Should it be World of Warcraft or Everquest II?

[Medellon]

I'm a newbie to MMORPG's but not to RPG's as I have been playing them for many years. I am trying to decide between WoW and EQ2 as I don't want to invest my time and money into 2 of these types of games. I am playing the WoW beta and have really enjoyed it but have never played EQ2 so I can't compare them. My favorite RPG's have been the Baldur's Gate series and Neverwinter Nights and it's many modules. I also really enjoyed Morrowind because there was so much to do. I like RPG's that let me really customize my character with skills and abilities and a world that seems alive with many possibilities and interactions with it, an almost living world if you will. So, which game would be the one for me?

 

[ResiduaL]

I won't be a troll and tell you this is probably one of the most overasked questions I've seen.
But I'm nice and good looking so here.


World of Warcraft is more of a casual gamer's game. The level grind is easy, the game can be soloed up until the level cap and you level very quickly.
Teh graphics are pretty dope, things look great and it's very polished.
The questionable portion of it lies within it's long term content.
Because you can level very fast, people aren't sure exactly how much longevity the game has to it.
There is a bunch of instanced raids you can do agaisnt level 100 and above dragons and such, as well as a Hero quest you can do later on but I'm not quite sure on teh details of these as I'm still around level 25.

Everquest 2, right now, isn't as polished as WOW is. Some people may disagree but the majority of people who have tested the game will say it probably should be pushed back and not released right now.
I'm not really an EQ fan...the game has a longer level grind and a lot more customization to it so you'll probably be playing for awhile. SOE should not be releasing it to the public right now, IMO.
However, I will say, that after about 6-8 months, I think EQ2 will be able to rival WOW and overtake it within 10-12 months.


You should peep the gamefaqs boards for more trolling/fan boys who support their game to no end.
It's possible though that you might find someone who's unbiased and can give you more details on both sides.

Personally, I've already paid for my WOW collector's edition and this is the game I will be putting my time into.

 

[jinglingxl]

personally, the EQII widescreen style just turns me off instantly. I think it a stupid and flawed design.

 

[Hadsus]

You can turn widescreen off. Actually it's customizeable.....you can have zero widescreen or mega widescreen. It's not an issue. It's done to help out your graphics rendering system.

 

[Bulldog13]

wow

 

[Gurck]

EQ2 vs. WoW thread #15,329,438...

Sony is incompetent and their ethics make organized crime bosses look like angels. Play WoW.

 

[imported_obsidian]

I am playing both at the moment and am leaning towards EQ2. For one, EQ2 just destroys WoW when it comes to graphics. Special effects as well. WoW's graphics are so low poly and flat it is sad. Not too mention every single horde race looks like crap to me. Second, EQ2 is more group oriented which is something I prefer. In addition, the crafting in EQ2 is more involved than just clicking on the ingrediants and getting a soda. I just see a lot more potential in EQ2 than I do WoW. I would say WoW is better for the soloer or Diablo 2 fan and EQ2 is better for well, the EQ gamer. Lastly, I am not a hardcore gamer and have never played EQ. My only MMO experience is SWG (uhg) and FFXI (current). On a good night I will play 1-3 hours.

 

[effee]

EQ2, WoW simply cannot compare to EQ2.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: jinglingxl
personally, the EQII widescreen style just turns me off instantly. I think it a stupid and flawed design.

I guess you're one of those morons that make opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

I'm personally playing EQ2 now, and will play WoW when i get bored of EQ2. But at this time, EQ2 is just SWEEET. It's only been 3 days since official release (although some got it on Monday), and they've already opened another 8 server (they had originally planned on 12 servers for 100k people). So at 20 servers now, i'm sure approaching 200k in half a week.

I will be very surprised if WoW equals or beats these numbers... the demographic of most of the WoW fanboys are teenage males i would assume, and i doubt most have a creditcard or money to actually play the game. They're just excited over it because it's free right now. But also EQ2 will have much more staying power imo, in actual expansions AND in appeal to longterm subscribers.

