WOW and EQ 2 questions

I've been thinking about picking one of these games up. As for looks I like WOW more, but I figure I would ask some questions and see which game I would like more. Other than the normal lvling up and running around killing things can you create a home for yourself on either game or something along those lines and also how much are the monthy fees between the 2?

Since you started a thread, I might as well piggyback with my own questions

In addition to what Hurley asked, I'm curious about how well PvP is implemented in each game? Are the classes well balanced?

I think I read some story on here about a paladin stomping a warrior in melee in WoW using some last minute invincibility/heal spell ... I haven't played an MMORPG since The Realm, but if I did PvP would be a big part of my gaming, and that sounds kinda lame IMO...

I'm currently playing only EQ2, but will be playing WoW in a few days.

I can answer some questions.


the monthly fee is basically 15 for either of them (EQ2's is 14.95 i beleive, and wow's is 15.00 i think, roughly in that area).

EQ2 has houses, they are instanced though, you get them in the cities basically as apartments/houses that are there, you can go up to a house in a city and if you can rent/buy it it'll pop up to.

You can't like for example get your house and put it wherever you want.
You can decorate your house with things, chairs, tables, artwork, books, etc.

PVP wise, EQ2 has none, zilch, nada, none.
WoW has pvp servers, it's not full "open" pvp though. It's alliance vs horde pvp. There are zones that are "contested" where either group can attack each other whenever/however they want, however in other zones like the homelands, the home race can't be attacked, unless they attack the enemy race first. so say if you are an orc, and go to a human city, you can't attack anyone there, unless they attack you.

As far as warrior/paladin class in WoW, I too have heard that paladins are far better then Warriors, warriors to my knowledge are the "broken" class in WoW. With pvp being ran mostly by hunters and paladins.

The classes in WoW are rather balanced, and each class does what it should.
Warriors are currently the broken class, and as far as overpowered goes, Paladins and Shamans are both to powerful. Rogues lvl fast, because they kill uber fast theyll prob get nerfed a little.

Give the game a little time though its been out LESS than a week (As of this post). Things will get even more balanced as time goes on.

And not that anything has been announced, but as an avid MMO player, Im sure WoW will have housing in due time. More than likely like DAoC instead of AO or EQ2, where there will be lots which you are able to buy and then put your house, and various decorations.

DAoC at the moment has awesome PvP for what I can think and nice housing, and theyre coming out with an expansion in December that will bring gfx == EQ2. So maybe look into it then.

Right now I am playing WoW.... Gnome Mage. One thing I will tell you about WoW currently is that it is EXTREMELY LAGGY... The past two days the server has crashed, atleast mine has... It just crashed about 20 mins ago so, thats really the only reason I am here posting. In general people are hooked to the game, and I cant blame them, it is an amazing game. People are just very dissatisfied with the customer service and about getting what they paid for.

Oh yes, and I just saw a screenshot of the first character that has gotten a mount: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/elvandar01/mount1.jpg

Since its launch I swore only to EQ2, and shunned WoW, even though I haven't even played it at all. The pathetic graphics where my biggest excuse and lame reason for not playing it. I adored EQ2 when it first came out. It was so large, huge, complex and beautiful I thought it simple couldn't get any better. At long last, a replacement for DAOC had come at last. I was spending up to 7 hours on weekends playing the game. God it was fun as hell. So much to explore, find, things to see and meet! Wow, this game annhilated WoW in every shape and form I believed.

The game simply just took over me. I was completely obsessed every night about playing it. I had the mindframe of "Ok, I have to put everything else in my life on hold so I can level tonight, its the only way. I must dedicated myself once again"

Ok, so this was a good and a bad thing.
Good: it was good that a game now made me wanna get involved in it so much cause it was that good.
Bad: this basically made me return to my DAOC days. I once again started putting family, friends, girls *yep* and everything else in my life aside to play a game. But I was so involved in the game, I deemed this acceptable and went with it the past several weeks.

