Curios: Would you buy a "Graphic Update Pack"?

Guys, bad news: The game isn't better than current-generation offerings, especially those that are more popular. It's just the flavor of game you prefer because you were brought up on it.

It's not so bad that people who decide to try it won't wind up staying, but there's literally zero reason for people to switch to EQ from something else. Anyone thinking an infusion of genuinely new players is a possibility needs to put down the pipe.

Returning players are another matter. The people who were playing in high school are now old enough to start realizing their adult lives suck and they'd better retreat into virtual reality if they want to find a way to distract themselves from it. Aim for them.

Nope. It was just a humorous observation. Not an attempt to shame your family and tar and feather you personally. Chillax, mate.

I disagree, everquest does have an edge compared to current generation MMOs, it is better at attracting returning players, how else would it survive for 17 years, where the average lifespan for MMOs is 5(?) years??

IMO, everquest is somewhere between "cult-classic" and an actual classic. Not quite famous enough to be a real classic(non-gamers have never heard of it), but it had quite an influence on the MMO genre, thats something very few MMOs have accomplished. And unlike other MMOs its a game people actually remembers, and keep alive.

But you are right in one thing: it doesn't really stand out from the crowd, and therefore it has trouble attracting new players. Thats where i think a graphic update would generate enough attention to attract new players (and they will stay for the gameplay ).

You do realize that every other major MMO franchise is still going, right? Even UO, and it's much better off for its primary servers now being emulated. EQ isn't special at all. The games you're talking about, the ones that folded, are universally also-rans.

Even Meridian 59 is still up. It just depends on the dispositions of the intellectual properties, and how the rights are negotiated. It also depends on the timing of a game's commercial arc as compared to emerging virtualization platforms. It's a heck of a lot cheaper to keep an MMO server running now than it was even a few years ago.

Even Horizons is still running, and it's probably the worst MMO ever released.

If you think EQ has well-designed gameplay, I suggest you try WoW (assuming you haven't). I grew up on EQ and find WoW to be an infuriating turd, but anyone with their objective observer hat on can see that it's infinitely preferable in design and gameplay for the majority of new MMO players.

A huge difference between "still going" as in still in development with full-time designer/developer/artist team on staff, and "still going" as in someone is running a server in their basement. The recent MMO trend has been exactly the opposite of what was described above, namely that a bunch of MMOs developed outside the US, long given up for dead, have come back to life with the emergence of global gaming platforms such as Steam. They've all shifted to some form of F2P business model, and for the most part their gameplay is not compelling at all. Quest-based MMOs such as EQ1/2 remain in the minority, and there is a lot of demand for them. WoW is quest-based and still going strong. ESO is quest-based and going much stronger now than in its first year of operation. SW:TOR is quest-based. GW2. Rift. Tera. FF:XIV. Ragnarok (and all its descendants, e.g. Tree of Savior). All quest-based. Those players still want more questing than they're getting. That's your pattern.

IMHO EQ1 doesn't really need a new engine, the DX9 upgrade several years ago was appropriate for assuring the game's legacy. What was never done was to revisit the old zones and upgrade the models and textures. Back then they actually had the art staff in-house to do it, they just never got around to it. Now it's undoubtedly too late, >unless< they go for someone's suggestion to release enough information about their file formats to let player artists enter free submissions for review.

I also agree with an earlier post reminding us all that the hit detection remains terrible. It's cute to take a group onto one of the elevators in Crescent Reach and watch toons fall through the floor, jump through the roof, and float like a butterfly during the trip, but I don't think it makes a lasting positive impression on what few brand new players try the game, since they pretty much all start in CR.

Safe to say you're in the minority for wanting these amateurs ("full time staff"--LOL, that's a euphemism that's only true in the most technical sense) to go back and put their own aesthetic stamp on the old zones and models. The zones that have been updated are the most hated in the game.

I would buy a pack that provides better graphism, even though outside of character model I don't see a big need of upgrading the zones.

Btw, great idea to compare EQ to WoW and say that it won't be able to compete. Then there's no point in developping any mmorpgs, noone will beat WoW anytime soon in the number of players. Also comparing to dead games noone heard of that are now emulated and not officially supported isn't helping either.

There's a reason that Pantheon's Kickstarter failed. There's a reason that Pantheon does not have a publisher or paid employees. It's never coming out, as much as Brad wants everyone to believe it will. He's a great ideas man, he's not that good at the delivery of said ideas.

As for the OP's question, the time for that has long passed. I don't even know if I'm coming back for Empires of Kunark at this point, and a Kunark themed expansion has been all I've wanted for a few years now.

I've been wondering for a while if the trees and logs and such in old zones are objects that could simply be replaced with a new object file, giving zones a quickie facelift. Because really, nostalgia or not, it's jarring to zone from a newer zone into an old one and see those flat tree textures. This could keep the feel of the zones, but make them more aesthetically pleasing, while avoiding the "new Freeport" hate.