DAOC + FFXI + EQ theme/skins = EQIIFollow

I am currently having a blast with EQII. The quests are rewarding, the classes are a entertaining and the graphics look great. That said...

The more I play EQII the more it feels like other games and less like EQ. It feels like I'm playing a mix of DOAC and FFXI with an EQ theme or skins. The armor stats and recommended levels feels like the armor from DOAC. Even the degradation of the armor. All we need now is for SOE to implement a non-repairable way for the armor to degrade until its useless. Then we also have the Power bar instead of Mana, which is not a bad thing since its not fair that only caster types have a second bar to worry about. But it feels like it was taken directly from DOAC. I just see so many little things taken directly from that game. DOAC also gave you basic spells and abilities at level up. EQII does the same but they added in the ability to buy and upgrade those abilities instead of using a point system to strengthen a specific tree. They also took the "Start from a basic class and eventually move to your preferred class" technique to leveling up. Yes, maybe when you first start the game you may not be sure what class best suits your needs but that's not what EQ is about. It just tries to be super user friendly. Then there's the grave thing when you die... and I can just go on and on about this.

I get the same feeling when I use certain skills and the HOs. HOs were taken from the Skillchains in FFXI and made easer. They removed the timing factor and gave each player like 10 seconds to do their move. They also removed the TP requirements and simply gave you a button to start the chains. They did improve it by adding extra effects (stat boost) to your characters plus the damage but its fundamentally the same thing. Yet they failed to implement some of the better features of this game with the crafting. Crafting may not be that great to many of you but I loved the mobility of it. The fact that you can craft on the go was great for encouraging you to build up your crafting. I am also seeing the same kind of implementation for food that FFXI has. Food in EQ used to be just because you had to have it. Now I am getting the feeling that foods are going to boost your stats besides help you regen health and power faster. This is just an assumption on my part looking over the food lists. There has to be some reason other than not starving to have a cooking craft. You might as well just ask the priest in the party to summon some up for you otherwise. Then we have 'locked' encounters where no one else was allowed to attack your mob. They took that and upped it where no one could interact with you or your mob.

Now I understand that these games took things from UO and EQ but they were new games that grabbed what was there and made it their own. DOAC and FFXI each added their own flare to the genre and spiced it up a bit in unique ways. DOAC has the PVP zone with Realm VS Realm war going on. That was a lot of fun! FFXI has the single character job system which is great for building character history and allows you to try different things without having to run through the same quests over and over again.

My disappointment with EQII is that it doesn't follow its roots and instead grabs what others improved and tries to build on that. This game no longer feels like EQ. They could name it Magical Enterprises Inc, change the names of the towns and no one would know that it was the sequel to EQ. Now, I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing... Like I said, I am enjoying myself, but the game just doesn't feel like EQ. It feels like all these other games put into one. I recently read a review and they gave the game a 7.6. Since this is the sequel to the original and one of the best games out there, I believe the score is a bit too high. If it were a new game that didn't carry the EQ name in it, I would have to rank it up higher. Again, I'm not saying I wanted more of the same with prettier graphics, what I'm saying is that it feels that the developers simply took what worked in other games and put EQ skins on them. I just expected more from EQ than this.

Thank you for reading.

Exactly!!!!! Well said! The death of the power level is a great thing.

I do agree that it seems sort of dumbed down from a few other games. But because of that, I'm able to play even with my busy schedule. No waiting for groups because I can solo and the fact that I can explore whatever job I want and still look badass as a wood elf (although I can see how that would make some races much more popular than others) is essentially what makes me want to play the game.

In all fairness to SOE, they did say that this game was not going to be just a huge expansion of EQ. They told us that it was going to be a different game altogether. I would assume that's the reason for them continuing to host and expand EQ1. I do agree that the name and the names of the cities are little more than a marketing ploy to get EQ fans to join the game. They could have easily titled it whatever they want, but they knew they would sell more copies this way, and no matter how you look at it, Sony is purely interested in making money.

I'm glad you're enjoying the game. I am, too. This is likely the most fun game I've played yet, and after work I'm going home and cancelling my FFXI account (even though the hardware upgrades required to make EQ2 even run make FFXI look absolutely gorgeous - pray that my wife buys me RAM for Christmas). Happy hunting, sir. ^^