Recently however, I"ve beginning to notice how much of a grind EQ2 was a begining to turn into. I log into the game later in the evening and I basically would start with this mind set:
"Welp, I'd better get settled in for a 4-5 hour level grind here or i'll never advance anywhere"

So right of the bat, I was fustrated that I knew I had to spend a good portion of my free time after a long day at work knowing I should be working out and or studying Microsoft tests, but I felt that I basicaly had no choice. I was once again having the guilt of if I didn't play the game, I was never gonna accomplish anything and the game would be a waste and I would feel small and insecure with other high levels around me. It was this constant thought in my head: "If I don't dedicated myself to this game, I won't get anywhere and I will be a loser to everyone else in the game. If I can do it in DAOC, I can do it again. "

But I tell you what, as of last week, I started feeling really guilty about having this feeling all over again. I remember how much my health suffered back in my DAOC days. Staying up late at night, eating crap food, and forcing myself physicall and mentally to prove something in a damn game. I started to get fusrated with what to do. I felt like there was no way out again.

Nearing level 20, EQ2 was beginning to REALLY demand my time and attention to get anywhere. The armor quests for level 20 are absolutely insane to complete. For one, you CANNOT do any parts of the quests solo, period. Great, so now I have to spend my time trying to get a group either alone or with a guild to help me out and have them spend several hours with me to finish ONE part of a several part quest for armor for my character!

Right of the bat, I knew that something just wasn't right with this. Now the game had turned into a fustrated, stressing and a unfun obligation instead of a, enjoyable, relaxing and fun experience.

Browsing the internet late after a 7 hour EQ2 grind fest, I started surfing through the WoW website and I wasn't getting more excited. Bleh, it looked so lame and kiddy like. I coudln't possibly get into it. EQ2 blew it outa the water in every shape and form I felt, Blizzard had created a kiddy MMORPG and I would have none of it.

Then I downloaded the Cinematic trailer to the game and one phrase kept going in my mind after watching it:

"HOLY SHIT THAT WAS COOL!!!!"

I spent the next hour watching the trailer over, and over, and over. It was by far the coolest intro cinematic iv'e seen in a game and Blizzards quality once again amazed me.

But for some reason, peoples ranting and raving about the game from the boards kept me coming back to Blizzards website and reading about it. The more I read, the more curious and anxious I become. What if this game really was more enjoyable and not such a grind like EQ2? What if the graphics did their job well and it was more about FUN and GAMEPLAY then proving myself graphically? What if this game actually turned about to be fun???

I decided to go do some shopping this weekend and for some reason, I just decided I had to TRY WoW just to see if this hubbub was all what it was worth. Me being a sucker for my games and goodies and with to much money on my hands, I hunted all over town for a Collectors Edition. All sold out everywhere I checked. I figured maybe it was for the best as if the game really sucked, I'd only loose $50 instead of $80.

I decided to try one last low possible place that would have it. I went into my local Hastings video store and browsed through the small software shelves with low belief that they would even carry it.. Unbeliabely, all by itself, sat a single lone copy of CE World of Warcraft.

Snatching it up, I zipped back home and ran to my computer. Knowing that there was no going back and with a big sigh, ripped open the cellophane and slid open the package.

First thing that caught my eye was the BIG artbook. Knowing the install was probably gonna take awhile. I slid out the DVD copy and started the install. During that time I started to flip through the artbook and one word came to my mind....

Cooooooooooooooool!!!!



I was very impressed with Blizzards design and artwork they went through to give this world its unique look and feeling. Maybe I was giving this game the wrong impression just because of the graphic quality all along.

After the DVD was done, I signed up and loaded the game. Hmmm, well the characters look like crap in comparison to EQ2, but not bad I guess. Well, I guess i'll make a lady mage, sexy and powerful, just how I like em.

After the intial tutorial, my first thought was I had entered a twilight zone. This looked and felt NOTHING like EQ2 in any shape or form. Ewwwww was my first thought. I can't possibly get to like this. I wandered around and basically like the worlds worst movie critic, I started griping about everything in comparison to EQ2 and how much it sucked.

