I think someone already said this. The power gamer-zoom to 70 as fast as possible- is going to be back. Like EQ in it's first release, the end game is just not there yet. The battlegrounds aren't active, most raid dungeons aren't active, ect ect-
But don't under estimate the power of their draw when they are. The first planned expansion is designed wholely around end game content, and it looks like it'll be done right, like everything else.
The problem with returning to eq is that the simplest common things are done wrong. Death. Travel. Quests. None are player friendly, but time shink friendly. Flagging was the ultimate. It's work, not play.
Not only is Death in Wow handled correctly, but you actually have a sense of being dead. Travel is about the same , you can port in with the right class, boats, but they added 'flight' for mini zone jumps which are a lot more interesting than PoK port stones. But the one overwhelming difference here is your not traveling through 15 bad zones to reach the one good playabale zone. All zones are playable while in the level range.
That's the real kicker. Who cannot remember each EQ expansion release and not remember the actual number of zones one passed through and ones actually stopped and played in. Was it even a third of the expansion? A quarter? Sometimes only 3 or 4 zones out of twenty.
This simply doesn't exist in WoW. Nothing is slapped together to 'get fixed when we have time' nonesense.
Eq could, and should, take note and acknowledge it's short comings and fix them. Why not implement graveyards in every zone? Why not simply remove the XP penalty? Why not introduce quests that actually made sense and could be followed? Why not make 'instances' for solo, group or raid? This isn't just common in WoW, it's becoming the norm of a lot of other games as well. Anarchy Online has done it before LDON even was released. LDON could have held the casual player had it done so, but EQ kept focusing on the hardcore player, and to a great extent still does.
Now, those same Hardcore players are all whining and leaving. Why, because almost all the content in EQ was designed for high number raids. When players left for WoW and EQ2 all your doors, and options, left with them. Leaving you with group and solo content, that even after over 5 years, is pretty damn thin.
Isn't that the core reasons? Isn't that why this thread has grown to 6 pages as of this post? Isn't that why 90 percent who stayed, or are back, are for the most part the hard core I don't do nothing but play type of gamer?
Plus the overwhelming differences in customer service has to be blaring. In WoW the GMs have done an overwhelming job of keeping the game clean. No tweaks, no 'buy money on ebay' game unbalancing nonesense. They are very agressive on this. Eq has turned it's back on it. It's now commplace and players have had to adjust to the end effects.
And another example: I had a toon named Beastryder on a WoW RPG server. At level 40 I logged in to find my name change to Airion. Logged off, checked my email and low and behold there's one from Blizzard - name not within our naming policy. Not fantasy or medevil in origin. Hummmm, I though. OH really? I'm a hunter, I tame beasts. I ride a beast. I think I'll challenge this> and made the aforementioned argument in an email and sent it off. Not 24 hours had passed and I got a response. They revearsed their decision and named my character back. Now, Would any of this have ever happened in EQ? Would they have even noticed the name to begin with to question it. And in the very unlikely event they had, do any really think my email would have gotten any response, let alone action, in less than a 24 hour period?
The truth of the matter, WoW has one annoying thing common with EQ that has not been addressed. The Newbie zones. Starting a toon, or simply having to travel through the zone and look at the general chat is just as annoying as it is in EQ. The "I do I..." "where is..." "can you help me..." to the constant arguments of the two newbs who are convinced they are right goes on just like in eq. But thankfully, once your out of Darkshore, for example, it goes away.....
