WoW or Everquest 2?

I've played both..

Published on November 22, 2004 By ins11 In PC Gaming

So I made it up to level 22 as a Human Paladin in World of Warcraft before they ended the beta (And europeans were persona non grata from the NA servers - but thats another subject) and what were the results?

So how do I rate the game, compared to all the other MMORPGS I've played.
[ Asherons Call, Asherons Call 2, Anarchy Online, Lineage, Lineage 2, Ultima Online, Everquest, Meridian 59, Some Sierra Game I forgot the name of, Dark Ages of Camelot, Shadowbane, Neocron]

The result? I will put it up there with Asherons Call and Ultima Online as the best MMORPG I have ever played.
For a running thread about WoW/EQ2 - Updated daily, check out this forum thread on the Adrenaline Vault Forums.

http://forums.avault.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=006215

Regarding Everquest 2? Well. There are some aspects of the game I like.. but a lot I dislike. I will say this though, WoW has got Everquest 2 beat in every aspect - at least for me. From rewards, combat, tradeskills, userinterface, combat, graphics... everything is better in WoW. Sure, Everquest 2 has fantastic graphic effects... but they dont 'feel right' compared to WoWs.

At first I judged WoW poorly in the graphics saying it "looks like Warcraft 3.. man, this sucks". But after playing it for many days I can say that the screenshots do not do the game justice at all.. and I came to like the graphics in WoW very much.

The graphics in EQ2 are fantastic, with Blooms, Heat "haze" from fires, and everything.. it makes for pretty pictures.. but.. it does'nt look Good.

Edit: Changed "slept around 4 hours" to "slept about 4 hours".. Slept around may mean something in English that the author
did not intent to insinuate

Comments (Page 1)

Splateaux

on Nov 22, 2004

My wife and I are fighting this same battle between ourselves now

We loved WoW when we were playing in Beta. We had a Warlock/Priest combo we got to mid 20's. She got a Hunter to like 45 or so. We loved it!

Everquest 2 came out, and we've been playing it non-stop since it's come out. We love THIS game too!!

WHAT TO DO?!?!?

I would have to disagree with the statement that "WoW has got Everquest 2 beat in every aspect" though. There are only two things I don't like about Everquest 2: Only having 4 character slots sucks! The old-school player merchant system is just as lame as it was in EQ1.

I like the feel of combat in EQ2 more than I did in WoW. It's just really fun.

The questing system in WoW is easier than any game has ever been... when it comes to finding quests, and know where and what to do. I actually like EQ2 method better though. It's a little more realistic (I'm not one of those that shoots for ultra realism in games that are not really meant to be realistic). As you run through town, people will get your attention by talking to you, if they have something they need help with. While it's easier to walk into town and see bright yellow exclamation points above everyone's head if they have a quest for you, it's a little silly.

You can't say that WoW has a better user-interface though. While I agree that when you first log into the game, the WoW interface is way more friendly and you're more likely to stick with the default; the EQ2 interface is WAY more customizeable though. So, a couple levels down the road, and after a little playing around, you end up with a superior interface.

Basically, we don't know what to do

I'm thinking we're going to keep playing EQ2 though, but you never know.

Zoomba

on Nov 22, 2004

On the UI issue...
Blizzard has made the UI almost completely customizable to anyone willing to hack a little XML. There are some top-notch customizations out there already that really improve how everything works and feels, giving you quicker access to just about everything in the game.

CosmosUI (http://www.cosmosui.org) is currently the most popular customization for WoW

ins11

on Nov 22, 2004

Yea, what Zoomba says.

I've checked out the UI options in EQ2 and in WoW and the things you can do in WoW are -phenomenal-.

CosmosUI is a fantastic UI and have expanded what was an already great game in the few areas where it had
something left missing.

Picture of the UI in use here:
http://ecstatica.mine.nu/3pics/wow/WoWScrnShot_111204_213144.jpg

You notice the timer on the buffs, the multiple chat windows, the extra button bars, the quest helper, the clock (with alarm clock).

