I have been reading a lot of posts about City of Heroes (CoH) vs. EverQuest (EQ), but I would like to give my take on this debate, and hopefully bring to light some facts.
Start Up
The CoH patcher is very fast. I can get from clicking my desktop to enter world in about one minute, where EQ’s patcher takes about five to do the same thing. I am not sure why this is so, but it makes jumping into CoH for a short session easy. For EQ, that is much more difficult.
The CoH Character creation system has received a lot of attention in online posts. Mostly about how much better it is then EQ’s. This is unfair. The EQ character creation actually allows slightly more character personalization.
1) CoH, with one exception, does not allow players to modify eye color. EQ players can select the eye color of their characters.
2) CoH has base ten face options to EQ’s eight. But, EQ also has fifteen different races, each with eight unique faces.
3) EQ does allow hair style options, but only two or three per race and gender. CoH allows 19 different styles for the male, and 32 for the female. Also, the CoH color palate is much broader, and allows the player to select both a major and minor color.
4) “Costume” for EQ comes from both acquired gear and, more recently, the option to dye equipment locations. This is changeable, and indeed does change as the character’s equipment changes. The sameness that everyone has in their appearance comes from the fact that everyone wants the same equipment
5) There are some striking limitations to the CoH costume creation though. Any costume element that includes costume and skin cannot be patterned (it can be colored, but only one for costume and one for skin tone). Also, while male characters can put patterns directly on their skin, but female characters cannot.
6) For real character customization, check out Star Wars Galaxies. And then hook up with a skilled tailor for a dizzying array of costume options.
While each of the five “races” (called origin types) of CoH are supposed to have different storylines, only two Science and Technology actually seem to do so. The other three, Mutant, Magic, and Natural, appear unfinished as they do not have much of a pattern. Each of the fifteen EQ cities has several quests that are related to that race, class, and/or local (though some, like Qeynos, are richer then others.)
I haven’t played each of the five classes (Blaster, Controller, Defender, Scrapper, and Tanker) enough to have a good judge of relative balance.
Playing
One of the major advantages I have found with CoH is that getting into the game is very fast. It is possible to get on for a little as half an hour and still feel like you have gotten something done.
Related to this is the CoH's support of both solo and group play. Not just large groups either, as groups as small is two or three can be effective, yet challenged by their missions.
The quests in EQ have greater variety then CoH missions. EQ’s zones are much more varied on what can be found in Paragon City (CoH's world). Most CoH mission zones feature one type of opponent, where an LDoN will feature several different creatures within a single theme. Normal EQ dungeons have even more varied populations.
One issue I have heard raised about CoH is that the maps/mobs/missions will become repetitive. But after EQ's "exp grinding" and drop camping, I find it hard to gripe about CoH's missions.
Rewards
EQ is driven by Loot. CoH has almost none. This fits their respective genres very well. Heroes of a Fantasy novel are often motivated by treasure, and often keep and use looted items (the short sword "Sting" plays almost as much a role in Tolkien as does the Ring). Classic Superheroes tend to distain wealth, and while supervillains might be after money, neither the heroes nor villains of the comics tended to use captured equipment on a long term basis.
The lack of loot in CoH also greatly reduces the need for pre-adventure preparation, as there are no reagents or ammunition to buy. There is very little minutia to manage.
Conversely, some CoH players will miss the tradeskill/crafting elements of EQ.
The lack of a serious player economy is a HUGE advantage of the CoH. This really limits ninja looting, farming, and eBay (or more recently the Bazaar zone) which have been problems in EQ. For example, My Paladin cannot get the “Remove Curse” spell, as the creature that drops it is perpetually farmed by players who then sell that spell for 10,000 plat in the bazaar. (10,000 plat may not seem like much to some, but it is more then my Level 52 pally has ever had at one time.)
Lack of loot CoH also removes one of the elements that make EQ areas/dungeons distinct. Certain look will only drop in certain areas. Some EQ loot can act as a badge, announcing to others that a player has completed a particular quest or hunting in a specific dungeon. In CoH, it is all the same, no matter where the player is hunting.
