i'v never seen EQ2detox.com, there is however a WoWdetox.com.
How insightful. You disagreed.
Maybe that's because more people LEAVE WoW and go into "detox." The EQ2 addicts are so hooked that they just stay and stay....they don't WANT "detox." You could also just say WoW players must be quitters then if that site exists. That fits too for this conversation. Frankly....I'd rather not be a quitter. I'll stick with my addictive EQ2 thank you very much.
EQ2 has closed over twice as many servers as it has operating due to declining populations and still has a few that need to be closed for the same reasons. EQ2 was merging servers 1 year after release and has continued to slide ever since. I wouldn't go bragging about the player retention rate in EQ2 against a game that has seen almost nonstop growth during the same exact time period.
I've never heard of wowdetox.com, but I have seen eq2flames.com and well I wouldn't exactly say they represent people who are hooked or even satisfied with thier game or the developers.
Take from it what you will.
What I "take from it" is that there are people who are addicted to and LOVE every game in existence and that there are also people that HATE every game in existence. That's just life. Someone hating my favorite game doesn't invalidate my love for it and vice versa.
WOW It SHOULD! I mean, if me hating your game doesn't invalidate your love then...then why am I yelling at you to hate it like me?!
i'v never seen EQ2detox.com, there is however a WoWdetox.com.
How insightful. You disagreed.
Maybe that's because more people LEAVE WoW and go into "detox." The EQ2 addicts are so hooked that they just stay and stay....they don't WANT "detox." You could also just say WoW players must be quitters then if that site exists. That fits too for this conversation. Frankly....I'd rather not be a quitter. I'll stick with my addictive EQ2 thank you very much.
EQ2 has closed over twice as many servers as it has operating due to declining populations and still has a few that need to be closed for the same reasons. EQ2 was merging servers 1 year after release and has continued to slide ever since. I wouldn't go bragging about the player retention rate in EQ2 against a game that has seen almost nonstop growth during the same exact time period.
I've never heard of wowdetox.com, but I have seen eq2flames.com and well I wouldn't exactly say they represent people who are hooked or even satisfied with thier game or the developers.
Take from it what you will.
What I "take from it" is that there are people who are addicted to and LOVE every game in existence and that there are also people that HATE every game in existence. That's just life. Someone hating my favorite game doesn't invalidate my love for it and vice versa.
WOW It SHOULD! I mean, if me hating your game doesn't invalidate your love then...then why am I yelling at you to hate it like me?!
Probably the second most visually pleasing graphics behind AoC, and it finally added PvP. That is what enticed me to redownload it during this 45 day "trial".
Holy smokes. If one likes going into a BG and literally do 0 damage to players, then I guess EQ2 is the game(You hit your target, but fail to do any damage). I remember I used to think WoW twinks were bad. There can be 9 people attacking one person and that guy could kill all 9 due to Toughness - yes I've seen it. Even WoW twinks weren't that bad - 3 bad equipped players could take down a WoW twink.
It would require far too much work on my part to even begin to be effective in the BGs. Just not worth it, and the PvE is the same as any other game.
EQ 2 is one of the best MMO's of all time. I just figured I had to put it out there. In fact, with the state of all other MMO's out there right now and ever for that matter. I don't always play MMO's, but when I need my fix, EQ 2 hits ths spot!
Yes, EQ2 have alot of classes, races and content... But the quality of everything is really subpar compared to other MMOs and thats why there is not many players.
Combine with the ugly graphics, generic fantasy world/lore, poor performance and stupid F2P model and here just is not many reasons to play EQ2.
EQ2 have not aged well even compared to WoW with its low poly graphics.
If WoW = The Beatles and WAR = Led Zeppelin Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Yes, EQ2 have alot of classes, races and content... But the quality of everything is really subpar compared to other MMOs and thats why there is not many players.
Combine with the ugly graphics, generic fantasy world/lore, poor performance and stupid F2P model and here just is not many reasons to play EQ2.
EQ2 have not aged well even compared to WoW with its low poly graphics.
