EverQuest II versus World of Warcraft:
Clash of the Titans
Written by Mark \"Deathstryker\" Norris
Part I. Introduction
My name is Mark \"Deathstryker\" Norris, and I\'m an Associate Editor for IGN Vault Network. I\'ve been playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) since the beta release of Microsoft\'s Asheron\'s Call game in June of 1999 (Asheron\'s Call is now owned by its developer, Turbine). This doesn\'t set me apart from a number of gamers that began playing MMORPGs a long time ago (those who began with Ultima Online have been playing since 1998, those playing text based MUDs have been playing even longer), but it does give you an idea of how long I\'ve been around. I have beta tested or played every mainstream MMORPG that has been released from 1999 to today, and feel this gives me a certain qualification that only that level of experience (both depth in each game, and breadth across the genre) can provide.
Additionally, I am affiliated with IGN\'s Vault Network. The Vault Network is the largest compilation of MMORPG fansites on the internet, and is run by the corporate entity known as IGN Entertainment. The Vault Network board system is the most frequently used board system on the entire internet, and from this board system a large number of varying opinions has been introduced to me in regards to MMORPG designs, what gamers\' want, and what games are built with inherent flaws. Being an Associate Editor for the IGN Vault Network has allowed me access to the developers of most of the major development teams (SOE, Turbine, NCSoft\'s myriad teams, etc.), and this allows me to get an additional perspective on MMORPG design, and gives me an idea of what works in an MMORPG, what fans want but simply can not have with today\'s technology, and what flat out does not work.
Why do I spend two paragraph\'s detailing myself, when this article is about EverQuest II (EQ2) and World of Warcraft (WoW)? Because I believe a preview of a game, and a comparison of two different games is only good as the person writing the comparison or preview. While any Tom, Dick, or Suzy can find a message board and type out five simple words, \"EQ2 is better than WoW\", those words mean little if the words aren\'t substantiated by examples. That is what this article is about. It is about detailing and comparing two games, two games that will be behemoths in the MMORPG genre, and that will for the first time in the short lifespan of the genre release very close to each other. It is the proximity of their release dates which causes many gamers to sit down and ask the question, \"If I am to buy and subscribe to only one of these games, which should it be?\" This article will attempt to answer that question for you.
Part II. The Games, Developers, and Publishers
World of Warcraft is a game that is being developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is owned by Vivendi Universal (note that Blizzard is not an independent studio like most people believe), and has been creating quality games for quite some time. Some of the more notable games that have been created by Blizzard include the Warcraft Real Time Strategy (RTS) series of games, Starcraft (another RTS title), and the Diablo series of games which are Role Playing in nature, but not set in a persistent world (which is what MMORPGs are set in). One of Blizzard\'s greatest strengths is its Quality Assurance program. This program is much better than many other software developer company\'s QA programs, and most Blizzard titles ship relatively bug free. The QA program Blizzard uses does have a small draw back. The game is often delayed for a lengthy period of time in order to ensure the produce ships as bug free as possible.
World of Warcraft is Blizzard\'s first foray into the MMORPG genre. The game began development roughly three years ago, and is on track to release sometime in the fall of this year. The release will be a world wide release, and a large number of WoW\'s subscribers are believed to be coming from the Asian market (specifically the Korean market). World of Warcraft is based on the Warcraft RTS series created by Blizzard, and the game\'s timeline picks up roughly five years after the conclusion of Warcraft 3\'s expansion, The Frozen Throne.
EverQuest II is a title that is being developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment. Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has created a number of notable games over the last few years, with the most notable games being EverQuest (which was acquired when SOE purchased the Verant development studio), and Star Wars Galaxies (which was developed by SOE and published by LucasArts). It is also important to note that SOE is now working on their eighth expansion to the original EverQuest game.
Obviously, SOE has quite a bit of experience in producing MMORPGs. Currently, it is believed that EverQuest still holds the largest number of active subscriptions in the North American market, and Star Wars Galaxies follows in second place. EverQuest II is set to release in late fall, early winter of 2004, which places it in the same release timeframe that World of Warcraft is slated for. EQ2\'s story picks up 500 years after the original EverQuest title; the world of Norrath is vastly different than what original EverQuest players will be accustomed to.
