Again and again as i see from people who over blow situations...... This is nothing wrong with eq 2 it is a great game around...and SOE did it! Graphics awesome and game play is great hands down. Questing beautiful ... i been playing eq 2 since the start and i liked it then and now! Only reason this game doesn't have the populations the kids like is for this reason only.... It's a mature community we dont tollerate kids crap of chuck norris jokes etc.... We play not be stupid less kids is why the population is down.... if you want to do that kind of stuff go to wow!
That's not true.
I play on Naggy server and the community is no different than WoW.
The reason more people don't play EQ2 is the system requirements.
I have a 2.4 gig processor, 1gig ram, and 256 meg video card and I still have to play on medium-low settings if I want to pvp.
In crowded pvp I have to turn my graphics way down.
But I can turn around and play WoW just fine. EQ2 players always complain about WoW's graphics, but they are lush and colorful and beautiful imho.
Also, EQ2 is an awesome pvE game, but the PvP is pretty weak, imo. The only reason I even play on Naggy is because PvP rules prevent FP from grouping with Q's, the way it should be.
But WoW has much better, much more balanced, and much more fun PvP.
In WoW, anyone can pvp.
In EQ2, there are too many classes that just plain suck at 1v1 pvp.
Came out about same time as WOW, but was in far worse shape at release. Fixed up now from what I hear, but its more of the same in my eyes (yet another fantasy MMORPG game) so I wasn't interested in giving it a trial, and went with EvE just recently.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
So then why would I want to play everquest 2? I've allready played everquest. I dont want more everquest. Nor do I want to play anything similar to it.
I'm not bashing any games here, i'm simply stating the truth, as an outsider. I'm not interested in Everquest 2 at all, the fact that it even has everquest in it's name instantly signals to me that it will probably be a lot like everquest.
I do think it was a mistake on SOE's part to release a game so different from EQ1 and call it EQ2. They could have called it Legacy of Norrath or After The Shattering or Lucan Vs. Bayle: FIGHT! and it might not have been so shocking and disappointing off the bat to SOME people.
But it's still everquest. Thats the issue here. Down to it's core it is everquest.
It would be like releasing Asheron's Call 2. ... Oh wait, we allready know what happened there.
It would be like releasing World of Warcraft 2, Anarchy Online 2, etc..
In all of these cases, it just wouldn't work. I think the only reason Everquest 2 has the subscriber base it does, is simply because of the fact that it has everquest in its name. However, the damage from doing Everquest again for a MMO is far worse, then the positive effect of using the over-used IP.
The only MMO that has successfully pulled this type of thing off is Lineage. However, thats a completely situation.
I did used to play eq2 for a while. I thought the game was ok but nothing special.
Its basicly the same as WoW. Only WoW does everything better. Actually the one thing it does have over WoW is the instanced housing but that hardly balances things out. My prob with it was little things like how quest npcs seemed to be scattered around huge areas and the really drab looking player characters. I played on and off for almost a year the last straw for me was how people only ever wanted to grind in the same place (runneye). I got to about 40 (dont remember) and was so bored of killing the same stuff over and over omg. There are lots of other areas I could have gone at that level but they were all for groups but no one ever wanted to do anything different, impossible to get a group for there.
I gotta admit though nek castle was one of the most fun mmorpg moments I ever had.
UHm I think as an online game EQ2 is up there with the best on the market. As of now it has great content an ammount of playability and with the new expansions a lot to offer.
I find the OP post strange as I think the game is doing fine ...
Maybe it would be doing better if it had had the content it has now on release, more investment in marketing and less competition as the current mmorpg market is just a flooded cesspit or mediocre games with just a life of 3-6 months probably half a dozen releases sit outside of that and i believe EQ2 is one of them.
________________________________________________________ Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Why isn't this game more successful? one of the biggest reasons is, just like vanguard, the system requirements, for the game. most people, do not have that kind of power, on there p.cs to run theses games, that's one of the reasons I believe that made wow, so popular, was the fact that you didn't have to have, this good video card or that good amount of memory to run it.
I really do enjoy everquest 2 it of course has a lot of pros and cons, but so does every other game out there, and to me its not about being everquest, its just a name if you don't know how the game is, then just give it a shot ! and try the free trial, you might like it or you might not, they are adding a lot to the game, as time passes on, but I do feel the dev team is gonna get some, major pressure when Conan or aion and some of the other mmos come out soon, and they wil need to add some seriously innovative things in the game to keep up with them and even try to surpass them.
i think the main reason is that people hate SOE for soem reason..
I truly think this is the best mmorpg out there at the moment.. so much to do.. my only gripe with the game is the armour.. at certain lvls there are a few different types.. but there is only one good type every 10 lvls or so ... so everyone uses that hehe..
character customization has got to be one of the best tho so much to change.. shame to cover it all up lol
The game itself plays really well.. you can solo just or group up .. ok pvp aint the best but maybe that will come soon.. so many places to explore and you get xp for donig so.. well a different type of xp..
Sadly i had to stop playing as I no lnoger have the time
The main reason EQ2 has not had a bigger audience is the same reason that led to SOE's misguided NGE changes to SWG. Marketing!!!!!
I should really say the lack of marketing. Have you seen much marketing for either game? Had SOE had a few good TV commercials of the cool houses, vehicles , mounts, action in the cantinas, and some group fighting video enough people (possibly millions) would have tried SWG. So SOE would not have needed to change game. They changed it to attract more players not because the game was bad. The same holds for EQ2. Great footage of the wonderful landscapes and beautiful horse mounts, mixed with some player housing, and a grand epic battle would get more people to try.
Belive it or not most people did not and do not know these games exist. Unlike us who post here most people are unware of the mmo market and how fun it is. The only one that has reached mainstream america awareness is WoW. Many people who do not play mmos know of WoW. You can make all the right changes to a game (or bad one as in SWG) but if no one knows about them what difference does it make.
Build a good game market it right and you will have a money maker.
Not sure what is up with the "don't want to play Everquest 2 since it is Everquest comments". They are pretty ignorant since EQ2 is more like WoW than EQ1. However, for people to jump to such silly conclusions does point back to impropper marketing. Not sure if it is too late for the game or not, but other than Vanguard(not close to ready) what other group oriented games are out there that are any good?
Whats this crap eq2 is like wow junk....Sorry it's more like wow is like eq2 and eq 1... sorry to break peoples bubbles soe pretty much invented the ways mmo's go from eq 1. Wow is a copy of that like many other mmo's. Next there is nothing and i repeat nothing wrong with eq 2. the requirments are fine armor is fine. I been playing since release and the game is great. Here is the difference between wow and eq 2
Wow
1. cartoonish
2. pvp is bad very bad
3. kids and the community is the worse
4. raid raid raid raid riad group grou no SOLOING!
EQ 2
1. graphics life like and realistic
2.pvp is open everywhere and is done right
3. we control the kids its a mature community
4.soloing can be done the whole game (I have a pally and only been in a group 3 times and i am a 58 pally!)
5. Soe is the greatest at making mmo's ...they have it right
6. swg was bad but name a company that hasent have a problem
7. to this day no game no one can beat eq 1 world and eq 2 will be like that coming soon with expansions
One thing that needs to end is this grip against soe for a company who been around all these years .....They are doing the best they can and they are doing a great job in my eyes .... GGOD JOB SOE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! For those who hate soe then go play something else leave soe alone ....
