Is this perception wrong?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Skuz, Dec 23, 2020.

  1. CrazyLarth Augur

    well I am not sure I understand the issue but here is my blind guess, EQ1 is older game EQ2 is a newer game and I think they set up some tools from EQ2 that could not be set up for EQ1.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  2. Bigstomp Augur

    A bunch snipped for brevity. But I am still looking forward to the story of Tucker the Chuker from Scorched woods.
    Skuz likes this.
  3. Kristy13 New Member

    Hmm lets see, original velious was what 20 zones? and what 100+ quests? New cut-n-paste velious 6 zones and 30 or so quests? Absor really has an issue with people complaining about cheap output from EQ devs? ToV really didn't offer a lot but at least it has the earring quest .. what does CoV have .. ahh nothing? Or is there more content on the way? This game is call EverQUEST but I am not seeing much questing content, I am seeing mobs with far more HP then they should have; I am seeing content that is geared to reward 6-boxers who cheat using 3rd party software; I am seeing an expansion I loved being hacked up into what will most likely be 3 crap expansions that try to mimic the success of the original Scars of Velious ... Get a clue Absor, you put out garbage, you are going to get garbage feedback. You want those of us that don't like the appearance of Cut-n-Paste, then expand the story instead of re-vamping it. One idea, of many, what's up with the pirates in WW? Where did Lodizal come from? Lot of options for expansing the Tunaran(sp) court. As it is, to me anyway, all you people are doing is re-hashing old content making a lot of us say "been, there, done that" not interested in doing it over. Personally, I would rather you do an expansion with significant original content or not bother at all.
  4. Sissruukk Rogue One

    I think Drinal would be a good place to visit.

    Merry Christmas Absor and EQ team.
    Yinla and Skuz like this.
  5. IblisTheMage Augur

    The EQ dev team is epic, and part of history. ‘

    Keeping the game going, continually improving on it, continuing to release new content, is something I am deeply grateful for, EQ is so much more than a business.

    It is frustrating to learn that EQ has been the cash cow for DPG, and I wish there was something I could do about it, but there isn’t, Imperfect world etc etc.

    Lets see what Enad can and will do about it.
  6. KrakenReality Augur

    It’s nice to give the development team credit, but at the same time they’re a business that’s generated a $1Billion in revenue from EQ1. It’s not exactly a non-profit charity that’s staffed by volunteers.

    The fan base deserves way more of the credit than it gets.
    Skuz and Metanis like this.
  7. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    I believe the current team is doing their best with the cards they’ve been dealt.

    $300-500 million of that $1 billion lifetime earnings was squandered on Landmark and EQNext. (You could probably also add H1Z1, Planetside, and EQ2 as recipients of some of EQ’s earnings).

    It’s not like the current team is driving Ferraris and Lamborghini’s either.

    Unfortunately, the damage was done long before this debate.
    Skuz, Vumad and Xianzu_Monk_Tunare like this.
  8. KrakenReality Augur

    Don’t forget FreeRealms! Also, that list just backs up my point that the EQ community deserves more of the credit than the studio.
    Skuz and Xianzu_Monk_Tunare like this.
  9. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    I wouldn’t lay blame on anyone in the current studio or even the current executives. If anything, the EG7 sale shows that there may be hope to turnaround the game.

    The $300+ million waste on Landmark, EQNext, and H1Z1 lies squarely on Smedley and SOE.
  10. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    I was going to say, much of what was spent, and the choices made, over the years were not in any way under control of the dev level people.

    Landmark and EQNext where, in my opinion, nothing more than a pump and dump for the sale Smed and Dave G. knew was happening.

    Remember S.O.Emote? They where going to put tech that watched your webcam and transferred your facial expression to your character in all their new games? Riiiiiiiight.

    Money that could have been re-invested in EQ was spent in all sorts of ... interesting ways.
    Benito likes this.
  11. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    They also bragged about investing tens of millions of dollars in Storybricks and Voxels at SOE Live.