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
Also....EQ2 is not free to play. EQ2 X is. It's not the same game, basically. It's not even on the same servers. It's like EQ2 gutted, due to all the restrictions, which I found totally annoying when I tried the game. Good thing they still have the PAID game. I play the subscription game....have for years (since 2004) and love it. Tried WoW for a while and it paled in comparision for me in all ways INCLUDING graphics.
Yes, EQ2 have alot of classes, races and content... But the quality of everything is really subpar compared to other MMOs and thats why there is not many players.
Combine with the ugly graphics, generic fantasy world/lore, poor performance and stupid F2P model and here just is not many reasons to play EQ2.
EQ2 have not aged well even compared to WoW with its low poly graphics.
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
Also....EQ2 is not free to play. EQ2 X is. It's not the same game, basically. It's not even on the same servers. It's like EQ2 gutted.
As a long time eq2 player, who no longer plays it, I agree that the game is very addicting. I would like to say that wow has only agged well because it has lots of players. It still looks just as borring and basic as it did at launch. People play WoW because of the community, not because it has anything new.
Now i played EQ2 for abotu a year and enjoyed it quite a bit...
but...
Sure it has tons of classes but really you can cut that in half as they basically have a good version and an evil version with basically the same skill sets..
Equipment... well thats pretty bland as well when you really look into it or at least it was a few years back.. sure the items would have different stats but for every 10 lvls you would have maybe 1-2 different armor sets that actually looked differed.. sure there would be hundreds of different stats and called different things but they would look the same...
But all in all i did enojy my time there but the hole game is feeling old and out dated now.. i tried to go back and paly the free version but i could not get back in the game. Tho good that you have found a game you really enjoy
Now i played EQ2 for abotu a year and enjoyed it quite a bit...
but...
Sure it has tons of classes but really you can cut that in half as they basically have a good version and an evil version with basically the same skill sets..
Equipment... well thats pretty bland as well when you really look into it or at least it was a few years back.. sure the items would have different stats but for every 10 lvls you would have maybe 1-2 different armor sets that actually looked differed.. sure there would be hundreds of different stats and called different things but they would look the same...
But all in all i did enojy my time there but the hole game is feeling old and out dated now.. i tried to go back and paly the free version but i could not get back in the game. Tho good that you have found a game you really enjoy
At least EQ2 lets you have appearance gear so you're not stuck in those armor sets looking like everyone ELSE your level. WoW....too bad, so sad.....you HAVE TO look just like everyone else. I hate that in a game. EQ2 has spoiled me. No one else looks like any of my characters.
I loved EQII when I played it, the only real beef I had with it was the limited armor meshes. I would have looked past that If I hadn't got blacklisted on my server for something I didn't do. I had to leave the game for a couple of months to deal with RL issues and when I came back, I found out that someone that had a name very similiar to mine got the whole server in an uproar by throwing racial slurs and political slurs around, they even got the GM's involved. Needless to say, no one would believe that that person and me were not the same, and the GM's were no help what so ever, I refused to reroll a new character, and they outright refused to change my name. My guild kicked me out, and no one would group with me, so I left and never turned back.
someone that had a name very similiar to mine got the whole server in an uproar by throwing racial slurs and political slurs around, they even got the GM's involved. Needless to say, no one would believe that that person and me were not the same, and the GM's were no help what so ever, I refused to reroll a new character, and they outright refused to change my name.
that sucks - sorry to hear
Ive only had positive EQ2 game experiences but I guess crap can happen
not sure if other mmos would give a free name change over that -- but who knows
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
Also....EQ2 is not free to play. EQ2 X is. It's not the same game, basically. It's not even on the same servers. It's like EQ2 gutted, due to all the restrictions, which I found totally annoying when I tried the game. Good thing they still have the PAID game. I play the subscription game....have for years (since 2004) and love it. Tried WoW for a while and it paled in comparision for me in all ways INCLUDING graphics.
You said it yourself that you haven't played WoW in ages, so, to throw it right back at you, YOU have no idea what you're talking about. A lot of the environments and armour post-Cata are incredibly detailed; yeas, the old stuff is pretty trashy by today's standards, but EQ2 doesn't have vastly superior character or armour models. Technical comparisons notwithstanding, I personally hate EQ2's art style anyway. Half-cartoony half-realism just doesn't really work, and the environments are very hit and miss. Kelethin and Lesser Faydark are AMAZING graphically, whereas some environments are just terribad.
