EQ suffers from what every other MMO suffers from. Unnecessary complexity.

You seem to equate perfection with competance. That isn't an accurate reflection of reality, so I'll just have to agree to disagree.

The asynchronism between the two PC models is indeed a little bit problematic. It does also affect NPCs. It does often lead to totally different appearances. Beard vs non-beard, long blond hair vs short black hair, etc.

The PC models 2.0 got driven into a blind alley because thousands of items are dependently linked to them. It would cost the company many millions of dollars to remake them for hypothetical 3.0 models which would be embedded inside a totally outdated pseudo graphic engine and those costs would had to be financed by the players. This is why EQ3 is more likely to happen than PC models 3.0.

A doable compromise would be to enforce some synchronization like for the hair colors and beards and to release new high-resolution face textures for both models (1.0 and 2.0) that would also fill the gaps like green-blue hair color and more beard styles for the old models.

I'm not sure how you got I "equate perfection with competance," but I can assure you that is not the case. I think that having an expectation that players can accomplish a basic function is not unreasonable. If mistakes happen and they will, asking players to take steps to correct them should not be too much to ask.

When EQ2 introduced the "Soga" models as an option, some players liked them others disliked them, many vehemently so on both sides. Some like them for some races and not for others. For many roleplayers (and others, too), it became a nightmare because they have no control over which way their character is seen by another player since any player can select one or the other for all characters they see. For EQ2, there is no other game assets linked exclusively to one model or the other. It is still a big deal to some players and still creates strife.

The reason in EQ for some features to be linked to the "Luclin models" is because of the animation. If they were to add a 3rd model, it would likely use the same animation as the 2nd version so they wouldn't have to redo other assets but that would annoy players wanting the animation "issues" of the 2.0 models to be "fixed". Animations is also why most of the illusions cannot ride a mount or do various emotes.

Plus this talk about 3.0 less like to happen vs. EQ3 Happening is like going Nope and we tried from 2009 to 2016 and We Simple Don't know how to Develop Games nor do Our investors want us too. So Daybreak Games will continue the Exp Route. At this point Someone should say EQ3 is about as Luck to happen as Half-Life 3 is going to happen? Good luck waited from 2008 to 2020 and still waiting after HL: Alyx for HL3. I should say a lot of People pretty Much Gave up on EQ3 and Going Pantheon is the real EQ3.

Monsters & Memories is also an EQ clone with a high chance to get released because it has a much simplier design structure than Chronicles of Elyria Pantheon. I don't think that Pantheon will be released within the next three years and it has a high chance to fail as it is much to ambitious which is the number one reason why most projects do fail before ever entering the beta phase as they just do run out of investors and money.

1, Pantheon is Not Chronicles of Elyria.
2, I was following Daybreak (Then named SOE from 2004 to 2016) which lets see They made Landmark (closed Down\Cancelled), Planetside Arena (which they closed Down\Cancelled) They last Made Game.
So yes there is high Chances for every Game in the Making to be cancelled.
Like it or Not They did a lot more in the Early 2000 With EQ then they are doing now. Console Game , 3D fantasy real-time strategy game and a Card Game. Along with Books and Now Nothing. Daybreak Scared to even Release a RPG with the EQ name on it? Sad part about it is yes they all ended up Cancelled in the end with no support. Because SOE\Daybreak Game stop caring about them. Then focus on the MMO's only

Steve Clover talking about WarWizard and the start of EQ:

Sure, but it might meet the same fate as both projects have two things in common:

1. Being overambitious.
2. Nearly endless development time because of much to small teams.

EQ kept everything simple and had a big dev team which was the key to success. Afaik it got developed in just three years. Pantheon just did hit 5 years and seems to be in the middle of nowhere.

It seems that the RPG market is pretty dead atm. It is similar to collecting stamps or playing with a toy train. The current generation is not very interested in such kind of stuff and the older generations that used to play with such stuff is lacking the time and motivation.

I'll answer the Many years it takes to Developer to make an MMO 7 years back when EQ was Develop it was a lot shorter that is why it took 3 years and it took WoW 5 years. Plus they are Indie not AAA and even Ashes of Creation is indie and So is Monster & Memories is Indie. No AAA company is making an MMO except Riot & Blizzard but they are not taking chances like the 3 above and even Amazon is taking Chances. As for RPG there a lot of RPG's being made but they take time to develop Dragon Age is suppose to be 2024 as for Mass Effect 2024 or 2025. I'm not say rush but EQN was 4 years in the making on it's 7 version when they cancelled it. and No it's taking longer to make an MMO is no excuse to be in it for 4 years and cancel it because you remember being done in 3 years before it's going to take time to do it right. By the way the 7th Version on the same Project is a warning Someone doing something wrong. It should be no more then 3 try and your done Even Cyberpunk 2077 had 5 Restarts and come out buggy.

