Comparing EQ to WoW

[Reguiy]

Originally Posted by Scikala [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

EQ, I made friends for life. WoW I came in with people I knew to raid, left with not a single new person sticking around in my mind/gaming life.

It was the exact opposite for me. I have 3-4 friends I still go on RL trips with that I made through WOW and none from EQ. It might have to do with my age when I was playing EQ compared to WOW. Or it could have to do with the fact that I was into pvp, not pve. One could argue that pvp in WOW is a better way to get to know someone as there's an unlimited amount of pvp interaction and limited pve interaction due to instance lockouts and how leveling is fixed.

[Scikala]

Originally Posted by Reguiy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It was the exact opposite for me. I have 3-4 friends I still go on RL trips with that I made through WOW and none from EQ. It might have to do with my age when I was playing EQ compared to WOW. Or it could have to do with the fact that I was into pvp, not pve. One could argue that pvp in WOW is a better way to get to know someone as there's an unlimited amount of pvp interaction and limited pve interaction due to instance lockouts and how leveling is fixed.

I was in HighSchool during EQ, and grouped with people all the time and kept in contact. WoW was a solo experience until Raiding/Gearing up for Raiding.

I don't enjoy MMO PvP period, but I can see your example making perfect sense because of the time investment early PvP required. You had a group that you had to communicate with and depend on in a completely different way then PvE people.

[Mirakk82]

Ehh, I dunno about WoW healing being harder. There's a lot more tools at your disposal in WoW, and addons like Healbot basically bring it down to face-roll difficulty. The only thing that makes healing hard there is idiots who stand in the middle of scripted events like fire/black holes etc.. If you put most WoW healers in EQ to pull a CH rotation they'd likely fail, despite how easy that really is to accomplish.

WoW wins out in Raid complexity. You need a lot of coordination to pull off most raid targets by comparison to EQ.

Another strength of WoW is that your raid's DPS really does matter. You've got a limited number of people to hit the target and still cover healing/tanking etc. In EQ you can strongarm it with a ton of people if you can spare them.

However, EQ actually makes you pay for failure. So you don't end up with idiots failing over and over again. It also creates accountability since there's no cross server BS. You can't just drop and try to get into another group that will carry you. If word gets out you suck balls, you're forced to improve or quit.


Just my opinion.

[Detoxx]

Anyone else ever notice that ST was a temple with a sleeping dragon you had to awake, whose initials were SOE and the initials for the zone were ST (Sleepers Tomb).

Paying homage?

[Ahldagor]

Originally Posted by Detoxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Anyone else ever notice that ST was a temple with a sleeping dragon you had to awake, whose initials were SOE and the initials for the zone were ST (Sleepers Tomb).

Paying homage?

nah, metzen isn't that clever

[heartbrand]

Mists of Pandaria was the best expansion since BC.

[Vlak]

When people talk about EQ and WoW, I keep hearing talk about limited numbers of people being used to engage mobs in WoW and how that increases the difficulty.

Full disclosure: I never played WoW. That said, EQ Mac had a very limited server population and so guilds other than the top dog were forced to get very good at their character classes in order to progress (we had through PoP in expansions, no further) because they couldn't just zerg a raid target.

It was top-heavy like P99 but with maybe 3/4 population or less (700 at its height? but boxing was allowed/not specifically banned). Like I'm reading about WoW encounters, you could always tell the dead weight as it was usually that person/people who got the raid wiped in Ssra and progressing to the upper planes was a slow grind with the stagnant population. As such, the clerics and shamen and even druids all had some healing responsibility and CH chains were meticulously timed and planned out before the raid.

[pasi]

In general EQ, is just much more punishing for stupid mistakes than WoW is. Once you get good enough to stop making idiotic mistakes (or stop playing with people who make huge mistakes), this really doesn't matter. Because of this, EQ's difficulty is much more front-loaded than WoW. All these horrible corpse runs and other 'difficult' (time consuming) punishments are circumvented once you're familiar with the game.

Wow is the opposite, where the difficulty of the game somewhat scales with how good you are at the game. The game starts off incredibly basic and builds up in challenge as you become more familiar with it. Compare this with EQ where you can get by on a raid (end-game) by /assisting and pushing maybe 1 or 2 buttons. Whereas with leveling, you're utilizing way more of your abilities and the environment. In WoW, leveling is a joke. In EQ, it's the most difficult part of the game for most people.

It's really a case of front-loaded versus back-loaded difficulty. WoW is going to seem like an easier game to those who haven't fully played it. EQ is going to seem a lot harder to those who aren't as great at the game.

[Yonkec]

Originally Posted by pasi [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In general EQ, is just much more punishing for stupid mistakes than WoW is. Once you get good enough to stop making idiotic mistakes (or stop playing with people who make huge mistakes), this really doesn't matter. Because of this, EQ's difficulty is much more front-loaded than WoW. All these horrible corpse runs and other 'difficult' (time consuming) punishments are circumvented once you're familiar with the game.

Wow is the opposite, where the difficulty of the game somewhat scales with how good you are at the game. The game starts off incredibly basic and builds up in challenge as you become more familiar with it. Compare this with EQ where you can get by on a raid (end-game) by /assisting and pushing maybe 1 or 2 buttons. Whereas with leveling, you're utilizing way more of your abilities and the environment. In WoW, leveling is a joke. In EQ, it's the most difficult part of the game for most people.

It's really a case of front-loaded versus back-loaded difficulty. WoW is going to seem like an easier game to those who haven't fully played it. EQ is going to seem a lot harder to those who aren't as great at the game.

Yeah that sounds about right. I have never been more aware of how shitty a player was at their class than during 10man LK runs.

To be fair though EQ is extremely "forgiving" on raids due only to sheer numbers. Unless you are a member of a short handed CH rotation, almost everyone can fuck up once or twice and the sheer numbers in the raid absorb the mistake. Perhaps due in part to the basic mechanics of most older content. EoW is certainly the opposite. Between modernized raid mechanics and a 10 or 25 person limit on the newer content, a single person can wipe everything in a heartbeat.

Also, healing in modern WoW is one of the most disappointing experiences I have found in a game. I honestly think playing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_(game) is a more challenging though extremely similar experience.

[Whirled]

2 words ... Leeroy Jenkins