I liked the ability to have 50 quests, as opposed to 20, in EQ2.. But I would have wished for them to show you where the quests were active instead of where you could get them. Its pretty hard to search through 50 quests each zone to find which you can do there. [Just like the Tradeskills mind you.... In WoW you select the tradeskill and you see what you can make, and how many.. and you can create all of it in one go. with EQ2 you have to do one and one item... *timeconsumingbooringgrindingfeelsettingin*

Splateaux

on Nov 22, 2004

Yeah, crafting in EQ2 takes about one billion times the amount of effort it takes in WoW. I think that crafting was a little too easy though in WoW. It was easy enough that there's really no reason everyone shouldn't be a master crafter of some kind. I got my tailor in WoW up to a really high level without ever really spending a lot of time or effort. Because of this, I was never really able to make any money off of this though, because there were a ton of other other people who were high level tailors as well.

1. As I mentioned though, I agree that "right out of the box" the WoW interface is closer to what I would actually end up using. (advantage WoW)
2. Without having to wait for others to make skins, or spending the time to develop them yourself, EQ2's interface is much more customizeable through the game itself. (advantage EQ2)
3. I haven't done much research as to if you can make skins and such for EQ2, but since most games do allow for skins nowadays, I'd give it a tie (TIE)

So, I still don't know what game we're going to end up playing in the long run

Kobrano

on Nov 22, 2004

WoW is a better game. To me, EQ2 feels like a very very entry level MMO for newer gamers - or "MMO-Lite" if you will..

I agree about the graphics in EQ2. I have a very high end machine, and found the graphics in EQ2 to be very unattractive, they are a mixed bag, like they tried to do too much with them, and ended up doing nothing. Worse, they mixed graphical techniques with ones that just don't look right.. Its like they saw GuildWars, liked the hazy effect, and threw that in too. Overall, its a mixed bag, and a fairly poor looking mixed bag if you ask me.

WoW kills EQ2 in presentation and delivery, that I will agree with. But WoW has one major thing I like over EQ2, and thats PvP.. Without PvP, EQ2 will ultimately be nothing more than yet another useless level grind with no purpose. WoW has a high end game AND PvP, so as a result, much longer playability, and more reason to go through the grind.

Go with WoW if you have to pick between those two, WoW appears to more gamers overall.

Splateaux

on Nov 22, 2004

WoW is a better game. To me, EQ2 feels like a very very entry level MMO for newer gamers - or "MMO-Lite" if you will..

I don't know what you got this false impression from, but let me start by saying that I think you're completely wrong

My wife and I put a lot of time into WoW during Beta, and we LOVED it! It was a fun game that was easy to jump in, and hit the ground running. They didn't do anything silly with the controls so that people who are used to playing MMORPGs wouldn't have to spend all their time getting used to a strange way of interacting with the world. My wife and I have already pre-ordered copies of WoW waiting for us to pick them up. BUT, if I was going to compare EQ2 and WoW and say that one felt like a "very very entry level MMO for newer gamers", I would put that label on WoW not EQ2.

I'm not going to insult WoW by comparing it to Asheron's Call 2, but I think they did come a little too close to making things too easy and linear as we all know that AC2 did.

When EQ2 came out, I basically had to talk my wife into trying it out. We could never get into EQ, and while EQ2 looked to be a pretty game, we figured it would be the same lame "get a group, and kill monsters x,y,z until time to log off), but I LOVE trying new games. We figured we would play it for a little bit, and then skip over to WoW when it was released. Unfortunatly, EQ2 did almost everything right.

I agree about the graphics in EQ2. I have a very high end machine, and found the graphics in EQ2 to be very unattractive, they are a mixed bag, like they tried to do too much with them, and ended up doing nothing. Worse, they mixed graphical techniques with ones that just don't look right.. Its like they saw GuildWars, liked the hazy effect, and threw that in too. Overall, its a mixed bag, and a fairly poor looking mixed bag if you ask me.

Wrong. EQ2 has the best graphics of any MMORPG out there (including the newly released WoW). I normally don't give a hoot about a game's graphics; it's the gameplay that makes or breaks a game for me. EQ2's graphics are just breathtaking though. There are a ton of small details that make the game just... well... breathtaking is still the best word for it. I noticed something the other day that I just thought was neat. I was sitting on the ground waiting on my wife to come meet me or something. I had nothing targeted, but it was a high-traffic area. I noticed that as people would run by, I would watch them. This is something that's obviously not going to make a game win any awards, but it's still neet. My little dwarven head would whip from right to left as people would run by.

I have my graphics set in the "middle of the road" area even though I also have a pretty top-end machine. While I was sitting around for a few minutes waiting for my wife to get off the phone, I "pumped up" the graphics setting a bit. Holy cow! I spent probably 1/2 hour just looking at my weapons, armour, etc...

