Daybreak games forever ruined their reputation, missed opportunity.

So I have a pretty solid grasp on who Rayvorn is in RL, thanks to having a tech corp in the same state as he was once in, and might still be, and various details from his posts.

Needless to say, even if you didn't have that knowledge, his points and arguments are still very sound.

With that knowledge, DBG would be not to listen to him as his business experience, conceptualization, and overall grasp on how to invest in/build up various things makes DBG's running of their company look like a hot dog street vendor trying to sell 10 dollar hot dogs in a small mid-west US city.

There are not many of us that have the net worth to retire in the pre 40 age bracket, and what it takes to do that escapes most of the general population, which is why they slave away at their 40/40 plan. (Or more like 45/60 now...LOL) This is not to say that they are ignorant, but it's just like using a Macbook forever, and then going to use a PC in 2019. They get how it's supposed to work, but have no idea why it works the way it does, or why they can't do more than just the basic things with it. So they just go back to a Mac because they think it's more versatile. (Start a separate forum post for that argument plz.... LOL) In reality, they simply didn't grasp the higher functionality and capabilities of the PC because it's outside of their "box".

Most people don't want to learn new things, they want to stick with what they are comfortable and conformed to. I used to feel sorry for people like that, but now in my "older" years, to each their own, you do you, more for me, and I will sell you what you need along the way. Thank you. (I am a year younger than Rayvorn)

As sticklers have pointed out, no, there is no more than a business-client relationship when you are a gold account. However, with that said, there are great deal of us that have been dealing with EQ and it's various quirks for much longer than DBG staff and coders could possibly fathom. They are 15 years behind us. WE are the voice of experience when it comes to the history of EQ, and genuinely care about it's well being, because we want to play the game. They simply have half complete log files, maybe some notes from SOE, if they kept any or included it with the sale, but I am willing to bet that SoE just handed over the keys to the hot mess with the sale and said "good luck"!!

(SOE's sale of their digital products was more of a yard sale type thing rather than selling it for profit BTW, for those of you that don't know, don't remember, or don't care. Sony exec's just wanted to be rid of the whole digital outfit because they believed that they had "mined" all the gold from it. Guess VR MMORPG's aren't ever going to happen.... right?)

Now, when you wrap that in with who Rayvorn probably is, myself, and a few dozen other CEO's, corporate trader/investors, Venture Capitalists, and the 2 players who won the Powerball lottery, we all have one thing in common....

We didn't have jack and terd comparatively when we started playing this game to relieve the stress of school, work, and everyday stupidity we dealt with. It kept us sane, we took out our anger on the mobs, it was the one 'release' we got to have. Yes we put up with SoE's junk because it was Sony and they were a huge international mega conglomerate that could care less about our complaints.

Or so we thought.

At some point along the way in our schooling/trading etc. we figured out exactly which levers to pull and cogs to turn to get the attention of even the biggest companies, garner their interest, and help both parties profit. We invested in wise investments to double and triple (and more) the cash on hand. We learned by listening to those that had more experience, learned from their trials, and gained the ability to anticipate near future events, and create an opportunity to make even more money, or PR, or whatever it was we wanted.

Now, the short explanation here of all that is so those that don't have any frame of reference for all that business type of stuff has a small fraction of an idea of the things, or similar processes, we all would have shared over the last 20 years. As Rayvorn said, we did what it took, and put in the effort to come out pretty on the other side.

That all being said, when one or more of us start to really see through the veil of BS that DBG's is presenting, we know that things aren't really okay on the inside. I myself can see that the mechanisms in game they are monkeying with are things that really shouldn't take any time at all to change. At least not if they have at minimum 3 seasoned coders anyway.

So people like Rayvorn, and myself, try to nudge the system a little in the right direction. We know devs, coders, and maybe even a couple of office suits, read the forum posts. Hell some of us are probably all flagged internally for when we post. Sometimes we try to nudge it a bit more forcefully than we should because to us, we see something so blindingly obvious that we know in 6 months it's going to be a huge problem, which will probably interrupt our game play, and then we have to wait another 6 months for them to go "oh, ya we should 'fix' that".

The fact that Rayvorn took the time to address even the naysayer's responses, you should all feel kind of special. I don't mean that in a talk down to you sort of way, I mean it in the context that he is taking the time to try and explain his point, and impart the immensely valuable RL business world experience on those that just don't really get it, or maybe only partially get it.

