Everquest II vs World of Warcraft: A Year in Review

[Ratchet]

Rage3D staffer and self-confessed MMORPG addict, Peter "WhO_KnOwS" Gracar, pits the two genre heavy-weights against one another in a look at the features an improvements made over the last year. A very worthwhile read for every MMORPG fan out there. Check it out.

At launch WoW had the edge. Its interface was newbie friendly AND fully customizable for more advanced players. EQ2 on the other hand was far more customizable for a regular player, but as such it was also less user-friendly.

Today WoWs interface remains the same. EQ2s interface on the other hand has seen huge improvements and is currently at least comparable to WoWs, if not even better.

[P1x44r]

Wow, very extensive work! Great effort Peter!

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by P1x44r

Wow, very extensive work! Great effort Peter!

Something I did notice that you missed mentioning about EQ2 however..

Is that while they did remove encounter locking by default, there is an option to turn it off or on (auto locked encounter or not) in the options. Further, if you start an encounter, and then decide to lock it /lock will lock the encounter. (I have set a button to do that for me)

Excellent article!

[badboy]

the one thing that I hated most about eq2 and why I quit is the big ass town! and all the loading in between.
WoW took care of that for me, but I am bored with it now
if eq2 had smaller towns and places like wow then I would have started up my account right away! but that will never happen

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by badboy

the one thing that I hated most about eq2 and why I quit is the big ass town! and all the loading in between.
WoW took care of that for me, but I am bored with it now
if eq2 had smaller towns and places like wow then I would have started up my account right away! but that will never happen

Willow Wood? Big Bend? Those were too big?

[WhO_KnOwS]

He probably means that Qeynos (as an example) is way too big... You need about 4mins to run from one end to the other (if you don't use the mariner bells)

[Redshirt_X]

<gives W_K some much-deserved decaf and a comfy pillow>

All things considered, that seemed to be a pretty balanced comparison of the two. And it has me considering doing the trial thing for EQ2, which I never seriously considered before...good job, Who.

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by WhO_KnOwS

He probably means that Qeynos (as an example) is way too big... You need about 4mins to run from one end to the other (if you don't use the mariner bells)

I use the Down Below mostly. Very quick "subway" system.

Edit : BTW, if you ever feel the need start a toon on Lavastorm and send Dayve a tell.

[WhO_KnOwS]

Originally Posted by Redshirt_X

<gives W_K some much-deserved decaf and a comfy pillow>

All things considered, that seemed to be a pretty balanced comparison of the two. And it has me considering doing the trial thing for EQ2, which I never seriously considered before...good job, Who.

This "year in review" was made primarily to show the two games strengths, not to bash either of them. It was hard enough since I am currently leaning more in favor of EQ2...
At first glace one my think that this made me focus more on EQ2 (there is more text dedicated to EQ2 then to WoW). The fact is that EQ2 has had so many things changed that no matter how superficially I described the changes, I still had more text then I could ever come up for WoW (without starting to repeat myself)

[VW_Factor]

Indeed. EQ2 has gone through a lot of changes.

[ChrisRay]

Just something to note. In 2 weeks. EQ 2 will have a completely new 1-20 level experience and a completely new tutorial. Its being completely redone to kill the archetype system once for all. I've tested it alot and I really like it.

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by ChrisRay

Just something to note. In 2 weeks. EQ 2 will have a completely new 1-20 level experience and a completely new tutorial. Its being completely redone to kill the archetype system once for all. I've tested it alot and I really like it.

I didnt like it so much, however.. At the same time, Im not a fan of large change all at once either.

[ChrisRay]

What exactly are your issues with it? I look at this way. The current archetype system is broken. Its not representive at all of the charactor you will end up playing. I have 3 charactors stuck in their 30's because they simply ended up being something I didnt like. And there was no way to know based on the classes I had played up to this point.

What do summoners really have in common with necromancers ability wise other than the pets? They are really are more like conjurors. What does a mage have in common with an enchanter?

Same again. What does a scout have in common with a bard or dirge? Why is the bard so much different from the dirge yet more like a troubador? The beauty of the changes to me is they really give you a chance to feel out your final class prior. The other advantage is they give you a bit more racial identity and class identity early on. The new islands have so much more identity and purpose.