Again and again as i see from people who over blow situations...... This is nothing wrong with eq 2 it is a great game around...and SOE did it! Graphics awesome and game play is great hands down. Questing beautiful ... i been playing eq 2 since the start and i liked it then and now! Only reason this game doesn't have the populations the kids like is for this reason only.... It's a mature community we dont tollerate kids crap of chuck norris jokes etc.... We play not be stupid less kids is why the population is down.... if you want to do that kind of stuff go to wow!
EQ2 is supposedly SOE's best and most successful product, yet by most recent data, it still has less than 200k subs. EvE online has more and is considered a niche game while EQ2 is designed for mass audience. Seriously, why is this game not attracting many more players? You EQ2 vets who love this game, can you explain what is lacking?
I didn't like it for so long... then i started again on the famous "boat tutorial"... that lasted a week... and i grew apart.
I only game back after the revamp, gone was the boat tutorial, but not the boat. A new tutorial island awaited... new models could be chosen (much better, if a little anime).
and then the fae arrived.... they suck as a race (had to be said) but the actual tutorial within the main gameworld was a step in the right direction and a city.. oh their city.. no zonal loads... you don't have to put up with crap structured cities like Qyenos and now Freeport (with the help of new neriak).
Whats this crap eq2 is like wow junk....Sorry it's more like wow is like eq2 and eq 1... sorry to break peoples bubbles soe pretty much invented the ways mmo's go from eq 1. Wow is a copy of that like many other mmo's. Next there is nothing and i repeat nothing wrong with eq 2. the requirments are fine armor is fine. I been playing since release and the game is great. Here is the difference between wow and eq 2 Sorry but MMO's are a game genre so ALL MMOs will take ideas from games before them, they dont clone your mighty EQ1 they just give what players expect to have in an MMO and add a few more ideas... its that way for all genres else we all still be playing Pong and Pacman.
Wow 1. cartoonish A stylised, rich, varied and colourful world, smooth animations and lots to see
2. pvp is bad very bad In your oppinion, sounds like you got ganked a few time. I think it has the best mechanics (moving around and interating with players) just need to add a reason to PvP.
3. kids and the community is the worse in your opinion, never had issued with community, perhaps your the problem.
4. raid raid raid raid riad group grou no SOLOING! you can solo 1-70 if your choose or group with friends or guildies. And enjoy some the best endgame raids of any MMO. (IMHO)
EQ 2 1. graphics life like and realistic has the same problem as vaguard imho, tries to look real but just looks fake
2.pvp is open everywhere and is done right cannot comment never got to PvP, but WoW is open PvP (was before the battlegrounds arrived anyway) and fights still spark up out side dungeons and in the wild. PvP is there if you go look for it.
3. we control the kids its a mature community sure you do, Your right I had to send in a copy of my drivers licence and complete an IQ test b4 I could log into EQ2 4.soloing can be done the whole game (I have a pally and only been in a group 3 times and i am a 58 pally!) Cannot comment never got passed lvl 10
5. Soe is the greatest at making mmo's ...they have it right alot will disagree with that
6. swg was bad but name a company that hasent have a problem blizzard
7. to this day no game no one can beat eq 1 world and eq 2 will be like that coming soon with expansions you hope so, but I dont see it. Fae was a well recieved expansion but EQ2 is old new now.
One thing that needs to end is this grip against soe for a company who been around all these years .....They are doing the best they can and they are doing a great job in my eyes .... GGOD JOB SOE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! For those who hate soe then go play something else leave soe alone ....
Whats this crap eq2 is like wow junk....Sorry it's more like wow is like eq2 and eq 1... sorry to break peoples bubbles soe pretty much invented the ways mmo's go from eq 1. Wow is a copy of that like many other mmo's. Next there is nothing and i repeat nothing wrong with eq 2. the requirments are fine armor is fine. I been playing since release and the game is great. Here is the difference between wow and eq 2 Sorry but MMO's are a game genre so ALL MMOs will take ideas from games before them, they dont clone your mighty EQ1 they just give what players expect to have in an MMO and add a few more ideas... its that way for all genres else we all still be playing Pong and Pacman. Well sorry for you look up the data and see whats was mostly in eq 1 you see incorperated today in all mmo's it was soe who started it and it will last!
Wow 1. cartoonish A stylised, rich, varied and colourful world, smooth animations and lots to see You mean it cartoonish a way to cathc the kiddies eye enviromment right..... To where eq 2 is based more eligant and more alive in terms of toons! and the world Wow cannot compair to eq 2 ... eq 2 is a rich and mysterious world ...
2. pvp is bad very bad In your oppinion, sounds like you got ganked a few time. I think it has the best mechanics (moving around and interating with players) just need to add a reason to PvP. Nope never got ganked ...but when it comes to pvp its a no brainer ..... The fight is rediculious in eq 2 we stand ground and not use the almighty fear spell like in wow lol
3. kids and the community is the worse in your opinion, never had issued with community, perhaps your the problem. Ah the community take a poll on here i dare ya com on do it and i bet that the worst thing wrong with wow will be you guessed it the kiddies and the community enough said on that issue!
4. raid raid raid raid riad group grou no SOLOING! you can solo 1-70 if your choose or group with friends or guildies. And enjoy some the best endgame raids of any MMO. (IMHO) Soloing in wow is there such a thing you think i bet not.... .all instances except maybe 1 or 2 you can't solo. also if you wish to move on you cANT DO IT WITH OUT GROUPING OR EVEN RAIDING here is the proof my pally cant get her epic without going into stratholm and guess what thats a what yes you know it a raiding area hey im just getting warm so there is no soloing in wow really!
EQ 2 1. graphics life like and realistic has the same problem as vaguard imho, tries to look real but just looks fake Eq2 graphic has no problems like vanguard , the toons are great and perfect ..... if you have a problem go be a man and buy a real computer. me i run a 7900 nvidia on a amd 64 with 4 g memory and i run eq 2 at high and max setting if your have a problem better go find out why?
2.pvp is open everywhere and is done right cannot comment never got to PvP, but WoW is open PvP (was before the battlegrounds arrived anyway) and fights still spark up out side dungeons and in the wild. PvP is there if you go look for it. Eq2 you can pvp anywhere anytime any place no need for puny battleground etc..... thats for the weak
3. we control the kids its a mature community sure you do, Your right I had to send in a copy of my drivers licence and complete an IQ test b4 I could log into EQ2 Yep we dont its funny we have this thing called a /ignore and we use it well unlike in wow well since 90% of it is kids you dont know how to use one..... In eq 2 we ask them to stop and if they dont massive ignore is all it takes thank you soe for that feature! 4.soloing can be done the whole game (I have a pally and only been in a group 3 times and i am a 58 pally!) Cannot comment never got passed lvl 10
5. Soe is the greatest at making mmo's ...they have it right alot will disagree with that Of course alot would disagree they are kiddies from wow most of the time. soe has a huge fan base and we have over 200k subs and eq 2 owns most of it so please dont go there......... we dont cater to kiddies that why wow is ony huge cause of the kiddies! (REMEMBER ITS CARTOONISH)
6. swg was bad but name a company that hasent have a problem blizzard AH the sound of blizzard doesnt have problems now thing..... sorry to say they had problems with servers crashed .. i played on scarlet crusade and it crashed alot .... i also remember they had to fix alot of falling through the world and i have done it many times on wow so dont go there !
