Bored with EQ...

[Valerius]

Ok, it's gotten to the point that I can't log in to EQ2 for more than a few minutes before getting tired of LFG and logging off to do something else.

I tried SWG and was sorta liking it until they pulled what I like to lovingly refer to now as an "SOE" and nerfed the game completely to hell....

Sooo.... after that I tried some CivIV and while it's fun.. it's still not the same as logging into a "world"... my question is... is WoW worth getting into in the meantime while waiting for Vanguard?

[Fadetree]

Yah, I think so. Wow is very pretty and easy to play. It'll keep you occupied for a few months. No staying power though....not really sure why, other than its not hard enough. /shrug

[Therian]

It'll keep you entertained for a couple of months.

[Darydale]

I really enjoyed WoW for several months. It's got complex classes, a very beautiful and detailed world, tons of useful features, lots of items and locations put in just for fun... overall very well done. I think it may be the best thing out there currently. But there are some problems with it. You level way too fast, items don't feel as special, and the quests can seem linear. It never felt as magical or real as EQ. Still, fun stuff for a while. Worth the time and money.

[vaelyn]

As one of my gaming buddies put it, it has the Fedex questing system. It's something I don't like, because you barely need to use your brain to do it.

WoW was fantastic for me. I played it for 8 months solid. It made me LOVE the healer and I'm having a hard debate about playing another healer class or the Psion class in VG. I see a lot of problems with WoW: the challenge isn't there, there is very few things that make a player unique at end-game. A priest is fully decked out in Devout gear isn't hard to find. There are of course other things you can get, but I didn't think the reward matched the effort. Or it was stupid effort. That and they need to learn to make expansions faster. The only expansion for WoW isn't expected to come out until next July.

If you're looking for a game to pass the time, I would definately suggest this one. The world is submersive and it is just generally fun to play. If you're wanting a game where it is the world and your existence in it, I would not say this is the one. I don't want to discourage you. I'm just saying you will not choose WoW over VG when it launches. ;)

[Havelock]

I really enjoyed WoW for several months. It's got complex classes, a very beautiful and detailed world, tons of useful features, lots of items and locations put in just for fun... overall very well done. I think it may be the best thing out there currently. But there are some problems with it. You level way too fast, items don't feel as special, and the quests can seem linear. It never felt as magical or real as EQ. Still, fun stuff for a while. Worth the time and money.

Very well said. You and Therian have hit the nail on the head. And the lack of a long-term appeal is actually a bonus in the wait for Vanguard; I think WoW is actually enhanced by a more casual and noncommital approach.

[Eclipse]

WoW is one of thsoe games you can put away for a month or two and just go back and screw around. You guys are right, it keeps ya entertained for when you need it.

Also made me love the healer, as well as hate it for its faults.
got me into tanking as well...before WoW I was a light melee, but I just had no desire to do that in WoW.

-Eclipse

[Darydale]

(Secondary to my priest of course), I got into my Warrior in WoW. The melee classes are so well-done.

[Havelock]

(Secondary to my priest of course), I got into my Warrior in WoW. The melee classes are so well-done.

Yeah, the WoW warrior is a spectacular class, hands-down the best I've ever played in an MMO (not that my experience is that vast, mind you). I think a lot of the elements that made it awesome will be very present and even further developed in Vanguard - the reactive moves, the combos, the stances. Props to the WoW crew for their awesome warrior development (even if the haphazard changes just before launch made for an unfortunate class until they tweaked it back to an appropriate place).

[Valerius]

Thanks for the input guys... I went and bought it last night and installed and patched it... took awhile, so by the time it was done it was late and I only had about an hour and a half to screw around with it.

I created a Horde Shaman named Grendl (dunno how that got past the name filters) on the Burning Legion PvP server and got him up to level 4 before I had to hit the sack. I'd rather have played an Alliance Pally, but I read they are getting nerfed and my bud(s) are playing Horde sooo....

First Impressions:

1 - Pretty game. The cartoonish graphics that people always mention didn't seem that bad, I actually liked em. Besides, graphics alone a game does not make - if you guys played the original EQ when it first came out then you know what I mean.. now those graphics sucked :)

2 - Leveling did seem rather easy, but of course I'm only level 4 so the speed was about on par with other games I've played in the early levels.

3 - The quests are a little linear - not that that is necessarily a bad thing, especially in the early game and one quest in particular gave MONDO xp - 450pts! (had to kill a named Scorpid for some "dying" orc out in the desert)

biggest thing for me though... is that I'm looking forward to getting off work and going straight for the computer to pick up where I left off. A good sign. Unless you ask my wife :twisted:

Quick question though - I ended up getting disconnected twice where my connection just sort of petered out.. is this a common thing in WoW?

ps. you're right Vaelyn, I won't choose WoW over VG.. I haven't been this enthused about a game (VG) since I first started playing EQ. Though DDO looks promising and if they handle the paladin class better than Vanguard....... we'll see :cool:

[Karalin]

I'd have to agree, I'm playing WoW now, having tried EQ2 for a year before giving up trying to relearn my class every couple of months. I played EQ1 for 5 years or so, and WoW is far closer to EQ1 than EQ2 was.

And as others have said, it's faster levelling may be a boon whilst we wait patiently for Vanguard :)

Last night I joined up with a Warrior, Rogue and Warlock whilst playing my Priest, we were all around level 23-25 and I had one of the best evenings play I'd had in ANY game for many a month. The other three were all good players, and it really gave me a chance to practice my grouping skills. We spent pretty much the whole evening together, ploughing through a load of Elite quests in Redridge.

