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Giving EQ2 a month, a Ratonga's adventure (with pictures!).

SarynaSaryna Member Posts: 2

---------------wall of text warning, that's just how I roll.

A Detailed 1 month with EQ2 newbie experience.

I have recently tried most of the new mmos that have been released in the last 3 or 4 years and still haven't found anything that could remotely capture my interest and steer me away from my annual re-subscription to WoW. I am currently very bored and have some time at my disposal, Cataclysm (currently my only hope for mmos in the short term) isn't due out 'till December... this leaves me a full month to give EQ2 a try and find out whether I will stick with it or play WoW's new expansion.

 

I excuse myself in advance for poor grammar, English is not my native language and I will do my best to write in a fluid and understandable manner, all kinds of criticism is welcomed and accepted.

 

I will not make any comparisons between games in this thread, nor will I judge EQ2 based on similarities or dissimilarities with other games. My intention is to to find out how SOE's much discussed mmo stands on its own legs.

 


One Quick word on installation and character creation:


 


Installation and the patching process was as smooth as I expected from a 5 (or6?) year old MMO that has had lots of development put into it, so not much to talk about there.


 


Personally I was very excited to try out EQ2, funnily I had bought the game with most of its expansions a few years ago hoping to get into it. Obviously that didn't happen and here I am, 1100 cash shop points as veteran rewards and ready to get started again and give this one another try.


 


So I start up the game, first thing that I notice is the music, very melodic and captivating, it really is the sound that you would expect from a high fantasy game/movie and I find that it blends into the background very well without ever becoming a nuisance even after many hours of game play. 


 


Next comes character creation, my choice was pretty easy: Ratonga shadow knight, just the idea of being a furry war rat with spells and a massive 2 hander makes me grin.


That said, I will spend a few words on the character creation process, although it is awesome and one of the game's strong points  to have so many classes and races they should better explain some of the choices that are given to you. I still don't know what it means to have chosen a good or evil race...is there some sort of war? will I be able to group with good aligned characters, visit their cities without being killed? This game has a very complex  faction system and I feel that it could be better explained. Some of this is also valid for the plethora of class choices, I'm not a fan of the recent trend of hand holding that has gotten into games but class and race choice are a very important (and usually final) decision and it would be nice to have some more information.


 


 


Initial customization was fine and on par with what I was expecting, nothing note worthy both in a positive and negative way.


 


 


I chose Antonia Bayle as my server, mainly because I have been reading that it is the most populated one and hopefully it will give me a chance to find some other low level players to adventure with.


 


 


 


First 10 levels in Timorous Deep starting zone




 


 


My Ratonga (Rarip) starts his adventure in Timorous Deeps and the first thing that I notice is that the graphics are nice and much better than what I expected, water is done very well and also character models and animations aren't bad at all.

 

(Ever)Questing starts, one word should be said on what I was expecting and what you should as well if you consider giving this game a try: a complex immersive and deep theme park experience. I'm not coming to EQ expecting to find ground breaking innovations, nor new core game play mechanics. What I'm hoping for is that this game with its, apparently in-depth crafting, alternative advancement, housing, guild mechanics, grouping and massive amounts of content will be a good all-rounder of current mmo design with some added complexity.

 

So Rarip starts his adventure and isn't too surprised by the fact that his first assignments are to kill a few monsters bothering an allied settlement and recover some artefacts scattered around a beach infested with very weak monsters. Voice acting is something that caught me off guard, don't know if it will remain as frequent as it is at the start since already at level 10 most of the quests have to be read, but it's pretty well done and very nice for immersion.

 

Rarip completes his assignments  and is introduced to fishing (and gathering), he also spends some time looking into his newly acquired skills, some of them are pretty bland (passive buffs) others look interesting and also have a pretty nice animation to them. I am then sent to another npc camp where some more kill and fetch quests are given to me, by now I'm level 6 and have upgraded most of my armor through quest rewards, as I said I wont compare to other games it's a mechanic that works and rewards questing with something actually useful other than a pure xp (which is also nice!),

 

To this point the questing has been pretty generic 1-6 was not much more than a tutorial everything has been very simple and quest objectives have always been very close to the npc that gives them.

