Only post in a decade (warning: long)

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Lichner, Oct 26, 2014.

  1. Lichner Apprentice

    Greetings players and staff,

    I am a 69 year old veteran player with one primary account and 5 ancillary accounts. My primary account dates back to 2004, and my main is a max exp (100.99) and max AA with max banked AA necromancer. My mercenary AAs are maxed. From 2004-2008 I soloed during downtime, and primarily grouped with my son and his friends, my friends, and our guild mates while raiding anywhere from 3 (the first year) to 6 (the subsequent years) nights a week.

    I have never posted before, in fact I made my forum name just today. I have weathered many EQ storms, most of which were, in hindsight, tempests in teacups. Until 2012 I did not even have my ancillary accounts. My son, on the other hand, has a total of 10 accounts, 4 of which date back to 2003. He has all ways been a multi-boxer. His main, a wizard, was perfect for ferrying around his bots. While populations were higher, and in my healthier days, I was merely amused by his boxing hobby outside of raiding. As my health degenerated with a nervous system disorder (severe peripheral neuropathy resulting from inoperable spinal damage in a 2002 automobile accident) my raiding activity ground to a halt. As my condition worsened my grouping withered down to only the most understanding and patient of in-game friends, and of course, my son playing his wizard along with his bot enchanter, cleric and warrior. Bear in mind this was all, of course, pre-mercenary days.

    Fast forward to F2P and mercenary system and our decision to mutually multi-box bloomed. We happily purchased expansions without hesitation, all ways to support the game we enjoy and one of the few pastimes that can keep me mentally engaged and not simply slumped in front of a TV withering away. Outdoor activities are limited, my DIY repair days are beyond me, and twitchier MMOs with reactionary gameplay are out the window as my fingertips may as well be made of wood as they are so unresponsive and clumsy. On many occasions over the years, my son, now a grown man in his 30s, has prompted and solicited me to play elsewhere..greener pastures as he would put it, as the game continued to morph, dwindle, and consolidate around a certain play style. True to old school customer loyalty, I have all ways declined.

    Declined to leave through class nerfs that chased away in-game friends, declined to leave through content nerfs and time sinks and declined to leave even after seeing how the VG community was treated until that game was shuttered. My son, on the other hand, who has never sold, nor purchased, services or currency in-game or out of game, has continued to pressure me to leave, while still adapting to my declining abilities by introducing more and more bot toons to help compensate for my weaknesses. Prior to the introduction of Heroic Characters, he sucked it up and made a ranger specifically to level all remaining classes to a respectable level (16 toons now 91-100) in which to play with, and benefit me. Post PL nerf, he would drag them through exp grinds (static zones and HAs), hamstringing his own AA and such in order to add relevant abilities to toons to add into our bottlable mix. This is when class rebalancing and nerfs started to bother me, especially when "fixes" seemed to coincide with the introduction of similar SC-based Station Store services (like Heroic Characters)

    Still, I remained loyal, and paying. I, like many of you, paid through class and content nerfs, paid well (and with a limited social security budget mind you) for expansions, station store items (LoN packs, mounts, cards, ornaments, and my necro has a full inventory of huge bags as well as many banked to house water, food, quintessence of knowledge requisite items, gate potions for bots etc.) and monthly subs. We have farmed mounts such as Seru, Emp SSra & DK Event #1, farmed anniversary augs, farmed illusion clickies, farmed epics and beneficial (snare, shrink, lev etc) clickies, farmed a sizable plat reserve for our 16 toons (again, 1 of each class, all homegrown and all on individual accounts), helped friends, helped strangers and generally minded our own business.

    Most recently, I have stayed busy with CotF HAs as a wonderful means to a) pass the time daily and b) get our miscellaneous, eligible toons, caught up on exp, AA and via vendor currency, gear and augs. Keep in mind these toons must also be 20/20 and in the event of prestige gear, All Access, in order to benefit to the fullest. We figured with one of each class, given my limited capabilities and play styles, as well as my dependence on clever in-game macros my son writes for me, no matter what flavor of the month class or ability gets nerfed, we'll never be too put off helping me out finishing quest-lines, achievements etc.