They are the same game, just separate servers. It's a blatant cash-grab from SOE (what isn't? :P) and it corrupts an already average game.
Also: imo, WoW trumps EQ2 in terms of combat, animations, UI, PvP, fluidity and mounts, but that's just me.
I'm glad you've found your game, OP, but I can't agree with many of the points raised :P
RIFT was a *crushing* disappointment; a shallow, loveless, generic MMO the likes of which hasn't been seen in a P2P format since, well, forever.
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
Also....EQ2 is not free to play. EQ2 X is. It's not the same game, basically. It's not even on the same servers. It's like EQ2 gutted, due to all the restrictions, which I found totally annoying when I tried the game. Good thing they still have the PAID game. I play the subscription game....have for years (since 2004) and love it. Tried WoW for a while and it paled in comparision for me in all ways INCLUDING graphics.
You said it yourself that you haven't played WoW in ages, so, to throw it right back at you, YOU have no idea what you're talking about. A lot of the environments and armour post-Cata are incredibly detailed; yeas, the old stuff is pretty trashy by today's standards, but EQ2 doesn't have vastly superior character or armour models. Technical comparisons notwithstanding, I personally hate EQ2's art style anyway. Half-cartoony half-realism just doesn't really work, and the environments are very hit and miss. Kelethin and Lesser Faydark are AMAZING graphically, whereas some environments are just terribad.
They are the same game, just separate servers. It's a blatant cash-grab from SOE (what isn't? :P) and it corrupts an already average game.
Also: imo, WoW trumps EQ2 in terms of combat, animations, UI, PvP, fluidity and mounts, but that's just me.
I'm glad you've found your game, OP, but I can't agree with many of the points raised :P
And I can't agree with many of the points YOU raised.
By the way, I did not say I hadn't played WoW for ages. Where did you get that? I play 2-3 games at a time and I played post-Cataclysm and have a lvl 85 priest, so I do know what WoW graphics look like, thank you very much. I do NOT agree with you on comparing the two games. WoW zones are beautiful (especially Vashi'jr...I love it), WoW armor models still suck in comparison to EQ2's in MY opinion. And isn't what we're both sharing just opinions? Yes. Mine differs from yours. I think WoW has become the most boring game ever made, but THAT....is my opinion. I appreciate your opinion too....I just don't agree with it.
i could never get into eq2 i have no idea why, has alot of stuff i would like but i could only play like a month then quit. go back after a 6 month break play a month then quit. well i do know by biggest problem is the character models, they just look really bad, and terrible combat animations.looks like thier hair is made out of toothpaste, and the model is made of playdoh. but the armors loooked really good, alot of detail in them,nothing crazy over the top like most MMOs. scenery was really good too. tho like others have said they may have "24" classes you could get rid of 1/2 of those because they played basicly the same as their evil counter part.
I am hooked on EQ2 as well. I've tried time and again to find a new MMO but I began to realize that we may never get MMOs as complete or immersive as EQ2 ever again. Player housing is nonexistant or on the way back burner for MMOs these days. For me and many others, having a home, a little nook of the virtual world that we can decorate and entertain friends in is essential to the feeling of a complete world. And how about the different types of vision (Infrared, Sonic, etc.) No, they werent critical or even very useful. But it was another layer, more fluff to make the world more complete. I don't think we will find any developers in the recent past or near future spending resources to include all those little things again.
I understand many people hate Sony for what they did years ago. And I would agree that years ago, Sony was definitely the MMO Developer to hate. But come on, people. Look around at the list of MMO developers we now have. Can you really sit there and say they are all better than Sony? That Sony still deserves the stigma of worst MMO developer? I can't help but feel that Funcom, Cryptic, NCSoft, Mythic, PWE and the rest of the Asian folks(Frogster? Gamigo?), or yes even the almighty Blizzard are all worse developers who care less about their customers and producing quality games than Sony is. The only companies in fact that I might put ahead of Sony at this point are Turbine, Trion (they haven't had enough time to screw up), and maybe Bioware (because they haven't had an opportunity to screw up yet).
