Eq1 expansions versus WOW.....Follow

As I recall, WoW opened up an extra end-game zone or two (maybe just one, I'm not up on my WoW end game) since the game started to give the high ends something to accomplish.

The general criticism about EQ expansions are that they are released too rapidly and in an uncompleted state. Perhaps this is what Blizzard is trying to avoid -- wait longer but roll out a well crafted and ready to play expansion to the game world.

As a disclaimer, I'm not playing any MMORPGs right now. I've played both EQ and WoW but I don't have a horse in this race.

WoW has added content via patches in the 2 years it has been out (MC, BWL, Naxx, AQ 20/40, Mara, revamped silithus, battlegrounds etc) Almost a EQ1 expansion pack worth of content. However they have claimed that there initial schedule for the game was thrown off by 3-6 months by the overwhelming demand for the game which lead to server issues and all the rest. So if that hadnt happened they would have released WoW: TBC 3-6 months ago. Still a big wait.

When Blizzard releases an expansion it tends to be huge though. TBC promises to increase the world size by about 25%. Also two new races, new BG and bunch of other stuff. As well as promised patch content to follow that isn't just fixing the game but also adding to it.

SOE seems to be releasing new content steadily though there 6 month schedule doesnt leave a lot of time for 'huge amounts of content'. Rather it gives enough to keep you busy until the next one comes out 6 months later.

Edit - that being said I am so tired of WoW that even TBC couldnt bring me back. While SOE has me hooked on EQ2 and EQ1.

Edited, Oct 25th 2006 at 1:07pm PDT by bodhisattva

EQ is much better than WoW. With a more mature player base and WAY more high-end content [that is actually challenging], I can't see how anybody plays WoW.

Edit: Base, not basee =)

Edited, Oct 26th 2006 at 10:40am PDT by Quadkit

I played WoW in the summer of 2005.

Part of the reason I quit was because of the lack of an endgame that I wanted to participate in. PvP does nothing for me, and I like alts, but not where I have to create them because my main is maxed. Hardcore raiding also isn't what I like to do (though I do enjoy occassional raiding).

While there were a number of great things about WoW, I simply won't be going back until they have an endgame more to my style, which isn't likely to happen.

<edit> Bah, forgot to add: WoW is not improving their endgame much, with this new expansion, IMO. I would prefer a 9-12 month expansion release from EQ, but I don't care enough to really complain about it.

Edited, Oct 26th 2006 at 11:49am PDT by mrwookie

Planes of Hate, Fear & Sky, The Hole, Paineel, Warrens, Stonebrunt Mts, Jaggedpine Forest, Nedaria's Landing, Veksar, Solusek C, & Chardok B were all added to the Everquest game, free of charge.

That's not counting expansion content that's gone free for all such as the Bazaar, Plane of Knowledge and I think all of Kunark (?)

Edited, Oct 26th 2006 at 1:03pm PDT by Jophiel

... actually. Eq released both of the expansioned along its same 6 month timeline. Regardless of how many patches it required or how lame the content is. A better comparison would be to see if soe would ever delay its standard september/october expansion release until after christmas because they want to get it right.

febuary/march - sept/oct - feb/march - sept/oct. not exactly a hard pattern to figure out. SOE releases content according to its preplanned schedule regardless if the content is ready for release.





.... a reasonable point but almost all of that was a very long time ago and most of it rots. Also some of that content soe originally charged you to get. In fact I dont think it is possible for a new customer to start a new account without getting luclin or pop.

... Just curios about the solo content. Where can a warrior, paladin, sk, rogue, berserker or clerics solo? By solo I mean content relevent to their level/gear and where they can get acceptable xp. EQ DOES not have solo content for alot of its clases which is one of the biggest reasonons WOW took off IMO.




