I haven't been playing long, but here are some of my thoughts:
- General gameplay is roughly the same. It's more like playing in an alternate EQ universe as opposed to something entirely different than EQ.
- There is a slight "emptiness" feeling, as the mob density does not seem as great in most zones compared to live. Some of this is just being used to seeing certain areas containing NPCs that just aren't there. This is most apparent in the large outdoor zones, and not entirely true at all in the smaller zones I've seen (guk, CT, etc).
- Not as many people. I used to play Live late at night, so honestly it doesn't seem all that much different to me. I'm used to walking around zones by myself or with one other group hunting. I actually like the lack of overcrowding. Instead of guildchat to pass the time while hunting solo, the serverwide /ooc chatter keeps me from feeling alone or that I'm playing a single-player game.
- While gameplay, zones, graphics are all the same, content is entirely different. It's like playing EQ all over again as a newb and getting to relive some of the old excitement. I'm still basically wearing cloth at level 28 (as a monk), but I'm equipping myself as I go. I been crippled because of this, either! I'm looking forward to trying new hunting grounds to get some monk-friendly armor.
- My biggest gripe doesn't have much to do with the server or the game. It's the fact that it'd hard to find useful information. With such a small population compared to a commercial game, you're not going to get tons of dedicated WR sites for information on stats, items, quests, etc. This is what I miss most, because I have much more web-surfing time than game-playing time available during the day. I like to be able to figure things out while I'm away, and focus my gameplay on discovering the details instead of not having a clue where to start most things. Some people probably list this as a big plus, and I can understand that. There's more to figure out on your own!
- Classes seem to be balanced much better here! WR gets right what a whole team of people with thousands of "testers" on live can't seem to. This is one of the biggest pluses.
- I absolutely love how bind wound works in WR, as it allows pure melees the ability to not have much downtime waiting for health to regenerate. It doesn't let you kill a mob more easily, just reduce the boredom of downtime between fights if no healer is around.
I'm loving my WR experience so far. It's everything I miss from old EQ, but different (in a good way). I hate "grinding" experience, but I'm really having fun starting another monk from the ground up. There is no feeling of a grind at all, at least so far. I'm just having fun playing the game, and still gaining levels at a quick pace.
