Decision 2004 (World of Warcraft vs. Everquest 2)
Let the MMORPG face-off begin!
No, I'm not talking about whether Kerry or Bush gets elected. I'm talking about something much more important... which of the two heavy weights in the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game arena is going to get your vote.
"Ladieeeeeeeeees and GEN-tlemen... in the red corner, weighing in at a massive 400,000+ subscribers, the current World Heavyweight Champion of MMORPGs, the Sword and Spell Heroin, the one, the only Ever-crack legacy, Everquest 2 from Sony Online Entertainment.
[cue cheers from the EQ Fanbase, hisses from the WoW supporters]
"And innnnnnnnnnn the BLUE Corner, the challenger, coming from successes like Diablo I and II, Starcraft and its hideously addictive Warcraft series, Worrrrrrrld of Warcraft, by Blizzard in its MMORPG debut."
[cue cheers from the WoW fans and boos from the EQ loyalists]
Seriously. This is what it feels like. This holiday season, two massive games are going to duke it out, with the prize being your monthly subscription. Of course, you could opt to buy and play both games, but, honestly, who has time to play one massively populated online game, let alone two? I've been fortunate enough to have played both contenders in their respective Closed Betas, and I want to put these two titans head to head for you in terms of playability from an online RPG veteran (by veteran, I mean the wasted hours and broken marriage, not implying I'm actually good at them, or anything).
Backing up six years or so, I first started playing Ultima Online, but not for very long as I was fortunate enough to have received a copy of Everquest from those nice folks at Verant (I later found out that like crack dealers, the first one is always free). Now before you WoW fans pigeon-hole me as a rabid EQ fan, first, read my WoW preview, and secondly... listen up. I could not stand EQ the first time I played it. In fact, I quit my first character in frustration after five hours. However, I was tempted back by friends, guided a little, and before I knew it, the subsequent five years was spent as a frequent visitor to Everquest's land of Norrath.
EQ, or "EQLive" as the first title is now referred to was a huge success in terms of account longevity, and until very recently, was the most attractive in terms of things to do and kill/get. Other titles like Dark Age of Camelot, or the sci fi set Anarchy Online, both had their appeal and tempted gamers away from Sony's title, but EQ was always... "the one to beat". No one has really come close, although the hugely subscribed Lineage has more base subscribers in Asia, for the North American and European markets, EQ is, and always has been for many "the front runner".
Time after time, the next MMORPG was touted by its respective fanbase as the "EQ Killer", but never delivered the depth and playability of EQ, or was hideously unstable at release. Everquest still has a loyal following, as well as its hardcore EQ haters. And after five years of playing EQ, I can see why it generates both poles of emotion among its player base. There are times when I've been so frustrated with it, I've yelled at loved ones, been in a foul mood for days, or outright quit in disgust (only to be tempted back later with a renewed interest in some goal). Every other game that came along has opted for "easier", and while they may be fun and a welcome change of pace, I always felt challenged by EQ and compelled to come back and meet that challenge.
However, time and technology have moved on, and both World of Warcraft and EQ2 are superior to EQLive in terms of the look and feel of the game world, and have also been able to address some of the hard coded flaws in EQLive, whether the long term challenge will be th>ere can't really be gauged until several months after each game's release.
But which one is right for you?
Round 1: Player vs Player (PvP)
The first and easiest choice to make is whether or not you like the thrill of taking on human opponents. Although EQ2 will almost certainly have a Guild vs Guild system post release, there will be next to no PVP mechanic, except for one on one dueling between consenting players. WoW offers dedicated servers to PvP and even on the Player vs Environment servers, an option to consensually get involved in the battle with the opposing faction will exist.
As a result, players who live for the challenge of overcoming fellow humans rather than computer generated opponents will be heading to WoW.
Winner: WoW by KO.
Round 2: Challenge - Difficulty vs. Reward
If you think that working towards a goal should not be an easy task, and that the harder the road, the sweeter the success, then you have a fairly tough choice. WoW in its beta stage appears easier, especially early on as character advancement is quite pacey, but does slow down somewhat as you progress. EQ2's leveling process is noticeably slower, even as early as the pre-teens. Challenge in the form of difficulty of an encounter is probably going to be an even match, as designers on both sides have take care to ensure that balancing and designing encounters is easy for them to accomplish. So because of the leveling speed...
Winner: EQ2 on points.
Round 3: Combat
Both Games have a graphically delicious combat system. It feels fast-paced, fun, and exciting. EQ2 has a slight edge due to heroic opportunities and its advanced graphic engine, but it's not an overwhelming advantage.
Winner: EQ2 on points.
Round 4: Game world
This is another tough round, with both contenders delivering a polished and rich gaming environment and the feeling that "real-ness" in EQ2 has the upper hand, but WoW's seamlessness is a great counter too. Warcraft's graphically stylized approach works very well, and while exploring, having aggressive mobs potentially lurking around the corner makes exploration as risky as it should be.
Winner: Too close to call.
Round 5: Game Mechanics
Whether combat has been locked or tagged, depending on your game. Whether you like your death penalty rough or mild. Online-only merchants, versus offline sellers. All of these come down to personal preference, and if you opt for the first choice in each of those three areas, EQ2 won that round, if you went for the second WoW is your champ.
