A Community Update from EG7’s CEO and Founder, Robin Flodin

Read the letter HERE.

Watch the EG7 Community Update video HERE.

I like the video, but a 15 min video is too long.

Omg, did I die and go to heaven? An actual gamer now owns DB? I'm doing the happy dance!!!

This is very positive and I'm eager to see what the team and EG7 will come up for Everquest 2...

I know they are many issues and any could and can be a priority to fix and/or update but I'd say those are coming up to my mind quickly:

- Graphic overhaul of the game. That would make the game look incredibly beautiful. I know it's not easy, but it would bring so much life and beauty to the game...

- A level/stats squish. The numbers are now incredibly ridiculous. Going back to a max level under 100, even back to 50 would be much better. Realign stats with it and the game would be more streamlined.

- Reduce the number of combat arts and spells. The need for 5, 6 or more hotbars is unwanted.

- Less different stats on items. We need a freaking degree in mathematical engineering(if such a thing exist) to understand everything stats wise. Would be way better with basics stats and gradually improve them over the full level range.

- Automatic level adjustment for every zone. Instead of using a chronomancer to reduce our levels to quests, have a challenge or enjoy the game in older zones, why not make that automatic and each time we enter a zone, we are reduced/adjusted a few levels over the zone level.

I could go on and on(like a way to track quests in a zone to see if we missed any), but I'm clearly sticking around to see what's going to happen in the next few months!

Happy dance!

I cautiously say, Interesting Video as well as letter. I will forgo any long in depth analysis until I see where all this goes from here. I would love to think this can only mean great things coming down the road, But I also don't want to get too excited only to be let down.

Again, Interesting, But being cautious.

Agree a stat squish absolutely needs to happen! It's hyper inflated and bogus to look at
The game desperately needs to be taken out of the 32bit client and direct x 9. The 2 prime reasons why it runs so terribly on modern systems.

This. Agree entirely.

Unfortunately, at this point I'm at the "I need to see it, to believe it" stage. I have very little trust, faith, or confidence in the current team, excepting ttobey and Kaitheel. Been burned too many times by hollow promises in the past to think that "this time will be different." If I had a krono for every time I heard that......

The overall vibe from both the letter and video are positive. The thing that personally concerns me is, between the letter and the video, i seen/heard mention of: h1z1, just survive, eq1, dcuo, and even ddo. What does that mean for eq2, planetside and the other games? I hope they do not overlook us, i truly feel eq2 is a much better game than WoW. It would be awesome if they realize what a jewel they have, and with some polishing and a closer look, get things trending upward in eq2, get the community vibe more optimistic, and then get it the number one thing it has been missing over the years (in my opinion) : advertising!

I don't think it needs to be ezmode like certain opposing mmo's, but i don't think it should continue to cater only to the raiding playstyle. Putting the raiders #1 is fine, if they are the most passionate and spend the most on the game, great, but i don't get the logic in shaping solo, heroic, and even crafting around the raiders. I feel this game is simply too challenging for the truly casual players. As a former raider, it is not myself who i am thinking about. It is the lack of friendly pug's, the impact of losing Domino on the crafting and decorating communities (they need her back or someone with traits similar to her)

How long can this game survive purely on the hardcore players? I realize there are players more hardcore than myself, but i am surely among the most loyal, devoted and passionate about this game. We don't want to feel like an abused spouse any longer. We wish to be heard, we wish for eq2 to be restored to its former glory, build up it's numbers, and get up there and compete with the likes of Everquest and other top games.

Obviously, turning the vibes around and getting the population trending upward would mean a financial success for EG7/daybreak. But rather than seeing the loyal gamers riding this vehicle until the wheels fall off, let's see it restored, like a classic muscle car!

An actual gaming company!

Uwk

Well, yeah, but speaking as a Win7 fan, I don't want to get upgraded out of playing existence for my desktop any time soon. It's not that many iterations ago. >:-/

I mean, look at the differences between Win 3.11 and Win...whatever the next one was; XP? Even between XP and 7, it was like logarithmic differences; between 7 and 8/8.1, they were mostly just annoying, and Win10 is full of infuriations, imho. It may be more "advanced," but it's not better.

Uwk

Well, he did mention us having been around for 15 years and EQ1 for 22, so...

EDIT: Whoops, he got that figure wrong; EQ2 started in 2004, it's 17 years old. /worry

OMG...trust me, it's not just you, love; I've been barking up that tree since SONY no longer bothered to carry our li'l "preview" in its movie theaters (first and last example of moving media advertising; there's been a tiny amount in gamer-only mags, but really ... print??). Just saw a rather cute WoW ad on YouTube the other day before it got on with the regularly scheduled video; we should AT LEAST be doing things like that. :-/

I have a few questions: has EQ1 broken out of that crappy 16-bit art style yet (in that regard, WoW is leaps and bounds above us in the EQ universe)? If not, why the hell is it so much more popular than this game? What's the secret? :-/

Have they gone back to the "subscriber default, F2P option"? I used to think, judging by the comments here and there, that a lot of people protesting actually deigning to allow F2P to exist in the first place were a bunch of elitist NIMBY's, but now I have to wonder. Saw a review of EQ2 the other day in an online gaming review site, and his theories were that because of EQ2's business model (F2P default, subscriber option), we have to constantly crank out new product at least once a year or more, no matter how crappy and bug-filled it is, and we have to cater to ONLY the end-game raider community, and everyone else can go mate with themselves, apparently. :-/

Amen!