Surprisingly, one of the best rewards that CoH has to offer has no tangible value. Often, when you rescue an NPC from thugs or villains, that character will run up and thank you. Trivial as that sounds, that can be a huge boost to a player's ego. So can villains threatening your hero by name, which gives the impression that your character is gaining a reputation for his crime fighting. EQ has nothing comparable to this.
Conclusions
Finally, some players have been griping about this recent "Guild Summit", claiming that only the concerns of the UBER players/guilds was heard. This is also untrue, as /GU cartoonist Woody Hearn did bring up many of the concerns of the casual EQ player to the EQ development staff (http://www.gucomics.com/news/summit_mp.php).
That said, I do feel that EQ has lost it way. The game has become much more focused on the high end, multi-group raid rather then the single hunting group. This trend started in Velious, but really accelerated in PoP and beyond (LDoN being a temporary reversal of this trend).
Just a few random thoughts . . .
Edited, Thu Jun 24 19:48:04 2004 by Hithui
Edited, Thu Jun 24 19:48:45 2004 by Hithui
- Forums
- EverQuest
- General Discussion
- EQ vs City Of Heroes
EQ vs City Of HeroesFollow
I've read a little about CoH and from what I've read it isn't as in depth as EQ and there are a few city zones which compare to LDoNs. Fighting in that game seems smiliar to doing LDoN after LDoN after LDoN in EQ. But the character generation is awsome, choosing your own superpowers rules. And having a sidekick is seems pretty cool too, some newbie you can take under your wing. But I doubt I would buy the game since EQ takes up alot of my time already.
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Mostly about how much better it is then EQ’s. This is unfair.
EQ dyes don't begin to come close. If you take a EQ human in plate and I take a CoH human in plate, the options open to me for coloration far outweigh yours.
I agree that I was suprised not to be able to change eye color, but being able to choose a height between 4' and 8' and choose a body type > Eye color no one can see unless they're breathing directly into your mouth.
EQ has deeper gameplay, in my opinion, but is blown out of the water in character creation. But character creation is only a tiny fraction of the time you'll be spending with that character.
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
Just a couple (semi-joking) comments that I can't resist: ;)
Wow. What server are you on that the price for that spell is that high? Yes. The Big Mushroom is perma-camped, but because of that, the price for RC has dropped like a stone. It's hard to sell the thing for more then maybe 1500pp today. Part of that drop is also because you can get some lesser RC spells from LDoN for trivially low amounts of points, so there isn't nearly as much "must have this spell" factor going on as their used to be.
You've never seen a Death Touch. Have you...?
Ok. Got that out of my system. The two games are completely different. They are differnet genres, and they have different objectives. You are correct that the fantasy genre is much more about loot collection then the superhero genre. But that doesn't inherently make one better then the other. It's a matter of what you are in the mood for.
I've only just looked at CoH a bit (many of my friends have it and I'm actually really really tempted to buy it for myself). From what I've seen the variations possible in character creation (and advancement) are what make the game really fun. You actually kinda missed a whole section of the character differences (which is surprising if you're going to compare the two).
You can sorta decide that the origin types are races and the character types are classes (the relationship between a Natural scrapper and a wood elf druid is kind of similar). I think that's a bit class/race biased though. They really are different concepts. You point to the lack of "storyline" behind the natural, mutant, and magic origins as a flaw. You've got to remember that these are origins, just like in the comics. It's not a racial history. It's about what sort of thing generated your powers. Are you a mutant? Did you get your powers as the result of some sort of horrible lab experiment gone wrong? Or did you build yourself a super powered suit (presumably to prevent a shard of metal from penetrating your heart for some reason...). While functionally we can call them the same, from a storytelling point of view, they aren't.
All DEs are related in some way. They come from the same city and the same stock and share a common history. All heros who are mutants don't have to have anything else in commmon with eachother. I don't really see that as a flaw.
