How did WoW manage to take many EQ players?

Didnt EQ come out before WoW? So how come that game didnt out polish Blizzard's WoW mmo?

WOW is ezmode, original EQ had a challenge and a real death penalty, games now are crap ezmode junk.

It's not that WoW took EQ players. It's that WoW reached out to a new consumer. WoW is kiddiefied compared to EQ. But, there is nothing wrong really with WoW other than the extreme lack of challenge.  Though there may not be the clallenge in WoW like there was in EQ, WoW does make things easier for the non hardcore gamer. Someone that only has about 3-4 hours or less a day to play would never get anything accomplished in EQ, but with WoW they can get at least some quests done, do some pvp, maybe an instance , and some tradeskilling. 

The only thing that makes WoW so popular because like most people in the world, they are lazy, and gamers are no differnt. We enjoy everything being handed to us with little effort on our parts.

Not sure if that answers your question to the fullest but thats the input i got.

but that still doesnt explain why WoW out polished EQ. EverQuest came out way before WoW.

Remember like the Early WARHAMMER release, and how fans would say, "you cant compare War to WoW, because WoW had 4 years to polish,,,,Bah Bahh BAhhh"

Well EQ is older right? So what happened?

Originally posted by Rakuji

It's not that WoW took EQ players. It's that WoW reached out to a new consumer. WoW is kiddiefied compared to EQ. But, there is nothing wrong really with WoW other than the extreme lack of challenge.  Though there may not be the clallenge in WoW like there was in EQ, WoW does make things easier for the non hardcore gamer. Someone that only has about 3-4 hours or less a day to play would never get anything accomplished in EQ, but with WoW they can get at least some quests done, do some pvp, maybe an instance , and some tradeskilling. 

The only thing that makes WoW so popular because like most people in the world, they are lazy, and gamers are no differnt. We enjoy everything being handed to us with little effort on our parts.

Not sure if that answers your question to the fullest but thats the input i got.

Well, that's not technically correct.  The vast majority of initial WoW players, were at some time EQ players.

The main appeal to WoW is that it gives a sense of achievement, much more easily than did it's predecestors - primarily EQ on which it was unabashadly based.

What do you mean by 'polish' though?  EQ probably has 4 times the content of WoW and did it with much less money, so it may lack some 'polish'.

Originally posted by tro44_1

but that still doesnt explain why WoW out polished EQ. EverQuest came out way before WoW.

Remember like the Early WARHAMMER release, and how fans would say, "you cant compare War to WoW, because WoW had 4 years to polish,,,,Bah Bahh BAhhh"

Well EQ is older right? So what happened?

Why don't you say what it is about EQ you think isn't polished then maybe someone could give you an answer.

EQ2 was my most anticpated mmo of all time.  Loved EQ1 and couldn't wait for 2 to come out.  At the time WoW was the underdog and I think conventional wisdom was that EQ2 would be the next big thing.  EQ1 was the granddaddy of theme park mmos and Blizzard was a newcomer to the genre.

EQ2 launched about a month before WoW as I recall.  Unfortunately, it went in completely a different direction from EQ1.  Also, the game was in terrible shape at launch and was obviously rushed out the door to beat WoW to market.  There was a terrible memory leak, the graphics engine ran like shit on brand new hardware, there was a lack of content, and a lot of the quests and such were buggy.

I didn't even finish out the free 30 days and decided to pick up WoW just to check it out.  I ended up playing WoW (which I didn't expect to like) on and off for the next several years.  EQ 2 I checked out again last year on a free trial.  In my opinion the graphics engine still runs like shit even on next next gen hardware.  At launch they said the engine was just so advanced it couldn't run on the stuff currently availiable.....I always knew that was BS.

Anyway, that is my opinion as to why WoW now has 10 million subs or whatever and EQ2 has about 2 percent market share.  I am biased I will admit, as I completely detest EQ2.....but I think ultimately my history is pretty accurate.

The game engine was to dated and they were not going to make any MAJOR changes to risk loosing their existing customers.

The question you SHOULD be asking is why did EQ2 fail while WoW succeeded.

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Originally posted by stux
The game engine was to dated and they were not going to make any MAJOR changes to risk loosing their existing customers.
 
The question you SHOULD be asking is why did EQ2 fail while WoW succeeded.
 
 

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(and we know the answer to that- EQ2 was crap :))

EQ2 failed because it should have never been a separate game but should have been an expansion.

People didn't want to restart from fresh specially since EQ was not a walk in the park to reach engame and so some remained in EQ some moved in EQ2 and some went to wow.

Wtf are you talking about? WoW didn't take shit from EQ. people were already on the way out when wow released.

How is WoW more polished? EQ has a older engine both graphically and mechanics wise but its not a unpolished game.

EQ has ten times the content of WoW, a more interesting gameworld, better classes, better raids and actual risk!

I really wish people that started MMOs with WoW would stop posting.

