Where did EQ Live go wrong?

[Houdiny]

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

So WoW's success has nothing to do with the amount of polish that no mmo game has ever seen. One of the most flexible game engines ever made that gets updated every expansion (looks nothing like it did back in 04). Huge amounts of 3rd party addons that's still has better support that any other mmo. So screw all the milestones that blizzard has met with WoW, I hate it because the got rid of they grind and went straight to the point. Also EQ is just a very unforgiving game. Raiding in WoW is wayy more complex then just tank and spank aoe fearing dragons. You seem very bias with blizzard/wow totally skipping over everything good it has done for the mmo world.

Oh I'm sure I am somewhat bias. I wont argue that. And I do think WoW has brought some great things to MMO's. I noted that. There are some great things that WoW has done. Their subscription numbers and longevity alone indicate that. I am not saying WoW is a bad game either. It's just easier for people to play. Pull up your map, run around grabbing the blinking quests, then go where the blinking tells you to so that you can complete said quest then follow the blink to turn it in.

It brought about a solo mentality that was not prevalent with EQ. Sure people in EQ solo'd but you had to be the right class. And even then it was conditional. Everything about WoW tailored to the casual gamer is all I'm saying. And I do think WoW has a lot to do with the good in MMO's. But it also has a LOT to do with the very bad in MMO's also. If I wanted to solo my way to max level on every character I started I wouldn't pay $15 a month to play an MMO. I would simply get a RPG off the shelf at Wal Mart. The true definition of the MMO is exactly what it stands for...massive mulltiplayer online. It's a bunch of people working together to accomplish things. Not running through grabbing every quest in sight and completing it like a mindless zombie.

The endless amounts of fly by night companies developing up half ass games. Everyone wants to get in the market because they see the money being made from WoW. You don't have people like Brad McQuaid pouring their visions into a game completely ignorant to the financial side. You get companies rushed by investors to get their product out and compete with WoW. And it always fails. And of course this isn't Blizzard and WoW's fault. It's the idiots who can't grasp what makes a business prosper.

A few friends of friends tried making a transition from WoW to many other games over the years. And it never lasts more than 2 days. They get sick and tired of adventuring around finding the NPC they are after. If it isn't spoon fed to them they give up. I enjoy running around exploring stuff. I like seeing the game the devs make for us. I like finding little things that a dev went the extra mile to create. And I will be the first to admit I am probably in the minority with that. But a lot of aspects of MMO's these days are overlooked because everything is so linear. Go here, do this, go there, do that. It's cheaper, easier to develop, and much quicker to make. And therefor to me simply not as good. If I want to take a group off the beaten path and exp somewhere nobody else does I should be able too.

And I'm no SoE fan boy either. I'm not tooting their horn by any means. I have my beefs with them as well. And I also like some of Blizzards games, and like them as a company. I just think a lot of WoW's popularity had to do with it being so easy a caveman can do it.

And on a last note, EQ raiding is more than just Dragons and fear. Should try life outside of Kunark/Velious. I ran into many many complicating strats along the way in EQ until I quit live. Sure at the beginning the strats were easy. But that was when MMO's were new. All of them started getting more complex. It wasn't like WoW created tough raiding. MMO industry evolving has done that.

[Zithax]

Art in Luclin was a real dissociation from classic EQ, that and the first gimmicky concepts were introduced.

[Lagaidh]

One more thing I'll say is WoW had PvP in Wintergrasp that is the only PvP to ever hold my interest for more than a single session...

[Supreme]

Legacy of Steel had several Blizzard employees in the guild. As a result it was of no surprise that WoW addressed alot of the gameplay issues EQ had.

But Luclin and the "Bazaar" with instancing really killed EQ. Took away social aspects of the game.

[kcabeblli]

I played WoW for 6 years and EQ for the first 4ish years and WoW never once made me feel like I did playing EQ. I miss things like being able to buy twink gear and sitting in the tunnel trading.

I miss grinding in CS on Wyverns on my Necro and running around tracking shit on my Druid. I cant say I miss anything about WoW really. WoW is a great game and is 10 times more polished than most MMO's to date and I had fun playing it but they restricted so many things to make things "fair" because crybabies wanted casual this and casual that. Hell, in EQ a set of twink gear can last you 50 levels but in WoW everything is NO DROP so you can only use it till you get an upgrade in a level or 2.

Having an epic weapon in WoW didnt mean shit because it only lasted till next raid. I remember having my epic on my druid in EQ and it lasted till PoP when I got the scimitar in PoValor I think.

I do like WoW but i'm done with it and thats why I came back here. I'll play GW2 and this till EQnext releases and im sure ill be 40 by then heh.

[choklo]

One thing EQ did well(largely) was challenge players. No, it's not THAT hard, but it's a lot harder than most other MMO's. If you don't do your job or pay attention, you can expect to die or get booted from your group. I think Dark Souls was in this same ballpark. I loved it and recommend it to all. It's not an MMO, but it's a blast and challenging.

[Breeziyo]

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

I think Dark Souls was in this same ballpark. I loved it and recommend it to all. It's not an MMO, but it's a blast and challenging.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Sums up the game.

[choklo]

That clip rocks. Makes me want to fire up my PS3 again.

[Telin]

When the magic started going away for me was:

1) The new Luclin models lacked a lot of creativity. They were way different from the original artistic models. They should have just created an updated version of the classic models. They were oversized for the environment. The animations were terrible. Spell casting animation was lazy. They always leaned like they had one leg shorter than the other. And they sat leaning over like they had hemorrhoids.

2) Revamping of classic zones. Now they could've done a much better job. They could have used the old zones' characteristics and replicate them the best of their ability with improved textures and rounding off the boxiness. Instead they made everything bland and oversized as if somehow that was more impressive. It created so many empty spaces that you lost your curiosity to explore. Architectural structures starting looking the same. Every city building looked copied and pasted. There was no uniqueness.

3) New music. The original melodies were brilliant. (Thank you Jay Barbeau.) I could actually enjoy myself while the songs were looping. The music actually changed in the zone depending on where you were. So they blended in perfectly with the environment. When those PoP mp3s came out, I couldn't stand listening to the songs more than once. They were either slow and drawn out or so overbearing (combat music) that you couldn't think.

4) Instant teleportation stones. One of the best things about classic was the necessity to have to travel through new places or rely on others to get you there like wizards, druids, and bards. If you were new to the game, you would have missed a lot of content because you could bypass a lot of zones. You kind of lost your connection with the environment and your character because of this.

I could go on.. lol

[dredge]

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