I just wish that the game wasn't so solo-centric, maybe then more people would stick in groups.

[Darydale]

I just wish that the game wasn't so solo-centric, maybe then more people would stick in groups.

Yeah. I think EQ1 had a lot of necessary evils, and one of the things Vanguard will do is make those evils less evil :)


Meanwhile, I got tired of WoW so I got the Escape to Norrath free trial thing for original EQ...

http://escapetonorrath.station.sony.com/

I know it sounds lame, but it's actually kinda fun. They've made a few changes for the better since I've last played. They have a new newbie zone that is populated, but that doesn't change the fact that many zones are still empty once you leave the tutorial zone.

[Valerius]

Yeah, I've noticed alot of soloing going on... but alot of yelling for Tanks in the Barrens... I guess on that server tanks are not that common.

I did give in to temptation though when the server I normally play on went down. I went to one of the new servers - 4 or 5 of them went online a couple days ago - and created a Paladin and I must say that I think I'm enjoying playing the Paladin more than the horde Shaman... now I'm torn between playing with my Horde buddies or giving the Pally a go at it.... :(

[Karalin]

Meanwhile, I got tired of WoW so I got the Escape to Norrath free trial thing for original EQ...

I tried that, and it was a blast in the Tutorial zones, but once outside it's very empty. I got upset seeing zones I'd wandered in that had been full of people so empty :(

[Darydale]

I tried that, and it was a blast in the Tutorial zones, but once outside it's very empty. I got upset seeing zones I'd wandered in that had been full of people so empty :(

Yeah I know, it was like that even before I left, about a year and a half ago. Very sad.

[Korsal]

I like oh so many others on these boards have been there and done that till I am sick at my stomache.

I guess I shall go and pick up WoW for the interim.

Having just played my first tank in any online game I was actually having a great time until patch number 13 rolled online and it just ended my adventure for good. I played for a week under the new rules and then deactivated my account. My poor beaten bloody guardian sits now on the sandy beach in PoF. So much for my wonderfully upgraded home and my forge. All that plat just rotting for lack of anything to do.

I hold high hopes that Vanguard is the answer to my addiction.

Korsal

[Darydale]

Well, knowing I would need something to hold me over until Vanguard, I was thinking about re-subscribing to FFXI. I only played it for a month or two, shortly after release. Anyone have any thoughts on it? How is the community these days? Is there a lack of noobs in noob zones? That's my primary concern.

[Croissant]

I played FFXI recently. The newbie zones were still packed with people, but almost every group I was in had a high level healer (outside the party) power-leveling us by healing the tank so we could fight stronger mobs. Guess they wanted to rush through newbie levels as fast as possible.

The economy is pretty messed up right now because of gil sellers. Square Enix is slowly trying to fix it though. The overall community was still pretty elitist when I tried it. People would still make fun of others for having weird job/subjob combinations and would refuse to party with someone based on their subjob and such.

Other than that, the game was still pretty fun.

[moonglum]

I liked WOW up until a few months after hitting the max level and havent been back for almost 8 months.

You will like it though.

Vanguard from what I have been read will have more to offer compared to WOW. Combat on horse, water craft...a thinking person's game in terms of combat. I think alot of people are going to be suprised on how the combat works in Vanguard, but I guess we will have wait and see. I only hope the combat animations will be better than EQ2.

[Azuin]

From what I've seen on the DDO (dungeons and dragons online) forums, the game designed to be like D&D games such as Neverwinter Nights. I'd imagine that if you like those types of roleplaying games, you'd like DDO. I tried Neverwinter Nights but could never get hooked on it like I get hooked on MMORPGs. I doubt the reaction would be any different with DDO.

So anyway, have fun playing on World of Warcraft. You picked the right class.. shammies are pure ownage ;)

[Azzikai]

I was playing Anarchy Online with my boyfriend and it's a nice game to waste time in. Unfortunately, my boyfriend suffers from "I don't know what I want to play this second" syndrome a lot and it ends up making me just dislike the gaming experience that we are currently experiencing. If I didn't feel so guilty out leveling him and/or generally leaving him behind with a character I enjoy then we wouldn't have this problem :p

So, anyway, I showed him that "porn" movie with the WoW characters in it and out came the gameboxes. A pair of re-subscribed accounts later, a bout of "I don't know what I want to play this second"-itis we have created a duo to play together on one of the new servers.

We started with a Shaman-duo but he got bored of that. See, my problem with characters is him and his problem is he's a power-gamer in a casual-gamer body :D I don't know how long our Druid/Warrior combo will last but we shall see. At least his computer isn't crashing all the time again, having the box open is helping :)

[Darydale]

Unfortunately, my boyfriend suffers from "I don't know what I want to play this second" syndrome

Oh man I know what you mean >< Also, people really shouldn't take what other people say on forums about their class to heart. Somebody out there is going to think your class sucks.

[Aen]

i got a problem like that. I play for 6 months or so and then get kinda bored cause the end is the same stuff over and over. Playing eq2 at the moment and been there for 6 months and still havent gotten to lvl 60 yet. Its been a great experience for me so far.

Now my wife on the other hand... she has been playing FFXI since release in the NA side... and still having tons of fun. I got bored after 3 months of that ;p

[Merwenn]

I've heard DDO really is a bland game and really doesn't introduce anything new. But take that with a grain of salt because I obviously have never played it. But I'm sure I'll dabble when it's released.

As for WoW it's a fun game but I think the community aspect really doesn't exist and takes away alot of the experience that EQ had. It's really based on the solo game and grouping is almost doesn't exist until higher levels (also in some of the few instances).