Part III. Warning and Notes
Both of these games are currently in \"beta\". While beta indicates that a game is not yet finished, the development teams for both WoW and EQ2 have chosen to start beta later in the life of the game than is customary. When players enter the beta world for these games, there is still a great interest in the actual test, but more and more emphasis is being placed on \"marketing\" the games in the beta phase. Both of the games are extremely polished for being in a beta phase, and this may lead to shorter beta development cycles. That said, things can and will change in beta, and those changes can very well affect the findings in this column.
I\'d also like to add that the findings in this article are mine, and mine alone. I\'ve spent roughly 20 hours playing each title, which is enough for a comparison of the early parts of each game, and a comparison on game design. This comparison will not address \"end game concerns\", or high level content comparisons. Certainly those are two very important considerations that need to be accounted for when making a purchase decision between the two games, but both titles have chosen to \"lock\" the high level content away from beta players. This has been done so that beta players will not be able to explore and do everything before the game releases, and it allows for developers to keep some surprises from the prying eyes of fansites who detail every quest and place every item in a database, and gives gamers who enjoy \"the race to be the first\" something to look forward to.
If you read the previous two paragraphs and believe this comparison will be incomplete, I welcome you to stop reading it at this point. I will update this comparison after the games release, but it will not help for me to hold this comparison from gamers who are on the fence about which title to buy when the games do release. This comparison is meant as a guide, or a tool if you will, it will not be all encompassing for some period of time still.
Part IV. Game Comparison- Basic Character/Class Design
This part is going to be broken down into a large number of areas that are essential to the success of an MMORPG. The order in which the sections appear are at random and each one can be construed to be as important as any other.
IV A. Character Choices- Race/Species
World of Warcraft will include eight races/species that a player can choose from. The choices are broken up into two separate \"sides\", one side being the side called \"Alliance\" and the other side called \"Horde\". The Alliance side is comprised of the Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves, and Night Elves. The Horde is represented by the Undead, Tauren, Orcs, and Trolls. Each race has its own starting area, and each of the races has a distinct look and size. Additionally, each race has certain innate characteristics. For example, Humans receive additional skill points, dwarves receive an additional capacity for finding treasure and are resistant to cold magic, and the Tauren have increased run speed on \"plains\" type areas. Additionally, each race has different starting stats which. The Tauren have increased strength but lower intellect, the Undead are the exact opposite. Lastly, certain classes can be played only be certain races. One of these classes is the Paladin, which can be played only by Dwarves and Humans.
EverQuest II doubles World of Warcraft\'s racial offerings. 16 playable races are present in EverQuest II, and they are similarly divided into two different sides. The evil races will begin in the militaristic dictatorial city of Freeport, the good races will begin in the peace loving city of Qeynos. The races offered in EverQuest II include Barbarians, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Erudites, Frogloks, Gnomes, Halflings, Half Elves, High Elves, Humans, Iksar, Kerran, Ogre, Ratonga, Trolls, and Wood Elves. As with World of Warcraft, each race has a very distinct look and size. The races in EverQuest II each have different resist percentages to various damage types, and some races have an \"enhanced vision\" which can be triggered with a key on the keyboard. These vision types include sonicvision, infravision, and a few other types. Each race has unique starting attribute stats, making them prone to a certain class type. An Ogre has the highest starting strength of all races, but the lowest intelligence. This would make this race excel at fighting but be weak at magic. However, in EverQuest II, all races can be all classes, so should you wish to play an Ogre mage, you can do so.
When comparing the two games in this area, EverQuest II simply has more racial choices. The added bonus of being able to choose any race and still play any class you wish is an ability of EverQuest II to introduce choice to their game. Choice is extremely important for gamers, and the more choices the gamer has, the better that game becomes. And additional factor that weighs in EQ2\'s favor include the unique vision abilities. EverQuest II wins the racial battle.
