Originally posted by Moirae lol. Just because SOE made changes to EQ2 to make it more casual and solo friendly doesn't mean WoW is innovative in any way. The two are not related.
There is nothing new in WoW. Everything they've done has been done before. Incidentally, EQ2 is MORE casual and solo friendly but you still can't reach level 50 or 60 in only a couple of weeks like you can in WoW.
WoW is a dissapointment, and its ruined the game world with it's childish simplicity.
My point is that the influence of WoW can be seen in the changes made to EQ2 post-release. It's fine to hate WoW if you want, that's not my concern. I only want to point out that WoW has clearly influenced changes that were made to EQ2 ... the dev team has practically admitted as much.
As for WoW and innovation, this is often lost on gamers, but WoW's main innovation was to take the previously small market of MMO games and make it a mass market by designing an MMO that would appeal to the mass market. That's their innovation. It's an innovation that is loathed by more "serious" gamers, because the game wasn't designed for them ... but the concept of designing an MMO for the mass market and succeeding at it as well as Blizzard has was pretty innovative and lots of people in 2002 and 2003 would have had trouble believing Blizzard could get so many people to pay to play an MMO. That's the innovation of WoW, and it's been the most influential innovation in online gaming over the past few years.
i respect ur view and agree with it for the most part. however; taking the best of all the MMOs out at the time and polishing them a bit and squeezing them all into 1 game is hardy what i would call innovation. in fact, if it were possible to copyright video game design, Blizzard would have been sued many times over. lol, anyway, well put for the most part.
Again, I want to remind you that this is not WoW vs. EQ2 "best game" debate. There are a lot of similarities between the two in general game mechanics and target markets. Anyone can see this. What's not so obvious are things like playing housing that constitute as unique content. What's been added to the list amongst all these posts are:
- EQ2 is more complicated
And that's not even clearly explained. How is it more complicated? An earlier post stated that quests tend to be more involved but that hardly makes a game more complicated. From what I can tell thus far, EQ2 has different lore, different graphics, older players, different game mechanics, more involved quests, and housing but lacks any sort of World PvP or Battlegrounds (not that I feel either has been implemented well).
They really don't seem that different to me unless perhaps you are a hardcore RPer...and that's a rarity in MMORPGs.
Originally posted by avatar6572 Again, I want to remind you that this is not WoW vs. EQ2 "best game" debate. There are a lot of similarities between the two in general game mechanics and target markets. Anyone can see this. What's not so obvious are things like playing housing that constitute as unique content. What's been added to the list amongst all these posts are: - EQ2 is more complicated And that's not even clearly explained. How is it more complicated? An earlier post stated that quests tend to be more involved but that hardly makes a game more complicated. From what I can tell thus far, EQ2 has different lore, different graphics, older players, different game mechanics, more involved quests, and housing but lacks any sort of World PvP or Battlegrounds (not that I feel either has been implemented well). They really don't seem that different to me unless perhaps you are a hardcore RPer...and that's a rarity in MMORPGs.
TY for bringing the topic back to what the OP had asked in his original post. People just need to realize that they are two seperate games in themselves. Both with good points and both with bad points. I've played both . I consider neither as having to use more brainpower to be able to play for the win. If you know and can play your class well you can do well. The feel of combat and spell effects from EQ2 was better than what WOW has to offer. To me that's the only difference between the two. Lore and questing are pretty much done in the same way. To me the only thing complicated about EQ2 was obtaining better spells due to the fact that you have to go out and find a rare in your appropriate teir and have a player or yourself craft it. WOW doesnt't have that sort of complication. They use a rather simple approach whre all you have you do is go to your class trainer to get them.
Now if I wanted to to bring up some negativity between the two I could say that while playing WOW I dont live in fear that every patch day my class was going to be changed to such an extent that I no longer recognized it. WOW has had it's share of 'nerfage' but EQII far out does or did it for me.
I've played both EQ2 and WoW (mostly WoW) but ive found that I enjoy playing EQ2 more. The crafting system is superior to WoW's, the quests and combat systems differ, EQ2 is more advanced and you actually have to have to give the situation some thought to pass it. EQ2 is always coming out with new content so you can keep on enjoying the game, unlike WoW where when you hit lvl 60, get all your epic gear and then what? Overall i would say that if your looking for continuous content, more indepth of a game and somewhat of a challenge, it would be a good decision getting the game.
