John Smedley's message on the future of MMO's and EQ2

I found this in my inbox: Sony Online Entertainment Looks Towards the Future With the launch of EverQuest in 1999, Sony Online Entertainment (back then we were Verant) was on the leading edge of what became a revolution in the video game business... Online Gaming. We certainly didn't invent it...in fact; we stood on the shoulders of some pretty amazing games, including Ultima Online... Meridian 59 and many, many other games including some great text MUDs. EverQuest had that magic that propelled it to selling over 3 Million units over its six year (well almost) lifespan. We've released 9 expansion packs during that time that have added an absolutely massive amount of content that we're pretty proud of. Certainly some of those expansions were better than others, but I think our goal has always been the same.... to entertain our players. With the launch of EverQuest II, our goal was to refine EverQuest... to distill the things that made EverQuest great, but also to add its own flavor and gameplay style. I think it's fair to say we also needed to aim for a more casual gamer... and make the game appeal to people that may not have the same amount of time they had when EverQuest first came out. As a company we needed to also appeal to a wider base of people. I think you can see from the universal appeal of the Lord of the Rings books (and oh yeah, the movies too....) fantasy worlds are what we can all call "mass market". I'm really proud of EverQuest II and I honestly believe we delivered on our goals of making an incredibly fun and immersive world that our players want to be a part of and make their own. Over the years, we've learned a lot. The biggest thing we've learned is that our players care very much about everything we do and the changes we make to their world. I cannot tell you how many thousands of emails I've gotten over the years complaining about class balance, nerfs, and overall changes we've made to the game. While I can absolutely understand and respect where each and every one of the people that took the time to write these passionate emails came from (and I read every single one of them and do my best to respond to them as well), I can also assure you that our game teams really do care about the changes they make. Remember... YOU, our players, write our paychecks. But it's more than that. It's also about truly caring about what we do. The vast majority of our development teams come from our player base. That's a fact that I'm incredibly proud of. In fact, it may surprise you to know that EverQuest actually was the catalyst for one of our Executive Team members to meet his wife (he just got married within the last 6 months)... she was in his guild... one thing led to another and... well the rest is as they say history. We've certainly made our share of mistakes over the years... but overall, we've tried to stay true to our primary goal of entertaining you. That's our job description. Now what's been interesting from our perspective is what really serious competition is doing to the online gaming space. World of Warcraft has come on the scene and is doing awesome. Kudos to Blizzard on what I think is a spectacular game. I've played the heck out of it, and I love it (as have many people here at SOE). To a game developer, having another game developer play your game is the ultimate compliment... so to the folks at Blizzard we say "Nicely done". But don't think for a second that we don't see WoW as both a great game AND Blizzard as serious competition. Personally... I'm glad they are out there. They keep us honest. They keep us focused and they force us to play with our 'A' game. They've certainly opened some eyes in our company to styles of gameplay that are different than we would have come up with inside SOE. I hope they're also opening up the eyes of other MMO developers that the 'old school' probably won't cut it any more. I'm glad that we went in the direction we did with EQ II because had we stuck with making an even "harder core" game, I think bad things would have happened. We need to be about larger scale mass-entertainment... because that's what online gaming is slowly becoming. Our games just need to be fun... and easy to get into. In the United States there are around 2 Million paying online gamers (this is after WoW btw). That's up from 250,000 back before EverQuest was released... and I'm only counting the MMOs... if you start to add in the Pogo's of the world we're probably talking about 3-4 Million online gamers... and I have no idea what scary numbers some of these online poker places are bringing in. What this means is that making future online games is a big business that is going to be increasingly competitive. I think that's good for you, and good for us. It's going to ensure great games get made... and I can tell you we're in this for the long haul. Where are we going? What are we going to be doing to revolutionize this business? Well let me throw out just a few of the things we're thinking about here at SOE. What if you could have families in MMO's? Virtual Children... What if your characters could have children and pass on the family name..... What if players could build fantastic dungeons that become part of the worlds we create with tools we give them? How would that work exactly? Can MMORPGs have skill-based combat? What if? I mention these things to be provocative. I want to make sure we're going to take what we do to the next level... and that's going to mean putting some next generation ideas out there and seeing the kinds of things you actually want... but I at least want to start this dialogue and stir the pot a little. We're very interested in your ideas about where things go from here. John Smedley President, Sony Online Entertainment