He, I, and all the rest of us that have made something out of ourselves over the last 20 years, constantly deal with much more negativity and condescending ill informed people than any of you would care to imagine. This is especially true via the internet and social media because I guess at some point it became the "cool" thing to do. Rather than learn from us, and the freely offered knowledge on a medium that was created to share knowledge, it's more like one big Yahoo Chat room. We welcome difference of opinion, for there is knowledge in that. It is akin to sharpening your weapon, and make no mistake, knowledge is the most powerful weapon in existence, and always will be. But any of the things that consist of flaming, throwing salt, etc. etc. we usually don't even dignify with a response, because it isn't worth our time, and we internally hope that by our non response you someday realize it isn't worth yours either. But the fact that Rayvorn took the time to address even those surprises me, and also shows how 'invested' he is into this game, just like the rest of us that feel the same way he does.

Now, in the past I had long said that SoE needed to give up the ghost to someone who could do a much better job, because it became apparent about 2008/2009 ish that they just really could care less, and was just a money grab. Denizens of EQ of course threw rotten vegtables at me, and told me to eat a whatever, and so I just /shrugged and went about my business, quite literally. 5 ish years later most of the community agreed with me at that point, and I jumped back in a little to see if the new company DBG was doing any good. Not really, but not as bad as SoE, but I didn't quite have time to play at that point.

Here we are at 2019, and it looks a lot like 10 years ago. But at least this time it is a little easier to understand why.

First off DBG is a part of the investor group Columbus Nova I think, which is a portfolio company from some russian dude part of Renovita Group or something like that. Now, what that means to me is DBG has a LOT of big bosses, too many Chiefs, not enough Indians. In this particular scenario I would venture to guess that DBG is probably not the cash cow in the CN group, and the CN group probably isn't the cash cow in the portfolio group. They are probably tax write off balancers, which is not uncommon to find in FIPs. (Foreign Investment Portfolios) Here is a visual so it makes sense where us EQers are on the totem pole....

Controlling Foreign Ownership-----
Other FIP holdings------
RG FIP----
Other PC's
CNG PC-----
Other Corps/Ventures
DBG company--------
Planetside----------
Player base
PlanS2--------------
Player base
Other games -----------
Player Base
EQ/EQ2 -------------------
Player Base

But there are conflicting registrations saying that DBG is it's own entity, under that Epistein dude or whatever, which makes no sense given DBG's recent performances. They are acting more like a deep subsidiary of an FIP, rather than a single corporate structure entity, however poorly it's condition. (I know that because I have a single corporate structure entity, and even at it's poorest there was still LOTS of client communication, rather than the decrees that we are getting for the most part.)

But Rayvorn, myself, and other like minded people know the potential that EQ has, and has always had. Why no company wants to put the effort into doing it is completely beyond all of us. I would also be willing to bet we are all drove crazy by watching a perfect opportunity just get passed up for 20+ years, when there are a solid handful of us that could make it work, or at least be a guiding force in it, and it's not like we are even asking for compensation for doing something that we normally get paid for doing.

But that's the long and the short of it. I agree completely with Rayvorn that they are right back to where SoE was, rather than being forward thinking. We just want to know what the hell is going on. And possibly if they would want to sell it..... hehe.

Thanks for reading! Gotta jet!

Been watching the last few days but been building a home for a friend and it was insulation day! (so itchy). It's easier to pay someone to do it but I always know they never do it as good as you want it and I end up wishing I did it myself..I think as I age this will flip. Anyhow that was random.

I wanted to touch on this a second before I speak about Tanacious post. (If I can stay up that late).
I would agree with this (and I do for multiple other games) but it's Everquest. I am willing to bet no one paying 15$ to Everquest thinks their money gives them the right to pull the business strings. Younger gamers who are first touching MMO's or online games (3 years of experience or less) may think that because at a young age 15 dollars means more to people then someone who has either been doing it for a long time or no longer has to worry about their finances as much to care about 15$.

The point I was trying to make is that a proud company doesn't want to hold in all their secrets. They want to share because they want people to know how hard they have been working on it. Only communicating with something bad happens or when there is a huge monetary gain isnt good practice. (i'll touch on it next post).

