Everquest 2 Released. Server Names within.

[Sarepean]

I've actually played both. Currently still playing World of Warcraft in Beta. Personally, I think EQ2 did a lot of things that people have been begging for--- namely, and most importantly to me, your death = a group XP loss rather than just you losing XP. I don't know about you all, but I always play a class like a rogue and when a group steps through a locked door that I picked, and then I end up dead, noone feels the need to come back and help you. You've already gotten them through the door, now you're just deadweight that's sucking up XP. =( This kind of gave the group a reason to come back and help, ya know? Kind of an intertwining of fates. I'm going to lose an entire level, but you're coming with me type thing. =P Graphics are beautiful--- hardware intensive as all hell--- but I still ultimately feel more attracted to EQ1. Seeing how much things changed between EQ and EQ2 made me latch onto EQ zones even more. I mean, there's nothing like seeing your favorite zone in the future that'll make you A) gasp in excitement and B) make you feel homesick.

On the other hand, World of Warcraft did a lot more than I even expected it to do. Mrea, you're right--- they did just take the races from Warcraft 3 and make them bigger, but it's so much more than that. I don't know how many of you played Diablo II, but those of you who did will remember the skill trees. Well, they've implemented that in World of Warcraft. You gain access to the trees at level 10. Also, ever hated it when someone would kill your quest objective in EQ and you'd have to wait forever to kill it and MAYBE get your item? In World of Warcraft, you only get quest items from the creatures if you're on a quest that involves those creatures. Treasure chests encountered in a quest zone are usually only openable by you and the treasure respawns for each person's quest. I haven't actually seen any "rare" creatures as of yet, but I'm sure they're there in the higher levels. The classes are a lot like Warcraft 2's (having never played Warcraft 3). You'll meet your human priest and your orc shamans, etc etc. It's interesting--- really. You also have an "intro" when you first get into the world that looks completely like a single player RPG type introduction. For those of you people who like thrills, take a ride on a bat (if you're undead). Don't know what you others will have to take a ride on. =)


-Sarepean

[bUsh]

Originally Posted by mrea

It is free you dipshit. Having played neither, EQ2 looks a helluva lot better (as WOW's graphics looked like they just enlarged the models from Warcraft 3) and the gameplay too. But o well.

Watch the hostility, Mrea. I'm not making any personal attacks on you.

And what I'm talking about is, in fact, NOT free. I couldn't find an official page on Sony's site about it, but I had read about this on the card that comes with EQ2. The premium services are described here: http://darkmatrix.net/index.php/dark...comments/1452/

Honestly though, I'm not trying to start a WoW versus EQ2 war. It simply comes down to, for me, that after having been so heavily entranced by the concept of EQ2 and its graphics engine, I still find myself very disappointed at what was finally presented in the gameplay.

I'm sure there's enough remaining EverQuest fanboys to keep EQ2 alive, but I don't believe that it's going to have as large of a share of the market as was originally expected.

Time will tell, I suppose. I will say, though, that most EQ players would be better off playing EQ2, at least it's got a lot of things that can still be enjoyable to an avid mmo player. Whereas EverQuest, in its current state, has diminished into nothing but an over-produced shitwagon.

[mrea]

Have you looked at one of the free ones? I would definitely be happy with just that. Has your stats and items and you can upload screenshots. And what you are saying about EQ2 is sorta what I'm thinking about Halo2, a bit of a letdown. Regardless, I like the way they are doing the classes and artisan things in EQ2 and again, EQ2 Graphics > WOW Graphics. Sorry about my anger :P

[Richardo]

Originally Posted by Rogean

You've never played the fucking game and your gonna make an asshat opinion like that? Get some facts, Don't just judge it by its cover.

EQ2 is teh suxors! from my experience!

[dkelm688]

lol stfu damn noobs. everyone on this forum is a noob. imo. they complain and say how games suck. when they havent even played them. or even got to the high end of the game. and actually toke more than a day to experince it. every game has a downfall. no game is fucking perfect. .