Uwk
who still wants to be able to play it on a Win7...

Seriously? I'd like:

* better/more/any advertising
* not treating crafters like something you need to attend to with a scraper and a plastic baggie
* updating the servers so zoning is a thing again

I don't think I'm asking for much, really. :-/

EDIT: Can we please, please, PLEASE have zoning be a thing again? This is the third time in way too short a time that I've had to Exit while attempting to zone ("Waiting for the zone server..."). X-P

Heck, I'd even think seriously about starting a KickStarter, if the proceeds could only be used to upgrade the EQ2 servers. :-/

Uwk

No specific mention of anything to do with EQ, but a big focus on H1Z1. Says you hear from EG7 every 6 months. "A GaMeR OwNs DbG"... DBG is owned by an investment company that will target and inject resources into the areas with most potential for profit (hint: not here)

H1Z1 could actually be a *significantly* higher performing game than EQ2, I think he knows that and is why he specifically mentions it. ESports, Mobas, BR's, mobile, that is where the money is in gaming right now, and really I think this guy knows that too.

The way he says H1Z1 was almost abandoned, there was no team working on it, nobody familiar with the codebase, gives off such strong SOE vibes, it makes me glad I am not playing anything by Daybreak.

Daybreak, the same company that left H1Z1 in that state, specifically a game that the CEO and founder of this new company (himself a gamer) specifically targeted and said we are going to fix this because there is a big community and game with potential here, you trust with anything?

Random guess: EQ2 engine / codebase too far gone to be worth upgrading at this point. We will see EQ3 before we see any major updates to this game. (also.. we will only see EQ3 if it could be profitable.. With the state of EQ2, the failure of EQ Next, my hope for EQ3 is non-existent)

I get my EQ fix from p99, and Champions of Norrath RTA for my PS2 that is still somehow alive... Hell playing Project Gorgon feels more Everquest than EQ2 does at this point.

Eagerly awaiting Pantheon while checking in on Vanguard EMU...

Hope for EQ franchise: 0

"<snip> The truth of h1z1 is there is no team working on the game, you know it was almost sunset, and now there's been a massive explosion around it because weve said a few words around the fact that we have a team working on the codebase. I want to clarify that statement, what do we mean working on the codebase, and this is actually an EG7 team.

The eg7 team, our technical guys they've been evaluating the codebase, working with the community and trying to figure out because of course there was no team there so the knowledge around the codebase was very sparse... </snip>"

I just want to repeat how watching H1Z1 game get abandoned and almost sunset by Daybreak felt so much like the usual SOE behaviour, its almost vindicating to have those views about the company still being the same confirmed.

From SOE, to a Russian investment company with sketchy ties to a Oligarch and Trump, to EG7, EQ has been through many hands over the years yet remains a buggy, bloated, disappointment of what it used to be. From Holly's weak producers letters and Jen contuning the trend with letters with 0 substance, to EG7 avoiding any speaking about EQ and saying they are hands off with EQ, I have 0 faith we will see any innovation in IP for years to come.

As a player since 04, all I can say is "Just what I expected from SOE", an absolute joke.

most of the video was about another game , that I had no idea even exists .
Just like I stumbled across EQ2 by chance through a guild I played in , in another game when they were looking for something to do just for half a year till Guild wars 2 came out .
What this game lacks is some advertising and obviously so do all those former Sony games and the other Daybreak games
too .

I would pay a subscription if they'd open up a server with EQN:Landmark again. Never happen but it was fun to play with. I don't think EQ2 can be economically upgraded, engine-wise, relative to the cost of a new game. an EQ3 would be nice, able to take advantage of modern hardware.

Heard such promises before, when Daybreak took over Everquest II back in 2014/15. We all can see what it came to by now. And the message in the letter & video is very political, very washed out, so that doesn't inspire any confidence in me, unfortunately. We'll see how it goes. Of course, I do hope things will improve for EQ2, but I believe it when I see it happening.

Solid letter. Sounds promising.

To me it sounds like the the annual we're going to listen! statement. As per every year for the past 10 years.

Why do EQ2 players keep falling for it and thinks its the beginning of a revolution every time? Its just hilarious to me how desperate some of us are. lol. He didnt even mention this title with a single word and mentioned everquest 1 once saying its 22 years old..

"Communities in focus - We listen to you" - Then they go ahead and add even more p2w to the title the following week. Like cmon guys be realistic.

Sorry for being the realistic negative basement dweller.