Less then 10 mins later, I logged off, shut down the account and went back to EQ2, disgusted

Within half an hour I could already feel the stress and unrest in me as I played the game. I was getting shitty groups, poor xp or just dying alot from assholes in my group and thus, everyone gets to suffer. *By far my BIGGEST gripe with EQ2 was the shared debt system*

But why did I feel like I had to freaking obligate myself to EQ2? Why was I so obessed willing to sacrifice so much again to do this like I had with DAOC?

Thinking it over and a good nights sleep. I logged back into WoW and decided to try a night elf for variety. WOW!!! and I mean WOW, I was absolutely blown away by the sure beauty of the Night Elfs level. It was just so articiscally beautiful in every shape and form. It was so simple......yet soo pretty and elegant I just couldn't understand how something this plain yet mesmorizing could get my attention.

I then went into the video options and cranked everything to fully maxed to see what this engine could do. For the first time ever on my machine, I pushed the game to 1600x1200 8xAF, all settings full crank.

Wow, not bad, not bad at all. The lighting, though simple was elegant and beautiful. The textures, though simple, had a very fantasy based feeling and they fit the world. The ambient "dream" lighting added a very nice touch to the world. Not bad, I could get used to this. And the game ran SMOOTH, not once case of hiccups or slowdown, even at full crank. Something EQ2 sure as hell wasn't capable of.

I started doing a few noob quests and intialy the thoughts of "Blah, EQ2 did this better" Gripe, gripe, gripe" started to come again. However, I decided to give this game a fair chance and pressed on. Within a hour, I was having a ball, flipping over rocks, ponds, trees, hunting animals, collecting loot and getting XP faster then any MMORPG I had ever experience. Sheeesh, why was something so simple such a blast?

The music in the Night Elves world had a real calming effect on me. I immediatly realized that I WASN"T stressing out over leveling, I wasnt stressed out about trying to beat the anonomious elf next to me who was higher then I was and feeling jealous. But why?

I decided to go back to my mage lady and press on with a few more quests and start learning the interface better. I started learning the basics of the game and went and did some killing quests, getting XP fast and easy. Exploring was a total sinch, I DID NOT feel stressed out worrying about where I was and where I was going. I just simply threw up the world map and I could see myself as a little blue dot that actually MOVED if I moved as well. Well thats really cool! The zone changes were TOTALLY load free. It was completly seemless, nothing to distract from the gameplay at all. Nice touch Blizzard.

The world itself seemed just very forgiving and relaxing. I didn't feel this extreme desire to spend my entire night off of work to make my character level or seek out this piece of armor so I can feel loot in front of everyone else.

Then the coolest thing happend that cemented EQ2's death. I was cruising around the noob land learning the NPC's locations when I noticed movement behind me. I turned around and saw this HUGE group of Orcs and Tauren running the path way directly to a group of people.

At first, I was confused as I didn't choose a PvP server, what the hell was the Horde doing here? Before I could even answer the question, a HUGE battle erupted outa no where. Spells and magic bolts flew from all directions. Arrows and druids came flying into the battle, screaming battle shouts and spells.

I immediatly jumped into the fray and started launching fire bolts at the nearest Orc. Even though I was only level 3, I didn't give a damn, I wasn't gonna let this opportunity run me by! Right before my eyes, my single little shots make him take damage and he charged right for me and with one wack, I was dead.

Collecting my thoughts, I immediatly rushed my ghost back to the battle, rezzed myself and went RIGHT back into the frey! Wow!!!!! This was insane!! We ultimately won the battle and people were cheering and dancing with emotes and built in speech commands. LOL, it was hilarous! I did not once have this much fun playing EQ2 in my past weeks!

Amazingly, I now play WoW instead of EQ2. I no longer have this stressful feeling of obligation that I did when I played EQ2. Instead, I can just log on when I feel like, jump into the game, make some levels, enhance my character, learn the game and just have a fun time with no strings attached! I look so forward to getting higher levels so I can join raids and do battles against the Horde in the future, but for the first time since my DAOC days, that will come whenever it comes, I no longer have to sacrifice my real life for a virtual life.


