Everquest 2 Player Diary Level 30-35

At level 30, I headed over to the Enchanted Lands. It's easy enough to get to - just like much of the EQ2 zones from release, you just run to either Nektulous or Thundering Steppes dock and click a Mariner's Bell. This is easy, but I'm really not a fan - I think there's something to be said for running your way across a zone, and having them blend together like a coherent landmass (like Faydwer is and hopefully Kunark will be). The original coders for EQ2 clearly just took the most memorable zones from EQ1 and didn't bother with the rest, having areas of water where interconnecting zones used to be. The Enchanted Lands used to be Rivervale and the surrounding area in EQ1, but they seem to have emerged from the Shattering quite well.

Enchanted Lands is a lovely, pleasant place that would be ideal for a picnic. I wouldn't leave the lid off the Coke bottle, though - the wasps here are not to be trifled with.

Overall, I have to say I liked the Enchanted Lands a lot. A lot of players I know say it's their favourite zone, and I'd rank it right up there with Darklight and Neriak. Why is it so good? Well, first up, it's a very bright and sunny zone. It's very pleasant to level there, even if it is infested with giant, hostile wildlife. It's got a very distinct visual style that's almost ripped straight out of the Lord of the Rings movies, perhaps understandably as Rivervale was the home of the halflings. So it looks nice, with some striking features like a huge wooden palisade wall and some beautiful lakes and mountains. Some of the monsters are quite cool and unique too, like weird half-raccoon half-scorpion things. The actual design of the zone is excellent, with long quest lines that are generally fun and varied, and keep you exploring the zone. Think Darklight, but twenty levels higher.

The local YMCA offered their help to the EQ2 art team, who promptly found the Enchanted Lands bathed in beautiful shades of pink that 'really brought out the feminine side of those rugged mountains'.

That's not to say it doesn't have flaws, though. While most of the monsters aren't linked, which makes it nice and solo friendly, there are some hostile triple heroics (read, 4-5 player content) wandering around in quest areas and in general travel areas. What's worse is that they look just like the normal half-raccoon half-scorpion monsters, so you can get attacked by one and not realise that it's the particularly dangerous variant. In that case, you're dead before you can get away. Similarly, the villagers and the goblins are also heroics - linked heroics at that. I never really understand the mentality behind that, because it means you need a full group to tackle them. I'm not a fan of full group quests in open-air zones, because most people tend only to group for dungeons. Content that needs to be duoed, perhaps. But not linked Heroic mobs, because it's instadeath for anyone who runs into them (and there's no skill involved in trying to single-pull individuals from the group). Also, there's a couple of quests to kill spearfish - I had to spend forty five minutes swimming up and down the coast to try and find the dozen or so I needed to kill, because they're rare spawns. Quest targets should not be rare spawns, or it just makes things frustrating. Not to mention the ocean floor has at least one named (heroic) foe who will attack you as you swim by in search of spearfish - and he isn't too far from the docks/outpost, either. Finally, a very small quibble: there's no mender in Enchanted Lands. To repair your gear you have to mariner's bell to Nektulos Docks and back again. It's not far, but it's just a bit silly to have to go through two loading screens for it.

"Don't leave your stuff around Hobbiton, friend. I once left a ring there by accident and by the time I came back for it the little bastards had thrown it in a volcano." - Sauron

I spent around three levels in the Enchanted Lands, then went to the Ruins of Varsoon. Varsoon is a dungeon in the Thundering Steppes, predictably enough the ruins of something or other ruled over by a chap called Varsoon. Level 33 was towards the upper limit of the dungeon, so it was quite an easy ride for me, though it might be a bit of a challenge to clear the entire zone and instance with a party of level 30s. Overall, I thought the zone was mediocre. It had some good points, and some bad points.

First up, visual style. The entrance is not particularly visible and I think a ruined outpost of the scale of Varsoon should have a more impressive entrance. Once inside the early parts of the zone, things don't really improve. You're in some tunnels and caves that are frankly ugly at best, fighting some bats and sludges and the like. There's also a big named spider we killed, but there's very little to comment on in the early part of the zone. It's ugly and the monsters are boring, despite a few named mobs dotted around. Having said that, if they made the place look a bit prettier I wouldn't mind it so much because it serves as a nice entrance zone that can be soloed by someone without a group, but then it should lead to an instance which would be the Ruins of Varsoon proper and the group content.

You want dull and dreary? Well, evidently SOE thought you did.

After fighting your way through the tedious entrance zone, you find yourselves in some man-made tunnels. The feel of Varsoon is very much an underground lair of an evil necromancer, which comes across quite well once you get to the middle part of the zone. Golems wander the halls, with factories for making the creatures dotted about, and there are plenty of undead and vicious books in the libraries to amuse yourselves with. I quite like the concept of Varsoon, I have to admit, but the execution is lacking. The monsters are all pretty samey. Like skeletons and featureless brown golems? Good, because you'll be seeing a lot of them, almost to the exclusion of all else. The zone looks dull too, because the walls are browny and look depressing and dreary, but not in a good way (like Nektulos castle). Instead, it seems like the textures for the zone basically couldn't be arsed. Yes, it is a dungeon from the release of EQ2, but it looks boring. You think Varsoon himself will look cool, once you get to the end of the instance? Nope, he's just a ghostly figure. In fact, he's an average sized, featureless ghostly character. It's such an anti-climax to reach him in his instance, because he looks EXACTLY like all the other ghosts you've been fighting since like level 5. Show me one WoW dungeon where the end boss is exactly the same model as common grind fodder and I'll give you a fiver.

Already smeared from head to toe, Choraz's ogre companion challenged him to a bout of mud wrestling.

Anyway, the zone is good exp and has some nice loot in it. I had a good group and I had fun there, gaining a level and a bit, but I wouldn't really want to go back. There are a lot of named mobs, but as there's no instances they aren't always up (and if they are you may have to compete for the kill with another group). This is stupid. Make it instanced, and have every named mob up in each instance. Then you don't have to mill about for ages, looking for a rare-spawn named quest mob that only one of your group needs. Reduce the frequency of their good loot drops if need be, but right now the system is infuriating. I feel Varsoon seriously needs a revamp because while it's good loot and exp (normal and Achievement), it's neither exciting nor atmospheric. And it's a shame, because it should be. If it was the first dungeon I ran in EQ2 and I had a bad group, it might put me off that game. And I say that honestly - really, the designers should pay at least as much attention to lower level instances than high-level ones.

The most colourful part of the zone. I shit you not.

And after Varsoon, I had passed level 35. Next entry, Zek and Nektropos Castle.