World of Warcraff or EverQuest 2

[ChrisRay]

I am playing WoW atm again. Dunno which I will end up playing in the long run. Everquest 2 is a fun, beautiful and immersive game. But I dont feel the game is finished, WoW on the other hand I dont believe is gonna have the lasting appeal EQ 2 has..

Cant decide.. very turmoiled over these 2 games and too cheap to pay for them both..

[Tyr-Sog]

I am playing WoW atm again. Dunno which I will end up playing in the long run. Everquest 2 is a fun, beautiful and immersive game. But I dont feel the game is finished, WoW on the other hand I dont believe is gonna have the lasting appeal EQ 2 has..

Cant decide.. very turmoiled over these 2 games and too cheap to pay for them both..


I'm beginning to find myself in the same situation. Although eq2 is more my type with its, advanced gameplay, art style and atmosphere it really is just like you said a unfinished game. Broken sounds, huge fps drops, hdd swapping and stutters arn't helping out on the decision of playing it right now. I have my second character in eq2, a lvl 12 soccorer in which I have soloed with so far. Even by myself at balanced settings(no shadows/flora going off the graphic guide) when I cast a spell on a mob my fps shoot almost to single digits. It hampers game play imo. It's the same with my lvl 27 Ranger and group battling, spells are casted and it's a damn slide show.

I may just put eq2 on hold for a few months and toy around with wow. Overall it's a fun game, just doesn't suck me in like eq2. Feels like a MMOplatformer. Maybe SOE will have some nice patches in a month or 2.

[Tyr-Sog]

If you do have all the sliders to the max that would explain why you are having problems. One of the sliders is for the terrain viewing distance. If it's maxed out it will destroy your performance big time and it's in no way even needed. I can see far and I only have it halfway.


Wells here's the thing. I went up last night and picked up X800XT(second time I did this, ugh also did it with eq2 to see the difference). Swapped cards and played WOW and sure enough, with the same exact settings, 1280x1064, 6xaa(instead of 4x), 16xaa, and all the in game settings untouched from when set with the 6800gt and my FRAPS counter doesn't move off of 60fps(vsync cap). So not only am I finding a huge peformance difference in eq2, also super huge in wow. So either my GT is borked or the X800XT is slapping the **** out of the GT.

[ChrisRay]

Wells here's the thing. I went up last night and picked up X800XT(second time I did this, ugh also did it with eq2 to see the difference). Swapped cards and played WOW and sure enough, with the same exact settings, 1280x1064, 6xaa(instead of 4x), 16xaa, and all the in game settings untouched from when set with the 6800gt and my FRAPS counter doesn't move off of 60fps(vsync cap). So not only am I finding a huge peformance difference in eq2, also super huge in wow. So either my GT is borked or the X800XT is slapping the **** out of the GT.



That is extremely odd.. I am loving WoW performance. Playing the game in Darnassus @ 1280x1024 with 4xAA/16xAF (quality) with only trilinear opts enabled and getting very smooth gameplay))

I'm beginning to find myself in the same situation. Although eq2 is more my type with its, advanced gameplay, art style and atmosphere it really is just like you said a unfinished game. Broken sounds, huge fps drops, hdd swapping and stutters arn't helping out on the decision of playing it right now. I have my second character in eq2, a lvl 12 soccorer in which I have soloed with so far. Even by myself at balanced settings(no shadows/flora going off the graphic guide) when I cast a spell on a mob my fps shoot almost to single digits. It hampers game play imo. It's the same with my lvl 27 Ranger and group battling, spells are casted and it's a damn slide show.

I may just put eq2 on hold for a few months and toy around with wow. Overall it's a fun game, just doesn't suck me in like eq2. Feels like a MMOplatformer. Maybe SOE will have some nice patches in a month or 2.

My other problem with EQ 2 atm is the content is kinda poorly designed and layed out. Compare Commonlands to Antonica. Antonica has a much better and more linear progressionm. Solo/group content is very well divided. Commonlands. It's huddled together and its very hard to find the good solo spots when you cant find a group.

Nektulos Verses Thundering Steppes is kinda similar. But the solo content in steppes/nektulos is even worse, Though managable. Now I can understand this is a group game. But throwing a few solo creatures out in the middle of a TON of double arrow up group creatures just doesnt work. Atm the content is confusing and kinda poorly layed out. ((But these are all things I expect and predict sony will fix. They just cant leave these zones like this. No one hunts in Nektulos unless they're doing Armor Quests. Because the zone is that poorly designed and needs its encountesr adjusted.