7. to this day no game no one can beat eq 1 world and eq 2 will be like that coming soon with expansions you hope so, but I dont see it. Fae was a well recieved expansion but EQ2 is old new now. eq 2 will continue on ...once the kiddies leave wow for warhammer wow will fail hard but yet eq 2 will remain the same why we dont have kiddie problems......
One thing that needs to end is this grip against soe for a company who been around all these years .....They are doing the best they can and they are doing a great job in my eyes .... GGOD JOB SOE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! For those who hate soe then go play something else leave soe alone ....
Yeah, this is real brilliant. The idiots that have never played EQ2 are going to tell us why EQ2 isn't more successful.
It's simple really, doesn't take a genius to figure out, marketing and specs, that's it. EQ2 now has more subscribers, last guestimate is over 400,000, because a lot of people are:
1.) Updating their hardware. 3 yr old hardware is less expensive now. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
2.) Getting tired of simple, shallow, and ugly games that get an update ONCE every two years. AND was the biggest piece of crap expansion ever released on the planet. They should have thrown TBC in the garbage can.
They lost over a million subscribers with their expansion, while SoE is GAINING subscribers with their expansion. NOW TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!
As far as gameplay, go tell someone who cares. I've played WoW, all through the raids, and I'm playing EQ2, probably till I die. EQ2 beats WoW in EVERY category, so bring it on. Combat is more strategic, talents done in AA's is brilliant compared to the unbalanced mess talents are, omg I swear a 6 yr old come up with those stupid talents. (The same blind 6 yr old that drew the graphics) I mean really, there are more colors in the world than purple, orange, and green, at least the animations look ok, even if they're over-exagerated anime swings from Saturday morning cartoons.
Then there's crafting, ah yes, the beauty that is in crafting is almost as appealing as the housing... oh, wait, there is NO housing. Some of us older folks need to relax in our home, and pet the cat, and make some crafts to sell to pay for repairs, and poisons, and food and drink (another HUGE blunder with WoW). We need to restock after a nice day of raiding for TWO HOURS, in a nice, interesting, story driven, strategic raid instance. With WoW I had to set aside FIVE HOURS minimum, and that's if all the morons would even show up on time, or bring what they needed. It's a good thing WoW's combat is built for 6 yr olds with all the blinking lights and "chains" (this is a trick to get you to THINK you are actually doing something strategic when in reality Mario is just as dead with or without it).
Seriously, if you wanna bag on, bag off, I'll throw with ya. A level 1 character looks NOTHING like a level 50. I got screenshots, what you got? OH, NOTHING cause you don't play! I have 6 completely different weapons in my backpack, and 3 complete sets of armor in case we're in an instance too long to repair ( Emerald Halls cough cough ), and NOT ONE of those sets look anything like the other. I have two more sets in the bank, because they're nice and interesting, but not strong enough for my playstyle. I'm also WORKING on another set completely different than those. So go take your, I have one robe and all robes look the same cause I'm an idiot and didn't check out the other 50 robes in the game for my tier, and get out.
We got plenty, SoE is doing fine, and we're probably going to get another few hundred thousand with RoK. This game's awesome, and it blows everything away that is out now. And from what I've seen coming, I don't believe any of the hype. AoC is niche, a bunch of people will get it, and the good players will annihilate the losers, and a bunch of people will be crying. Sorry to say it, and not sorry to hurt your feelings, but some games are just too advanced for the simple. Darkfall will come out with all the sandbox hopes and dreams and every WoW player from NY to China will invade it and completely destroy everything the devs put their hard work into. Sorry to say it, but players cannot be trusted. They lie, they steal, and they cheat. Gold selling is a multi-million dollar business because players play by the rules?
I don't want your 8 million (?), you can keep them. I played with them for a few months and quit the game. (Not just because of the players, the game was a HUGE step backwards in comparison to EQ2 even at that time) The people in my guild and on my server are awesome. We got bad apples, but who doesn't? I have fun every night. I do what I wanna do, and have plenty of time to do it. I can solo, group, or raid, and fit it into any timeslot. In fact, there is a raid in EQ2 that is 10 minutes, literally, if you don't get it done in 10 minutes, (yes, it's timed) YOU LOSE!! You have to figure it out, and put down the boss in 10 minutes, or you go home WITH NOTHING! WoW had some good raids, but EQ2 has some of the best in ANY game, no contest.
WoW is a great game, and it has its place. It brought MMO's to the mainstream, and that's great. It brought a lot of new blood to MMO's and that's good and bad, obviously, but the only person that knows which is the best for him, is to try them out, and see what he thinks. If EQ2 combat is too complicated, then fine, that's great. If EQ2 graphics are too realistic, I can understand that ( some people are just more artistic by nature). If you like EQ2 and decide it's your thing, then great, come on in, there's an ale on the bar for ya.
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
Yeah, this is real brilliant. The idiots that have never played EQ2 are going to tell us why EQ2 isn't more successful. It's simple really, doesn't take a genius to figure out, marketing and specs, that's it. EQ2 now has more subscribers, last guestimate is over 400,000, because a lot of people are: 1.) Updating their hardware. 3 yr old hardware is less expensive now. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. 2.) Getting tired of simple, shallow, and ugly games that get an update ONCE every two years. AND was the biggest piece of crap expansion ever released on the planet. They should have thrown TBC in the garbage can. They lost over a million subscribers with their expansion, while SoE is GAINING subscribers with their expansion. NOW TAKE THAT TO THE BANK! As far as gameplay, go tell someone who cares. I've played WoW, all through the raids, and I'm playing EQ2, probably till I die. EQ2 beats WoW in EVERY category, so bring it on. Combat is more strategic, talents done in AA's is brilliant compared to the unbalanced mess talents are, omg I swear a 6 yr old come up with those stupid talents. (The same blind 6 yr old that drew the graphics) I mean really, there are more colors in the world than purple, orange, and green, at least the animations look ok, even if they're over-exagerated anime swings from Saturday morning cartoons. Then there's crafting, ah yes, the beauty that is in crafting is almost as appealing as the housing... oh, wait, there is NO housing. Some of us older folks need to relax in our home, and pet the cat, and make some crafts to sell to pay for repairs, and poisons, and food and drink (another HUGE blunder with WoW). We need to restock after a nice day of raiding for TWO HOURS, in a nice, interesting, story driven, strategic raid instance. With WoW I had to set aside FIVE HOURS minimum, and that's if all the morons would even show up on time, or bring what they needed. It's a good thing WoW's combat is built for 6 yr olds with all the blinking lights and "chains" (this is a trick to get you to THINK you are actually doing something strategic when in reality Mario is just as dead with or without it). Seriously, if you wanna bag on, bag off, I'll throw with ya. A level 1 character looks NOTHING like a level 50. I got screenshots, what you got? OH, NOTHING cause you don't play! I have 6 completely different weapons in my backpack, and 3 complete sets of armor in case we're in an instance too long to repair ( Emerald Halls cough cough ), and NOT ONE of those sets look anything like the other. I have two more sets in the bank, because they're nice and interesting, but not strong enough for my playstyle. I'm also WORKING on another set completely different than those. So go take your, I have one robe and all robes look the same cause I'm an idiot and didn't check out the other 50 robes in the game for my tier, and get out. We got plenty, SoE is doing fine, and we're probably going to get another few hundred thousand with RoK. This game's awesome, and it blows everything away that is out now. And from what I've seen coming, I don't believe any of the hype. AoC is niche, a bunch of people will get it, and the good players will annihilate the losers, and a bunch of people will be crying. Sorry to say it, and not sorry to hurt your feelings, but some games are just too advanced for the simple. Darkfall will come out with all the sandbox hopes and dreams and every WoW player from NY to China will invade it and completely destroy everything the devs put their hard work into. Sorry to say it, but players cannot be trusted. They lie, they steal, and they cheat. Gold selling is a multi-million dollar business because players play by the rules? I don't want your 8 million (?), you can keep them. I played with them for a few months and quit the game. (Not just because of the players, the game was a HUGE step backwards in comparison to EQ2 even at that time) The people in my guild and on my server are awesome. We got bad apples, but who doesn't? I have fun every night. I do what I wanna do, and have plenty of time to do it. I can solo, group, or raid, and fit it into any timeslot. In fact, there is a raid in EQ2 that is 10 minutes, literally, if you don't get it done in 10 minutes, (yes, it's timed) YOU LOSE!! You have to figure it out, and put down the boss in 10 minutes, or you go home WITH NOTHING! WoW had some good raids, but EQ2 has some of the best in ANY game, no contest. WoW is a great game, and it has its place. It brought MMO's to the mainstream, and that's great. It brought a lot of new blood to MMO's and that's good and bad, obviously, but the only person that knows which is the best for him, is to try them out, and see what he thinks. If EQ2 combat is too complicated, then fine, that's great. If EQ2 graphics are too realistic, I can understand that ( some people are just more artistic by nature). If you like EQ2 and decide it's your thing, then great, come on in, there's an ale on the bar for ya.