Seriously, the long line of failed MMOs and developers of the past 6 years has made Sony not such a bad company by comparison. I'm afraid people that can't see that are inexorably stuck in the past and blinded by their lingering hate. Sony used to be the bad greedy company, when there were only a few companies to compete with. These days, Sony is a wonderful, raging success compared to the endless parade of real stinkers. Just thought i'd stand up for them a bit, because I don't feel they still deserve the title of Developer to Avoid. I think any number of companies are far more deserving of that label.
Edit: Ah, how could I have left StarVault out of the list of Developers with less credibility than Sony? Seriously, is there anyone out there who would say SV is a better company than Sony?
Yes, EQ2 have alot of classes, races and content... But the quality of everything is really subpar compared to other MMOs and thats why there is not many players.
Combine with the ugly graphics, generic fantasy world/lore, poor performance and stupid F2P model and here just is not many reasons to play EQ2.
EQ2 have not aged well even compared to WoW with its low poly graphics.
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
Also....EQ2 is not free to play. EQ2 X is. It's not the same game, basically. It's not even on the same servers. It's like EQ2 gutted, due to all the restrictions, which I found totally annoying when I tried the game. Good thing they still have the PAID game. I play the subscription game....have for years (since 2004) and love it. Tried WoW for a while and it paled in comparision for me in all ways INCLUDING graphics.
No I meant that WoW has low poly graphics but they still make it look nice thanks to talented artists.
If WoW = The Beatles and WAR = Led Zeppelin Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Yes, EQ2 have alot of classes, races and content... But the quality of everything is really subpar compared to other MMOs and thats why there is not many players.
Combine with the ugly graphics, generic fantasy world/lore, poor performance and stupid F2P model and here just is not many reasons to play EQ2.
EQ2 have not aged well even compared to WoW with its low poly graphics.
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
It looks like papadam was saying that WoW has low poly graphics and EQ2 has not aged well on its own and also in comparison to the low poly count graphics of wow.
Personally I have always felt the incredible detail has been a benefit and problem for EQ2s graphic style. In almost any view of the game it will contain some incredible details and very nice artistic design. However in that same view there will be horrid looking, bland stretched out textures, terrible color pallet contrasts and other low quality features that detract from the overall experience of the visuals.
For example the playdoh hair and stretched out textures devalue and outright clash with the high detail on some of the better looking clothing/armor. The massive overuse of particle effects and wooden offtimed animations/sound can overwhelm combat to the point most of the action is obscured or just simple feel unnatural.
To me there is just to much inconsistancy of the better parts of the visuals in EQ2. It can take some damn fine screenshots, but something really gets lost in the overall presentation. Without those incosistancies I think the whole package could still look great even by todays standards.
All this is regardless of what problems there are in graphics for other mmos.
No I meant that WoW has low poly graphics but they still make it look nice thanks to talented artists.
OH. Well on that point I do agree. WoW does manage, in my opinion, to get a lot of beauty out of "less" technology than what EQ2 manages with what supposedly was superior technology back in 2004. WoW has it's own kind of beauty. The art direction was literally award winning and I don't think I can argue with that.
I still love EQ2, but I have no argument with WoW being beautiful in its own way. I just like the way the armor is so detailed in EQ2 when you're running the game on very high. But I still have fond memories of landscapes in WoW that were/are truly stunning. To me....they're very different games.
Seriously, the long line of failed MMOs and developers of the past 6 years has made Sony not such a bad company by comparison. I'm afraid people that can't see that are inexorably stuck in the past and blinded by their lingering hate. Sony used to be the bad greedy company, when there were only a few companies to compete with. These days, Sony is a wonderful, raging success compared to the endless parade of real stinkers. Just thought i'd stand up for them a bit, because I don't feel they still deserve the title of Developer to Avoid. I think any number of companies are far more deserving of that label.
