Corners Please, EQ vs. Diablo II

In one corner we have EverQuest, who’s reputation for addictiveness is well-deserved, a 3D first-person MMORPG where in order to progress, one is almost forced to spend a couple hours a night playing. In the other, Diablo II entered the gaming scene stealing EQ, Asheron’s Call and Ultima Online players from their respective worlds, but after a short retreat from online bliss for the instant gratification that was D2, most returned.

Enivri from Planet Diablo wrote a fun to read, if a bit inaccurate article that compares some of the different facets of D2 and EQ. Players cannot reach level 100 in Everquest =). Nor 70 or 80… yet. 60 is the max (if they released some patch since when I quit that raised the limit, please mail me). Here’s a passage:

Community
Above all, I think this has to be one of the greatest areas of separation. Diablo 2 has a fanatical following. Over 1.5 million copies were sold before the game even came out (my Collector’s Edition was pre-ordered about 2 months before it came out!), and even today people are still complaining because the servers are overstressed. I think I have been disconnected so many times that it has surpassed the number of computers running Microsoft Windows right now. This is all due to the fanatical fan-base. Everquest is much different. It never really caught on with the public like Diablo 2. Then again, it never had huge advertising campaigns.

EQ fans are much more dedicated to their game than are Diablo II my friend. They have more invested than just their character: friendships, self-esteem, an immense amount of time and online social growth. It doesn’t matter how much a game sells… though I would say 300,000+ people paying 10 dollars a month plus the initial 40 bucks for the game adds up to D2’s monetary popularity (especially considering it’s been out for a year and a half).