Originally posted by avatar6572 Again, I want to remind you that this is not WoW vs. EQ2 "best game" debate. There are a lot of similarities between the two in general game mechanics and target markets. Anyone can see this. What's not so obvious are things like playing housing that constitute as unique content. What's been added to the list amongst all these posts are: - EQ2 is more complicated And that's not even clearly explained. How is it more complicated? An earlier post stated that quests tend to be more involved but that hardly makes a game more complicated. From what I can tell thus far, EQ2 has different lore, different graphics, older players, different game mechanics, more involved quests, and housing but lacks any sort of World PvP or Battlegrounds (not that I feel either has been implemented well).
Again this all boils down to what specifically you are looking for in UNIQUE and DIFFERENT content.
In my opinion many quests which encompass the lore and storylines for EQ2 are uniquely different from all other games I've played, while they do hark back to EQ1 for history they are all unique in their own right. Take the Everling family for example...the story of what happened to them and their castle is uniquely EQ2...I've never seen a similar story in any of the other games I've played.
But maybe you're not looking at storyline as content? Ok then...mechanics? Climbing walls, moving boxes and other items to accomplish something, blowing up cave doors to escape or get inside another cave. Again something I have never seen on other MMO's.
If you are looking for World Battlegrounds , no you won't find them here. This is primarily a PvE game although on PvP servers the whole world is a battleground. I saw Battlegrounds in SWG and they never did work right...so even that is not a new and innovative concept and I am personally glad they didn't get implemented in this game.
The Arena Games that are in EQ2 are quite unique and fun I think, but they are underused by most players, who prefer to do quests, group content, and raids. If more people did use the Arenas I think they could be a lot more fun than they currently are.
Now if you want it all spelled out here as to what we find unique, intriguing, more in depth, more challenging, etc. Well I'm sorry but most of us simply don't want to waste our entire day spelling it all out and giving you spoilers that you could find elsewhere. And to be really honest , you simply won't know why EQ2 is fun until you try it for yourself. You are like a person who has never tasted salt asking those who have tasted it to tell you what salt tases like. Most of us like the taste of salt, but you may not. The only way to find out is to taste it yourself.
me only issue with this thread is the fact that the OP wont accept the differences that ppl have given as far as content and game mechanics and such. What WILL u take as "unique" content and such. every1 has answered this question many times over and yet u keep saying, "thats not what i want to know". What do u want to know?
WoW has quests, EQII has quests. WoW has raids, EQII has raids. player housing has already been mentioned, but honestly, the only way ur going to know what it is that u want is to try it yourself. we could go on and on, like the previous poster pointed out, but no1 wants to spend all day comparing the differences in content for these games when it would b so much easier for u just to try this one and decide for yourself. sry to sound so rude about this, but im sick and tired of this forum getting flooded with, "convince me to play EQII" threads that usually end up being a WOW vs. EQII flamewar that goes on and on for 3~5 pages.
It's not so much that I'm not interested in these things. What I'm interested in learning about is unique content. WoW has story, quests, NPCs, and locations and I imagine EQ2 handles them just as well. Content for me are the activities in the game that occupy my time. This includes raiding, questing, crafting, events (which I know EQ2 has but don't know how fun they are), house decorating, etc. With the exception of house decorating, WoW has all of these same features so I don't consider them unique content. I apologize for not being more specific.
Now WoW is a good game. I played it for a good 4-5 months but the content available at level 60 is raiding, battlegrounds, and now world PvP and in my opinion, all are handled poorly. But for 4-5 months I enjoyed my time and I imagine EQ2 will last at least as long. What I would like to know is what, if anything, I have to look forward to besides the same game mechanics in a different setting.
The answer to your question in red, is nothing major. Every single MMORPG out today and coming out tomorrow all have the same game mechanics in a different setting, with a "little bit" something different. That is how they all get to fit in the same genre, because they are using pretty much the same formula. This is the reason why you are having a hard time getting the answer you are looking for.
What truly separates Everquest II from WoW is the little things that add up to a very different feeling:
MORE content. SOE loves rolling out expansions and adventure packs and so Everquest II is chock full of content to keep a new player busy for a long, long time. WoW on the other hand is still holding out on us with their FIRST expansion pack.
More MATURE players. It just happens to be that less cartoony look and a more complex interface acts as some sort of filter for Chuck Norris joke lovers.