I'm not such a Sony "hater" these days, and I quite enjoy EQ2 and EQ (never got into it before the TLP servers because I would be too far behind). Vanguard is ... OK: looks nice, plays nice, Diplomacy is fun, but I never got a good handle on either the crafting (harvesting was straightforward) or their "con" system. But it took me from December '05 to June '08 before I was willing to take a chance on ANY of SOE's games after the bitter taste left by SWG NGE. I still have not forgiven that backstab, and never will until they open a classic server.
Seriously, the long line of failed MMOs and developers of the past 6 years has made Sony not such a bad company by comparison. I'm afraid people that can't see that are inexorably stuck in the past and blinded by their lingering hate. Sony used to be the bad greedy company, when there were only a few companies to compete with. These days, Sony is a wonderful, raging success compared to the endless parade of real stinkers. Just thought i'd stand up for them a bit, because I don't feel they still deserve the title of Developer to Avoid. I think any number of companies are far more deserving of that label.
I'm not such a Sony "hater" these days, and I quite enjoy EQ2 and EQ (never got into it before the TLP servers because I would be too far behind). Vanguard is ... OK: looks nice, plays nice, Diplomacy is fun, but I never got a good handle on either the crafting (harvesting was straightforward) or their "con" system. But it took me from December '05 to June '08 before I was willing to take a chance on ANY of SOE's games after the bitter taste left by SWG NGE. I still have not forgiven that backstab, and never will until they open a classic server.
The irony is that a lot of the people that hate the NGE are lining up to play SWTOR.
Couple of things we do know about what LA did to SWG:
They released it long before it was ready (as the publisher this was 100% their decision, as has been said by SWG developers on this site)
It was their (Lucas Arts) decision to release NGE immediately after an expansion (confirmed by the same develeoper, on this site)
We also know that LA has handcuffed SoE into not being to release the content they want to release, everything has to filter through them.
Obviously one can speculate that they were the ones who called for the iconic classes/jedi starter class, but we dont have facts either way for that. The stuff above we do know for sure.
tho like others have said they may have "24" classes you could get rid of 1/2 of those because they played basicly the same as their evil counter part.
I disagree with this...I think most have a very different feel to their counterparts. Even so, if you want to say they have 12 classes with 2 alternatives to each class, its still more variety than most other games.
For instance I dont feel a lot of rift's souls play all that differently than each other and people say that game has tons of variety to it.
I just came back to EQ2 and i'm enjoying it. But a lot of things about it annoy me.
The graphics - they take a really powerful rig to run and well, to me, they dont look good at all. Sure some things are detailed, but the whole thing just looks so fake. Im not one to ever really care about graphics, i love playing older games and it doesnt bother me at all, Im but EQ2 has probably the least visually appealing graphics ive seen in an MMO. WoW, WAR, Fallen Earth, Darkfall, Guild Wars, Eve all look way better to me and they run a lot easier, and their graphics are a lot simpler.
Animations - another thing that i never even noticed in other games, but in this its just so blatantly apparent, when your character or mount runs, or during combat, it just looks and feels crappy.
Population - eq2 has some great cities, qeynos is a huge city with tonnes of buildings, very detailed, it does feel like a real city, but there's nobody there. Even back in 2006 they were desolate except for the docks and the odd broker. And well now the population is just dead, on the EU server there is basically only people lvl 90 who are raiding, i mean its understandable, but its definitely a reason not to play it if you're new.
but in spite of these things its the only MMO i actually want to play, maybe because i already have some mid-level characters there. But i like all the questing, love the dungeons and qeynos city, and the community is very helpful when i ask retarded questions all the time.
I really wish they went for a simpler models and a different art style back when it came out that would have ran a lot better and possibly looked a lot better. IMO for what it takes to run it, it looks terrible, i really dont see how most people actually think this game has amazing graphics. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, i guess.
Comments
WOW It SHOULD! I mean, if me hating your game doesn't invalidate your love then...then why am I yelling at you to hate it like me?!
LOL
Good one! heh
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I really want to like EQ2.
Probably the second most visually pleasing graphics behind AoC, and it finally added PvP. That is what enticed me to redownload it during this 45 day "trial".