That's the only reason for the lack of love for EQ2 if compared to a real game or WOW.
Actually. Having maxed characters in both EQ2 and WoW, I cant say I've found your statement to be true. If anything I think you typed the acronyms the wrong way around. Though maybe you would like to explain why you think you statement is correct?
As to answer the topic question. Well I think this person shows one reason. Fanboys of WoW putting EQ2 down even though it's actually just as good as game as WoW. Also EQ2 has SOE running it. Need I really say more on that point! You also need to remember that the orginal EQ was very popular which in turn will actually cause the second one to not do so well. Consider Asherons Call. AC2 isn't even running anymore. Very often a sequel game will not be as good as the orginal. So I think EQ2 is doing rather well considering. I'm just waiting for WoW2 to come out so we can all say how much that sucks
Well, I don't know the exact numbers, but then, nobody does, really!
On a very personal level, our guild has been growing considerably in the last year or so. A lot of people are trying out EQ2 and liking it.
Now I am a bit of a curious, restless person and I have been trying out other games (WoW, Ryzom, DDO, Vanguard, LotR etc.) and NONE could really convince me to stick with them. In the end, I always came back to EQ2, because for me it delivers on so many levels: Quests, quests, quests (more than you could ever hope to finish!), character customization (yes, compared with other games I find it very good!), grafics (wow is eye candy, no denying that, but I like the "realistic" grafics of EQ2 and I think you can really make your char look indiviual (if you put a bit of effort in it, more so, than in WoW.), the community on my server (German) is very nice and yes, one could call it mature . There is housing and your guild to advance and if you feel up to it, role-play. There is always something to do. Loads of raids if you feel like it, as well.
But in the end, it is up to personal taste. This is probably the reason, why these sort of threads attract a lot of postings, but never actually lead anywhere.
So, my opinion is, the op is wrong. EQ2 probably has more than 200.000 subs, and if not, who cares. It is a great game and most of the people playing it are enjoying it.
This thread is going down hill a bit but let me just add my 2 coppers.
Subscribers, somewhere in all the posts all around the web about the Vanguard mess there was a post about SOE's annual report that said something like "Soe has 500 000 customers and the biggest single title 200 000" and later in the same report you read that EQ2 was SOEs biggest title. Now I have not found that report again and its not really important either. But the number 200 k probably comes from that report. Name well a lot of the developers for EQ2 have said that they actually thought about naming the game something else in the beginning and a lot of the original stuff does not have the same "Norrath" feeling as some of the newer content.
EQ2 at the moment is probably the best fantasy MMORPG available, (not the best ever just the best now) t is much less hardcore than it was in the beginning but still have traces of it for them who likes that sort of thing, there is a strong committment from SoE to improve the communications with their customer base (they even had a whole event just dedicated to feedback earlier this year, some people that where banned from SoEs forums was even invited) lots of communication from all involved with the game on all levels. WoW was probably the best thing that could have happened to SoE suddenly they where not the biggest guy anymore now they had to compete, improve their business models and i think they have done a good job about it.
Now if you like it or not is up to you, it is still a very good game and by all rights should sell a lot better. I can only see that it is a marketing and distribution problem, the product is good enough it just seems that Sony is unable or unwilling to actually launch a major marketing program for EQ2. But there are still lots of new players coming into the game.
Sigtyr of the Secret Keepers & Lozz of The Knights of Freeport, AB Server
1) The SOE brand name. I know people don't want to hear it, but it does have a negative effect in the MMO scene right now. The reasons are varied from person to person, but it is a factor.
2) Terrible launch. While the game was "playable" and had some great highlights like nektulos castle it was also plagued with bad gameplay and terrible performance. For example one of the highlights (nektulos castle) was also one of the most bug ridden instances. There were so many mechanics that were just counterproductive to enjoyment it drove people away.
3) The graphics are a very hard sell as a mixed blend between ultra realism and tend to come out looking like animated Mannequins. This is compounded by the lack of variety in character appearance. There is also alot of hit and miss in the art direction. Some areas or aspects are fantastic and beautiful while others are just god aweful and painful to look at. The trouble is these things mix together all over.
4) Rushed content time table. SOE tends to put out updates or content on a fixed time table, regardless of if it is ready or not. The game always has the unfinished feeling to it. The devs have finally said they will slow down releases so they can polish them, but this could also be because they are picking members for their new projects.
The biggest factor is that there are just plain better games on the market. It isn't a marketing issue in that people haven't heard of EQ2 or it is some hidden game. Other games just do things better. You don't hear people saying "EVE is a good game now" or "WoW is has finally gotten to be a good game since the last expansion" or "People are joining everyday".
Listen to the words of the players about the game and how they are almost always qualified in some manner. The statements tend to praise EQ2 and criticize WoW in the same breath or talk about how the game is finally good NOW. Basically the statements are saying the game limped along for a few years and it finally stable. It is almost the same exact statements you hear from people playing Star Wars and now Vanguard.