The section you totally missed is the power abilities. Based on the origin you've selected (where your powers come from), and the class you are (how your powers are oriented), you choose what type of powers you'll have as your primary and secondary powers (which are mostly different elemental types, but vary based on origin and class). Within those catagories for each of those areas, you then chose your powers (which really seem to be offensive and defensive, but there's some blending within the primary/secondary powers lists). As you gain levels, you get to select more powers from a broader list, and the powers get more, um... powerful along the way. So, while every wood-elf druid is more or less exactly the same, and will gain the exact same spells and the exact same skills, and even gain the exact same list of AA abilities, every Mutant-Blaster will not have the same powers. There's an absolutely huge amount of variation, and those variations aren't just: "This is another attack that does the same thing, but it looks like fire instead of water...". The environmental effects vary, but the specifics do as well. It's pretty sweet really.
EQ has nothing like that. Nothing even close. And that's not even talking about the bonus stuff you get (which is CoH's equivalent of loot). You get favors (I think that's what they are called? I forget). Some of them are spent as one use items that boost your abilities for a while. Others are put in power/ability slots and increase your existing abilities in some way (permanently I believe). You earn these along the way as you gain levels and complete missions.
The only problem I see in CoH is that it really doesn't have a very advanced end game. But then what new games does? EQ has it's raiding environment, but it took years for that to develop. When EQ first came out, there was nothing for anyone to do that required more then a single group. Naggy and Vox were added pretty early on (actually, I don't remember if they came in during beta or sometime in the first few months after release). It wasn't really until Velious that encounters were built that were truely designed as "raid encounters". Everything else was just tossing tougher mobs that required more people then a single group to beat. But they were placed in normal zones just like everything else.
CoH certainly has a lot of growing to do, but it's unfair to compare it to EQ just in terms of size and breadth. Of course, it doesn't have as much stuff. It hasn't had 5 years of expansions to grow. I'd say it's got at least as much fun potential as EQ did when it first came out. And it's really got a lot more flexibility for the players.
In the end, it really comes down to what sort of game you want to play. It's a lot easier to "be a hero" in CoH then in EQ. In EQ you start out so wimpy that everything can kill you, including shopkeepers and dogs. Only rats and bats are wimpy enough for you to handle (and how's that for being wimpy!). In CoH, you start out as a superhero. You start out being able to take out the local thugs and criminals. You start out being recognized by the locals as powerful and heroic. And you build upwards from there. That alone can be a refreshing change from the classic "start at level 1 as a wimp" that most fantasy genre games use.
Hithui wrote:
For example, My Paladin cannot get the “Remove Curse” spell, as the creature that drops it is perpetually farmed by players who then sell that spell for 10,000 plat in the bazaar.
Wow. What server are you on that the price for that spell is that high? Yes. The Big Mushroom is perma-camped, but because of that, the price for RC has dropped like a stone. It's hard to sell the thing for more then maybe 1500pp today. Part of that drop is also because you can get some lesser RC spells from LDoN for trivially low amounts of points, so there isn't nearly as much "must have this spell" factor going on as their used to be.
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So can villains threatening your hero by name, which gives the impression that your character is gaining a reputation for his crime fighting. EQ has nothing comparable to this.
You've never seen a Death Touch. Have you...?
Ok. Got that out of my system. The two games are completely different. They are differnet genres, and they have different objectives. You are correct that the fantasy genre is much more about loot collection then the superhero genre. But that doesn't inherently make one better then the other. It's a matter of what you are in the mood for.
I've only just looked at CoH a bit (many of my friends have it and I'm actually really really tempted to buy it for myself). From what I've seen the variations possible in character creation (and advancement) are what make the game really fun. You actually kinda missed a whole section of the character differences (which is surprising if you're going to compare the two).
You can sorta decide that the origin types are races and the character types are classes (the relationship between a Natural scrapper and a wood elf druid is kind of similar). I think that's a bit class/race biased though. They really are different concepts. You point to the lack of "storyline" behind the natural, mutant, and magic origins as a flaw. You've got to remember that these are origins, just like in the comics. It's not a racial history. It's about what sort of thing generated your powers. Are you a mutant? Did you get your powers as the result of some sort of horrible lab experiment gone wrong? Or did you build yourself a super powered suit (presumably to prevent a shard of metal from penetrating your heart for some reason...). While functionally we can call them the same, from a storytelling point of view, they aren't.
