EQ2 vs. DAOCFollow

Hello,

I have been playing DAOC for about 7 months. I have an Alb lvl 48 Flex/Soul Reaver and a lvl 50 Dirt wizzy. I have enjoyed most of DAOC to a large extent. I play on Tristan. My play style is about 75% PVE and 25% PVP. Occasionally go on RAIDS but mainly questing and general hunting...

I have spent the last week playing EQ2 to see what it's all about. Hmmm... These comments are all pre Catacombs BTW...

*THE GOOD*

Look and Feel - WINNER=EQ2 It's VERY pretty. If not a little too glam if you know what I mean. IF you have an Uber $2000 or more computer (P4-2.6 or Athalon 2600+ or better with 1 GB RAM) with a Geforce (not ATI) card. Specifically Geforce 6800 and up. Very expensive. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro and get on average 25 - 30 fps in medium detail mode which is rather blurry and ugly and many of the graphical features only appear to work on the Geforce cards FX 5950 and up. My friend has a Geforce 6800GT on an Athalon 2600+ and it looks better, sharper and more detailed and runs at an average of 35 - 40 fps. Obvious that nVidia was sleeping with a certain developer (SOE) last few years. Keeping in mind that DAOC CAtacombs is comming in a few weeks! Graphics overhaul and sounds have all been redone. And to top it off, unless you have a $400 nVidia card, EQ2 wont look all that great! But all that aside...

Animation - WINNER=EQ2 - The "combat moves" are fantastic. Very fluent and flashy. God I hope they add some additoinal animation to some of the moves in combat in DAOC.

Sound - Sounds beutifull WINNER=EQ2... Great music and sound effects. Many of the NPC's are using acted voice overs. Again Catacombs is comming out with all new sound.

Gameplay WINNER= DAOC - so far in EQ2 it feels like one kill task after another. I need 5 bones from a whatever blah blah blah... Drops are not very common as far as weapons and armor go. But I have only played for about 10 hours total and only to level 11. Perhaps I am not being fair.

Combat - WINNER=DAOC While it (melee and spells) "LOOKS" flashy and glamorous in EQ2, it is lacking something. Hmmm.... Physics! A little number floats up from mobs when I supposedly hit them. They dont really seem to even flinch. I do when they hit me though. But the timing seems off. So it almost seems like an animated fight where we trade hits until one is dead. Kinda boring really. And there is no individual combat stratagy to employ. Like DAOC - You block... so I use attack one. Attack one succeeds so I use attack 2 and up the chain till I get my BIG hit off and sstun for 9 seconds and swing around and get 2 or 3 good side positional moves off. Yes I have read thier abilities chart for thier melee classes. I just don't see that type of thing in EQ2. Makes me Yawn. And of course no RVR when PVE gets tresome. In EQ2 they have a "Heroic Opportunity" Wheel that comes up if activated by one of the members in the grp and then if certain moves are combined in a certain order amoungst the grp then some larger attack can happen. So that is sort of thier combat chain. Neat idea but not as cool as it sounds in practice.

User interface = TIE. DAOC has a FAR better chat system. Easier to use and makes waaayyy more sense. however, they have a waypoint system in EQ2 that can sometimes give you a glowing path to follow to certain locations. The quest journal in EQ2 is better but not a big deal really. All other aspects seem the same.

Housing and Merchants - Winner DAOC. In EQ2 you have an appartment. I do not really see why. I love the housing in DAOC. It rocks!

Conclusion! - Bring on Catacombs. I think I'll be returning to DAOC!!!! EQ2 is like a super model. Nice to look at but not alot upstairs. Don't get me wrong, EQ2 is sorta fun. I know there is a million other things in EQ2 to do like bake cookies and sell them or whatver LOL. I just am not into that stuff. Who cares. I will try EQ2 a little longer so I can say that I am somewhat qualified to make a final decision but this is so far how it feels.