... although in the past soe has done some cool things as you documented very well. The amount of free content additions on the last few years especially in relation top its hectic and expansive expansion release schedule is minimal at best. Basicly being old zone revamps. THis among many other things is why I put soe on the top of the list as far as "I just want your money". All game companies are profit focused including blizzard, but SOE IMO is near the top of the list.

i, as a cleric, solo quite well now thank you ;-)

i do admit i am not "average" geared tho.

warriors and every other class you mentoned now can solo WAY better then they could 2 months ago. down time is GONE. down time is now 3 min to full mana and hp. using potions and the new reduced downtime, any class can now solo.

I have a friend who leveled a cleric to 70 solo just to see if it could be done. It took her about a year of really casual play to do it (she was playing her main mostly when she played). I think any of them can be soloed to 75, it isnt as fast as a necro can do it, and requires you knowing a bit about the game (like what your class is good at and where to hunt). I know you qualified this with you disclaimer about acceptable experience, but that alone is open for intrepretation. I again have never played WoW and am told its really easy to solo at all levels in all classes, but despite this always being pointed out as a fault with EQ it was intentional on their part, and has led to us having a stronger community because people "have" to cooperate most of their playtime.

I play WOW mostly now, and played EQ for two years through the GOD expansion.

I'm planning to go back to EQ at least for a while primarily because the content in WOW is so lacking. There are only about 50 zones total, and another 20 or 30 instanced zones. And many of the zones are smaller and much less interesting than EQ's. WOW repeats the same architecture, so you'll find yourself fighting in the same goddamn house or castle over and over again.

I loved EQ because it was sooo vast and the geography complicated and varied. It really felt like a world, where WOW feels like you're repetitively playing the same game. In WOW, after your second character you've probably done pretty much everything there is to do, so you'll be leveling in mostly the same places. And in EQ there were tricks and quirks to every area and every zone.

The one thing about WOW that I hope EQ has worked on since I left is just user-friendliness. The "fun" factor. WOW really made an effort to remove many of the "challenges" of EQ that ultimately became tedious or a cause of hostility between players. Corpse runs, for instance. Or loss of XP from death. Things like having to take your character out of commission while putting something up for auction. The poor soloability, griefing, trains and mob camping are gone in WOW too. And I'm a little horrified to hear about 3 minute rest breaks in EQ still, since in WOW a pretty long rest break would be 15 seconds. At first I found that without these annoyances WOW was just a "kiddie" MMORPG, but ultimately I grew to realize they just mean that you're always actually PLAYING - which is what you want to be doing, and not grumbling. Plus the PVP in WOW is amazing.

But again, content. I'm so BOOORED. I miss exploring. There's nothing to explore in WOW - nothing new to see. Yes, they're adding a few new zones, but I know that they won't be as interesting as an EQ zone, and in about a month I'll have fully explored them and will be tapping my fingers wondering what's next.

As much as I love EQ I have to agree with this statement.

1. not 1 expansion from Sony/SoE/VI has ever been ready to go live. All of the "live" expansions were still in beta form and should of been delayed but SoE is to greedy and wants there money no matter what is good for the customer.

2. WoW went live with less issues then most games, except it grew so fast they could not keep up with the demand. In less then 6 months WoW had more account holders active then EQ and EQII combined.

what #2 means is Blizzard was/has been more focused on FIXING the little things first then putting out their expansion. also Blizzard has proven over the decade+ they have been in business that they do not put out CR4P just for the sake of greed. they always do a full beta set of tests and if it is not ready to go live, they WAIT until it is.

Just look at the Diablo and StarCraft line of games to see their history there.

as for high end content, yes about a year ago there were some FREE high end zones added and revamped for the high end raiding guilds.

since PoP, SoE has been pumping out expansion after expansion just to keep from losing more customers then they were. WoW does not have that problem atm as they have the highest number of account holders then any game on the market today and even if you add up every SoE MMO and combine them, they STILL do not have even half as many account holders as WoW does on its own.

well from my ants boyfriend and me playing tss we found no bugs on emarr when it came out he lvl to 75 with easy and got r2 spell drops done plunty of quest and ive ben playing the low lvl content there was only a couple of hotfixes for the exspansion but i never saw any i would have to say eq did great on this last exspansion and the resion they pop a exspansion every 6 mounths is mostly the end game people cause if soe took there time alot of them would leave