I did. It’s a good game. I’d say that almost all of its parts are better than WoW. However, I’ve gone back to WoW, because of the larger playerbase (ironic, yes) and because you can actually do something under level 60 in a couple of hours.
I’ve started playing WoW/EQ2 with my wife. We started with EQ2, but quickly discovered that though we like the game, you just can’t seem to get much done as a duo. It felt like we were slaughtering random crap (deer, gnolls, etc.) with no effort (not good, as it is boring), or getting absolutely pummelled by things that were interesting. We were both happy to group with larger parties to get the cool things done, but the player base seemed much more dedicated than we were, and we just didn’t have the four-five hour blocks that a lot of the EQ2 playerbase seemed willing to give night in and night out to play a game.
Pity too, because we finally latched on to a nice guild, good people, no complaints. As they say in the movies, it wasn’t them, it was us.
WoW, however, feels more alive, just because of the larger body of people playing. We also feel like we are able to progress as a duo and do interesting things. Sure, you have to kill 20 rabid thistle foozles too often, but you also actually get to go after named stuff, get cool loot, etc., without being part of a 5 hour 5 man group. Of course, you can also be part of a 2-3 hour five man instance if you want (which we have from time to time). I just wish the idiot playerbase would start using the meeting stones instead of advertising in a chat channel from some random city, but god forbid you try anything new that didn’t exist in EQ1.
Now my only concern is that I’m in a guild that clearly (in my mind) has tension between wanting to say it’s family/casual friendly, but also wanting to raid. You can almost feel the popping sounds as new policies closing entry to character types we “have too many of,” mandating teamspeak, CTRaid, etc. are made, while still trying to let people play how they want to with some degree of flexibility. The biggest source of humor/concern is the continuing slide toward playing toward participating in raids. It’s not mandatory to raid, but it is a raiding guild. It’s still a mostly casual friendly guild, but you are strongly discouraged from playing alts unless you have a level 60. Etc. Nothing particularly wrong, just clear tension.
Not sure why I wrote all this under this topic, but it’s there so I’m not erasing it. Anywho, yes, EQ2 did seem deserted, at least compared to WoW.