 

At around level 6 you finish your quests in the second npc camp and your pretty much involved in a storyline of war between a few elite sarnaks and many harpy-like creatures fighting for control over an island. I will not say that this is ground breaking narration in any way, but I find that the voice acting, the mob placement and the geometry of the zone helped getting that immersion feeling going.

 

Rarip is then asked to move to a few other small camps, quests start to get more interesting, the use of some items given to you by the npc becomes important and they are a pleasant distraction from the usual kill/fetch routine. Monster placement is very well done and usually every time you travel into a new area you have 2 or 3 tasks assigned at a very short distance, if not linked, between them.

 

As you would expect nothing has been remotely challenging for my sword wielding war rat, but the fast pace between travelling, fighting, exploring, receiving new abilities has managed to get me into that state where hours of play seem like minutes and has been more than enough to feel satisfied by the time I reached level 10.

 

As you can see from the screenshot at level 10 I already have many skills, managing cooldowns and resources comes to play making combat a little more interesting, also monsters start to have a much larger aggro radius. Most quests become a little more challenging.

 

By  level 10 my character has seen various npc encampments, completed various kill/fetch quests and done a few interesting gimmicky things with quest items. I'm introduced to crafting at this level, and immediately am impressed, I find that flexible recipes are a great idea and the possibility to actually have a direct manner of influencing the quality of a crafted item through player skill/choice to be very interesting. Rarip, just by following the tutorial was able to craft a run speed amulet which I assume will prove useful. Not much is explained on screen in a direct manner but you get a journal that has lots of information on people and places to go to for more. Crafting seems something like I'd be interested in getting into, I'd like to see if it really is  deep and complex enough to consider it a side game and not a distraction or a hidden grind with very little player input involved.. fingers crossed.

 

Still at level 10 I was also introduced to the AA system, and was impressed by how much customization is allowed. I also had a hard time choosing what to do with my first point, I decided to go for the generic passive damage boost which, in my experience, is usually a safe bet. I also looked into the AA xp slider setting it to 70%, I'm in no rush to get to higher levels so getting the most out of my levelling experience through a strong character at the cost of going a bit slower isn't something that bothers me for the moment.

 

More questing follows, and still most of the stuff I'm sent to complete are fetch and kill quests, and while this might seem boring I cant deny that I'm actually enjoying myself despite all this. My ratonga is clearly becoming more powerful and more interesting to play every level, every quest I complete gets me some AA experience which opens up even more skills and abilities. Exploring is rewarded with AA xp and the possibility of finding rare harvesting nodes.

 

I notice by now that while the voice acting is starting to fade, quests are very well introduced, most of them are explained in an easily readable manner. Chat bubbles seem to help (a little) in creating the feeling that you are actually having some kind of conversation with an npc and not just reading WoT number 4xxx3.

 

Quests (at level 10) remain well done, challenging is definitely not the word to describe how hard they are but certainly the difficulty has increased compared to most of the 1-8 stuff I have been doing before. Monsters are well placed and harvesting nodes aren't that far from killing zones although far enough to invite my ratonga to some exploring. Leading to the discovery of some rare(er) nodes, an elite monster and 2 quest givers I had ignored.

 

 

-------end of part 1

 

One thing that bothers me a little is the very low amount of low level players I have seen while completing the first island of the Timorous Deep starting zone. I'd really like to be able to give this game a full 30 day try. While I'm enjoying myself at the moment I think the solo questing could and probably will get boring once the progression rhythm slows down at higher levels. I will definitely look for a guild and somebody to play with.