All DEs are related in some way. They come from the same city and the same stock and share a common history. All heros who are mutants don't have to have anything else in commmon with eachother. I don't really see that as a flaw.
The section you totally missed is the power abilities. Based on the origin you've selected (where your powers come from), and the class you are (how your powers are oriented), you choose what type of powers you'll have as your primary and secondary powers (which are mostly different elemental types, but vary based on origin and class). Within those catagories for each of those areas, you then chose your powers (which really seem to be offensive and defensive, but there's some blending within the primary/secondary powers lists). As you gain levels, you get to select more powers from a broader list, and the powers get more, um... powerful along the way. So, while every wood-elf druid is more or less exactly the same, and will gain the exact same spells and the exact same skills, and even gain the exact same list of AA abilities, every Mutant-Blaster will not have the same powers. There's an absolutely huge amount of variation, and those variations aren't just: "This is another attack that does the same thing, but it looks like fire instead of water...". The environmental effects vary, but the specifics do as well. It's pretty sweet really.
EQ has nothing like that. Nothing even close. And that's not even talking about the bonus stuff you get (which is CoH's equivalent of loot). You get favors (I think that's what they are called? I forget). Some of them are spent as one use items that boost your abilities for a while. Others are put in power/ability slots and increase your existing abilities in some way (permanently I believe). You earn these along the way as you gain levels and complete missions.
The only problem I see in CoH is that it really doesn't have a very advanced end game. But then what new games does? EQ has it's raiding environment, but it took years for that to develop. When EQ first came out, there was nothing for anyone to do that required more then a single group. Naggy and Vox were added pretty early on (actually, I don't remember if they came in during beta or sometime in the first few months after release). It wasn't really until Velious that encounters were built that were truely designed as "raid encounters". Everything else was just tossing tougher mobs that required more people then a single group to beat. But they were placed in normal zones just like everything else.
CoH certainly has a lot of growing to do, but it's unfair to compare it to EQ just in terms of size and breadth. Of course, it doesn't have as much stuff. It hasn't had 5 years of expansions to grow. I'd say it's got at least as much fun potential as EQ did when it first came out. And it's really got a lot more flexibility for the players.
In the end, it really comes down to what sort of game you want to play. It's a lot easier to "be a hero" in CoH then in EQ. In EQ you start out so wimpy that everything can kill you, including shopkeepers and dogs. Only rats and bats are wimpy enough for you to handle (and how's that for being wimpy!). In CoH, you start out as a superhero. You start out being able to take out the local thugs and criminals. You start out being recognized by the locals as powerful and heroic. And you build upwards from there. That alone can be a refreshing change from the classic "start at level 1 as a wimp" that most fantasy genre games use.
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
Quote:
the relationship between a Natural scrapper and a wood elf druid is kind of similar
There's details you got wrong, but they're pretty trivial and you don't play the game anyway so that's excusable
The jist is accurate -- different genres, different systems. The lootless CoH system works well for a superhero genre. Personally, I'd be pretty disappointed in a fantasy game to slay a dragon and not see a magical sword or armor come out of it.Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
i don't play city of heroes but i would like to say:
http://www.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=22
http://www.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=22
That'd be clever if this wasn't a thread comparing it to Everquest. 
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
Jophiel wrote:
Quote:
the relationship between a Natural scrapper and a wood elf druid is kind of similar
Oh. Hell. ;)
I wasn't trying to say that those were comparable class/race combos in terms of abilities. I was just comparing the relative relationships between those sets in terms of game mechanics.
But yeah. They're different in a lot of ways as well...
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
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That'd be clever if this wasn't a thread comparing it to Everquest.
then could you explain to me what the multi game forum is for?