With that said, I feel like I wasn't clear enough in my other post because I got side track responding but I like the EQ team we have. I think it's DBG that is holding them back or not supporting them enough because of cash grabs (Planetside BR, DCUO on the switch (fun for a second), E-Sports, ect). DBG has only been following. Every one of their attempts to do something has been after someone else has done it and struck gold. While it's possible to take something someone has done and perfect it to become the "standard", it is not a good business model as taking multiple chances (low or high budget) trying to create something new and different hoping one of them catches fire (when you have the money DBG has at least). When you are on a lower budget, friends/family mom/pop places are always a place people want to go home too.

Everquest is like an old movie, there is always time to go back and visit but we always hope for a new sequel even thou it probably can't be better then the first.

Tanacious,

First I will be playing the new server (if no truebox)..I assume your name will be the same (my secret) but Ill look for you if you play..but can't tell anyone who I am.

Second I appreciate the kind words but honestly they are to nice and one of the reasons I don't post on my "newer" character. Kumate Karaoke was a true statement but barely anyone knows that name anymore lol. It's hard going back to old friend groups because they expect to much and sadly I feel like I let people down with the higher standard. This is all self inflicted though because it just who I was back then, someone who didn't have anything but a "fast" speed. I retired early (33) and then did a job that is hated by the media for 6 years because it was something I always felt obligated to do. It's funny because the job is like MMO's a lot, no one is ever happy enough with how it's going and get pissed at you when you don't fix their problem. But when I fully retired my mindset changed. So thanks again for the kind words.

To answer a statement you made, I don't live in the Northwest anymore, I live in Florida now. I honestly felt really old 5 days ago though because a Youtuber I watch (ten toes down) moved into my community a few houses down. Social media is a crazy thing, dude did what I did in like 15% of the time.

As for EQ, (right now I am just happy about the present because I think...the new server won't be Truebox...) it's more then a game to me so I just want it to succeed. I met my wife via EQ (before dating apps), I served two tours while in EQ, and I've been able to help people in EQ just by conversation or by helping friends in ways they haven't expected. Nothing like giving your friends first child a ton of newborn cloths, or sending one of your raiding buddies a hot pizza because he barely has enough to eat but plays EQ because we are his friends. One of the best moments I experienced in the game was when I sent a present to a guildy little girl and it arrived about a week early. Then around 10 other guildies sent her presents as well. I am sure there are an unlimited amount of these stories from people who have played this game. This isn't the average MMO and I hate that it's only being seen now by newer players as "that really old game with bad graphics". (at least that is what I'm told when I try to recruit people I meet to play lol).

I just know in my gut that by the time DBG acts on the Everquest name for something more then a quick cash grab, the interest will be minimum because the name has faded. Because they have constantly been late to the current trends (except on progression servers, thumps up there). Maybe that is just everyone normal fear of getting old! But our Dev team needs more support because I am sure a lot of them this past week probably felt scared about layoffs when they shouldn't have to feel that way. I mean it's Everquest!

Anyhow hope everyone has fun with the xpac and heroic server. I'll be hiding in my hole again. Thanks for letting me rant.

If 20 yrs.. ain't late..

I dunno what late is..

Cocaine’s a hell of a drug.

In 5 years WoW will be 20 years old. If WoW 2 came out around then most would see it as the "perfect" financial time, and it would be because they milked their classic/progression servers by then. But because Everquest doesn't have that fanbase we settle for being old and stale. We need some bacon sprinkled on us!. Grr got pulled back in, /hide

Did we just get Forumquest drunk dialed drug dialed by Brad McQuaid and Elon Musk?

So then when wow does not relaunch .. in 5 yrs like you say..

They then also .. forever ruined their rep.. an all that jazz too right ?

And why not do it at 10 yrs ? Why does it have to be 20 ?

Hahaha. I’ve never seen so little information conveyed in so many words. It’s pretty impressive.

I imagine you would since you and he are the same person and are posting from the same IP address. Next time you want to invest half an hour in a self-congratulatory post under an alter-ego, get a VPN first and at least make a little bit of an effort to have a different writing style and lexicon.

This guy is definitely not a business magnet. Everything comes off as a washed out fiction writer’s assumptions of what a successful business entrepreneur would say.

Easily one of the most cringeworthy threads I’ve ever skimmed thru.

That's a good thing, going around getting stuck to fridge doors & metal filing cabinets is no fun at all.

Share the drugs man.