Oh and I am typeing all of this from a borowed account. I am not the one who uses this account. He logged me in. Thanks...

Anyone else try EQ2? Or thinking about it? Any feedback on this?

Take care...

Well, I have played some more...

OK... My first impressions - first 10 levels is still pretty accurate. i am now level 14 and venturing out into the world. Quests are definately getting longer and more involved. Already waiting for spawns and crap like that. Still running into camped areas where you are waiting for your turn to kill a MOB. But my server is very busy. But I wont start over on a less populated server. It was 20 + hours to get this far and I am not going to throw it away.

Honestly, questwise, now that I am a higher level... Quests are quests. DAOC quests and EQ2 quests are pretty simular. So I no longer think that EQ2 has the upper hand there. In both games there is alot of running around. Both have thier share of good and bad quests. And once the honeymoon wears off from the voice overs used in EQ2, I find myself just clicking through as I read alot faster than the voice over. And now I also notice that there are less and less voiceovers the more quests I have done. I am sure they will add more over time.

But COMBAT COMBAT COMBAT... Still prettier to watch in EQ2. HOWEVER and this is a BIG HOWEVER... I still don't get that distinct interraction and timing feel I get from DAOC fights. In DAOC I hit a Mob and he staggers WHEN I HIT HIM. He dodges when I miss. I block or evade RIGHT WHEN he distinctly STRIKES at me. Not in EQ2. I am trying hard to get used to it but it is NOT even close to DAOC so far. But I have not seen all the MOBS in EQ2 yet I guess. In DAOC, you distinctfully know what is going on in your little battle. You and the MOB. The Dance is obvious. IN EQ2, most of the time you don't even know you have actually hit the mob if it werent for the little numbers that rise up from thier heads. The only COMBAT animation I see in MOBS in EQ2 so far is thier Death animation and some stiking movements that don't seem to matter all that much. Very pretty to watch in some cases. To me the MOBS look like animated 2D overlays that have been drawn onto the background. This is soo hard to explain. But you will have had to play both to see it.

Graphics. I am ticked off at SOE. Why make a game that runs like crap on a respectable computer?! If it's an engine that will "Run well on hardware available in 2 years" Then it might just be... See ya in 2 years then. I have a P4-2.6C HT processor with 800Mhz FSB and 1GB of Dual channel DDR400 RAM and a Radeon 9800 Pro. I have to run in High perf mode (blech) to get anywhere near as smooth frame rates as in DAOC. EQ2 is not attractive until at least Balanced mode is used and even that is not all that great. I have seen this game run on two other machines. One Athalon XP 2600+ and an Athalon 64 3400+ both using Geforce 6800GT's and it still runs slow (35fps or lower) in cities if there are a few people running around. This is unacceptable. Horible coding is all it can come down to.

I will reserve final judgement until Catacombs comes out and I get a chance to play it for a while.

My two cents.

Charles.

Wow for teh win!

owned.

Yes everquest2 is awsome and has better graphics but i like daoc for there rvr and stuff and the raids u can do to steal stuff :D and the pvp is great i would wanna stick with Daoc if it was me but then EQ2 is kinda funner..:D

I picked up DAoC Platinum edition last night. After all the basic installs, updates etc I started a character and began my adventure. Four hours later..... :) All I can say is I am off to the store after work and getting Catacombs. I already cancelled my EQ2 account. It may look pretty but it just seems to channelized....go here do this...now do this... I realized I was only playing because it was pretty.

But, I played with the settings for DAoC and cranked it to 1280X1024 and cranked all the graphics effects up and found it just wonderful and smooth as silk! I am looking forward to the upgrades that come with Catacombs.

As others have mentioned and I have discovered for gameplay DAoC is more intriguing and interesting. I would rather have gameplay over graphics anyway. I also do not like the way EQ2 has dumbed down the game and, as I am a casual gamer, it can be difficult to get groups sometimes and they have pushed so much of the game towards forcing you to group...just not for me...