Brief Comparison Between Online Games (MMOs)
Review of Age of Conan, Everquest II and Pirates of the Burning Sea
Apr 1, 2009
Online gaming is not new. Millions of people play MMO’s (Massively Multiplayer Online), sometimes called, MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), as a way to wind down, keep in touch with friends or family who live interstate or overseas, or just for fun and entertainment.
Here is a brief review of 2 popular MMOs (and a third which isn't quite as popular but is still around):
Age of Conan (AoC)
Based on the novel by Robert E. Howard AoC the game has excellent graphics, varied and beautiful landscapes and an awesome soundtrack. Character creation is extensive. Players can select race (which partially determines class), hair-style and color, face type, skin tone, scars, the nose width or thighs and so on. This means characters are more unique, which is good, especially for role-players (RP).
Dungeons and instances in AoC are great fun and allow more challenging questing then just “kill 10 wolves”, although there are plenty of those types of quests as well. Players start on Tortage until around level 20, and are then sent to their racial homeland (where this is depends on the race selected).
Group dynamics is perhaps not as good as some MMOs. Soloing is easy, even as a healer class. The game becomes challenging in a group fighting epic mobs. Tones of fun!
Everquest II (EQ2)
Slightly more cartoony in look then AoC but still looks good, colorful and varied. Character creation is extensive because there are several races to choose from and within that, the choice of hair style and color, skin tone, eye color, nose length etc. Players can choose to be good, evil or neutrally aligned, and the classes available will depend on the race and alignment selected.
Group dynamics in EQ2 is quite good. Healers are not an easily soloable class, and tanks require heals and DPS etc, so it really encourages group play, and there are plenty of LFG (looking for group) messages across the chats. An important factor when paying a monthly subscription. Groups have plenty of instances to explore, and heritage quests (more long and difficult questing) rewards players with status points (SP) and cool armor etc. SP allows players to purchase in game items that cannot be bought with just coin.
Other features that make this game fun are player housing and guild halls. Also, tradeskilling in EQ2 is not as boring as in some games.
Pirates of the Burning Sea (PotBS)
PotBS looks good. The water looks real (well, for a game) and characters can select from numerous outfits at the time of creation. Where character creation fails, however, is that there are limited numbers of faces and hairstyles to choose from and this results in a lot of players running around who look exactly the same.
The main downfall to PotBS is zoning. Players have to zone into everything. Into and out of any building, onto and off ships, when getting on or leaving an island and so on. As the name suggests, most of the battles are done at sea, the player as the captain of their own ship, with an NPC crew. Questing often involves a lot of sailing from one side of the world to the other, trying to sinks ships, and trying to avoid being sunk. Sailing takes ages and is so boring, a name change should be considered… Pirates of the Boring Sea.
While online gaming is incredibly fun and entertaining, and a place to interact with like-minded people, it should come with a warning: It is totally addictive!
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