If you want to play a game that you think you can 'finish' in a couple of months, then WoW is for you. If you want a game that is VAST (and will release expansions very regularly... i'm not sure why WoW boys whine so much about this, this is the best part of a good longstanding mmorpg), graphics that puts WoW to it's knees (and your system as well), quests that are actually fun (and require exploration and discovery), a good customer premium service (player service that has item database, character/guild ranking and statistics, etc), and not only solo play but great group dynamics, EQ2 is for you. I was in beta, and most of the whining from people are those that got into the last week of beta when they were doing a lot of changes and stability was an issue... but release has been one of the best MMORPG to date, and been very solid for me, with only server going down once for 5 mins.

 

[Hadsus]

I agree on the horde character models....I looked at all of them and they look more like overdone comic characters than something you can connect to....so I chose a gnome.

EQ 2 is frustrating at first 'cause the game's on rails the first several levels....quests to get off the island and then quests for citizenship. But, now it's a blast. There are a ton of classes and subclasses to choose from as is the case for races. EQ 2 simply has WoW whipped in this regard. Anyway, I'm not gonna get into the pluses and minuses of each as it's been done before. There is one minus each share though....they are being released simultaneously! Great games like these should be spaced out six months apart at least. Anyone trashing one in favor of another is not being honest.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Hardcore

Originally posted by: jinglingxl
personally, the EQII widescreen style just turns me off instantly. I think it a stupid and flawed design.

I guess you're one of those morons that make opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

...the demographic of most of the WoW fanboys are teenage males i would assume, and i doubt most have a creditcard or money to actually play the game.

I've seen Sony rape Norrath, changing EQ to appeal more to teenage males - and it has worked. When I started, around the Velious expansion, the average player was in college and the playerbase expressed a maturity I hadn't yet seen on the internet... now you log in and see something like...

Ubardood auctions, 'WTS <10k item> 50k, PST!!!11'
Leetmaster says, out of character, 'y ur 2 b 4 ne1??//'
Ubardood auctions, 'WTS <10k item> 50k, PST!!!11'
Ggganddalfff shouts, 'wtf olololrofl ur pwnt'
Ubardood auctions, 'WTS <10k item> 50k, PST!!!11'
Ubardood auctions, 'WTS <10k item> 50k, PST!!!11'
Llllegollas says, out of character, 'lofl wut iz ware u bye mana poshunz plz'
Ubardood auctions, 'WTS <10k item> 50k, PST!!!11'
Llllegollas says, out of character, 'PLZ'
Llllegollas says, out of character, 'PLZZZZZ'
Ubardood auctions, 'WTS <10k item> 50k, PST!!!11'

Further, I find it pretty ironic that someone who goes around calling people morons would put down teenage males... projection, much?

Both games will attract l33t k1dd13z, and while it's unfortunate, Blizzard is at least competent and ethical. I'm by no means a fanboy; I plan on dropping WoW (if I'm still playing) for Vanguard the minute it's out. I've just played games by both makers and seen Blizzard delay a "ready" game to get rid of even more bugs.. I've seen them quash bugs immediately, and treat customers like they have actual feelings...

Meanwhile I've seen Sony ruin a great game, one which used to tout its immersiveness by not even displaying real-world time in-game, to spamming expansions and other Sony products in-game, to having "accidental" billing errors in their favor - for which it's your responsibility to dispute with your CC company - to having a nag screen *every time you log in* begging you to buy the latest expansion (one comes out every few months - they can really crank them out when they disregard depth, quality, and beta-testing) - and if you accidentally click yes, it's charged to your credit card without so much as a confirmation box, and is a nonrefundable purchase. I've seen them let bugs go unfixed for many months - if they were ever fixed at all. Not minor ones either - major stuff, like the SK epics being broken, the quest container bug where ~75% of all quests couldn't be completed, the time a good portion of their playerbase couldn't log in... these bugs were unfixed for months. There was a plat duping bug which ruined the economy, dumping platinum in the game like a waterfall. To this day the economy hasn't recovered, and will never be the same. They didn't stop that one for three weeks. Worst, I've seen people banned from their forums for commenting on any of this.