[govtcheeze]

This is a post I made a week ago on my old guild's web site:

In my mind, they really got it right this time. I am having a blast messing around, exploring, etc. I wanted to get the new eq feel again, so I dont visit any spoiler sites at all...and leave everything up to my own discovery which has been cool. THey also made quests an integral part of the game...I am level 15 and have not grinded xp once...it was all from quest rewards, or killing mobs on a quest. The quests are really fun to do, and there are lots. I have completed almost 100, have 50 more in my book to complete, and thats just in 15 short levels.

Also the tradeskill system is really good...you level just like your class levels, and there are 1000s of products to make. The housing, merchant system, combat...all good times. The people are pretty noobish so I dont group except with people I know, but even solo it isnt bad. I'd say give it a try if you want to play, its worth it imo...and I was one of the anti-fanbois who said I would never buy it

THey also dropped a lot of the time sinks, so you can log in for a hour, play and have fun, and log off feeling like you accomplished something. My only complaint is to run a merchant you have to be logged into the game, but the nice thing is you can minimize eq and it only takes up 50M of ram and 1% CPU, so you can leave it running at night / while you work and not worry about burning out your system.

All in all, I give it 9/10 (from a casual player's perspective).

Take it for what you will...I am level 19 sorcerer, 18 scholar now and my views have not changed at all.

[firedup]

actually i like eq 1 a little more than eq 2 eq 2 is ok and all but you get about 1 spell per level and thats me being a sorcerer i personnaly like eq 1 more than eq 2 and WoW ive never tried so i dunno about that

[sotonin]

eq2 is a good game. As much as it pains me to say it (being an ex-anti eq2 fanatic) i'm having a great time playing it. I can play it casual instead of obsessing over it like i did in eq1 and still have an entertaining time.

[Scorpx725]

From playing EQ2 and WoW, I can say both games are decent.

I prefer WoW more because it dosent feel like so much of a work then EQ2 does. It goes faster, simply put.

EQ2 is more of a grind, yet still fun because of the hundreds of quests. Like govt Ive also completed somewhere around 90-100 quests.

I guess my opinion is fairly biased because I played EQ1 so much and Im just burnt out of "hardcore playing" in a game.

[Celestial]

I have over 200 quests completed and let me tell you, this game is all about them. It takes the grind out of leveling, with all those quests completed id say about 60% of all my experience has come from them. From completing quests that gave as much as 30% exp, to quests that gave 2% exp, it all adds up.

[mysticalninjajesus]

quests are boring and a part of the grind in eq2. they noob you through every step of the quests. you dont have to use your brain one bit to get a quest, keep the quest up, and complete it. its all to automated. not actually looting an item and turning it in, not having to even listen or pay attention to what the npc says, because at the end you get a simplified overview of what exactly to kill and what to do next. and then theres things getting magic items and +2 stat items in the first 5 min of the game. the map with a radar of you on it. the lack of choice and freedom with the gear selection, the way they split solo/group mobs up so 'this is the solo area for level x' .. 'this is the group area'. thats what they have instead of interesting zone and mob placement design. flash's of light in combat and lines coming from your weapon, and uber spell effects for non magic class abilitys. fighter archtype should never be able to make cool particle effects and spells. EVER. unless its because of a magic item maybe... yeahhh... and the character models are rediculous. no character really looks like it fits his race/class description. its hard to make a character actually look like its race should look. i pre-fer preluclin models where you have a selecetion for 4-5 really uniqe faces each with its own personalty that fits the race over the more customizable faces of luclin/eq2. ehhh.. theres the horrible player market system.. the idiot HO wheel ... and theres and theres locked encounters which are the cause of a serious case of not giving a fuck about other players. that and theres not really that many dangerous things low levels are forced to go thruough. less oportunity to really impact other players experience. theres the bell system in the city... the non uniqeness of class's... lots of other use's of strange game mechanics for solutions to problems. ehh.. im done fore now.. but im sure theres lots more ill be unhappy with.