To discuss games not covered by specific forums. Everquest is covered by this forum. By association, a thread comparing Everquest to CoH, FFXI, DAoC or Donkey Kong is also covered in this forum. A thread comparing CoH to Donkey Kong belongs in the mult-game forum since neither are covered by a specific forum.
It seems simple enough.
It seems simple enough.
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
In reality I have to chuckle when people try to compare different games because in no way do they have anything in common except you need a PC to play them.
But if you feel you need a comparison between the two games here is one based on board games...
CoH=Risk.
It is an easy "stategy" game that just about anyone can play. Aimed at people who just want something to do for an hour or two.
EQ=Axis vs. Allies.
You better know your history, stategy, resources, armaments etc. or you will get your butt kicked with the first move made. Aimed at people who enjoy solving complex stategy problems and are willing to commit the time to do so.
But if you feel you need a comparison between the two games here is one based on board games...
CoH=Risk.
It is an easy "stategy" game that just about anyone can play. Aimed at people who just want something to do for an hour or two.
EQ=Axis vs. Allies.
You better know your history, stategy, resources, armaments etc. or you will get your butt kicked with the first move made. Aimed at people who enjoy solving complex stategy problems and are willing to commit the time to do so.
They're both MMORPGs. Both are competition to one another since most people commit to a single MMORPG. Both allow solo play but also grouping where seperate players compliment one another's abilities and powers. Both have a linear progression system for most of the game and the only way to progress is by defeating mobs. Both use similar player tactics such as main tanking, crowd control and maintaining aggro so your ranged DPS don't get squished.
This was a joke, right? That explains the numbers of complete twits who make it to level 65. What, exactly, is so "complex" about zonewall pulling in Dawnshroud, Plane of Nightmares, Dreadlands, etc? Or aggro kiting in Halls of Honor? Hell, what's so difficult about going into a LDoN and lull pulling the entire place?
It's completely possible to progress in Everquest and know nothing about history, strategy, resources, armaments, etc. Hell, I'd say it's almost the norm. Players who do pay attention to such things progress "better", just as players who make intelligent decisions about slotting and power choices progress "better" in City of Heroes than those who six slot Brawl with Damage enhancements. Hell, I'd say that there's more strategy in slotting than most EQ equipment choices since you can always buy a new sword, but once you assign slots or pick a power, you're stuck with them for the life of your character.
I'd admit in a heartbeat that CoH is a simpler game, but it hardly takes Sun Tzu to play EQ.
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You better know your history, stategy, resources, armaments etc. or you will get your butt kicked with the first move made. Aimed at people who enjoy solving complex stategy problems and are willing to commit the time to do so.
It's completely possible to progress in Everquest and know nothing about history, strategy, resources, armaments, etc. Hell, I'd say it's almost the norm. Players who do pay attention to such things progress "better", just as players who make intelligent decisions about slotting and power choices progress "better" in City of Heroes than those who six slot Brawl with Damage enhancements. Hell, I'd say that there's more strategy in slotting than most EQ equipment choices since you can always buy a new sword, but once you assign slots or pick a power, you're stuck with them for the life of your character.
I'd admit in a heartbeat that CoH is a simpler game, but it hardly takes Sun Tzu to play EQ.
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
I might have a biased opinion about this, having jumped ship from EQ to CoH, but CoH is by far better than EQ. I'll do my best to list my main reasons.
There is no economy for players to destroy.
Ok, Influence is essentially the currency for CoH, but with no Bazaar or vendors with varying prices, their economy is stable. Sure, someone could stand around hocking enhancements for hours, but why? Vendors are (almost) always near a Trainer. That, and you can only carry 10 enhancements anyway.
The tutorial makes it so that any stupid n00b knows how to play.
While the Outbreak tutorial can be a pain in the *** for those who already play the game, it lays everything for the n00bs. Between that and the / command card you get when you buy the game, stupid n00b questions are kept to a minimum.
Customization is far superior.
With EQ, there is no true customization outside of face and hair. Every wood elf is the same height, every barbarian has the same build, every dark elf is the same shade of black. Sure, equipment helps, but that's a huge investment (whether it be time or plat). With CoH, while it is possible for two players to have the same powers, it's highly unlikely that they will look anything alike (unless twin appearance was planned).
