[Thaeryn]

Yeah I hopped back onto EQ Live just this past week. After finding P99 I wanted to see if Live would be better since I still have some toons there. It has changed so much. Gear is ridiculous. Leveling is super fast with the new hot zones and mercs. The old world I loved so much is deserted. These are all the reasons I left in the first place.

I've been on WoW and EQ2 quite a bit. EQ2 is pretty, but the mobs are handed to you on a silver platter, and everything feels so linear. The world feels a millions times smaller than Classic EQ and there really are no interesting battles that I've seen so far. Granted I only played to mid 40's... but I remember seeing a whole lot more by mid 40's in classic.

I realize the things I loved most about EQ Classic was that you could discover little out-of-the-way NPCs to farm, dungeon crawls felt a lot more intense, and it feels like I had a lot more options to lvl up. The scarcity of good loot is definitely better for the game, IMO. In EQ2 you get amazing gear from quests that you can solo, but I much prefer EQ Classic's system. I love seeing the auctions in EC. I love saving my plat to buy my next piece of gear. I loved waiting for spells, too! I don't want new spells every level. Having to wait made it much more rewarding.

It may just be that since EQ 2000-2002 was my first MMO, that it would be my favorite, but I think even if I were starting for the first time, I would enjoy EQ Classic much more.