 

[RealityTime]

Play WoW.. please. There is something....................... unsettling ........... about obsessive somewhat delusional eq players. Stick to wow.. there is not as much of a 'im really an elf/dwarf/some other thing and am going to go psycho and stock the streets with my sword after playing too much eq..........

rofl

:Q

 

[warcrow]

christ...how many of these threads do we need?

 

[Chasim]

I think a slightly different "spin" on the answers here is this... WoW end-game = PvP vs. EQII end-game = raids and guild status. That's at least how they're shaping up right now.

P.S. I'm in WoW beta and was in EQII beta (now in retail). Personally, I'm playing both until the "free" thirty days on WoW runs out, then I'm picking one.

 

[Feneant2]

Without having a strong opinion like the EQ suck or WoW sucks people, I would say it depends on your style.

I've played both EQ2 and WoW and both games have flaws and plus's, it's all in how you look at it. Without going in details, I'll put it like this, if you have a lot of time, Eq2, little time, WoW. If you like quests, they both have them- WoW has a lot (I have 7 going at this time), Eq2 has a throng of them (I've 29 going right now). If you like crafting, WoW has an easy quick system to learn while EQ2 has a much more time wasting system. If you like PvP, Everquest 2 has none. If you like RP, both games have RP servers but WoW has more stringent regulations. Both games have instanced raids but Eq2 concentrates more on it than Wow as warcraft is made to fight against the other faction.

Thats the simplest way I see it.

Edited :

I like RPG's that let me really customize my character with skills and abilities and a world that seems alive with many possibilities and interactions with it, an almost living world if you will. So, which game would be the one for me?

Neither game have this. The skills in World of Warcraft are ladder based while in Everquest, you train your base skills. Neither game offers much in choice of variety except picking a different class, but Warcraft might have a bit more variety than Everquest in terms of what skill you will trade higher. Everquest seems to have a few choices (you can once in a while train your strenght, agility, stamina higher)- but the skills are learnt by buying them. I don't know if there is a limit to buy as I did not play in beta. Neither game could be considered a living world as they are really static, they are made that as you progress, you consistently go in harder zones so that it will still take a few months at least to get to the end. Once there however, you basically start raiding/adventuring or trying to kill off people from opposing factions.

 

[Malladine]

heh

heh

Playing wow open beta, haven't played EQ2 yet. I am enjoying wow much more this time around. It's a light hearted game and if you take it as that you'll enjoy it. If you want a deep and heavy mmo i'd say look elsewhere. But then i'm only lvl 12 so maybe you just wasted your time reading my post?

Hey Gurck, you know whether Vanguard is gonna have levels or skills? Levels are a pain in the ass.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

I played both.

EQ2:

-LONG loading screens everywhere. Some lasted several minutes. I have an overclocked 2500+ CPU.
-Performance was awful at times, particularly when moving around instead of staying in one place. I have a 9700 Pro video card. I'm talking choking at under 1 fps.
-Graphics don't seem that great in game, especially since the game runs so poorly. They're bland/uninspired.
-Boring races/quests
-Interface isn't what it could be
-SOE! Gah!

WoW:
-Loading screens are very rare, and usually brief
-Runs very smoothly 99% of the time
-Graphics, while not super high poly count, still manage to look good. Lots of style/feeling.
-Unique races, not Heinz 57 varieties of elves
-Quests usually more fun. Some "collect X of Y" can get frustrating when the drops don't happen.
-Content seemed to really be in compared to EQ2
-Blizzard. Great reputation for past games.
-Strong PvP/guild support at launch


It really seems like a no-brainer to me after playing both.

 

[Looney]

Sony has ruined a great game huh? When Verant sold it to SOE, it had a player base of about 80k. Sony was able to update it and appeal it to subscriptions that broke 400k.

So somebody enjoyed it. Just because you didn't, doesn't mean they 'broke' the game. Infact, the only other game that even came close to EQ numbers was FFXI, and their numbers are suspicious, because they count characters (which you have to pay each additional char for) as accounts as well.