IVB. Character Choices- Customization
World of Warcraft includes five customization sliders for each race (except Gnome females, they only have four). These sliders are called Skin Color, Face, Hair Style, Hair Color, and Facial Hair. The skin color slider has approximately 14 different color hues per character, except for Tauren and Undead, which have slightly fewer (there are only so many shades of dead). The face slider changes the face completely, and each race has approximately 15 or so choices. The hair style slider is next, and each race has about 20 different hair styles. Important to note here is that the hair style slider for the Tauren actually adjusts the horns for the Tauren. Hair color simply changes the hair color, and each race has between 11 and 13 color choices. The final slider is facial hair. For women, this changes the piercing options. Options include; one ear may be pierced, both ears, and no ears. Nose rings may also be available. For men, this option allows for beards, mustaches, goatees, and no facial hair. There are also some neat options here for certain classes, as the undead have a wide variety of grotesque features (such as having no lower jaw), the Night Elves can change their face paint, and the trolls can adjust their fangs.
EverQuest II quite possibly has the largest amount of character customization available in any game, anywhere (some City of Heroes players may disagree). I won\'t detail every single customization option available for the sake of brevity. There are five main \"areas\" and each area has between three and five separate slider options. Here are the areas, and a few of the sliders in each area. The first major customization focus area is eyes. Under this area are three sliders: eyes- slider bar for eye location on head, eye brow- slider bar for eyebrow tilt and location and eye color- palette style color options, all colors are available. Next is the head area option. The first option under the head area is ears. There is an ear size slider bar, and an ear location slider bar. The next option under head is cheeks. The sliders available with under cheeks include a full/thin slider, and a high/low slider bar. The third option in the head category is the chin. The options under chin are a narrow/wide slider bar, a short/long slider bar, and a thick/thin slider bar. The fourth option under head is lips. Lips options are a down/up slider bar, a full/thin slider bar, and a narrow/wide slider bar. The final option under head is the nose. The areas you can adjust under nose include a nose tilt slider bar, a skinny/wide slider bar, and a short/long slider bar. The next major area of customization is skin color; again, a color palette is provided for each race that includes almost all colors. There is also a slider bar under skin color that is an age slider. The age slider is an option similar to SWG where the slider makes a huge difference in appearance. As if these features weren\'t enough, there are more! The next major customization is hair. Under hair is a drop down menu called accessories. This basically means hair style/racial specials. Some of the neater options include the options for trolls that have nails jutting through their eyelids, and the half elves, which have a number of peculiar piercings. There is also a fourth customization area called body, where you can adjust your beginning clothes and your size to a small degree. In addition to all of that, certain races have special customization features. The Barbarians have woads, the Dwarves have stratums, the Gnomes have eyes pieces, and the Iksar have reptile like frills that adorn their heads. Possibly the neatest customization belongs to the Kerra, where their fur patterns and fur color can be adjusted.
Obviously, SOE has spent no expense in ensuring that players are unique from one another. This incorporates a second major facet that MMORPG developers consider important, character uniqueness. It also allows players choice, which as previously mentioned is always a good thing. While Blizzard\'s character customization options are indeed adequate for their purpose, SOE simply outdoes them in this category.
IVC. Classes
World of Warcraft gives players nine original classes to choose from at character creation. These classes are druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock, and warrior. There will also be something called \"hero classes\" which players can choose from in order to further specialize their characters. These classes, which are not in the current beta build due to the level cap in beta currently being level 39, include the archmage, beastmaster, berserker, blademaster, crypt lord, dark ranger, death knight, demon hunter, dread lord, druid of the claw, druid of the talon, far seer, keeper of the grove, lich, mountain king, necromancer, pit lord, priestess of the moon, rifleman, shadow hunter, spirit walker, tauren chieftain, warden, and witch doctor. This makes a total of 33 classes that players may ultimately attain in game. Craft skills are trained per character, and are not included as a separate subset. One other thing to note here is that the selected class will increase the character\'s attribute that governs it. For example, if you choose a warrior, your character will gain a plus two to strength.
Note: The hero classes listed here for WoW are not confirmed. It was mentioned by the Blizzard team that the hero classes would be taken from the classes in Warcraft III, and these are the classes that are in Warcraft III. These classes may or may not appear in the game at release.
