WoW or EQ2...there can only be one

[Boneycat]

Ok I am not familiar with either. The only MMPOG I have played is SWG, which I stopped playing a few months ago. Most people that were in my Guild are quitting to play EQ2. Now I've heard really good things about WoW. So I would like an insight to each game for you that have played WoW and the original EQ. I can only concentrate on one of these games at a time and I understand that EQ2 won't be out until Thanksgiving or so. So what's the verdict: EQ2 or WoW?

Oh and one last thing. I'd like to know how video intensive these games are. I want to be able to play it on my cheap Toshiba laptop which has the following specs: 2.0 celly, 512 2100 ram, intergrated vid ram intel chipset. Buying another laptop just to be able to play one of these games is not an option. Thanks for any and all input.

[Gar]

I think it depends on what type of gamer you are, a hardcore MMORPG'er or more laid back. From my experiences, EQ was more geared toward hardcore grinders and the such, I haven't played EQ2 yet, so Im not sure if the sequal is the same.

I have played WoW, and its definately a game a casual player can enjoy more IMO. Also WoW is not that taxing on systems it seems, mine ran the game great and its by no means top of the line..I have a 9500Pro, 2700+, and 1 GB of RAM.

[Kyrgizion]

Let me answer your question with a simple equation, although somewhat biased:

Blizzard > Microsoft.

[Chompman]

Well I would suggest that you try each during the open beta time to see waht you will like playing better.

As for me I have just tested WoW and really did enjoy it.

The original EQ was alot of fun but like it was said before it tends to be more of a grind (not sure how EQ2 will be) and time consuming game.

Just kinda want to stay away from EQ2 since EQ1 sucked my life away so fast :P

Even though the original EQ had the best character you could be... a female dwarf with a beard :D

[OpStar]

Originally posted by Kyrgizion
Let me answer your question with a simple equation, although somewhat biased:

Blizzard > Microsoft.

Well since Microsoft doesn't make either, I guess that's good.

[OpStar]

I've played both.

That said:

WoW - PvP, more EQLive style, lots of quests, cartoony graphics, bug free. CAN NOT speak to warring races, period. Way to easy to level, imho.

EQ2 - Gorgeous graphics, voice for npcs. PvE NOT PvP. This game is geared around a smaller group of players (6) one from each archetype, but soloing is an option. Not near as bad of a timesink/grind as EQLive. I love the "lock" function that prevents kill stealing.

All in all its up to you. WoW is basically a EQLive clone in the Blizzard universe that offers PvP.

EQ2 is a totally different kind of thing and it isn't even really similiar to EQLive that much.

I'm coming from SWG also (it was my first MMO) and I'll be playing EQ2 on launch day :)

[Boneycat]

Originally posted by OpStar
Well since Microsoft doesn't make either, I guess that's good.
Yea I have absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean.

[Boneycat]

Originally posted by OpStar
I've played both.

That said:

WoW - PvP, more EQLive style, lots of quests, cartoony graphics, bug free. CAN NOT speak to warring races, period. Way to easy to level, imho.

EQ2 - Gorgeous graphics, voice for npcs. PvE NOT PvP. This game is geared around a smaller group of players (6) one from each archetype, but soloing is an option. Not near as bad of a timesink/grind as EQLive. I love the "lock" function that prevents kill stealing.

All in all its up to you. WoW is basically a EQLive clone in the Blizzard universe that offers PvP.

EQ2 is a totally different kind of thing and it isn't even really similiar to EQLive that much.

I'm coming from SWG also (it was my first MMO) and I'll be playing EQ2 on launch day :)

Hey Op, thanks for the insight. With that said I will try EQ2 over WoW. I'm kinda of sick of the pvp, which was one of the things that annoyed me in SWG...some people would tweak their stats and stuff to make themselves super effienct player killers. To me that kinda ruined the game. If I want PVP I'd just as well reinstall UT2k4 and just frag. Thanks again.

[OpStar]

Yeah, I'm the same way.

I was in a die hard PvP Imperial guild and it just gets old. Plus there are so many balance issues inherent with PvP, and it was apparant to me that devs have a hard time implementing balances that actually work.

[Adisharr]

Originally posted by Boneycat
Yea I have absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Someone posted "Blizzard > Microsoft" and OpStar is pointing out that Microsoft has nothing to do with either game.

