How does D&D compare to Everquest?

Johnhost

It seems to be the original EQ had probably the best MMO experience for challenge, community and dungeons.  Obviously it has become outdated in graphics and it's servers are all level capped people.  So there is no point going back.

Everquest II seems almost too basic.

But it does seem good old fashion D&D icons are being removed from the fantasy RPG genre like DRAGONS! 

Other then EQ1 & 2 I don't know many MMO's that have lots of good dragons to fight.  Proper large dragons.

How does DDO compare to that, and is it less like a traditional MMO (EQ1 being the standard, before WoW) or is it all instanced and no open?

Dr.Rock

You used that word instanced, so right up front probably good to say DDO is very instanced for a very good reason, it is all about a small group working in their own carefully crafted quest. It tries to recreate that feel of a PnP session with a group of friends and Turbine as the DM.

If you can accept no big open zones then the character build options are massive, the quests are beautifully crafted with traps, puzzles, hidden doors, scripted events. The combat is very dynamic and fast with the ability to dodge projectiles and melee attacks.

It is very hard to describe DDO as it is different (niche if you like) , best to give the free trial a go, you will love it or hate it, but know which pretty soon.

p.s. The instanced dungeons are head and shoulders above anything else on the MMO market, and yep there are dragons to fight and protect.

Sarr

Talking about dragons, you'll make a contact with one pretty soon . Don't think you'll be able to kill it though, as it could kill 1st level character by it's mere breath .

Open areas are frequent in DDO, but instanced too. Non-instances are public hubs where adventurers gather for their quests, sell, buy and rest (in taverns). The include the starter Khorthos Island, then Harbor, Marketplace and so on. So I think, the old feeling of "claustrophoby" is now gone for good. Which makes me happy, cause I suffered from it at my start.

What more... In Mod 9 we'll finally be able to use general, trade and help channels globally, so they'll probably get more popular. And that means more ease with fidning a group, and that false feeling of game being deserted which open-worlders complained about sometimes, may be gone too .

I came here directly from WoW, tried WotLK expansion in the meantime, as well sa WAR. Nah, these game are now boring for me : ). Very basic and silly.

mindspat

My experiance with EQ2 is limited and I've never played EQ. 

DDO is an extremely tactile hack-n-slash based strategy game that plays in real time and moves fast.  The graphics are very lush and probally second to AoC with some similarity to certain aspects of WAR although much better overall and it now supports DX10 if you have a capable system.  The dyanmics of the game are quite good in terms of creating entirely unique characters (can mix up to three different classes and chose the attributes as you wish) that suit your playstyle with an extreme emphasis upon stat based loot.  You can play casually for a few hours a day a couple times a week and spend a year leveling up or you can power grind to cap out a character in a matter of days if it suits you.  The community varies and is otherwise quite good, but that doesn't mean everyone is fun to play with so you might do well to get into an established guild to become more familar with the game.

DDO is extremely unique as an entire package and plays very well.  If you prefer challenging environments where the player is capable of utilizing different skill sets and approaches on-the-fly this might be the game for you. 

While the game is not perfect it is very good.  My suspiscion as to why it's not more popular consists of a terrible launch which took Turbine too long to fix and the fact that the game's dynamics require more thought and strategy to succceed rather then a simple Pull-n-button-mash approach as is common in the typical WoW clone; Mobs can hear you and will react to your presence!  This doesn't mean there aren't situations where it's simple, it's just that you're required to use a lot more thought to succeed as you advance through the content; and puzzles, there are some very cool puzzles! 

I think it takes 3-4 levels of character advancement before the characters start feeling unique to a new player and the Island where you would start is quite solable for a new player.