Decorators Ahoy!

Discussion in 'Norrathian Homeshow' started by Wolfess, Jan 10, 2020.

  1. Wolfess Member

    I'm very saddened and upset to learn that Febrith - decorator extrodionaire, has left the game (at least for now) :(
    I have admired her for a very long time and valued her opinions, experience, passion and uploads. I feel very lost without her in the game now. But I have to say that part of me understands the reasons why. Myself I am often disappointed and frustrated by what I see as lack of interest and encouragement from the game and devs. As a committed decorator I, and fellow decorators, spend countless time and platinum/station cash on using our creativity to make wonderful homes etc for others to enjoy. Without interest in what you are achieving it is hard to feel the satisfaction and accomplishment to continue. I am begging developers to start highlighting home decorators more in general. I don't know when the in-game dev's picks was last updated. Should there not be at least one person designated with this alone? Is there? Here's hoping for positive change!
    Rosyposy, draidean, Merriel and 5 others like this.
  2. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Aw! I know she'd reduced/eliminated her videographing (thanks, YouTube :-/), but I didn't realize she'd left us entirely! :(

    I miss not having someone official on-staff like Domino, who was definitely on the crafters' side, though I'm not sure how militant she was for specialists like decorators. Unfortunately, they don't have enough staff for the Kelethin TLE at the moment, from what I've heard, so it looks like poor Kaitheel is the one wearing all the hats (holidays, crafters, etc.). He may simply be too exhausted to march in the picket lines for decorators as well. :-/

    Uwk
    who really wishes companies in general would focus more on real revenue generating over "cost-cutting measures"... :-/
    Marae, Rosyposy, draidean and 3 others like this.
  3. Quiarrah Well-Known Member

    Awww. . . . I didn't know Feb left. . . . when did this happen and how did you find out??
  4. Ocarinah Well-Known Member

    I am very sad she has left as well but totally understand. She totally stepped up and helped me when I was having a complete breakdown. I really appreciate everything she has done. Lots of people have had to take breaks from this game and hope that someday they will decide to return. I am very sorry I had to take a break from the game the past couple years.

    I do know that they are listening to us and being supportive. There have been recent dev picks just don't know the exact date. Dev picks are very special thing so I totally understand why they don't happen regularly. They have supported people hosting events by giving participates (including the host) a house item as reward (if host knows how to request them....if you host and need to know, please send me a private message). They have given a couple of people special titles for doing so much for the decorating community. I have never felt listened to as a player by developers like this with any other game. This game is special.

    We have a great community that helps support decorators. The number of decorating events (house swaps, contests, decoraids, honoring people like Cloudrat) players are hosting is very impressive. Videographers have tried to do as many videos as they have time to so that peoples creations are highlighted. How to videos on decorating as well. People hosting how to events helping people learn the layout editor. Websites such as eq2.eqtraders.com and eq2furniture.com that are extremely helpful.
    There have been people that used to highlight a decorator each month.
    Everyday people are there to help others get house items, offer advice, vote on your houses, do write-ups on quests, etc.

    I know for a fact that many of the items I have put on wish lists either in this forum or in test / beta have made it into the game. There has been so many new holiday events (Beast'r Eggstravaganza, Oceansfull Festival, Scorched Sky) and tons and tons of new house items (771!?!?! since 01/01/2019 which includes mounts that can be made into plushies). Testers have asked for certain items to scale differently and they did change it before release and also on items already released. They take feedback from the testing community very seriously. They added a way to do a search to find houses easily on leaderboards. They changed house items to stack so we can buy items faster. Things do take time though since we do have so many requests on to of releasing new content in game updates and expansions. They are giving us ways to get items (gear, house items and even houses themselves) that were for special events and such.

    It makes me sad that people are not noticing all this amazing stuff happening with this game. This is not the first time someone has posted this topic. If something is lacking, maybe the people frustrated could find a way to do something positive. Start helping with the testing, host an event, learn how to do videos, offer help to decorators, improve the way you provide feedback, join Discord where you can chat with devs, or start focusing on all the positive things going on in the decorating community.
    Marae, Rosyposy, draidean and 4 others like this.
  5. Merriel Well-Known Member

    So, apparently dev picks are few and far between. The most recent dev picks and should be on every server is Cloudrat's travel dojo. She provided a much needed service to the community and as she recently passed away, it was their way of honoring her for her contributions to the community.Yes, she did provide a travel dojo on every server (or at least every US live server...I am uncertain of the Euro server or Test or the TLE servers).