The only real point that I saw you make was the PvP thing. My wife and I also played a lot of DAoC. We did end up doing a good bit of RvR, and PvP(on Mordred), and Battleground fighting. I personally had way more fun doing the PvP thing, but my wife ( It's strange, but my wife is perfectly happy just grinding way).

WoW has a high end game

I don't know what part of WoW's "high end game" you're refering to, other than the PvP thing.

Well, it's time for me to get back to work

P.S. I'm defending EQ2 against WoW because nobody else is doing so. I think both are GREAT games! If both games weren't so excellent, I wouldn't be stuck in the situation I am.

ins11

on Nov 23, 2004

splaterpaux:
Well. I've checked out the UI configuration options you have in EQ2 [and the UIBuilder app], and to me it seems like WoWs is a _lot_ more powerfull. Because you can use scripting code (if statements, etc..) in it. Whereas EQ2s ui is just skin/buttons/locations.
But there could be more features hidden there..

What i really dislike abuot EQ2 though is that it does'nt save my Chat and UI positions sometimes.. so I have to reconfigure my 3 chat windows when logging into the game, and reposition my item bags.

EQ2 has a lot of quests, this is a good thing, but if I should compare them to each other as to which I liked the most, I would say WoW. I'm up to level 12 in EQ2 now... and I have died a lot more often than i did in WoW. + Hardly any grouping. I also liked the more roaming mobs in WoW as opposed to what I have seen in EQ2 (Except for Rats, Beetles and Birds).

ins11

on Nov 23, 2004

I'll write a better comparison once I hit level 20.. in EQ2.

Usually, from past experiences, around level 20 is when I quit playing MMORPGS.

DAOC: Level 21. (Two times)
EQ1: Level 27 [first play 1999 was level 14, second play 2001 was 20, third 2001 was 27.]
AC: Level 20
AO: Level 10

I'll try to compare all aspects and write a better posting about it. Hopefully get some screenshots as well.

We will see.

Splateaux

on Nov 23, 2004

That's how I used to play MMORPGs as well, but I happen to marry a woman with a greater ability to "stick games out".

DAoC: 7 level 50's
Lineage II: level 17
City of Heroes: 15 (was satisfied when we learned to fly)
EQ1: 30ish
EQ2: 20 (sure have loved it so far)
UO: (never could stand that game longer than a day or so)
WoW: 28 (my wife soloed her Hunter into the 40's)

I would say the thing I dislike most about EQ2 so far, is the old-school EQ people that are playing it. They bring alot of the expectations and habits they had from EQ.... like being perfectly happy just camping a certain spot and grinding their way through the levels. I CAN'T STAND THAT! My wife and I would rather run around doing quests and killing different monsters which is why we liked EQ2 and WoW so much.

ins11

on Nov 23, 2004

Yea, I have met some of the 'oldskool' EQ 1 players there. (Easily recognized by them calling you hun). I'm just doing quests myself... my quest journal is always full.. I am just having trouble doing them all. I think I'll have to hook up a secondary monitor (Playing in Windowed mode) and have a excel spreadsheet with the quest information stored there to be able to do it "successfully".

I guess I could search the intarweb for a plugin/mod to EQ2 that lets me organize the quests more.. "organized" though.

You did'nt like UO? Must have played it in the wrong timeframe perhaps? UO from 1997-1999 is the best online game experience (RPG) I have had.
It is up there with Quake2CTF and glQuakeworld TeamFortress.

[but then again, I was player vs player...]

WoW so far seemed a lot more solo friendly than I have experienced in EQ2. I could fight higherlevel mobs in WoW and level pretty quickly.
One thing I really really hate in EQ2 is the fishing.. WoWs fishing was simple.. find water, fish, click the dipper once it moved. In EQ2 I have to move around all the time.
I even find the harvesting more tedious in Eq2 than in WoW.. in Eq2 you harvest, harvest, harvest a resource... in WoW you harvested once and got how much depending on your skill.

I have a problem with sticking through the game.. but my impression from wow was that perhaps I would be able to, this time.. unless I lost my job before i made it to the 'top'

It has affected my work/physical exercise negatively though... which is really really bad. But I'll fix that next week (I tell myself).

Splateaux

on Nov 23, 2004

One advantage I have in all these games is that I never have to solo. My wife and I are always playing together. I don't really even like soloing, while she's perfectly content just leveling all the way up by herself. That's one thing she liked more about WoW as well. Like I've said, she was able to solo her Hunter up to a pretty high level before beta closed. So far, she's having a little harder time soloing in EQ2.

