My friend and I are thinking of starting an MMORPG, but we're stuck deciding between World of Warcraft and Everquest II.
Some background: I used to play EQ and loved it. Undoubtedly the best game I've ever played. Downside is that leveling took forever! I sank in hundreds of hours of game time, albeit much of it was questing, but the vast majority was grinding. We don't want that kind of experience because we're both in college, and this is just something we'll be doing to help stay in touch since he'll be 3000 miles away. I guess my question is whether leveling is easier in this? We're not looking to shoot to level 60 in 2 days, but neither are we looking for a day of grinding for a bubble of exp. Really looking for an old EQ vet's opinion here, how's the exp gain compared to EQ1?
The other issue is my friend is new to MMOs, which is funny because he was the one that suggested this. How steep is the learning curve? I beta tested WoW years ago and was not too impressed with how babyish it seemed to be. Was destroying multiple monsters I had no business killing as a warlock. The ease of use was very beginner friendly though, which is a plus. I'm personally leaning a bit towards EQII for nostalgia's sake, but I realize that it might be easier for him to adjust in WoW. I don't think he wants an overwhelming experience that requires learning a host of tricks and commands.
Also, what's the deal with the good/evil stuff? Does it severely limit exploration? Can you group with members of the other race? Are their neutral grounds that we could level in? This probably won't be much of an issue cause we'll probably end up making characters that start in the same city to save the headache of running across the world to meet each other.
And last questions, sorry to write an essay, but what's the new binding and corpse system? Do you still need a high level priest for resurrection with exp? And how much do you lose? I remember in EQ1 a 95% exp rezz would be mandatory cause otherwise it'd be a loss of hours of grinding. Since most of the time it'll just be us two, how big a deal is it? (I'm thinking of being a druid, which doesn't have exp rezz I don't think?). And with binding, is the spell still required, and do the old restrictions apply (casters could bind anywhere, fighting classes could only bind in specific areas).
Thanks in advance! I know this is really long and has a lot of questions, but anything would be of help.
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Well, the good news is that both EQII and WoW have completely altered the grind and levelling up and rezzing compared to EQI.
Although WoW might go faster, EQII too goes very fast. Both games focus on quests to level up, although grinding is possible too if you really want to. If you focus on quests, the levels should go by very fast, especially compared to EQI.
Rezzing is simple, you "wake up" at the nearest 'graveyard', in WoW you can run back as a ghost and rez near your corpse. Neither games have an xp loss penalty for dying. However, in EQII you will have an xp penalty, for a couple of %'s, you only receive half of the xp (same in WoW? Can't remember). At most levels, one good quests is enough to get rid of this penalty, heck five minutes of grinding is good too. Dying in both games will damage your equipment and weapons, which you'll need to repair before it hits 0%. More dangerous in WoW as even playing damages equipment and weapons, so dying can be too much for it. (also, you no longer need to find your body in EQII, something that still is done in WoW I believe, not necessary but the amount of damage to the equipment is higher if you don't.)
Good/Evil is not that important in EQII, or rather it doesn't stop people from either side from interacting, grouping together, being in the same guild, ... With the new update next week, it will even be possible to have all characters access the same shared bankslots, effectively removing another barrier between the two sides. (PvE servers, no idea about PvP)
A good character walking in an evil city will be attacked by the guards if they are within ten lvls though!
In WoW however, there isn't really a Good/Evil side, more Horde/Alliance. They cannot interact, not join the same guild or group.
Binding doesn't exist.
EQII has a couple of "call" spells. When you belong to a city, you get the call of that city, meaning you can once per hour port to that city from anywhere. You can choose inside that city where you port to, you can have two of these call spells as there is one city that also gives this spell if you do quests for it, Maj'Dul, but at the beginning of the game that's not really accessible so don't worry about that.
There are other spells and items that will port too, the old "evac" spells and the druid rings, spires,...
As for WoW, there you can set a return point in the inns spread all over the game world. No idea if there are other methods of porting, been too long.
As for which game is better to start with for someone who's never played it before, I can't really say. WoW is more accessible imo, but EQII has a pretty good learning curve too. I'ld say EQII, but ofcourse I'm prejudiced!