Holy smokes. If one likes going into a BG and literally do 0 damage to players, then I guess EQ2 is the game(You hit your target, but fail to do any damage). I remember I used to think WoW twinks were bad. There can be 9 people attacking one person and that guy could kill all 9 due to Toughness - yes I've seen it. Even WoW twinks weren't that bad - 3 bad equipped players could take down a WoW twink.
It would require far too much work on my part to even begin to be effective in the BGs. Just not worth it, and the PvE is the same as any other game.
EQ2 is defenitly one of the better mmorpgg's out there...just to bad its ran by Sony..i still play it from time to time.
My mmorpg..is WAR..even though i love it i dont play it cause crap population, but it is what it is.
In any case EQ2 has a nice crafting sytem which i enjoy very much. One of the best if you ask me.
EQ 2 is one of the best MMO's of all time. I just figured I had to put it out there. In fact, with the state of all other MMO's out there right now and ever for that matter. I don't always play MMO's, but when I need my fix, EQ 2 hits ths spot!
Some people seems to think that quantity>quality.
Yes, EQ2 have alot of classes, races and content... But the quality of everything is really subpar compared to other MMOs and thats why there is not many players.
Combine with the ugly graphics, generic fantasy world/lore, poor performance and stupid F2P model and here just is not many reasons to play EQ2.
EQ2 have not aged well even compared to WoW with its low poly graphics.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
I think you must be thinking of EQ1 when you're talking low poly graphics. Either that or you've never played EQ2 and have no idea WHAT you're talking about. EQ2's graphics are FAR more detailed than WoW's. Even in the armor you can see every part of the chain mail, so I'm not quite sure what game you've been playing. Maybe you just can't run it on your computer, I'm only running it on very high settings which is below the highest settings and nothing you say is true even at those settings.
Also....EQ2 is not free to play. EQ2 X is. It's not the same game, basically. It's not even on the same servers. It's like EQ2 gutted, due to all the restrictions, which I found totally annoying when I tried the game. Good thing they still have the PAID game. I play the subscription game....have for years (since 2004) and love it. Tried WoW for a while and it paled in comparision for me in all ways INCLUDING graphics.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
While I in no way share the same sentiment regarding the game, OP, I'm glad you found a game you love!
Why can't everyone be as nice when someone posts a thread talking about a game that they personally enjoy? Why?
Kudos to you for being big enough MAN to allow others their joy.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
As a long time eq2 player, who no longer plays it, I agree that the game is very addicting. I would like to say that wow has only agged well because it has lots of players. It still looks just as borring and basic as it did at launch. People play WoW because of the community, not because it has anything new.
Now i played EQ2 for abotu a year and enjoyed it quite a bit...
but...
Sure it has tons of classes but really you can cut that in half as they basically have a good version and an evil version with basically the same skill sets..
Equipment... well thats pretty bland as well when you really look into it or at least it was a few years back.. sure the items would have different stats but for every 10 lvls you would have maybe 1-2 different armor sets that actually looked differed.. sure there would be hundreds of different stats and called different things but they would look the same...
But all in all i did enojy my time there but the hole game is feeling old and out dated now.. i tried to go back and paly the free version but i could not get back in the game. Tho good that you have found a game you really enjoy
At least EQ2 lets you have appearance gear so you're not stuck in those armor sets looking like everyone ELSE your level. WoW....too bad, so sad.....you HAVE TO look just like everyone else. I hate that in a game. EQ2 has spoiled me. No one else looks like any of my characters.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I loved EQII when I played it, the only real beef I had with it was the limited armor meshes. I would have looked past that If I hadn't got blacklisted on my server for something I didn't do. I had to leave the game for a couple of months to deal with RL issues and when I came back, I found out that someone that had a name very similiar to mine got the whole server in an uproar by throwing racial slurs and political slurs around, they even got the GM's involved. Needless to say, no one would believe that that person and me were not the same, and the GM's were no help what so ever, I refused to reroll a new character, and they outright refused to change my name. My guild kicked me out, and no one would group with me, so I left and never turned back.
that sucks - sorry to hear
Ive only had positive EQ2 game experiences but I guess crap can happen
not sure if other mmos would give a free name change over that -- but who knows
EQ2 fan sites
You said it yourself that you haven't played WoW in ages, so, to throw it right back at you, YOU have no idea what you're talking about. A lot of the environments and armour post-Cata are incredibly detailed; yeas, the old stuff is pretty trashy by today's standards, but EQ2 doesn't have vastly superior character or armour models. Technical comparisons notwithstanding, I personally hate EQ2's art style anyway. Half-cartoony half-realism just doesn't really work, and the environments are very hit and miss. Kelethin and Lesser Faydark are AMAZING graphically, whereas some environments are just terribad.