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Take a sec to contemplate this
# Mar 10 2005 at 9:29 PM Rating: Default
I have read a bunch of these post here (not all) and alot of yall are saying the same thing. REDO THE OLD ZONE ETC... Well theres one BIG problem with that. creating programming and implimenting this could...dare i say it...COST SOE ALOT OF MONEY. Now i understand that this might in turn cause a mass exodus back in to norrath, but what money are they making off of YOU? Yes all you that are currently still playing the game and now rewarded by new content, but how is SoE rewarded. Like it or not the players and the dev, programers, producers, etc...have a very direct and simple relationship, you pay them, they provide you with a game to play. Now why should they give you more to play with without you giving them more $$$? Im pretty sure that even SoE were to do this many people who now play other games, like myself, would just as soon continue to play them and finish off said games because they still hold said gamers intrests. Im sure when im done with my present game and it too falls from my attention, if SoE were to totaly revamp old eq i would pay to try it out, but that is no guarantee of DOLLAS within the next month or even year to pay for all the new content costs. Heck if WoW holds my interest as well as EQ did (and i is i tell you) it wont be another 4 years before i head back to Lguk and kill 8675309 frogloks for an FBSS. Im not a gambling man, but if i were id guess that the world of MMORPGS will have a S*** load of new games that look even more tempting then any games now ever did five years from now.
Quests
# Mar 03 2005 at 11:15 AM Rating: Decent
I am really as tired as everyone else of listening to all the whining that goes on in most of these posts, so I will try to keep my whining moment on the soapbox short. Update the quests! The game is EverQUEST! I like to do the quests but by the time you can solo a quest, the drop is obselete. If you try to get a group to do a quest, IE, Twilight Armor, you get laughed at. I have been trying to get a POF group for my zerker epic for 4 months. The DON expansion will make that easier with the mass corpse summon but I will have to get into my sixties to quest armor I should have in high 40s to low 50s. Either raise the cheddar or make the quests soloable.
my 2cp worth
# Feb 26 2005 at 10:27 AM Rating: Excellent
I have to agree with some of the people that have posted before me. I'm not as interested on "New Content." I've still got Luclin zones to explore myself. Heck, I think there are still a few Kunark/Velious zones i've never been to. Now, i'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the new stuff, LDoN was a great expansion. But the Task System in Omens of War... Well, that really didn't help. Most Casual Players had 1 problem, we are tired of soloing. The answer came to us in 1 form. Solo more! Heres another way for you to do so! Do Missions! As a Warrior/Pally/SK, this meant a LOT of downtime. Same problem as before. The extra cash/Exp wasn't worth it. I was in Dreadlands once, soloing cuz no one else was there. I was the ONLY person in the zone! After a few hours, another person entered the zone and shouting for a group. And typical to my behavior, i responded. We chatted for a while as we both had to heal/med. One thing came clear to both of us. All the New expansions are slowly killing the older ones. Try something new.

Try updating old stuff. Old Quests. Things like Crafted Armor quests. No one does these anymore because in todays market, they aren't worth anything. Then theres the Twilight Seas quests that are out dated. Make them worth while again. As a person who has Solo'ed as a SK far more than i grouped (Not my choice either) I have found out a few things. 1st, I have to spend a great deal of time grinding. Blues if I can. Heh, if I am lucky. 2nd I spend far more time farming for plat to buy that next upgrade in need. You honestly want to fix things? Upgrade some quests so that the people that can't play 80+ hours a week can have a chance to level and get decent gear. Yeah, there are a lot of High-End Raiders. But there are also those that simply don't have the time or inclination to do all that raiding.

For me, Raiding was an occasional thing, something i enjoyed but wasn't fanatic about. Thus, I lost out. I have to farm 20 - 80k worth of plat now as a 55 SK to get that next piece of armor that will give me a few more AC, HP, and/or Mana. Thats why I let my account expire. I was tired of the repetition of it all. I would come home from work, log on, turn on my LFG, and spend 4 hours either going to different zones and shouting for groups or farming for plat. I ask you, where is the fun in that? Ok, yes, I could have tried a task... And I did, many times. I ended up dying and losing MORE exp that I gained. Putting a group together is an almost impossible joke. I've enjoyed leveling a Rogue, SK, Wizard, and Druid. Now, of all 4 of those toons that hit 50, only the Rogue had a chance to find a group.

Its said that the classes are balanced. Maybe, but desirable in a group? Nope. Warriors have a 50% chance of getting into a group, due to aggro issues. Sk's, well, we are typically viewed as Necros with armor. To me, thats an insult, but its hard to change peoples views. Paladins seem to be the most desired tanks.

Druids, Only in the group wants a port somewhere. Shamans are good to most groups, especially if they cannot find a Chanter. Clerics are a must in any group.

Wizards, Not "Mana Efficient" to most groups. The fact that they have great damage is irrelevent. Mages, Good if you are low on food and drink. Necros, Draw too much aggro if the Main Tank is a Warrior. Enchanters, Best Caster Class to have in your group.

Ranger, Insane dps. you want in your group. Rogue, second best in most opinions. Monk, Decent dps, take over the rogue, but go for the Ranger. Berserker, of all the people that I spoke with when I was looking to make a Char to group with, No one had any real opinions on the Berserker.

Beastlord. People said this is a great class to solo! ARGH! I don't WANT to solo, I want to group. And if I had to make another Char, I am stuck with one of two choice. Cleric or Chanter. Sure, Classes MIGHT be balanced, but the desirability isn't.
Is there a way to "fix" EQ? I dunno, but good luck. Maybe someone can figure out how, and I will wait around and see what happens. Who knows, One day soon, I may once again, walk the face of Norrath.
Solo Instances
# Feb 22 2005 at 5:34 PM Rating: Good
I would like to see the instances modified for solo/duo use. As the player base has dropped, including many long time online friends of mine, the desire to have a place to play without worrying about random adds, trains, etc, has definitely increased. The 3 player LDON is good, but a solo or duo option would really help for casual players or people with weird schedules.