[Boneycat]

Originally posted by Adisharr
Someone posted "Blizzard > Microsoft" and OpStar is pointing out that Microsoft has nothing to do with either game.

I realize that. I too was pointing out that I had no idea what the original poster was trying to say.

[Gar]

Originally posted by OpStar
I've played both.

That said:

WoW - PvP, more EQLive style, lots of quests, cartoony graphics, bug free. CAN NOT speak to warring races, period. Way to easy to level, imho.

EQ2 - Gorgeous graphics, voice for npcs. PvE NOT PvP. This game is geared around a smaller group of players (6) one from each archetype, but soloing is an option. Not near as bad of a timesink/grind as EQLive. I love the "lock" function that prevents kill stealing.

All in all its up to you. WoW is basically a EQLive clone in the Blizzard universe that offers PvP.

EQ2 is a totally different kind of thing and it isn't even really similiar to EQLive that much.

I'm coming from SWG also (it was my first MMO) and I'll be playing EQ2 on launch day :)

Blizzard has said that they agree leveling is too fast in WoW (I agree as well) and they are working on a good way to fix it.

Also you can speak to the opposing faction..assuming you are Undead ;)

I wish I could of gotten into EQ2 beta, cuz I would like to play both games just so I could accurately compare them..and I won't be buying both at launch because I have tried to play 2 MMORPG's before at the same time and it just doesn't work for me.

Plus all my friends from past MMORPG's are going to WoW..so thats where I'll end up :D

[Kyrgizion]

Whoa, uhh... that was one of my worst brainfarts to date. Of course, it had to be "Blizzard > Sony" (or SOE if you're a nitpicker). I haven't exactly forgotten what they did to SWG during the last credit duping spree.

[Chompman]

PvP in WoW will be like they had it in EQ for the most part where it's on always on only certain servers.

Most will be PvE servers so PvP won't be a big issue.

Except for when you go on raids to the other towns and they flag you for PvP for a time once you attack the npc's but that imho helps since no more guard squatting like in EQ so newbs can't run to where they used to be only to die by "A Giant Rat" since high levels have killed them all :D

[njdevs95]

I like how Wow is gonna have pvp. Instanced battlegrounds where you are flagged for pvp when you enter, arena's where you can duel members of your own faction or anyone else you want, you get flagged for pvp when you attack an npc or try to enter an enemy faction city. Of course that's on the pve servers since pvp will be 24/7 flagged. You can also use a command to flag yourself for pvp on the pve server if you want and it resets after 5 minutes of no combat. I loved the stress test beta except I didn't want it to end. It will probably be the first game I've ever went to the store to buy first day it's out, usually I pick a game up when I feel like it but this one will be had first day. Also they changed it now so that undead can't speak to alliance so the sides can't communicate now, though I have a feeling you'll be able to learn the languages since they were listed under talents during the stress test. Add in special rewards for doing well in pvp and hero classes and it should be fun for a good long time. I've also heard mention of destroyable buildings in the instanced battlegrounds but haven't seen any official word from blizzard on that yet.

[ironchefboyardee]

For me one of the biggest issues is that Blizzard is known for one thing: POLISH. Whether one actually likes the game is fairly immaterial... WoW has less bugs and more features (content) than SWG, right here, right now... and it's still in beta.

With EQ2, you have to be dependant on SOE for your customer service needs, which for me is almost reason enough to avoid it right there. Look how that company treated it's customers in EQ, then SWG... not what I'd call anything remotely resembling a good track record.

Now, I have only played WoW up to this point, but I've played EQ1... and I don't see that any of the changes to EQ2 is more than "it's prettier and has voice for everything"... I dunno. I guess you can't go wrong either way, but for me the choice is pretty easy, WoW all the way.

[Slirp]

EQ2 is definately a huge improvement from EQ1. Not that the grind is gone or anything but there's so much more content now.

Some of the group bonus/penalties they've put in will really change the dynamics of the game.

All in all, I'll be buying it the day it comes up, shortly followed by the call to my boss "*cough* *cough* I'm sick, not going to be today *cough*"

[XJ]

Originally posted by Gar
Also you can speak to the opposing faction..assuming you are Undead ;)


I thought you could do that with any race the only race i remember checking it with was night elves though ,but there is an option to choose your language common or whatever the elf speak was. I thought if you chose common you could talk to the opposing faction and talking elf let you talk encrypted (but still seemed to allow dwarvs and other allies to hear you).

