WoW vs EQ2

[CrouchingTiger]

I used to play EQ for a while, and I have to say I loved every bit of it. Now I hear all this talk about how EQ2 (perhaps WoW too) will be designed with the intention to be played in 2 or so hour "chunks", so it can be more time-friendly and events won't end up taking 8+ hours anymore. I also think I've heard that WoW is fairly easy to progress in. I know some people hate the "grind" fassion of MMORPGs such as EverQuest, but I think it makes you feel like you're earned more in the end. If it takes a long time to gain levels and make progress, it feels like you've worked harder. There obviously has to be a balance between too long and too short, or else it won't be fun.

I rather liked the way EQ was. I felt like I had "come so far" when I would remember back to when I first started the game. Not only that, but when I would see low level players running around, I could see the mobs they struggled with and realize those mobs couldn't kill me if I let them attack me while I was away from the keyboard. This gave a sense of such a huge gap between high levels and low levels, further adding to the feeling of really "coming a long way."

I also liked how EQ had mobs that would take a huge group to defeat. Mobs that had thousands or hundreds of thousands more HP than a player made it seem like the game was on such a grand scale. It really seemed epic to find an enemy that could wipe you out in one hit, and you would be under the impression that it would be unkillable. Then you take it down with an army, or really well-equipped characters.

Well-equipped brings me to things like epics. Will WoW contain any epic sized quests?

Sadly, I doubt I would have the amount of time to devote to a new MMORPG the way I did with EQ. I still want a game that gives that feeling of accomplishment and that is on as grand a scale as EQ seemed to be. Can WoW or EQ2 deliver that, since I hear so much about how they made it less time-involving, and designed encounters to be more suited for the 5-6 person group?

This thread isn't just to say which is better, or just to say which would better suit my wants. It's to compare the two in general, and specifically in the areas I mentioned. How does each game differ from the other? What are their similarities? Which one would be more similar to the original EQ's "feel?" Etc.

 

[Sky15]

I used to play EQ for a while, and I have to say I loved every bit of it. Now I hear all this talk about how EQ2 (perhaps WoW too) will be designed with the intention to be played in 2 or so hour "chunks", so it can be more time-friendly and events won't end up taking 8+ hours anymore. I also think I've heard that WoW is fairly easy to progress in. I know some people hate the "grind" fassion of MMORPGs such as EverQuest, but I think it makes you feel like you're earned more in the end. If it takes a long time to gain levels and make progress, it feels like you've worked harder. There obviously has to be a balance between too long and too short, or else it won't be fun.

It can be bad or good. I mean not everyone has 8+ hours a day to play a MMORPG's I know what you mean when it takes a long time to complete soemthing in game you feel a sence of accomplishment. It's good for people who can only play 2 hours or so, but I'm sure for US "hardcore gamers" there will be better stuff to obtain if your a power gamer. I like it and don't like it becasue casual gamers could be just as good as a power gamer who devotes there time to play

I also liked how EQ had mobs that would take a huge group to defeat. Mobs that had thousands or hundreds of thousands more HP than a player made it seem like the game was on such a grand scale. It really seemed epic to find an enemy that could wipe you out in one hit, and you would be under the impression that it would be unkillable. Then you take it down with an army, or really well-equipped characters.

I'm not a big fan of groups to me it can get to hetic and chaotic, but I do agree certin things should take alot of people to defeat, but it shouldn't mean you need to group every time you logg on, and could take you 15 min or longer, kind of like CoH.

Everquest never interested me for some reason so i won't be playing EQ2, but WoW I've been wating for for 2 1/2 years I can't wait for it. There is something about I like, pluse I like Blizzard games.

 

[Bennyb]

WoW might be the first mmorpg I play just because of the blizzard name. They have yet to deliever a product which has not grabbed my attention in some way.

I'm all for the 2 hour chunk design. I no long have hours to spend playing games. On occasion I will but its usually within reason. I mean seriously, we all need to sleep.

 

[Damar]

I'll be playing both for a bit and narrow it down to one or the other.

Each has its plusses, but its going to come down to stability, gameplay and service that will keep me in one world more than the other.

