Enchanter runes getting upped in mana cost, lowered in absorption, and recast being upped to 12s. [36252/6556] Phantasmal Unity Rk. III Classes: ENC/100 Skill: Alteration Mana: 3662 Mana: 4176 Target: Self Resist: Beneficial, Blockable: Yes Casting: 3s, Recast: 1.5s, Rest: 1.5s Casting: 0.5s, Recast: 12s, Rest: 1.5s Duration: 6s (1 ticks), Extendable: Yes, Dispelable: Yes Hate: 5000 1: Cast: Polyiridescent Rune Rk. III [Spell 36246] 2: Cast: Mastermind's Rune Rk. III [Spell 36094] [36246/6525] Polyiridescent Rune Rk. III Classes: ENC/100 Skill: Abjuration Mana: 2442 Mana: 2723 Target: Self Resist: Beneficial, Blockable: Yes Casting: 5s, Recast: 1.5s, Rest: 1.5s Duration: 42m (420 ticks), Extendable: Yes, Dispelable: Yes 1: Absorb Damage: 100% Total: 84253 1: Absorb Damage: 100% Total: 77134 2: Cast on Rune Fade: Polyiridescent Rune Strike III [Spell 36249] Then the change to wizard claw line I believe no longer able to trigger harvest.
You've got to be kidding me. The cumulative inflation rate since late 2010 (HoThule) has been roughly 8%. That $39.99 game goes up to $43. So, no, the costs have not magically inflated to an impossible level. Barring inflation, you're still missing the grand picture on pricing here. The money they intake from the cumulative expansion sales was much larger back with a larger playerbase than now. Unless we all pay an insane amount of money, they'll never have the budget they did. What absolutely blows my mind is when you talk about money savings, it has nothing to do with software, at all. Its, oh, no more CD's and boxes. The real question is, is Sony Online Entertainment running the EQ1 project at CMMI Level 3 or above? Are they now doing Agile sprints given the new release model? Is it a waterfall development model for new content generation? How about implementing PSP/TSP? All of the cost saving measures are in the processes, not pressing labels onto CDs. Every aspect of software design has improved dramatically in the last decade. But we can definitely compare costs and value - we get less for the same amount of money. From a consumer point of view, its very cut and dry. The expansion has fallen flat. Someone, somewhere, is burning project hours and eating donuts or they've brought in a bunch of inexperienced developers who weren't good enough to make it onto higher priority teams. Is it so hard for them to tell us what we've actually purchased and is being piecemealed out to us? What is planned, Roshen? How many more zones, how many raids, how many missions what is your approximate schedule? Anyone who deals with anything in Software knows you have a Microsoft Project or better tool one click away with all that information. We know you're tracking schedule variance, cost variance, risks, and your TPM is off briefing a 'Next 60 day' slide to someone above your paygrade. Have your TPM/PM get on the forums and tell us something - maybe you don't have permission. Transparency is all we're after at this point.
I don't want to go down your IT/software development road since I am not buying that argument nor do I really understand it to be honest. I don't work in that sphere. Even if IT/dev costs were dramatically lower, do you really think all that savings gets passed on to the end user/consumer? I highly doubt it. Goods get priced around what the buyers are willing to pay so if it costs a business 2 dollars to produce, market and distribute something but charge $1000.00 for it with no push back from the the buyers, than there really is no issue. I might not be in tech, but this one falls under common sense. Here is some data to show you. Granted, it is 5 years out of date and put out when it was the height of the Recession when prices actually had to drop a bit, so the differences will be even more dramatic since inflation compounds just like interest. It shows how much common things have gone up since 1999, when EQ came out. Only Tom Cruise's salary has remained flat, but that about sums up his career as well. Anyway: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/29/then-vs-now-how-prices-have-changed-since-1999/ I am not denying what is being offered content-wise is lacking in a challenge stand point. SoE could do more to stretch what is offered than they do as far as quality. However as far as quantity, we are getting our money's worth IMHO. I could accept less content, as long as it is well crafted and has a good amount of challenge. Oh and was free of nerfs as a strategy to create challenge. That could definitely be improved upon.
Expand heroic adventures a bit. Like dungeon crawls instead of mission type stuff. Even if LDONs were redone to be level 85-100 and awarded marks of valor that would be great. Rogue/Bard abilities such as sensing traps and picking locks could be useful (though not required). I personally wouldn't want to see another expansion for a little while yet. Instead I'd rather see a revamp of the older game in terms of named and the loot they drop. Basically go through it zone by zone, named should drop their normal loot, but it should be normalized to have equivalent stats as defiant gear, or slightly better for their level. In addition named should have better mechanics than simply more hp and more dmg. They should have something akin to raid mechanics, such as bringing everyone close to them, and AoEing, or spawning things that have to be destroyed to before the named can be hurt, ect ect. And I'm talking about doing this as early as the Tutorial and places like Crushbone Keep. Like the rock demon at the end of the tutorial, perhaps he self roots, roars, and a few seconds later smashing the ground causing a short range AOE attack that everyone has to run out to avoid. Yeah this will play havoc with mercs and boxes, but will give groups something interesting to fight, and give them loot that is well worth their time. This will aid new players as they level along, especially if they can overcome this new challenge, so once they hit max level and start raiding, they're already accustomed to these sorts of mechanics. They aren't just used to sitting in a corner pressing 1 2 3.
