Planes of Prophesy, A Deeper Look

Tuesday I wrote my thoughts and impressions on first entering EverQuest 2's Planes of Prophesy expansion, today I want to share a more in-depth look. There are some spoilers with the lay of the land but not a huge spoiler on story.


My biggest beef with the expansion is that there is no built-in tracker, as I mentioned in my first post. This zone also needs a map with detailed locations and actual words, I don't remember names very well so I find myself trying to recall which area is which. But, pushing that aside I am still enjoying it enough to keep playing. This would have added all the polish I require from a game in 2017. Hopefully the EQ2 Maps addon has some labels added in the future!

I debated on commenting on this part, I notice things seem on the thin side overall, you cannot help but notice. Which hurt a little to see because I have loved the EQ franchise through my whole MMO experience. This is not a knock on the company or the developers but an observation that things are on a tighter budget and it is showing-- That or someone in charge is making poor decisions for EQ2's resources/funding. I can't say as I don't know. All we can do is continue to support it. Right now I take the good with the bad as I see the team is trying hard to include everyone with content. I've not liked things in the past and have taken my breaks and come back to see if things have changed, they have. If you've taken a break and are on the fence about coming back, it is a good time to jump in and get caught up. That is one of the things I noticed as I played through PoP, lots of catch up and alt friendly stuff. There is still a lot to do, it is a nice expansion with plenty to do, lots to see, nice rewards. It just isn't the scale you might think, considering it is a nod to the first game's Planes of Power.

So having said all that, what about all these PoP zones? How are they? The thing with zones in EQ and EQ2 is that the first is not a quest centric game, more of a drop mobs all over a zone for players to camp and grind, thus you can create more areas for that, it appears to have more zones and content because of that aspect. Every expansion there still feels so large and has many zones. EQ2 has to have quests connecting the zones together, many different chains and so we get one overland zone, Plane of Magic, the rest of the zones are instances. You do have solo versions, so you will see them all. Valor is a hub where you will find token vendors and such. It is by no means anything like Planes of Power, more of connected areas and instances. Still it is good to see these places remade into EQ2. I'd like to see the team build on the PoP zones for the next update/expansion. Horizontal progression for awhile, it may help things feel on a bigger scale if they add more to what they have here. Plus, the nostalgia factor is big here, they should cash in on it. No clue where it will go next, but I do hope they consider that.

No tradeskilling max level is required to complete the signature line. It was mentioned that one was required for a faction quest but a dev reported that was the incorrect level and it will be fixed. Tradeskill quests and the whole TS line along with writs are not added in yet, they will be added in an update.

As a subscriber I noticed mercs no longer charge any fees. I don't know when this changed, they have no fee and no upkeep, which is so cool. It isn't a huge deal really, the cost. But on alts it is handy, I don't have to worry about sending money right away. I wonder if this is the case in EQ as well? I will have to check later on. I love free stuff, free mercs are the best! Yay!

With my necromancer I am almost 105 now, not going at a breakneck speed. I only have two preorder xp bonuses going and it seems to be going very quickly. That's a nice thing for alts, less time grinding. Also you unlock zones for all alts when you unlock them, they just need to be the required level. PoM sends you all over and you make the most out of your flying mount. Players seem helpful enough too, I have asked several questions and always gotten an answer on the IoR server. You may run into the quest crossing at the crossing, and it won't progress further, it bugs out. Simply have a guild member/friend or ask someone in general chat if you can be invited to PoM2 or PoM3. I had a kind soul help me after I asked in general chat. Once invited right click on their portrait to zone over to their instance of PoM. Fixed it no problem, read about this workaround on the forums and had another player suggest it to me, it does work and you can progress this way. Questing has been fine for the most part and there are nifty house rewards, lots of gear upgrades and a cool pet I've gotten so far. I got to see Druzzil Ro and Mithaniel Marr, good stuff.

That's really all I can wrack my brain for at the moment. I wanted to get some stuff out to share while it is still fresh in my mind. Overall I am glad I picked it up and glad to be playing, I am enjoying myself. I'll share even more on the rest of the zones and such as I continue my journey through the expansion. And as I always say, support games you love and play, nothing is free and nothing lasts forever... especially without funding. I'm off to knock out 105 so I can enter Plane of Innovation!

Safe adventures!