Winner: You tell me.
Comments
You forgot an important (for me) area: Solo-ability.
I was in the WoW stress test and am in EQ2 beta. For Solo-ability WoW wins by a landslide. EQ2 is almost solo hostile (some quests which determine your class MUST be grouped, you can't do them solo).
And to follow on, WoW has a lot of quests that require grouping (Usually termed "Elite" quests) - sorry for the double post. Just annoying Luke (da Editor)
Did not play any of this two on beta but still i think this two games are not to be compared. Both aim at a different player base. Comming from a EQ long year player i can say that i was never into PVP so ill stick with EQ2 but i wish all WoW players out there the best of fun! :)
I have no problems soloing in EQ2 and finished all my class quests up to lvl 20 Shadow Knight solo. Some were difficult and painful , but I did them on my own , I played WoW as well , both games are good, both games I have liked both of them, wow had more soloability I think , but wow also has PVP , and as most of these games turn out its gonna be zergs that rule not individuals.
I have played both and for me there is no comparison: WoW is much much better. I was an EQ junkie as well but EQ2 just sucks. First, limiting the starting choices to Qeynos and Freeport, the 2 most boring cities of the first EQ was a big design mistake. Second, Freeport spawns 12 or 14 zones that take up to 2 or 3 minutes to load. This is very very bothersome. Third, the combat system is very clunky compared to the one feature in WoW. WoW went for very distinctive classes that offer different gameplay. EQ2 just re-hashed the old stuff. In EQ2, you actually have to go around and just kill mobs to make xp. In WoW, you don't. It's always part of a quest. These WoW quests guide you to places your level and you never have to run around for hours to find a mob you can kill. The framerate is much much better in WoW and the EQ2 graphics are superior technologically (the rendering techniques used) but far inferior in terms of graphic design and animation.
Blizzard took the EQ concept, made it playable and delivered WoW. EQ2 is basically EQ with some nice new ideas but it's still more a RPG simulation than a game... Now I'm sure some people will still prefer EQ2. For me, WoW is what I have been expecting ever since I have played the first EQ in Beta.
EQ2 has no Mac client, so WoW wins by default for me.
wow reigns supreme hands down...
wow reigns supreme hands down... :-D
it seems that in this review taht they r drawed by, but it would be superficious to think that WoW is not better and EQ2 is just a remake. WoW is actually attemping to bring a new type of MMORPG into the industry unlike some other titles *cough* EQ2 *cough
Round 2: Challenge - Difficulty vs. Reward
I didn't really get a clear picture if you were saying one game is more difficult than the other, or that for whatever reason many players think that downtime/time sinks translates to difficulty.
This comparison is very badly written, and outright wrong. WoW is 1000x the game eq2 will ever be. Oh and lol @ game worlds = too close to call...(the writer of this review obviously hasnt played these games enough)
EQ2 is much better really for me, 1) No Dragons Lair graphics that look like cartoons, EQ2 has awesome graphics that beat WoW easy (Note: zoning takes few seconds with 1 gb ram, you should have read beta forums for EQ2 about this). 2) Far better crafting, its a game on its own 3) tons of races / classes and huge variety for each, in WoW you have so few character configurations its almost embarrasing for a 2004 mmorpg
Steve, thank god for opinions -- just don't try to masquerade yours as anything but that. WoW is not 1000x the game EQ2 will ever be, maybe in your blind little world... but in reality, No.
Here is my opinion:
WoW is a game for 2 year olds. Not only do the graphics look about the same as eq1 pre luclin (except the environments, those have a nice feel to them -- player/npc/mob models do not). But the game plays like you are invincible. Nothing even has a chance to kill you unless you try something obviously too tough for you, and then you die and have to run for half a mile which is nothing more than an insult. The game felt pointless to me, why would I want to lvl when all there is to look forward to is more mobs that are trivial by the time I get to them? The mobs come in too flavors, too easy or too hard. Elite mobs require groups but who bothers with groups when you can solo for just as good exp?
The game is fundamentally flawed for anything but casual people with very little time on their hands.
Good article, its obvious that the games apeal to different types of players. If I had A LOT of time I would probably prefer EQ2 because I get the feeling that u can go mush deeper into it. But since I dont, and because I like Blizzard and their games I will try WoW first.
Sounds like EQ2 is for those folks who want to play a MMORPG and don't care to have a life, but it does sound kinda cool.
Can characters dance in EQ2? The dancing in WoW is HIlarious and really cool.
I think WoW's graphics realize that trying for realism in a fantasy game is plain silly.
Nice post here. A lot of info to think about. But one thing that i am wondering about is how your character looks. I like my guys being orginal. Games like Leneage2 looks cool, but everyone looked the same. And the Star wars one, u could change everything. How is it in WOW and EQ2? What i can see in WOW looks limited in that aspect(other than clothing change).But sounds like a game that can take up the right amount of time. Witch is better creativly to being orginal?
About looks: EQ2 has a character selection quite similar to SWG, you can change almost everything, so its really impossible to have two characters that look the same. On the other hand, WoW has several different faces, and not many really, about 8-10 or so, so its really possible that you meet people that looks exactly like you.
I just got the WoW final stress test yesterday (its free for fileplanet subscribers), and really, since I had been playing EQ2 before, visiting Stormwind after having seen Queynos is a bad joke.