    Until EQ devs were pigeon-holed by management into putting up artificial speed bumps to player progress with TDS. Now we as players are torn between paying to upgrade for what amounts to 3-4 months of content (by all NDA-lifted accounts) streeeeeeeeetched out artificially to "last" 6-12 months (meanwhile nerfing the past 2-3 years of acceptable content) or in putting off the upgrade but continuing to pay via $$ or krono in order to not lose access to hard-earned prestige gear and augs, rank 2/3 spells, J5 mercenaries and AA caps for toons not yet maxed (while piddling around in "old" content), or quit. I ask the community who has read this far - why? I understand the game-world is not "ours" in the sense of development but it is in the sense that without us, it goes offline. We pay for it. Why do the dev team dictate what is, and is not, fun to us? Why hamstring and punish casual players who invest time, energy. money and effort to have well geared characters who can weather most development decisions and adapt in-game but choose not to raid (in my case, simply cannot)? What benefit comes from a lockout of HA at 6 hours AND a nerf of all experience pre TDS for level 101+ in order to corral us into static zones that are progression locked AND lacking the depth and breath of CotF HAs? Why do all this without any reduction in cost or without introducing any ability to, through one-time payments, remove some of the non-All Access paywalls permanently (like prestige gear)?

    It seems to me like we in EQ1 and EQ2, but primarily EQ1, are being bilked of our dollars to help fund EQ Next, and condescendingly talked down to, or chided and scolded by community relations and development staff rather than listened to and respected. I am not allowed to access the game via VPN while out with my laptop due to risk of being banned. I am not allowed to play on a legitimate licensed copy of Windows 7/8.1 on a virtual machine when my primary box runs a Linux distribution, or via a emulation engine without fear of being banned. I am not allowed to play on Macintosh as those development dollars were stashed away for years without ever seeing results past PoP. I worked within the SOE-imposed boundaries necessary to play. I worked through class nerfs. I worked through less and less availability of my preferred play style (single-kiting) due to "issues" with leveling methods others used (swarming) as they apparently conflict with SOE HC purchases, and more and more mobs summon or are immune to run-speed changes. I work through more and more areas being introduced that prohibit levitation (a life-saver for a gamer like me with terrible coordination due to physical limitations) and disallow mounts. I happily purchase ornamentations for gear and weapons, happily buy expansions, defend the hard-working and limited team behind the scenes of this game through stubborn decision after stubborn decision.

    Finally, and sadly, I will not defend a blanket, across-the-board slaughtering of acceptable play styles and exp methods while paying good (and limited!) money AND be told that this is because abc is not fun, but SOE endorses xyz as being fun. Get real, respect our brains and dollars and be honest. Development funds are limited, your devs are forced to artificially stretch out the usefulness of a shell of an expansion (despite what Smedley promised would be a HUGE expansion). I am soon to be 70 years old and running out of time to enjoy myself. I don't have to put up with precocious 20, 30 and 40 year olds making decisions for me while charging me. If I wanted that, I'd admit myself to a nursing home.

    Rather than purchase 5x copies of TDS, today I have spent my $$$ buying Guild Wars 2 to feed my casual side, pre-purchasing the new WoW expansion, pre-purchasing SWtoR's upcoming December 1st expansion and, and subscribing to one month of Arche Age all at my son's recommendations and to see old EQ friends in these other games. I wish you all good luck, I'm removing my authenticator from my accounts Monday during CS hours and my son and I have already removed the payment method(s) on file for all 16 of our accounts. I cherish the 10 years I played, but at my age, with leaving, I doubt I will be around next time to say hello to any of you again. Take my advice, if you feel neglected and mistreated, speak with your dollars. Do not be spoken to. Goodbye and goodluck to my friends and also to my fellow adventurers who are strangers to me in Norrath. Have fun!

    Lichner
    100 Necromancer (2004-2014)
    Blademaster, Graves, Stubar and 61 others like this.
  2. Pellucid New Member

    i as well have cancelled all of my accounts
    Zeiss, silku, Apothikus and 2 others like this.
  3. YellowBelly Augur

    A game like minecraft would probably be a good game for players with various limitations. Survival mode is almost like classic eq in some ways. it's an excellent experience.
    FawnTemplar, Apothikus and Lichner like this.
  4. Danille Augur

    Very nice post. The state of the game and very accurate regarding how many loyal players feel. Broken promises and inferior design due to a lack of resources is the worst possible way our beloved game would reach it's demise. Hopefully this will be a wake up call to those decision makers who are negligent in their duties to keep this game healthy.
    silku, Mintalie, Winnowyl and 6 others like this.
  5. Pwnography Augur

