to zone, you can pick "Forest Ruin 1," or "Forst Ruin 2," etc. That way there will never be overcrowded zones.
Currently, roughly 80% of vendors only sell one item: a small bag. They are not populated yet. This will come soon.
Faction isn't in the game, but the last patch added faction for two or three zones.
Class and racial abilities are going to be put in the next patch, as far as I know.
You have a separate "class" for trade skills. You have to level that yourself, and gain experience yourself. I don't know too much about this yet, but you have "abilities" and "skills" for this class too. The more you level, the better stuff you can make. You can even die and loose experience by combining the wrong things and having it blow up in your face.
This game is wonderful. There is NO downtime so far. The world is big, it is instanced, and it is very balanced. I'm impressed.
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