I agree competely about the 'too easy' thing of WoW. After playing a lot to both, WoW seems to me like a theme park: Everything is mean to be fun or funny (mobs with candles on their heads? :p), and very low on hard things to do, its extremely accesible, you simply can't get lost, which makes that it has not much merit getting to high levels since it makes it so painless. Even graphics match the 'theme park' tone, where most buildings, places and NPCs / PCs are exagerated.
On the other hand, EQ2 is more realistic, both in terms of graphics and gameplay. Is a game for RPG players. Dying is expensive. Crafting is long, difficult, even dangerous. Risk on your own on high lvl zones and you will probably die even if you sprint.
The thing here is merit or plain fun all the way. If you play EQ2 and get quite high level, either you become master crafter or powerful magician, you're to be respected because it was so hard, even more now than EQ1 since you cannot be powerlevelled and solo is not that easy. If you play WoW, you're going to have a blast, but it's so painless that it has no merit to get high level.
Alright, Everyone has given very interesing opinions, and don't think they are anything but that. The fact is that both of these games have features that the other doesn't have. For instance WoW has blizzard who has always produced a innovative and extremely high quality product and Eq2 has....sony... who release a lot of... stuff and provides mediocre, at best service reliability.
I also like the fact that Blizzard always releases a complete game and then adds patches for minor changes and eventually something new, there isn't a constant stream of major expansion patches or sets. All of Blizzard's games have had basically one major expansion and a couple patches. Mistakes of most mmorpgs in the past is shipping the game too early and then coming up w/ 4-5 expansion sets(Ultima, eq1 etc.) I'm not saying that Blizzard won't eventually add stuff, im just saying that WoW will ship as a complete game, they are seeing to that w/ all of these betas and stress tests.
Point being, I don't trust sony's reliability anymore, on almost all of their products, because i have...or had a lot of sony stuff that just seemed to fall apart *shrug*
But...ah don't my rambling....
Agree on that, Sony, mostly due to SWG, cannot be trusted much on terms of server stability on launch, on the other hand Blizzard is a newbie on terms of MMORPGs so we can't say how will they perform here. But in any case, both MMORPGs will probably be reasonably playable in say, two weeks (even Anarchy Online was), so to me a perfect launch is important, but when you're planning on giving months of playing to a game, it's not decisive
EQ2 is so solo-unfriendly at higher levels it's unreal, after lvl 20 you don't have to group to proceed quicker, you have to group to proceed period!.
And due to the insane ' group XP debt' you become very, very choosy who you group with because it you group with the wrong players (especially lower lvl classes) and the group get wiped out (happens alot) ,at lvl 20+ you'll spend the next few days playing just to get rid of the XP debt.
Therefore the game becomes a very lonely place, you log on, serach for players looking for a group, not finding anyone of a similar level, you log off again and try again later......
solo questing is not an option after lvl 20, no one goes to the fallen gate on their own Madness !!!!!
I've pre-ordered WOW having never even played it. I won't be playing EQ2 anytime soon.
Round 2: Challenge - Difficulty vs. Reward
i also have a comment on this.
Everquest is a very hard game to lvl up in i know from experience. wow is supposed to be easier to do so. wow has a distinct adavntage here (for me) because i do not have the time and effort to put into everquest. cause after lvl 20 leveling gets very long and boring and with the limited amount of time i have i would be stuck in the 20's for a long time to come
I've been trying to decide Eq2 or WoW for about a month now. I finally decided upon WoW after it seemed like though not as complex would be much more a fun game. However I then received word from a few friends that they planned on getting Eq2, so after little thought I realized that even if WoW were more fun I'd enjoy having fun with my friends alot better. So today spent the last hour reading Eq2, and WoW reviews and peoples comments and comparisons on the two and here is the end result...
I've got a strong feeling I'm going to end up canceling my preorder to Eq2. I've read tons and tons of reviews and a majority of I read about Eq2 are 'The graphics are awesome!' 'The graphics are great!' 'Eq2 players are more mature!' 'The graphics are superior!' 'Eq2 offers more!' 'The graphics are beautiful!' I guess you can see where this is going...
Don't get me wrong, graphics are a major game aspect! However if I have to choose between graphics and gameplay, I'm definitely going to choose WoW. I havent played beta for either game, so all of the Eq fanboys need to come up with some better arguments for why you're game is better. The Blizzard fanboys have drawn me in.
I'd just like to say: Great article m8!
To Kye: Difficult + Painful, is not really two qualities that endear themselves to "ease" - but thanks for the constructive feedback.
To Miracle: I do agree with you in principal, however, in EQLive, even tho' timesinks and frustration were the test, the reward did make you feel like you "had overcome", I was trying to essentially measure how easily you progressed. Remember hell levels in EQ, and how dinging out of them felt? Thats what I'm referring to. It would be nice if challenges made you feel tested, the end games of both titles will need to be fully tested to see which comes up, but for now EQ2 becomes the hardest to progress in. Hope that covers that.