It was amusing whenever we raided the orcs or vice versa you would just see grunting in the chat for them.

[Gar]

Now that you mention it, I remember seeing something like that as well about the common language.

Never really messed with it much though, I just know as a Tauren all I did was moo at any alliance people I came across :p

[njdevs95]

Undead used to be able to speak common but can't any longer. The now speak undead and another language I believe called gutterspeak or something like that, I believe it's kinda like alliance common. I'm still guessing you'll be able to learn the other faction languages though since they have the languages listed under the skills section of the character screens.

[nintendonick]

I dunno, I haven't done my studies too much...but it sure seems that WoW is going the EQ1 route. I saw my friend play the beta today for EQ2 and it sure seems they have appeared for more of the casual gamer. And WoW seems more for the hardcore lets get addicted for five years. I'm sorry after seeing my friend not having a life for four years, I'd rather pick the casual side. I dunno, if someone can give me more info beside PvP, I'd be very appreciative. EQ2 has seemed to fix all of the things that made EQ2 addictive and improved more on the story, graphics, soundtrack, and GAMEPLAY. Thanks.

I only lost one year of my life to EQ1 and its good to know that it appeals to both hardcore (when you want it to be) and casual gamers alike. Thanks EQ2.

Btw, what I loved about the game was the graphics for the future. When we set the graphics to extreme, it said even "on the high end machines, it won't be playable, it doesn't exist." It shows that they are looking out for the future. Thats way more improvement because in EQ1, they would update, but they graphics would slow down. The graphics for this game won't be playable for at least a year if not two on a normal or high machine. They ARE definately looking out for the future and less patches. The graphics were simply BREATHTAKING on extreme! More than WoW that I have seen so far. Hell, on anything.

[njdevs95]

Well the WoW site has something saying open beta sign ups coming soon so release probably isn't more than a month to a month and a half away by most estimates.

[OpStar]

EQ2's release is "before the end of 2004". So I expect it sometime around the second week of December at the latest.

[Nalar]

Originally posted by njdevs95
Undead used to be able to speak common but can't any longer. The now speak undead and another language I believe called gutterspeak or something like that, I believe it's kinda like alliance common. I'm still guessing you'll be able to learn the other faction languages though since they have the languages listed under the skills section of the character screens.

I believe Orcish is the 'common' for the Horde, and the undead also speak Gutterspeak.

You will be able to learn other faction languages eventually, but I never got far enough in the beta to discover how.

The last couple patches in the closed beta have been mostly graphics polish, character content (voices), balancing, and finally bringing in talents for nearly all classes. They're definitely aiming for a mid-November release, but you could have figured that out from the patch contents of late. Open Beta announcement will likely be posted on the site this coming Monday, Oct. 11th, with applications being taken that week.

[AMAZING LARRY]

It's possible to learn the other factions language. factions being Horde or Alliance. You're unable to speak to the opposing faction unless you learn their language. It's one of the skills or something.

[Trepidati0n]

EQ was a horrible horrible timesink :eek: I retired my ranger and realized that what I originally loved about EQ was long dead. The problem with EQ1 is that the content kept going higher and higher while killing off the new peeps. During the last few months I played...the old world was DEAD (less than a few peeps per zone) and even new lower level zones were DEAD because of power leveling. The game turned into a vacuum of level 55+ chars and lots of bickering in a power struggle to be on top. The last fight I watched was with 60 peeps in a clan locked in a 1 hour long fight with '1' mob. If anybody ever played EQ at the high level you learned that 'boss' fights weren't tought because they were hard...they were tough because of people going link dead. I releaized I couldn't time sink that much...some of the guilds were playing at 6+ hours every day (required or be kicked) just to maintain their power level. The bosses were growing exponentially stronger and thus forcing guilds to play exponentially longer to see end game content. NOT COOL.

What does this tell me between EQ2 and WoW...both will be fun again! Why, because it will all be new and quite a few of the peeps will be new as well. So those days of exploring and dieing because you did something stupid will be back again...and that is what made it fun. So find game your friends are gravitating towards and join them and play :cool:

The one thing that both EQ2 and WoW did not implement was "scaled" instancing where groups could determine how hard an instanced area would be and the "loot" associated would be scaled according to the difficulty. That way even end game areas are open to lower levels...they just may not get the "phat" stuff from it.

