Tangent - The Mangler streamer from today.

Hey guys!

I heard that there were some things brewing on here, decided to check it out. I think there have been some big misunderstandings that I would like to clarify. Please consider reading the following.

I was approached by Everquest (The twitter) and asked if I would be participating in the 20 anniversary launch. I was going to be in Houston today, and was not sure if I could but thanked them for all the years of great memories (Never thought I would be in contact with them in this capacity, so I took the time to say how much I enjoyed my time when the game launched.)

Whoever controls the account asked if they could have some information to prepare a login for me so that I could quickly gain access to the server if I decided to play. I requested a DE Shadow Knight, because I never played an evil faction really, and had only played Enchanters.

After I made my selection, I did not hear back from EQ other than that they liked the toon selection.

So a few days pass, I trip gets postponed, and I try to log into the servers at 3 PM EST.

It took about an hour I would say before I made it to character select, and a few more crashes. When I logged in, I saw that there was no prepped lvl 1 toon. So I just made a new character (Decided on Troll SK, chat was very helpful) and carried on. I seemed to be able to log in at this point. I enjoyed the game for several hours before I got disconnected and entered an endless loop of not getting back on.

I honestly don't know if I am whitelisted or have priority. If I am, I have not been told, and I feel I have been struggling with server issues as well. I even went through my twitter message and explained my situation to be as transparent as possible. I did this a number of times through the day (I don't know why people are posting that it was leaked or I slipped up - I literally went point by point to explain and be transparent. I am not under NDA or anything.)

As a caster I sometimes get accusations of sponsors when there is none. I know this won't mean much to the people who refuse to believe, but I am not sponsored by Daybreak, and I honestly don't really know whats going on. Everquest is one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time, and I was really looking forward to just sharing that with people. I was not expecting to even draw in extra views - EQ just isn't hype for my community really, but I absolutely love what I experienced back in the day.

Back when I played, we didn't have map packs - we didn't have MAPS. We had unleveled sense direction) We didn't have loot tools or anything, and the UI was very confusing for me. I played on Lockjaw for a few days, but other than that it was a solid 10-15 years of absence. There is so much that is new, and incredibly confusing for someone like me. I was 12 years old when EQ launched. We had so little of what is here now. I was chided constantly for not knowing how these tools work. (Loot table thing is almost figured out though!)

I know this won't satisfy many, but I felt it was important to at least try and bridge some understanding. I understand when a streamer is in a game you want to play, the witch hunt can be on - But I really just wanted a chill day of playing. I did not mean or intend to upset anyone. I honestly feel after reading most things on this forum, it sounds like some feel I did nothing but bash this game and its community (I do recall saying a few things about EQ2 that I did not like, and that I did not like where NEXT/Landmark was going) but I honestly feel today was basically all positive experiences and I am confused and saddened that almost everything I have said has been taken out of context.

TLDR: I may be whitelisted for the server, but am not sure. Had many problems today. Whoever controls the EQ twitter asked if I planned on playing EQ on the 20th anniversary. I said maybe. They offered to make me a lvl 1 toon of my choice to reserve name and log in easy. Char never was made. Login was not easy. I did enjoy several hours of uninterrupted play. After disconnect, was unable to return. I am not sure if my account is whitelisted for access.

I am just a guy who loved EQ, and wanted to celebrate its 20th anniversary. I did not mean to affect others experiences, and my communication with Daybreak and EQ is so limited that I don't even know if they gave me the whitelist. I just wanted to play and planned to regardless. I am really not as special as a few people here seem to think I am.

At any rate, I think thats enough. I really wish I knew what was happening, because I feel a bit crushed by the negativity - Some crazy mean gets said. But I understand why it is here. I hope everyone gets in and has fun. I know I will be in the morning.

I really love this game and all the memories. I plan on having more.

Fist bumps,

Tangent

EDIT: Forgot to add that Daybreak did NOT pay for anything, and I got no freebies. Ive seen people cIaim I was "given" things so just wanted to be clear that I paid for my own station access, game, and all expansions I own for EQ. I literally could not log in until I had paid (Which I did), which further makes me uncertain if I was whitelisted at all, or just lucky for a few hours.

People just like to complain. It has been a very frustrating day for everyone, and it seems like you were the target since you were streaming it.

Cool story bro. What did DBG offer you to try and make us believe that streamers aren't getting special preference? Because the only people in game now practically are all streamers.

I generally don't like downvoting options on forums, but I really wish I could downvote you.

Or on Selos!

The extra views on your EQ Twitch stream is because your stream link was tweeted out by the same DBG account that was giving status updates. I watched your stream for a while myself after DBG tweeted it.

It was linked on the forum several times also.