When people say 'polished', I like to think of a game that spent extra time rounding out the edges.  Each game had a different type of polish.

SoE has been polishing EQ so that it will generate more revenue, which was mainly focused in creating content like crazy for the raiding community.  The raiding community was the only people that would stay for an extended period of time as long as they were entertained with new content.  Notice I said new content and not polished well rounded and balanced content.

Blizzard has been (sense launch) polishing WoW in the sense of gameplay, not really focusing too much on expansion packs but doing a balancing act with the game in order to make it enjoyable for all different types of players from the casual to the hardcore.

So my question for everyone that looks at this is: Would you play an MMORPG for the amount of content?  OR  Would you play an MMORPG for the gameplay?

I was one of those hardcore raiding types in EQ that played it from 2001 to 2004 and left for WoW.  I was a magician and if you have ever read up on their epic quest 1.0 questline you would know a prime example of why EQ isnt polished in gameplay even when WoW was first released.  All I wanted was to have fun and get my god **** crown of elemental mastery, because the content was so out dated getting to the island that dropped my epic quest item was near to impossible to achieve.  It wasnt the fact that it was old content that irritated me, it was the fact that in order to have easier access to my epic 2.0 I had to finish my epic 1.0.  So I figured if I want to have fun in a MMORPG I should play WoW and become totally self dependant instead of relying on groups and guilds to level up or gear up.

Originally posted by metalhead980

 

Wtf are you talking about? WoW didn't take shit from EQ. people were already on the way out when wow released.

How is WoW more polished? EQ has a older engine both graphically and mechanics wise but its not a unpolished game.

EQ has ten times the content of WoW, a more interesting gameworld, better classes, better raids and actual risk!

 

I really wish people that started MMOs with WoW would stop posting.

Actually, the guys at Blizzard have already said that WoW is based on EQ.  I cannot remember the direct quote but it was something like:

We set out to make the best EQ possible.

Originally posted by grimfall

Originally posted by metalhead980

 

Wtf are you talking about? WoW didn't take shit from EQ. people were already on the way out when wow released.

How is WoW more polished? EQ has a older engine both graphically and mechanics wise but its not a unpolished game.

EQ has ten times the content of WoW, a more interesting gameworld, better classes, better raids and actual risk!

 

I really wish people that started MMOs with WoW would stop posting.

 

Actually, the guys at Blizzard have already said that WoW is based on EQ.  I cannot remember the direct quote but it was something like:

We set out to make the best EQ possible.

The head guys that created WoW played EQ hardcore but thats not what im saying. I'm saying that EQ wasn't a unpolished game.

EQ was already losing subs due to certain expansion content when WoW released. Other games were taking EQ subs already (DAoC, AO, AC and UO was still going).

I'm also saying EQ still has a few really great features in it that are better done than in WoW.

OP what happened to EQ was SOE sucks and it basically killed itself, similar to how WoW wont die by another MMO and will either die of old age or some stupid Xpac that changes shit for the worst.

 EQ has crap combat and WoW has the best.

Originally posted by Varny

 EQ has crap combat and WoW has the best.

WoW combat is EQ combat turned up to 300% speed.

Seriously I could run into BG's with my warrior and slide my face across the keyboard and completely own people because I could spin around them faster.

I wish I could record the sound of my brother pvping in WoW it sounds like hes having hardcore sex with his keyboard.

There is no skill or tactics involved in combat like that just strafing around a players spamming a few keys faster than the other guy.

My kids play a game with just as much skill its called Hungry, hungry hippos.

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Varny

 EQ has crap combat and WoW has the best.

 

WoW combat is EQ combat turned up to 300% speed.

Seriously I could run into BG's with my warrior and slide my face across the keyboard and completely own people because I could spin around them faster.

I wish I could record the sound of my brother pvping in WoW it sounds like hes having hardcore sex with his keyboard.

There is no skill or tactics involved in combat like that just strafing around a players spamming a few keys faster than the other guy.

My kids play a game with just as much skill its called Hungry, hungry hippos.

Rofl I'm beginning to like you sir. Well put. I used to PVP in WoW quite a bit, I actually knocked my keyboard off the desk a few times because of how fast / hard I was pressing the keys. Hence, I don't play it anymore.

Go play EQ and then play WoW and then say that, WoW takes much more skill and the game actually has good PVP where your skill can mean you can take on 3 vs 1. 

WoW is so much better, all my friends prefer it's combat and that is why it's so popular and EQ is dead.

Originally posted by Varny

Go play EQ and then play WoW and then say that, WoW takes much more skill  ( GEAR / Latency) and the game actually has good PVP where your skill can mean you can take on 3 vs 1. 

WoW is so much better, all my friends prefer it's combat and that is why it's so popular and EQ is dead.

Fixed that for you, skill is rarely a factor.

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Originally posted by scotczech
WOW is ezmode, original EQ had a challenge and a real death penalty, games now are crap ezmode junk.
 

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You kids get off my lawn!!