EverQuest II vs World of Warcraft
Having played 'EQ2' for about a week, it is obvious that both it and 'WoW' have some good points and some bad points.
'EQ2' may not be as bright and cartoony in graphics as 'WoW', but it is very beautiful. The textures on scales and armor are gorgeous, as is the effect of light on water. All the characters are also a lot more impressive and customisable than those in 'WoW', and there are 16 races and 24 classes to chose from for more variety of play. For anthro lovers, there are far more anthropomorphic races too - frog-people, tiger-people, lizard-people, rat-people and dragon-people (where as there are only cow-people in 'WoW'). On top of these you have your usual selection of humans, dwarves, faeries, drow etc.. 'EQ2' is also superior in the avaliability of quests. Unlike 'WoW', where you were forced to take on quests from several different areas of the globe at once if you wanted to level, the faster leveling and large ammount of quests avaliable in any given area of the world in 'EQ2' mean that there is no monotonous griding and always plenty of things to do. I also preffer the proffessions system in 'EQ2' which has you manually making your items by hitting buttons at specified times to prevent mistakes. You also start off being able to do any proffession and remain able to do so until about skill level 16 and so this gives you ample time to decide which ones are more useful to your character before you specialise.
However, in 'WoW' everything is so much easier. Using the Auction House, learning proffessions working out how the hell you learn new skills - 'EQ2' leaves you to discover absolutely nothing. It also seems that 'EQ2's creators wanted you to play a good race, as so much more effort has gone into the creation of the good starting area. Starting as a Kerra, I had my first few steps explained to me and the first city I reached (Qeynos) is a beautiful medieval castle. Starting off as an Iksar I felt thrown in at the deep-end and was disappointed to find out that my major city (Nerriak, the City of Hate) was a dank, undetailed pit. In this aspect, 'WoW' is superior because both the Alliance and the Horde start off equally. The interface of 'WoW' is also a lot more attractive and easily navigatable than its equivilent in 'WoW'. 'EQ2', also, is not as impressive in battle. My character is currently a level 12 Kerra Fury, which is kind of like a Fury-specced Druid in 'WoW'. This means that she can turn into three animals - a tiger for melee combat, a wolf for spell-casting and an ent (bizzarely) for healing spells. However, these animals look no where near as impressive as her original form, and have no special abilities of there own. They just slightly increase certain stats when you shapeshift into them. Seemingly pointless... My major gripe with 'EQ2' however are the damn loading screens. In 'WoW', there are only loading screens as you log in, as you cross the sea and as you enter an instance. Each of these screens lasts no longer than 10 seconds. In 'EQ2', there is a loading screen every time you enter a new area, and these screens can last for up to 3 minutes. In a large area like Qeynos, which is split into 10 sectors, this is utterly infuriating as it can take the best part of fifteen minutes to get to where you want to be.
However, complaints aside, I am finding that the enjoyability of 'EQ2' is far outweighing its bad-points and so it is well worth a look at if you're sick of 'WoW'.
'EQ2' may not be as bright and cartoony in graphics as 'WoW', but it is very beautiful. The textures on scales and armor are gorgeous, as is the effect of light on water. All the characters are also a lot more impressive and customisable than those in 'WoW', and there are 16 races and 24 classes to chose from for more variety of play. For anthro lovers, there are far more anthropomorphic races too - frog-people, tiger-people, lizard-people, rat-people and dragon-people (where as there are only cow-people in 'WoW'). On top of these you have your usual selection of humans, dwarves, faeries, drow etc.. 'EQ2' is also superior in the avaliability of quests. Unlike 'WoW', where you were forced to take on quests from several different areas of the globe at once if you wanted to level, the faster leveling and large ammount of quests avaliable in any given area of the world in 'EQ2' mean that there is no monotonous griding and always plenty of things to do. I also preffer the proffessions system in 'EQ2' which has you manually making your items by hitting buttons at specified times to prevent mistakes. You also start off being able to do any proffession and remain able to do so until about skill level 16 and so this gives you ample time to decide which ones are more useful to your character before you specialise.
However, in 'WoW' everything is so much easier. Using the Auction House, learning proffessions working out how the hell you learn new skills - 'EQ2' leaves you to discover absolutely nothing. It also seems that 'EQ2's creators wanted you to play a good race, as so much more effort has gone into the creation of the good starting area. Starting as a Kerra, I had my first few steps explained to me and the first city I reached (Qeynos) is a beautiful medieval castle. Starting off as an Iksar I felt thrown in at the deep-end and was disappointed to find out that my major city (Nerriak, the City of Hate) was a dank, undetailed pit. In this aspect, 'WoW' is superior because both the Alliance and the Horde start off equally. The interface of 'WoW' is also a lot more attractive and easily navigatable than its equivilent in 'WoW'. 'EQ2', also, is not as impressive in battle. My character is currently a level 12 Kerra Fury, which is kind of like a Fury-specced Druid in 'WoW'. This means that she can turn into three animals - a tiger for melee combat, a wolf for spell-casting and an ent (bizzarely) for healing spells. However, these animals look no where near as impressive as her original form, and have no special abilities of there own. They just slightly increase certain stats when you shapeshift into them. Seemingly pointless... My major gripe with 'EQ2' however are the damn loading screens. In 'WoW', there are only loading screens as you log in, as you cross the sea and as you enter an instance. Each of these screens lasts no longer than 10 seconds. In 'EQ2', there is a loading screen every time you enter a new area, and these screens can last for up to 3 minutes. In a large area like Qeynos, which is split into 10 sectors, this is utterly infuriating as it can take the best part of fifteen minutes to get to where you want to be.
However, complaints aside, I am finding that the enjoyability of 'EQ2' is far outweighing its bad-points and so it is well worth a look at if you're sick of 'WoW'.