 

coming soon level 10 to ...?? (more pics in part 2)

 

Edit: If any players or guilds willing to play some low level content on AB server could contact me it would be great :)

«13

Comments

  • Cpt_PicardCpt_Picard Member Posts: 300

     


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    It's teal

    Make it so...

  • cybertruckercybertrucker Member UncommonPosts: 1,117

    Great review so far... Keep it coming.. I will say I didnt personally care very much for EQ2 after playing EQ1.. .I felt the game forced you to play their way or no way at all.When I say Their way I meant the way the develpers want you to play, IE no ingenuity. In EQ1 people came up with multiple tactics and different ways to handle a situation, from ways of pulling mobs, to fear kiting. Tactics such as  Pacify pulling, FD  Pulling, or snare kiting  were all tactics created by the players of the game.  While  Crowd control still had to play its roll as well. It wasnt the end all be all.

    EQ2 did things such as Link mobs with no real way to seperate them. Many people would argue its because those mobs would  fight as a team and are meant to only be fought as a group. However lulling a target to sleep with MAGIC was a reasonable explanation as to why that one or 2 mobs in that group might not be part of the battle.. I used to call the game Everzerg. As in pull the entire group cause thats  the only way your going to get them and use crowd control IF you have it with you. It seemed to be the only tactic available in many cases.

    Things like fear or snare kiting wouldnt work either. Sure you could cast fear or snare but the second the mob took one point of damage it would break.

    The tactics people worked years to explore, learn and master became obsolete in the rush of mobs that Everzerg became. Also why is it every mob in EQ2 seems to be faster than you unless you sprint... EQ1 mobs had different speeds. Most games work like that. Not EQ2 though.

    All in all the game just wasnt for me. Even though to this day EQ1 which I played for 7 years, still holds some of the fondest memories I have in gaming.

  • ariestearieste Member UncommonPosts: 3,309

    Nice write-up.  Pretty representative of a newbie experience on an old server.

     

    Couple of things to clarify from a veteran's perspective:

    1.  Picking a race - race doesn't matter the slightest bit other than cosmetically.  Race-specific abilities are totally insignificant and in the long run it has zero influence on your success at any given class.

     

    2.  Picking a class - yeah, there should be more info.  Although I'm not sure that many games really give you a lot of detailed info.  Personally i always look on the net for class choices and have something picked long before I ever install the game.  Not saying this is how it should be though...

     

    3.  Picking a side.   SOE has screwed this up repeatedly.  This mainly comes out of the fact that Lore in EQ2 doesn't matter and is manufactured half-heartedly to fit content.   Being good or evil used to mean more.  Now, not so much.  Only a few classes remain that are locked to good or evil and there are many cities that aren't really representative of "good" and "evil".  So good observation there.  The observation about "complex factions" isn't true.  Good and Evil are really the only things that matter and they just determine you class and which cities you can live in, this doesn't matter much.  Later on in the game there are factions you can gain standing with to buy certain items, but these aren't very important.

     

    4.  AAs and experience.  AAs are very important and at low level they'll make your character a lot more powerful.   Consider that all level 1-50 content was designed for a character with zero AAs.   Many people set their slider to 100% AA until they run out of quests for an area.  I wouldn't advise this unless you really want to finish off areas.    You should be warned that EQ2 has over 5000 quests and most people will do 500-1000 before capping out the character.  You're not meant to do everything, not by a long shot.

     

    5.  Population.   Low level population is a problem on all of the non-EQ2x servers.  The 1-70 content has been largely re-vamped to be soloable for this reason.  SOE simply doesn't expect you to find a lot of groups.    However, dungeons like the wailing caves, fallen gate and stormhold are quite fun if you can find someone to venture there with in you 10-30 levels.  There is also Crushbone keep which is in Greater Faydark.

     

    6.  Crafting - yes, it's a grind and it doesn't take any skill.  by all accounts, it's better than wow, but it's still lame.  I strongly suggest doing Tinkering instead.  You can get some really fun stuff and useful abilities. 