The lore of the game is MORE deep than the lore of WoW. This is because the lore of EQII continues the lore of another full-fledged MMORPG - Everquest I. EQII has the benefit of having an actual world "history" that was developed for years in a previous game, on top of the the new story. It would take years for WoW to have such deep lore.
EQII game IS a bit more challenging than WoW. But not because EQII is necessarily harder, or the combat or quests are harder or anything like that. It is because the Everquest franchise has more of a history, and EQ veterans who play in Everquest II often tend to use lingo and battle tactics that are unique to the Everquest world that newer players often find confusing and unintuitive. My friend has a level 50 WoW character that she plays on her own all the time, but she is actually afraid to log into EQII without me because she says that she feels "stupid" when grouping with other people because she never truly feels as though she understands what they are saying/doing.
More multi-player focused content. The guild rankings, guild writs, Heroic Opportunity moves (where group members can link properly timed moves and skills to create super duper moves), factions, trade/crafter houses just make the game lend more towards group interaction than WoW does.
More Roleplaying. Maybe it is the player houses. Maybe it is the different dieties. Maybe it is all of the different races, or the lore, or the more mature community but EQII definitely has much more roleplaying than WoW. I and those I associate with in game are hard core roleplayers. If you are looking for that, play on the Antonia Bayle server, by the way. I found no where near the amount of roleplaying in WoW that I have in EQII.
But no need to take my word or anyone else's for it. Just try the game out and decide for yourself. You can always cancel it and go back to WoW if you decide that it isn't for you.
Comments
As for WoW and innovation, this is often lost on gamers, but WoW's main innovation was to take the previously small market of MMO games and make it a mass market by designing an MMO that would appeal to the mass market. That's their innovation. It's an innovation that is loathed by more "serious" gamers, because the game wasn't designed for them ... but the concept of designing an MMO for the mass market and succeeding at it as well as Blizzard has was pretty innovative and lots of people in 2002 and 2003 would have had trouble believing Blizzard could get so many people to pay to play an MMO. That's the innovation of WoW, and it's been the most influential innovation in online gaming over the past few years.
i respect ur view and agree with it for the most part. however; taking the best of all the MMOs out at the time and polishing them a bit and squeezing them all into 1 game is hardy what i would call innovation. in fact, if it were possible to copyright video game design, Blizzard would have been sued many times over. lol, anyway, well put for the most part.
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Again, I want to remind you that this is not WoW vs. EQ2 "best game" debate. There are a lot of similarities between the two in general game mechanics and target markets. Anyone can see this. What's not so obvious are things like playing housing that constitute as unique content. What's been added to the list amongst all these posts are:
- EQ2 is more complicated
And that's not even clearly explained. How is it more complicated? An earlier post stated that quests tend to be more involved but that hardly makes a game more complicated. From what I can tell thus far, EQ2 has different lore, different graphics, older players, different game mechanics, more involved quests, and housing but lacks any sort of World PvP or Battlegrounds (not that I feel either has been implemented well).
They really don't seem that different to me unless perhaps you are a hardcore RPer...and that's a rarity in MMORPGs.
TY for bringing the topic back to what the OP had asked in his original post. People just need to realize that they are two seperate games in themselves. Both with good points and both with bad points. I've played both . I consider neither as having to use more brainpower to be able to play for the win. If you know and can play your class well you can do well. The feel of combat and spell effects from EQ2 was better than what WOW has to offer. To me that's the only difference between the two. Lore and questing are pretty much done in the same way. To me the only thing complicated about EQ2 was obtaining better spells due to the fact that you have to go out and find a rare in your appropriate teir and have a player or yourself craft it. WOW doesnt't have that sort of complication. They use a rather simple approach whre all you have you do is go to your class trainer to get them.
Now if I wanted to to bring up some negativity between the two I could say that while playing WOW I dont live in fear that every patch day my class was going to be changed to such an extent that I no longer recognized it. WOW has had it's share of 'nerfage' but EQII far out does or did it for me.
I've played both EQ2 and WoW (mostly WoW) but ive found that I enjoy playing EQ2 more. The crafting system is superior to WoW's, the quests and combat systems differ, EQ2 is more advanced and you actually have to have to give the situation some thought to pass it. EQ2 is always coming out with new content so you can keep on enjoying the game, unlike WoW where when you hit lvl 60, get all your epic gear and then what? Overall i would say that if your looking for continuous content, more indepth of a game and somewhat of a challenge, it would be a good decision getting the game.
