[Atmas]

Just my 2 cents on the "new" topic of this thread. To preface I played EQ basically from launch until after OoW was released, I actually did the majority of stuff through PoP including Quarm but only a sliver of GoD. I playeyd WoW from Vanilla on and off again until a bit after Cata launched. In both games I was pretty hardcore usually playing within the top 3 guilds on a server. On EQ my main was a Wiz on WoW a mage and I have played numerous alts on both.

Simply put, in my opinion EQ is a more difficult game, WoW gameplay is more complex in combat, but then EQ overall is (or at least was) more complex.

I will attempt to expound. EQ is more difficult because while the mechanics for typical playing (dpsing/healing/tanking) are simpler, encounters in the game are less forgiving. Aside from the obvious lack of quests, the xp penalties for death, the failures for tradeskill combines, it is harder to progress in EQ because of the game structure. In WoW any class can solo to max level, not the case in EQ. In EQ not only is leveling a large timesink but the opponents you face are much more difficult in comparison to your own strength and abilities. This kind of plays into the point about WoW being more complex with gameplay. Every class in WoW had more abilities in frequent use (I phrase it this way because later in EQ with AAs you had a ton of abilities but they weren't all in a typical encounter).

The same is true for raids in my mind. EQ had some tough encounters later on, things like the rathe council expected a lot of people all doing their fairly simple jobs very well and anyone messing up would be a wipe for the raid. WoW on the other hand has everyone jumping through multiple hoops but it was less of a big deal most of the time if a couple of people died. Obviously I can't blanket statement both games and all encounters with in them.

I say EQ was a more complex game overall because I feel like there were more non-common knowledge things in the game. A lot of the quests you need to progress in EQ, such as the key quests invovled getting drops off of what would be really random mobs if you didn't have a wiki or some outside reference. WoW had several items that were quest pieces but they were pretty expliclity pointed out to you and there was a kind of pattern to how you did things for one quest that would let you understand future quests. I guess it all comes down to the intent of WoW to steer you in the directions and give you guidance where as EQ instead just left you to your own devices and you may encounter a quest NPC or find out something from another player's experience.