     

    7.  Prepare to get lost.  The timorous deep experience is pretty linear and confined to small area.  Once you're finished in it, you'll be amazed just how vast the world is and how many things there are to see.   If you want a taste, make a challenge for yourself to find a visit the 4 dungeons I mentioned above.  Think of it as a quest I gave you :)      

     

    Spoiler Alert:  eq2.wikia.com is the website that has all the quest walkthoughs.  While you may not want to use it, you may want to look up the category "heritage quests" so you know where the few lower level ones start.  These are some of the more interesting quests in EQ2.  These are pretty obscure and sometimes difficult.  But they also lead you to far away and exciting places. 

     

    Finally, there is Halas.  Halas is the newest starter area added to the game, unfortunately, it is a "good" city.  However, you may still be able to visit without getting killed, i'm not 100% sure.  The reason I mention it is because it would have a lot more low level players, since most people rolling new characters would be doing it in Halas right now.

     

    Anyhow, enjoy your adventures and post your next set of impressions.

    "I’d rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."

    - Raph Koster

    Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
    Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
    Currently Playing: ESO

  • SarynaSaryna Member Posts: 2

    Thanks for the replies, I'll certainly be posting part 2 soon (Wednesday), just want to get some content done and experience things a little better before getting into another wall of text.

     

    This time I'll be adding more screenshots and maybe a short video, I'll actually be using this thread as some sort of tutorial in writing reviews and more generally writing in English.

     

    I'll totally trust you on Tinkering, if its more fun and something a little different from other stuff I'll look into it,

     

    One quick thing on classes, I'm with you when you state that most games don't explain classes well enough and it also might be a design decision (knowing everything your going to get might spoil some of the fun factor), still I'm trying not to make comparisons with other games (or THAT game) at the moment since generally as soon as I say something some fan or hater of THAT game will come and derail the thread.

     

    Once I have had a good month into the game I might say something about this vs that since it's actually going to be a decision I'm going to have to take (Cataclysm is out in december).

     

  • CasualMakerCasualMaker Member UncommonPosts: 862

    Originally posted by arieste

    Finally, there is Halas.  Halas is the newest starter area added to the game, unfortunately, it is a "good" city.  However, you may still be able to visit without getting killed, i'm not 100% sure.  The reason I mention it is because it would have a lot more low level players, since most people rolling new characters would be doing it in Halas right now.

    As far as I've seen, "evil" characters are perfectly safe walking around Halas. The merchants wont buy or sell (the ones outside the city have no such scruples), dogs will snarl at you and some people will wave a fist in your direction, but no kill-on-sight guards like you find in Qeynos or Freeport. I was amused to discover a Coercer trainer in Halas, but he wouldn't deal with an "evil" character! You can get at least some of the quests in Halas.

  • YasouYasou Member Posts: 86

    With regards to "Good" and "Evil", any good-aligned player can interact with evil players and vice-versa (unlike WoW). Guilds are composed of good and evil players and if the guild hall is in Antonica for instance (which is good-aligned) being evil does not prevent you from accessing the guild hall.

    However you will get killed by guards in the big cities if you are from the opposite faction (some quests will send you sneaking around in the opposite-faction main city (Qeynos for ex. if you are evil-aligned) and you will need to be very careful not to aggro patrolling lvl 90-epic guards that won't wait a sec. to send you off for a guided-tour to the local cemetery if they spot you ;)

    You will also be unable to buy a house in a city from the opposite faction. Some cities (Maj' Dul) will allow any alignement to buy however you will need to raise your faction with that city (through quests).

    You can also betray your alignement i.e. you can do the betrayal quest-line to change your alignment and in doing so you will keep your race however you will change to the opposite corresponding class, if any. For instance if you are evil-aligned and you choose Necro, after completing the betrayal quest line you will switch to Conjuror. If your class is for both alignements nothing will change except your alignment.

    Higher level players can mentor lowel levels (i.e. they would mentor their level down to the level of the player they are mentoring to allow xp-gain for the lower level).