[WhO_KnOwS]

One thing that I don't like with the new system is that you don't get that feeling of acomplishment. Before, when you reached lvl 10 and later lvl 20 you KNEW you were progressing, since you suddenly got new abilities, your spells looked better (heck, even the casting animation got better - I'm talking about the effect on the ground that is specific for each class)...
SOE is promising armor and equipment quests instead of the old profession ones, but I still think that we lost an important part of the "feel" EQ2 gave us when we reached the important milestones.

[Maze]

how many players EQ2 has? WoW has over 5 million users....

[ChrisRay]

That feel of progression is IMO a silly thing to hold onto. No offense. But those quests were ridicously stupid. After getting my troubador to 60 I decided to start leveling a dirge because I like bards so much. And the quests tell you absolutely nothing.

Apparently the jist of being a bard is running and acting stupid in the bar scene. The Rogue one is being able to kill small rust monsters. The feeling of progression was completely artificial and threaded together with poor quests to explain that progression. The quests are similar for almost all classes too unfortunately. I am only reminded of this quest because I did it once before when I became a troubador.

Leveling an alt pre 20 is completely tedious and boring because your not even playing the class you wanna be. Your playing a mini game so you can be that class and jumping through boring hoops to get there.

[VW_Factor]

I just got used too it. Honestly the way its going to be changed is likely a good idea. However, I just dislike large amounts of change all at once. And playing through it, was odd. Just was used to the old way, after level 15 toons or so.

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by MazeWing

how many players EQ2 has? WoW has over 5 million users....

I heard that was toons. Not individual accounts.

[badboy]

hmm the class changes may make me start up EQ2 again I have never thought about it... but those changes sound awsome!
k I just read more into the changes and I am definantly starting eq2 up when those changes go live!
The big town bugs me still but these changes are too good to not try the game out again!

Crap now I am all excited I want to play it noow
must wait... must wait for the change

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I was quite disapointed not to see the hardcore Raid-content of WoW, and how important Teamplay is at that level, since most players will one day or another have seen all of the solo content and will aim higher. I don't know about EQ2, but endgame in WoW is getting a lot added, and should have deserved a mention.

[CurrentlyPissed]

Absolutly horrible review. I can't say much on the EQ2 side but on the wow he sat there and said a guild is just that a guild. No a guild is something you are in to do raid instances ( groups of 20-40 man ) with friends and plan out fights. Its like he left out the biggest part about this game the 20-40 man raids.

He said EQ2 is more tactical.. I am not sure how much more tactical you can get in WoW when it takes months to figure out a raid boss encounter for the first time.

[WhO_KnOwS]

Originally Posted by CurrentlyPissed

Absolutly horrible review. I can't say much on the EQ2 side but on the wow he sat there and said a guild is just that a guild. No a guild is something you are in to do raid instances ( groups of 20-40 man ) with friends and plan out fights. Its like he left out the biggest part about this game the 20-40 man raids.

That is the purpose of a guild... That's like critisizing me for saying: "This car model has no features at all" with: "YOU LEFT OUT THAT YOU CAN DRIVE IT!!!!"
WoW just offers guilds and nothing else. EQ2 on the other hand gives guilds a lot of tools to work with and gives them more purpose then just raiding.

Originally Posted by CurrentlyPissed

He said EQ2 is more tactical.. I am not sure how much more tactical you can get in WoW when it takes months to figure out a raid boss encounter for the first time.

You are mixing tactics and strategy here.
The first is way more apparent in EQ2, since each encounter (be it raid, group or solo) requires you to work together as a team. And this doesn't mean just tanks keeping aggro, healers healing and dmg dealers watching not to get aggro. In EQ2 the group members must use Heroic Opportunities correctly, be careful not to cancel an already started Heroic Opportunity, scout classes must be ready to change the flow of the HO if need be...
WoW on the other hand doesn't require much thinking in combat. As far as solo and group combat is concerned you only have three combat styles: against mages, against healers and against melee fighters. What works on one healer will work on most healers...
Raid content does require a lot of STRATEGY, where various classes must do their part and react to events accordingly... But to say that one game is more tactical just because it's raid encounters require thinking whereas the other game requires more player input in each and every single fight is absurd.

And just so I state this for the record: I like WoW! But there are certain things EQ2 does better. And of course there are things that EQ2 does worse.

[WhO_KnOwS]

Originally Posted by Nebuchadnezzar

I was quite disapointed not to see the hardcore Raid-content of WoW, and how important Teamplay is at that level, since most players will one day or another have seen all of the solo content and will aim higher. I don't know about EQ2, but endgame in WoW is getting a lot added, and should have deserved a mention.