I, too, would like to see original game drops updated. Most level 15 tanks would snear at a Shiny Brass Shield now and time has long passed since I thought getting a 2h fine steel sword was cool (my paladin's first 2h weapon). Also, I think the new Lavastorm looks terrific and would like to see the rennovation cross over to other zones. Like others, I think a revamp would be nicer than another expansion at this point. The tools are there and the current changes certainly show that it is doable.

Congrats to developers, though. It's not an easy job, even though its probably fun. ;-)


Edited, Tue Feb 22 17:47:42 2005
many changes
# Feb 20 2005 at 5:33 AM Rating: Decent
A idea: why don't SOE combine all games into a Mass online gaming experience..... for all true gamer's , REMEMBER GURPS?????????

This game combined all aspect of RL and fantasy into on paper game... and i think the folks at SOE could do it. It would not be to hard to do,, just take all common things that are in each game and make a basic template.

example: making a common character:

Create a account: have a UNIVERSAL ACCOUNT system in place so that 1 account can be used for All games, To include multiply characters.

Pick server: SOe would have HUGE common server server base, which would house all games so characters may access all Soe has to offer.

Pick a race: have several different races are available, and explain each of the races with Strength and Weakness, and racial tensions .

Pick a class: There are no "character classes",any character can learn any sort of ability or combination of abilities. The restrictions are those of realism and point totals, not a artificial 'classes".

Warrior archetypes. whatever the time period or game-world,The warrior knows several weapons skills, and possibly unarmed combat. +10 STRength, +10 stamina, +10 agility

Thief or spy archetypes:falling somewhere between an assassin and a thief this class belongs to the secretive class, quite skilled in weponry, but prefeers the stealth approach +10 agility, +10 DEX

Mage archetypes:Seeker of knowledge and focus of the art of arcane, spells are crafted to enchant, conjuration, and the seeker of poweful spells of magical atransolcation as well as offensive force and defensive; +10 STAmina, +10 INTelligence, +10 CHArisma

Healer archetypes: This character type is most effctive in worlds where gods are a "real " force and magic works. the healer type is the best at Healing and to a lesser extent smit the foes of unfaithfulness, a healer can use Theology, diplomacy and all sorts of arcane and medical skills to aid in helping others. +10 Wisdom, +5 STAmina,+5 chrisma

Scout: Jack of all trades, the scout has the ability to weapon ability, unarmed -combat, he can be a machanic, tinkers muscian, or anycombonatiion of all.+5 all stats

Allocate ability points:

start off with same about across board: 30, the character has primary and secondary statistics. Primary ones represent abilities most beneficial to choosen class.

pick a apperance: this will Induvidualiz's your character to aid or disavantage social reactions and other social aspect.

Pick a dieity: one who you will follow

pick a starting city; you home city

> Character ceretion starts with four basic attributes-STr, DEX, Intelligence and STAMINA, they are very generic, but are the basis of how you will play.Several things will make your character an individual: physical appearance, Welth and status, advantages and disadvantages, quirks, and skills.It does not matter what order you take them in..... start with the one most important to you, and work from there. Skills and advantages cost points, while disavantages, if youchoose them give you EXTRA points to spend elsewhere. One thing should be understood, the system of creating a characte is designed to give a balanced individual, whose, strength weakness more or less cancel each other out.

Alloate points: when you create a character, you start out wilth 100 points to spend on abilities, skills, this is intended to allow the above average people the stuff from which heros are made of and allow average peoples to atain good playing character.










____________________________
the only hard day was : yesterday
RE: many changes
# Feb 23 2005 at 4:12 PM Rating: Good
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70 posts
You've just described a game you think will work. This is about Sony's games. Lots of folks have ideas about how to do better in designing a game world. I've got some too. You're free to write up rules for a classless game where things are more to your liking. Most worlds we dream up will never get to the point EQ is at today. The world we play in is rich, complex, quirky, unbalanced and chaotic, kind of like that other world we live in. If you're lucky, you may have the problems they do.

Edited, Wed Feb 23 16:13:49 2005
PvP
# Feb 17 2005 at 12:26 AM Rating: Decent
Give us back the good old days of PvP. We started playing with a certain rule set and you keep changing it - and making it worse. We haven't seen a change yet in a PvP server that actually ever balanced any classes, fixed any problems, or resolved any issues.

So, what the heck, lets just trash the whole idea and throw all 4 servers into one jumbled mass of crap. Thats what Zek is right now and the fun and skill that WAS on Vallon Zek in PvP is now a gank fest for bratty children, school-yard bullies, or their vengeful pray.
Quests
# Feb 16 2005 at 6:00 PM Rating: Good
Hello all;


(note: most of my post contains references to Ranger Quests. Allakhazam has excellent write ups on them all, so no need to repeat the details here :-)

Since this seems to have become the forum of all that is wrong with EQ, I would add my 2cp worth on a subject near and dear to my heart, specifically questing.

