Polar Bear Club, EQ2 Edition

Lobilya and I played around in Halas (Reborn) last night. We both started new toons. I'm sorry, but I don't have screenshots for you. I take screenshots, I write posts, but I don't seem to be able to connect them. I have tons of screenshots for posts I was gonna write, but never did, and when I get down to writing, I never have the shot I want.

Anyway, it looks great. Really. I started a berserker, it seemed appropriate.

Starting quests have you bashing strange creatures, some of which appear to be some sort of artic version of a zygomid, and at one point you get to try out some zygomid repellent (It worked like a charm.)

There is a big stretch of water to cross, early on. There is a raft that travels back and forth across it. The theme of the newb zone is that you're a new pilgrim, and you are trying to get to Halas to start your new life. There are many other pilgrims, as well as a few Halasians and they need your help.

As often as not, helping them involves killing polar bears. You might end up killing as many polar bears. Phritz commented that he should have named his new toon "Global Warming" because of how many polar bears he had killed.

I decided to try to keep my gathering skills up to my level, and after level 5, this became ridiculously difficult. I could go 10-12 harvests per skillup. And the fishing nodes can be pretty difficult to find. So that's irritating. The quests are good, with a good progression to them.

There isn't so much of a conga-line (to borrow TAGN's phrase), but a vast plain of monsters, some of which are quite unusual. Whirling ice storms seem more like something from Velious than Halas, but whatever. There are also rolling rocks, and animated snowballs that hop around. And bears. Did I mention bears?

I didn't get a look at Halas itself. It seems the highlight is the new player housing there, which comes with a built-in (!) fireplace. I've heard good things about it.