Whats this crap eq2 is like wow junk....Sorry it's more like wow is like eq2 and eq 1... sorry to break peoples bubbles soe pretty much invented the ways mmo's go from eq 1. Wow is a copy of that like many other mmo's. Next there is nothing and i repeat nothing wrong with eq 2. the requirments are fine armor is fine. I been playing since release and the game is great. Here is the difference between wow and eq 2 Sorry but MMO's are a game genre so ALL MMOs will take ideas from games before them, they dont clone your mighty EQ1 they just give what players expect to have in an MMO and add a few more ideas... its that way for all genres else we all still be playing Pong and Pacman. Well sorry for you look up the data and see whats was mostly in eq 1 you see incorperated today in all mmo's it was soe who started it and it will last! Well EQ1 was released in 1999, Diablo not an MMO I know but had online RPG play was released in 1997, EQ1 had alot of Diablo features.... hmmmmm.
Wow 1. cartoonish A stylised, rich, varied and colourful world, smooth animations and lots to see You mean it cartoonish a way to cathc the kiddies eye enviromment right..... To where eq 2 is based more eligant and more alive in terms of toons! and the world Wow cannot compair to eq 2 ... eq 2 is a rich and mysterious world ... Lets just say I disagree I want to play a game not play with digital dolls. I want log in and have fun not try and envolve myself in some yawn of an RP system that pretends to be real, I want to play a game.
2. pvp is bad very bad In your oppinion, sounds like you got ganked a few time. I think it has the best mechanics (moving around and interating with players) just need to add a reason to PvP. Nope never got ganked ...but when it comes to pvp its a no brainer ..... The fight is rediculious in eq 2 we stand ground and not use the almighty fear spell like in wow lol Sounds like you were just no good at it.. too bad.
3. kids and the community is the worse in your opinion, never had issued with community, perhaps your the problem. Ah the community take a poll on here i dare ya com on do it and i bet that the worst thing wrong with wow will be you guessed it the kiddies and the community enough said on that issue!
We all know MMORPG is no place to come for a fair poll, but % wise both game will have the same number of kids, just so happens WoW pop is 35x larger than EQ2's.
4. raid raid raid raid riad group grou no SOLOING! you can solo 1-70 if your choose or group with friends or guildies. And enjoy some the best endgame raids of any MMO. (IMHO) Soloing in wow is there such a thing you think i bet not.... .all instances except maybe 1 or 2 you can't solo. also if you wish to move on you cANT DO IT WITH OUT GROUPING OR EVEN RAIDING here is the proof my pally cant get her epic without going into stratholm and guess what thats a what yes you know it a raiding area hey im just getting warm so there is no soloing in wow really! You can go from 1-70 without ever grouping or raiding, did you realy play this game? and as to pally epic mount, you dont need to do that quest, go buy 1 like every 1 else, its a choice to do it that way. And your saying you can solo all dungeons in EQ2... super easy mode EQ2 is then
EQ 2 1. graphics life like and realistic has the same problem as vaguard imho, tries to look real but just looks fake Eq2 graphic has no problems like vanguard , the toons are great and perfect ..... if you have a problem go be a man and buy a real computer. me i run a 7900 nvidia on a amd 64 with 4 g memory and i run eq 2 at high and max setting if your have a problem better go find out why? Never said I could not run EQ2, im sure my 7950gt would do just fine, but im sorry EQ2 looks like plastic and very fake.
2.pvp is open everywhere and is done right cannot comment never got to PvP, but WoW is open PvP (was before the battlegrounds arrived anyway) and fights still spark up out side dungeons and in the wild. PvP is there if you go look for it. Eq2 you can pvp anywhere anytime any place no need for puny battleground etc..... thats for the weak You can PvP almost anywhere in WoW, cept low level areas too discourage camping ofc.
3. we control the kids its a mature community sure you do, Your right I had to send in a copy of my drivers licence and complete an IQ test b4 I could log into EQ2 Yep we dont its funny we have this thing called a /ignore and we use it well unlike in wow well since 90% of it is kids you dont know how to use one..... In eq 2 we ask them to stop and if they dont massive ignore is all it takes thank you soe for that feature! We can /ignore in WoW too, whats ya point? some 1 annoys you in WoW you have the choice to /ignore... really whats your point? you can /report em too for spamming, if enough /report they are silenced for 24 hours.
4.soloing can be done the whole game (I have a pally and only been in a group 3 times and i am a 58 pally!) Cannot comment never got passed lvl 10
5. Soe is the greatest at making mmo's ...they have it right alot will disagree with that Of course alot would disagree they are kiddies from wow most of the time. soe has a huge fan base and we have over 200k subs and eq 2 owns most of it so please dont go there......... we dont cater to kiddies that why wow is ony huge cause of the kiddies! (REMEMBER ITS CARTOONISH) Blizzard ban about 200k/year for cheating, 200k is nothing. who is this WE? you speak like some kind of elite leader, when your just a number on SOE's monthly billing cycle.. dont forget that. Soe dont give a fudge about you they want the money and thats it, and all companies even blizzard are the same.
6. swg was bad but name a company that hasent have a problem blizzard AH the sound of blizzard doesnt have problems now thing..... sorry to say they had problems with servers crashed .. i played on scarlet crusade and it crashed alot .... i also remember they had to fix alot of falling through the world and i have done it many times on wow so dont go there ! They had problems due to over subscription (EQ2 never had to deal with that problem) and a few bugs during the first few months, all was sorted in 3 months. WoW has never CTD on me in the last 1.5 years or falling through the world. just go read reviews of WoW on launch day and EQ2 on lauch day see which had the bug problem.... i'll save you some time EQ2 hands down.
7. to this day no game no one can beat eq 1 world and eq 2 will be like that coming soon with expansions you hope so, but I dont see it. Fae was a well recieved expansion but EQ2 is old new now. eq 2 will continue on ...once the kiddies leave wow for warhammer wow will fail hard but yet eq 2 will remain the same why we dont have kiddie problems...... WoW is be around longer than EQ2, 8 million wont dissapear over night no matter how much you wish. You dont have kiddie problems becuase you dont have the population to notice them.
One thing that needs to end is this grip against soe for a company who been around all these years .....They are doing the best they can and they are doing a great job in my eyes .... GGOD JOB SOE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! For those who hate soe then go play something else leave soe alone .... I have never said EQ2 is a bad game or WoW is the best ever but for me WoW is better than EQ2 in all aspects.
WoW and WoW players know its a game and have fun, where as EQ2 and some EQ2 players think of it as a real world.. its not.. it a game and its meant to be enjoyed by people of all ages... unfortunalty some EQ2 players dont want others to enjoy the game thus the reason for the low pop and the elitist community.
All of what I said IMHO so people dont flame me for having an opinion of my own
The biggest factor is that there are just plain better games on the market. It isn't a marketing issue in that people haven't heard of EQ2 or it is some hidden game. Other games just do things better. You don't hear people saying "EVE is a good game now" or "WoW is has finally gotten to be a good game since the last expansion" or "People are joining everyday".
Listen to the words of the players about the game and how they are almost always qualified in some manner. The statements tend to praise EQ2 and criticize WoW in the same breath or talk about how the game is finally good NOW. Basically the statements are saying the game limped along for a few years and it finally stable. It is almost the same exact statements you hear from people playing Star Wars and now Vanguard.
A lot of this is true but it is also (most likely true at least) true that the numbers of people that subscribes to EQ2 is going up after several so and so years and that is not true about a lot of other games. But the discussion was not "why is/is not EQ2 the best game" it was "why is not EQ2 selling better" and I and others truly think that EQ2 as a product here and now is at least as good or better than WoW and should sell better. If it is a truly great game or not is really unimportant in that discussion. Pontiac Grand Am was one of the best selling cars in the US for many years but according to all tests a really bad car.