If this was not the correct thread for this post, I apologize in advance, but I think it is important to relate exactly, in detail, some of the broken things in EQ and why expansions aren't improvements and why people leave. In addition, I beleive in not complaining unless you have a solution to offer.


I started EQ to go questing. I enjoyed a lot of the quests before 50 but detested a lot of them as well.
The reasons I detested a lot of them were:
1. Random spawns
2. Random spawns
3. Random spawns

...und so weiter

This caused me to completely give up on the Ivy Etched Armor quest after I had all but one piece. I devoted myself to completing the quest even as everyone chuckled about that and even after I had long bought much better gear in the bazaar because I thought it was what Rangers did; get their Ivy Etched Armor. Even after I could easily solo every NPC in the quest I was still defeated. On my server (which is quite old) NO one I have ever met in the game has laid eyes on Wiltin Windwalker. And his PH has a 70 minute spawn recycle.
You cannot get the legs without the quiver he holds.
Everything in that zone is bright green to me now at 57, (I started the Ivy Etched at 35 a year ago) and I have no desire to sit on the beach for hours on end to watch his PH spawn every 70 minutes. This one experience left me so sour on EQ that I quit for a couple months and recently returned.
I have played every game you can think of back to text based on Univac systems in the service. I cannot remember another game where a NEEDED NPC for the game might NEVER appear. Combine that with the exponential pain in the *** of the Random Drop and it's a wonder anyone attempts Questing in EQ at all.
What would be wrong with having all quests involve triggered spawns (like almost every other game)? e.g. I kill 8 cyclops, two named spawn, I kill them spawning a Pirate Captain etc... when he has been done in, poof your NPC spawns WITH the item in hand; kill Him and you are Victorious. The most popular rpg/adventure/video game series in the world works just like that. The Quest mob is ALWAYS there, you just have to be badass enough to get to him. I'll leave it to you all to figure out which game :-D

OK, I thought, we'll put all that in the past.
I'm 52 now (when I returned), I want to do my Epic Quest. I want to take my Ranger into 60 working on self made uberness, lol. I begin the Epic.

I will never be able to finish my epic for two reasons, and both reasons are a large part of what is wrong in EQ for me...

1. There is absolutely no incentive for anyone to go to CoM and help me get a Jade Reaver, OR do any other quest for that matter. There is NEVER any incentive for anyone other than the quester. Almost all guilds are only interested in high level raiding or aren't large enough to complete epics regularly (now after WoW, at least).

my solution: The quester should be character flagged for the quest by previous steps in the quest (capable solo). Once other players group with that character and complete the next major step successfully (whatever it might be for your particular quest), EVERY member of the group would get a huge XP bonus for felling that "Epic" mob. You would never have problems getting a suitable group in PoK or whatever to do a quest step, it'd be like another LDoN, only with XP for everyone in the group and a step completion for the quester.
I cannot imagine why this would be difficult to implement. The character is flagged for the quest, the others are grouped with him..boom x3 XP (or whatever).
For people in large guilds, this is never an issue. However, for solo or very small guild players, it's the difference between accomplishing a lot of cool things in EQ or never, ever accomplishing them.
There HAS to be an incentive for whoever is on, friend or not, to go Questing with a stranger and perhaps bond for the future that way. The answer has always been guilds, guilds and more guilds but that is not always an option for every player.
Time to play, server population etc. might not permit you to be a part of a large guild.
That should not keep you from completing a quest when there are 30 people or more LFG around your level. Believe me I've tried going LFA for questing groups, there's nothing in it for anyone but the quester. It's a waste of time. Even if you talk 2-3 people into it, they will get awful bored sitting around while you spend another hour trying to talk 2 more into it.
I for one would spend all my time questing with others and assisting if there was a reward FOR THE ENTIRE GROUP.
No need for an expansion. No need to revamp zones. Poof suddenly EVERY quest in the game (at least the ones not broken) are worthwhile for everyone. I would help with the Necro Epic lol. Do quests you would never even think of doing for gear you could never use because A: someone else needed it, and B: you would get "pHaT xP" for helping.
Very easy to implement and would immediately revive a big part of the game (that has been dead and buried for a looong time).


P.S. SOE for the zillionth time: every piece for every Epic needs to be NO DROP.
Need I say Jade Reaver and Quillmane's Cloak for the zillionth time
(just in case Mr. Smedley is reading)

P.P.S. Be happy to post my thoughts on the #2 reason Questing is broken in EQ (imho) and a possible solution if anyone expresses an interest after this long rant! otherwise, lol, I will shut and go away ;-D


Edited, Wed Feb 16 18:08:47 2005
RE: Quests
# Feb 16 2005 at 10:01 PM Rating: Decent
I posted this at around 6:00 my time.

