EQ2 vs WoW

Huntn

I've played WoW for the last 14 months. I've burned out. I liked all the leveling aspects of the game but distinctly dislike WoW's end game, it's reliance on large raid dungeons or Battle Grounds for rewarding epic gear.

I tried EQ2 Trial of the Isle, but honestly I was not impressed with the beginning of the game. I assume it gets better. Can anyone tell me if EQ2 end game relies on large raid groups for dungeon action or can just about everything be done with small parties?

In WoW I soloed about 70% of the time. Can this be done in EQ2?

If there is anyone who is familiar with both games, I'd really like to hear any a class comparison between the 2 games. It looks like EQ2 has many more classes and variations. And for anyone with dual game xp, maybe a description of why you think EQ2 is a better game.

Off topic, I've read many discussions talking about the static world of most MMOs. Seed looks interesting, but no combat. Are there any new MMOs on the horizon with combat, but avoids the static world issue?

Thanks!
-Hunt'n

Roin

Hate to tell ya, but most MMO's out now or that will be released later. Will have 90% of their endgame content based around raiding. Whether it be 10, 20, or 40 man raids. While I've been on many raids. I seem to be much like you in a sense that. It's not really what I want to do when I reach end-game for my character.

EQ2 isn't very solo friendly. Back when I played (or rather when I started to play it again) they were in the process of adding more solo/small group cotent. I stopped playing EQ2 about a couple of days after playing the CU they did. From what I understand of the game now though. (From what other say) They've gone back to less solo-friendly encounters. At least thats the impression I get from people here on the forums, and a few of the people I know that still play the game occassionally.

Huntn

Roin,
Thanks for the input!

I think the static world issue is a challenge, most companies are not willing to tackle or don't know how to.

-Hunt'n

Effect

Currently playing EQ2 now, still don't understand why I came back but after the next two weeks I"m not renewing. For all the talk SOE tries to do about how they have added solo content it's really a smokescreen if anything. Yes there is content you can solo but what they don't talk about is how hard it can be at times or how long it will take you to level and also how it's mixed in with grouped mobs or heroic mobs. Like right next to each other at times and intermixed. Which can get you killed if you aren't careful since these different mobs all look the same and you have to be extra sure of their name, not just what color they con as to be sure. If you are in a roll and constantly pulling you can easily kill yourself. Then there is the time you have to put in.

If they ever did have more solo content it seems like they removed it and didn't tell me since the solo content information is still up on their site.

I was fooled by this at first just as I was by WoW. WoW still has a long grind solo as well since grouping is kinda pointless unless you are doing instances and want to complete quest faster. Once you realize it's all the same thing but locations change it becomes boring. Just that the grind is hidden better. It comes down to who can hide the grind better I feel and I think DAoC is still king in that regard I feel since I"ve had the most fun in it then any other MMORPG.

Personally I'd say pass on both games and try out Anarchy Online or Dark Age of Camelot. The overall enjoyment is better with these two games. There is also Asheron's Call 1 and City of Heroes. Instead of dealing with WoW and EQ2 where they are basiclly trying to become each other as time passes.

One more thing, the beginning of EQ2 is really not a good thing to base the game on to be honest. You level quickly the first 6 levels. After that it starts to slow down a lot and really slows down between 10-20 and it just gets slower and slower. I noticed that WoW slowed down as well but the experience gotten always seemed to increase so it wasn't that much of a problem. It's just extremely noticeable in EQ2 that it's frustrating group wise or solo (especially solo).

Huntn

Effect,
Your not the first to suggest DAOC. I'll take a look at it but it's an older game. What happens for the DAOC end game?