    Prior to that, they did choose another home for a dev pick on Maj'dul server, perhaps a year or so ago (my memory eludes me as to which home it was now) and prior to that, they did add the home that Ceyarrecks, Vasciagio and I had decorated for Niboota's birthday on both AB server and Maj'dul server.

    The home is called Niboota's Spooky Birthday Ride, and was part of a deco event where the decorators in the community had decided to decorate some homes for her birthday because she was never getting any of her own decorating done as she video toured our homes quite regularly. Well, the three of us decided to do a home in which, as stated previously, was featured both on AB server and Maj'dul server, and shortly after she published the homes, we became aware that the home had been selected for a dev pick on both servers. This was quite a compliment and much appreciated by the three of us. That was a few years back, I think? Time passes by so quickly, and my memory is quite foggy, lol.
  6. Argosunited Well-Known Member

    I can still hear Febs laughing as we smashed through Ward of Elements on our regular Friday night outings. She's a diamond.
    I'm sure she'll be back, well I hope she will.
    Rosyposy, Febrith, Merriel and 2 others like this.
  7. Ocarinah Well-Known Member


    This is a recent one I remember reading about.
    Rosyposy, Breanna, draidean and 2 others like this.
  8. draidean Well-Known Member

    That house is awesome!
  9. Wolfess Member

    I'm not angry enough to leave the game or anything, just felt sad and disappointed. Maybe I'm on the wrong server too? From what I see and hear the decorator community is not as prolific on my server ( Thurgadin) as say on Antonia Bayle?
    Of course I appreciate all the cool new things and I enjoy all the holiday extras etc. But I still stand by my point of view that more could be done to rekindle (pun intended) the smoldering fire that is amount of interest shown to us players that multitask - questing, crafting and creating! Didn't mean to offend anyone
  10. Quiarrah Well-Known Member

    I agree with you as my home server is Thurgadin. I moved over to Skyfire and Majdul due to the lack of human bodies on that server. However I do still have toons there and maintain a tier 3 Qeynos GH that is more of a ghost hall than anything else. If you know of anyone needing a guild you can send them my way. I will be on any number of alts . . Quiarrah. Suessu. Nykoda or Bellatryx.
  11. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    That wouldn't happen to be our GH, would it? Yeah, it does get lonely when there's just pretty much the two of us rattling around in it. :-/

    Uwk
    kitty of a thousand (well, okay, half a dozen) servers ;->
    Rosyposy and Breanna like this.
  12. Febrith Well-Known Member

    Hey Wolfess - thanks for your kind words about me - and I totally understand where you're coming from actually. We have a whole TWO dev picks on our server - just two, that's it. And they are both 4 years old or so /shrug. Two in the whole of Europe and Russia? That's pretty disgusting frankly. Has anybody even bothered to go and look at Synosha's Mara Estate (for example), I mean honestly, those space ships are AMAZING and well deserving of any kind of accolade that's going and that's just one example. We make nice houses over here too - but does anyone get off their backsides to go and see them?

    It's not like I've not always known that the denizens of the European servers are considered second class citizens - starting on Runnyeye and then through Splitpaw to get to where we are now on Thurgadin, nothing has made me change the way I feel about that. Hell, even the new blooming T-shirts aren't available outside of America - this is a 15 year old game with a fan base across the WORLD - but you'd never know it - if you're outside of America then you don't matter.

    I have showcased so many wonderful Thurgadin properties made by really talented people over the years - why bother? Apart from giving the creator of the home a bit of well-deserved pleasure, it's pointless. I used to spend my time travelling all over the servers just to visit and vote on homes even if I never video'd them - and let's face it, I did video a LOT lol.

    And whilst I'm at it I'll say that whilst it's clear that the developers don't give a dayam about the decorating community, the community isn't what it used to be either. A few years ago someone would publish a house and literally everyone would go and visit and ooh and aah and give their support and if they couldn't go and visit, they would leave that person a nice comment and show support for their endeavours. Now I look at this forum and see a home has been published and maybe 3 people will even bother to leave a kind comment - the only time any excitement is forthcoming at all is when there is an event - and even then generally only to the people involved in it.