And as for bugs... these games will ALWAYS have bugs. There isn't a single one of these that are bug free... and if you know of one, let me know. And the bugs you're claiming, are all bull or highly exaggerated. Plat bug that ruined the economy? Please, the plat bug with Befallen i'm assuming you're referring to? That was a rumor, and highly doubt that existed. Any game that is as large as EQ and has been around as long, yo'ure going to be able to name bugs (and i would at least have named some more concrete ones than the BS you're spewing).

 

[naddicott]

OP: As a "newbie to MMORPG's but not to RPG's" I think you'll find WoW a much better fit. The solo experience in WoW is excellent, and you can take the luxury of only grouping when you have enough time and when you find people who you enjoy playing with (just keep track of the friendly players on your friends list, and "/ignore" the bad apples). I had more fun in my first 3 days of WoW (back in the first stress test) than I did in an entire month of playing Star Wars Galaxies.

If you're on the fence, but know other people playing WoW, ask someone who buys the collector's edition to use their 7-day trial key and see for yourself.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
Sony has ruined a great game huh? When Verant sold it to SOE, it had a player base of about 80k. Sony was able to update it and appeal it to subscriptions that broke 400k.

So somebody enjoyed it. Just because you didn't, doesn't mean they 'broke' the game. Infact, the only other game that even came close to EQ numbers was FFXI, and their numbers are suspicious, because they count characters (which you have to pay each additional char for) as accounts as well.

And as for bugs... these games will ALWAYS have bugs. There isn't a single one of these that are bug free... and if you know of one, let me know. And the bugs you're claiming, are all bull or highly exaggerated. Plat bug that ruined the economy? Please, the plat bug with Befallen i'm assuming you're referring to? That was a rumor, and highly doubt that existed. Any game that is as large as EQ and has been around as long, yo'ure going to be able to name bugs (and i would at least have named some more concrete ones than the BS you're spewing).

They hit 300k by velious, peaked at 450, and dropped before alternatives were available - what does that say? And who are you to say they couldn't have done things differently and had equal or better profit margins? Really, you're exactly the type of fanboy they want - someone who'll eat sh*t with a smile and ask for seconds :roll: Your excusing them for apathetically allowing the sheer number and importance of bugs and equating it to what few small bugs slip past Blizzard's watchful eye just cements it. Way to ignore the meat of my post as well, guess if you can't refute something, it's best to ignore it

 

[Velk]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
Sony has ruined a great game huh? When Verant sold it to SOE, it had a player base of about 80k. Sony was able to update it and appeal it to subscriptions that broke 400k.

Actually, in june 2000 when sony bought verant, they were at 200k, and going strong. There was no reason that this would change simply because of corporate ownership, the effects of the sony management were not very visible until december 2001, when the first expansion managed by them was released - shadows of luclin.

You can judge this effect for yourself : Subscription graph

Whether this was because of mismanagement by the new executives, the loss of creative talent that left with Brad McQuaid, or simply the appeal of everquest wearing thin after so long is debatable.

Originally posted by: Hardcore
And the bugs you're claiming, are all bull or highly exaggerated. Plat bug that ruined the economy? Please, the plat bug with Befallen i'm assuming you're referring to? That was a rumor, and highly doubt that existed. Any game that is as large as EQ and has been around as long, yo'ure going to be able to name bugs (and i would at least have named some more concrete ones than the BS you're spewing).

Well actually, claims of BS being thrown around is a bit unjustified. He is presumably talking about the same timeframe as you though, the real reason for the rampant hyperinflation that was obvious to nearly everyone playing ( and to yourself as well I presume, assuming you ever looked at bazaar prices ) was much more mundane, and not *technically* a dupe bug. Someone at Sony mistakenly adjusted the pricing of a smithing component, without adjusting the prices of the items made with that component. This meant that the results of the combine were worth far more than the ingredients, a fact which was happily exploited by tradeskill macroers.

Suggesting the economy was 'ruined' is a bit strong perhaps, but letting the bug persist for more than a month after it was discovered did introduce tens of millions of 'fake' platinum into the game, which was only really leashed in some by the introduction of the casino.

