waiting for a new game to come out. Gawd, you'd think some other company out there could at least replicate EQ by now, albeit in some other form, if not better. With the technology these days, heh and all the software programmers out of work, it's a wonder nothing else can compete by now. Reading about the flaws in some of these other games just makes me wonder what is so hard about looking at the successes in EQ and tweaking it. I'd think their developers would have played EQ and have Some idea. (not that I think programming etc is easy, but if ya got the knowledge, why churn out anything short of what you know already works!)

Well....

Thing is most people *I* know in EQ want instant gratification. Either they don't want to level to 65 again (or whatever level), or they want all the zones and expanse that EQ has grown to over the years NOW! Oh... maybe there is a third.....
A lot of people don't want to give up the free time that they have given up for EQ again. I think that even with SOE remaking EQ with better "eyecandy" EQ2 is gonna be hard pressed to be another EQ1. In that case it isn't the world size, but the leveling and RL time to get there.

I think it probably takes a good 5 years to develop a new MMORPG.

It's always easy to look at something incredibly complex and say, "What's so hard about that"? :)

I'd agree with Panamah. Everquest, or any similar game, is incredibly complex and requires years to fully develop. Much of the complexity is hidden behind the scenes, or found in things we take for granted such as client/server synchronization.

EQ2 has impressive graphics but I was disappointed to learn it had basically the same classes. Dunno, waiting on WoW but not real fond of some of their char graphics. Yea...I realize games take a while to build up content, but the advantage new games have is in looking at EQ. It just sounds like everything else falls pitifully short of EQ...in the later levels anyway. I was considering horizons, but sounds like a big time sink, without much fun. I can handle a time commitment of some sorts, just not for anything that falls far short of the good parts of EQ. I guess you'd probably say why not play EQ eh...just tired of EQ. Don't watch much TV...just surf message boards....need a hobby....

Buy a house, that'll keep you busy, and then some!

Lets see, how old are you Wilda? I'll try to think of my various hobbies. I think when I was younger most of my time from high school through college was consumed by being a musician. Practicing, rehersals, etc. After I got out of college I took up playing with computers and made a career change. And to fill in the downtime there was boys, friends, working during the summers at Sea World.

How did we keep entertained before computer games? :p

Oh yeah, reading. Forgot, I always read a lot.

Buy and old house and you'll never have free time again. nod.

There's always table top games with friends. Or volunteer work, which gives me a far greater feeling of accomplishment than any piece of equipment I ever earned in EQ.

Since it'll be a while before WoW gets going, you could foster a service dog (like the puppies you see being trained to be seeing eye dogs). Or help build a house for Habitat for Humanity.

Reading is always good. If you're a fidgety kind of person, learn to tat (one of the few needlework categories where men aren't treated like aliens).

Or take dance lessons. Hubby and I have intermittantly taken 3 years of ballroom dancing, and although we still aren't that good at it, we have a blast trying.

I'm trying to remember what I did before computers (forget computer games). I was more active. I took care of more house stuff. I read. I got together with friends in real time. I took classes to learn something new. I learned Judo.

I feel your pain, my husband and I both are still playing EQ, but are looking forward to WoW a lot and really hoping that we are accepted into beta at some point. We like to do things together and computer games are great for us :)

If you can get a tabletop game together, that is a ton of fun, we do that with some friends every other weekend or so. I love to read and you will never run out of books, though good books can be elusive sometimes. I watch a lot of anime and try to keep my house clean :) We also have 2 cats and they are fun to play with too. I hope you find something to alleviate your boredom!