Real Talk - Daybreak investment in EQ

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by yepmetoo, Sep 30, 2019.

  1. Angahran Augur

    Everquest has always been used as a cash cow for whatever 'new idea' for whichever company is running it.

    If even half of the money that EQ has generated in it's lifetime had been reinvested then it would have annihilated the competition, but it's been used to fund at least half a dozen other games which have ultimately been scrapped.
  2. Greymantle Augur

    The other thing you missed is the sale of the 'All Access lifetime accounts' are for ALL daybreak products. Not just EQ. We are a slice of the pie.
  3. Zunnoab Augur

    It's astounding the game still takes in enough to justify the content created, and the devs do amazing work with what they have.

    I risk posting negative feedback too much, but just because I feel strongly about some things doesn't mean I'm not going to acknowledge how impressive the design is, from my perspective, with the age of the game and the budget/staffing they likely have.
  4. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    For one thing JChan is Superwoman and Captain Marvel rolled into one. And every expansion takes just about as much art team effort, no matter how many times they've done it.

    They don't do terribly with what they have. They should/could be doing so much more though. But would that make them more money really?

    I think that is their calculation at this point. 'Do enough to keep the lights on, why do more?'
  5. Fading Illusion Augur

    I don't necessarily want to address specific comments here, but having just gotten back from a half dozen Daybreak/EQ/EQ2 interviews, I feel I can make a couple of statements here.

    I've never met a more passionate group of people, who (surprisingly) are even BIGGER fans than I am of this franchise. That says a lot.

    More to the point, some of the interviews with Holly and the dev teams shed some very interesting light on the future of the game(s) and talk specifically to the topic of this thread.

    I've only just returned from San Diego and finally have a chance to start the overwhelming process of going through hours and hours of footage to start putting it together for public consumption. I can't wait to bring it to you.

    Look for my full sit-down interview with Holly in the next few weeks (aiming for mid-October), with a couple of teasers coming out in the next couple of days.

    Fading
  6. CrazyLarth Augur

    don't expect it - EQ was sold to a group of Owners that needs More and More Tribute.
  7. Laronk Augur

    Armchair accountants are worse than armchair lawyers.

    Everquest is alive to make profits for the company. They likely do a risk analysis of if we reinvest X into Everquest the projected revenues will be Y and the future profits should be Z and then they make a decision like any other company. It's impossible for us to know if total revenue is up or down (It's likely a slow decline but we don't know the effect of TLP is and what player retention is like) and we don't know their costs.

    We know the game isn't in a terrible state because they're still making expansions, it's not like we're down to 4 servers and not getting new expansions.
    Nolrog, NeverPayForLag, PCSS and 2 others like this.
  8. Lilura Augur

    I'll do you one better: Gates of Discord, developed during the twice a year expansion cycle and considered the biggest failure in EQ history (at least at launch), had 18 new zones, 10 single-group instanced trials, 8 uninstanced exp zones, and 9 raid zones/instances. Not to mention BiC.

    Why do you think I am so vehemently against raising level caps? All the effort that has to go into making news spells (well, old ones with new names and a bump), new armor with new focii, etc, all that repetition when time could be spent elsewhere. Whatever this expansion is called it will be broken all over and all kinds of stuff we've been complaining about will remain unfixed because all the effort from severely limited resources went into something we didn't need.
    PCSS likes this.
  9. KermittheFroglok Augur

    My bad, I missed that entire paragraph!
  10. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer


    This.

    This is what I attempted (and failed) to articulate earlier in the thread.
  11. KermittheFroglok Augur

    Except, you have an accountant on the thread. The issue isn’t qualifications and more so the blatant lack of data. Again, DBG is a privately held company, we’ll probably never know how much EQ brings in or EQ’s expenses.
  12. Cailen Augur



    GMM is a retuned zone that was created 5 years ago and then shelved..... we beta tested the GMM1 raid before it was retuned and defeated it in 15 seconds before Prathun then retuned it on the spot. GMM was not much effort other than itemization and a tune up.
    PCSS likes this.
  13. Bamboompow Augur

    EQ sub prices have been fairly flat, so compared to other aspects of the economy we have been getting off fairly lucky. Granted we are not getting as much but we could be paying a bunch more. Plus EQ is not "revolutionary" now so the overhead cost/dev cost must be significantly reduced at this point compared to when the public really demanded something exceptional.

    The flush toilet was amazing back in the 1880s and probably demanded some significant investment when it was new.Before that it was stone privies, chamber pots and outhouses. Revolutionary!

    Now? Its still the same thing really. Not much effort has to go into it besides maybe saving water. Still, they sell readily and make lots of revenue for their manufacturers while requiring little R&D/development. So there you have it. EQ: The toilet of games. Before that it was sprites...the outhouse of games.

    For additional comparison, a Gallon of gas cost about a $1.19 back when EQ launched. Healthcare and college...yah. Ouch.

    [IMG]
    MasterMagnus likes this.
  14. Laronk Augur


    That's why i'm saying its worse than armchair lawyering because you get very little information.
  15. Zunnoab Augur

    I'll always remember how the SOE Live I went to the two things I brought up were fixed/implemented within weeks. That being more spell set slots and the universal chat failing to reconnect unless you zone. There's plenty of good to say for sure. It's possible it was a coincidence I brought them up, but if not it was amazingly quick.