Although WoW might go faster, EQII too goes very fast. Both games focus on quests to level up, although grinding is possible too if you really want to. If you focus on quests, the levels should go by very fast, especially compared to EQI.
Rezzing is simple, you "wake up" at the nearest 'graveyard', in WoW you can run back as a ghost and rez near your corpse. Neither games have an xp loss penalty for dying. However, in EQII you will have an xp penalty, for a couple of %'s, you only receive half of the xp (same in WoW? Can't remember). At most levels, one good quests is enough to get rid of this penalty, heck five minutes of grinding is good too. Dying in both games will damage your equipment and weapons, which you'll need to repair before it hits 0%. More dangerous in WoW as even playing damages equipment and weapons, so dying can be too much for it. (also, you no longer need to find your body in EQII, something that still is done in WoW I believe, not necessary but the amount of damage to the equipment is higher if you don't.)
Good/Evil is not that important in EQII, or rather it doesn't stop people from either side from interacting, grouping together, being in the same guild, ... With the new update next week, it will even be possible to have all characters access the same shared bankslots, effectively removing another barrier between the two sides. (PvE servers, no idea about PvP)
A good character walking in an evil city will be attacked by the guards if they are within ten lvls though!
In WoW however, there isn't really a Good/Evil side, more Horde/Alliance. They cannot interact, not join the same guild or group.
Binding doesn't exist.
EQII has a couple of "call" spells. When you belong to a city, you get the call of that city, meaning you can once per hour port to that city from anywhere. You can choose inside that city where you port to, you can have two of these call spells as there is one city that also gives this spell if you do quests for it, Maj'Dul, but at the beginning of the game that's not really accessible so don't worry about that.
There are other spells and items that will port too, the old "evac" spells and the druid rings, spires,...
As for WoW, there you can set a return point in the inns spread all over the game world. No idea if there are other methods of porting, been too long.
As for which game is better to start with for someone who's never played it before, I can't really say. WoW is more accessible imo, but EQII has a pretty good learning curve too. I'ld say EQII, but ofcourse I'm prejudiced!
I've played most of the MMOS out there and if your not going to go back to EQ the next best one IMO is EQ2. If you deside to come over and play with us here "Welcome" and I hope you and your friends have a great time here.
3 posts
Thanks Zieveraar! That was really helpful. Glad to know that quests are a good source of exp now! In EQ1 I only did them for items pretty much. I actually just have two more questions:
"Rezzing is simple, you "wake up" at the nearest 'graveyard', in WoW you can run back as a ghost and rez near your corpse. Neither games have an xp loss penalty for dying. However, in EQII you will have an xp penalty, for a couple of %'s, you only receive half of the xp (same in WoW? Can't remember)."
I'm just confused cause there's no xp penalty for dying, but EQII does have an xp penalty? Does that mean you gain exp slower for the next few %, and also does that stack up?
And my other question is whether there's any key features we'd miss out on at the low levels for not getting the expansions. Is it true we need them to get AA? Thanks again for your help!
"Rezzing is simple, you "wake up" at the nearest 'graveyard', in WoW you can run back as a ghost and rez near your corpse. Neither games have an xp loss penalty for dying. However, in EQII you will have an xp penalty, for a couple of %'s, you only receive half of the xp (same in WoW? Can't remember)."
I'm just confused cause there's no xp penalty for dying, but EQII does have an xp penalty? Does that mean you gain exp slower for the next few %, and also does that stack up?
And my other question is whether there's any key features we'd miss out on at the low levels for not getting the expansions. Is it true we need them to get AA? Thanks again for your help!
Quote:
I'm just confused cause there's no xp penalty for dying, but EQII does have an xp penalty? Does that mean you gain exp slower for the next few %, and also does that stack up?
Exactly, you don't lose xp but they cut the next few %'s gain in half. And it does stack up. Also, it reduces by itself over time. If you have for instance 2% of xp penalty, and you don't play for three days, it's very well possible that it's back at 0%. Not sure how fast that goes though, but it's pretty fast.
