Last-minute pre-order... EQ2 or WoW?

[jpinard]

I'd kind of like to pre-order one of these 2 (even though it's the last minute for EQ2) to get some of the nifty pet and home stuff. Here's what I'm looking for:

* Immersion. I really want to feel like I'm in another place.
* Detail. Want to have the new cool items I get, look great too and be worth the time and effort.
* Low grind value. I don't want to have to put a bazillion hours into the game to have fun.
* I like to solo 90% of the time.
* I did like Dark Age of Camelot quite a bit (except the long travel times).
* I like City of Heroes, but once I got t level 32 I stopped playing though I still have my account.

Any ideas or suggestions would be great, and sorry for another EQ vs. Wow thread. I posted this at Qto3 too as I'm looking for lots of feedback

[Falcon554]

Hehe do what im doing playing both But from what you posted ill say WoW. EQ2 is a bit more hard core then Wow.

[Zathras]

If I were forced to play one of the two, I'd play WoW. I just trust Blizzard more to get it right. They just have the better track record.

[Crowley]

Immersion. I really want to feel like I'm in another place.
Theyre both equal in this aspect I suppose. EQ2 has a more "realistic" look to it, but WOW has more of a unique, cartoony feel. Preference I guess.
Detail. Want to have the new cool items I get, look great too and be worth the time and effort.
Both equal agian, it just depends on your tastes. Dont expect to get flaming swords at lvl5 on either, though.
Low grind value. I don't want to have to put a bazillion hours into the game to have fun.
Hate to break it to you, but this is ALL this genre is about. WOW in my experience tries to break this through barraging you with quests, but those are typically boring and monotonious. EQ2 lifts thier notorious grind by offering 'heroic oppertunties', aka just buttons to push during combat at certain times.
I like to solo 90% of the time.
EQ2 will rape you through the pants solo-wise unless youre a primary tank character. WOW is a bit better with this, with quests and soloability.
I did like Dark Age of Camelot quite a bit (except the long travel times).
DOAC, lets face it, is all about the PVP. While I never got too much exposure to it in playing WOW, EQ2 doesnt even offer it
I like City of Heroes, but once I got t level 32 I stopped playing though I still have my account.
COH was probably the best game to date Ive played regarding grinding/lvl gain. Its downfall was lack of items, which would seem to be a catch 22 regarding what made it awesome. All in all though, its a matter of taste on which game to pick up. Thier both basically the same game, only with small alterations.

[wonderpug]

* Immersion. I really want to feel like I'm in another place.
If WoW's visual style works for you it's a tie, if you want a realistic looking world, EQ2 wins

* Detail. Want to have the new cool items I get, look great too and be worth the time and effort.
Tie

* Low grind value. I don't want to have to put a bazillion hours into the game to have fun.
WoW wins

* I like to solo 90% of the time.
BIG win for WoW

* I did like Dark Age of Camelot quite a bit (except the long travel times).
Tie, unless it's the PVP you liked about DAOC, then WoW gets a big win

* I like City of Heroes, but once I got t level 32 I stopped playing though I still have my account.
Nothing compares to CoH's combat. I hate how everyone just stands there in every other MMORPG

[YellowKing]

According to your list of requirements, WoW hands-down.

[knob]

I'm personally going WoW. Even if I never play it. The Collector's Edition sounds great.

[Crowley]

According to your list of requirements, WoW hands-down.

Im not trying to badger you here, but being a hardcore EQ2 supporter, what does EQ2 have that WOW doesnt?

[Vidiot]

According to your list of requirements, WoW hands-down.

Im not trying to badger you here, but being a hardcore EQ2 supporter, what does EQ2 have that WOW doesnt?

You just said it in your post above.

The biggest two I would say are soloing and PvP. I am not saying EQ2 is a bad game, I never got a chance to try it. But from everything I have heard about it soloing is not an option most of the time. You can do almost everything in WoW solo, the only time you MUST group would be doing the big dungeons.

And well, PvP, eq doesn't have that. WoW looks like it is going to try to make it a major game aspect.

But looking at the other requirements that jp has, leveling is a lot faster in WoW then EQ from what I have head.

I agree that immersion is really a personal call, both I think nail this for what they are going for. As for detail, WoW has the details I loved about EQ that I didn't find in games like DAoC and more, I assume EQ2 also has a lot of these.

[Faldarian]

* I did like Dark Age of Camelot quite a bit (except the long travel times).

The Catacombs expansion for DaoC is coming out the first week of December, and offers a lot of the things that EQ2 and WoW are pushing.