    I spent the time to read your post, unlike most that I come across. Well done. Even if I don't know you, I'll still miss ya, buddy. Best of luck, Lichner.
    Leerah, Axxius, Apothikus and 5 others like this.
  6. Loromirr Apprentice

    I read the entire thing and I totally agree and feel the same way. I have only been playing off and on since 2006. I have been at the max end of the leveling scale once. But it seems most times I quit is expansion time. Too hard getting groups etc. Mercs helped. But they aren't enough. So I have my own bot army. Heroic toons helped even more. I had quit at VoA launch. I came back mid way through RoF and upgraded both of my "main" accounts to current expac. Only to quit playing within 2 months. Again, I came back near the end of CotF at the beckon of a coworker. Again, I was having fun. So I upgraded 3 of my accounts again to the current expac to take advantage of the HAs. Now with the flustercuck about to happen with HAs and the nerf of XP in zones outside of the new expac I have removed payment source from all of my active accounts again. If my coworker wants to continue playing, that's his decision. But it will be without me. I have just as much fun playing on EQemu servers.

    I too have GW2, maybe I will go back to playing that again. Maybe I will try out something new altogether. But there is no way in hell I am purchasing current content in EQ only to forced into 8 static zones to get "viable XP". They say they are "going to change that" but won't say to what, or when. It's just not worth it any more. I guess I could always go buy a few expacs and fire up my lifetime subscription to LotRO again.
  7. Shorriza New Member

    You're written a great, albeit saddening post, Lichner. Take care, and thanks for adding your opinion to the many opinions us players have expressed. All of your points are valid, of course, and should be listened to. I also have only joined the forums to voice my opinions on this issue in a few threads. This issue cannot be ignored.
  8. Shimmerleaf Augur

    Safe journeys to you
    Apothikus likes this.
  9. Ratbo Peep Augur

    I can't add to this.
    Very articulate and well reasoned.
    <S>
    -Rat
    Apothikus and Lisandra like this.
  10. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    Is anyone able to send this to John Smedley? I believe he is the only one who can do anything about the state of EQ.

    On second thought, I doubt it will make any difference. He is fixated on EQ Next and most likely has plans to kill off EQ as soon as the revenue drops below a certain level. I honestly think every day that he goes into work he just looks at SOE revenue and talks to the EQ Next team on how fast they can get EQ Next up and generating more money.

    We've seen him say how EQ would be getting a huge expansion and we've seen people trying to say that when he said in Q1 of 2014 that it would be "next year", that even though people were talking about CotF, that he really meant the expansion coming out in 2015 and not The Darkened Sea. Unfortunately, he never communicates with the EQ player base or bothers to come to the forums here, so we have no idea what he really meant.

    The fact that he said "next year" and not "next expansion" or even "expansion coming out in 2015", leads me to believe that we have no idea what he meant and that he doesn't care.

    The fact that no one at SOE has bothered, with hundreds of posts on the lack of TDS content, to say, "Oh, yes, Smedley meant the expansion coming out in 2015 and you can quote me on this that it will be huge", is a very poor sign.

    Please, please, please, someone talk to him, send him Lichner's post, maybe even get him to read something in these forums, and get him to prove me wrong!
  11. Janakin Augur

    I feel that their Monday announcement, whatever that may be, is too little too late for many people such as Lichner. While after 15 years I will not quit, I am not going to buy new expansion for as many accounts as I had saved. Might dust off a couple of my 95 WoW characters and play them again ~
    Xeladom, Apothikus and Lisandra like this.
  12. Lisandra Augur

    I don't personally know you but I too will miss a great person & great player like you. I wish I had met you in game & had a chance to group with you & spend time with you & your son. I also feel that your son is a great person who obviously loves his father & is willing to do whatever he can to help make you happy. You have done an excellent job raising a fine human being. I sincerely wish you hadn't felled compelled to leave after 10 years & all that effort & money but I can completely understand.