Quote:
And my other question is whether there's any key features we'd miss out on at the low levels for not getting the expansions. Is it true we need them to get AA? Thanks again for your help!
Indeed, the second expansion: Kingdom of Sky adds the AA system. The expansion Faydwer adds another AA tree and you get axp starting from lvl 10. The latest expansion adds 40 AA points.
AA points are a very handy system, I would recommend not playing all that much beyond lvl 10 without having access to them. Mostly because you'll miss out on aa points because you'll do a lot of quests at that lvl.
With the latest expansion, you get the entire game with all the previous expansions and adventure packs.
Very handy!
Also, with the expansions, you'll get access to different starting places, for instance Faydwer and Gorowyn. Although the old starting points are still my favourite, the newer ones have their own advantages too.
3 posts
Thanks so much for your help! I'll definitely come back here if I have more questions, which I probably will :P
"Good/Evil is not that important in EQII, or rather it doesn't stop people from either side from interacting, grouping together, being in the same guild, ... With the new update next week, it will even be possible to have all characters access the same shared bankslots, effectively removing another barrier between the two sides. (PvE servers, no idea about PvP)"
On the PvP servers, Good/Evil/Exile is extremely important if not the most important aspect of the game. It gives a "purpose" and some lore to PvP rather than the typical anarchy that FFA (Free For All) PvP systems have. You can not group with those of the opposite faction if you are from Qeynos or Freeport, however Exiles can group with any class as long as they are also Exiled. You can not share bank slots with your alts if they are in opposite factions. You can not even communicate with the opposing factions inside of the game.
There are reasons for this. Some of the more seedy elements out there could use the system to empty a guild bank or tip off the enemy to raid thats taking palce. Don't get me wrong.. people still create alts and pull these stunts frequently. But, they usually don't last long on the server once their actions are publically known.
But, as mentioned earlier, Faction on the PvE servers means very little other than the inability to venture safely in to the opposing city without getting guard whacked. And, to be honest, I'm sort of surprised they haven't yanked the entire good/evil/exile system on the PvE servers all together since the only thing people have in common is whacking monsters together. /shrugs
On the PvP servers, Good/Evil/Exile is extremely important if not the most important aspect of the game. It gives a "purpose" and some lore to PvP rather than the typical anarchy that FFA (Free For All) PvP systems have. You can not group with those of the opposite faction if you are from Qeynos or Freeport, however Exiles can group with any class as long as they are also Exiled. You can not share bank slots with your alts if they are in opposite factions. You can not even communicate with the opposing factions inside of the game.
There are reasons for this. Some of the more seedy elements out there could use the system to empty a guild bank or tip off the enemy to raid thats taking palce. Don't get me wrong.. people still create alts and pull these stunts frequently. But, they usually don't last long on the server once their actions are publically known.
But, as mentioned earlier, Faction on the PvE servers means very little other than the inability to venture safely in to the opposing city without getting guard whacked. And, to be honest, I'm sort of surprised they haven't yanked the entire good/evil/exile system on the PvE servers all together since the only thing people have in common is whacking monsters together. /shrugs
8 posts
I recently have played both games. I played eq 1 back in the day (pre expansion) I left the game to join WOW when it came out. Never got into it family and friends did though. I then quit playing MMO's. Within the last year I wanted to fill this gap so I bought the EQ all in one pack. I fell in love with it. I was impressed it was more of a mature game. I did not have to deal with people running up to duel every few minutes, brain dead chat conversations, and some of the worst group experiences I have ever had in my life. I had grown accustomed to groups where everyone knew their roll and would play with a strategy. In general the people who play EQ2 know how to play a MMO. I ended up going back to wow recently (because of a friend who moved). I played and got to the "best" part of the game 70. It took no time to get there and when I got there that was it. Last night I called my friend and told him I will not be reactivating my account. I ended up going buying the Kunark Pack at best buy and giving him a trial key.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the game is more advanced and the people are more mature. As a former EQ1 player I would recommend this over WOW. Do not believe the hype with WOW.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the game is more advanced and the people are more mature. As a former EQ1 player I would recommend this over WOW. Do not believe the hype with WOW.
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