EQ dev: WoW wouldn't exist without EQ
by Michael Sacco 
Jun 18th 2009 at 9:00AM
Videogamer.com has an interview up with Ryan Barker, the lead designer for seminal MMORPG EverQuest. When asked if he thought WoW would exist without EQ having been around, he replied that he didn't think so, and that Blizzard designers would likely agree with that statement.
I think he's right, too. The success of EQ allowed for countless imitators and innovators to follow in its footsteps, and WoW is certainly both of those things. What made WoW successful in the first place, beyond brand recognition, was the fact that the developers -- whose team consisted of a number of former EQ devs and prominent community members! -- refined and added on so many features cribbed from EQ. They made the formerly hardcore-only genre accessible to a wide variety of players and age groups, and in doing so broke subscriber and sales records -- thus continuing to make new MMOs financially plausible. And with WoW's improvements to the diku formula, the genre is now filled with WoW imitators as well. History repeats itself.
Sure, it's entirely possible that WoW could have existed without the advent of EQ, but it would have been a very different game if it existed at all. And I doubt it would have been anywhere near as good without having been able to learn from EQ's myriad mistakes or study its successes. We owe a lot to Old Man EQ. Now get off his lawn.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Todd Jun 18th 2009 9:04AM
EQ wouldn't exist without Ultima Online. There, I said it!
Nystal Jun 18th 2009 10:03AM
My first thought when I seen the headline :)
Marc Sadowski Jun 18th 2009 10:11AM
None of these company's would be around if it wasn't for The Lord of the Rings books, D&D, etc...
Wulfkin Jun 18th 2009 10:15AM
But I think its fair to argue that EQ had much more of an influence on WoW than any other previous MMO. As a former avid Everquest addict the similarities and borrowed (improved upon) ideas are clearly evident in the playstyle that Blizzard aim for. And its an extremely good thing. Everquest did an amazing job at creating an immersive world with compelling gameplay. What let it down was its reliance on pure grind and the inability of its graphics engine to keep up. Blizzard took that ability to make a living breathing world and made it into a beautiful game.
That screenie brings back some fun memories. There is nothing quite like the disturbing screech of an EQ skeleton!
Ozmodius Jun 18th 2009 10:54AM
Dungeons and Dragons wouldn't exist without the Voynich Manuscript.
http://xkcd.com/593/
"Your Druid doth loose two points."
CrusaderStrike Jun 18th 2009 12:29PM
And Ultima Online won't exist w/o the first video game!
Urza Jun 18th 2009 1:47PM
Not that I'm disagreeing or anything but...
If EQ wouldn't exist without UO and WoW wouldn't exist with EQ.. why is it NO ONE has been able to make a game that improved upon WoW?
SwiftBlue Jun 18th 2009 2:31PM
And no-one was able to improve on EQ for a LONG time.
It'll happen eventually.
Kryxx Jun 18th 2009 10:27PM
Hell yea, UO! That game ruled until EA got their hands on it... :(
EQ was/is terrible.
Sl0th Jun 19th 2009 3:16AM
Glad someone said that right off. That was my imediate reaction to that headline. EQ was original in many ways, but it has plenty of predecessors. To illustrate further, Ultima Online wouldn't have existed without MUDs. (UO wouldn't have existed without the Ultima series as well, but that's kind of self-evident.) MUDs wouldn't have existed without Dungeons & Dragons and other pencil-and-paper RPGs. D&D et al wouldn't have existed without various works of fiction and various mythologies from around the world. And so on...
Now if someone could come up with a way to work Kevin Bacon into that list, we'd really have something there.
strikermcbain Jun 18th 2009 9:08AM
He's absolutely correct. EQ helped make the whole MMO genre into something more. Its not like there's something wrong with EQ inspiring WoW or anything. Taking something good and improving upon it is the way of the world. Otherwise we would still have the Wright Bros plane flying around, etc.
Drahliana Jun 18th 2009 9:08AM
Then again Everquest would never have existed without the Ultima series which led to Ultima Online, or Neverwinter Nights which was one of the early experiments in multi-user playing from a large subscriber base.
Perhaps the folks at Sony forget that they too were building on the shoulders of giants.
Jason Jun 18th 2009 9:12AM
I don't see EQ really building off of UO. Very different games. EQ was already well into development when UO was released anyways.
I don't see the original neverwinter nights affecting it either. Most people never even knew there was one before bioware got there hands on it.
If anything "The Realm" was it's direct influence. Which may very well be the first MMO.
But either way, yes, EQ had a great deal of influence on WoW. Any everquest players can see it throughout WoW.
Kneeber Jun 18th 2009 9:15AM
Where's the good ole days of mob trains??? I miss the days when you had to zone to get a mob off you hah
Chirri Jun 18th 2009 9:33AM
I never bothered with UO, but I DID play EQ. For quite some time, in fact. Why did I enjoy EQ so much, when there were so many other fantasy MMOs available to me at the time? A 3D world where I could play in first person. It was much more intuitive feeling.
The option to not get ganked and have my gear stolen, and my character obliterated, were also reasons for choosing, and sticking with, the EQ structure.
While many games have had many similarities, EQ and WoW stand out for a reason. UO and others may be part of the same general family, but they're not part of the same *immediate* family. It's sort of like the difference between an Ostrich and a Sparrow. They're both birds, but only one can stomp your brain out of your head.
Pausanius Jun 18th 2009 10:41AM
NIce :) First I've seen anyone ever reference the Realm other than myself. I started on the Realm upon it's initial release by Sierra ... I still go back to it every now and again.
While The Realm is one of the earlier graphical MUDs (not the first by any means), the only real influence that *may* be attributable to it is being a free-standing MMO with a monthly subscription that was independent of the ISP (I know AOL had some MMOs prior, but I believe you had to be an AOL subscriber first and pay the additional for MMO access). I'm sure there may be others out there, just not ones that I'm aware.
As for parallels/differences between WoW and Realm specifically... 1,000 levels, 3 races, 3 professions, weapon specializations... losing exp and the potential to lose gear when you die... also the potential to destroy items (no matter how rare) when you enchant them... Unfortunately, the Realm completely lacks a quest system -- leveling is strictly a grind which I've always thought was its downfall. I'm sure most of the above was captured in earlier MUDs though which is where the credit should be attributed.
Given the nostalgia, it may be time to re-activate the Realm account now :)
Naix Jun 18th 2009 11:37AM
Having played a bard in EQ I could gather the biggest mob trains you ever saw and take out 20 ppl.
I miss those days.
Hemotolic Jun 18th 2009 1:16PM
EQ cribbed most of its gameplay from MUDs, specifically DikuMUD IIRC.
sephirah Jun 18th 2009 9:15AM
Shame that EQ2 wasn't such an improvement from EQ like WoW was.
The last year I played EQ2 for about 2 months and when I canceled my sub I thought "Well, it's like WoW but less polished"
Jason Jun 18th 2009 9:32AM
Actually EQ2 is light years beyond wow in many ways. I don't mean at launch. But after their echoes of faydwer expansion it was a very solid game that changed a great deal from launch.
It is the most feature rich MMO out there right now. Just so many gameplay options. So much that I wish WoW would copy. So many things you don't see any other MMO's. And in some cases it carries over the best from them.
If EQ2 launched in a similar state as it is now I would bet you that the WoW/EQ2 populations would be about a 50/50 split.
I don't currently play EQ2 but I do follow it's progress. The only MMO i'm currently playing is WoW.