Everquest 2 the worst thing to happen to Eq 1?

I think Eq would have many more players if Everquest 2 had not been released. People who think of trying an Everquest game for the first time these days will naturally try EQ2, as it's a newer product, even though IMO it's a much more inferior product. So EQ2 is basically taking away many customers who would have perhaps tried EQ1 and enjoyed it and kept on playing.

I tried EQ2 for a while and it just felt like a poorer version of Eq1.

I don't really agree with any of the op's points. If you like a game you will stick to it. You might stray for a bit but you'll always come back to it.

I think EQ2 is a pretty good game. The only thing I don't like about it is how they condensed and watered down all the attributes. EQ1 and EQ2 are hard to compare. They both play quite differently. I enjoy playing both.

Just wait for EQN!

Never played EQ2, never wanted too. Watched some of my friends play it and when the forge almost killed the dude trying to do the combine, was like yep that does not appeal to me. If you could transfer characters from EQ1 to EQ2 would consider it, same principle will more than likely apply to whether or not EQN is purchased.

I was referring to people who've never experienced Everquest1 and wanted to give the Everquest franchise a go. They will probably end up trying EQ2, and if they don't like it most likely won't try EQ1.

The hope for eq2 was that players would play and pay for both games. The reality is that most (no, not all, but most) picked 1 or the other. This leaves Sony with marginally more income while having to either provide twice the support, or water down the support for each game in order to maintain profits. EQ next will just stretch things further.

Ah, I see. I would say that about any modern / semi-modern game. Once they get spoiled by the conveniences of those UI's and game mechanics there is no way they would play something a lot less convenient. They wouldn't want to stay long enough to find out how truly great EQ1 is.

I came back from a 7 year EQ1 break earlier this year. Getting used to the game again was a bit rough at first. If I didn't have all those great memories from the past I would have just uninstalled.

EQN is f2p so it will be added to your account either way No need to purchase it.

I think with the vast majority of other games who are far more friendly to new players, players with little time to dedicate, and hundreds to thousands of people to play with at all levels are the biggest reasons people don't play outdated, old graphic, time required games like EQ. EQ2 has little to do with it.

EQ also doesn't have the great reputation people here seem to believe it does. There is some reverence given to it, but most gamers look at EQ as the old game where players go to be tortured in my experience.

EQ would have way more players if... lots of things didn't happen.

Hit the nail on the head in my opinion, i have gamer friends who hop from game to game but either won't come back or are unwilling to try it for that reason.

I am glad I have good self esteem, because telling other gamers that I still play EQ sometimes feels like being the kid who eats his boogers.

I tried to introduce my friend from wow to EQ and really the game play reall just wasnt modern enough for him to give it a fair shot. He didn't mind EQ2 though

Honestly the graphic difference between EQ and current games is the graphic difference between EQ and Runescape almost. Some don't care about looks, but the gaming industry has realized that looks matter to people and they always have. If you don't want to look like a LEGO character, you don't play EQ.

The lack of balance is part of what I like about EQ. WoW is well balanced but it feels like a spreadsheet sometimes more than an immersive game. The items are all perfectly balanced and it's extremely easy to find out what you need, to the point where it becomes boring. In EQ item balance is all over the place, and that's fun IMO. It means I'm constantly trying to figure out whether X is better than Y, and testing new setups etc. In WoW everyone was copy-paste from one another, the only challenge was grinding enough content.

EQ is a lot more casual player friendly today than it used to be. I love the fact they implemented mercs. The last time I tried raiding I was bored out of my mind though, but the same can be said for WoW raids. It's leveling up, trying out new setups, new zones etc which I love in EQ, mainly because it's so unpredictable.

I agree with you.

EQ1 isnt a fun game to play anymore. Its not "fun" in the true sense of the word. A lot of us that are still playing, only play for two reasons:
1) Our Guild
2) Our Friends

Take either of those away from specific people, and they'd retire and never look back.

I would think the biggest thing hurting EQ is that it is old. It looks old, it feels very old, and the playerbase is old too. Also, the game is not what it used to be.

No longer do we get 2 major updates(usually it was but not always), but instead went from 1 major expansion a year to now we have updates throughout the year (instead of a finished product all at once).

The game is so big and so old that no longer can anyone update the game reasonably with things such as better graphics engine, new models, and other things that while most here don't mind if they never change it is necessary to compete with other games in a reasonable way.

Eq has went from a blockbuster game in the late 90s and the turn of the century to a very small(population and content at max level) game with a smaller and smaller amount of people working on it and smaller amounts of newer content.

In many ways, EQ is an overrated game by the people who play it to the point that those who play EQ cannot objectively talk about it. People who are not heavily invested in the game can see its flaws easily compared to people currently playing EQ.

Only thing stopping it from being wiped out entirely is that noboby in the MMO business seems to want to make a sandbox game that is very difficult to advance in without help. WoW as bad as the game is, for anyone who remembers there was a mass exodus when that game came out and it all pretty much started there. Some came back, but most did not.

Has that been formally annoucned as such? I'm still expecting an expansion later this year. The model where they release additional content as part of that expansion is something EQ2 has been doing for a bit now, and something WoW has done every since I've played. It's a smart move to deliver more content on a consistent basis, rahter than a big batch of content and then nothing.

Single biggest exodus came as a result of the worst broken pos expansion ever, namely gates of discord, combined with the release of WoW

GoD, the move to DirectX7 or was it 8 and changes to the bounding boxes not going smoothly, WoW hitting EQ when it was vulnerable, EQ2, and SOE's marketing effort at the time. To that I suppose one should add EQ's lack of soloability and comparative lack of solo quests.

I think it's laughable that one opposing game (no matter which one you pick) is supposed to be the worst thing to happen to EQ1. Let's be realistic. It's the expanding and over-saturated market of MMOs that is the worst thing to happen. It's also, as others have stated, EQ itself. After EQ, people started making games where you did more than just stand around in one spot for hours on end, waiting for a rare mob to spawn. EQ has stuck to the same pattern and never really evolved in any way.