Powers can be further customized by one's choice of primary and secondary skills as well as a power pool that opens up once a hero reaches 6th lvl; which just opens up yet another door of possiblities with things such has SuperJump, Flight, and Teleporting. Also, every odd level (3,5,etc.) heroes get two new slots to put on their choice of powers. So you could have the possiblity of having one Stone Tanker doing massive damage while another Stone Tanker emphasized his Knockback abilities. Sure, EQ has Proc Augs you can buy from LDoN addys, but I never saw one as long as I played. So to me that says I would to have to have done a lot more LDoNs than I care to do.
You can play a Super Hero.
Sure, playing a Lizardman Monk or Barbarian Berserker or Drow Enchanter has it's perks, but c'mon...who hasn't had their share of fantasies of being Superman or Batman or one of their own twisted design.
As someone pointed out earlier, one could say doing door missions is like doing LDoNs constantly and with only one type of enemy, but there are various gangs with even more coming out with the upcoming update. And each gang has it's own blasters, defenders, scrappers, etc. as well as Minions, Lieutenants and Bosses.
The sidekick system is insane. Say level 40 Tank has a buddy who just joined. 40 Tank can take newb 2 Blaster and sidekick him. The sidekick will fight like he's level 36 (b/c of variance of levels) but will only get xp like the mob were a con appropriate to his level. Which means. . . . .That's right, no powerleveling! /em does the happy dance.
All in all, there is going to be one main reason why people will play CoH instead of EQ. And that is b/c they find it more fun, and that is a choice each must make for their own.
There is no economy for players to destroy.
Ok, Influence is essentially the currency for CoH, but with no Bazaar or vendors with varying prices, their economy is stable. Sure, someone could stand around hocking enhancements for hours, but why? Vendors are (almost) always near a Trainer. That, and you can only carry 10 enhancements anyway.
The tutorial makes it so that any stupid n00b knows how to play.
While the Outbreak tutorial can be a pain in the *** for those who already play the game, it lays everything for the n00bs. Between that and the / command card you get when you buy the game, stupid n00b questions are kept to a minimum.
Customization is far superior.
With EQ, there is no true customization outside of face and hair. Every wood elf is the same height, every barbarian has the same build, every dark elf is the same shade of black. Sure, equipment helps, but that's a huge investment (whether it be time or plat). With CoH, while it is possible for two players to have the same powers, it's highly unlikely that they will look anything alike (unless twin appearance was planned).
Powers can be further customized by one's choice of primary and secondary skills as well as a power pool that opens up once a hero reaches 6th lvl; which just opens up yet another door of possiblities with things such has SuperJump, Flight, and Teleporting. Also, every odd level (3,5,etc.) heroes get two new slots to put on their choice of powers. So you could have the possiblity of having one Stone Tanker doing massive damage while another Stone Tanker emphasized his Knockback abilities. Sure, EQ has Proc Augs you can buy from LDoN addys, but I never saw one as long as I played. So to me that says I would to have to have done a lot more LDoNs than I care to do.
You can play a Super Hero.
Sure, playing a Lizardman Monk or Barbarian Berserker or Drow Enchanter has it's perks, but c'mon...who hasn't had their share of fantasies of being Superman or Batman or one of their own twisted design.
As someone pointed out earlier, one could say doing door missions is like doing LDoNs constantly and with only one type of enemy, but there are various gangs with even more coming out with the upcoming update. And each gang has it's own blasters, defenders, scrappers, etc. as well as Minions, Lieutenants and Bosses.
The sidekick system is insane. Say level 40 Tank has a buddy who just joined. 40 Tank can take newb 2 Blaster and sidekick him. The sidekick will fight like he's level 36 (b/c of variance of levels) but will only get xp like the mob were a con appropriate to his level. Which means. . . . .That's right, no powerleveling! /em does the happy dance.
All in all, there is going to be one main reason why people will play CoH instead of EQ. And that is b/c they find it more fun, and that is a choice each must make for their own.