I would like to do something that isn't an additional cost to my characters power. In efforts to prevent content from becoming to easy we have seen no increased power to our characters (and in some cases nerfs reducing power). Chaser items are fun, had a blast in Hardcore Heritage events, no clue how they are not in Heroic Adventures, since there is little to no reason to kill static spawns in WK or N4. Frankly I would love to see some of the best zones revamped. Seb, Ssra, etc (I know everyone has their preferences). Like to see more aa that improves my character ever so slightly (sum all off the small things continue to add up). As others have stated, I think the Dev's know what we want, and they have been told countless times if they haven't heard. It appears that the resources to implement these suggestions are more limited today than in the past. Ruven
What I want from Call of the Forsaken? Well, first I want to know how many additional zones and raids are planned for this expansion cycle, after Tower of Rot (because there is no way you are shoving a full tier of an expansion into 1 zone/raid event...right?). No sleight of hand or gimmicks, just numbers. Using Plane of War as your crutch is bad form. The community was told Plane of War was bonus content. Typically when you promise something that is a bonus, that means it doesn't take away from what is already owed. And yes, SOE owes. As it stands right now, CotF is very much not worth the $40 per box that people paid for it. Also, only having two tiers makes me sad. HoT, VoA and RoF were all 4 tiers...if you want/need to cut it down a little bit, doesn't it make more sense to drop it to 3 tiers first? What I want from the next expansion? Do you want to win people's confidence back? Give us the full expansion you are saying you are going to give "next expansion" for the $20 that Call of the Forsaken should have cost in the first place, and we can call it even. Not willing to do that? Then you better make one heck of an expansion that will last for a cycle... Right now, your company is squandering away the primary game that's keeping the lights on, and a lot of us - your consumers - are getting pretty upset over it.
Actually, $40 in 2000 would be $54.89 today per the CPI. I don't think most people are feeling that they are getting 72% of the value of Kunark or Velious (or 95% of the value of HoT). Granted, there were more subscribers 'back in the day,' but compare this with HoT, VoA, ROF. With the next CotF content release, even if we count PoWar, we only have as many zones as there were in the initial RoF release. It's hard to see us getting to the dozen-plus zones of the last 3 xpacs.
I bet we're getting a bunch of new collections with spiffy new icons. That counts as new content, right?
Stop reducing class power, and use the man hours your using to create content. Tell me, Developers, what purpose does the changes to Rest serve? What purpose does the changes to the Wizards serve? Why are you reducing the frequency Enchanters can cast a spell, when you just increased the absorption rate last patch? Here's a tip, if you know your treading on thin ice with your player base already, and you plan on delivering a very small amount of content. A) Don't Nerf classes and annoy your player base more B) Don't release temporary content -- make the New raids/missions permanent. C) Give us more then 4 days to beta test the content. D) LISTEN TO YOUR PLAYERS. E) if you SAY OUR LOYALTY IS IMPORTANT -- Prove it!
Yes we would like to know future release info and about the latest at latest date the new thing would be active. But I think you need to take measurements in the game using /ach and take that knowable to the higher ups to get the resources back to EQ (if that is the issue) so new stuff can be ready and rolled out on a more timely manner to keep % Peeps playing more EQ yearly. it’s too bad you’re not using your /ach to review when % is done with the highest group zone /ach allowing you knowledge that a certain group of % are now waiting for something new thing to start on. That would allow you to push out some things on a timely way to keep them busy till the next zone/expansion release. maybe if the content was to easy adjust the next zone release add ways to make it more fun with bonus stuf for them. add more bonus quests that have longer lock outs and keys for things to get to unlock bonuses. (next zone release -add a way these long ways will go away for the later peeps trying to catch up to bypass the long way) If you know at the end of the CotF release that (% your number) of peeps have done all/certain /ach that when that you need to have something new to add ACTIVE to EQ to keep that % of peeps happy. Yes the 1st group done all the /ach is going to go post saying they needs something new but SONY needs to decide when the % is done a specific /ach they need to be on the ball and have something new for them if its long period time before a planed some thing new.
Whomever said to reduce collections to 1 per zone, and divert the man-hours to playable content, was on to something there. -R
No, content is stuff which kills us! We need new places to explore and die horribly. This is EverQUEST something CotF seems to have forgotten with all its HA missions. Where are the quests for fun rewards? Where is the rogue/bard/enc illusion masks to camp? Where is the all/all illusion? Where is the fun stuff? not the must have gear and augs the other stuff, you know the rare camps like the Halfling mask in Chardok, shrink clicky in the Deep, DA clicky from DoDH instance, Horse from Emp Ssra and Seru, etc.