    They did state on Friday that they will be adjusting the scope & breadth of the changes they initially announced probably because of folks like yourself getting fed up & cutting off the Next Cash Fund which most likely scared the daylights out of upper management. I hope you see this post & find out with the rest of us what they plan to do when they announce it tomorrow & perhaps continue to play at least casually. If not then good luck & I hope you enjoy all the new frontiers of MMOs you are about to explore. I fear we all may be joining you within another year or 2 at most with the way SOE has done everything in their power to slowly kill what was once the best MMO & one of the best games of all time out of greed & foolish pride while hoping we'll all congregate to Next & Landmark, neither of which even deserve the EverQuest name, lore or world.
    Janakin and Fanra like this.
  13. Lisandra Augur


    I honestly think $med hates EQ & the EQ player base & only uses us as a source to fund other games. If you read over the Reddit AMA he did 9 months ago he states several times that he "hates PVE & is tired of making the same old game over & over again for 15 years". That does not bode well for us nor does the lack of resources, devs & true transparency that we have had especially in the last 1.5 to 2 years.
    Ranndom_TheUndead likes this.
  14. Laffsalot Journeyman

    Sad to see you go.
    We are seeing many first time posters .. mainstream players .. that are leaving or just buying one TDS expac for their raid account. This includes me .. from 6 accounts to 1 come Tuesday.

    I am afraid the SOE executive staff are in for a shock when the numbers roll in from accounting this time.
    Lisandra likes this.
  15. Lonestar Elder

    Great post. I have felt loyal for years since 2004 as well. I have made the decision to skip buying the expansion and play till my game time expires next month. I have been looking to play other games but have not found anything that has had my attention like eq has. Best of luck finding something to engage your time with. I found this game took my attention away from the reality of life and provided comfort and friendship while away. Many of my military friends play/ or have played and loved this game. Best of wishes in your future.
    Lisandra likes this.
  16. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    Well, I assume he has plenty of money to retire on. Because word gets around and there are a lot of people who will never play any SOE game because of how they have treated EQ. The SOE brand name does not have a good reputation and this is going to make it worse.

    The thing is that it doesn't matter if he doesn't like EQ. He doesn't have to have anything to do with it, he just has to fund it and give someone who does like EQ the money to make it work. I have no idea how well the management of EQ knows how to promote and run EQ, because even the best can't make diamonds out of mud. Maybe they are great and just on a starvation diet. Maybe they need to be replaced with someone else.

    Either way, the buck stops at Smed and regardless of whether or not he likes EQ, if he cares at all about SOE he should make sure the right people are running EQ and they have the budget to run it properly.

    When the product that put your company on the map gets a bad reputation it taints the whole brand. If he can't realize that then I hope he enjoys his retirement. I'm sure he has plenty of money to do so.
  17. Fenudir Augur

    Remember that petition that went about when the devs pulled their last round of shenanigans? Maybe it's time for people to re-visit it.
    Lisandra and Apothikus like this.
  18. Apothikus New Member

    All,

    I'm Lichner's son. He advised me of his post so I came to read, registered for a username and I am appreciative for the understanding and warm replies you have provided to him. Fanra, I've used your wiki a LOT over the years! My father truly and dearly loves this game. Something about it clicks with him and his (dis)abilities and nourished his mind for a decade. For that I'll be forever appreciative.

    Having said that, I've been around in one form or another since 1999 myself. My most contiguous approach has been via my "main" account that I rolled up when Stromm went live back in 02/03 under the same name - Apothikus. I've dabbled with other MMOs over the years, everything from Lineage II to Rift, including every single MMO SOE has ever published. My father never followed me with any gumption, and even when he did, he retained his EQ account.

    Like dad said, I've always been a boxer. Not a cheater, or a seller, or a _____, but definitely a boxer. I feel there is a mislabeling (or rather, was in the past when boxers were the minority perhaps) of those that box. I've raided endgame with guilds like <Final Door>, <Evolutia>, <Viking Alliance> and the like back on Stromm up through Solteris before finally giving up as my dad's raiding days came to a end. For me, without him, this would have been just a game. A game where I met some lasting friends no doubt, but just a game. To appease and please him, its instead a game where I've plunked multiple thousands of dollars over the years (mostly since creating 16 total accounts between us recently) on everything from expansions to LoN. I have been, and am, both a subscriber and a micro-transaction customer. I felt that as mobile leaned into F2P territory, it'd be only logical for the desktop MMO market to capitalize on a viable and lucrative revenue stream available to tap from their existing subscriber-base, especially as competition for players eyeballs, time and hearts became more fierce.