To Steve: I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing, please link me to some unpaid online gamesite writers who I can learn from. Also, If there was a way I could play both games 240+ Hours prior to and post launch to thoroughly get a feel for all elements of each game, I would. Please let me know your e-mail address so you can start paying me. Oh, and you might want to read both of the game's individual previews too. EQ2's environment, graphic effects and Avatar customization vs WoW's Smoothness, Music and Creatures. I call it a tie, but my humble opinion has obviously offended your Fanboi world, I would say I was sorry, but I'm over my B.S. quota this year.
To Undecided: My advice would be to try the wow beta first, then decide whether you want to try EQ2, I'd recommend checking it out as well.
Thanks to Swiper for the very deep response, and thanks to all of you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
PS - Luke?? Where's mah dang Blue F !!??
I"ve played both Betas, and while WOW has it's strong points om PVP and solo, EQ 2 is a clear winner for overall game experience. I cant play WOW for more than 2 hours, but I can play EQ for hours. Whatever the reason is, EQ2 is the mmore interesting game by far. Sorry Wow Fans, but you really have to have a bone to pick with EQ2 if you think WOW is better overall. I have no bones to pick, but I do have a big nose.
Eq2 is also much better for caster classes which I play. Wow just misses the boat here. Warriors and such may like WoW a bit more.
I"ve played both Betas, and while WOW has it's strong points om PVP and solo, EQ 2 is a clear winner for overall game experience. I cant play WOW for more than 2 hours, but I can play EQ for hours. Whatever the reason is, EQ2 is the mmore interesting game by far. Sorry Wow Fans, but you really have to have a bone to pick with EQ2 if you think WOW is better overall. I have no bones to pick, but I do have a big nose.
Eq2 is also much better for caster classes which I play. Wow just misses the boat here. Warriors and such may like WoW a bit more.
I think EQ2 is wayyy better because WoW looks SO CHILDISH!!!!! EQ2's lvling system is really boring though beacause after you pass lvl 20 its impossible to go on soloing. If EQ2 was easier to solo in i'd definately play it but because of the lvling i'm still decided but i still think i might play EQ2
good review, eh
EQ2 rocks and WoW looks cool. So let the ppl who like EQ2 play EQ2 and the ppl who are tired of it play WoW. They are both awesome games and they are both have their strengths and weaknesses. I myself am sticking with EQ. Might give WoW a shot though too.
Hail all....
I was in Wow open beta, and the first 2 day I can say with ease... I could give up my family and live in the world of warcraft for ever... but then something happened... I don't know if it was the fact that the open beta was coming to an end or if I just lost the warm feeling playing wow. But I died, the game is great it was my first look in online role playing, but I found out that teaming up is what I like. And players I wow just don need to. Most of them ore the most played char... Have pets, minions or some other form of helper to assist them...
Just for the record,
I played at dwarf priest love those thick heads case char...
Got to lvl 15
Tailor lvl 74
Enchanter lvl 6
I have a good insight in the other car because we ware 5 friends that played different char...
One thing that I thing is wrong with wow is as others have pointed out there I not much pain in the game, as a priest I could resurrect players. BUT with the coming of easy money and loot and the maximum of 5 minutes walk there was no need to have a healer/resurrect in a group.
yes there I a lot of funny thing is wow, I played on a RPG server, and tort that this meant seriousness but I was wrong, , one command is /train = the Char says like a train hmm ehhhm TRAIN Cute at first BUT 27 going "tu tu choook choook chook" all the time just makes the game silly!
I was willing to pay the monthly fee for wow but I just can't se that, the game has a longtime play time.... It gets boring. Just like SWG, a game that didn’t last ether
I have no insight in eq2 sounds cool I will look into it...
Just my Mind
Spelling errors are free
/martin
EQ2 has kewl graphics...less the Erudites, whom are weird and alien like? I thought it was fantasy not Sci fi. But I guess the Erudites always got bonked with the "you will look funny" stick.
WoW I think is about things getting harder without spontaneously changing in difficulty (ie Turning up the heat slowly over time so you don't realize you are getting cooked). I found I could play WoW as much as EQ. The mystery with EQ disappeared and it is new but yet some how the same in EQ2. WoW still has mysteries (for me anyhow, neither really a follower or player of warcraft). Forcing people to group with the inability to solo to any reasonable extent is NOT fun. It is not rewarding to endure hours and hours of LFG. When I reached lvl 70 with my wizard did I get a special trophy? No. Also if it supposedly part of the the reward (enduring LFG) then clerics are a diminished class (they get groups ez, and ne one who disputes that must be a HORRID cleric. And if they have built up such "inter-player" faction I recommend a name change.)
Maybe WoW is a bit cartoonish, but Undeads are still nasty looking, Night elves still look "elvish". The architecture is exotic, I find it doesn't look like a place I have ever been. And if you remember all the "newbie" changes they made in EQ...WoW doesn't force you to start in bed with your guild master at least...you still have to kind of find him/her. And there are plenty of character looks you can have, through various skin, hair colors, face styles and features. EQ2s is nice I must admit and certainly have more features, but WoW is not lacking by any stretch.
As for death in game: WoW is easier than EQ2, but is still a pain. Not a gutwrenching one like in EQ nor like a mild hernia in EQ2, but still exists (More like a minor scratch on the knee, nothing to be hospitalized for really). And from my experience the Graveyards tend to get further and further away from where you are in WoW...at least it seemed that way.