At 10:00 my time. I have the Quiver of Kithicor.
After a year (and a couple of months of serious) camping off and on.

the coincidence is way too much.
I only went to look again because of no group and I was thinking of this post. :-)

unbelievable. I will save for my Magelo profile when it comes back up

woo woo!

ideas for the future
# Feb 16 2005 at 4:31 PM Rating: Decent
ok i have 2 major ideas for ya.....but you have to really think them through.
1) old world revamp....there is no reason or disire to even play in them anymore, obviously because there is no reward worth having, its just too far behind the curve now. there is plenty of space, you could add infinate static camps of various lvls in WK alone. its just become such a waisted space.
2)(and this is the marketable side of it)....dual classing ...there are numorous reasons to do this, including the fact that as metioned above EQ became a group baced game because of population, well , now that population is lower, players need the abbility to 'somewhat' solo...of course there should be logical caps to keep mechanics in line, but 1 player dual classing will be no less balanced than 2 players grouping.. caps like.. must be 65 in main class to start dual classing, so you understand your main class well enough to devote time into a second, also your secondary class should cap at at 5 lvls below your main, so for instance a lvl 70 toon could only dual class his secondary class to 65. and that toon would cap out on xp...this would also allow for smaller guilds to do higher content, that have the lvls but lack the raw numbers and or dps to kill higher end mobs...
i would like to add, im a die hard eq'er and dont have a disire to leave for any other game, and yes i have played most of them including wow, and ive enjoyed my 4 year stent in eq so far, but it gets frustrating for a war trying to xp grind when you cant find a slower cause the shammy class was killed, and chanters are obscure, and half the bst class players were the pop players that joined during luclin, and have left for other pop games like wow..... anywhay no i cant type and no i cant spell half the time, but i hope you can see through to the core idea here.../shrug

Sujan Frostreaver
guild leader
Sovereign Circle
prexus
Change
# Feb 15 2005 at 9:25 PM Rating: Excellent
Scholar
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68 posts
Less change in my eq world would be more desirable than the constant tinkering and addition of new expansions and zones. Please don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg by making the game more complex than it is now. Stop adding the bells and whistles and crap. The core game is better than left simple. I still have exploring to do on Luclin after 3, almost 4 years of playing. Stop adding new crap so I can catch up!!
RE: Change
# Feb 23 2005 at 4:24 PM Rating: Good
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70 posts
Preach it bro! Keep it simple, Smedley.

We don't need ANOTHER mission/adventure/task system, we need improvements in the one we've got.
RE: Change
# Mar 10 2005 at 7:17 PM Rating: Default
Aye, i am one of those peeps that has played EQ before Kunark even hit the scene. since then i have played as much as i can, got my bard to 65, mage to 56, but there are still some zones out there i havent SEEN yet....and its killing me to know i probably never will. Example- Sleepers Tomb, Veeshans Peak, Vex Thal...now i know what your thinking(been playing that long and hevent seen Velious zones?)..well im also one of those that has a job...rarity among EQ'sters muhahaha

P.S. Love the berserkers, but can NEVER EVER find a group.....should be called NEVERQUEST sometimes

Edited, Thu Mar 10 19:19:13 2005
Urppee
# Feb 15 2005 at 5:32 PM Rating: Default
U hear you all. I feel yor pain. Now feel mine. I'm not to bright, so i might be slow. I started when EQ came too. I have seen a lot of changes. But for my pain. To have put the time into it. to finnaly get that point. Only to lose to over croweding one old server. I talked with my best friend. Who got me invalved in EQ, my brother. Noobe server is opening . We go. i bring my years of EQ to new server . That's all I would need to get ahead . Get to that point where I had left off at older server. I hear some one say thing. No this can't be true. But then . where the heck did all those High leval peeps just come from. After all. I started there. I knew who was around , and what was happening. These guys now thought . Thay like just cut in line. Thats how I see it. Now i wasn't needed. As much. After all the work. Some one with the the knollage, transfures. Like why . how fair was that . You only had to ask your selves. Now th eplace I need to get to . I worked my self to get to from the ground up. Oh BOO HOO to you . As for the zones . there fine. all ove then. and Yes I get them all. So hear this. I am still here. I will get to Vex Thule you weeny heads. AS for the those who do leave. Good. Now the zones are'nt croweded. You will have to work harder for group. Aye . thats what it's about . Oh yea It's (Ever Quest ) . no one was ever meant to get every stinking thing out there. It's what makes you char more personnal , individual. No one should be aloud to Transfur crap. shss. Now . other than that. I still like EQ . not to be confused with EQ2. Now I need to get back to my char. See yea . GL. p.s. my 2cp. I'll just try harder. you may leave now. lol ...
Urppee
# Feb 15 2005 at 5:23 PM Rating: Default
U hear you all. I feel yor pain. Now feel mine. I'm not to bright, so i might be slow. I started when EQ came too. I have seen a lot of changes. But for my pain. To have put the time into it. to finnaly get that point. Only to lose to over croweding one old server. I talked with my best friend. Who got me invalved in EQ, my brother. Noobe server is opening . We go. i bring my years of EQ to new server . That's all I would need to get ahead . Get to that point where I had left off at older server. I hear some one say thing. No this can't be true. But then . where the heck did all those High leval peeps just come from. After all. I started there. I knew who was around , and what was happening. These guys now thought . Thay like just cut in line. Thats how I see it. Now i wasn't needed. As much. After all the work. Some one with the the knollage, transfures. Like why . how fair was that . You only had to ask your selves. Now th eplace I need to get to . I worked my self to get to from the ground up. Oh BOO HOO to you . As for the zones . there fine. all ove then. and Yes I get them all. So hear this. I am still here. I will get to Vex Thule you weeny heads. AS for the those who do leave. Good. Now the zones are'nt croweded. You will have to work harder for group. Aye . thats what it's about . Oh yea It's (Ever Quest ) . no one was ever meant to get every stinking thing out there. It's what makes you char more personnal , individual. No one should be aloud to Transfur crap. shss. Now . other than that. I still like EQ . not to be confused with EQ2. Now I need to get back to my char. See yea . GL. p.s. my 2cp.
dfasdfdsf
# Feb 15 2005 at 4:16 PM Rating: Decent
From what I understand Blizzard is pretty much destroying the EQ / EQ 2 tandem with WoW. And Smedley is right, how they are doing it is by making a game that's fun, and easy to play no matter how much time you've got, and no matter what class you choose to play.

