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EverQuest II - News, kithicor.org
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Jul 312010
The Last Scream of a Dying Era
EverQuest II - News, The EQ2 Wire
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Jul 302010
Starseeker is another new contributor to EQ2Wire and wanted to share a viewpoint on the aftermath of EQ2’s F2P announcement.
This is my commentary on Free to Play. I have to get it off my chest.
EverQuest 2 is an old game, 6 years, that is a long time for an MMO. I have been playing this game since launch. I remember the days when you would have spirit shards, and experience debt that would take away XP instead of just give you a % penalty. I remember when your guild could lose levels, and when there was heroic content in overland zones.
Things change. It is the way of life that nothing can stay the same forever. EverQuest 2 is no exception. It has changed and morphed and gone through its trials and tribulations.
The rest of the article after the jump…
I started this game as a solo player with a friend. We played that way up until the Echoes of Faydwer expansion pack, and then we got into raiding. Our raid guild wasn’t that great — a casual guild with alot of problems — but it was always fun to log in on a raid night and joke around with 24 other people. To banter in teamspeak, to have duels before the raids, in which some folks would get feared off the islands and we’d all have a good laugh.
Currently, I am in a different casual raid guild that I lead. Being a guild leader gives you a different perspective on how things affect the servers, the game, and the community.
As the expansions went on, and the days went on, the game changed. It became more about loot, more about stats, and min/ maxing. The gear became inflated, but it was and still is a good game. Just not the game it was originally.
They made leveling easier, they made raid mobs harder. They came out with more instances, and less overland zones.
Now they have changed the game again, to free-to-play. It is understandable why they have done it, they need subscriptions. However, all of those memories I mentioned above, that are experienced by the new player when they first wander into EQ2 will be experienced on a new server. With new support, new people, and a different rule set. A server that tells them that they do not have to work for their game play experience. They only have to spend a few dollars, and they’ll have everything at their fingertips.
One of my best memories of the game, is when I finally earned 4 platinum, to buy myself a horse. Even though it was ugly, and looked like a blob, I rode that thing everywhere. It took me nearly a year of saving. Now for $12.50 you can buy a mount at level 1. Have I bought the station cash mounts? Yes. I like the look of them, but for a new player, who doesn’t have 3 accounts, and 8 toons over level 80…perhaps earning things would make them stay in the game longer, like it did for all of us.
It saddens me that the game has been reduced to this level. When free-to-play was announced, the outcry from players like me — veteran players — was like a death scream of an era that only we remember. The outcry was loud, fierce, and largely unheard. Our words are twisted. We now have a gun to our heads that basically is “accept the SC marketplace or watch the game that has gotten you through 6 years of your life die slowly.”
What choice do we have? Quit?
I imagine that is the route a lot of people are going, several people I have known for a long time have gone this route. I have also canceled my extra accounts. I’m holding on to that last one with hope that something will save us, but I think the boat has left the harbor. We are now in a “conform or die” stage of this game.
The veterans remember what the old game was about, and what it has become. This knowledge, this “lore” so to speak, will be lost on the new servers. It will be lost with more and more people canceling. Eventually, perhaps no one will remember the plague that took over Norrath, or when the gods came to us, or when avatars were present. It makes me sad and disappointed.
It will be a different world, one where you can buy your way through. One where you can purchase access to the things you want.
EverQuest was supposed to be an escape from real life. A fantasy game with no limits. Now the limit is your wallet. A lot of us are wondering — where will our next escape come from?
The SmokeJumper Tsunami
EverQuest II - News, The EQ2 Wire
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Jul 302010
EQ2Wire has never had the privilege (and responsibility) of covering a game whose Senior Producer posts almost as frequently as a player. And yet that is where we find ourselves today. Traditionally, EQ2Wire has sought to highlight and quote every post by the current EQ2 Senior Producer. Posts were so rare from Brenlo and Bruce Ferguson that this made sense.
However it is impossible to get a clear picture of the storm facing SmokeJumper, the entire EQ2 team, and indeed Sony Online Entertainment, without reading each and every post by both SmokeJumper, and his lead man — Greg “Rothgar” Spence. The current volume of communication is like trying to drink out of a fire hose.