There are many of us that truly enjoy the game, many others does not and finally most new new players have not heard about "the SWG disaster" and Sony still has a very good name for most people as a manufacturer of quality products. Finally I am not really sure if it makes any financial sense for Sony to try to cater to the SoE haters as its a fact that once you lost a customer its very hard to get him back. And they have learned that you can read up on that, lots of the articles is online, the best way to grow your customer base is to have a happy customer base and they know that too and at least claims to have changed a lot in how they do business. Will it pay off for them? Well at the moment most I meet in EQ2 are happy, will it be better in the future I do not know but i hope it does as it makes good business sense and thats usually what is needed but it will not be a huge game as it is a bit too old and a bit too hardcore to strike it really big. But for the sake of diversity in the industry i would be happy to see it get more subscribers as I fear that the future will bring more dumbed down WoW clones and EQ2 is (at least a bit) more complicated and has another feel to it and thats needed.
The biggest factor is that there are just plain better games on the market.
I would like to know which games those are, because I would like to play them. Honestly, I would. I have tried many MMORPGs, and they seem to fall into three categories: (1) SOE games (the Everquest family and the garage sale games (SWG, MXO, VG)); (2) old-school (AO, DAOC, etc.); and (3) flavor of the month. Now, I like the variety of trying all of the new games, but they just don't seem to grab my attention for long periods of time.
Which are the better games that I missed? LOTRO? VG? CoH/CoV? Lineage II? DDO? Why then do I keep coming back to EQ2?
I play casually. Have a 62 Wizard and many alts (16-17) in the low to high 20s. Issues: (1) Character customization sucks. Lack of different armor sets. Lack of ability to feel custom in terms of skills. Now don't get me wrong because the Skill Trees are quite varied, but it just doesn't feel right and it certainly never shows up externally / visually to define your character in some special way. (2) Biggest IMO: No point to PVP. No Wow-like BGs. BGs and PVP rewards could drive this game's end game a lot further. It introduces headaches, but that's life if you want to be popular. PVP wasn't part of the original game concept infact it was only introduced through pvp servers way way after launch due to some small demand for it (3) No realm vs. realm seige. Could be introduced -- never was. This really doesn't fit with the story to the world, the two main cities are not at war with each other just a very uneasy peace due to the rendering of the world by the gods. (4) Crafting is boring. No real need to raid to craft. No point in crafting. Buy it. This is more personal prefence the crafting is really varied and its something that keeps alot of players in game. (5) Lack of ability of a lot of people's machines to handle it. Still an issue, although less so then most the loudmouth's claim. (6) Mentor system is great, but it is one-directional. Either allow for low-levels to help a group of higher ups or introduce a fellowship system (as originally promised!) that allows folks to level offline friends with the aim to catching them up (not keeping the distance or worse losing them). whats the point in a low level mentoring a high level? The mentoring system is probably the best one any game has even if it makes you have to pretend to be a lower level than you are to do it. (7) Lack of interesting world graphics. Fae is nice. Rest of world makes me want to poke my eyes out. Not ugly, but I m m e n s e l y boring. why do you bother to play it with all these complaints or are you just pointlessly flaming? I like the world I guess this one is a personal preference to art style. (8) Most races (other then fae perhaps, but they aren't great either in this regards) lack any feeling to them. I generally do not feel different in my Barbarians early years (let alone later) then my Elf's. That's just plain wrong (and fixable with some good rework). Not sure what you mean...I guess i played alot of the quests that get you more into the feeling with your race even though everyone is living equally thanks to the god's anger. (9) Lack of equipment. In general there just is not enough cool items in the world. Needs increased 10x. I would love to see a lot more graphic skins and a few extra combat animations. I would also like to see the DAOC-style auto-generated loot drops. I always like those. Especially ones with combinations that frequently made no sense (as long as infrequently they line up to be something really good together). There's a ton of items in the game tons and tons just...most of them all look a like. (10) Guild leveling is too slow and too little rewards / things to do as a result of leveling it. The bigger the guild the harder to level. The smaller guild I was in never had a hard time you just have to actually work for it. (11) WAY TOO FEW PEOPLE. Fix the above and they will come. I've never had this problem except maybe late at night.
Honestly there's nothing wrong with EQ2 its just not a game made to satisify everyone. Its a PVE game which does turn of people looking for meaningful pvp, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with this. A game can't be made for everyone. EQ2's sub numbers whatever they are are not absimal infact from the estimated numbers on eqcensus they're rather healthy. Large pops do not equal good communities or even good games.
Please Refer to Doom Cat with all conspiracies & evil corporation complaints. He'll give you the simple explination of..WE"RE ALL DOOMED!
Comments
I play on Naggy server and the community is no different than WoW.
The reason more people don't play EQ2 is the system requirements.
I have a 2.4 gig processor, 1gig ram, and 256 meg video card and I still have to play on medium-low settings if I want to pvp.
In crowded pvp I have to turn my graphics way down.
But I can turn around and play WoW just fine. EQ2 players always complain about WoW's graphics, but they are lush and colorful and beautiful imho.
Also, EQ2 is an awesome pvE game, but the PvP is pretty weak, imo. The only reason I even play on Naggy is because PvP rules prevent FP from grouping with Q's, the way it should be.
But WoW has much better, much more balanced, and much more fun PvP.
In WoW, anyone can pvp.
In EQ2, there are too many classes that just plain suck at 1v1 pvp.
That's my 2 coppers.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I do think it was a mistake on SOE's part to release a game so different from EQ1 and call it EQ2. They could have called it Legacy of Norrath or After The Shattering or Lucan Vs. Bayle: FIGHT! and it might not have been so shocking and disappointing off the bat to SOME people.
But it's still everquest. Thats the issue here. Down to it's core it is everquest.
It would be like releasing Asheron's Call 2. ... Oh wait, we allready know what happened there.
It would be like releasing World of Warcraft 2, Anarchy Online 2, etc..
In all of these cases, it just wouldn't work. I think the only reason Everquest 2 has the subscriber base it does, is simply because of the fact that it has everquest in its name. However, the damage from doing Everquest again for a MMO is far worse, then the positive effect of using the over-used IP.
The only MMO that has successfully pulled this type of thing off is Lineage. However, thats a completely situation.
I did used to play eq2 for a while. I thought the game was ok but nothing special.
Its basicly the same as WoW. Only WoW does everything better. Actually the one thing it does have over WoW is the instanced housing but that hardly balances things out. My prob with it was little things like how quest npcs seemed to be scattered around huge areas and the really drab looking player characters. I played on and off for almost a year the last straw for me was how people only ever wanted to grind in the same place (runneye). I got to about 40 (dont remember) and was so bored of killing the same stuff over and over omg. There are lots of other areas I could have gone at that level but they were all for groups but no one ever wanted to do anything different, impossible to get a group for there.
I gotta admit though nek castle was one of the most fun mmorpg moments I ever had.
UHm I think as an online game EQ2 is up there with the best on the market. As of now it has great content an ammount of playability and with the new expansions a lot to offer.
I find the OP post strange as I think the game is doing fine ...