-Hunt'n

Effect

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Originally posted by Huntn
Effect,
Your not the first to suggest DAOC. I'll take a look at it but it's an older game. What happens for the DAOC end game?-Hunt'n

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True it is an older game but with each major expansion (there are some not so major ones that are free like housing, frontier revamp) there is a graphics engine update. Most of the game is spent adventuring, questing, etc. The usually mmorpg business. One of the good things is that each class has a serious of quest they get at every 5 levels that leads to their epic armor at the end. Most save the last 2 or 3 parts can be done solo with the last quest being gotten at level 45. The last parts only need one group of similar level players and it's a great feeling since the last part in the end is somewhat hard but it's how it's setup that makes it interesting. Traps, locked rooms, dungeon crawl, etc. You know how the Deadmines in WoW is setup, it's kinda like that in how different things happen at different times. All the quest converge at the same point for the last 4 quest but before that they are class based leading to the same ending. With the catacombs expansion there are different instance dungeons around the realms (from levels 1 to 50) that you can solo in or group for experience and money. You get mission from npcs near them. This has become the main way to group now recently since it's faster, good experience and money and is more of a hotspot. Especially since they are dungeon crawls with missions and each time the layout changes somewhat and what needs to be done changes. The theme of each dungeon is differnet as well. Better them camping a single spot in the world mainly though that is still fun too.

As for the end game it can be spent several ways. Hunting in the Shrouded Isles or Trials of Atlantis areas. Now the Catacombs areas (contains a few instances that are fun to do). You have master levels with the Trials of Atlantis but the Classic servers don't have this expansion enabled since it kinda unbalances RvR. There is also Realm vs. Realm is what most people do. Not only do you take keeps but towers surrounding them. The more towers and keeps you have control of the RvR dungeon Darkness Falls (lvls 20 to 50). Not only that you have the realm relics which taken from an enemy keep deep in their frontier can be taken back to your sides to actually give your realm bonsues in terms of melee and magic. Guilds can take control of keeps and towers as well by having guards show up under their guild name and keeps and towers grow in power the longer they are held and money is put into them. Not all the RvR fun is spent at the higher levels though. There are batttlegrounds at all level ranges that get a lot of action but max level RvR is where you'll see hundreds of players fighting it out over control of keeps, towers, bridges trying to stop advances. A lot of people spend their entire time in RvR maybe breaking to level normally to get money for siege equipment or to repair keeps or if they get bored but it's always active. One of the interesting things is that the frontiers areas are filled with monsters as well, some of them huge. So you can hunt out there if you want for some great experience bonuses when you are in the mid to upper levels if you want but you will be attacked by other realms if you aren't careful.

DAoC does have some raiding I think. I believe there are suppose to be a few dragons in the game but never seen one. Once I hit level 50 on my Warden I started working on my Champion Levels (came with the Darkness Rising expansion), got my first Champion horse and spent time RvRing with my guildmates each night or going to Dark Spire instance once or twice (that place is somewhat scare due to how hard things hit). RvR is simply a lot of fun since the more you do it(battlegrounds or frontiers) and kill other players, you get points to continue to upgrade your character.

darktravesty

Thinking about checking DaoC out myself, what do people with experience in the game think of the current graphics? Better than Shadowbane's? Personally I think they look a bit worse, and the last time I tried it they were, so I can't really have an accurate judgement. Oh, and population, how is that?

hercules

Well i have a CURRENT again let me say CURRENT sub to EQ2 unlike all this people posting about 6 months ago.

I levelled almost exclusively solo with a guardian(not best solo class around) from 50-60 due to only been able to be online for an hour at a go .

So if you wanna solo its easy as pie but levels slower then WoW.

As for DAoC yes its a great game i recently trying again(used to play it in 2001) and the graphics are much better with expansions and not got the new one yet so assume its even better.

It is not as good as WoW graphics and certainly not near EQ2 but its pretty ok looking.

Signe

It's very easy to solo in EQ2 now. I beta tested the game and didn't buy it after because it was so group oriented. I recently re-subbed because I was comped a free copy and was surprised to find how much it's changed. Although there are quests which need a group to complete, a small group or even a duo is often enough. Sometimes you can just wait until you outlevel the quest somewhat and complete it. For the most part, however, you can solo to your heart's content... even many "heroic" quests and mobs are soloable, although the difficulty meter rises... as it should in those cases.

One of the things which still bother me, however, are all those linked mobs still roaming around. Too many of them, in my opinion. There are certain types of mobs that are very difficult to find unlinked. I'm not crazy about the crafting "mini-game" either... but I'm not massively into crafting, anyway.

I'm a bit fickle with games so I'm not entirely sure how long I'll play EQ2. I really just wanted to provide my own personal clarification on the misconception of it's solo content.

Rikimaru_X

I hear that EQ2 is more group oriented, ever since it was in beta.