There is plenty of discoveries to be made in both games, both have nice features and playability (although EQ2 does offer less flexability for soloability). However it comes done too: Do I want to endure Sony and their hush hush and nerfing for years to come? If chevy kept making cars that broke down every 3 weeks and they refused to honor the warranty or didn't answer the complaint line...would you buy their 2005 models because they are fancier?
I think I'm moving on, try out something a bit different.
I have been in WOW beta for the last 7 months, I didnt get to play eq 2 until release..
As for the tradeskill system,
EQ 2 loses on this. Would you like to add up the time it takes to gather resources, then get the skill enough to gather tier 2 resources,
Then the HUGE amount of time it takes to make items. You can spend hours and hours just trying to make the most simple thing. Every combine has a sub combine, which some of them have sub combines..
Eq 2 is a horrible time sink game like eq 1 , no one really wants time sinks anymore, nobody has the time.
forget to mention about animation..
EQ 2 animations are horrible. They look like these rubber band paper dolls.
If you slide out into 3rd person view, and wtahc your self as you move around forwards backwards, side to side, you notice that the movements look and feel un natural.. Your feet slide across the ground...
even in combat you dont really move , in a natural manner, you just kida slide around.
I watthced gnolls chase someone, and i about died from lauging watching the gnolls hippy hop all together, and slide around ..
WoW animations maybe cartoonish, but the whole animation looks real, combat looks real, interaction with others looks real. Eq 2 , has a poor animation system , and thats how i see it.
I was one of the Fortunate few that was able to play the OPEN BETA for WoW....all I can say is Amazing!
The debate between EQ2 & WOW is a moot point...you don't NEED someone to sell you-YOU sell yourself. Quite frankly I LIKE Warcraft and because of that I was already bias towards WOW. Granted EQ is of the chain, but that was not my thing-it in my opinion is boring and tedious. This is MY personal opinion it doesnt me EQ is bad it just show's my affection for Wow.
Much Kudos to the Blizzard Team (post and PRE) we won't forget the foundation laid!
4L
I only had the chance to play WoW in Open beta, but from what I have seen of WoW vs heard of EQ2, WoW wins hands down for me. Folks who want to get 500+ hours of gameplay in before they can enjoy the rewards of hitting the top level will probably feel differently, but I haven't the luxury of that much time. I really like the concept of questing rather than grinding, the double experience reward for not spending your entire life grinding away at monsters, and the inherent setup for PvP. I played the warrior, mage, warlock, rogue (favorite), and priest, all of which play entirely different and I would imagine it would be an enjoyable experience to level all of them up to 60, and it could probably be done in the time it takes to get one EQ/EQ2 character to max. I often times feel like they ported the character building concept of diablo 2 over to an mmorpg format - each character class not only has different skills to contribute to the party, the style of play is different - for example the rogue uses energy to fuel his attacks that replenishes over time, making him favor quick, sweet ambushes where the warrior builds a rage bar during combat making him favor prolonged battles.
If you can't tell I'm excitedly waiting for the 23rd. Peace Out!
seems like WoW has a bigger advantage eh? Better PVP system, faster leveling than EQ2 which takes long and BORING after level 20, who whould want to be bored playing leveling for hours? But since EQ2 is more harder to solo, team players might like to go for EQ2, but for me... i choose WoW, since im a fan of all blizzard games, i've been a BIG FAN of Diablo2, WC3, WC2, TFT, STARCRAFT and expansion, and specialy i love wow cause it has nasty looking pets than EQ2, and i get to be a bad ass undead mother ****er :D
all class quests are done solo. some of them may appear to have to be grouped but that might be cause your approaching them wrong. for instance, to become a predator or ranger you have to use sneak to get around serveral qroup conning mobs just to get to the guy you have to kill. your notsuppose to fight these group con mobs.
I think you missed an important comparison here.
While EQ2 looks great and Warcraft has a much lower polly count, its worth mentioning that you'll need a monster of a pc to make EQ2 look that good and play well at the same time.
I for one will be playing my MMORPG of choice on a laptop with GeForce Go 420 graphics so its easy to guess which game that'll be.
Should help pass the hours by on those long nightshifts in the office :-D
Man guys, think Eq2 just ownes WoW. There is no dought and also for the solo thing. I cant find any problems wiht Eq2
Anyone that argues EQ has no problems, has no argument, and is a lamer. As a software developer, I can attest to the fact that there is no such thing as bugless sottware. Furthermore proving a program has no bugs is a NP complete problem; it cannot be proved, not even with all the time in the universe, using the fastest computers.
Okay, not so quick and dirty chime in here.
Wow is in my opinion a shiney clean game full of nugetty goodness (did I spell nuget right?). Blizzard outdid themselves on this one. The level of detail is amazing in ALL areas. I honestly believe they raised the bar when they made this game.
If you have a wife that will not let you play EQ because of past transgressions (memories of long nights playing the game followed by even longer days with an angry wife still give me a headache), pick up Wow. One thing it has that EQ2 cannot touch is the quick play ability. The levels come fast and furious... and you can solo all the way up to the end. The quests are easy for find, follow and most of the time execute (elites being an exception). All this together means, you can sit down for 15 minutes and feel like you accomplished at least a little bit.