Honest question: This game is 20 years old and really started a revolution in gaming. Do you think twitch streamers deserve anything over people with accounts that are 20 years old (dating back to Beta in 1998)? From our end, it feels like a huge slap in the face seeing as we're the reason this 20th anniversary is even happening.

Thanks for coming here and posting and honestly, under different circumstances - thanks for trying to make our old game more popular. However, I hope you can understand why we're upset at the situation.

Knardhocks here - another EQ streamer - you are fine dude, let the people complain. This type of issues have happened on EVERY TLP launch since Ragefire. It's the annoying phase of new servers because the krono sellers are trying to log their mage armies in constantly to jumpstart the in-game economy in their favor and prepare to have power level characters available and further exploit the community for their financial gain.

It's been ongoing for a while, and the rest of the community just targets the streaming community because we are actually lucky enough to play - so we stream it.

Don't sweat it - grats on being approached by DBG honestly. Maybe one day I'll grow to your level. <3

I dont know why anyone even cares that a couple handfuls of streamers may or may not have gotten pushed on. I kind of doubt that was the case, but if it was, its advertising for their game.

Pro Tip: Every celebrity who advertises a product is getting swag like crazy too

Nothing at all - An apology if I got backlash for today. I felt very sad after a fun day, and saw what was being said here, and wanted to at least get my words out.

I have since had a followup conversation with the EQ twitter, and it seems that they had intended to just reserve my name. They had asked me for a class combination as well. That sounded to me like whitelisting, but their wording was ambiguous. So it is looking like I was not white listed, but though I was, and therefore when questioned about it, I made it known that I thought I was supposed to be. I continued to have server issues regardless.

Even if Streamers do get 'whitelisted' or get special treatment I don't see what the uproar is about - lots of games far bigger than 20 year old EQ do this. It's promoting the game. The bottom line server issues are the problem, not a streamer supposedly getting whitelisted. (and for the record I believe him in his post that he didn't get special treatment that he was aware of)

Thanks for the clarification,. There's no misunderstanding at all. You were offered quick access and received it. Not your fault, but a lame move by DBG sure to alienate as much as the buggy server and botched launch. It's a real shame since so many were interested in Mangler and the 20th Anniversary of the game and spent up to 8 hours simply trying to log in. Clearly they were not offered quick access.

Personally I am glad people got in and are able to have fun. You guys and gals have nothing to apologize for. Played some scrabble with my wife while we waited for the server to let her in (still not happening). I made the joke my wife and I planned to EQ today. We should have said we planned to PLAY eq today! Those that can get in and play enjoy!

What's really odd about this whole inviting streamers thing is that Daybreak keeps insisting these launches always have problems blah blah blah, and yet they invited streamers to participate in the mess.

This is proof to me that Daybreak had no clue the launch was going to be this bad.

The outrage against you is inappropriate but it seems like a huge mistake on DBG's part to even communicate with you at all. Who are these community outreach people that have their finger on the pulse of streaming enough to reach out to you but NOT have the awareness to see the "poisoning of the well" any kind of preferential treatment gives (even the perception of such)?

Basically they used YOU to promote their game and now YOU are the punching bag for the negativity. If I was you I'd be pissed at DBG. Best of luck to you and it was a joy to watch you play (since most of us haven't yet).

You didn't read what he said - they never even made the character, and it took him an hour to log in. I myself and a few friends were able to log in within a few hours, of course we kept getting dc'd as everyone has been since then.

i watched this guy sitting at the same server select screen I was at. I dont understand how people think he got streamer privilege

lol wow. Thanks for the honestly. If they did white list you that is so much worse then having a disaster of a server launch. They were wasting resources trying to promote a game that wouldn't launch. Amazing.

Part of the issue I see is that even though it's the 20th anniversary, even if they supposedly did something for streamers (I really don't care either way, tbqh), promoting the game and creating interest obviously wasn't necessary since we're having all these problems. Getting streamers access for even more interest may have contributed to the server stability problems as even more people than just the more active regulars are trying to play too, which is something you think DBG would/should have prepared for, or at least have had some sort of contingency in place to smooth it out more efficiently.

Just a thought, though. I'm looking forward to playing, but I'm not in any rush. There will plenty of people for me to play classic with again. 3 months is quite a bit of time to enjoy the experience.

As a small edit, I was looking at Tanget's stream earlier. I didn't get the vibe that DBG did anything for him, especially once he crashed trying to zone and then was unable to log back in just like the rest of us. Just seems like he was one of the lucky ones to get in. Someone has to win the lottery at some point...

I would have been super happy to have played on the 20th anniversary and gotten apologized too as well.
Working on over 8 straight hours of disconnects, poor / vague follow up .

Happy 20th . Good night