EverQuest II takes a bit of a different approach. Your character starts as one of four very basic archetypes; mage, fighter, priest, or scout. From those basic classes, places will make a further class customization choice at levels 10 and 20. There are a total of 40 combat classes that can be chosen from. These options are brawlers (which include bruisers and monks), crusaders (which include paladins and shadowknights), warriors (which include berserkers and guardians), enchanters (which include coercers and illusionists), sorcerers (which include wizards and warlocks), summoners (which includes conjurors and necromancers), clerics (which include inquisitors and templars), druids (which include furies and wardens), shaman (which include defilers and mystics), bards (which include dirge and troubadours), predators (which include assassins and rangers), and rogues (which include brigand and swashbuckler). In addition to your battle class, every character will be able to specialize in one of the artisan classes. The artisan classes include builders (which house the crafters and smiths) and the scholars (which include the sages and alchemists).
Again, I give the nod here to EverQuest II. More combat class choices, and additional artisan choices give EQ2 a slight edge over WoW. Another key thing to consider here is that in EQ2 you make three combat class choices, and in WoW you only make two. This is important because it allows a further distinguishing of your character in EQ2 that is does in WoW. Choice and character uniqueness are again the key concepts I considered when rating the winner of this category.
V. User Interface
One of the most important aspects that developers take into account is the playability of the game. How steep is the learning curve? The main factor that affects the learning curve is the user interface. Both games do an admirable job on the user interface. World of Warcraft has a small map in the top right corner that maps out what you can see once you have actually explored the area. In addition to the map, there is an advanced chat tab option that allows you to decide which chat types to include in each chat window. There is an experience meter right underneath the chat windows, and immediately beneath the experience meter is a skill tab on the left, a plethora of click on options in the middle (options like main options, inventory, social, etc), and the players backpacks on the right. The UI is very intuitive and easy to use.
EverQuest II\'s UI is similar, but there is much less displayed on the screen at once. On the top area of the screen there is an experience meter, a group window, and a compass. On the bottom part of the screen is a small EQ2 symbol on the left which houses all the options available on the UI (main options, social options, chat options, etc.). The skills tab is on the bottom middle part of the screen, and there are additional skill options on the bottom right. One thing to note about EverQuest II\'s user interface is that the developers wholly expect gamers to alter it. SOE has no problems with players altering their user interface so long as the alterations don\'t include anything that creates a game imbalance.
The user interface category is a draw. Neither game wins. Both user interfaces are intuitive and easy to use. Additionally, I believe players for WoW will also find a way to alter the WoW user interface, and provide downloads of their user interfaces to the other WoW gamers.
VI. Tutorials
Each game has a tutorial system. World of Warcraft\'s tutorial begins once you have entered the game. You\'ll begin in a small area and move outside. There you will find a NPC with an exclamation point over his head. The NPC will give the character a delivery quest, and the character will learn to move and use the mouselook as he or she searches for the character he needs to speak to next. Upon finding the character (who has a question mark above his head), the quest will complete, and the character will issue the character a short kill X number of enemies quest. This is a combat orientation of sorts. Upon completion of this quest, a number of other NPCs will offer one of three types of quests; kill X number of mobs, kill X number of mobs and gather trophies, or a delivery type quest. All the quests are easy to complete. About level five is when you\'ll receive a quest which will take you out of the starter area and into a main city.
EverQuest II takes the tutorial a step further. The character begins on a boat bound for the Isle of Refuge. While the character is on the boat, the tutorial will take the player through learning how to move the character and the camera, how to open your inventory window, how to initiate combat, and how to buy and sell items. The key difference between EQ2\'s tutorial and WoW\'s tutorial is that EQ2\'s will tell the player precisely what keys need to be pressed, and exactly how to do certain things. After the character completes the short tutorial, the player will do the same exact kinds of quests WoW offers in its first five level quest selections. EQ2 does offer an additional mini-boss encounter at the end of the Isle of Refuge.
The tutorial edge goes to EverQuest II. While many experienced MMORPG players may see a tutorial as a burden, it is essential for those players that are new to the genre. A good first impression is extremely important in a game, and though both games give off great first impressions, the ease of use for the \"noobie\" in the EQ2 tutorial gives it the edge.
