Why is the game's direction "Wussification"?

Something either is or is not true. If your opinion was that a basketball should be cubic in shape, your opinion wouldn't make that basketball one whit less spherical*. So, you can state your opinion that you don't think that SOE does a good job, but that is all that it is - an opinion; it is not an absolute truth. To represent one's opinion as truth is a tad bit disingenuous.

Just call it what it is.

* You could, however, partially deflate it and deform it into the shape of a cube, but it wouldn't be your opinion performing those actions.

I remember hearing the same stuff in EQ, when EQ2 was announced. "We're just a testing ground and they're gonna move us all over to that game. They don't care about us and continuing to develop content" That was 10 years ago and that game is still going with lots of new content and features. It's entirely possible for the game to be setup for new and existing customers to continue to enjoy it.

Agree mostly except for Heroic content TSO was a great expansion, why? Because not every group could clear the entire heroic content the first day. Also raiders would run heroics because there was rare loot in there that they wanted, ie. Najena's ring for mages, Fungus Spores for tanks, charm in miraguls for scouts etc... Even by the end of TSO lots of groups were still struggling to clear palace of Ferzoul. The only part that sucked about TSO was the never ending cure fest for raids.

Well, and I think they also expected every one to like EQ2 better...and that really didn't happen across the board.

EQ1 might even be SOE's biggest cash cow yet...not really sure to be honest. I played Ultima Online and started up with EQ2 from that. I never touched EQ1 so I know little about it or how it is doing these days.

It's the longest running MMO, which has to count for something and they still do well with the subscription model (It's impossible to raid without subscribing). They have more than a handful of people working on it. Everyone I know from that game has zero interest in starting anything new. I'd guess most are like that.

I really should give it a try...I tried it once a long time ago. A trial or a cheap copy, not sure what I had...I made a wood elf...started in a tree at night...took three steps...fell to my death...logged back onto UO and never looked back LOL

I've been loving EQ2 since about three months after launch though.

Yeah. You must have started in Kelethin. I hated that place in EQ.

I remember running to the elevator with orcs chasing me the first time I played a toon that started there. Got squished waiting for the elevator Had no idea there was something you could click on to activate it.

Edit: It was a fairly populated zone then, so I suppose I never realized other players were clicking on the elevator buttons, and just hopped on as it went up and down. 12 years ago EQ1 newbie zones were much more populous than the last time I checked it out about 6 years ago.

tbh it's a good idea for both vets and new comers.
I never geared my toon in anything other than quest gear and app1 spells until the 90s (maybe 80s if I planned to 89 BG with him). and really in quest gear and app1 spells, stuff will die in 1-2 hits on any class it seems until around level 70. in other words it isn't enough to know anything about the class anyway. you don't really have to heal on a healer in the lower content solo. you don't have to do back attacks. you don't have to taunt mobs off players. nothing is gained

as for vets. I could level a toon (solo too not PLed or anything) to 95 in about 2-3 days. ER done and all. but with insta 85 it's just that much better. I might not actually be scared and make alts when I am bored now, I might actually make them to play.

Is OP saying that playing the EQ2 with all its new changes makes us a 'wuss'?

Game is 8 years old and need new players. So giving them an option to enjoy higher level content on one character is hardly a 'wussification'.

Well if anyone remembers the tragedy of star wars galexies.( which still burns deep within my soul) Its that SOE almost never listens to the playerbase.
They just look at how other mmo's are making money and try to do the same thing. They are perfectly willing to take everything veteren players ( not that I am one) have spent hours/months to achieve and hand it to new players for more subs/cash

That whole nonsense of SOE not listening to the playerbase doesn't fly anymore. They've been very receptive in recent years and this Next project is taking a lot of feedback before it even hits beta.

If they didn't look at how other MMOs are making money and being successful, their games would all die out. They have to adapt and stay competitive.

Heh, by the way it isn't the longest running MMO...technically I suppose that belongs to some MUD type game since those popped up all over in the 90's, but Ultima Online as I mentioned was running a couple years before EQ launched (UO launched in 97...maybe 96, but I might be remembering the beta). That is probably the longest running MMO in the sense that any one on these forums is concerned about. In my opinion, no other MMO has even come close to matching it either. It was perfect in nearly every way...till EA left it a gutted, smoking, shell of what it used to be and prior to that Origin didn't help a lot either.

We've been asking for this for years. I put together a very strong and lengthy arguement for this system back in TSO.

One of the biggest stipulating factors of a player wanting to try out an older game is the perceived gap that the player will have to 'catch up' on. Offering this mitigates that perception.

Leveling isn't meaningful in eq2. We all know this, but new players do not. There is absolutely nothing game breaking or negative for offering this. Its no surprise that many people that pick up an MMO want to actually engage with other players. This system simply lets those players do what they want to do.

And, it was very well received at SoELive. Like here, there were a few vocal people that didn't like it, but there were far, far more people I talked to for it than against it.

Is this true? You can start a player at 85?

Bit of a game killer that. I was hoping to sub to this game but if that's the direction I doubt I will.

I would start the game at 0 and most players might start at 85 meaning empty low level lands.

Not good.

Sebilis is going to be an unspeakably busy place in perpetuity.

Yeah, we saw how well-received it was when the audience spontaneously burst out into thunderous applause at Holly's announcement of it.*


*assumes reality that did not in fact happen.

The low level lands are already empty.

They could revamp all and make lvl 85 the new lvl 1 ^ ^ (i know it´s not that smart, but what does lvl do today ^^)

I suggest you educate yourself a bit more about NGE. That was a complete revamp of the game. Nothing that drastic is going on in EQ2. Simply offering new players to start with lvl 85 so that they can enjoy higher content hardly means NGE.

Some of yous really love to over react. There is such a huge gap in old and new players that a very few percentage of new players ever bother to level beyond 80. If anyhting this will help with increase in population resulting in more people for group content.