Next 14 years of EQ1

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Skizzoo, Jan 27, 2015.

  1. Skizzoo Journeyman

    Hi. I've been playing EQ1 for like a year (yeah I'm a noob and not really a veteran). Personally I enjoy the game more than other new MMO's. Playerbase is still strong, but I was wondering will there still be EQ1 in 14 years? Will we get 30th Anniversary? What is your opinion?

    Soon I'm going to become Gold (Silver at the moment) and create a new toon to document my journey from level 1 till max with the new character, which I never done in any MMO, even with my current toon (60 lvl Necro Iksar) :(
  2. FcsevenXIII Augur

    SOE has closed so many of its MMOs and had so many layoffs in the past five years I highly doubt EQ will last 2 years let alone 14.
  3. Naugrin Augur

    I don't know if it will last 14 more years but I would be shocked if it isn't around for 5 more atleast.
  4. Serriah_Test Augur

    TBH, I'd be surprised if they make another expansion. I was a little shocked they made TDS with their tiny team.

    If they wanted to keep the game thriving, setting some interns loose on it to make a few servers into a group-friendly version of EQ (instance old raids and tune them to be done by a 6 player group) they could keep the servers running for years and years while people made new characters without fear of "falling behind".

    I believe an intern made the SK epic ornament quest...
    Best quest in the whole game. Tells the story of Lhranc and makes it feel epic.
    Oh... and... Old Freeport for the win :)
  5. Naugrin Augur

    iirc dzarn did the hot breastplates when he was an intern and most of the epic request stuff....soe showed wisdom and hired him for good and he finished those as he could.
    Yinla and Lisandra like this.
  6. Dzarn Developer

    As a slight correction, Nendiun was the intern designer that created the breastplate effects during the Underfoot expansion. I was a QA intern at that point in time.

    The Epic Request series was started the following year when I was brought back as an intern designer.
  7. Naugrin Augur

    Oops, my fault. Regardless, awesome work!
    Lisandra likes this.
  8. Skizzoo Journeyman

    What do you think about the future as a developer?
    Lisandra likes this.
  9. Serriah_Test Augur


    Awesome work :)
    I have a feeling you were a big part of Rain of Fear as well, then? It had the same "feel". I came to that expansion during CoTF and had to 3 box most of it. Wish I was level 95 when it was released so I could have finished it with friends.
  10. Battleaxe Augur

    That's up to SOE.

    While IMO a more immersive version of this kind of game will emerge:
    VR glasses
    Speech recognition and synthesis built in as alternative UI
    NPC AI making NPC's virtually indistinguishable from players
    More Second Life-like with a Renaissance Fair overlay featuring adventuring as one of dozens of activities

    technologically up to date presentation is not the end all and be all.

    Nethack was first published in 1987 and is still played. 28 years? And it still has some gameplay features that are extremely impressive despite its primitive appearance.

    A classic has value for a really long time. The only question is, will it still be supported.
    Lisandra likes this.
  11. Zantor Augur

    People have been saying for a decade that EQ only has a few years left, so who knows, that probably greatly depends on the player base and on many people EQ1 can retain.
  12. Sebbina Augur

    Sony has had some financial question marks lately, so I would expect SOE future would be partially dependent on the overall picture. If things improve, then there may be more effort and people to do programming, if things get worse, the SOE division could be sold off to folk who might not have a good vision for the games, and of course worst case, a shut down of SOE.
    Lisandra likes this.
  13. Brogett Augur

    In 14 more years EQ will still be running, but we'll have killed Lanys another 5 times and Mayong 7. :)
  14. Taiqwon Augur

    lol so true. Don't forget FV in tow never seeming to be able to get ahead of things.

    Oh and bats/spiders/wolves. LOTS of bats/spiders/wolves.
  15. Goth Augur

    Only way i see EQ lasting is for it to become more open sourced..
    Basically the game needs to be opened up for player development.
    Lisandra and Garshok like this.
  16. Kamea Augur

    If EQ is putting out annual expansions, you're many years away from the game dying.

    First they'll stop doing annual expansions. Then they'll stop doing expansions period. Then they'll stop any development. Then you can expect years of the devs still supporting the game (ie patches) but not making new (significant) content. This is the phase Ultima Online has seemingly been in for 6 years. But as long as a few thousand people are paying sub fees, they won't pull the plug on the servers.

    Ultima Online, the most comparable game to EQ from a commercial standpoint, went from annual expansions to biennial expansions to a ~4 year gap until their last expansion in 2009.
    Lisandra likes this.
  17. Fogbust Journeyman

    I think they will continue bringing out new expansions, easy money.
    The question is just, will they get bigger than TDS again...

    I always thought the discussion how long Eq1 will exist is pointless, quality also matters i still have my old C64.

    But anyway, i would prefer if they take their time and release new content when it's worth $40.
    Not a fan of counting expansions or years, at all. I count fun.
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