EQ2 should have an almost perfect launch, since they know what to expect from the original EQ launch, WoW should be pretty stable as well, since Blizzard knows their business pretty well.

As to which will be more popular, I'd say its going to be a close race.

 

[Sky15]

Only thing I'm afraid of is cheaters in WoW, we what happend in Diablo1,2 and Warcraft, and starcraft. But I'm thinking it won't be like that. Maybe the occasional credit dupper or some cheat. But I have faith in Blizzard on this game to keep it clean.

 

[CrouchingTiger]

I'm not against the two hour chunk design. After all I don't have that much free time anymore either. I was just wondering if it's possible to still have that sense of accomplishment with that design.

I also agree with what you said Sky15 about grouping. I definately agree there needs to be solo content as well. EQ was a bit TOO group-driven. I think there should be a perfect balance. There should be plenty of content for groupers and plenty of content for soloers. "Boss mobs" would require groups though, particularly large ones. But for the regular XP grind, soloing should be a viable option.

EDIT: Actually, to clarify, I did like the way EQ handled it with certain classes being more suited for soloing than others. It's just that in the end-game, even the solo classes didn't have much to pick from.

And Sky, what did you mean about there would be better stuff for power gamers to get their hands on? Did you mean different/better games? Or did you mean there would be content within those games that would cater to power gamers as well?

 

[[*****]sc4rf4c3]

im looking forward to WoW. Ive never really played an mmorpg...played ragnarok online for a few days and daoc but they just didnt excite me and im hoping WoW will. maybe opinions are just bias on blizzards boards but ive only heard bad things about soe...it seems like everyone hates them. im sure eq2 will be awsome to and i might try it out.
and to answer your question : Will WoW contain any epic sized quests?
Yes. blizzard is refering to them as life quests which im assuming will be epic and unlock some pretty cool stuff for your character. hero class maybe? special racial abbilitiy?? im just looking forward to the strest test..hopefully later this week

 

[Gardack]

I'm also a EQ veteran and curious to see what the new generation of MMORPGs coming out has to offer. Both EQ2 and WoW look like they can be great games depending on the final balance of classes and how much content then come out with at release. I'm mainly interested in small group content like single group encounters or stuff I can duo with my wife. I really enjoy the fact that in WoW any class can currently solo from 1-60, although the best gear is obtained with larger groups and doing raid level content. I also like the fact that you can make useful items with trade skills.

 

[CrouchingTiger]

Balance with class/race reminds me. Probably a year or two ago when I first started hearing details about EQ2, I remember reading that it would have 60 (just a guess, it was a really large number) classes or whatever. Like a lot of classes would be subclasses of the major ones from EQ1. Like Rogue would have many subclasses and such. It seems like they are trying to get too broad. I kinda like having a clear-cut choice that distinguishes me from others. I don't want my class to be similar to another class in every aspect except a handfull.

Any info on this? And how many classes/races are in WoW? Last I checked, it was the other end of the spectrum: too FEW classes/races. *shrug*

maybe opinions are just bias on blizzards boards but ive only heard bad things about soe...

No, I wouldn't say they're just being biased. Having once been part of the EQ community myself, most of the EQ community never seemed to care much for SOE either. It seems like every 10th patch would receive praise, but the other 9 would be hated or complained about. Some of the rules and things were also controversial among some. I wouldn't really blame SOE for anything though. It comes down to the fact that you can't please everybody all the time, and a lot of people just like to find things to complain about. Perhaps they could have done better, perhaps not. Maybe Blizzard can receive more praise than criticism, but we'll see.

 

[Sky15]

Play SWG and you see how bad SoE can be. Or just read the SWG forum boards LOL.

And yea CrouchingTiger what I mean is it should vary from a power gamer too a casual gamer. Power gamers should have more incentive and rewards becasue we put more time then a casual gamer in too the game. A Casual gamer should in no way I believe be able to defeat a power gamer. I think they need to implament different rewards for different types of players. That all I'm saying

I think there is 9 classes and like 9 or 10 races not to many as of right now, but I also think it's good so they can truley focus un these classes and races so they can tweak em, and then later on add a bit more with the expansions.