    And Uwkete I AM still video'ing - and have been continuously ever since I left game. Ok they're not EQ2 videos anymore (apart from one the other day) but my channel is growing and I'm still out there - all your videos are still hosted and I have no intention of taking them down.
    Rosyposy, kianne, Faeonara and 5 others like this.
  13. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Yay, Feb! That last bit is very encouraging. :)

    Uwk
    Breanna likes this.
  14. Rushd Active Member

    Hi All, I seen a notification that I was mentioned so I checked out this thread. I understand the frustrations, sincerely I do. But we must all take it into perspective. We are playing an older game with very limited staff currently in a transition stage. EQ2 has some of the best Decorating options out there... don't forget that.

    There are numerous reasoning for communities to falter, whether it be guild, server, or a niche community like decorators. Players will come and go and torches will extinguish, but only if we let it. People like Feb and Oaky and many others are what MAKE it! For myself, I knew I would again go back to adventuring and used Decorating as a past time I very much enjoy when time allowed. I'm still decorating.... but not as actively pre BoL. But honestly, my Luzifur's Reign Property likely made it to Dev picks because of ALL of you! The NoTD2019 event was highly publicized on our server by all of us contestants. We did not advertise just our own homes but all of them.... urging the server community to get involved and check our works out. All contestants were spamming General chat daily during different time zones and I even convinced a few of my adventuring guild mates to take a look at it. I even advertised the event on other servers while stalking the works abroad.

    One of the things that surprised me was how many folks had no idea how to even look at rankings and some didn't even know they existed. 15 years of interface can be cumbersome for new players and even returning old ones who had forgotten. For the folks stepping up.... THANK YOU.... I know it can be a very thankless job. Like Feb said.... Euro server gets glanced over and with such a small community even on US servers it is up to us to keep it as active as possible. Not everyone visits forums, discord or even the rankings and many are not in the Homeshow channel either. We do need to help rebuild our community and I think the best way to do that is exposure. It is not the event organizer's job alone to advertise..... it is all of ours.

    Some of the top rated properties in Hall of Fame were also coaxed votes. Not going to name names.... but some of them were handing out free stuff, plat or whatever it took to get themselves on the leader board. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but its part of the mechanics and frankly it gets exposure to the leader boards. To those providing server services in their properties Bravo! Dev Picks last year had some sad properties on them from years prior so I was surprised and ecstatic to see Dev's were looking once again even with their limited staffing. I even got a mention in Eq2's instagram. My point being is build the hype whatever it takes. We have tools in social media, here in the forums, General chat, ,homeshow and discord.... lets use them to our advantage.
  15. Rushd Active Member

    thank you very much, i rather enjoyed creating it very much!
  16. kianne Well-Known Member

    I completely agree with everything Febs said here, it also the same reason I have decided not to play in mths or video, as well as all the YouTube fiasco, not to mention the fact that the decorating communities lack of support towards each other has made me loose heart in what I enjoyed playing and doing. What ever you are up to Feb, I wish you well in it...
    Kianne
  17. Febrith Well-Known Member

    Thanks Kianne and the same to you. I'm glad it's not just me (though it's a shame, obvs) that feels the disconnect from the game and the decorating community. A lot of the old faces have left (from both the development team and the community) and when you're left behind and you remember how vibrant it used to be, well then it's a sad wake up call - or it was for me anyway.
  18. Ocarinah Well-Known Member

    Just wanted to update everyone on Dev Picks. I saw in homeshow chat that someone had made Dev Picks I think it was last week. I forgot who it was until yesterday when people were talking about more people making it to Dev Picks. There were 4 Dev Picks on AB. Not sure when this happened, but all were from Frostfell events in 2019. People went looking on other servers but I got logged out when I had to go afk. I don't know exact numbers but I heard Thurg had a bunch of them (more than 4). I do know that one of them on Thurg was Cloudrat's Travel Dojo.

    A Dev must have seen this posting. Looks like they do care and listen to us!!!! Go check out Dev Picks on your server and give people grats!!!! People were moved to tears yesterday!!!! Grats to everyone!!!! Good job!!!!
  19. Febrith Well-Known Member

    "Devs do care and listen to us" - more like they've been shamed into acting tbh. But, that being said, I'm thrilled that Synosha finally got the credit he deserves - and Kianne also for the Trick or Treat house she made for me, plus Shariseya and Ratbill - good calls Devs:) x
  20. kianne Well-Known Member

    OMG... Seriously the Hocus Pocus house was picked for the dev picks, on Thurgadin, OMG... /Happy dance..
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone and Breanna like this.