VII. Controls
Controls for both games are the same. WASD keys are used for movement; mouselook is used to look around. I personally feel this is the best setup for MMORPGs, and both games do an exceptional job with their controls. Neither game has an advantage in this area.
VIII. Environment
The environment in World of Warcraft is very aesthetic feelings. There are deep shades of purple, moss colored greens, and grand reds strewn about. The game definitely has an artistic touch. The environment in EverQuest II has more of a realistic grandiose feel to it. This is a difficult category to judge, as different gamers have different tastes in this matter. One thing that is really important to me in a MMORPG is that I feel immersed in the game. Though WoW is artistic, it doesn\'t immerse you in the game. For example, the beginning area for the undead in WoW is Deathknell. When you are in this area, the wind is howling madly, and you would expect to see trees being blown back and forth, and the grass swaying wildly. Unfortunately, everything is extremely still. It really detracted from the immersive nature that MMORPGs look to capture. On the other hand, EverQuest II provides those subtle immersive factors in its environment. When a player walks into a still pool of water, ripples radiate out from the player stepping into the water.
It is the subtle attention to detail that the SOE team is providing that puts EverQuest II over the top in this category. The gaming environment is what a player sees the most of, and is therefore an extremely important facet in the development of an MMORPG.
IX. Graphics
I wasn\'t going to touch this category as the issue of artistic graphics versus realism has been beaten to death. However, I believe it deserves some mention. World of Warcraft will release with the lowest system specifications that a MMORPG has released with in the last five releases. The reason behind this is simple, the lower your system specs, the easier it is to market the game to a greater audience. While this is a great idea for the short term, games like EverQuest II and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes have decided to go with a business model that allows their games to scale upward as the game matures. For example, EverQuest II is unplayable by home computers on its highest graphical settings. This is intentional, because the development team wants the game to continue to appear fresh as hardware advances.
While most gamers will take a \"side\" in debate between the artistic look of WoW versus the higher polygon count realistic graphics approach of EQ2, I think gamers are missing the larger picture. Gamers hate playing games that look dated. EverQuest is set for its second major graphics overhaul, and though the graphics will be very good, they still won\'t be even close to the graphics of today\'s MMORPGs. EverQuest II wins this category because the development team at SOE has the foresight to realize that gamers who play a graphical MMORPG want to enjoy the graphics, and when the graphics are still among the best on the market a year after release, two years after release, it leads to player retention.
X. Combat
Combat plays a vital role in MMORPGs. World of Warcraft does a decent job with combat, but there is nothing new that is brought to the table with their combat mechanics. Players still pull one or two creatures, beat on them, rest up a bit, and unleash their fury upon the next set of creatures. While the combat looks good, it doesn\'t create a sense of drama, nor does it require any skill beyond simply clicking on the combat moves you want to use.
EverQuest II has a very similar combat style, but it introduces a feature that creates a reason to stay at your computer instead of clicking attack and walking away. SOE has created the \"combat wheel\". The combat wheel is a circular icon that appears in the bottom right of the screen as you combat a mob. Inside the wheel is a number of icons that relate directly to the spells and combat abilities of the players that are grouped together. If the spells and abilities are used in the correct order indicated by the wheel (and in the time allotted), a special attack is unleashed upon the creatures that the group is facing. The system is similar to Final Fantasy XI\'s skill chain system, but because the wheel is random, it keeps players on their toes more. Additionally, SOE has gone away from the pull one, two, or three mobs to your group, kill them, rest, and do the same thing to the same exact mobs in the same exact spot that is incorporated by WoW. The number of mobs that appear are equitable to the strength of the group, and they don\'t come over one at a time. The mobs are \"linked\". When one of them is attacked, they will all attack. Combat in EQ2 is much more Asheron\'s Call inspired than any other MMORPG to date. The combat wheel in addition to the larger number of mobs that keep the group busy factor gives EverQuest II the edge in the combat department.
XI. Questing
I am not going to speak much on this category. I think both games will have epic style quests in addition to the regular quests, and each game has a substantial number of quests in game (WoW reported 1400, EQ2 reported 1500). As I have yet to level far enough in either game to do any of the truly epic quests, I don\'t feel qualified to make a decision either way on this category yet. I will update this category as I get further along in both games.
