Anyone who has spoken with me for more than a few minutes about MMOs knows that I love to tinker. I don’t just mean in the game – although I am a huge crafter – but with the game. I love mods and addons. I love to fiddle with my UI, to get it just the way I want it. It’s been an ongoing project of mine for years now to learn coding so I can create my own addons, although I expect that’s going to remain an ongoing project for many years to come as I haven’t much of a head for it. So one of the first things I did after deciding to return to Everquest 2 was take a peek at as much under the hood as I could.
But this isn’t just about addons. Keep on reading for a lovely list of sites that I’ve found handy on my return journey through Norrath. It’s an entirely new game from my last trip here, so it’s been helpful to know there are places to go when my knowledge is proving to be very out of date.
If you’re looking to tweak, change, or completely overhaul your UI, EQ2interface.com is the place to go. I poked around for a bit and wound up using DrumsUI, but there are other options if that’s not to your fancy. I like the fun of exploring, but I know a lot of people swear by EQ2 Maps. You can either look at something on the maps on their site, or download their addon so the locations show up on in your in game maps.
Like crafting? EQ2 Traders is a good next stop. But it’s also worth a look even if you’re not a crafter as they’ve got some very nice guides up for the enterprising adventurer. There’s a harvesting node guide, making it easy to know where to go when you want particular tiers of harvested goods, a list of stat foods to make it easy to find the best food for you at any tier, potions and poisons, even guides for the rares that you need broken down by class. As a coercer, I’ve found the mage rares page to be infinitely helpful. But there’s far too many helpful guides up for me to list them all here!
Questors will likely find ZAM and EQ2 Wiki helpful places to go. Both of them have quest and event walkthroughs, item databases, and other assorted bits of information. I see there are sections on the classes, although I never read class guides so can’t speak to the veracity/helpfulness if that’s what you’re after. But they’re likely good places to start!
For just about everything else, the New Player Forums are a good place to go. I’ve generally found that my enjoyment of a game goes down as I spend time on its forums so I haven’t spent much time in there, but the few peeps I have taken have been pretty positive.
But I said there were level 85 characters. And so there will be. For those new players who don’t want to wait to get to the end of the game, or for old players who want a new character but don’t want to go through the hassles of replaying old zones, come October 1st, Heroic Characters will be available!
From Oct 1st through the 15th, every account that was in existence prior to now will be able to create a new level 85 character, or upgrade an already existing character to 85. Any new accounts made from now until October 15th will be able to create a Heroic Character on a household basis. So no making 30 new accounts now that it’s been announced to get 30 Heroic Characters – unless you already had 30 accounts!
If you want more than one, or miss the freebie, Heroic Characters will also be offered in the Station Cash Store. There are 3 options:
- Try Before You Buy: This option offers one full level of play from Level 85 to 86 – which takes a typical player several hours – with 100 Alternate Advancement (AA) points to test out a class of your choice at a high level. The Free Trial includes a flying mount, armor, consumables, and a few restrictions.
- New Heroic Character: A full Heroic Character can be purchased at Character Select or while playing as a Free Trial character. It includes level 85, 280 AAs, all items included in the Free Trial, and is unrestricted.
- Upgrade Existing Character: The Upgrade option allows you to select any existing character at any level and upgrade it to a Heroic Character. All upgraded characters receive level 85 and are increased to 280 AAs, but not beyond. If you are above level 85 and have more than 280 AAs, you won’t receive additional levels or points, but will get a bundle of items that includes the flying mount, armor, and consumables.
So as not to overwhelm newly spawned Heroic Characters, they’re doing some intro magic with slowly appearing hotbars, although you can turn that off to get the full set of abilities at once if you like. For more information, read the Producer’s Letter and the Heroic Characters FAQ.