Maybe it would be doing better if it had had the content it has now on release, more investment in marketing and less competition as the current mmorpg market is just a flooded cesspit or mediocre games with just a life of 3-6 months probably half a dozen releases sit outside of that and i believe EQ2 is one of them.
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
Why isn't this game more successful? one of the biggest reasons is, just like vanguard, the system requirements, for the game. most people, do not have that kind of power, on there p.cs to run theses games, that's one of the reasons I believe that made wow, so popular, was the fact that you didn't have to have, this good video card or that good amount of memory to run it.
I really do enjoy everquest 2 it of course has a lot of pros and cons, but so does every other game out there, and to me its not about being everquest, its just a name if you don't know how the game is, then just give it a shot ! and try the free trial, you might like it or you might not, they are adding a lot to the game, as time passes on, but I do feel the dev team is gonna get some, major pressure when Conan or aion and some of the other mmos come out soon, and they wil need to add some seriously innovative things in the game to keep up with them and even try to surpass them.
i think the main reason is that people hate SOE for soem reason..
I truly think this is the best mmorpg out there at the moment.. so much to do.. my only gripe with the game is the armour.. at certain lvls there are a few different types.. but there is only one good type every 10 lvls or so ... so everyone uses that hehe..
character customization has got to be one of the best tho so much to change.. shame to cover it all up lol
The game itself plays really well.. you can solo just or group up
.. ok pvp aint the best but maybe that will come soon.. so many places to explore and you get xp for donig so.. well a different type of xp..
Sadly i had to stop playing as I no lnoger have the time
The main reason EQ2 has not had a bigger audience is the same reason that led to SOE's misguided NGE changes to SWG. Marketing!!!!!
I should really say the lack of marketing. Have you seen much marketing for either game? Had SOE had a few good TV commercials of the cool houses, vehicles , mounts, action in the cantinas, and some group fighting video enough people (possibly millions) would have tried SWG. So SOE would not have needed to change game. They changed it to attract more players not because the game was bad. The same holds for EQ2. Great footage of the wonderful landscapes and beautiful horse mounts, mixed with some player housing, and a grand epic battle would get more people to try.
Belive it or not most people did not and do not know these games exist. Unlike us who post here most people are unware of the mmo market and how fun it is. The only one that has reached mainstream america awareness is WoW. Many people who do not play mmos know of WoW. You can make all the right changes to a game (or bad one as in SWG) but if no one knows about them what difference does it make.
Build a good game market it right and you will have a money maker.
Whats this crap eq2 is like wow junk....Sorry it's more like wow is like eq2 and eq 1... sorry to break peoples bubbles soe pretty much invented the ways mmo's go from eq 1. Wow is a copy of that like many other mmo's. Next there is nothing and i repeat nothing wrong with eq 2. the requirments are fine armor is fine. I been playing since release and the game is great. Here is the difference between wow and eq 2
Wow
1. cartoonish
2. pvp is bad very bad
3. kids and the community is the worse
4. raid raid raid raid riad group grou no SOLOING!
EQ 2
1. graphics life like and realistic
2.pvp is open everywhere and is done right
3. we control the kids its a mature community
4.soloing can be done the whole game (I have a pally and only been in a group 3 times and i am a 58 pally!)
5. Soe is the greatest at making mmo's ...they have it right
6. swg was bad but name a company that hasent have a problem
7. to this day no game no one can beat eq 1 world and eq 2 will be like that coming soon with expansions
One thing that needs to end is this grip against soe for a company who been around all these years .....They are doing the best they can and they are doing a great job in my eyes .... GGOD JOB SOE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! For those who hate soe then go play something else leave soe alone ....
I didn't like it for so long... then i started again on the famous "boat tutorial"... that lasted a week... and i grew apart.
I only game back after the revamp, gone was the boat tutorial, but not the boat. A new tutorial island awaited... new models could be chosen (much better, if a little anime).
and then the fae arrived.... they suck as a race (had to be said) but the actual tutorial within the main gameworld was a step in the right direction and a city.. oh their city.. no zonal loads... you don't have to put up with crap structured cities like Qyenos and now Freeport (with the help of new neriak).
in short.
it's come a long way baby.
Yeah, this is real brilliant. The idiots that have never played EQ2 are going to tell us why EQ2 isn't more successful.
It's simple really, doesn't take a genius to figure out, marketing and specs, that's it. EQ2 now has more subscribers, last guestimate is over 400,000, because a lot of people are:
1.) Updating their hardware. 3 yr old hardware is less expensive now. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
2.) Getting tired of simple, shallow, and ugly games that get an update ONCE every two years. AND was the biggest piece of crap expansion ever released on the planet. They should have thrown TBC in the garbage can.
They lost over a million subscribers with their expansion, while SoE is GAINING subscribers with their expansion. NOW TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!
As far as gameplay, go tell someone who cares. I've played WoW, all through the raids, and I'm playing EQ2, probably till I die. EQ2 beats WoW in EVERY category, so bring it on. Combat is more strategic, talents done in AA's is brilliant compared to the unbalanced mess talents are, omg I swear a 6 yr old come up with those stupid talents. (The same blind 6 yr old that drew the graphics) I mean really, there are more colors in the world than purple, orange, and green, at least the animations look ok, even if they're over-exagerated anime swings from Saturday morning cartoons.
Then there's crafting, ah yes, the beauty that is in crafting is almost as appealing as the housing...
oh, wait, there is NO housing. Some of us older folks need to relax in our home, and pet the cat, and make some crafts to sell to pay for repairs, and poisons, and food and drink (another HUGE blunder with WoW). We need to restock after a nice day of raiding for TWO HOURS, in a nice, interesting, story driven, strategic raid instance. With WoW I had to set aside FIVE HOURS minimum, and that's if all the morons would even show up on time, or bring what they needed. It's a good thing WoW's combat is built for 6 yr olds with all the blinking lights and "chains" (this is a trick to get you to THINK you are actually doing something strategic when in reality Mario is just as dead with or without it).
Seriously, if you wanna bag on, bag off, I'll throw with ya. A level 1 character looks NOTHING like a level 50. I got screenshots, what you got? OH, NOTHING cause you don't play! I have 6 completely different weapons in my backpack, and 3 complete sets of armor in case we're in an instance too long to repair ( Emerald Halls cough cough
), and NOT ONE of those sets look anything like the other. I have two more sets in the bank, because they're nice and interesting, but not strong enough for my playstyle. I'm also WORKING on another set completely different than those. So go take your, I have one robe and all robes look the same cause I'm an idiot and didn't check out the other 50 robes in the game for my tier, and get out.
We got plenty, SoE is doing fine, and we're probably going to get another few hundred thousand with RoK. This game's awesome, and it blows everything away that is out now. And from what I've seen coming, I don't believe any of the hype. AoC is niche, a bunch of people will get it, and the good players will annihilate the losers, and a bunch of people will be crying. Sorry to say it, and not sorry to hurt your feelings, but some games are just too advanced for the simple. Darkfall will come out with all the sandbox hopes and dreams and every WoW player from NY to China will invade it and completely destroy everything the devs put their hard work into. Sorry to say it, but players cannot be trusted. They lie, they steal, and they cheat. Gold selling is a multi-million dollar business because players play by the rules?