-tReP

[pwalker1]

Well just to throw my opinion in the mix WOW and EQ2 have nothing on FFXI. FFXI has to the best MMORPG bar none. Graphics game play are top notch. Very time consuming though. WOW is definitly geared more twords the moderate players as they have made it very easy to level your char, but they did it on purpose hoping poeple will level multiple chars and up their monthly fees, But blizzard makes good games and no one can deny them that. EQ2 I just dont have anything nice to say about it so ill keep my comments to myself.

[OpStar]

FFXI is one of the worst MMOs evar.

[spamjedi]

Originally posted by pwalker1
WOW is definitly geared more twords the moderate players as they have made it very easy to level your char, but they did it on purpose hoping poeple will level multiple chars and up their monthly fees You pay per character:confused:

[Gar]

Originally posted by OpStar
FFXI is one of the worst MMOs evar.

I don't know about that, Shadowbane might give it a run for its money :p

FFXI was pretty crappy though IMO, it wont even hold a candle to WoW or EQ2.

[Gar]

Originally posted by spamjedi
You pay per character:confused:

No, you pay per account, but it hasn't been announced yet how many characters you can have per account, but I will guarantee it will be more than 1.

Regardless there are still a ton of people that will buy multiple accounts, one main reason is so they can dual log and gain XP for each character at the same time.

Another reason is for trading items, although this won't be as important in WoW, considering the sweet mail system they have set up already.

[njdevs95]

I've read WoW will allow at least 8 charcters per account but they may decide to allow more.

[OpStar]

Its all about double boxing.

[Boneycat]

Originally posted by OpStar
Its all about double boxing.

double boxing?:confused: is that kinda like double D's (oops, got off topic there)

[OpStar]

Nah, playing two accounts at once.

I used to do that on SWG all the time.

[Boneycat]

but didn't you have to buy two games to be able to play two accounts? or could you just buy a second account. if so how many accounts are you able to buy off of just one box?

[Gar]

Originally posted by Boneycat
but didn't you have to buy two games to be able to play two accounts? or could you just buy a second account. if so how many accounts are you able to buy off of just one box?

Most all of the MMORPG's I have bought, you can have as many accounts as you want with only buying 1 copy of the game.

With most MMORPG's you don't need the CD in the drive to play, so you can be running multiple accounts at the same time..they do it on purpose that way so the hardcore gamers can be payin for 2 accounts instead of 1 ;)

[OpStar]

Originally posted by Boneycat
but didn't you have to buy two games to be able to play two accounts? or could you just buy a second account. if so how many accounts are you able to buy off of just one box?

SWG is the only one I now of you can only have one toon per server so you have to pay for each additional, and they don't sell just cd keys :(

My first two copies I bought, and when my roommate quit I took over his two, so I had four total, all on Bria. So I was paying 45 a month for awhile to play SWG.

Plus, I unlocked so I had my jedi, so I guess technically five.

Most times I'd grind my jedi and have a bh alt watch the terms.

Or I'd craft and grind, etc and so on.

I couldn't imagine playing only one toon, that'd be crazy.

[pwalker1]

Originally posted by OpStar
FFXI is one of the worst MMOs evar.
You apperently have no clue what makes a good online roleplaying game.

[OpStar]

Originally posted by pwalker1
You apperently have no clue what makes a good online roleplaying game.

That's your opinion. I've played a lot of MMO's, have you?

FFXI's main problem is it control scheme, but there are a lot more, including the fact that its boring.

I'm glad you enjoy it, but please don't try to put it in leauge with EQ2 or WoW.

[Gar]

Originally posted by OpStar
That's your opinion. I've played a lot of MMO's, have you?

FFXI's main problem is it control scheme, but there are a lot more, including the fact that its boring.

I'm glad you enjoy it, but please don't try to put it in leauge with EQ2 or WoW.

Couldn't agree more, there is nothing wrong with liking FFXI...but its far from a polished game.

[AMAZING LARRY]

Originally posted by Gar
Couldn't agree more, there is nothing wrong with liking FFXI...but its far from a polished game.

Seriously... and their customer support is sorely lacking. A good friend of mine had endless problems with them.

They put his account on hold because his card was overdrawn and obviously he couldn't pay that month (makes sense) but they NEVER notified him about it, and when he found out a few months later when he decided to play again they told him he needed to purchase an entirely NEW copy of the game as the old CDKey would no longer be valid. :eek: Let me tell you, he wasn't too happy.