I played UO when it first came out... mid-90's I'm guessing. I wanted to be an armoursmith. So, I spent awhile getting iron and such, got a mule, was working on my skills... I finally got to a point where I had to leave the starting town, and find better materials and such... but I was never able to survive to get to the next areas without some random jerk just killing me and taking my stuff. That got old pretty quick. I tried it again a couple years later, and it seemed to have gotten silly. You couldn't find a space in the game that wasn't occupied with a house or two, and the rampant killing was just the same.

ins11

on Nov 23, 2004

The housing issue pretty much ruined original UO world.. whereas T2A had a 'few' issues with playerkillers.

I myself played a "Honorable" anti-pk on the Atlantic server.. and had a more "shady" reputation on Drachenfels. (Europa server). However, my friend (he was bad) and a few others usually were nice, but attacked abusive players, as well as anyone RED. THe first day in Retail UO I played I was Pk'ed and lost all the stuff I had worked 2 hours for.. I had to buy a new keyboard after that, but I improved and usually avoided being pk'ed myself after that.

Some pictures.. some of them are silly.. http://ecstatica.mine.nu/uoshots

--
Having your own 'group' always must be great.

Especially if you are able to cooperate properly.
Pickup groups may turn bad.. very bad, good or very good. I have so far been in a Good and a very very bad pickup group in EQ2.
So I think I'll stick to soloing untill I reach 20.. just doing quests. Hopefully I will be able to reach 20+ soloing.

I have not yet claimed my jboots though.. since I dont know if I will remake my character, kinda sucks that I cant move the jboots to
another character.. so I have to be dead sure I will use this one.

obtw: I play on the Tuxxulius (Or something like that) server myself. Go under the name iago [from Shakespeares Othello, he's the villain] In case you're aruond. [I'm always looking to be twinked.. although I heard they have made that a lot harder in EQ2.. Atuning items to yourself for one thing..]

Splateaux

on Nov 23, 2004

We play on Nektulos I believe. Our names are Reenie and Mulkhay.

Yeah, "twinking" doesn't seem like it would be a very easy thing to do. For the most part because you have to have certain levels of skill in abilities like "heavy armour" before you could even wear some armour. I am a level 14 Outfitter though, so I'm able to make a few things. Crafting takes a lot of time though...

My wife and I are going to pick up our copies of WoW during lunch today

ins11

on Nov 23, 2004

Lucky you are.

Me being Euro I am unable to subscribe to the game, unless I can get a hold of a lot of gamecards and be able to register without using a CC.
Let me know how registration is processed please

Since I would much rather play WoW than EQ2

MythicalMino

on Nov 23, 2004

I must say....I am really enjoying WoW.....I installed it about 1 am this morning, played for about 1 1/2 hours.....got up this morning, and the first thing i did was take that junk EQ2 off my pc. Sure, EQ2 looks good....but....personally, I would much rather play WoW.

As I was playing today, when I wasn't nearly falling off my seat due to being tired...I was trying to pin point it down to what I like so much about WoW, or, what sets it apart from the other MMORPG's I have played (EQ, EQ2, CoH, DAoC, SW:G, among others.....). I don't think it can be narrowed down to just "one" or two things....it is the whole package. Very polished in my opinion....I have had absolutely NO lag whatsoever (although, a few ppl last night were saying they were getting some lag). To me, the game is beautifully graphically rendered. It really does seem to have that fantasy look and feel, not the "Computer Graphics" look that I thought EQ2 had. Sure, EQ2 looked good....but I just like the colors of WoW better....more colorful or something.

I have been playing as a Tauran Shaman....and the quests, although they are your typical Fed-Ex quests, or go kill and bring back item stuff.....It still seems better than the others I have played. The quests actually MAKE sense....

I have leveled up to lvl 8 already...in only about 6 hours or so....to me that is pretty good. By this time, most games have been shelved.....CoH I made it to level 16, and just was so bored out of my mind, i just simply could not go on. The one thing I am having trouble with, is trying to find where I need to go to complete quests...as in, finding the person I need to talk to. Especially when you have several quests you are working on. Perhaps there is a marker or something on the mini-map, but I have not noticed it.

Like I said, I am really enjoying this one....plan on making a Night Elf character soon too (to join up with Draginol when he opens up shop)......but, love my Tauran.....

Great game....

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