    Chronomage is also an awesome system they've introduced about a year ago. It allows you to lower your level without mentoring anyone (you pay a small fee to the npc located in any big city) and do lower-level quests or dungeons while still gaining xp & loot; since if you are more than 10 levels higher any mobs will be grey-con and you won't be able to loot nor gain xp, unlike WoW.

    With regards to crafting, they nerfed the system a long time ago. When the game was released crafting requested you to create the raw components (solvents etc.) and then with a primary component you could finalize your craft. It was also much more challenging to create a Pristine-quality item (top-quality) and if you missed your craft you lost your fuel and some of the components. Also if you didn't pay attention you could die as any missed counter-measure would hurt you. It also required alot more skills and reflexes. Too bad they changed this.

    If you are looking for more info www.eq2.wikia.com is the place to go.

    For any housing info www.eq2decorators.com is an awesome website.

  • CasualMakerCasualMaker Member UncommonPosts: 862

    Originally posted by Yasou

    With regards to crafting, they nerfed the system a long time ago. When the game was released crafting requested you to create the raw components (solvents etc.) and then with a primary component you could finalize your craft. It was also much more challenging to create a Pristine-quality item (top-quality) and if you missed your craft you lost your fuel and some of the components. Also if you didn't pay attention you could die as any missed counter-measure would hurt you. It also required alot more skills and reflexes. Too bad they changed this.

    You still get hurt crafting, and you still lose your fuel if (when) you botch a combine. But no longer losing 'rares' to a botch isn't something I complain about.

  • YasouYasou Member Posts: 86

    Correct, but not hurt enough to die. And I was mainly referring to the complexity of crafting not necessarily loosing fuel or components. I liked the fact that you had to really create all components from scratch. Example:

    Essence of Widget:

    Primary Component


    • Widget Dust

    Build Components


    • Widget Suspension

    • Widget Resin

    Fuel Component


    • Generic Candles

    Now you just build your final item in one go using gathered resources + fuel.


     


    In addition there were interdependencies between professions.  They removed that as well.

  • LetsinodLetsinod Member UncommonPosts: 385

    Get rid of the default UI...

  • CasualMakerCasualMaker Member UncommonPosts: 862

    Originally posted by Yasou

    Correct, but not hurt enough to die. And I was mainly referring to the complexity of crafting not necessarily loosing fuel or components. I liked the fact that you had to really create all components from scratch. Example:

    ...


     


    In addition there were interdependencies between professions.  They removed that as well.

    I understand the viewpoint, but can't really share it.  The end product is still going to be the same, so this becomes a lot of make-work.  Now, crafting is SWG is another whole kettle'o'fish: the skill of the crafter and the choice of resources makes a MAJOR difference in the end results.  For that type of system, making everthing from scratch makes perfect sense.  (Of course, I'm really talking about old Pre-CU crafting, with no 'caps' to homogenize the results.)

  • LiralLiral Member Posts: 5

    Great thread. Good look at what is IMHO by far the best MMO out there today.

  • gboostergbooster Member UncommonPosts: 712

    I'm guessing Saryna quit... I can't really blame her/him.

  • BroomyBroomy Member UncommonPosts: 487

    After going many levels without seeing anyone else please let us know how your doing.  I came back to EQ2 breifly on my level 72 Defiler and saw that the world was too abandoned to play.  Also Unlike what ppl are saying here, I DID NOT find the game soloable.  At least soloable to get some good XP to level.  It was long and tedious.   Just my thoughts. 

    Current Games: WOW, EVE Online

  • BrahmBrahm Member Posts: 60

    You will find the Defilier and Mystic to be the hardest classes to solo play. They kill slowly and go through power quickly. My friend finally reached level 90 with his Defilier and I told him he should have gotten an achievement notice called "Pain and Suffereing".