The experience penalty system is nuts. I am actually to the point where grouping scares me to death. Last night in 3 casual groups. I managed to wreack up 30% exp debt. And I only died once! It actually discourages casual grouping and usually forces players to stick with a few select players. This is of course IMO a very bad thing.

The game is great though, Immersive, beautiful. Great Quality sound. They just should have waited another 4-5 months and fixed it to be a better game.. I am deciding with a few friends (We have both) What we're gonna play in the mean time. (EQ 2 or WoW) Fortunately if we tire of one we can go back to the other.

Its saddens me really. I have such high hopes for EQ 2. I really hope they fix some of these problems.

[Tyr-Sog]

snip


Looks like us eq2 fans may be in for a treat.

http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tup&message.id=4

edit:

Yeah, them "casual groups". Ugh. lol...I've learned quick in how to judge a group with in the firts couple of battles, why take the chance. If things arn't going to well(several factors) I will boogie. Like you said, raking up 30, 40, 50% of debt can be a nightmare and you spend the next 3 days trying to even out what you just racked up in a hour. They need to tone down the pentalies a bit.

[Sorrow]

Once you get past TS and Nek, you will go to Zek and Enchanted Lands, I'm currently lvl 31 warden, these two zones are awesome because there's a lot of easy to get to solo mobs here. I soloed for about 2 hours and got 2 yellows at 30, soloing lvl 32-34 mobs, it was great. Zek has a lot of solo mobs also, Zek is a little lower level though. EL has solo mobs that are lvl 37! So you can solo for a good while there. I've also taken note that you can get almost 2 yellows xp from just exploring. For example, there's a quest at docks in Zek that asks you to kill orcs till you find 10 notes,
it's pretty easy since you can practically solo it in less than 30min. Afterwards he gives you a quest to find certain landmarks, and when you visit each land mark, at least at lvl 30, the xp per discovery was about 3-5 blues, and there was about 11 discoveries. So that's 4x11= 44 blue = almost 50% xp. Then once you get back you get quest xp PLUS a reward so that's about a total of 50% xp right there. Same as in EL, except you get an AWESOME ring for doing an easy soloable quest. When you get higher, there are more solo mobs than other places, at lower levels it kinda pushes you to group basically because grouping at lower levels gives A LOT faster xp than at higher levels, and at higher lvls you go lfg for a long time sometimes, so I just solo for a while and get a good amount of xp.

[Ninjaman09]

Becouse both games are completely different EQ2 was made to look more realistic with real proportional character bodys (offcourse its still a game and doesn't look real neither does HalfLife2 ), not WoW Fantazy over colored elefant ears elfs , not that i don't like Fantasy or something , but calling one bad art becouse its not cartoonish toon and another discovery of America is plain wrong and bias. If you don't like plain colored Hummer and prefer your Ten color Ferrari does that make Hummer are crap ? don't think so.
Considering it's entirely subjective, I can certainly call one "bad art". EQ2 has nice lighting and shader effects but it looks like a rainy day in Europe all the time, very dull and very artificial. When I played it, I couldn't get into the world at all because everything looked like it was made out of play-dough. Very dull colors, very dull character models and very poor animation. In my opinion. The drab dark green, greys, and slate blues were very depressing.

[Connaught]

http://www.gameindustry.com/review/item.asp?id=495

This posted url does not neccessarily reflect my opinion, it is just simply somebody elses opinion (rather bias if you ask me.) that might be useful to others. (If you wish to see my opinion its the 3rd post on the 1st page.)

[Tyr-Sog]

Considering it's entirely subjective, I can certainly call one "bad art". EQ2 has nice lighting and shader effects but it looks like a rainy day in Europe all the time, very dull and very artificial. When I played it, I couldn't get into the world at all because everything looked like it was made out of play-dough. Very dull colors, very dull character models and very poor animation. In my opinion. The drab dark green, greys, and slate blues were very depressing.


