I got a new survey in email today from DBG

Its funny how some people get them and others don't. I average one every other month and have had up to 3 in one month. If only my random luck was this good at picking the winning lotto numbers.

I know long post...

1) This game should not be made like WoW... Go to WoW for WoW...

The game itself is still good, however Content is KING... We need more content both group and raid. I would say especially group content to keep the servers active...It can't be just about raiders... Even raiders when they are not raiding are groupers. And not just crazy farm key lockouts that take all hope upon hope to get a namer to spawn when perhaps you only get a few hours a night to play, but quests and content that is worth doing, with achievements that give rewards people want. Zones, namers, quests, rares (Rare chase loots, for example, EoK was great, though to be honest you could up the drop rate a little bit!). It isn't bad if people actually get things. I also don't care if you take until next Summer as long as it is a ton of content to look forward too. Something on the scale of SoV or PoP style content would be great!

That said people these days (most not all) hate a bunch of "omg I have to do what to get that? F that too much work for too little reward..." See what has happened is you have a ton of players done with everything and they soon forget what it was like to earn everything. They just log in to raid and log out to stay the best in game. What little content there is at the start of a new expansion, people shoot through content in weeks vs. months... Don't get me wrong, the weeks thing is great from a continued sense of accomplishment, but you need 6x the content to make it take months. Then people feel like they can accomplishing something while there is still something left to do. There needs to be nearly unfinished content right before your next expansion is about to launch. (there will always be some uber guild way out there, after all they have devs with them giving them the game...) You can't tune for the uber minority, you must tune for the majority and think of the uber minority.

There also needs to be a balance between what groupers can do vs raiders. So what if content is a bit easier for a raider... You can't expect casual players to want to log into a game where they die over and over again because content hits like a mac truck and group gear just does not cut it. You either have to level the gear closer to each other (less of a difference between group vs raid gear) or re-tune your encounters. I will agree with ...

Also while content is king... Broken content is just lame. Take the time to get it right before you rush it out the door. People will wait. I don't know anyone that enjoys being a live beta tester and those that do you can get them in beta! Now your bean counter might hate you but in the end they will love how long players actually stick with a real product.

BTW don't let your $$$ TLP content wreck the rest of EQ.

As a final thought... I am just happy to hope for any development to continue on this game that so many of us have given years to playing and paying for.

Best Regards,
Bikmer

go play wow .. EQ will never be like wow or any other new graphics game out there.. if you dont like it go play something new and exciting .. btw if you do quit can i have your stuff pls

Not being a troll but I didn’t read any of this.

Bad for you, somebody wrote with passion and intellect. You should try that...

for the first time in 18 years of SOE/DBG EQ games i voted "0" for would i recommend the game. how can i continue to recommend a game that has been put in "greatest hits" mode. live is dead except for a few raid guilds. TLPs with tokens are nothing more than a pay to win experience....

the best thing they could do for the 20th anniversry is shutdown the EQ games with some class.

i will never recommend this game to a friend lol its almost mean to do so

I have always wondered why people don't want improved graphics in this game?

The only reasons I can see are:

• New graphics will raise the system-requirements and may? limit mass-boxing for people who insist on playing with everything maxed.
• Ruin the nostalgia feeling, change is BAAAD!
• People simply don't trust DBG to do a proper job(hint, other DBG games do have impressive graphics).
• Liking the retro style and the mix of new/old GFX.
• A massive GFX/client update, will mean we miss an expansion-cycle?

I think improved graphics, paired with a decent marketing-campaign, will help attract new players, and that it will be worth the cost in the end.

• New graphics would raise the system req .. but my system can handle anything I throw at it so thats not why ..
• Ruin the nostalgia feeling.. (that maybe the reason) ive been playing this game for 19 years change is not always good
• Correct on that one .. also they have enough to do and they are not gonna divert anymore resources or funds to improve a 19 year old game .. just not gonna happen ..
• keep dreaming nothin wrong with that
• maybe you can create a go-fund me page for EQ update GFX/client
• the force is strong with this one

EQ has never done any huge marketing campaign even when it was few years old they never spent money on too much advertising ..

Imagine you're a company, very short handed, the best and brightest have all been moved to H1Z1.

You have this other game that is all you mention with 'better' graphics called EQ2.

EQ1 steams along with little more than 'maintenance mode' support, in fact, the old graphics are part of the 'charm' for many.

Why would you, the company, spend the massive amount of money and time to 'improve' EQ1?

Im not a business-man, but "updated HD re-releases of old classics" has been successful "killer-apps" before, nintendo upgraded super mario to a 16bit game to sell SNES-consoles, for example.

Would an upgraded EQ1 increase all-access sales? would it expose more players to the marketplace?
Would moving devs from H1Z1 to EQ1 be a net gain in the long run?
I honestly have no idea, but I see a lot of EQ1-players screaming: "don't risk it!"

But if DBG counts on nostalgia alone to keep EQ1 afloat for a few more years, then it probably won't last more than that, nostalgia won't attract new players. Im not sure if TLP-servers attract genuinely new players, or if old players just move from older TLP-servers to newer ones?

Game-development has always been a risky business, sometimes you have to invest in what you already have, to stay competitive.
EQ1 was a high-risk project back in the day(that worked!), it was more or less uncharted territory, and I hate to see them loose what they have already won, by a misguided attempt to "play it safe".

Since you obviously hate it so much, why are you here?

I forgot to mention they have another 'super-secret' game they've been working on for about 2 years.

What you are talking about is a game company that is thriving and making business decisions based on whatever they want (want more devs? pay for more). That is not DBG. They aren't creating complex marketing strategies for EQ1 and 'counting' on nostalgia.

They are barely hanging on, and they are not going to put their very limited resources into this ancient game, which incredibly, hangs on by it's own steam somehow.

They are going to keep on doing things like they have and thank their lucky stars EQ1 is neigh upon immortal in the game world.

Is there anyone playing this game for > a year that isn't in IT?

H1Z1 had the attention of the kids (mine included) but it was too little too late. PS2 is still a great game but it, like the EQs, has been understaffed and neglected for the past few years in favor of H1Z1 and DCU... sad.

sound and graphics for any of the SOE games was average at best. EQ1 sound always bad but it's what makes it great. EQ3 would have been the next update to sound and graphics but didnt happen.

Because I'm not interested in paying a higher price for subscriptions & expansions in order to fund new graphics. There are only so many development hours budgeted for EQ and I'd rather have bug fixes and new content instead of prettier pixels.

just checked my email and yet another one. Really not sure how random this thing really is?

I have been playing since the beginning and I never have been in anything related to I.T.; in fact, other than for EQ, I generally dislike computers and all things technological. I consider myself a luddite with an EQ exemption.

I said I was canceling my accounts until nerco DoT changes were made.