We are currently looking at solutions, but for the time being, I suggest following the EQ2 Dev Tracker on Twitter and/or the EQ2 Dev Tracker from EQ2Flames (by adding this link to your RSS reader, you will receive just the developer posts and not replies).
EQ2Wire’s EverQuest II Extended (F2P) Survey Results!!
EverQuest II - News, The EQ2 Wire
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Jul 302010
So far we’ve had over 550 responses to our EQ2Wire EverQuest II Extended (F2P) Survey and we’d like to share the results with you!
We asked for your initial impressions of the new F2P service, whether you would move either a primary or secondary characters to the service, what effect you think it will have on the game, and finally whether you would recommend such a service to new players.
We now know that the 14 day Free Trial will be going away, and the Recruit-a-Friend service will be receiving some type of revamp or nerf going forward. New players will be presented with two choices: Download the new EverQuest II Extended Patcher and start on the EQ2X server, or download the EQ2 Streaming Client and start on an existing EQ2 server.
The devil in the details has been, if you don’t allow players to transfer from F2P to Live servers, how are you going to get any kind of influx of new players? It seems that keeping F2P walled off from Live servers, with regards to bidirectional character transfers, may have ironically been one deference to the wishes of customers too many.
After the jump, player reaction to the introduction of a Free-to-Play service alongside the existing EverQuest II service.
What is your initial feeling about the new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Very Interested | 38 Votes(6%) | |
| Cautiously Optimistic | 130 Votes(23%) | |
| Somewhat Concerned | 130 Votes(23%) | |
| Very Concerned | 251 Votes(45%) |
Total Votes: 549
What effect do you think the new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service will have on EQ2?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Mostly Positive | 32 Votes(7%) | |
| Somewhat Positive | 121 Votes(26%) | |
| Mostly Negative | 162 Votes(36%) | |
| Very Negative | 105 Votes(23%) | |
| No Effect | 30 Votes(6%) |
Total Votes: 450
Do you plan to use the new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service for your main account or character?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 11 Votes(2%) | |
| Considering it | 39 Votes(8%) | |
| No | 399 Votes(88%) |
Total Votes: 449
Do you plan to use the new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service for an alternate account or character?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 26 Votes(5%) | |
| Considering it | 109 Votes(24%) | |
| No | 305 Votes(69%) |
Total Votes: 440
Are you considering coming back to EQ2 because of this new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Very Interested | 17 Votes(3%) | |
| Somewhat Interested | 11 Votes(2%) | |
| Not Interested | 59 Votes(13%) | |
| N/A I never left EQ2. | 356 Votes(80%) |
Total Votes: 443
Are you considering quitting EQ2 because of this new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 63 Votes(14%) | |
| On the fence | 131 Votes(29%) | |
| No | 229 Votes(51%) | |
| N/A I am not currently an EQ2 subscriber. | 21 Votes(4%) |
Total Votes: 444
Would you recommend the new EverQuest II Extended Free-to-Play service to a friend?
| Answer | Votes | Vote Count/Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Agree | 63 Votes(14%) | |
| Somewhat Agree | 123 Votes(27%) | |
| Somewhat Disagree | 99 Votes(22%) | |
| Strongly Disagree | 160 Votes(35%) |
Total Votes: 445
Don’t Delete Me!!
EverQuest II - News, kithicor.org
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Jul 292010
I know this video is kinda old.. but it makes me LOL
Who Took My Remote? StationCash — it’s Frelling Everywhere!
EverQuest II - News, The EQ2 Wire
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Jul 292010
With Game Update 57, various in-game Merchants will start carrying StationCash items.
If you think this is worthy of further comment, well read on… If not, well, the word of the day is “slippery slope”.
When I got a TiVo (ok, a DVR clone) I had good reason. I wanted to watch TV on my own schedule (this was the dawn of episodic serials where you can’t miss an episode or you’re screwed) and to skip commercials.
You see, I value my time. More than I value the income of ad executives. And I already know all about the products I buy without any help. I also manage to discover new products from reputable sources (ie. not TV). I don’t make my decisions based on what Sally Struthers tells me to buy.
- When they added StationCash, I memorized its location, filed it away as “if I want it, I know where to get it” and didn’t give it a second thought.