Seems to me that EQN's key mistake was managing expectations. Some people just can't resist promising big despite having no plan to deliver. I worry Pantheon has fallen into this trap.

The modern gaming community has learned to expect launch issues, and will tolerate it to some degree provided they "feel heard" and see transparent effort and prompt results on those issues. But the longer a game is in development, I feel the higher the hype and shorter the patience. Assuming it ever launches, that is

This. V7 of a product is good. V7 of a project that has yet to become a product... investors are going to walk away with their losses at some point.

Sure, development takes awhile (particularly for an ambitious title) but ultimately a game is a game, and it's either fun, or it isn't. It shouldn't take half of a decade to figure that out.

Personally I would have loved to see what EQN could have delivered even if it wasn't built on a world of voxels. Maybe it could have broken off of a Landmark that was monetized. We'll never know.

This I agree with I though it was funny not only is the Ground and everything on it Voxel, But the sky, Clouds, Sun & Moon are all Voxel? How are we suppose to chip away the Sun? and for what reason.
Son Don't look at the Sun. Dad don't worry I'm chipping it away?

I would look at it as quite the opposite. Other MMO's suffer from unnecessary simplicity, and thus, less or a lack of challenge and therefore, less adventure, which is where the fun lies.

I've gotten my hand slapped for writing about EQ graphics, when I have never been involved in making a game before, but I really don't think it is as expensive as you suggest.
TTobey worked on a new Troll model's animation** (plus Gnome & Ogre at least) sometime after LoY was finished as the company was at one time exploring a redo of characters.
Later on for a short time there was a "preview" of an updated Human Male & Female Model on the test server (which I recall got a lot of negative feedback), neither of those were ever cited as having cost millions to develop.

35 minute mark

**

If this is a reference to me I do apologize. (How rude of me!)

I hope you remember me saying I don't ever want to stifle anyone saying anything.

I just liked to sling some truth as I see it, from time to time.

Keep on keepin' on.

Which one is that? World of Warcraft? Hardly suffering.

The costs could be much cheaper but that does depend on if only the NPC/PC body grids would have to be revamped and animated or if all armor sets would also have to be redrawn and manually adapted. There are many dozens armor sets around that not only have different textures but also different base grid layouts.

I do not like TTobey's troll model draft for PCs as it is much to clumsy and muscular. Would be a good NPC model for some giant beast tho. The original troll and ogre models are something really special and hard to imitate. Their legs are a little bit to short and the ogre is to fat but that's about it. Ogres should not look like human bodybuilder hulks. The TSoL troll model that does get also used in LoY is not that bad. The big differences between 1.0 and 2.0 are the problem.

You are right. Darkpaw would be crazy to invest any money into updating EQ's models. As you said, the smart thing to do is for them to put the money into a new EQ. That's the only solution that makes any business sense.

Except that we know they have done that several times in the past and failed.

Lets Make a New EQ. 2009 to 2012 Start working on it. Damn it, it's to much like EverQuest.
2013 EverQuest Next all Voxel Base
2016 Cancelled
Normal Game Companies We are making our 3rd Game... It's looks like a New Game but it's too much like the 1st & 2nd Game. Nevermind it's Fine
Daybreak Games We must be Doing something Wrong. Got to think outside the Box.
Well there to many Companies working inside the box.
Did you even want to Make a new Game. Daybreak Games Nope
Fan's Just make Remake EverQuest in the EverQuest 2 Engine, The Planetside 2 Engine are you even listening.

I really disliked the original models for every race, the Luclin era ones are tolerable but their animations are arguably worse.
I quite liked the Troll & Ogre models TTobey showed in the vid I linked.

Also although the Ogre model in EQ2 were both bad (original & SOGA) the colour in the SOGA model was much closer to how they are described as looking Pre-Curse of the Rathe;

"Gone were the days of the Rallosian Empire. No longer would there be heroic olive skinned warriors, their dreadlocks adorned with the bones of their enemies, brilliant minded tacticians and strategists to ensure our victories, or magi to wield fierce magic and open portals to even the realms of the Gods themselves. I am old now, an elder of my people because I am among the last of the pre-curse generations. I leave these words that I now ink in the care of the most astute of the new generation Ogres, I pray that they will endure after I have gone to join Rallos in the afterlife, perhaps The Warlord will shed some hope on my despair and provide some answers as to why his glorious Empire has fallen.
---- Elder Gromok Hergom,
Former soldier of the Rallosian Legions."

It was a huge disappointment for me to see the Ogres in Seeds of Destruction that were supposedly Pre-Rathe curse were just as pale and bald as post-curse ogres, no green skin, no dreadlocks.