After 26 years i get to retire.

It's a pretty weird business model, to be sure.

1. don't bring in new customers over the past 10 years
2. try to get rid of as many high-paying customers as you possibly can over the past 2 years

We're not in lockdown covid land any longer. The population boom we saw in 2020 of folks coming back dried up 2 summers ago.

I am not the one who does leave the game, so why would I need an excuse ? I still do enjoy the game but not everything of it. Not agreeing with everything does not make me to a grinch or someone who is preventing to keep the game running. The opposite is the case. You are using black rhetorics (again) my friend, shame on you.

It is also wrong that stuff does get added for players enjoyment. That is only secondary. The primary reason is always to max out revenue and profit. Giving players enjoyment does only serve that goal.

I want to add that the persona feature is not totally bad. It has some interesting aspects like shared achievements and there are players who do enjoy the feature. My critique is more about how it got added, because that does make it to a bad and polarizing feature overall. It has divided the players once again. Some do like it, some do hate it. Some old players got alienated by it, like the thread starter, and I doubt that it will catch many new players which could compensate that loss.

It could had been a great feature if more thoughts and sensitivity would had been put in. It seems that the feature got pushed out way to fast, and only half baked, with tons of very serious bugs, and not many thoughts being put in, just to add an expansion feature for additional profit. Shared achievements could had been implemented way better as an account wide feature by including just all characters of the account (alts).

The game has reached a point where the wheat is separated from the chaff, and only the chaff will remain, if there won't be new ideas like a new server line and new account types. The TLP server hype is over and those servers are not a solution for all old players. Modern live servers are more or less only a thing for new players but I cannot see much of them.

You are the one complaining that how other players enjoy the game by utilizing personas impacts you when it doesn't. Someone playing a persona is the same as them playing an alt.

Hold up.

You retiring?

They making EQ so that it caters to you.

As in keep it going and going and going.
Target market those same players from decades ago.

Before you leave think about something, you want to make the brand EQ better, everlasting.
Make an EQ3 thread and talk about how people are about to retire or retiring and the best thing for EQ is to revitilize itself and make EQ3 and a whole new generation of players.

EQ1 till I die is not a thing, people retiring, think about the legacy, think the future of EQ.

Do EQ3 when its tooo late? Or do it when it still has life in it.

Timing is everything.

I actually enjoy the game and I encourage friends and old groupmates to log in just for that reason. It's nice to hear from them and their current endeavors. Most importantly, it's nice to know their safe and healthy. Recent life events have kept me from playing regularly, especially raiding for an undetermined timeframe. I will point out, I've seen very longtime EQ friends who love the game stop playing recently over not being able to alt tab and the recent DX upgrade. While I've not had any issues personally, quite a few have voiced this issue on the forums. As for personas, I love it. I don't like the current leveling process, however I like having options especially when I don't have time for other things in EQ. I have leveled many alts over the years and I don't want to redo clickies or flags again. I do understand those angry with developer comments because they left a gap of hope for many when they could've just shut the "absorb and alt" question directly during the Q&A. In the end, it's just a game and I never understood why folks need to write a thesis on "retiring" from game or boast about entertainment accomplishments. I mean has anyone ever put EQ accomplishments on a resume? If they have, I want to read about it. I find that to be fascinating.

Cheers!

I personally don't like personas, but I absolutely, 100% would never quit over them.

I just chalk it up as a specific feature I'm not a fan of in a game full of features both preferable and non-preferable to me.

Kinda like every other game in existence.

Can you make a persona of the same class you are originally?

Don't think so. The original class is now also a persona.

I was mad that they didn't let you change your persona in any zone. Personas are just below worthless imho. I have played the game since April 99. I have stopped playing for long periods, throughout the years. I usually buy the new expansion, level up my toons, then stop playing for 9 months or so. I will probably do that until it shuts down. Traveling is one of the worst things in EQ today. It was immersive back in the day, but it's a complete waste of time now.

Its the context of traveling.
Back then you'd meet/see/observe players also running or doing things and see people you played with before running around.
Now its barren wasteland and instances, you never really see people and current day live server EQ, people get angry when too many other people in zone and demand instances.

Back then a heavy populated zone, is a good thing. Hi I'm LFG.
Today EQ, too many people in zone, ugh where is my instances for boxing? instances when?

So its how you look at it. EQ how it looks at travel and exploring the unexplored, yeah totally garbage. Ex. Velks 2.0, aint no one going there, old, deadend part of the world, expansion specific, why long run? Just teleport me there.

Doesn't mean its not a good thing for new games and what not. If you actually have zones people running back and forth in and what not, its engaging and good. When its a bunch of teleport and zone 2.0, its a dead end path, zones only specific to expansions.
Not a world like and not no common back and forth running, those zones become worthless, thats EQ current day.

Anyways, EQ3 if they making it, have to pay attention to foot traffic and what not. You can do this, but its got to have a purpose. They need to look at EQ2 for this, I like having multiple fast travel options besides instant travel. Flying on griffon. I like massive zones. Antonica.
EQ2 didn't hit for other reasons, it did things right. You got to pick the best of every game, like Palworld.
People be saying Palworld is like pokemon, rust, ark, has guns. That means they did good, because it has the good things of other games.

EQ3, you gotta get the good stuff from EQ, the good stuff from EQ2, the good stuff from other MMORPGs.

Actually, your highest persona is the highest level character you currently have because EVERY character now IS a persona.

If you had a level 100 Cleric before they put personas in the game, you now have a level 100 Cleric Persona. There is no such thing as a non-persona character anymore. Even if you never bought the newest expansion... you still got personas. The only difference is you can't add new pesronas to your character with out buying the last expansion.

Surprise! You are playing a persona! *BAM!*

Mind blown.

You are in our persona now!

I don't use them personally, I have my main 4 I box with and I'm good with that. I work so much I don't have the extra time to relevel all over again.

This was a weird way to let everyone know you're going to go play Disney Dreamlight Valley.....

I have played continuously since Kunark, one short break for a few months quite a few years ago. Personas don't bother me in the least, I don't use them. The thing that bothers me is the weak expansions that are completed far too fast, and far too easy raids, it is just getting quite boring.