Would Everquest have the potential to compete with World of Warcraft? - Game|Gravity

punchbunny · 02-14-2009, 04:45 PM

For those of us lucky enough to experience the end-game portion of Everquest, we all know that indescribable feeling. Whether it be the feeling of the first time you fought Venril Sathir, saw the size of Mithaniel Marr, or finished your first epic quest, Everquest's immersion and gameplay set the bar for all MMORPGs to come. Sadly, with the release of World of Warcraft and Everquest 2, Everquest lost a lot of subscribers, and continued to decline from there on. Since the launch of WoW, many other MMOs have failed, such as Vanguard, Age of Conan, Warhammer, etc.

Why does World of Warcraft continue to dominate the MMORPG market? My guess is because Blizzard kept World of Warcraft simple. Pretty much any computer today can run WoW with (more than) decent settings. Many people find computers somewhat intimidating. Purchasing a video card with specs good enough to run a specific game is hard enough when you know an average amount of computers. Nevertheless, installing said video card without calling the geek squad may seem an impossible task to many people. Additionally, most people don't want to spend $350 for a video card in addition to $50 just for the game.

So, with that in mind, when Everquest II and World of Warcraft were released in November 2004, with Everquest II requiring much better computer specs, it's obvious as to why WoW was able to surpass Everquest II in subscribers. It's almost as if 99% of game dev's dont realize that not everyone who plays video games has a computer that can run Crysis on the highest settings. Then they wonder why all their subscribers go back to WoW. Population of an MMO is also a big issue, because if theres a low population, people are going to leave. However, going back to computer specs, population is going to be deterred if the game requires an amazing computer.

My question is, provided Everquest's astonishing lore and gameplay, if SoE was to re-create Everquest with a new engine, which consisted of simple but beautiful graphics, (similar to what World of Warcraft has) Everquest's original gameplay style (With a few improvements, less grind, different quest system) do you think it would have the potential to give World of Warcraft a run for it's money?

ghost · 02-14-2009, 09:47 PM

SOE had some issues. What soe was doing to subscribers is not exactly what I'd call good bussiness practice, then again from what I hear from early WOW adopters it wasn't that great on the other side of the fence.

When wow was luanched it was something new. Since then WOW has lived of herd ecenomics. People play wow becuase more peaople play wow than anything else. It's an assumed thing that becuase WOW has so many players it's better. Human nature is pretty ignorant in the way it rates and judges things. I have no doubt WOW is a great game, for some people. Though it's obvious it's winning out through marketing and not it's gameplay.

So in my opinion, NO. If EQ was re released with a new engine people would not flock to its banner. Maybe at one stage it was the engine requirements that cuased the isssues but not now. SEO made its mistakes, and as such Everquest players are gonna have to live with them.

02-14-2009, 04:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
punchbunny Electrolyte Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 65	Would Everquest have the potential to compete with World of Warcraft? For those of us lucky enough to experience the end-game portion of Everquest, we all know that indescribable feeling. Whether it be the feeling of the first time you fought Venril Sathir, saw the size of Mithaniel Marr, or finished your first epic quest, Everquest's immersion and gameplay set the bar for all MMORPGs to come. Sadly, with the release of World of Warcraft and Everquest 2, Everquest lost a lot of subscribers, and continued to decline from there on. Since the launch of WoW, many other MMOs have failed, such as Vanguard, Age of Conan, Warhammer, etc. Why does World of Warcraft continue to dominate the MMORPG market? My guess is because Blizzard kept World of Warcraft simple. Pretty much any computer today can run WoW with (more than) decent settings. Many people find computers somewhat intimidating. Purchasing a video card with specs good enough to run a specific game is hard enough when you know an average amount of computers. Nevertheless, installing said video card without calling the geek squad may seem an impossible task to many people. Additionally, most people don't want to spend $350 for a video card in addition to $50 just for the game. So, with that in mind, when Everquest II and World of Warcraft were released in November 2004, with Everquest II requiring much better computer specs, it's obvious as to why WoW was able to surpass Everquest II in subscribers. It's almost as if 99% of game dev's dont realize that not everyone who plays video games has a computer that can run Crysis on the highest settings. Then they wonder why all their subscribers go back to WoW. Population of an MMO is also a big issue, because if theres a low population, people are going to leave. However, going back to computer specs, population is going to be deterred if the game requires an amazing computer. My question is, provided Everquest's astonishing lore and gameplay, if SoE was to re-create Everquest with a new engine, which consisted of simple but beautiful graphics, (similar to what World of Warcraft has) Everquest's original gameplay style (With a few improvements, less grind, different quest system) do you think it would have the potential to give World of Warcraft a run for it's money?

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02-14-2009, 09:47 PM	#2 (permalink)
ghost revenant Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 454	SOE had some issues. What soe was doing to subscribers is not exactly what I'd call good bussiness practice, then again from what I hear from early WOW adopters it wasn't that great on the other side of the fence. When wow was luanched it was something new. Since then WOW has lived of herd ecenomics. People play wow becuase more peaople play wow than anything else. It's an assumed thing that becuase WOW has so many players it's better. Human nature is pretty ignorant in the way it rates and judges things. I have no doubt WOW is a great game, for some people. Though it's obvious it's winning out through marketing and not it's gameplay. So in my opinion, NO. If EQ was re released with a new engine people would not flock to its banner. Maybe at one stage it was the engine requirements that cuased the isssues but not now. SEO made its mistakes, and as such Everquest players are gonna have to live with them.