My friend plays a warrior on WoW, and he's soloed up to 29. A Warrior! Try soloing up that far on EQ. Although it's possible, you'd need a fungi or something ... or a whole heck of a lot of time.

WoW will be good for EQ, and I think you'll see some changes in order to make the game easier for all players, whilst keeping a lot of the difficult content. This is basically what players want I think, I game that is easy for all to play solo, with tough stuff you could fight as groups. Then you never have people quitting due to frustration of waiting around for groups.

Like in WoW, can't get group, fine, just solo. In Eq, (for some classes, some people) Can't get group, and this game sucks.
Oh come on.
# Feb 15 2005 at 3:08 PM Rating: Good
Trolling for ideas Mr.Smedley?

Here’s my thoughts:

Balance the game; re-itemize the zones so there’s a sensible progression for players.

Fix the quest; I don’t mean that the quest don’t work, I mean they are worthless. Some of the quest will never be done at this point because the loot you get isn’t as good as the Oow trash mob drops. I’m looking at some of the old mediocre equipment quest and wondering why anyone would bother, of course no one is bothering.

Give the solo artist a chance. Some people prefer to solo, but not all want to be necros. With the depopulation of the servers many people have no choice now but to solo. At the very least have quest that could be soloed and give enough experience to justify the effort. I remember long ago turning in orc belts and getting experience gained messages, I proceeded to get lots of orc belts and watched my experience bar only to see NO actual experience increase.

Add new graphics, sadly much of the appeal new games have isn’t based on game play as much as pretty graphics. If more equipment had individual graphics the characters would look more individualistic.

Have a GM or someone similar online, on each server 24/7, oh and reprogram them to think, I’m already sick of (from only 2 occasions) GM preprogrammed responses. Something like “We aren’t responsible so go hump yourself”.

Hell Ultima Online wasn’t this stupid. They considered making a UOII way back, then thought better of it because even they knew they would loose their clients. Think it through one step at a time. People that love EQ will stay, others will go. Now the game that REQUIRES grouping has people that can’t get groups. How long before they get frustrated and quit? Well not long obviously.

I don’t want to go to EQII or Wow, I like the EQ structure for the most part, the idea is genius. Give it a coat of paint (new graphics like EQII) a little sound (like NPC’s that talk) and EQ is a much better game then EQII, due to content.

