FFXI bards have nothing on EQ bards...

[Weezingpipes]

Bard also has the highest DPS of anyone swarm kiting 40 guards in halls of honor - is that relevant to a bards role in a party or raid? Didn't think so.

Thanks for not acknowledging you were wrong.

[Akacha]

comparing 2 games is way stupid

back to work now :dead:

[TzaTziki]

I was comparing EQ with EQ...

see u later mer

[Thingol]

THe silliest thing I find about comparing these is you are comparing a 4 year old game (which BTW started the gandra.. Ultima nonwithstanding) with a year old game. You may like the way bards are set up more in this game but to simply say EQ sucks is assinine. Granted, over time it has been geared towards high level players but then again, FFXI is geared towards JP players (Try hunting a moderatly popular NM and way it isn't when it pops claimed due to server lag... NA players are, adn will be at a disadvantage till NA based servers come out). Case and point. EQ is a far more developed game for better or wors. Furthermore before you go and compatre a 4 year old game to a 1year old game.. why don't you hold your judgement till EQ 2 comes out...

[Weezingpipes]

THe silliest thing I find about comparing these is you are comparing a 4 year old game (which BTW started the gandra.. Ultima nonwithstanding) with a year old game. You may like the way bards are set up more in this game but to simply say EQ sucks is assinine. Granted, over time it has been geared towards high level players but then again, FFXI is geared towards JP players (Try hunting a moderatly popular NM and way it isn't when it pops claimed due to server lag... NA players are, adn will be at a disadvantage till NA based servers come out). Case and point. EQ is a far more developed game for better or wors. Furthermore before you go and compatre a 4 year old game to a 1year old game.. why don't you hold your judgement till EQ 2 comes out...

I say EQ sucks because it does suck. It is constantly riddled with broken content, constant class imbalances, and the only solutions they come up with are placating to the class pool who whines the loudest. Combat is simplistic and uninteresting, and encounters over time have simply become dull. Even new ones are just uninspired rehashings, or are so grossly untuned they don't even belong in the game. To say EQ is far more developed is bullshit - 70% of that game is unused content, or simply lacking in content more often than not. They could remove over 40 zones and it would have 0 impact on the game because no one goes there anyway. What I see every day in FF is ALL content is consumed at one point or another, and there really are no worthless zones that are simply taking up space.

What confuses me is saying that over time EQ was geared towards high level players as though it was a bad thing. If anything that is where the majority of the problems existed. There comes a time in games like these when you got the levels, the extra whatever it is (AA in EQ for example), then what do you do? You need new and interesting content. Why? Because the people at this level of the game are probably your longest customers, and are likely to keep playing where as joe blow level 30 dies somewhere stupid a lot and quits. It is common sense to want to keep your existing customer base happy which unfortunately SOE forgot over time. I also fail to see how FF is geared towards japanese players exactly. The server timing issue is largely unrelated to content of the game and is a seperate problem anyway. The only thing I agree on is there needs to be NA servers for more reasons than just server timing.

Having played EQ for about 4 years, here is what I can say about it : leveling is a chore, it was never actually fun or challenging or really satisfying, it was just a means to an end. The quests were really uninteresting and were really not memorable, the only thing that mattered was the loot. I mean I really had no clue what the story line was in my characters epic quest years ago because it was completely uninteresting and loosely tied together in a really stupid way - I could sum it up with "mash these 4 sticks together to make this staff" because the NPC might as well have said that. While the standard quests in FF are mostly filler storylines that are largely irrelevant and basic (although the advanced job quests have a few interesting story lines), the missions are quite interesting, and the AF quests for example have pretty nifty storylines which all amounts to a more memorable and enjoyable play experience. The tradeskill system in EQ was hugely flawed in that no skill could create anything good under 200 skill (ie anything good means shit people would actually want to buy or use), whereas the craft system in FF ties in well with the level restrictions on items, crafting doesn't take nearly the time investment to get high skill just having the materials, and you can break down lower skill products into material components to use in other recipes. The timesinks don't even compare either, one is bearable, another is needlessly eating away at hours just for the sake of eating away at time.

If you are holding your breath for EQ 2, prepare for disappointment.

[Akacha]

Bah EQ is fun when i go bersek on my guild :angel:
Actually playing FF makes me enjoy EQ again, they complete each other nicely for me

[Tekktrina]

Well to add to this discussion a small bit...

I also played a Bard on EQ but only up to lvl 35 I believe it was. I do have to say the original poster hit a bit on a valid point in that in EQ I think as a bard you maybe had a bit more... "Cool things to play with" type thing.

I have only played a FFXI bard to 13 as of right now and am enjoying it. But I do recall from a few years ago my EQ bard seemed ot have a bit more variety. I think the biggest thing though I remember was my EQ bard around lvl 30 got the Charm song and I was at level 32 or so able to solo Hill Giants by making 2 of them fight. It was a feat that no other profession could do at that level and was one thing that gave bards a pretty mighty reputation if you were good enough to do it right.

Also Selos was a big deal. I really wish we had some low level run speed song like a level 20 or so song maybe.

Both games have Bards as a bit of a crowd control class so that is similar. Also both games have the HP/MP regen thigns going on so again that is similar.

I also think EQ obviously has many more toys in regards to weapons, masks etc etc but then again the game is older then my youngest son, hehe.

I think the thing I like right now though most about the FFX version of a bard is that the ability to have a sub job and for instance cast WHM spells is a very nice trade off for some of the things that we dont have from EQ.

The EQ bard couldnt flat out cast heals or other enfeebling type spells. Thats a very nice addition. Overall I think it probably balances out. Hell if you want the charming abilities of the EQ bard play a Bard/Beastmaster or something hehe.

Anyway...just my random comments.

[guz_rdm]

Wow, weezing pipes.... I played EQ roughly 4 years, myself, and everything said perfectly sums up my experience. Great post. I'm sure many of the end game players would agree. Seriously, nice post.

BRD 31 WHM 20 RDM 31 BLM 33

[Oluohoo]

Last I checked FFXI is not EQ, get over it

Btw, the JP players only see things about 2-5 seconds before NA players, not that big of a deal.

[Quezi]

Everyone shush and dont talk untill youv tried twisting charm, ablative, and power song, while being the only CC, and meleeing and nukeing at the same time! Minst in daoc where hard if you cared to try and squeeze all that out of them. I had 3 pages of primary macros as i had to hit them in various orders to keep things from falling apart. Then i had macros to change my macros! Constantly switching between three equipment setups..


Granted most minst would just stand around with power song on doing minor cc and every once in a wile shouting a dd or a stun to save the casters from getting pounded on untill a melee could taunt, and thats what i did for the most part. But me and my friend liked to duo, and when your duoing and trying to take out epic mobs with just the two of you, every single bit of extra anything helps alot. We triod both our epic quests, took out the iron guardian as a duo.. well blah the only thing that really ever gave us trouble was mordrid. One time we took a keep with just three people=p Minst pally and arms, no wierd assassin wall climbing, no tricks. We beat down the door, cleared the archers, and took out the lord with just the three of us, full frontal assault, no pansy crap=P

PS, ultima wasnt the only mmorpg prior to EQ, there where plenty of 'graphical MUDs' as i like to call them before that=P And really compared to some of them eq isnt that great, really EQ had the best advertiseing department, infact before eq most mmorpgs didint advertise AT ALL=P I dont dislike eq tho, it was fun when it started, it was just how it ended up that sucked.