[njdevs95]

Double boxing is the most retarded thing I can think of to spend money on. It's a MMORPG join a freakin group for gods sake. IMO double boxers are just greedy bastages who don't wanna have to split loot unless they are forced to. I mean WoW already allows you to level fairly quickly there is so need to bring along your own personal priest.

[Gar]

Originally posted by njdevs95
Double boxing is the most retarded thing I can think of to spend money on. It's a MMORPG join a freakin group for gods sake. IMO double boxers are just greedy bastages who don't wanna have to split loot unless they are forced to. I mean WoW already allows you to level fairly quickly there is so need to bring along your own personal priest.

I would never do it myself, but I see no problem with others doing it. Heck its their money, if thats how they want to spend it more power to them :)

The only problem I have ever had with it is when someone dual logs and joins my group and I don't know about it at first, and find out later he is only paying attention to one toon and has the other set on /follow and is just leeching XP...

[OpStar]

Originally posted by njdevs95
Double boxing is the most retarded thing I can think of to spend money on. It's a MMORPG join a freakin group for gods sake. IMO double boxers are just greedy bastages who don't wanna have to split loot unless they are forced to. I mean WoW already allows you to level fairly quickly there is so need to bring along your own personal priest.

People have their hobbies, and MMO's are mine, its what I enjoy.

Some of my friends drink (I don't) some smoke (I don't) some have other expensive hobbies (my car and my computers are about my only ones).

So to me 30 or 45 a month for a video game is nothing, especially not for the hours of enjoyment I get playing them.

Normally I double boxed because I had two computers anyways and I hated losing xp/skillboxes when my jedi died.

I'll probably double box EQ2 also, at least for awhile because my roommate will be overseas for six months and that way I won't have to wait around and wait on groups.

To each their own though.

[Boneycat]

I like the idea of double boxing. I may consider doing that w/ eq2. How's the beta btw op?

[OpStar]

I like it a lot, loads of content, beautiful graphics, etc and so on.

You will not be disappointed.

[Boneycat]

so is it november yet?

[BremenCulhaven]

Originally posted by OpStar
People have their hobbies, and MMO's are mine, its what I enjoy.

Some of my friends drink (I don't) some smoke (I don't) some have other expensive hobbies (my car and my computers are about my only ones).

So to me 30 or 45 a month for a video game is nothing, especially not for the hours of enjoyment I get playing them.

Normally I double boxed because I had two computers anyways and I hated losing xp/skillboxes when my jedi died.

I'll probably double box EQ2 also, at least for awhile because my roommate will be overseas for six months and that way I won't have to wait around and wait on groups.

To each their own though.

Typically double boxing is lame, why? Because many that do it are greedy farmers. It also detracts from the realness of the game, by one person having two personalities at one time. Not to mention the social aspect of the game that is what a MMORPG is after all and boxers I guess are introverts that only like to play with themselves...sigh...

[Boneycat]

wow, i was under the impression that introverts wouldn't even play mmorpg's much less be on the web w/ others period.

[OpStar]

LoL a mmo'er complaining about someone playing a game all the time.

Oh well, luckily its my 15 a month, so I can play how I want. ;)

[pwalker1]

Originally posted by OpStar
That's your opinion. I've played a lot of MMO's, have you?

FFXI's main problem is it control scheme, but there are a lot more, including the fact that its boring.

I'm glad you enjoy it, but please don't try to put it in leauge with EQ2 or WoW.

To your question I've started playing MMO's when they were still MUD's that were on BBS's, maybe that just makes me old?!? As for the controls they are highly customizable and make gameplay very smooth once you learn them. The content is abolutly endless, they are constantly updating and adding stuff. The graphics are top notch. The customer service is fine the post about having to buy a new cd is BS they will delete inactive chars after 3months but he would not need a new CD Key. Boring?!? Any MMO is only as fun as the person playing it. I do enjoy the game as do many other people look at the numbers, and I would never put in the same leauge as EQ or WOW it belongs in the pros and those games are the minor leauge. I do have some loyalty to Square they have put out some of the best RPG games out there to date I enjoy the storyline and gameplay. Blizzard Has my money everytime they make a game starcraft and warcraft are in a class of their own for RTS games WOW is W3 zoomed in and if you enjoy W3 then you would probably like WOW I will play it. SOE Well I played all of their games at one point in time but planetside was the worst it was a great game but the online code had way to many problems and SOE really did nothing to try and fix it. So yes that is my opinion for whatever its worth.