XII. Player Versus Player
This is another very difficult category to rate. Initially, this category was all WoW. However, after Blizzard announced that PvP would be consensual on its normal servers, I can\'t in good faith give either game this category. Both games will allow for duels, both games will allow for group duels, and both games allow players to duel for items or money. They both will have arena type settings. WoW will also have what appear to be instanced zones on their normal servers where players can enter and PvP. PvP is not in the current build of WoW, so I can\'t say that what has been reported will be the case. Both games will also feature some sort of PvP special rules set servers. The special rules sets result from both games having two distinct sides, EQ2 having the conflict between good and evil, WoW having the conflict between Alliance and Horde. The key difference here is that Blizzard will have these servers at launch while EQ2 will not have these servers until some undetermined time after launch. In retrospect, I award this category to WoW, because their PvP servers will be available day one of retail.
XIII. Overall Immersiveness
World of Warcraft is a very immersive game. The graphics fit the tone of the game to a \"T\". One of the things that Blizzard did exceptionally well was tie in the lore and the characters from the Warcraft series into World of Warcraft. Players who had played the RTS games would instantly know a number of the major NPCs, and players who are new to Warcraft can find out who they are through the numerous quests that are spread throughout the land. Perhaps one of the most immersive aspects of WoW is the player controlled mounts that can be acquired at level 30. While other games had done mounts before, WoW has added mounts that can fly, and the aerial mounts are one of the shining features of WoW.
While mounts certainly do add some immersion, they do not add the amount of immersion that character voices add. While EverQuest II has gone with the tried and true fantasy setting for their game, they have added one tremendous feature that once a player experiences it, the player will have a difficult time doing without it. That feature is NPC voiceovers. And we aren\'t talking just one NPC. We are talking every single NPC in the entire game. That means when you walk down a street in Qeynos, you can hear vendors shouting wares at you, NPCs that need some sort of quest assistance, and kids running by with their pets. Nothing else screams immersion like being able to see and now hear the game in vivid lifelike realness.
Another major aspect of immersion comes in the form of guilds and player housing. World of Warcraft offers your standard guild setup and that works adequately well for running your guild in game. There is currently no player housing available for either guilds or individuals in World of Warcraft, however it is planned \"sometime after release\". EverQuest II offers two types of guild setups. The first type is called a family. The family has all the functionality of a traditional guild, and it also allows members of the family to have the same last name. The other type of guild in EverQuest II is the \"guild\". Guilds function like families, except that guilds don\'t add a last name to the players who join it, and guilds join up under certain NPC guilds in order to compete in iPvP (indirect player versus player). The higher your guild is ranked within the NPC faction, the better rewards you will receive from the NPC faction. There is also a reward system for the individuals within the guild who contribute the most to the faction\'s success in iPvP. EverQuest II will have an extensive player housing system in place when the game launches. There are two types of housing, individual player dwellings and guild dwellings. The individual player housing in instanced and each house will be fully customizable by the player. There will also be guild houses which will have an exterior. The interiors of these are also customizable (even more so than Star Wars Galaxies).
Though mounts are a great addition to WoW, they simply can\'t compete with NPC voiceovers and a robust housing system. Add in the iPvP system which rewards players and guilds that are taking up the fight for their chosen NPC faction, and overall immersiveness must go EverQuest II\'s favor.
XIV. Conclusion
I rated these two games in the ten categories I believe to be the most important aspects of MMORPG design. The results lean heavily toward EverQuest II\'s favor (six categories won for EQ2, one category win for WoW, and three draws/not enough informations). That said, not all gamers rate all categories equally, and not all gamers will agree with my assessments. The conclusions drawn are my own, and as stated in the first page of this comparison, they come from 20 hours of playtime in each game as well as my knowledge of the MMO industry. With that said, I do believe that WoW will have a higher initial sale through (both games will sell between 250,000 and 400,000 within the first four months). However, I truly believe that SOE\'s commitment to ensuring their game is viable two, three, and four years down the road from now is what will set these games apart when all is said and done. Feel free to email me about this article, I welcome your input.
Very Respectfully,
Mark \"Deathstryker\" Norris
deathstryker@vaultnetwork.com
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