Producer's Letter: Progression Server, April Update, and Beyond

Every expansion for EverQuest has been different. To set one definition of what an expansion is to be "the ruler" for what every campaign will always be isn't realistic. The team isn't exactly the same every time we do a release. The player base isn't exactly the same every time we plan a release.

This producer's letter wasn't intended to spell out what exactly an expansion is, or how many zones, raids, and quests each campaign will exactly include. We DO want to let you know the direction we're heading in, so your feedback can be part of our process.

We'll share specifics on the fall campaign as we get closer to its launch.

Roshen, how can we give you feedback that is meaningful when we get nothing but vague statements with no details? From our perspective, it seems like you are trying to sell us beachfront property in Arizona.

I would pay to fill in missing spells from old expansions.

There is nothing unreasonable to set an expectation. You can easily say it will be X zones with Y raids +/- Z for each.

Reasonable people are not expecting something set in stone, but reasonable people are wanting to know about the future of EQ, and if its going to be like the cellar thing in eq2, people should know, and be forewarned, its only right to your customers, your loyal fans.

I could continue, but I don't think it will do any good, I'm gonna sit back and pray you guys get your act together and keep the game going strong, if not, well I do this for fun, have done so for a very long time, but there are other things in life that can be fun as well, only time shall see.

Plans can change, even with that much. Fall release (assume November) is still half a year away. At this point they probably don't have the lore docs finalized, let alone zones plotted out. Beta will likely be in late Summer (August ish), which is when we have the biggest chance to provide feedback. It may be they may be even more open and give us more info ahead of time; but I doubt we'll see anything till June or July at the earliest regardless. Any time sooner, they probably just don't have anything firm enough to tell us.

You can only pay Aristo with the tears of babies.

Split over two installments...

My feedback is I can assure you after the last 2 years that not answering or only providing vague information is pushing a large portion of your players away or to free to play. You have already burned your trust us or just hang on awhile longer cards. Smed flat out told Eli we would be getting EXPANSIONS still and most still were holding to that LARGE expansion that was promised after TDS provided the smallest release of content ever.

After funding endless other games for 15 years, funding 2 attempts now at everdisney where you try to appease everyone all at once thus failing everyone, overcoming some HORRIBLE decisions in the past that divided the population and resources this game needs some major good faith shown or accept where you guys put it. It wasn't the players that got bored or stopped spending $ to keep it going you guys literally chased them off by telling them what they wanted or removing what they wanted, at least to the degree needed to keep them appeased.

Confusing...i thought Eq has mostly long-time players, i rarely hear about new ones trying it.

In autumn the cat will be out of the bag anyway.
Spilling it out now if TDS or older expansions are the standard for campaigns x2 could earn you back some respect. For honesty.

Can you at least tell us what's the difference between a campaign and an expansion other than the name? From 2004 to 2007 SOE was releasing 2 smaller expansions per year instead of 1 larger one. Switching back to that release model is fine. The confusion is about the name. Are campaigns replacing expansions, or are they additional content releases and there will still be expansions?

Look in your heart. You know the answers.

(2 campaigns a year are going to be the only releases)

They should just keep calling them expansions but release them with the indication that they are smaller or 1/2 expacs and charge appropriately. Changing the name is senseless. EQ players don't like change. Haven't you learned this by now?

Also, EQ1 people are now comparing campaign to the garbage run cellar campaign on EQ2 and thinking that's what we get. This was one of your biggest mistakes right there. People are gonna jump to conclusions even though EQ stuff =/= EQ2 stuff since forever.

We get that you have to toe the company line, that is your job. But your really going to ask that question and then follow it up with a statement about player feedback and design decisions? That is why no one trusts you guys, that is why a lot of people have lost respect for you guys.

The quote about Smed has been tossed around enough in this thread, you know it well by now. What was that quote about? What was the reason for the reverse course on staggered releases?

Oh, that's right. The massive amount of player feedback about game design that resulted in the admission staggered content was a mistake. It was made crystal clear the players want a large content release like an expansion once a year.

You might not have much information about the upcoming campaigns, but you better come up with something quick. You know that only a small portion of the player community comes to these forums and most in game get it second hand in general chats/guild forums. And what are they saying in game? That EQ1 isn't getting another expansion, just 2 "campaigns" for the next year and citing Rum Cellar as what the size of those "campaigns" will be. The reaction to put it mildly is not good, the bleeding has started and will only get worse the less actual information you guys give.

What was the reasoning you pushed out content once a year for roughly 14 years?

If that's the case why way till the fall when the next campaign will basically be complete to let us know about it.

Hmmm not sure on the semantics of this but we are still only getting one expansions worth of content in a year whether its one expansion or two campaigns. Not sure whether we should be talking about frequency.

Getting an answer of some kind is nice I guess but you really haven't said any more then Holly did. And no mention of staggering content because you don't have the staff to get a full expansion done by the fall. If you have the staff to get a full expansion completed by fall and you are only doing half an expansion by fall your bosses would not be too happy. If you do have the design staff to put out a full expansion but are not what will they be spending their extra time on? And here is what worries me. If you only have enough staff to put out half an expansion (a campaign) by the Fall how will you get another half of an expansion(ie a campaign) done six months after that?

I am still looking for some transparency.

I get you are stuck working with that they give you to answer with and it sucks being stuck in that position.Definitely nothing personal but Daybreaks polices on dealing with the playerbase suck a bit and all talks about transparency have been just that.. talk. Again nothing personal you have a job to do.

I may be wrong but aren't there some zones "in the can" for release at a later date? they probably couldn't form a cohesive storyline for an expansion so switched to campaigns so they can release whatever they want.

Campaigns are smaller than expansions. They'll release more frequently. Each campaign will be offered at a lower price a traditional expansion.

We are moving from the expansion model to the campaign model.

I hope that vague acknowledgement about the lackluster amount of raids in the video we saw last month with Holly and Co. is still there.

3 raids + 4 more raids in a year is what we have now, and it is too little.

Will buying future campaigns include previous campaigns similar to how expansions work? (Example: Buy TDS get all previous expansions). If the answer is no, will we be able to skip campaigns that dont offer level increases?

Will campaigns eventually unlock for Free To Play accounts similar to expansions after a certain amount of time has passed?

Will campaigns be buyable with station cash?

Well at least DBG in the form of its Executive Producer of EverQuest and EverQuest II did us the courtesy, and I use that word advisedly, of informing us that EverQuest is truly no longer a priority despite claims to the contrary as recently as a month ago in her Twitch stream. One must admit, though, this 180 degree turn may qualify as a speed record for a course change with respect to the future of EverQuest. It may have even beaten $medley's record.

Hopefully if they are half the size of an expansion they will be half or less the price.. .hopefully.