Some of you keep saying it isn't worth paying the amount of money we're paying given the content we're given; even when talking about inflation and whatnot. This may sound strange but here's how I look at it: 1999: Minimum wage - $5.15/hr Movie ticket price - $5.10 Gas/gallon - $1.15 Dozen eggs - $1.15 Ruins of Kunark - $20 +$120/yr subscription Expanded basic cable tv - $35/month 2014 Minimum wage - $7.25/hr Movie ticket price - $9.50 Gas/gallon - $3.89 Dozen eggs - $2.55 CotF - $40 +99-$120/yr subscription Expanded basic cable tv - $80/month
"Inflation" has NOTHING to do with this discussion, so why bring it up? Every game charges around $40 for an expansion drop, EVERY GAME. There's your answer to inflation. WoW = $40...Rift = $40, etc. Difference is they typically drop the price months after where SoE usually only does one sale before they go back to the $40. Look at the games on the market (the AAA ones) and see what amount of content is included for that price. None of those games worked within this current model (basically this was a Kickstarter for the expansion)... Wait...now let's look at "inflation" like some are bringing up: Ruins of Kunark = 26 zones Scars of Velious = 19 zones = 45 zones in 2000 Shadows of Luclin = 28 zones Planes of Power = 23 zones (24 if you want to include PoWar in this) Legacy of Ykesha = 5 zones Lost Dungeons of Norrath = 5 zones = 10 zones in 2003 Gates of Discord = 11 zones (10 instances as well) Omens of War = 8 zones (6 instances) = 19 zones (16 instances) in 2004 Dragons of Norrath = 9 zones Depths of Darkhollow = 6 zones = 15 zones in 2005 Prophecy of Ro = 7 zones The Serpent's Spine = 13 zones = 20 zones in 2006 The Buried Sea = 14 zones Secret's of Faydwer = 15 zones = 29 zones in 2007 Seeds of Destruction = 18 zones Underfoot = 14 zones House of Thule = 13 zones Veils of Alaris = 12 zones Rain of Fear = 9 zones Call of the Forsaken = 4 zones (5 including Tower of Rot which based on T1A + T2B, Tower of Rot will be a zone in T2B as well) There's your inflation, or deflation if you would. The one thing that has remained a constant, however, is the price we have paid for expansions. This is NOT including all the additional features in each cycle. Even though the development team may not be the same size (Upper Management has still stated they have an in-depth team) we SHOULD be expecting more for CotF then what we have gotten. Going forward (because it's quite apparent that many people are unhappy with the expectations and pricing of CotF I think the playerbase needs more transparency on the future releases. T2B, the next expansion (going back to big first day content from what we were *told*). I personally think before I am willing to commit money next expansion I want to know what I am really getting before I take a leap of faith.
Everything is expected to go up ( other than people's relative buying power unless you are in the 1%) and people are Ok with that. ....or at least resign to acceptance.....but not so with EQ. No, that has to stay at the same price and offer the same amount of content it always has. That might be a game industry problem though since they all try to hold releases in the 40-60 dollar range where it has been holding for years. After that, the nickle and dime-ing begins with "micro transaction" content. The actual game software or expac is probably a loss leader now, with the fluff and little add on's that make all the money. Some are saying spend 250 grand and get a couple of good devs. Well, not many places will want to swallow a 6 figure salary for anyone (especially on an ancient title) unless the ROI is going to be huge. If anything, SoE needs more free interns to do menial stuff that eats up man hours and thus free up more time for the talent to do their actual jobs.
Some of you may have missed the seething sarcasm in my statement. It is my personal opinion that the collections are THE dumbest thing ever added to Everquest.
Given T1 was part a and b, I expected T2 to be like T1a with 4 more zones and a bunch of raids with some AAs and spells (not much, but some), and T2b to be a few more HA and raids. For the next expansion I'd personally prefer it to be either 1 release up front of all content or in 2 parts. None of the 4 part scenarios please. It just makes each bit seem a little bit disappointing. Although I understand the time constraints, dribblking it out bit by bit removes some of the feeling of epicness and amazement. If it's a matter of money and staffing time, then maybe take a leaf from the player studio system and open up some of the documentation on how scripting systems work. If players can create a basic raid script, lore, event mechanics, NPC spell data, etc then even though it would need proof reading and testing by SOE staff it's still half the job removed. I'm sure a few dedicated hard core players would jump at such a chance to help you improve the game they love so much.
Pfft shhhh enough of the economic inflation muttering. Honestly anyone who has paid the $40 (or more for not so uber loots) will continue paying that fee IF the content being released isn't FULL of disappointment. With the news of what is coming our way in CotF 2A I already some of at least one long time player who is not going to resub. I do not blame them and for the first time I am starting to seriously consider the same. I have stated this in the past and still vehemently stress that staggered release expansions KILL me. Combine that with what seams to be a half hearted effort to keep CotF chugging along, I'm at 12% hp at the moment. I'm in desperate need of a heal!