The difference for me only takes one sentence.
I played EQ for five years and CoH for one month.
There's the difference.
I played EQ for five years and CoH for one month.
There's the difference.
I can only think it's perhaps a youth/US thing. I've never wanted to be a Super-Hero, have no interest in it and so however good the mechanisms and implementation, CoH holds no attraction.
WoW might, especially now WOL is cancelled. And I'll wait and see on EQ2. Plenty of content left in EQ that I've never seen yet - at all levels.
Character appearance customisation is a bit of a red herring as far as I can see. Rather like buying a pretty car, when you're driving you can't see what it looks like.
WoW might, especially now WOL is cancelled. And I'll wait and see on EQ2. Plenty of content left in EQ that I've never seen yet - at all levels.
Character appearance customisation is a bit of a red herring as far as I can see. Rather like buying a pretty car, when you're driving you can't see what it looks like.
Wherever I go - there I am.
Aside from what's mentioned above, I think class balance is an important distinction. Say what you might about classes in EQ, but there's absolutely no comparison between the weakest builds you can make in CoH and the strongest ones. The difference in classes in EQ in different situations absolutely pales in comparison.
A lot of people I've seen, particularly those who are low level, go on about how there's no best build, and you can't gimp yourself, and so on. Frankly, they're naive. I've seen builds that are demonstrably better in every meaningful way than another. That's not even going into the balance problems they had with some powers that lead to a knee-jerk nerf that damaged grouping mechanics. They've just made blunders that I can't imagine an experienced dev team ever doing.
In essence, CoH is new and exciting, with a great mission system, fun character customization, and interesting group dynamics. However, it shows a great lack of polish when you begin to really get down into higher level game mechanics. My recommendation is that you just play whatever if you're only planning on playing with a few friends casually, but if you intend to actually hit higher levels you should definitely do thorough research on character-design advice before starting.
A lot of people I've seen, particularly those who are low level, go on about how there's no best build, and you can't gimp yourself, and so on. Frankly, they're naive. I've seen builds that are demonstrably better in every meaningful way than another. That's not even going into the balance problems they had with some powers that lead to a knee-jerk nerf that damaged grouping mechanics. They've just made blunders that I can't imagine an experienced dev team ever doing.
In essence, CoH is new and exciting, with a great mission system, fun character customization, and interesting group dynamics. However, it shows a great lack of polish when you begin to really get down into higher level game mechanics. My recommendation is that you just play whatever if you're only planning on playing with a few friends casually, but if you intend to actually hit higher levels you should definitely do thorough research on character-design advice before starting.
I can't comment on CoH as I've never had any temptation to play it, but on EQ. . .
I completely agree Jophiel, and I know many people who want to do just that.
The real hook of EQ for me is the range of different ways you can approach play.
From Hardcore role-players, through uber-raiders to those who just want to explore as many zones and combat scenarios as possible, EQ seems to cater for most of these.
There are bound to be people who want a more simple combat based blood-fest (I loved the Quake series) and others who are more interested in sexier graphics, but few games seem to offer the versatility of EQ.
Perhaps that may be its downfall? As other games develop, EQ runs the risk of trying to be all things to all people and fail to hit the mark for any. For me, so far, it caters for my middle-aged mood swings that make me a patient tradeskiller one day and a gung-ho mob snack the next
Jophiel wrote:
It's completely possible to progress in Everquest and know nothing about history, strategy, resources, armaments, etc.
The real hook of EQ for me is the range of different ways you can approach play.
From Hardcore role-players, through uber-raiders to those who just want to explore as many zones and combat scenarios as possible, EQ seems to cater for most of these.
There are bound to be people who want a more simple combat based blood-fest (I loved the Quake series) and others who are more interested in sexier graphics, but few games seem to offer the versatility of EQ.
Perhaps that may be its downfall? As other games develop, EQ runs the risk of trying to be all things to all people and fail to hit the mark for any. For me, so far, it caters for my middle-aged mood swings that make me a patient tradeskiller one day and a gung-ho mob snack the next
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