Finally fix EQII or fix EQ, then offer to transfer the accounts from the broke one to the fixed one. Did anyone ever mention that none of us have time to play both?
what now?
# Feb 15 2005 at 1:56 PM Rating: Decent
Ya know, I don't post, but here is something I really can relate to. Whining and sniveling here on this board isn't really going to do much good, you have to go to the source of the problem to voice your opinions and suggestions to get action. I will say, I stood in line until midnight the day of release for EverQuest, it was going to take us to the next generation of online fantasy based game play. It was "better" than being a little guy running around in a top down veiw of the world, it was better than being a 2D character on a flat screen, it was going to be awesome.
And it was, and it still is, and I'm not uber, but I'm not still living in the "good ole" days either ... the good ole days were not that good, the game has made some nice advances, and it has made some very big blunders along the way. Who in the whole course of a "life-time" or evolution of self, doesn't make some mistakes? Pardon me if I've stepped on the toes of those of you who are "perfect"
I've dealt with my share of broken quests, and screwed up pathing. Not to mention, over cons, under cons, and just general "elitests" guilds. I'm from Mith Marr, that being said, AL was always on the cutting edge of game material. (God there are days I miss Mymm /sigh /oggle)
As for making EQ a golrified chat room (i.e. Sims style) Honestly lets think about this, there are people who do this now, with "families" or groups of people who share a sur name, and claim to be this one's child, this ones daddy ect. I could see how forming clans (not subject to the same rules as guilds or forming guilds) could be beneficial to the game in and of it's self. Think of it in terms of this and not "virtual pregos", you form a clan, a clan can be any number from 2 to 200+ that share the same sur name, each clan has the benefit of a private clan channel(most do now with the server channels). There is no "requirement" for clans based on 9 accounts ect, a mission statement... ect, The only prereq for a clan is a desire to share a last name, come on people get married in the game all the time. You would have exclusive rights (other than what you are bound by in Eula) to that sur name, and for some one else to "take" your last name you have to be asked if this person would be allowed to "join" your clan. Although I think "clans" or "families" should be outside of the realm of "guilds". Guilds are for advancement of your character through the game content, clans would be more geared towards those that you prefer to group with and have over the course of time become friends with, or play with on a regular basis above and beyond the confines of guild tags.
ok just a thought and I'll leave you with that......
Eq has evolved, it has run, it has stumbled, it has faultered and almost gotten it's self injured in the fall, but they keep trying, they are trying to bring to us, what they think they want, but how are they to know what we want if we don't go to them and tell them?

Jalaran DeVine
66 Cleric MM

Catrina Devine
40 Monk MM

Rayne Stoyrme
35 Druid MM

Ssrin D'Streea
30 Necro MM

and that is just one account .... loyal to the end.... I'll be here when they flip the switch on the servers ......and all the lights go out.....
RE: what now?
# Feb 16 2005 at 4:39 PM Rating: Decent

this is one of the few generally good ideas I've seen on the boards in a while.
Especially since I've done this myself :-)

Ruairi of the Clan Maguidhir of West Karana
Cazic-Thule
#REDACTED, Posted: Feb 14 2005 at 9:24 PM, Rating: Unrated, (Expand Post) I know exactly what's wrong. I became opsessed with something we knew wouldn't last. SoE dropped the ball. They don't know how to please all of us or even half of us. So it's time to move on. If your single i advise finding another game made by someone other than SoE. If your married salvage what's left of your relationship & live life again lol.
What's Wrong
# Feb 14 2005 at 9:24 PM Rating: Good
I know exactly what's wrong. I became opsessed with something we knew wouldn't last. SoE dropped the ball. They don't know how to please all of us or even half of us. So it's time to move on. If your single i advise finding another game made by someone other than SoE. If your married salvage what's left of your relationship & live life again lol.


I would have played forever.
#REDACTED, Posted: Feb 14 2005 at 9:24 PM, Rating: Unrated, (Expand Post) I know exactly what's wrong. I became opsessed with something we knew wouldn't last. SoE dropped the ball. They don't know how to please all of us or even half of us. So it's time to move on. If your single i advise finding another game made by someone other than SoE. If your married salvage what's left of your relationship & live life again lol.
One word....
# Feb 14 2005 at 9:00 PM Rating: Decent
*
74 posts
MERGE!
____________________________
Master Artisan
Wdor Anozira the Glutton
120 Rogue
Echoes In Eternity
Povar

Just my thoughts
# Feb 14 2005 at 6:20 PM Rating: Decent
One thing I believe SoE should do, is instead of making the game more guild friendly with this new expansion, ( seems to me they are pushing us toward eq2 from what I've heard of it) and make it more amiable to the casual player. I wanted to make a new alt that would be fun, and the best class to do that with is Necro... He can solo any time he wants.. Complete BS, as well, the gear gets stronger, but there's little class balance... For instance the difference between the new epic weapons is unbelievable.. Really, soe should fix the nerfs on the gear and drops, revamp the older zones and make the game friendly to anyone wanting to start a new toon...
Just my 2cp
RE: Just my thoughts
# Feb 14 2005 at 9:08 PM Rating: Default
The sad part is that they are really pushing us towards WoW not EQ2.
Good ole days
# Feb 14 2005 at 5:15 PM Rating: Excellent
Although maybe slightly off topic:

I have discussed it with a few of my friends, I think there should be a new server that would only be the original norrath, no expansions or anything, and no characters could be transferred to it. I remember greatly the "good ole days" that Everquest was. I remember 50 woodelf rangers all running around with Mino axe's. I remember Trolls and Ogres that actually had to make long runs to find a city that would take them in. And so on and so on. I think That would be a neat server, and I would definatly start a character on such a server.
RE: Good ole days
# Feb 16 2005 at 1:40 PM Rating: Good
I've yet to meet someone who was actually playing Everquest before Kunark was around who actually thinks this is a good idea. Have you forgotten the days when there were only two zones for the high-end player? When everyone who was 40+ only had one place to exp, and almost literally every player was fighting over the few good mobs in lguk or solb? I may not like EQ all the time, but goodness gracious, don't bring us back to pre-expansion days.
they dont give a cr@p
# Feb 14 2005 at 2:35 PM Rating: Decent
Smedley is just simply "out of touch". Out of touch with the game his company runs, from a player's perspective. They know how to do their part, which is crank out crap expansions, with just enough info, to make it sound compelling enough to buy, so they sell expansions, and keep people playing long enough to dangle the next expansion. repeat.