I will fine tune the review and add this, amongst other things...

[CurrentlyPissed]

Originally Posted by WhO_KnOwS

That is the purpose of a guild... That's like critisizing me for saying: "This car model has no features at all" with: "YOU LEFT OUT THAT YOU CAN DRIVE IT!!!!"
WoW just offers guilds and nothing else. EQ2 on the other hand gives guilds a lot of tools to work with and gives them more purpose then just raiding.



You are mixing tactics and strategy here.
The first is way more apparent in EQ2, since each encounter (be it raid, group or solo) requires you to work together as a team. And this doesn't mean just tanks keeping aggro, healers healing and dmg dealers watching not to get aggro. In EQ2 the group members must use Heroic Opportunities correctly, be careful not to cancel an already started Heroic Opportunity, scout classes must be ready to change the flow of the HO if need be...
WoW on the other hand doesn't require much thinking in combat. As far as solo and group combat is concerned you only have three combat styles: against mages, against healers and against melee fighters. What works on one healer will work on most healers...
Raid content does require a lot of STRATEGY, where various classes must do their part and react to events accordingly... But to say that one game is more tactical just because it's raid encounters require thinking whereas the other game requires more player input in each and every single fight is absurd.

And just so I state this for the record: I like WoW! But there are certain things EQ2 does better. And of course there are things that EQ2 does worse.

Maybe I just took it to personal without showing the main part of the game ( guilds and raids ). They are where people will end up spending 80% of thier time so it felt like a big thing left out.

[WhO_KnOwS]

Originally Posted by CurrentlyPissed

Maybe I just took it to personal without showing the main part of the game ( guilds and raids ). They are where people will end up spending 80% of thier time so it felt like a big thing left out.

I intend to extend the crafting and guilds information into full sections. There I will describe what WoW offers in greater detail. Tnx for the feedback

[gillman]

This is what I took from the article, please correct me if I am wrong:

"EQ was terribly broken at launch and after a year and one expansion pack later it is finally delivering what they promised at launch"

I played EQ back in the day, and my main problem with SOE is that they like to change content on you when you are getting used to it. I enjoy the fact that I can log into World of Warcraft and not have it be a totally different game every six months.

[MrSpock2002]

One thing about EQ2 that you missed, is that the entire starter set up for the EQ2 is being changed in next update.

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by MrSpock2002

One thing about EQ2 that you missed, is that the entire starter set up for the EQ2 is being changed in next update.

That was covered earlier in this thread by ChrisRay.

[VW_Factor]

Originally Posted by gillman

This is what I took from the article, please correct me if I am wrong:

"EQ was terribly broken at launch and after a year and one expansion pack later it is finally delivering what they promised at launch"

I played EQ back in the day, and my main problem with SOE is that they like to change content on you when you are getting used to it. I enjoy the fact that I can log into World of Warcraft and not have it be a totally different game every six months.

EQ wasnt broken at launch. I think SoE wasnt expecting the "hardcore players" to reach the endgame content as quickly as they did. (I think like 2 weeks, we saw lvl 50s running around in large guilds, beating down the endgame). These people complained about the game being too easy. This was one of the main reasons for the combat system revamp.

They are changing the beginning of the game now, to give new toons a chance to play their role earlier. (ChrisRay covered this above). The game hasnt radically changed so much that one day you log in and EVERYTHING is changed into a new game. The combat revamp was the biggest overnight change, and that only made things "tougher" for the solo'ists as the Con system had changed as well.

[Alt-F4]

i don't have any hrs into WoW and so i can't comment on it.

however, EQ2, offers a lot to as a player. I have just started doing raids and its not easy. The best raiding guild on the Lavastorm server just now finished the hardest raid mob available (DoF expansion) and he has been around for 6 months now. There are a lot of problems, both with game mechanics and especially in the art dept. The same armor look for everything, we will see if they can come up with anything new in the next expansion.

lots of changes coming in Live Update 19 and 20. Looking forward to it. No more having to arrange your hot bars to "mentor" down to someone is going to be so nice!

Anyone considering playing EQ2, i would wait till the next couple of live updates and the expansion comes out. ChrisRay is right in how boring and pointless the beginning quests are. I am waiting to make a new character till the next expansion cause i couldn't stand to do the whole island thing over again.

I thought the article was pretty right on for the EQ2 portion! great work!