- Then they added it to the Welcome Screen. Which I disabled.
- Then they subtly added it in other places, in fleeting mentions, all over EQ2Players, the official EQ2 website, etc. These were understandable.
- Game Update 57 will add a giant “SC” button to the default user interface that thus far nobody has been able to disable.
Here is where I draw the line. But not Sony…
- With Game Update 57, various in-game Merchants will start carrying StationCash items.
From the EQ2 Forums:
Yes, we’ve added station cash to this window because of another key feature that you may not have noticed yet. Certain Marketplace items may now appear in a merchant list of it coincides with what the merchant is selling. For example, a horse merchant might also display a couple of marketplace horses (as an example) and you would be able to purchase those items from the merchant rather than having to use the Marketplace window. The SC amount at the bottom of the window makes it easier to see if you have the funds to purchase those items.
I have to ask: Is it really that hard to find the StationCash Marketplace? Are people having trouble finding it despite its current prominence? If SOE have maxed out the number dollars they can wring from their customers’ wallets, do they really think adding more buttons and putting StationCash on merchants is going to sustain unsustainable revenue?
Turning up the volume on your television does not improve the quality of the programming.
I’ve already received reassurances from 2 developers that these merchants are not ones that people use on a daily basis. Rothgar went on the record with this comment:
You haven’t even seen this in the game yet. I’m going to ask that you wait until you at least see how its implemented before asking for changes. I think you’ll find that its not that many merchants and not that many items.
Frankly? I don’t care. SOE have shown absolutely no self-restraint with RMT. Once they justify adding items which cost real dollars to in-game merchants, it won’t stop there. It doesn’t matter that they start with items nobody cares about on merchants nobody uses because it won’t stop there.
Jul 292010
Between the avalanche of news about Free-to-Play, the new UI, and Guardian tweaks (coming approximately one month after GU57), it’s been easy to overlook the new Spell Animations which went to Test along with GU57.
In short, all particle systems and related animations associated with casting spells and combat arts have been revamped. This means every animation such as roots or chains coming out of the ground, explosions, streaks of light, glowing colors, and pyrotechnics for all of the spells and combat arts of all 24 classes have changed.
Reaction on the EQ2 Forums thus far has been mixed.
Across the board, all spell animations have been substantially reduced and subdued. Animated roots and chains coming out of the ground have been replaced with a glowing yellow effect on the target’s feet. Ice comet has been replaced by a few wisps of blue light. The most prevalent descriptive word used for these new effects thus far has been “bland”.
While some viewed the original spell effects as “over the top” and “overly fireworky” (is that a word?), others have described the new effects as “flat 2D” and “boring”.
Beyond having a more subtle overall effect, there is another upside to these changes: The new spell animations should result in smoother animation for those with good graphics cards. Thus far, these particle system effects have been coupled to the character model, preventing GPU optimization.
Just as moving to Shaders 3.0 (and rewriting the Shaders 1.0 pipeline) has allowed your graphics card to do more of the work of displaying EQ2’s graphics, these new Spell Animations should hopefully make them bearable even during raids. Currently on even the most advanced hardware, raiding requires disabling or reducing spell animations just to maintain a viable framerate.
Spell animations are intended to scale with the Tier of each spell.
Whose Server is it Anyway?
EverQuest II - News, The EQ2 Wire
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Jul 292010
There has been a lot of anger towards the new Free-to-Play service. Not the least of which has been from players currently on existing servers that continue to struggle with lag. Thus far, we’ve heard that Free-to-Play will be launching with one server initially from an existing stock of decommissioned servers, with other servers to follow, possibly old EQ2 servers as they are upgraded to new hardware. In mid August, the Antonia Bayle and Nagafen worlds will find themselves within the comfy confines of a brand new server.
From SmokeJumper:
Sorry it didn’t come across very clearly, but the Live servers will be upgraded *before* we launch the new service.
From Rothgar:
The new EQII hardware has 6x as many CPU’s and 12x as much RAM as the old hardware, per machine. This is such a huge difference in hardware capacity that we think we can turn the EQII servers into mega-servers with twice as many players or more than what you have now on AB or Nagafen. To do this, we would need to merge some of the servers together which changes our hardware requirements. This is why we aren’t ordering a boatload of hardware in the beginning. We need to see how the servers do with the new machines and what sort of load they can handle.