[OpStar]

HAHAHAHAHA.

EQ is the minor leagues?

In MMO's you have three great franchises:

Lineage, EverQuest and Ultima Online.

Lineage = MILLIONS of people play it.

EverQuest = 5+ years

Ultima Online = The original

I'm sorry, but FFXI doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with those three franchises.

[Gar]

Opstar hit the nail on the head pretty much.

Although me personally, I wouldn't rank Lineage up there with EQ and UO. Sure its got a ton of subscribers, but you take away all the people that play it in computer cafes over in Korea and that takes a huge chunk of the population away.

I imagine if every cafe in the US offerend the chance to play WoW or EQ2 the server pops would be huge as well ;)

[OpStar]

True, but based on number of players it at least deserves a mention :)

[T100]

Originally posted by BremenCulhaven
Typically double boxing is lame, why? Because many that do it are greedy farmers. It also detracts from the realness of the game, by one person having two personalities at one time. Not to mention the social aspect of the game that is what a MMORPG is after all and boxers I guess are introverts that only like to play with themselves...sigh...

I duel boxed in eq for a bit mainly because I did not want to spend over an hour looking for a group every night. It was much easier to get my cleric and warrior and go get some exp that way. (edit: I should mention that getting a group for the cleric actually usually took like 5 minutes hehe, but i wanted to play my warrior mainly) I usually would put one or both on lfg (looking for group) and when i got a tell for a group i would log one out and join the group. Also when I played with friends and if we were short a healer or a tank (the person who gets beat on by the mob), I would duel box then too. (when you play the tank and healer you better be paying attention all the time! hehe) I got burnt out of duel boxing after a while though and decided to just stick with one char. But there were some people who duel boxed just to pl one of their chars up etc and some people that were lame too.

Epecially some people who had like 6+ accounts and made their own group and stuck with themselves, which I thought was really odd considering it kinda ruined the point of playing an online game

[T100]

Originally posted by Boneycat
Oh and one last thing. I'd like to know how video intensive these games are. I want to be able to play it on my cheap Toshiba laptop which has the following specs: 2.0 celly, 512 2100 ram, intergrated vid ram intel chipset. Buying another laptop just to be able to play one of these games is not an option. Thanks for any and all input.

EQ2 is very graphic intensive actually. Check to make sure that your graphics card is supported or else you might not be able to play the game. (Quite a few graphics cards on laptops arent)

[Sharkyfan22]

WoW for me.. I love the warcraft universe. EQ2 is decent but needs alot more work than what I seen.

[Paladyr]

alright can we go a little more in depth here with the comparison??? I'm trying to decide between the two and since I aven't really seen much of either I have no idea what to go with.

I'm a casual gamer, and the main reason I play these MMORPG is to hunt in groups and play online with friends. I'm not into the grind AT ALL. I'd rather go out and do a bunch of adventures designed for my x level character, and when I get better, go to other quests designed for my x +1 level character.

[OpStar]

Originally posted by Paladyr
alright can we go a little more in depth here with the comparison??? I'm trying to decide between the two and since I aven't really seen much of either I have no idea what to go with.

I'm a casual gamer, and the main reason I play these MMORPG is to hunt in groups and play online with friends. I'm not into the grind AT ALL. I'd rather go out and do a bunch of adventures designed for my x level character, and when I get better, go to other quests designed for my x +1 level character.

EQ2 is absolutely like that. You described the gameplay to a T.

[njdevs95]

Originally posted by Paladyr
alright can we go a little more in depth here with the comparison??? I'm trying to decide between the two and since I aven't really seen much of either I have no idea what to go with.

I'm a casual gamer, and the main reason I play these MMORPG is to hunt in groups and play online with friends. I'm not into the grind AT ALL. I'd rather go out and do a bunch of adventures designed for my x level character, and when I get better, go to other quests designed for my x +1 level character.