They are the same game, just separate servers. It's a blatant cash-grab from SOE (what isn't? :P) and it corrupts an already average game.
Also: imo, WoW trumps EQ2 in terms of combat, animations, UI, PvP, fluidity and mounts, but that's just me.
I'm glad you've found your game, OP, but I can't agree with many of the points raised :P
RIFT was a *crushing* disappointment; a shallow, loveless, generic MMO the likes of which hasn't been seen in a P2P format since, well, forever.
Eagerly awaiting: World of Darkness, ArcheAge.
And I can't agree with many of the points YOU raised.
By the way, I did not say I hadn't played WoW for ages. Where did you get that? I play 2-3 games at a time and I played post-Cataclysm and have a lvl 85 priest, so I do know what WoW graphics look like, thank you very much. I do NOT agree with you on comparing the two games. WoW zones are beautiful (especially Vashi'jr...I love it), WoW armor models still suck in comparison to EQ2's in MY opinion. And isn't what we're both sharing just opinions? Yes. Mine differs from yours. I think WoW has become the most boring game ever made, but THAT....is my opinion. I appreciate your opinion too....I just don't agree with it.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
i could never get into eq2 i have no idea why, has alot of stuff i would like but i could only play like a month then quit. go back after a 6 month break play a month then quit. well i do know by biggest problem is the character models, they just look really bad, and terrible combat animations.looks like thier hair is made out of toothpaste, and the model is made of playdoh. but the armors loooked really good, alot of detail in them,nothing crazy over the top like most MMOs. scenery was really good too. tho like others have said they may have "24" classes you could get rid of 1/2 of those because they played basicly the same as their evil counter part.
I am hooked on EQ2 as well. I've tried time and again to find a new MMO but I began to realize that we may never get MMOs as complete or immersive as EQ2 ever again. Player housing is nonexistant or on the way back burner for MMOs these days. For me and many others, having a home, a little nook of the virtual world that we can decorate and entertain friends in is essential to the feeling of a complete world. And how about the different types of vision (Infrared, Sonic, etc.) No, they werent critical or even very useful. But it was another layer, more fluff to make the world more complete. I don't think we will find any developers in the recent past or near future spending resources to include all those little things again.
I understand many people hate Sony for what they did years ago. And I would agree that years ago, Sony was definitely the MMO Developer to hate. But come on, people. Look around at the list of MMO developers we now have. Can you really sit there and say they are all better than Sony? That Sony still deserves the stigma of worst MMO developer? I can't help but feel that Funcom, Cryptic, NCSoft, Mythic, PWE and the rest of the Asian folks(Frogster? Gamigo?), or yes even the almighty Blizzard are all worse developers who care less about their customers and producing quality games than Sony is. The only companies in fact that I might put ahead of Sony at this point are Turbine, Trion (they haven't had enough time to screw up), and maybe Bioware (because they haven't had an opportunity to screw up yet).
Seriously, the long line of failed MMOs and developers of the past 6 years has made Sony not such a bad company by comparison. I'm afraid people that can't see that are inexorably stuck in the past and blinded by their lingering hate. Sony used to be the bad greedy company, when there were only a few companies to compete with. These days, Sony is a wonderful, raging success compared to the endless parade of real stinkers. Just thought i'd stand up for them a bit, because I don't feel they still deserve the title of Developer to Avoid. I think any number of companies are far more deserving of that label.
Edit: Ah, how could I have left StarVault out of the list of Developers with less credibility than Sony? Seriously, is there anyone out there who would say SV is a better company than Sony?
No I meant that WoW has low poly graphics but they still make it look nice thanks to talented artists.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
It looks like papadam was saying that WoW has low poly graphics and EQ2 has not aged well on its own and also in comparison to the low poly count graphics of wow.