We’re very dedicated to the original EQII servers. The new EQ2X service isn’t going to change that. This is why you’re getting the new hardware and EQ2X isn’t!
In response to questions about where this hardware came from, and who is getting which servers in which order, SmokeJumper elaborated:
The new hardware that we ordered for EQII will actually be ready before EQ2X goes live. So we did in fact make the best decision for the EQII servers. You’re getting the best hardware and you’re getting it first.
We haven’t had this hardware available to us. It was only made available in the past two weeks. In fact, our engineers are still preparing it for the live EQ2X server. The Alpha server that is up today is making use of our expansion Beta hardware.
and further from SmokeJumper:
a) The Extended server will be on better hardware than the current EQII servers…BUT…
b) …we’re buying brand new (better and faster than the Extended hardware) servers for EQII and upgrading AB and Nagafen as quickly as possible (probably before Extended launches in August).
c) We’ll be watching to ensure the lag goes away on AB and Nagafen before deciding whether to upgrade other subscription servers. (We want to ensure that the problems are solved before taking that plunge.)
I was about to post my commentary on what this all means, but then I read Gungo’s comments on EQ2Flames. I cannot believe I am about to quote Gungo on EQWire, but here goes…
SmokeJumper has pretty much flat out said what he intends to do:
step 1) use the old Vanguard servers to set up several EQ2X servers (to replace the 6 year old EQ2 servers).
step 2) buy new hardware for naggy/ab that can hold 2x as many players.
step 3) wait for massive player attrition
step 4) merge the remaining servers into the new hardware or even use a few old hardware pieces.
step 5) use the rest of the old eq2 servers to help eq2x.
step 6) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I hate to say it, but this is my analysis as well.
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Nerfs, Cash Cows, and Game Changes, Oh My!
Our own Druidess gives her perspective on the long-term effects of StationCash and what Free-to-Play means for the future of EverQuest II.
Since SoE decided not to sugar coat the news on F2P, I figured I’d return the favor and save the sugar for cookies I plan on baking later.
When I came back to this game and had perused the Marketplace for all the fluffy goodies it offered, I was disappointed. I think it’s really sad that Station Cash is offering the best looking armor and house items in the game. It’s as if the art department is allowed to slack on anything subscription wise and able to really throw their good ideas into practice so long as it can be bought in the Marketplace.
I think it’s absolutely horrid that only two of the legacy servers are given this upgrade when so many other servers have stated the same issues (and it has been proven it is not client side.) Before diving into a whole new project, fix the issues you (SoE) currently have. Or hey, how about stop firing people so that you have enough staff to work on the issues that are there?
You know, if they want to shut down the majority of the legacy servers, why not just come out and say it? Save us the slow and painful death. Merge the lower populated ones together, upgrade those to the new hardware, and keep the Free to Play servers just as they are.
I also think it’s a swift kick to the teeth to the loyal playerbase, for putting up with usual SOE ridiculousness as long as they have, only for them to come up short and dive knee deep into a new project (F2P) when it’s already been stated what issues needs to be fixed. It’s obvious that they don’t really spend a whole lot of money on Advertising. I’ve yet to see 1 EQ2 commercial. So, that basically means they’re relying on word of mouth. Don’t cut your fanbase at the knees before launching something that has the Chicken Littles of the game ducking for cover.
And lastly, Fighter Revamp changes are being disguised as for the good of the game, but it is obvious to all of us that certain changes are being done specifically for PvP and Battlegrounds. If it’s that much of a problem for fighters to have a few self-heals in Battlegrounds, then put a debuff on fighters in Battlegrounds that reduces the effectiveness of heals. Balancing PvP issues should not have effects on PvE servers. We were promised this from the beginning, but time and time again, we see changes on PvE to solve a PvP issue. This isn’t WoW. This is a PvE game with SOME PvP aspects.
I am not entirely certain how far down the rabbit hole it’s going to go. I do know that the slope they’ve set up for themselves is extremely slippery and several people have already answered with their wallets.