WoW is alot more solo oriented. You can solo most things you really only need to group up for instances and perhaps a few quests, most are doable solo though depending on your level. At the level cap you'll see alot more grouping though since you'll be doing alot of pvp (optional but will have rewards for doing it), raid content and instances for dungeons. The leveling rate imo is very good for a casual player but could be considered fast if you plan to play 24/7. The first level 60 char on beta 2 was hit about 2 and a half weeks after the server went up. A casual player will probably take 4-6 months if they average 10-15 hours per week since they won't be grinding most likely like the hard core power gamers. I hit level 32 in the stress test because I played alot to get it in while I could and I believe I only had to grind 17-18 and 31-32 since I didn't want to travel for quests my level and needed a level 32 weapon upgrade to be able to do some quests I had waiting for me in the area I was at. The big gripe people who like to group have is that you level faster solo in most cases because when you group the xp gets split between you so you kill a bit faster but lose out on some xp when your grouped. 2 people you get half xp each, 3 people you get 1/3 xp each etc, 5 man groups are the biggest you can get for xp. There are raid groups but the xp is only split between your group for any mobs your group kills. Anyway hope this helped a little.

[Paladyr]

Originally posted by OpStar
EQ2 is absolutely like that. You described the gameplay to a T.

Thanks OP! Looks like we'll be getting EQ2!!!! I can't wait :). Is there an official release date?

[OpStar]

Originally posted by Paladyr
Thanks OP! Looks like we'll be getting EQ2!!!! I can't wait :). Is there an official release date?

Ships November 8th, in stores the 9th.

I'm hoping the Sharks mostly agree on the same server, it'd be cool to play together, especially in the early levels.

[Boneycat]

Originally posted by OpStar
Ships November 8th, in stores the 9th.

I'm hoping the Sharks mostly agree on the same server, it'd be cool to play together, especially in the early levels.

For sure! When the game finally comes out, everyone should post what servers they're on.

[Chompman]

Sounds like wow open beta is coming soon (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/) :D

[Gar]

Actually its another Stress Test...I wouldn't count on that being the same as Open Beta, unless everyone that applies gets in. (The last Stress Test, not everyone got in).

Also I wander if the will go straight to retail after this Stress Test, or announce an Official Open Beta...I guess time will tell.

[OpStar]

Originally posted by Gar
Actually its another Stress Test...I wouldn't count on that being the same as Open Beta, unless everyone that applies gets in. (The last Stress Test, not everyone got in).

Also I wander if the will go straight to retail after this Stress Test, or announce an Official Open Beta...I guess time will tell.

I think they are going to forgo the open beta and put in another stress like what we are doing in EQ2 right now to get it ready for retail, so they can release faster since EQ2 got the jump on them.

At least that's what they'd do if they were smart.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by OpStar
I think they are going to forgo the open beta and put in another stress like what we are doing in EQ2 right now to get it ready for retail, so they can release faster since EQ2 got the jump on them.

At least that's what they'd do if they were smart.

Why would they want to release it before it is ready like EQ 2 will be and get so many complaints for it not being ready?

[Boneycat]

Originally posted by Chompman
Why would they want to release it before it is ready like EQ 2 will be and get so many complaints for it not being ready?

Because they are banking on that people will still pay to play, and I have a feeling they are right. The delays hurt them as well. Everyday that they are not up and ready cost them money. So they are willing to take the gamble.

[OpStar]

Originally posted by Chompman
Why would they want to release it before it is ready like EQ 2 will be and get so many complaints for it not being ready?

EQ2 is far from not being ready.

What you have to consider is that in MMOs they are ever changing and they are never really finished.

Right now (as of yesterday's patches and the hotfixes) EQ2 is VERY playable.

All the core systems are in place, the crashes are down to a minimum.

So in the end for launch all you can hope for is stable servers and getting all the small crashes to a minimum, which is where EQ2 is now.

The class balances and other issues can be addressed as the game progresses.

Right now EQ2 is at least as stable as SWG is, less laggy, has more content and is very immersive and easy to pick up and play.

Waiting would do nothing but hurt them.

[ImaNihilist]

I guess I just like the idea of PvP in WoW.

[OpStar]

I used to like PvP but SWG really soured me on it.

It has the worst PvP system ever.

[Gar]

Originally posted by OpStar
I used to like PvP but SWG really soured me on it.

It has the worst PvP system ever.

PvP is only fun if its implemented right, if its not then it can really do more harm than good, IMO.

I think WoW's system is headed in the right direction, with the honor system. That should cut down on alot of griefing and ganking, will be interesting to see how it plays out, I haven't really experienced anything like this new honor system before.

[Trepidati0n]

You would be suprised how many people PK just for kicks :( I quit D2 primarily becaus if I didn't play with my guild I really had to be worried about being PK'd or corpse bugged.

-tReP