Personally I have always felt the incredible detail has been a benefit and problem for EQ2s graphic style. In almost any view of the game it will contain some incredible details and very nice artistic design. However in that same view there will be horrid looking, bland stretched out textures, terrible color pallet contrasts and other low quality features that detract from the overall experience of the visuals.
For example the playdoh hair and stretched out textures devalue and outright clash with the high detail on some of the better looking clothing/armor. The massive overuse of particle effects and wooden offtimed animations/sound can overwhelm combat to the point most of the action is obscured or just simple feel unnatural.
To me there is just to much inconsistancy of the better parts of the visuals in EQ2. It can take some damn fine screenshots, but something really gets lost in the overall presentation. Without those incosistancies I think the whole package could still look great even by todays standards.
All this is regardless of what problems there are in graphics for other mmos.
OH. Well on that point I do agree. WoW does manage, in my opinion, to get a lot of beauty out of "less" technology than what EQ2 manages with what supposedly was superior technology back in 2004. WoW has it's own kind of beauty. The art direction was literally award winning and I don't think I can argue with that.
I still love EQ2, but I have no argument with WoW being beautiful in its own way. I just like the way the armor is so detailed in EQ2 when you're running the game on very high. But I still have fond memories of landscapes in WoW that were/are truly stunning. To me....they're very different games.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I'm not such a Sony "hater" these days, and I quite enjoy EQ2 and EQ (never got into it before the TLP servers because I would be too far behind). Vanguard is ... OK: looks nice, plays nice, Diplomacy is fun, but I never got a good handle on either the crafting (harvesting was straightforward) or their "con" system. But it took me from December '05 to June '08 before I was willing to take a chance on ANY of SOE's games after the bitter taste left by SWG NGE. I still have not forgiven that backstab, and never will until they open a classic server.
The irony is that a lot of the people that hate the NGE are lining up to play SWTOR.
Couple of things we do know about what LA did to SWG:
They released it long before it was ready (as the publisher this was 100% their decision, as has been said by SWG developers on this site)
It was their (Lucas Arts) decision to release NGE immediately after an expansion (confirmed by the same develeoper, on this site)
We also know that LA has handcuffed SoE into not being to release the content they want to release, everything has to filter through them.
Obviously one can speculate that they were the ones who called for the iconic classes/jedi starter class, but we dont have facts either way for that. The stuff above we do know for sure.
I disagree with this...I think most have a very different feel to their counterparts. Even so, if you want to say they have 12 classes with 2 alternatives to each class, its still more variety than most other games.
For instance I dont feel a lot of rift's souls play all that differently than each other and people say that game has tons of variety to it.
I just came back to EQ2 and i'm enjoying it. But a lot of things about it annoy me.
The graphics - they take a really powerful rig to run and well, to me, they dont look good at all. Sure some things are detailed, but the whole thing just looks so fake. Im not one to ever really care about graphics, i love playing older games and it doesnt bother me at all, Im but EQ2 has probably the least visually appealing graphics ive seen in an MMO. WoW, WAR, Fallen Earth, Darkfall, Guild Wars, Eve all look way better to me and they run a lot easier, and their graphics are a lot simpler.
Animations - another thing that i never even noticed in other games, but in this its just so blatantly apparent, when your character or mount runs, or during combat, it just looks and feels crappy.
Population - eq2 has some great cities, qeynos is a huge city with tonnes of buildings, very detailed, it does feel like a real city, but there's nobody there. Even back in 2006 they were desolate except for the docks and the odd broker. And well now the population is just dead, on the EU server there is basically only people lvl 90 who are raiding, i mean its understandable, but its definitely a reason not to play it if you're new.
but in spite of these things its the only MMO i actually want to play, maybe because i already have some mid-level characters there. But i like all the questing, love the dungeons and qeynos city, and the community is very helpful when i ask retarded questions all the time.
I really wish they went for a simpler models and a different art style back when it came out that would have ran a lot better and possibly looked a lot better. IMO for what it takes to run it, it looks terrible, i really dont see how most people actually think this game has amazing graphics. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, i guess.