  • BroomyBroomy Member UncommonPosts: 487

    Originally posted by Brahm

    You will find the Defilier and Mystic to be the hardest classes to solo play. They kill slowly and go through power quickly. My friend finally reached level 90 with his Defilier and I told him he should have gotten an achievement notice called "Pain and Suffereing".

     I heard the same thing, but soloable should mean SOLABLE for ALL.  This is why that other game beats everything else.  The xping was completely tedious and boring.  I cancelled my resub after 2 days. 

    Current Games: WOW, EVE Online

  • rwmillerrwmiller Member Posts: 472

    Excellent thread and makes me want to go and log back in.

  • lordzelmanlordzelman Member Posts: 124

    why? its seems he quit. (a sign)

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798

    just wanted to comment on mystics

     

    I mostly soloed to 85 as a mystic before I betrayed to defiler

    -- I had no issues and it wasnt slow

     

    assuming poor gear,

    leveling mystics kill twice as fast as defiler  (least thats what I noticed after I betrayed to defiler)

     

    Mystics are able to convert 4 of their spells to combat arts thru AA  

    - something a warden and inquisitor can also do

     

    battle priests can be very effective for soloing

  • FluxiiFluxii Member Posts: 184

    What's so truly sad is, and I don't care what w0w fanboi's think, EQ2 is FAR superior to w0w.  I mean, they're not even in the same realm.  EQ has so many more options, is so much larger, has so much more depth, it's not even funny.  But the lemmings just keep following w0w down the easy road (not to say eq hasn't been dumbed down) but people get so focused (blinders on) they can't see the forest for the trees.  The problem really was that Bllizz had a better hype machine in the beginning (the 2 games were released close together) so, guess who won out.  Plus, you still have an EQ1 community.

     

    w/e  BLEHHHH  it's an old debate... I don't even know why I'm bringing it up.  Guess cuz it's a w0w player trying eq for the first time.

     

    ...and don't get me wrong, I've played w0w.  It's ok for what it is I guess.  But *shrug* really, you can't compare the two, Hell, EQ2 had 3 expansions out before w0w barely had one.  Who's really trying?

  • BroomyBroomy Member UncommonPosts: 487

    Originally posted by Fluxii

    What's so truly sad is, and I don't care what w0w fanboi's think, EQ2 is FAR superior to w0w.  I mean, they're not even in the same realm.  EQ has so many more options, is so much larger, has so much more depth, it's not even funny.  But the lemmings just keep following w0w down the easy road (not to say eq hasn't been dumbed down) but people get so focused (blinders on) they can't see the forest for the trees.  The problem really was that Bllizz had a better hype machine in the beginning (the 2 games were released close together) so, guess who won out.  Plus, you still have an EQ1 community.

     

    w/e  BLEHHHH  it's an old debate... I don't even know why I'm bringing it up.  Guess cuz it's a w0w player trying eq for the first time.

     

    ...and don't get me wrong, I've played w0w.  It's ok for what it is I guess.  But *shrug* really, you can't compare the two, Hell, EQ2 had 3 expansions out before w0w barely had one.  Who's really trying?

     I'm not sure how EQ2 with its abandoned landscapes beats another game.  Please explain?  How many server mergers has EQ2 had now?  One? Two?   And the "hype" machine only goes so far...Blizz does things right.  In fact it did things so right that EQ2 copied alot of elements from WOW.  So please stop putting out your personal opinion as tho it is a fact....its only your opinion.  Nothing more. 

     

    EQ2 has serious population issues, and it has for some time.  It also has classes that are excrutiatingly boring to solo to level.  That was enough to make me cancel. 

    Current Games: WOW, EVE Online

  • FluxiiFluxii Member Posts: 184

    Originally posted by Broomy

    Originally posted by Fluxii

    What's so truly sad is, and I don't care what w0w fanboi's think, EQ2 is FAR superior to w0w.  I mean, they're not even in the same realm.  EQ has so many more options, is so much larger, has so much more depth, it's not even funny.  But the lemmings just keep following w0w down the easy road (not to say eq hasn't been dumbed down) but people get so focused (blinders on) they can't see the forest for the trees.  The problem really was that Bllizz had a better hype machine in the beginning (the 2 games were released close together) so, guess who won out.  Plus, you still have an EQ1 community.