Hey, sounds like a atmosphere to me. (xmasgrin)

[Ninjaman09]

Yes, a drab, dull, boring atmosphere, but an atmosphere nonetheless. Way to point out the obvious. :thumbsup:

[lmetza]

I am pretty pissed off now. the EQ2 servers have been down since 1PM yesterday. Something happened and SOE is trying to fix it (i hope), and they cant even give an ETA. I was thinkingthey would work thru the night and have it up by mornin but i guess not. All i wanna do i play EQ2. DammmIT!
this doesnt mean im buying WoW, i just dont have the cash to buy both as i just puchased my 6800 a couple weeks ago. But im really enjoying EQ2, its really fun but it isnt fun when you cant play it.

[Tyr-Sog]

Yeah, something major happened you can bet on that. lol

I've been reading over at SOE forums that it's going to be a 3 day rollback. :eek:

I've been playing Wow on and off for the last couple of weeks and got a lot of hours in in the last few days and this time spent playing it has reallt got me appreciating eq2. That said, it's unfinished and i'll continue to play wow(not a bad game by any means) until SOE gets their troubles sorted out. Be it today or 2 months from now.

[vampireuk]

Take a look at Starwars Galaxies, you will be waiting a very long time ;)

[Tyr-Sog]

Blah, go to wows or for that matter any game site with a tech forum and it could easily scare you away.

[thunderhippo]

The devs said it would be a rollback to 12/17/04 9am pst.

[DaveW]

Take a look at Starwars Galaxies, you will be waiting a very long time ;)

I thought they were the same game. EQ2 - run around with swords and summon monsters to fight for you. SWG - run around with swords and summon monsters to fight for you.

[Vagrant Zero]

I thought they were the same game. EQ2 - run around with swords and summon monsters to fight for you. SWG - run around with swords and summon monsters to fight for you.

Meh...that's the reason I haven't gotten into an Online RPG yet. Way too shallow. I'm hoping one day EA [yes yes, Satan, boo, hiss, get thy crucifix] will release a Middle Earth Online based off the movies. I'm sure Turbine's Middle Earth Online will be grand [I'll be sure to give it a try] but the movie's imagery is too ingrained in me now. When I think Minas Tirith I think of the one from the movie.

[ChrisRay]

Meh...that's the reason I haven't gotten into an Online RPG yet. Way too shallow. I'm hoping one day EA [yes yes, Satan, boo, hiss, get thy crucifix] will release a Middle Earth Online based off the movies. I'm sure Turbine's Middle Earth Online will be grand [I'll be sure to give it a try] but the movie's imagery is too ingrained in me now. When I think Minas Tirith I think of the one from the movie.

Wow.. you have a pretty generic impression of mmorpg. They are about immersion, Storyline, And teamwork among players, Going around and slashing swords and summoning monsters is about as generic as me saying.

"FPS are just about running through hallways and killing creatures/people online or in single player"

Just because something has a basic design doesnt mean a game cant innovate or be fun. WoW and EQ 2 offer quite a bit more than that.

[Vagrant Zero]

Wow.. you have a pretty generic impression of mmorpg.

It's a generic genre. This year alone has seen clone after clone, with each one claiming to be innovative based on a bullet list of features that really effect nothing. Why do you think so many of them either died in the womb or were still born. We've entered an MMORPG craze but innovation and creativiy have yet to catch up with us.

They are about immersion,

D3 check.

Storyline,

These games have storylines like Ninja's have rocket launchers. One of the basic subsets of a story is an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The MMORPGs I've played lacked exposition [I was just thrust into the game with nary a thought or preperation]. They have no Climaxs and Resolutions since the games go on forever. They have some background history to flesh out the world, but that's not a story. History of Middle Earth [12 volume series detailing well...the History of Middle Earth from the fall of the elves to the Fourth Age and onward] does not have a storyline. It's simply backstory to flesh out the world. Lord of the Rings actually has a real honest to god story/plot. I think you simply butchered the technical meaning of the word storyline and misconstrued it as a bunch of words that seem to almost form a coherent paragraph. Not only that but MMORPGs could have meta-plots if they wanted to, Vampire the Masquerade [the tabletop game, not the pc one] did and it's a freaking storytelling source book. So that 'but they're non-linear games' crap doesn't fly with me. If Vampire could do it so could online rpgs. I'm not expecting shakespeare hear, but a little meta-plot wouldn't kill these guys.

And teamwork among players,

Great. Don't much care for that though. Also don't see what it has do with not being generic, since a crapload of games outside of ORPGs have that as well. It's like saying these games are not generic because they have swords.