If they gave half a $#1+ about the game, they would have already been fixing at least a portion of what's broken. But they are only after two things: your next month's subscription renewal, and the $30 from the next pizza-cr@p expansion they can toss together. That's it.

They don't care. Just about income.

I find as time goes on, more and more people have left. People who were noobs 5+years ago, when I was a noob. People who LOVED eq, and logged in every day to play, and adventure, and raid, and group, and quest, and have fun. Most of them are gone. Those that remain, have mostly gone uber, to survive. Those that remain that are casual gamers are finding it tougher and tougher to just log in and play, and progress our characters. There's less guildies to group with, as most have left, or gone to uber guilds. There's less guilds who will take anything less than a 70 with 100+AA's. Unless you want to get in another remnant of a decent guild, that is struggling to have enough people on, just to keep alive as a guild.
There is more to be fixed than they are even willing to admit to, and since denial is their preferred response, good luck getting any issues addressed. Those who remain that aren't uber.....good luck. You will have more and more people calling for server merges, and less and less people on to FORM a group with. This will continue until the "bummer of trying to get a group" is outweighed by the "lack of ability to just get in one". Then you will have more people "no longer playing". Which is just a repeat of what's been happening over the past year or so. Why do you think they REMOVED hte server population listings, when at the server login screen? DUH! So nobody outside SoE insiders would see the falling polulation, serverwide. Back in the day when 2300-3000 were on each server, it was bragging rights for them, to have such a successful game. Mysteriously, those numbers were removed from our view. Of course, it's easier to HIDE momentum of people leaving a game that the designers fail to keep working, than to address things that are wrong. So YES, Mr Smedley and the rest, DONT care. Only about the $$$.

SoE dont care about eq. Just about $$$$.

/rant off

Disgruntled loyal eq'er
RE: they dont give a cr@p
# Feb 14 2005 at 3:55 PM Rating: Good
Dear Mr. Smedley

As a EQ player and Stock holder in Sony I have a few questions for you and your staff.

Quote: With the launch of Everquest II, our goal was to refine EverQuest...to distill the things that made EverQuest great,but also add it's own flavor...I think it is fair to say we also needed to aim for a more casual gamer.

Quote: As a company we needed to appeal to a wider base of people.

Question #1- Mr. Smedley was EverQuest II goal to appeal to a wider base of people or distill and give a new flavor to a proven product?

Mr. Smedley as a stock holder I am shocked that you and your staff think EverQuest needs to be "distilled" and "given a new flavor".

New Coke blunder of the 1980's comes to mind when I hear statements like "distilled" & "given a new flavor." What this tell's me and the other Stock holders is that you and your staff cannot find a proper direction to take the current top selling product. I am afraid that your new flavor and distilled product has failed to appeal to a wider base of people. It appears that your distilled product has only attracted your own customers, giving both low sales on projected numbers for EQ II and lowering the sales of EQ classic! You are in danger of losing the top slot to your version of Pepsi if you continue with this line of thinking.

To the rest of you upset customers it is time to grow up. Yes SOE is in it for the $$$$ Cash. That is how things are done in America. Mr. Smedley has failed to show me the money and failed to entertain you.
RE: they dont give a cr@p
# Feb 16 2005 at 1:47 PM Rating: Decent
"New Coke" was a marketing ploy, never designed nor intended to replace "old Coke", but a marketing scheme of such genius that its a case study in most every graduate-level marketing textbook.
Perhaps EQ2 is just as such as well. Make an inferior product so everyone clamors for the old, then re-introduce classic eq and go up 10 market share points.
On a side note its generally a mistake to invest in companies that cater to those with discretionary income. As much of a capitalist as I am its sad fact that there are more without than there are with, and one can only lose/break so many techno gizmos before the cash cow goes away.

Edited, Wed Feb 16 14:03:09 2005
Returning Players
# Feb 14 2005 at 12:50 PM Rating: Default
I love the game. . .yes I'm sure I'm adicted. I've quit it three times (to play other games) and come back each time.

This last time I came back though (few weeks back), EQ wasn't ready for me.

- I can only solo on my usual server since population is so low.

- Anyone I did know prior to leaving (who's still there) is too high a level to have any fun with.

- If I re-roll on a new server (which I've done) I'm almost forced to play a solo-able class up high enough to earn cash to twink what I really want to play.

- If I want to catch up on expansions its going to cost me ~$90 ($30 x 3 expansions).

I know a lot of this thread is talking about "low-end" and "high-end" players. . .but the fact is I think there are a number of people (like myself) who really want to return but have ZERO incentive to do so.

SOE. . .PLEASE MAKE IT EASIER FOR EXPERIENCED PLAYERS TO RETURN.

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