 

[KAMAZON]

I played EQ2 beta on my:
amd64 3500
Nvidia 6800 GT
1GB Mushkin ram
SATA 150 HD
Win XP Pro (32 bit)


I put it on 1 setting above average graphics settings and it DRAAAGGGEEED!! It was sooooo slow. I can imagine EQ2 having more longetivity, since it'll probably run very well on the video cards 2 or 3 generations from now, but not right now. I don't play MMORPGS, but I did beta test WoW as well. I liked WoW alot and will be buying it.

 

[zodder]

It has to be WoW. It plays great on most any hardware, which means you can play it on your lappie wherever you go. And I don't mean just struggle through it, I mean play it maxed out. To me, that is just awesome.

 

[Dman877]

They both suck imo. Played both though only breifly by mmp standards and I have to say, the WoW graphics suck, if you like that cartoony style, great, I think it's ugly as sin. The game looks great from a distance, then when you zoom in you see textures on characters that hark back to the N64 days. EQ2 graphics are an improvement but for how system-intensive they are, they should be about 10x better imo.

 

[imported_obsidian]

Originally posted by: ArmchairAthlete
I played both.

EQ2:

-LONG loading screens everywhere. Some lasted several minutes. I have an overclocked 2500+ CPU.
-Performance was awful at times, particularly when moving around instead of staying in one place. I have a 9700 Pro video card. I'm talking choking at under 1 fps.
-Graphics don't seem that great in game, especially since the game runs so poorly. They're bland/uninspired.
-Boring races/quests
-Interface isn't what it could be
-SOE! Gah!

WoW:
-Loading screens are very rare, and usually brief
-Runs very smoothly 99% of the time
-Graphics, while not super high poly count, still manage to look good. Lots of style/feeling.
-Unique races, not Heinz 57 varieties of elves
-Quests usually more fun. Some "collect X of Y" can get frustrating when the drops don't happen.
-Content seemed to really be in compared to EQ2
-Blizzard. Great reputation for past games.
-Strong PvP/guild support at launch


It really seems like a no-brainer to me after playing both.

Here we go, more misleading crap. First off, the load screens are not long. At most they take about 15 seconds for me. Usually less. I have a 2.53GHz P4 and 1GB of PC-2700. And with the exception of some of the smaller cities, the areas are big so it's not like you are zoning a lot.

Those with performance problems in EQ2 should check out this post. There are a couple big settings that control the performance. Shadows and complex shader distance being the main two. Of course you still need a relatively modern system (think 9800 pro and higher).

I really like EQ2 graphics. The spell effects and world are damn nice. I mean just look at the water distortion and ripple effects while swimming. The character creation is also great. It's a lot like SWG's character creation system (one of the few good things about that game). This is preference but every single model in WoW with the exception of a couple dark elf models look like utter crap to me. Also, you are really limited in your choices so prepare to look like every other character of your race/gender. Especially the horde models. However, the WoW worlds look pretty cool. Although they could use some bump mapping as everything in the game seems to use flat textures.

Please explain how WoW quests are so much better than EQ2 quests? Please. Because EVERY single WoW quest I did up to level 10 involved delivering or killing something (or both). A lot of the EQ2 quests are the same way.

The interface in EQ2 is great! You can customize EVERYTHING. Want another chat window just for guild chat? Easy enough. Want 2, 3, 4 or more hotkey/toolbars. Easy enough. Don't want to see them all then time? Set them to translucent when your cursor isn't over them. Move everything anywhere and the screen and lock it in place when you like where it is.

If you don't like SOE I can understand that. I played SWG when it launch for a couple months *shudder*, but SOE has done a great job with EQ2. There are minimal bugs, nice voice overs, good class balance, and a good story. I especially love the heroic opportunities. They give some signifigant benifits to group communication and teamwork.

However, this doesn't mean WoW is bad. WoW is more of a solo game. Leveling is very easy and a lot of people should reach the level cap in 1-2 months easily. A lot of the worlds also look very nice. WoW also has PvP, something EQ2 does not. Its just that I prefer more of a group oriented game although soloing is possible to your 20s or so. PvP really doesn't matter to me. When I want PvP I'll go play CS:S or Q3, and if I want to solo I will play Neverwinter Nights.