The thing about wow... Wow is easy. I mean, it kinda has to be. It is easy compared to EQ2, the way Diablo 2 is easy compared to Never winter nights. Does that make it a better game? No, it makes it an easier game. I played EQ2 an loved it, but in the end had to come back to Wow, reason being... with a wife and 2 kids, I am sorry to say I do not have the time to be anything but a casual gamer (Causal being less than 15 hours a week). If I was a hardcore gamer, I might play EQ2, but I can't say since I had to drop the game due to not enough time to have fun on it.
The other selling point, (this is not an issue for me, but for alot of people it is) Wow looks good and plays fine on my sons computer (p3, 256ram and a $50 video card).... EQ2 I would have framerate issues on mine sometimes (p4 2.5ghz, GF6800 BFG OC 256ram, and 1.5g 1033 Rambus)...
LOL screw EQ two WOW is where its at
for get eq 2 LOVE wow and you should two. join me
blizzard owns
warcraft is for 2 year olds,pfff
ur badly wrong
im 24 and been playin wc3 for like 3 years and its probably the deepest rts i ever played simply cuz it has loads of mods like DOTA n xhero
wc is for 2 year olds ummm i think ur thinkin of ZELDA
WOW wins .. ONE REASON it on MAC OS X too. THey have EdJaMakated!!! lol .. Programmers.. SOny sucks %^& they only release crap 3 years after the games dead .. Also they EQ 2 SUCK!!! period. I believe it ot not dont care for sony .. PUN!!
But when they release EQ on mac 3 year late.. and on top of that was unable to play with the PC servers .. COME ON WTF was that!!
Anyways .. sony EQ 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 is somewhere in the neg 1000 ..
Game too much of a grind ..
Game is slow and on the best PC which i have it was sad!!
Game was also a pain in the butt to use GUI wise.
LAstly the biggest problem ever .. was the game cannot hold interest at all .. you do not even have the design of EQ BTW is 900 times bettter than EQ II .. ever today.
Hi Im from Slovakia i haven´t World of Warcraft!!!
Ale mám Warcraft Frozen Throne!!!
i think eq2 is better i have played both i played wow for about 13 days for like 12 hours a day and but than i didnt want to play wow any more so than i bought eq2 and now i cant stop playing by this i mean i put in like 15 hours a day on the game and still going.
i just got done reading some of the comments sorry to say if u think eq2 has bad grafics get a better video card. lets c wow beat them. i dont think so. wow is more of a kids game and a newb game for people that have no heart in adult games.
i just got done reading some of the comments sorry to say if u think eq2 has bad grafics get a better video card. lets c wow beat them. i dont think so. wow is more of a kids game and a newb game for people that have no heart in adult games.
I am playing eq2 right now and its awesome... zoning is the only bad part of the game. Other than that, I have a great time playing.... It is very time consuming though, so if you work full time and have a gf, it is hard to get time to do everything you want to b/c the game has so many options and diff. things you can be doing.
OK!!!! First off, I obviously can tell by this writer's explanation of the difficulty of WoW that he has not played end game. Blizzard made up to level 60 extremely easy ON PURPOSE. It gets you hooked and makes you feel that you are getting to know the game. In all honesty the game starts at 60. To the writer, have you ever been in a 40 man Molten Core raid? Have you ever attempted to survive the 40 minute encounter with Nefarion? Have you ever tried to work together with 2-3 other 40 man raids on an outdoor raid boss while the opposing faction has 3-4 40 man raids of their own trying to STOP you? Didnt think so. Didnt think you knew how that felt. You tell me how EASY this game is once you drop nefarion after 39 minutes and all the tanks are dead, the healers have no mana and wild polymorph is destroying your raid, and you step up to lay the killing blow while your heart is thumping and you are sweating and everybody over ventrilo is yelling and screaming, and you know that you have accomplished something. Tell me after that the reward of you winning Askhandi greatsword of the brotherhood and knowing that you have done what only a handfull of this games elite have ever done that this game is easier that EQ2. I would like you to play the game, "noob", then tell me.
I think that they are a waste of time and people shouldn't waste their life, they should be doing something useful. Beside's the games are not exiting!!!, they're just a waste of money.
alright, I've played eq for years, I played WoW for almost a year, and I'm just getting into eq2. I hope someone reads down to my post, because I really think I've seen both sides of it pretty well.
I started out with WoW with little thought to EQ2 at all. It's guaranteed that Blizzard will make not only a great game, but a genre redifining game. And they did. In fact, WoW is mmo history.
And the vast majority of players will prefer WoW. I don't though, and I think I know what types of players will and won't like WoW, and who will prefer EQ2 or EQ. Blizzard's popularity is actually their problem for a lot of gamers.
With no offense to you, if you are in the 12-18 age range, I think you will like WoW. Also, if you like to solo, or you just don't have very much time, it's WoW. I don't have much time, but I still prefer EQ2 though. The reason is that WoW's playerbase ruins the game. Try to find a pickup group in World of Warcraft. Try to find a guild. 90% of all the players are selfish little jackasses who are not enjoyable to play with at all. While I played WoW, i enjoyed the game very much and I had found cool people to play with; however, if I ever wanted to do a pickup group for a dungeon or join a good guild(usually, did find 1 good one.. GO GO Storm Forged of Dethecus), I always had to deal with the most immature idiots. And on the other side (pvp server), i had to deal with griefing, corpse camping, 40 lvl higher char ganking fools. That was the biggest issue. Not the only issue, though. Also, the world was small, and to stay on par pvp you had to repeatedly run the same tired old dungeons. Quickly, the content runs out and it's boring, and on top of that you're always around and having to deal with bnet kiddies. Seriously. I didn't believe it when people said it'd be like that in beta, but it really is true.