     

    w/e  BLEHHHH  it's an old debate... I don't even know why I'm bringing it up.  Guess cuz it's a w0w player trying eq for the first time.

     

    ...and don't get me wrong, I've played w0w.  It's ok for what it is I guess.  But *shrug* really, you can't compare the two, Hell, EQ2 had 3 expansions out before w0w barely had one.  Who's really trying?

     I'm not sure how EQ2 with its abandoned landscapes beats another game.  Please explain?  How many server mergers has EQ2 had now?  One? Two?   And the "hype" machine only goes so far...Blizz does things right.  In fact it did things so right that EQ2 copied alot of elements from WOW.  So please stop putting out your personal opinion as tho it is a fact....its only your opinion.  Nothing more. 

     

    EQ2 has serious population issues, and it has for some time.  It also has classes that are excrutiatingly boring to solo to level.  That was enough to make me cancel. 

    EQ copied from w0w.... you're kidding right?  PLZ give me an example.  Blizz is KNOWN for copying elements from anything that's popular on the market.

     

    And as far as population goes, that has nothing to do with gameplay/graphics/content.  I don't debate in the least that their pop is low now... HENCE why I said how funny it is that the lemmings just keep following the same old rehashed garbage. 

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798

    I think all mmos copy from each other if they see something they like

     

    EQ2 added mentoring to their game post launch --- COH/COV had something like that first

     

    LOTRO added the appearance slots to their game post launch -- believe EQ2 had that first

     

    EQ2 did copy WOWs RAF new player promotion but not sure what else they copied

  • Daffid011Daffid011 Member UncommonPosts: 7,945

    Originally posted by Fluxii

    And as far as population goes, that has nothing to do with gameplay/graphics/content.  I don't debate in the least that their pop is low now... HENCE why I said how funny it is that the lemmings just keep following the same old rehashed garbage. 

    If gameplay, graphics and content are not to blame for EQ2s declining population, then what is?  If the game is as awesome as you keep saying it is, then why isn't it selling itself? 

    Even as a free to play game it can't even fill up one server.  

     

    Lets just assume for a moment that tens of millions of mmo players are not so blindinly stupid that they ALL follow some imaginary herd.  Lets assume that 10% of those tens of millions have a mind of their own and can recognize and enjoy a better game when they actually try it. 

    How do you explain the decline EQ2 has been going through since release while the entire market has doubled in size many times over? 

  • ariestearieste Member UncommonPosts: 3,309

    Originally posted by Daffid011

    Originally posted by Fluxii

    And as far as population goes, that has nothing to do with gameplay/graphics/content.  I don't debate in the least that their pop is low now... HENCE why I said how funny it is that the lemmings just keep following the same old rehashed garbage. 

    If gameplay, graphics and content are not to blame for EQ2s declining population, then what is?  If the game is as awesome as you keep saying it is, then why isn't it selling itself? 

    Even as a free to play game it can't even fill up one server.  

     

    Lets just assume for a moment that tens of millions of mmo players are not so blindinly stupid that they ALL follow some imaginary herd.  Lets assume that 10% of those tens of millions have a mind of their own and can recognize and enjoy a better game when they actually try it. 

    How do you explain the decline EQ2 has been going through since release while the entire market has doubled in size many times over? 

    Other than EVE, what games that launched over 3 years ago now have double the population of what they were during say.. their first 6 months?  

     

    I can't think of any.  Maybe some of the F2P ones.  The fact that the industry has increased actually helps explain population declines as more and more competitiors enter the market, the population spreads thinner.

