EverQuest II Producer’s Letter July 2023

You are missing a pair of images at the end ;-)

The next GU is Shattered Overture and beta starts September 5 then when does the prelude for next expansion start ? On previous Roadmap it was said that next GU is in August and expansion prelude is in September. https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq2/index.php?threads/everquest-ii-roadmap-2023.608468/

Thank you for the quick response

Thanks for the info and sharing what the plans are for upcoming events. That said, there's just something odd (IMO) about how that first sentence is phrased. My eyes and brain just keep going back to it and looking at it again and again. Apparently, what's catching my attention is the use of "amazing" and "gone" in the sentence. I know it's weird, but the "flow" just isn't there. My brain says it should be phrased differently. For example, "Hasn't this year gone amazingly so far?" Or, "How amazing has this year been so far?" My brain sees 'amazing' as present tense, but 'gone' as past tense. Sigh...the grunt you hear is me falling on my sword for even bringing this up. You're doing great work and I'm probably the only person that thinks the first sentence is just odd. Thanks for humoring me, haha.

I don't know rather to laugh, cry or just walk away.

What I can say DBG is give more money and resources to the Developer Team. It's going to better serve you in the end.

I really enjoyed the part where we acknowledged the PVP servers existence and how much work isn't being put into it(for the 5th time in recent years).......oh wait

I do wonder what % of players are into PvP and wanted a server to play it. For sure the PvP stuff took development resources away from other things. They are always saying they don't have any resources to developer expansion content like we used to get. They must think it's worth it since they used resources that might have better used on the PvE servers and the expansion and game updates.

I don't know anyone that plays or is interested in PvP for EQ2. I have tried it and it's not for me. The game isn't built or balanced for PvP gameplay. I have enjoyed it in other MMOs. Maybe there are lots of PvP players. I don't know. The other things listed in the upcoming roadmap look interesting.

Opening a new PVP server shouldn't take a ton of resources, we've had PVP servers in the past. There's nothing new about them.

They didn't change anything before opening it? I was under the assumption they did. Otherwise why didn't they just keep the old PvP server? I thought they had made changes from what they did in the past 4 PvP servers since they didn't seem that popular. If that isn't the case I stand corrected. If that is the case then yes it wouldn't have taken many resources.

I just don't get it. What's the point of having 2 new heroic zones launch 2 months before the next expansion (assuming you are still launching in December)? As soon as you launch a new zone, you make everything preceding it redundant except you just leave a carrot dangling for content update that majority will not see and the minority who, will go after it but will do so begrudgingly and not for fun - looking at the disaster of H3 zones loot and the shards for the weapon quest. The shocking thing is that you do this in a live/current expansion. Who in their right mind thinks this is a good idea? People stopped running H1-H3s as soon they got the coins for gear upgrade and resolve for raids. Then came contested and killed those zones completely. Now these upcoming zones will do exactly the same unless they are fluff zones for a sideways progression.

Kander, Caith, Gninja and whoever else is in charge of development of the game really should sit together in one room and discuss what to do. It appears that for years there is a disconnect between developers with each creating content/mechanics and then someone at the last minute tries to tie everything together. Moreover, our feedback just does not yield into anything meaningful in a timely manner.

You say that there is a roadmap but it feels that you stick things as a knee-jerk reaction to what you deem suitable without any communication/thought given to what your players have been yelling/shouting for years in the game.

Itemisation is horrendous and has been for years, class distinction has lost all its meaning where I feel you are trying to streamline them into where every class ends up wearing and chasing the same stats (which they do). AAs combined with gear and fight mechanics offer no strategy alternatives except brute force stat checks. I tire of repeating this over and over again.

And oh that "Free-er EQ2"? - yeah I sense more pay to win coming our way to make up for it.

Goodness me.

Ichoris, they tried different things on the pvp servers that did not use a lot of funds.
the PvP servers I was in lately are based on a TLE server with PvP added.
If anything things where simplified, with most of the open world now having no limits for what level player you can kill.
There is only PvP equipment comparable to the Hunter equipment, as in you only can wear 2 items at a time.
and at a later level you can get adornments.
Most of what you can earn is just for show.

I do know that Darkpaw has something new in the works for PvP, that's why they are looking for people with good PvP knowledge to work with them on making the new PvP better.

I appreciate you can't really be doom and gloom in a producers letter, but calling the most poorly received expansion since.. well, for a long long time, "an amazing year" is pushing it a bit. Some form of apology to paying customers in there would have been more appropriate.

Also, word of caution: That thing in the centre image is so obviously a demogorgon from Stranger Things. Probably be a good time to wake up the dusty old company lawyer.

And last point, this:

• Earn a powerful item that you will carry forward into your future adventures.

Sounds like we're not learning from past mistakes, as this has got "long term content gating" written all over it, which is one of the main reasons why you're not retaining players who want to come back.

Arclite has it right. We spend valuable time upgrading our mercenaries and mounts only to have that be a waste of time when the new expansions come out. The mercenary battalion only works in seasons, so all my Vetrovia mercenaries are useless and don't add to my Raj'Dur battalion. The game has become a time suck - pure and simple. Upgrade, trash, start over. New content is great, but again, as a general rule the rewards are for armor we already have, or worse than we already have. And the Panda - you give us new items, then you come out with new content and those items don't work in the new zones. Again, a time suck and a useless endeavor. Everything new is marked for the season it was introduced, and the last season's mercenaries and adornments don't work in the new season. We constantly start over. It gets frustrating. And for my tradeskill toons, you give me awesome recipes, but NO WAY to earn the items to make them because Tradeskill toons don't raid. That really sucks.

Thank you for continuing to pay tribute to D&D and AD&D in EQ2 just as many contemporary writers and artists have in other works.

And thank you for the writers of ancient mythology, who, from ancient times onward, kept this and many other creatures alive in the imagination of many throughout the ages.

Today, instead of only residing in ancient scrolls, tablets, and what-have-you, these mythical creatures such as the Demogorgon are parading around in small screens, large screens, very big screens and inside of video games in all shapes, forms, sizes, interpretations and misinterpretations.

@Schmetterling thanks for the info. I haven't tried the new version of PvP. It will be interesting to see what they wanted the PvP community group for. Since they are asking for player suggestions and input I assume they are going to put resources into PvP server changes.

Where in the timeline are you scheduling fixing Warlocks to actually do T1 DPS? or even T2 DPS?

speaking of PvP where is no mention of an expansion being added to Zarrakon this year, does that mean we will not get one ?