    I’m sure they received wonderful kickbacks and golden parachutes.

    It’s an absolute tragedy. I think it’s a bit unfair to see these kind of threads when the damage done by Smed and Dave G. is so permanent.

    Though, I try to avoid living in the past, we need to understand how we got here.
  12. Jumbur Improved Familiar


    Tbh, investing money in research of next-gen game-tech, is not a stupid decision. For all we know, some of their expensive lessons in those areas may end up improving EQ1 sometime in the future...
    Skuz and MasterMagnus like this.
  13. Benito EQ player since 2001.

    True.

    I’m not against R&D but their investment didn’t feel right.

    Storybricks and Voxels came out of nowhere. They were unknowns yet hyped up at SOE Live. It was Theranos level sketchy.

    I’m not sure EQ1 would have benefited from the tech. Then you look at what Epic Games did with Fortnite (Unreal Engine) a few years after H1Z1.

    SOE gambled and lost. I suppose hindsight is 20/20.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  14. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh

    While it is great to see the bright side on that.

    I can't help but recall also how these things were presented to us.

    They had more than one streaming studio in the building, video cams and lights set up, and had all sorts of video series also.

    They had a series of videos with the art devs for player studio, we could watch to learn more about making items.

    I'm sure that all had many intangible benefits, and maybe tangible cash benefits too.

    The lesson I learned from it? There was epic waste and apathy among the ranks leading up to that first sale.

    Running lean after, was kind of a foregone conclusion. I was a doubter of 'cash-infusion' at the time, being a venture capital company or I'm sorry Mr. Epstein. (whatever :rolleyes:)

    But on the bright side...
    They sure have run lean and defied the odds for a while now. Let's see what the new boss brings.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  15. Metanis Bad Company

    If only they'd found a way to honor the thousands of hours we have invested in our characters while providing a pathway to EQ3.
    MasterMagnus likes this.
  16. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    While Im deeply skeptical regarding Storybricks, Voxels is not exactly a technological dead-end. I never really considered it a money-scam.
    I too doubt, that they will give EQ1 a voxel engine make-over, but some of the algorithmic research they did in that context, might end up in some hidden sub-component somewhere without us noticing it.
    A game engine is a large patchwork of different technologies, after all. :)
    Skuz and MasterMagnus like this.
  17. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    The voxel idea was strong and much was learned there.

    In some way or another I'd guess the current team has some lessons learned from that.

    But they aren't the only people that may have learned from Landmark.

    Two strong business axioms are:
    Find what a competitor does wrong and do it right.

    Find what a competitor does right and do it better.

    I am still so struck every time I play Fortnite how almost every element there, was in Landmark.

    Forget the game mechanic of battle royale, just imagine the original concept of Landmark, EQ in a destructible world (but only structures not digging into the ground).

    In an engine that supports so much more, and more cosmetics than you can imagine.

    It's not a 'might have been', they had it in theory. If only instead of smoke and mirrors they gave some leverage to the actual good ideas.
    Jumbur, I_Love_My_Bandwidth and Skuz like this.
  18. Dimek New Member

    I personally love this return to velious, just as i loved the return to Kunark, what i really really want though is a return to Luclin, that would be freaking awesome.
  19. Captain Video Augur


    Free Realms made money! It was a smaller-scale cash cow in its own right. They spent a lot of time and effort working on an expansion that never saw the light of day. The big fail was never publishing a proper expansion and never raising the level cap above the launch at level 20. But it's also a Smed fail; the plug was pulled before anyone at DBG had a chance to see what could be done with it.
  20. MasterMagnus The Oracle of AllHigh


    They had Player Studio in Free Realms, I had items there too.

    The official line was "Because it's aimed at kids, it was too much customer support when they would get griefed or scammed and complain so much."

    Sad too. It had a whole art style and group of assets just wasted now.

    I'm sure they actually ended up cashing in on that, and then ending it saved a bunch of expenses. Job well done from their perspective.