    I'm all for supporting the team, and if more money from us for more micro-transactions keeps the doors open, so be it. I LOVED Vanguard, and I was distressed by the dismissive way SOE categorized and treated them while charging the same rate as they charged us "first tier" subscribers. Like all boomerangs, what goes around comes around I guess. Now the shoe appears to be on the EQ1 player's foot. Dad has always been happy to help backflag people, give (not loan) large 6-figure and even 7-figure sums of his own plat to players up and coming in the struggle, and /invite randoms for exp as he felt that fostering a more holistic community would be to the benefit of all. He is indeed old school in his mentality.

    For me, not so much. I, like most millenials (born in the early 80s), am a bit cavalier with my entertainment dalliances. MMOs were one of many hobbies through my undergraduate years and post-grad years. They still are now, but less so. On many occasions I've secretly wished for the day when he'd grow sick of SOE and move on. Cheaper on my wallet and more entertaining for the both of us "out there" with the more modern crop of games. Now that the day is here though I feel..odd. He's actually disturbed by leaving, but tired of being jerked around. I'm not here for any pity or anything, just to clear the air before disappearing into the ether as well. This is a good game. These are good people that play. The developers do a LOT with the little they are provided.

    I'm still knocked askew as to why EQ is so counter-productive when it comes to accessing their IP via secure methods such as VPN or even for disallowing the convenience of accessing via a VM on different OSes (note: not different architecture). There is no mobile authenticator even though one was promised about two years ago. How you can be a software company and live in a legacy world on top of legacy code and architecture for darn near 20 years (EQ could be reborn under the torchlight engine and live another decade+) in a world as fast paced as ours and STILL require premium payment is crazy imho.

    I gave up on the passion for my wizard years ago, during the TBS round of nerfs. I put up with everything til that point. Since then, when I do play him, I phone it in and use him as a max-level (relevant to the current expansion) taxi. I make liberal use of teleport bind and fellowship campfires, basically. I made one of EVERY class in order to put my dad at ease re: nerfs. If you got em all, they can't possibly nerf em all right? Roshen you're welcome to check Lichner's email address and mine and confirm just how many accounts we have combined (he said 16, its actually closer to 25 considering older VG, EQ2 etc. accounts), as well as a ledger indicating just how much I/we have spent (probably a multiplier that is approximately 10x the normal subscriber) over the years. Well, they gone done nerfed the whole game to push a half-cocked expansion. What irks me is that my father legitimately wanted to play this game until he passed away, whenever that may be (hopefully no sooner than 20-30 years from now as he's only 69!). He stayed with his cable company for 35 years. He's been with his bank for 50 years.

    SOE: Please remember that the revenue you get comes from real people, with real busy lives, who CHOOSE to buy-in to your ecosystem and support your product and your jobs. These people deserve better treatment than to be on the outside looking in as you repeatedly shaft their world in attempts to mask your incomplete product or find new ways to squeeze blood out of a turnip. They also deserve better than the way you treated your beta testers during TDS. Last minute, significant, changes with not enough time to properly feedback on is just low. FYI I just spent $45 Friday night without knowing the NDA had been lifted on cosmetic items for my 20/20 All Access 100 Shaman to celebrate completing gearing on our 20/20 All Access 100 Warrior project as they'd be a new "duo". The next day I read your NDA removal message via the launcher and came here and read up, relayed the info to my dad, and have since spent $250 on other companies MMO ____ (games, expansions, subs, and in-game items) that could have been yours if you treated us well. As well as our continued recurring revenue. Your CSRs (only 2-3 have been argumentative and rude to me on a handful of occasions) are mostly helpful and friendly. Your GMs have been helpful and informative -- your expos and keynotes promising, but the final delivery always falls short. For me, watching my father break and tire of your methods was the last straw. I like the game and support the players, but I'm out. For good. Thanks for the memories and best of luck. As for you players, I really feel you all deserve better.

    Best,
    Apothikus/Ahuna/Ahuno/Kany/Tiernu/Diverge/too many to bother listing further.
    Graves, Xanadas, Witchcraft and 21 others like this.
  19. anniedammit New Member

    This made me cry. Thank you for sharing your story and I hope you find happiness out there and never give EQ another thought.
  20. Xeladom Augur

    Great post. They still think we are the kids that started playing back in 1999 and that they can mislead us with why the roadblocks are going in. Its not for the health of the game its to cover the fact that they are introducing less content than any time in eq history. They should have admitted that the staggered release of content was so they could pull devs off of Eq and put them elsewhere. Why release a fraction of an expansion now when they could have put it off until late December or even Jan/Feb?