     

    EQ2 is over 6 years old.  It's one of the most successful MMOs on the market.  Just because WoW has 10 million subs, doesn't mean that's the measure of success in the industry.   Just because Avatar made a billion dollars, doesn't mean that it's not inferior in every possible way to (for example) Inception that's not even made a third of that or to countless other films that haven't broken 50m in box office.

     

    WoW is a statistical anomaly.  It's basically a fad.  Most reasonable people I know that played both EQ2 and WoW on launch pretty much agreed that the two games were extremely similar.   Obviously some things were different and some gambles paid off for WoW and didn't for EQ2.  That's life.  

     

    (I mean, who knew that designing your game to have bad graphics on purpose would actually pay off because more people would be able to run it better?  I mean, it seems downright stupid as a strategy and no company has used it since.. but it worked for WoW, along with a bunch of other things, along with mass marketing and hype and so forth.)

     

    WoW's been around the same time as EQ2 and it's given its players what, 1 expac?   EQ2 has given its players a full-fledged expansion at least once a year along with constant updates.  

     

    "I’d rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."

    - Raph Koster

    Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
    Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
    Currently Playing: ESO

  • BroomyBroomy Member UncommonPosts: 487

    Originally posted by Fluxii

    Originally posted by Broomy

    Originally posted by Fluxii

    What's so truly sad is, and I don't care what w0w fanboi's think, EQ2 is FAR superior to w0w.  I mean, they're not even in the same realm.  EQ has so many more options, is so much larger, has so much more depth, it's not even funny.  But the lemmings just keep following w0w down the easy road (not to say eq hasn't been dumbed down) but people get so focused (blinders on) they can't see the forest for the trees.  The problem really was that Bllizz had a better hype machine in the beginning (the 2 games were released close together) so, guess who won out.  Plus, you still have an EQ1 community.

     

    w/e  BLEHHHH  it's an old debate... I don't even know why I'm bringing it up.  Guess cuz it's a w0w player trying eq for the first time.

     

    ...and don't get me wrong, I've played w0w.  It's ok for what it is I guess.  But *shrug* really, you can't compare the two, Hell, EQ2 had 3 expansions out before w0w barely had one.  Who's really trying?

     I'm not sure how EQ2 with its abandoned landscapes beats another game.  Please explain?  How many server mergers has EQ2 had now?  One? Two?   And the "hype" machine only goes so far...Blizz does things right.  In fact it did things so right that EQ2 copied alot of elements from WOW.  So please stop putting out your personal opinion as tho it is a fact....its only your opinion.  Nothing more. 

     

    EQ2 has serious population issues, and it has for some time.  It also has classes that are excrutiatingly boring to solo to level.  That was enough to make me cancel. 

    EQ copied from w0w.... you're kidding right?  PLZ give me an example.  Blizz is KNOWN for copying elements from anything that's popular on the market.

     

    And as far as population goes, that has nothing to do with gameplay/graphics/content.  I don't debate in the least that their pop is low now... HENCE why I said how funny it is that the lemmings just keep following the same old rehashed garbage. 

     Yes EQ2 did copy WOW.  I played EQ2 for 2 years and started at Launch.  At launch it was a completely different game.  Let's see what they added that was in WOW first:

    1. Quest indicators over NPCs

    2. Solo content (even tho its still insufficient)

    3. Battlegrounds

    4. Easier crafting

    5. Faster travel

    Not to say that WOW invented these things, but it certainly had them BEFORE EQ2 did.  I am not sure what Blizz copied from EQ2 since it is "known" to copy.  Please provide an example.

    No one is saying that the number of subs is an indicator of the BEST game, what is the best game anyway?  There is no definition.  However in everyway from graphics, ease of use, art design, scripted encounters and PVE content, etc. WOW beats EQ2 hands down.  To deny that the atronomical number of subs WOW has is not an indicator of better overall design (ie: one that appeals to many) is simply being in denial for the sake of, well, being in denial.

    Current Games: WOW, EVE Online

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