Quite a lot of the Warcraft player base is getting bored with the endless grind after reaching level 70, some start leveling a new alt, some join a hardcore raiding guild. Others start looking for similar games, games like Everquest 2 or Ultima Online, to satisfy their mmorpg addiction. Questions that are often asked on the forums, or in the game chat channels of Everquest, are “is Everquest 2 still worth playing? After so many years of it release?” and “How’s the gameplay of the Everquest 2 compared to WOW?”.
I’ll try to provide some answers, not intended to flame one game or an other. Warcraft is a great game, and it provides an easy introduction to the genre. But the game starts feeling aged and the developers fail to provide enough challenges and diversity at higher levels. Things keep repeating itself, quest lines lack creativity and there isn’t much to do after a while then running the same instance over and over. This lack of diversity ( the endless grind feeling ) is not limited to Warcraft alone. It’s one of the base game mechanics of every mmorpg, including Everquest 2.
Most of the entertainment value in an mmorpg comes from things besides the questing part. Exploration, customization of the ingame environment ( character, class, housing ), the social aspect, role playing etc… and this is where Everquest really shines. The gameplay itself is rather similar, the typical quests, the gathering of recourses, the dungeons and grouping, will feel very familiar for a previous Warcraft player. So if your looking for a similar game, with a new map to explore, new classes and a bit more depth, Everquest 2 is definitely worth trying.
Other things people are often worried about are the graphics and the current player base, no one wants to start in an abandoned world, right? Well in my experience most servers are populated very well, even in the starting areas. There are always people running around to team up with, or to start a conversation. On my server “Antonia Bayle” the community is also very dedicated to Role playing, if thats not your cup of tea, there are enough “normal” PVE or PVP servers out there. The upcoming expansion Rise of Kunark will make quite a few gamers start a new character/class. I expect that the noob zones will be quite heavily populated after November 13 2007.
The graphics of Everquest 2, including the animations, are good ( on a high-end machine with a beefy videocart things can truly look awesome ) and don’t look outdated at all. But for me it’s the same with Warcraft, I love it’s looks and expressive animation set. I guess its a matter of taste, EQ 2 aims for realism, WOW has a more unique cartoonish style. In the end, both games are worth playing, both games have many things to offer. To answers the initial question, if your bored playing Warcraft, EQ 2 is definitely an mmorpg to look at, especially of your looking for a Role Playing environment.
Some useful links:
Allakhazam ever quest 2
All the info you need about the game, class and quest discussion, forum etc.. Allakhazam is an excellent place to start.
Rants, Raves and recources for EQ 2
Information about the upcoming expansion pack Rise of Kunark.
The official Sony forums
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