Going around and slashing swords and summoning monsters is about as generic as me saying.

If the boot fits...

"FPS are just about running through hallways and killing creatures/people online or in single player"

With a genre name like First Person Shooter what do you expect? Tea Time with Marry Poppins aboard the Queen Mary? Besides most FPS games are exactly as your described [ya they take a spin here and there, but at the end of the day you CAN compare HL2, D3, and FC. Why? Because in essence they do the exact same thing]. So I'd have no problems with you generalizing the genre in such a way. The boot fits.

[ChrisRay]

These games have storylines like Ninja's have rocket launchers. One of the basic subsets of a story is an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The MMORPGs I've played lacked exposition [I was just thrust into the game with nary a thought or preperation]. They have no Climaxs and Resolutions since the games go on forever. They have some background history to flesh out the world, but that's not a story. History of Middle Earth [12 volume series detailing well...the History of Middle Earth from the fall of the elves to the Fourth Age and onward] does not have a storyline. It's simply backstory to flesh out the world. Lord of the Rings actually has a real honest to god story/plot. I think you simply butchered the technical meaning of the word storyline and misconstrued it as a bunch of words that seem to almost form a coherent paragraph. Not only that but MMORPGs could have meta-plots if they wanted to, Vampire the Masquerade [the tabletop game, not the pc one] did and it's a freaking storytelling source book. So that 'but they're non-linear games' crap doesn't fly with me. If Vampire could do it so could online rpgs. I'm not expecting shakespeare hear, but a little meta-plot wouldn't kill these guys

They do have background stories. They are a "Role Playing" game. A Role Playing game is not a game you have a set story and follow it through to conclusion. They have a basic storyline and background

You are confusing a plot with a story. A story does not neccasarily have a plot. It can be a history of events. A background detail to immersion of the world. But a story does not neccasarily have to have a plot where events are triggered. If you want that kind of game. Then a maybe a japanese style automated story book is for you (AKA japan RPGS) There are no plots in MMORPG because you assume your own role. The entire idea is for you to take on a role in a world thats been created for you. Not for you to play a set storyline. Everything you suggested would not equal a "True" Role playing game. They are Multiplayer, Online, Role Playing games.


World of Warcraft also has a great deal of background story too it.


Great. Don't much care for that though. Also don't see what it has do with not being generic, since a crapload of games outside of ORPGs have that as well. It's like saying these games are not generic because they have swords.

No offense, If you go around playing a mmorpg solo. You have no real business playing the game anyway. Teamwork, Friendship, and strategies are required to win in a mmorpg,

Trade skills, Economy, Questing. Are all very important aspects of MMORPG, And as the genre has developed these have become a neccesity for the games as well. Both WOW and Everquest 2 feature quest systems and progression systems based off those quests. These quests will also bottleneck your progress.


With a genre name like First Person Shooter what do you expect? Tea Time with Marry Poppins aboard the Queen Mary? Besides most FPS games are exactly as your described [ya they take a spin here and there, but at the end of the day you CAN compare HL2, D3, and FC. Why? Because in essence they do the exact same thing]. So I'd have no problems with you generalizing the genre in such a way. The boot fits.

Well if thats your reasonining. I'll just label everything generic then. I mean Doom 3 is just killing demons to finish the game. Sonic, is just another platform game. Any category can be generic. But the games themselves arent. Any title you bring up. I will be able to label as generic. Because it fits a certain category of game.

[Sgt_Pitt]

hehe well said chris

You make your own stories in EQ2 and WoW, you become part of the tales if your lucky enough or good enough to become well known

[|MaguS|]

I say go play Horizons!

[Skrot]

I say go play Horizons! :barf:

[Gaco]

I'd pick WoW, but that's because of what the reviewers and my friends are saying about it, I have no personal experience with either game. That is to change soon however, I'm buying the WoW Final Beta Kit soon :)

[Ninjaman09]

Well if thats your reasonining. I'll just label everything generic then. I mean Doom 3 is just killing demons to finish the game. Sonic, is just another platform game. Any category can be generic. But the games themselves arent. Any title you bring up. I will be able to label as generic. Because it fits a certain category of game.
:clap:
Well put! That was an excellent response. I was going to respond to him but you said everything I was gonna say :)