When I went to EQ2, it was like I remembered EQ. Nice, cool people who are just fun to play with. And this really makes a game. Plus there was the immersive environment that just pulls you into it and feels like you could never know everything about it. I think for 30+ yr old gamers, or those who just want a nicer, cooler, more mature playing group (i'm 23 but can't stand the WoW social environment), and have more time to play or won't get frustrated with slow advancement, will prefer EQ2.
It sucks that blizzard games suffer from their own massive success. They are so popular that they draw from the antisocial, selfish, real asshole people that tend to be in the younger age groups. Their games are so easy and user friendly that these people don't get frustrated with the game. Then they'll be running around at lvl 50 corpse camping you when you're lvl 20. That is the flaw of WoW.
I'm cool with slow advancement, harsh death penalties, and confusing user interfaces. Sure, it's frustrating at times, but it's worth it to keep the non-serious, instant gratification, game ruining idiots away from me.
WoW is the best game so take that EQ2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WoW is the best game so take that EQ2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WoW is the best game so take that EQ2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the comments of "Played Both" are fairly accurate regarding WoW. The player base doesn't bother me as much, but the comments are fair. I like WoW because it is more casual friendly than other MMORPGs. I just don't have time to play EQ2.
The pick up groups in WoW are really hit and miss, with much more "miss" than "hit". But with the death penalty being quite mild the overall experience is quite entertaining most of the time. If it gets too tiresome then there are always guild mates to fall back on. I disagree with "Played Both" on the subject of guilds because I have not found it hard to find a decent guild.
WoW has two types of players: the brash PvPers who tend to be very young and the casual gamers who tend to be much older. Once you realize that it is fairly easy to figure out which group a particular character belongs to and either join them or avoid them.
A few people mentioned the graphics in WoW. It's funny because I always think they look cartoonish when I see a screenshot but when I am actually playing the game they look far better. The graphics seem very realistic in-game, realistic for a fantasy world at least.
I can't comment on EQ2. I found EQ very atmospheric but I could never get into it: it required too much time at one sitting. EQ2 doesn't seem any different so it's not for me.
well when it comes down to it eq2 is more for having a guild and teamwork something i find greatthe cooperating is a good thing for the game w.o.w has less cooperating thats kinda sad...
Too bad EQ2 doesn't have anyone left on their server to group with, Bart. I just quit. I had enough of waiting to fix crap that should have been done already. Why bother now anyway as no one is playing? I like WoW. Met a great guild and group more now then I ever have in EQ. Quests are better too and wow do you get experience for doing them! None of that stupid, omg-i'm-gonna-throw-up collection quests just to get a fraction of experience in EQ2. Oh gosh, I get sick just thinking about it!
I just left Everquest 2. I lasted 2 weeks, many times falling asleep at the computer. Luckily I realised it was a complete waste of time and uninstalled it straight away befor my first free month expired. I just tried WoW and so far it is MUCH better and FUN. Feels more like a game and less like a chore.
By the way, Everquest 2 community is no way more mature than the WoW community. The opposite. They are all stuck up snobs who want give you the time of day. If "maturity" is meant by "ignoring" you, then yes, I suppose they are more mature.
Oh yes. And the servers are completely empty as well. It''s like you're playing on your own for most of the time.
WoW wins easily.
No way u can compare WoW with EQ2, wow is 100 times better then EQ2, is totally diffent quality, comparing wow to EQ2 is just = Good compare to Bad lmao. i tried EQ2 last night it was like a 1999 years old game, the graphics is horrible, i play that game for less than an hours deleted it striaigt away, i was supprised how bad the graphics and UI could be, the colour sucks, the graphics sucks, the sounds sucks, the quest is messy, the text goes everywhere on the screen, just not user frendly, i dont even find it fun to play cause i got headach from playing it for 15 mins. the world envirement sucks too, i really dont wanna rated so bad, i am just telling the truth.
i dont understand how ppl could compare wow to EQ2, this topic is rediculas, WoW is much better course! if u play WoW first then u ill find EQ2 sucks, if u play EQ2 first u ill find WTF? why i wasted all my money and time on EQ2? u ill just wanna go to die if u try EQ2 first then try WoW. if u dont wanna get dieing feeling then just dont try wow and continue with EQ2, cause u wont accept the truth how much better WoW is.
Oh my god there ARE alot of kids here :p
EQ2 has bad graphis?? Ask you r daddy to buy you a real outer and then check it again hehe.
I am play both WOW and EQ2 , but currently I am fed up with WOW's community the anti social behaviours and the style of the game. It is more boring to me then EQ2 is.
I play WOW when I qwant to level fast as solo or duo with my wife and feel Uberpowerfull with poutrages armour and weapons (that everyone has that plays enough). EQ2 I play to get more immersed int o the world and enjoy the special items, titels and extra's that I earned by going the full distance in the game. It makes me feel more rewarded and unique. BUT I need more time for it since it takes longer.
