I Just Thought About This...

[Deathrydar]

Last night I was trying to figure out why this game sucks me in the way it does, as opposed to something like Classic WoW for instance.

I was so prepared for Classic WoW, and it couldn't hold my interest for a month.

Anyway, I was comparing my two favorite cities in my head from each game, Freeport vs Stormwind, and I couldn't figure out why I loved that horrible looking linear city of Freeport, compared to the bustling, beautiful city of Stormwind.

Then I thought about the feeling of zoning into the cities. I thought about the first thing you see when you run into each city; the guards.

I thought about the fact that Guard Monson and Guard Jacsen defend the Freeport gates.

I then realized that every single guard and NPC have distinct names in EQ, as compared to the mindless drones of a "Stormwind Guard" in WoWc. EQ makes the world alive. WoWc did a good job, but they made it "too big" to make the world feel like there were 39403143102890 guards in the city and lost me in it.

What do you think?

[Hoppkins_Wytchfinder]

Stormwind is beautiful and they obviously spent a lot of time on the aesthetics. Buuuuut most of it is just pretty textures. Very little of it in practice is of any use. So you just find yourself running through textures for 2-3 mins to get to one of the guilds which is on the other side of the city.

It seems like an artificial way of making it feel like a big city. Freeport seems more organicaly spaced out.

Again i love WoW but i struggle to remember the names of any amazing weapons, amazing people i played with etc because simply put the game is so accessible it makes everything trivial.

I dont remember peoples names (apart from some guildies) because no dungeon was worth remembering. I just passed through it over and over, painting by numbers. Nothing was ever a REAL challenge (bar raiding)

All the loot i got was just borderlands iterations mostly of a generic weapon

IRON SWORD OF THE <insert animal name>
STRIKING DAGGER OF <something or other>

EQ made unique weapons UNIQUE.

FBSS, SSoY, Axe of the Ironback, Fungi Covered Tunic. They all stick in my mind.

The people i struggled with. I could name 30-40 names easily of people i played with.

By making WoW so accessible (so as to not disappoint or annoy people and thus make more cash) they took away something which made games so memorable. EQ had guts.

[PieOats]

I would like to thank OP for thinking about these things, so that I need not.

[Deathrydar]

Originally Posted by PieOats [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I would like to thank OP for thinking about these things, so that I need not.

Don't get used to it......thinking is hard...

[DMN]

It's even more intricate than you think. A large percent of characters in the game are actually named after verant employees, beta testers, and their friends/family/pets. The names are sometimes jumbled/anagrams, nicknames, backwards etc. I've even got a character named after me, and I was just a closed beta tester. Pretty neat.

[PieOats]

Originally Posted by Deathrydar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Don't get used to it......thinking is hard...

I've the *UTMOiST* confidence in you, my boy.

*EDIT* DMN ran interference and I was forced to append my poast with a quote, so that it made sense.

[Deathrydar]

Originally Posted by DMN [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's even more intricate than you think. A large percent of characters in the game are actually named after verant employees, beta testers, and their friends/family/pets. The names are sometimes jumbled/anagrams, nicknames, backwards etc. I've even got a character named after me, and I was just a closed beta tester. Pretty neat.

Yeah, I saw the Game of Thrones characters and realized how awesome it is.

[Mblake81]

Originally Posted by Deathrydar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Last night I was trying to figure out why this game sucks me in the way it does, as opposed to something like Classic WoW for instance.

I was so prepared for Classic WoW, and it couldn't hold my interest for a month.

Anyway, I was comparing my two favorite cities in my head from each game, Freeport vs Stormwind, and I couldn't figure out why I loved that horrible looking linear city of Freeport, compared to the bustling, beautiful city of Stormwind.

Then I thought about the feeling of zoning into the cities. I thought about the first thing you see when you run into each city; the guards.

I thought about the fact that Guard Monson and Guard Jacsen defend the Freeport gates.

I then realized that every single guard and NPC have distinct names in EQ, as compared to the mindless drones of a "Stormwind Guard" in WoWc. EQ makes the world alive. WoWc did a good job, but they made it "too big" to make the world feel like there were 39403143102890 guards in the city and lost me in it.

What do you think?

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Originally Posted by Deathrydar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, I saw the Game of Thrones characters and realized how awesome it is.

First book released in 1996, iirc the same year work began on EQ. They launched within 3 years.

[Deathrydar]

Originally Posted by Mblake81 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]



First book released in 1996, iirc the same year work began on EQ. They launched within 3 years.

Yeah. Sansa and Joffrey are in one place and Shae is in another. No idea if there are more out there.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Deathrydar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah. Sansa and Joffrey are in one place

Qeynos for those curious. Dunno where Shae is.