Missed the Mark

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Ruven_BB, Jan 23, 2018.

  1. Ruven_BB Augur

    I read the producers letter, “Happy 2018!” and thought, it really didn’t say much at all beyond I like dragons, buy something from the market place and anniversary content will start in March.

    Given all the current issues, adjustments, current bugs, lack of balance, etc, I am no longer wondering if the game developers are out of touch with a majority of their player base, but am assured of the fact.

    I highly suggest that “the team is deep in planning and content creation” take a moment review the latest offering because without a solid understanding of what has made EverQuest succeed for 19 years EverQuest is at serious risk.

    The basic key principle that has kept players coming back is improving their character (excluding in game relationships ). Not making retroactive changes that makes past content more difficult to balance current content . At the moment in many cases content is over tuned for the average player. Keep in mind, when I say average, I mean the middle of the bell curve, half the players are better, and half are worse.

    Further, past zones tend to progress from a starting zone, to increased difficulty by tiers or depth. Some of the most challenging content I have seen is in the starting zone, or retuned starting mission. This again, shows lack of overall balance. It is only going to frustrate and discourage players from desiring to push further in.

    Last, past expansion progression is essential for current expansion development. Returning players that didn’t complete last expansion are being told not to work in this expansion but the past expansion so that they can get their blockers to be able to contribute versus be a liability.

    I would strongly suggest the developers take some time to actually play this game on live servers with real characters, from different standpoints, raid geared from the past expansion, group geared from the past expansion, a returning player with 2-3 expansions ago gear etc.

    Because as it stands now, the game that is being delivered isn’t EverQuest, but a project that lacks overall design and balance. It is taking away from players investment in improving their characters, and making what they were able to do in the past and future much harder to accomplish.

    What I have written is a combination of countless posts on a variety subjects both stated in beta and live but still seemed to be ignored.

    Ruven
  2. High Voltage Augur

    I think you are wrong to assume "they" do all this because they are out of touch with the game.

    See, "they" lack the resources to create enough new content. So "they" try to force players to relive old content, stretch existing content to make it last longer, make completion of old content necessary for current content. The revival of tradeskilling (one of the worst timesinks ever) fits the scheme as well, as does the "rescaling" of old HAs.
    Gyurika Godofwar, Fanra and Tucoh like this.
  3. oldandnasty Augur

    Ha! They left out Happy New Year casuals, now pack your crap and get the hell out of our game. At least that's what I feel they should have said.
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  4. Numiko Augur

    I have to admit when I read the letter I was underwhelmed too, it was like someone asked her to write a producers letter and she said "about what?" .....
  5. Niskin Clockwork Arguer

    It definitely felt incomplete, or like it was just checking a box to say that there had been a letter.
    Gyurika Godofwar and Tatanka like this.
  6. Jadenpain Scholar

    you get better responses when you use the word delightful.
  7. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    It was a "Happy New Year card" and not a "Newsletter about what is going on".

    That's why it is missing information about the game and the state of the game. Because it seems clear it isn't intended to have that stuff. It's a Hallmark card, not a newsletter.

    It sure would be nice to get a newsletter, however, this isn't it and we shouldn't look at it as if it is.
  8. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    I took this to mean that we are out of luck getting anything fixed!
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  9. Vanrau Augur

    They are working on anniversary content. That pesky Ring of Scale content is old news!
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  10. Scorrpio Augur

    It was not a newsletter. It was not a Hallmark card either. It was an advertisement to buy stuff at Marketplace.

    Most ironically, it arrived roughly 2 minutes after the three "SAY IT ISN’T SO! YOU’VE CANCELED YOUR MEMBERSHIP." emails...
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  11. Numiko Augur

    If they want us to buy more stuff on the marketplace why did they cancel the last two sale weekends they have held here for years and years, Black Friday and the one over the Christmas Break.....
    Gyurika Godofwar and eqgamer like this.
  12. Gyurika Godofwar Augur

    I don't want to take the negative outlook or seem rude but I think you are 100% correct and it feels like we don't even have a producer for EQ. No offense to Lauren or Holly but what purpose do they serve that we actually benefit from and see on a consistent basis?

    An automated program can write forum posts for you. If that's all that they do then what's the point? I think I do a better job of promoting EverQuest myself through posts on the various Facebook EverQuest fan pages and Twitter posts.

    Between a lack of communication to the players, a lack of communication internally and a lack of information on a consistent timely basis it's amazing to me that Daybreak is able to keep the lights on and the servers and internet running (most of the time!).
    Tatanka likes this.
  13. alanon Lorekeeper

    I just looked at my bank statement to see what I was spending in the marketplace and it came out to $680 in Dec $425 for 4 expansions $265 for other goodies and Jan up to the patch $275. works out to close to $1k. I Haven't spent a penny since the 17th. wanted to put numbers to what this casual player spends on EQ. If I look further back in my bank statements I'm sure it would be a consistent number. EQ was my favorite thing to do even if it was only 30min to an hour at a time.
  14. Ruven_BB Augur

    Just rewind. Rewind, and take a break and maybe tweak in a month after anniversary stuff is done.

    The lost revenue is delayed for players that are quitting or will quit when their sub is up. By then its too late. UF was a mistake, this is an UF type expansion that is catering to a minority class of players that will succeed regardless the content provided while alienating your larger customer base.

    Developers, stop defending your actions and rewind. This is coming from a hardcore raider who is currently maxed aa, level, type 7/8 augs, close to finishing my type 5 augs and had completed the earring quest.

    Ruven
    Gyurika Godofwar and Kolani like this.
  15. Atvar Augur

    Having an Underfoot-like expansion wouldn't be a problem if they hadn't removed all the easier options of leveling with the HA changes.

    I will say that this expansion beats out UF in the amount of high profile blunders and bugs:

    • Hybrid classes and races unable to be exp rezzed for the first week
    • Making the first progression mission stupidly easy, then
    • Making mass suspensions the priority instead of Daybreak owning up to its own mistakes, fixing bugs, and moving on
    • Removing OT content from the game for a full week, preventing any player from starting progression quests in the expansion.
    • Unbeatable raid scripts that took days to fix (I really started getting UF deja vu here)
    • Overpowering all older HA content to the point where running new characters through old expansions looks to be harder than RoS content
    • Unannounced nerf of class armor raid charms to be worse than even group gear charms (my one raid item this expansion...i might actually be able to equip in another 6 months...)
    • Breaking the guild window for good measure
    • DPS abilities completely out of whack, yet not even a hint of Necro DoT consolidation after waiting 3+ years now
    What the heck are they "working" on?
  16. Tatanka Joe Schmo


    Great list, but it's only been about 1.5 years. I know it SEEMS like 3 years. That makes it worse.
  17. Atvar Augur

    The DoT change announcement was made March 10, 2016. Necromancers were having DoT stacking issues for a lot longer than the official announcement date, so 3+ years is reasonable.

    PS add broken friends lists and chat channels while we're at it.
    Vexana_Lanys and kizant like this.