Again this all boils down to what specifically you are looking for in UNIQUE and DIFFERENT content.
In my opinion many quests which encompass the lore and storylines for EQ2 are uniquely different from all other games I've played, while they do hark back to EQ1 for history they are all unique in their own right. Take the Everling family for example...the story of what happened to them and their castle is uniquely EQ2...I've never seen a similar story in any of the other games I've played.
But maybe you're not looking at storyline as content? Ok then...mechanics? Climbing walls, moving boxes and other items to accomplish something, blowing up cave doors to escape or get inside another cave. Again something I have never seen on other MMO's.
If you are looking for World Battlegrounds , no you won't find them here. This is primarily a PvE game although on PvP servers the whole world is a battleground. I saw Battlegrounds in SWG and they never did work right...so even that is not a new and innovative concept and I am personally glad they didn't get implemented in this game.
The Arena Games that are in EQ2 are quite unique and fun I think, but they are underused by most players, who prefer to do quests, group content, and raids. If more people did use the Arenas I think they could be a lot more fun than they currently are.
Now if you want it all spelled out here as to what we find unique, intriguing, more in depth, more challenging, etc. Well I'm sorry but most of us simply don't want to waste our entire day spelling it all out and giving you spoilers that you could find elsewhere. And to be really honest , you simply won't know why EQ2 is fun until you try it for yourself. You are like a person who has never tasted salt asking those who have tasted it to tell you what salt tases like. Most of us like the taste of salt, but you may not. The only way to find out is to taste it yourself.
me only issue with this thread is the fact that the OP wont accept the differences that ppl have given as far as content and game mechanics and such. What WILL u take as "unique" content and such. every1 has answered this question many times over and yet u keep saying, "thats not what i want to know". What do u want to know?
WoW has quests, EQII has quests. WoW has raids, EQII has raids. player housing has already been mentioned, but honestly, the only way ur going to know what it is that u want is to try it yourself. we could go on and on, like the previous poster pointed out, but no1 wants to spend all day comparing the differences in content for these games when it would b so much easier for u just to try this one and decide for yourself. sry to sound so rude about this, but im sick and tired of this forum getting flooded with, "convince me to play EQII" threads that usually end up being a WOW vs. EQII flamewar that goes on and on for 3~5 pages.
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What truly separates Everquest II from WoW is the little things that add up to a very different feeling:
- MORE content. SOE loves rolling out expansions and adventure packs and so Everquest II is chock full of content to keep a new player busy for a long, long time. WoW on the other hand is still holding out on us with their FIRST expansion pack.
- More MATURE players. It just happens to be that less cartoony look and a more complex interface acts as some sort of filter for Chuck Norris joke lovers.
- The lore of the game is MORE deep than the lore of WoW. This is because the lore of EQII continues the lore of another full-fledged MMORPG - Everquest I. EQII has the benefit of having an actual world "history" that was developed for years in a previous game, on top of the the new story. It would take years for WoW to have such deep lore.
- EQII game IS a bit more challenging than WoW. But not because EQII is necessarily harder, or the combat or quests are harder or anything like that. It is because the Everquest franchise has more of a history, and EQ veterans who play in Everquest II often tend to use lingo and battle tactics that are unique to the Everquest world that newer players often find confusing and unintuitive. My friend has a level 50 WoW character that she plays on her own all the time, but she is actually afraid to log into EQII without me because she says that she feels "stupid" when grouping with other people because she never truly feels as though she understands what they are saying/doing.
- More multi-player focused content. The guild rankings, guild writs, Heroic Opportunity moves (where group members can link properly timed moves and skills to create super duper moves), factions, trade/crafter houses just make the game lend more towards group interaction than WoW does.
- More Roleplaying. Maybe it is the player houses. Maybe it is the different dieties. Maybe it is all of the different races, or the lore, or the more mature community but EQII definitely has much more roleplaying than WoW. I and those I associate with in game are hard core roleplayers. If you are looking for that, play on the Antonia Bayle server, by the way. I found no where near the amount of roleplaying in WoW that I have in EQII.
But no need to take my word or anyone else's for it. Just try the game out and decide for yourself. You can always cancel it and go back to WoW if you decide that it isn't for you.______________________________