In The new expension KOS introduced alot of new elements that worked in WOW, some unique features and they are returning to their EQ story telling roots which are always nice.
BIG disadvantage in EQ 2 i still find are the zones , I think zones are oldfashioned and i would love to see them go. And they are dumbing alot of the game down to draw in wow players. They should not do this stay yourself , be different. IF they both play the same but simply look different then its useless to me.
We will see what blizzard does in the exension. But I am slowing seriously on my wow time currently. It held my attention for 6 monhts.
Tradeskills- WoW has better tradeskills. There are so many funny and odd things you can make
Wow has an awesome community with all the funny and random items you can get you'll always have a laugh for something...
i played both games ... first i played eq2 then i played wow ... and i dont think i waisted my money on eq2 at all. the reason why i did quit i that the gameplay was to heavy. mutch lagg and slow zoning. In wow you only need to zone in instance. i think eq2 looks better in characters you have more classes and races i love it.
in wow you can only choose like 7-9 faces.but i love to travel in the game.i love playing both games but if i really needed to choose i choose eq2 i dont know why but i had more fun on that game then i have now on WoW
i played both games ... first i played eq2 then i played wow ... and i dont think i waisted my money on eq2 at all. the reason why i did quit i that the gameplay was to heavy. mutch lagg and slow zoning. In wow you only need to zone in instance. i think eq2 looks better in characters you have more classes and races i love it.
in wow you can only choose like 7-9 faces.but i love to travel in the game.i love playing both games but if i really needed to choose i choose eq2 i dont know why but i had more fun on that game then i have now on WoW
eq2 was designed to fail. the crafting takes far too much time, and not only that but you need to go around for 3 hours collecting stuff from bushes to make the low level items, then craft those into other items so you can craft those into still other items. the dungeons arent group specific, so other groups can take your boss mobs after youve cleared the entire thing. also, the loading is annoying and the zones are so huge that it takes close to 20 minutes just to get from point A to B and by that time you just dont care anymore.
not only that but at this point nobody plays eq2 and in a game thats primarily group based past level 20, thats not a good thing.
ah hem...can you say outdated........eq2 has since re vamped its tradeskill prosesses(no more running back and forth between forge and sewing lol) there are a huge amount of quests easily soloable in eq2 and there are no more class quests. only one quest on the begining isle you need to group for(and you dont HAVE to do it) WoW was made for 12 year olds i pitty those 20+ (even 15+) that play it......i mean those massive swords of universial destruction come on like 14 f blade and my guy is what 5'1? im going to keep playing eq2...with all the updates and such its just going to keep getting better and better(btw wow is almost TOO easy no skill involved at alll at least in eq2 or eq1 u need a brain and an idea of what your doing. so alll you 12 year olds here have fun playing WoW im going back to my more defined more reastic enviroment more skill required no dumba** kids pestering me and being outright stupid Everquest 2 oh ya one more thing....if you are 15+ HAHAHAHA at you !!!!!
world of warcraft cna get boring and somtimes very laggy due to the overcrouding in cities like org and stormwind, everquest 2 may have zones and you do have... O i dont know FIVE SECONDS of waiting in between, get over yourselves nothings going on out there during that short period of time. Ive been playing both games for a long time i have maxed out characters on both and i have to say gameplay, graphic, and tradeskill wise EQ2 excels over WoW greatley, face it peeps EQ2 vs WoW... EQ2 wins
I was reading the other comments and is aw somone mention that eq2 servers are empty, true and untrue. I personally like being able to roam around alone across the endless and beutifully made landscape of eq2, and if i ever need a group my guildies are always around to help. though its not like they are completley empty, i mean its not like wow where no matter where you go theres always peaple killing your targets and slowing your progress, I also agree with the anonomyous dude up there that said warcraft atracted peaple because of its fast paced leveling system, thats not nesesarily a good thing. I like haveing a smooth steady paced leveling sstem, it keeps ignorant asshole noobs from becoming a high level and think there better than everyone else because they spent every hour of every day training(no life). The fact that they stay in a more secluded training enviroment makes them horible players, being they wont know info about instances and wont know how to use the combat system as effectivley as those that have spread out there influence to PvP and tactics during raids bla bla bla you all get the picture. the smooth running leveling system keeps impatient bastards out and lets a more mature kinder audience enjoy the game.
excuse the horrible spelling on my posts ive been working all day and its 2am when im posting these sooooooo you guys get it
Three years on and I found this while Googling myself (its a free country, and legal.. thank you :P)
Glad some of my predictions bore fruit, but yes... both are classic MMORPGs - grind 'n' all.
I never got a chance to review them at launch, having parted ways with the very dear team here at play.tm long since. (Shout out to da boys!)
Anyhoo - I'm still satisfied with the comparison, but must say I'd have never believed the numbers - way to go Warcraft :)
Both publishers have made major changes to both games since, so its very outdated now, but still... thats what you get for trolling 3 year old posts :)
Take care
Adrian
even let me in
I tried wow and wow i didn't like it. Im now a 32 sk in eq2 and did it soloing and I still get good exp soloing so whoever thnks soloing stops after lvl 20 just doesn't know how to play. lower dungeons than your lvl where mobs are heroic give great exp when soloed. Just my exp so have fun with either game you play...