An old WoW player looking for a new game - just have some questions

Romoko

hey, what's goin' on? See, i played wow from the day it came out to about last week, and the reality is that it's just plain boring. Now, i've heard that EQ1 and EQ2 are good games. So, i figure i'd like to look into them. So, i have some questions to help my decision easier.

1 - i heard EQ1 was more hard core grinding, this true? i also heard that EQ2 was more casual gaming, but is it too casual. like, all u do is chat?

2 - i went to the site and saw like 3 expansions... do i have to buy em all - whitch will be played more? When are they coming out?

3 - I'm a solo person, whitch EQ is for me?

4 - How's the music?

5 - how's the economy - community

Thanks for your time!

Plasuma!!!

1 - I don't know much of anything about EQ1, but EQ2 is a little more hardcore grinding than WoW if you solo, but it's more rewarding and fun in groups. World of Warcraft lacked deeply in that department, if you ask me. It always felt like grouping was more of an inconvenience, in EQ2, it actually helps.

One thing I found interesting about EQ2: You can betray your faction. You start a quest line in your city (dunno where, haven't tried yet. To find these things out go to EQ2.ogaming.com, it's like the thottbot for EQ2) which allows you to switch sides from Good to Evil and vice versa, even races which are only allowed to be a certain alignment... if WoW did that, you'd end up with stuff like an Alliance Orc Paladin, now that would be something.

2 - The only EQ2 expansion you really need is Kingdom of Sky (AKA: KoS) which allows you to go up to level 70 with a lot of other features such as Achievement Awards. Desert of Flames (DoF) has mostly just extras that you can live without, but there are some added quests n such that some people find fun.

3 - EQ1, I heard, is hardcore grouping while EQ2 is more toward solo, but it's better if you group. You can go all the way to the top without grouping in EQ2, but it will take at least 1.5x longer.

4 - The music is good, but not on the newbie island; which sounds good the first time, but the repetition quickly wears out it's enjoyment. Personally, I don't care for the tunes they have (nice selection, but it's not my style), so I use select music from Oblivion, Morrowind, Heroes of Might and Magic IV, Neverwinter Nights, and World of Warcraft which feels a little more diverse.

5 - The economy is pretty much player run, and you can get into it with tradeskills if you use the broker (like the AH in a way). Tradeskills are, suprisingly, interesting and useful... unlike WoW, where pretty much only 16 slot bags and the best of the best crafted items can compete with the loot. Tradeskills are wonderful, but only after around level 20. The first 20, you wont make much from selling to other players, and the loot is either equal or slightly better in quality.

5-2 - The community is very kind and helpful. If you join a good guild, you'll meet more nice people . If you prefer to be a loner, you might get some random help from a passing player or raid group. Don't expect much help on a PvP server, though. It's every person for themselves o_O (unless you're in a guild or you betrayed your city).

EDIT: One thing I don't like, though, is that you cannot sell your crafted items to vendors for a profit. It makes sense to slow down the farmers and bots, as the resources are extremely easy to come by, but you pretty much make the bulk of your profit from adventuring until you're in the late 20s with your tradeskill, then you rake in the cash ^_^.

lomiller

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Originally posted by Romoko

hey, what's goin' on? See, i played wow from the day it came out to about last week, and the reality is that it's just plain boring. Now, i've heard that EQ1 and EQ2 are good games. So, i figure i'd like to look into them. So, i have some questions to help my decision easier.

1 - i heard EQ1 was more hard core grinding, this true? i also heard that EQ2 was more casual gaming, but is it too casual. like, all u do is chat?

That all depends on how you approach the game and what you consider grinding.  There are a few times in the game when people specifically grind for XP but mostly xp just comes as you quest, work on guild writs of hunt through dungeons for rare mobs.  Before max level EQ2 is slower leveling then WoW but still not much of a grind IMO.  Once you reach max level Raiding is more casual then WoW and there is a lot more variety, and a lot more things to do if you don’t like raiding.

2 - i went to the site and saw like 3 expansions... do i have to buy em all - whitch will be played more? When are they coming out?

There are 2 expansions and 3 adventure packs out already and another expansion due in a few months.  You don’t need to buy any of them but it’s recommended you start of with the KoS expansion because it comes bundled with the full game if you by a retail box.  

If you just buy the game you are limited to the original 50 levels, DoF allows you to get to 60 and aKoS unlocks you all the way to level 70.  Getting the KoS expansion also allows you to earn achievement points which give you additional skill trees you can use to enhance and customize your character.  Even if you don’t strictly need it the DoF expansion contains most of the games level 50-60 content so you will probably want it at some point but you don’t need it immediately.

3 - I'm a solo person, whitch EQ is for me?

You can solo all the way to 70 with any class, but it’s still a group focused game.  EQII does not punish solo players per say, but it does endeavor to reward people for grouping.  This means  XP will be slower slowing soloing and while there are literally thousands of solo quests many of the best quests require a group unless you want to wait a long time.  You will generally get a lot better loot grouping as well.

4 - How's the music?

I think it’s ok but opinions will always vary on something like that

5 - how's the economy - community

The economy is quite stable, they have done a good job at implementing money sinks to take excess cash out of the game with keeps prices relatively stable.  Until you know how to make money they can seem dauntingly high though, and buying even a piece or two legendary/fabled gear is always going to put a dent in your budget unless you are getting some of your own to sell.

The community is as good as can be expected.  A really fantastic community requires a fair amount of downtime, but this results in a slow playstyle a lot of people dislike.  EQII does a good job at finding a happy medium and the community itself is far more mature then WoW.

Thanks for your time!

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Romoko

Thanks guys with the help on the questoins, but I ran into a problem... i downloaded the 7 day trial - took like 2 mins - then i installed it - another 2 mins - then i opened up the launcher and it had an update page. So, im like, okay no problem... just a couple of updates.... well, now it's a freakin 8 hour update! im on DSL with windows xp... there's nothing wrong with my connection, so why don't they update the download, instead of doing this slow server update.

Kindle

I sometimes think that's what the Massive in MMO''s really stands for, massive game file size.  Since the game has come out, there have been significant updates to the basic game.  It would be convenient if SOE updated their files, but for now we are stuck with it as-is.

nothing2gein

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Originally posted by Romoko

Thanks guys with the help on the questoins, but I ran into a problem... i downloaded the 7 day trial - took like 2 mins - then i installed it - another 2 mins - then i opened up the launcher and it had an update page. So, im like, okay no problem... just a couple of updates.... well, now it's a freakin 8 hour update! im on DSL with windows xp... there's nothing wrong with my connection, so why don't they update the download, instead of doing this slow server update.

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The 2 min download was just the launcher. The 8 hour download is the client.