As I mentioned in my previous post, I reactivated WoW to give it a try. Simply put, I hated it.
Hate is a strong word, so let me rephrase that: I didn’t have any fun at all and I logged in frustration. I think EQ2 has spoiled me on MMOs from here on.
In EQ2, there’s no global cooldown. Each combat art and spell has its own cooldown, and fighting isn’t as dependent on auto-attacks. Plus, you have a ton of abilities to choose from, to the point where you may fight two different mobs in two completely different ways.
Going from that back to WoW made my blood elf survival hunter feel slow and weak. I switched to my 64 shaman, and the combat was faster, but I only had a few abilities to use. Spells share cooldowns so if I use an Earth Shock, I have to wait for the spell family to finish its cooldown before I can use another shock spell. During that time, I just stand there auto-attacking.
I played WoW for a long time, so this playstyle isn’t new to me. In fact, EQ2’s hectic playstyle was a challenge for me when I first started playing it. The mobs in EQ2 are tougher than their WoW counterparts, so you can end up fighting them longer, but you have more things to do during combat. Plus, there’s a greater sense of danger in EQ2 combat. My ranger, for example, hits really hard with his arrows but I need to make sure that mob doesn’t get too close to me or I’ll have to start melee, and I didn’t spend my AA on melee: I’m an Archer, focused on ranged combat.
Conversely, on my WoW hunter, my pet took all the damage while I lobbed some arrows, most of which were autoshots. In fact, the only times I died in WoW during my brief return were when I fell to my death. There’s no sense of danger, no risk to worry about.
My return to and subsequent departure from WoW reminded me of why it’s such a popular game: there’s very little risk for quite a bit of reward, and the progression is linear. You start at level 1 and work your way to level 80, with gear upgrades making that process faster. Every mob you kill and quest you do is another step on the way to that level cap goal. So to that end, the game has to sort of stay out of your way, or you’ll give up. With no other objective than leveling, there’s nothing for Blizzard to gain by making you not want to play the game (i. e., difficulty). WoW didn’t use to be this way. The original 1-60 trip was challenging and fun.
My real reason for reactivating WoW was because my brother did the same. But once I subscribed, I never saw him on. Lacking a real reason to play WoW, there’s no point in maintaining the subscription.
And sadly, the same is becoming true of EQ2.