Thanks Blizzard, you've made me a believer.

That's a good story man, glad to hear it ;D. WoW is turning out to be a blast to play so far for me as well .

Very very nice IceWind, I read the whole thing. I've never played EQ, nor EQ2, but I do know that WoW is an amazing game. I played in both stress tests and the open beta. I'm glad now that I did because it made getting started so much easier. Regardless the PvP element of this game is awesome, I can see why the people playing on the Role Playing servers are so desperrate for one with PvP on it. It is simply breathtaking when you are with a group of 40 people, and you just see rednames beginning to appear and soon realize that you are completly surrounded and most people are several levels above you. In that moment you simply click and cast... Mages use AoE spells, all the rogues instantly disapear to go backstab/gouge and ambush, Hunters send their pets ahead and send a volley of arrows, palidins either stay back and heal or run in and enter the fray, priests heal and cast medium damage spells and warriors do what they can with their huge 2 handed weapons.

I give this game 9.9/10 and the .1 off is only for the lag and downtime.

What is a mount?

Thanks for the post Icewind.My time was spent in EQ1 but your story is eerily similar to mine.

Hurley_2002 said:

What is a mount?

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A horse or other creature you can ride.

Bennyb said:

raves about WoW]

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you're on the kil jaeden server aren't ya? i was playing a few hours ago when ALLIANCE RUSH IN THE BARRENS WEST OF CROSSROADS GOGOGOGO came on the chat. soon followed by dozens of characters rumbling out west to do some battle. the lag is a lil killer... at the moment... but only one evening was lost to it.

i've already said my goodbyes to a normal lfie for the next couple of months, WoW i love thee.

my only gripe on the game is this, you think you can just move on and quest and never run into a hiccup, but soon you find that you're going back over places where you've been already getting quests done. but that's okay. i didn't know a rogue was meant as a stealth fighter... i've been mostly tanking it the whole time teehee.

Hmm interesting. How about character customizations? Is it very common to run into ppl using the same exact models or is there enough variety to make sure no 2 ppl look exactly the same?

After Ice's post I'm actually considering this (should prolly finish with hl2 first though). Sux that warriors are crap.... melee builds are usually my fav

nice post, ive been considering this game. I'm almost to the point of going and picking it up

HRslammR said:

you're on the kil jaeden server aren't ya? i was playing a few hours ago when ALLIANCE RUSH IN THE BARRENS WEST OF CROSSROADS GOGOGOGO came on the chat. soon followed by dozens of characters rumbling out west to do some battle. the lag is a lil killer... at the moment... but only one evening was lost to it.

i've already said my goodbyes to a normal lfie for the next couple of months, WoW i love thee.

my only gripe on the game is this, you think you can just move on and quest and never run into a hiccup, but soon you find that you're going back over places where you've been already getting quests done. but that's okay. i didn't know a rogue was meant as a stealth fighter... i've been mostly tanking it the whole time teehee.

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Haha, no... That story was from the beta. I'm on Bleeding Hollow. I kind of want to reach 30 before I go venturing out.

So is the first month free on any version of WOW or just the CE version?

Damn IceWind, you make me want to tank up and go out and get the CE version.

I'm going to have to get WoW soon.

other than the server downtimes, im very happy with WoW.
Ive enjoyed both soloing and grouping.
Ive enjoyed just exploring the huge world (i accidently got on the wrong blimp @ orgrimar and endedup WAY off where I wanted to be)
Some people dont like the graphics...I like just fine. As long as they are decent im more about gameplay anyways.

Im looking forward to see how Blizzard adds on in the future. Permament housing would be nice, but have no idea how they would do it...

I played both EQ2 and WoW and liked both. WoW just seems to simplified and watereddown for the idiots. I will probably be picking up WoW in a month or so to play it aswell.