-5 new classes, 2 for Hibernia and Midgard and 1 for Albion, all of which are designed to offer a bit different playstyle and abilities than anything introduced previously
-Instanced Dungeons
-MAJOR graphics overhaul; I really, really dig the new character models more than anything I've seen in WoW or EQ2's graphics.
-Travel times have been greatly reduced lately, with portals not requiring a wait while they activate and more teleport options to more areas; you can get almost anywhere in about 5 minutes or less these days.


And I disagree that DaoC is primarily a PvP game. It has an excellent PvP element to it, but it has a strong PvE game that's just going to get a lot better with this new expansion.

I still play DaoC and like it a lot, and this new expansion is looking to turn out really well.

(Just to throw out a 3rd option for you, but I'll probably grab one of these two myself even though I'll be playing Catacombs )

[YellowKing]

Im not trying to badger you here, but being a hardcore EQ2 supporter, what does EQ2 have that WOW doesnt?

More in-depth crafting system.
Player and guild housing.
More in-depth guild system.
Deeper combat system (heroic opportunities).
Better character creator with more options.
Better graphics.
Better death system (that's an opinion, of course).

WoW has PvP, it runs better on low-to-mid-range systems, and from my time in beta, it seems to be a more solo-friendly game with less downtime.

I prefer EQ2 for the reasons listed above, but those might not be as important to somebody else as they are to me.

If I was planning on playing solo 90% of the time and wanted to be able to hop on for an hour at a time and make progress, I'd get WoW. However, I'm not, so I'm getting EQ2.

[Eightball]

YK, I wonder about the deeper combat system. HO is a pretty neat thing to have.

But I look at my level 60 warrior. He has 3 stances. One of those stances alone (battle stance) has 18 abilites I can use at any time. From attack power debuff shout, to an armor debuff, to spell interrupts, different damage attacks with different functions, etc.

With WoW, and a smart group, you can create your own heroic opportunities by good group play. No flashy effects, but it's still the same thing (ie the rogue's eviscerate is far, far more effective when the warrior has effectively applied sunder 5 times to reduce the mobs armor as much as possible).

Combat is deep as heck in WoW. I wouldn't automatically give EQ2 the win because of HO's.

Again, I know I seem like I'm a WoW fanboi, but guess what I'll be playing tomorrow. And depending on how much I like it, it may displace WoW. There's a lot about WoW I like, a lot I don't like, and a lot that I'm burnt out on....

[YellowKing]

You won't see me argue the point. You might be right. I didn't get far enough into WoW to get into all the battle stance stuff.

The HO wheel does make for some interesting situations though. Perfect example:

You're fighting a big group of orcs. Your enchanter has mezzed 2 of them, so you're holding your own. The HO wheel comes up, and you only need a taunt to set it off. But wait! The wheel has rolled up an area of effect lightning blast! Suddenly your cleric is jumped and is going down hard. You can hit your taunt to get the mobs off the cleric, but that will set off the wheel, unleashing the AOE, and unmezzing the two orcs! Or you can not taunt, and run the risk that your cleric is toast. What do you do?

It's the randomness of it that makes it fun.

I'm going to have to wait and see what happens at launch though. The last beta patch they "nerfed" the HO wheel which may change the whole dynamic. Basically they now have a single skill whose sole function is to start the wheel. Before, initiating a certain combat skill or spell would always bring up the wheel, so you had to make a choice on whether to complete it or not. It's good and bad. Good in that now you don't have to worry about the wheel coming up unless you specifically need it (i.e. no more fiddling with the wheel for every low level mob that walks by). Bad in that it takes some of the strategy of choosing whether or not to ignore the wheel out of the equation. Groups will now probably only bring up the wheel if they're planning on finishing it. I think the "nerf" was actually how the wheel was always intended to function, but I got so used to playing the other way it was almost a let-down to be given a choice in the matter.

[Eightball]

Lol! I can see how the randomness of the situation you talked about would be kind of fun!

As always, you know I'm not downing EQ, I'm just presenting the view of someone who has played (an inordinate amount of) WoW

[The Meal]

Topics regarding multiple PC Gaming titles belong in PC Gaming in General. This post is being moved to that forum.

~Neal

[Raven]

EQ2

wheel - goofy and illogical
crafting - you can die while knitting - enough said
graphics - char models look dipped in vaseline
4 char slots per account unless you want to pay extra (suckers)
grinding grinding grinding
poorly thought out quest system

WOW

ugly char models
too easy to solo
high percentage of idiots and jerks
superb crafting system
superb auction system
best quest system in any mmorpg i've ever played

[YellowKing]

I fail to see how clicking on a crafting formula, then, if you have the proper materials, clicking "Create" constitutes a superb crafting system. But to each his own.