I don't want your 8 million (?), you can keep them. I played with them for a few months and quit the game. (Not just because of the players, the game was a HUGE step backwards in comparison to EQ2 even at that time) The people in my guild and on my server are awesome. We got bad apples, but who doesn't? I have fun every night. I do what I wanna do, and have plenty of time to do it. I can solo, group, or raid, and fit it into any timeslot. In fact, there is a raid in EQ2 that is 10 minutes, literally, if you don't get it done in 10 minutes, (yes, it's timed) YOU LOSE!! You have to figure it out, and put down the boss in 10 minutes, or you go home WITH NOTHING! WoW had some good raids, but EQ2 has some of the best in ANY game, no contest.
WoW is a great game, and it has its place. It brought MMO's to the mainstream, and that's great. It brought a lot of new blood to MMO's and that's good and bad, obviously, but the only person that knows which is the best for him, is to try them out, and see what he thinks. If EQ2 combat is too complicated, then fine, that's great. If EQ2 graphics are too realistic, I can understand that ( some people are just more artistic by nature). If you like EQ2 and decide it's your thing, then great, come on in, there's an ale on the bar for ya.
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
As to answer the topic question. Well I think this person shows one reason. Fanboys of WoW putting EQ2 down even though it's actually just as good as game as WoW. Also EQ2 has SOE running it. Need I really say more on that point! You also need to remember that the orginal EQ was very popular which in turn will actually cause the second one to not do so well. Consider Asherons Call. AC2 isn't even running anymore. Very often a sequel game will not be as good as the orginal. So I think EQ2 is doing rather well considering. I'm just waiting for WoW2 to come out so we can all say how much that sucks
Well, I don't know the exact numbers, but then, nobody does, really!
On a very personal level, our guild has been growing considerably in the last year or so. A lot of people are trying out EQ2 and liking it.
Now I am a bit of a curious, restless person and I have been trying out other games (WoW, Ryzom, DDO, Vanguard, LotR etc.) and NONE could really convince me to stick with them. In the end, I always came back to EQ2, because for me it delivers on so many levels: Quests, quests, quests (more than you could ever hope to finish!), character customization (yes, compared with other games I find it very good!), grafics (wow is eye candy, no denying that, but I like the "realistic" grafics of EQ2 and I think you can really make your char look indiviual (if you put a bit of effort in it, more so, than in WoW.), the community on my server (German) is very nice and yes, one could call it mature
. There is housing and your guild to advance and if you feel up to it, role-play. There is always something to do. Loads of raids if you feel like it, as well.
But in the end, it is up to personal taste. This is probably the reason, why these sort of threads attract a lot of postings, but never actually lead anywhere.
So, my opinion is, the op is wrong. EQ2 probably has more than 200.000 subs, and if not, who cares. It is a great game and most of the people playing it are enjoying it.
Subscribers, somewhere in all the posts all around the web about the Vanguard mess there was a post about SOE's annual report that said something like "Soe has 500 000 customers and the biggest single title 200 000" and later in the same report you read that EQ2 was SOEs biggest title. Now I have not found that report again and its not really important either. But the number 200 k probably comes from that report. Name well a lot of the developers for EQ2 have said that they actually thought about naming the game something else in the beginning and a lot of the original stuff does not have the same "Norrath" feeling as some of the newer content.
EQ2 at the moment is probably the best fantasy MMORPG available, (not the best ever just the best now) t is much less hardcore than it was in the beginning but still have traces of it for them who likes that sort of thing, there is a strong committment from SoE to improve the communications with their customer base (they even had a whole event just dedicated to feedback earlier this year, some people that where banned from SoEs forums was even invited) lots of communication from all involved with the game on all levels. WoW was probably the best thing that could have happened to SoE suddenly they where not the biggest guy anymore now they had to compete, improve their business models and i think they have done a good job about it.
Now if you like it or not is up to you, it is still a very good game and by all rights should sell a lot better. I can only see that it is a marketing and distribution problem, the product is good enough it just seems that Sony is unable or unwilling to actually launch a major marketing program for EQ2. But there are still lots of new players coming into the game.
Sigtyr of the Secret Keepers & Lozz of The Knights of Freeport, AB Server
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
1) The SOE brand name. I know people don't want to hear it, but it does have a negative effect in the MMO scene right now. The reasons are varied from person to person, but it is a factor.
2) Terrible launch. While the game was "playable" and had some great highlights like nektulos castle it was also plagued with bad gameplay and terrible performance. For example one of the highlights (nektulos castle) was also one of the most bug ridden instances. There were so many mechanics that were just counterproductive to enjoyment it drove people away.
3) The graphics are a very hard sell as a mixed blend between ultra realism and tend to come out looking like animated Mannequins. This is compounded by the lack of variety in character appearance. There is also alot of hit and miss in the art direction. Some areas or aspects are fantastic and beautiful while others are just god aweful and painful to look at. The trouble is these things mix together all over.
4) Rushed content time table. SOE tends to put out updates or content on a fixed time table, regardless of if it is ready or not. The game always has the unfinished feeling to it. The devs have finally said they will slow down releases so they can polish them, but this could also be because they are picking members for their new projects.
The biggest factor is that there are just plain better games on the market. It isn't a marketing issue in that people haven't heard of EQ2 or it is some hidden game. Other games just do things better. You don't hear people saying "EVE is a good game now" or "WoW is has finally gotten to be a good game since the last expansion" or "People are joining everyday".
Listen to the words of the players about the game and how they are almost always qualified in some manner. The statements tend to praise EQ2 and criticize WoW in the same breath or talk about how the game is finally good NOW. Basically the statements are saying the game limped along for a few years and it finally stable. It is almost the same exact statements you hear from people playing Star Wars and now Vanguard.
There are many of us that truly enjoy the game, many others does not and finally most new new players have not heard about "the SWG disaster" and Sony still has a very good name for most people as a manufacturer of quality products. Finally I am not really sure if it makes any financial sense for Sony to try to cater to the SoE haters as its a fact that once you lost a customer its very hard to get him back. And they have learned that you can read up on that, lots of the articles is online, the best way to grow your customer base is to have a happy customer base and they know that too and at least claims to have changed a lot in how they do business. Will it pay off for them? Well at the moment most I meet in EQ2 are happy, will it be better in the future I do not know but i hope it does as it makes good business sense and thats usually what is needed but it will not be a huge game as it is a bit too old and a bit too hardcore to strike it really big. But for the sake of diversity in the industry i would be happy to see it get more subscribers as I fear that the future will bring more dumbed down WoW clones and EQ2 is (at least a bit) more complicated and has another feel to it and thats needed.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
I would like to know which games those are, because I would like to play them. Honestly, I would. I have tried many MMORPGs, and they seem to fall into three categories: (1) SOE games (the Everquest family and the garage sale games (SWG, MXO, VG)); (2) old-school (AO, DAOC, etc.); and (3) flavor of the month. Now, I like the variety of trying all of the new games, but they just don't seem to grab my attention for long periods of time.
Which are the better games that I missed? LOTRO? VG? CoH/CoV? Lineage II? DDO? Why then do I keep coming back to EQ2?
Am I missing something?
Please Refer to Doom Cat with all conspiracies & evil corporation complaints. He'll give you the simple explination of..WE"RE ALL DOOMED!