Curious where EQ2 is going.

I've spoken to some people on this forum recently and received an awesome welcome thus far. I'm absolutely loving EQ2 and I'm hoping this will be a place for my wife and I to blow off some stress and steam together. However I'm concerned that we may be late to the game. I know there was an expansion last year. But as long term players do you find the Devs producing content? I remember see some stuff about EQ Next and then I heard that worked had stopped on it. I also had beta for EQ Landmark and that had died as well. I really want to explore and have fun in EQ2 but I'm worried that it's going to disappear. It seems that work may be done elsewhere and I don't want to to invest time into something that isn't going to be around.

MMO's are finite, it's the nature of the beast. Some shine bright and burn out quick, some have a steady run, and still others linger far longer than they should.

The question to ask is not: How long will <insert game title here> last?

But rather: Am I having fun?

If the answer to the second question is yes, then don't worry about the answer to the first. Have fun for as long as it's fun/as long as it lasts, and move on when it's time.

~Game on!~

It'll be 14 years old this fall. They've put out at least one expansion pretty much every year, plus other content updates.

The producer's letter from a month or so ago indicated they were going to be adding new festivals during the summer and the next content update.
https://www.everquest2.com/news/producers-letter-march-2018

Now, while I personally am not enamored with the last expansion, I know there are some people who are really enjoying it.

Also, I know people like to say "EQ2 is DYING!" (and they have since 2004), however, it does not currently feel like a dying game. It doesn't have as large of a following as some, but it doesn't feel like say, Vanguard did before it's demise or some of the other games I've played that were obviously not long for this world.

And to put my money where my mouth is, I actually just resubbed for another year. /shrug

No one here knows the answer to your question. Someone at DBG might, but they aren't going to post it until the end is imminent. The result is what Tekka said, enjoy it while it's here.

Sounds like you are really enjoying the game. That's really the big thing. EQ2 has a lot of content to enjoy. People have been predicting it's demise for a very long time and it still puts out an expansion every year. Clearly this last expansion showed that the dev team is stretched past its limits. They were unable to release the entirety of the expansion on time. The crafting timeline released a full three months after the expansion was released. While I do believe EQ2 is in its twilight, I don't think it has seen it's last expansion. As long as you like what you see, I'd say dive in and enjoy.

Thanks for all your quick responses. You all bring up very good points. I really like how you explained it Tekka. We are having fun so that is what is important. I was just concerned because of my days playing Rift. I've played since beta when u still had to by actual disks to install games. The last expansions have been kinda bad in my opinion and it feels like the developers there just put some content in a washer and what came out was the expansion.

As much as I haven't truly enjoyed the expansion CONTENT, the story has been decent (IMO) and a continuation of what came before.

And as a sort of to response to Melkior's observation up there that they weren't able to release all the content at the start of this expansion, that's a running theme to be honest. They didn't have the froglok unlock quest in at the start way back when. They didn't have the epics ready when Kunark released. They didn't have half of Velious ready when it released and pushed it to game updates much later when people were ready for more advancement.

So this certainly isn't the first time they've not had everything ready to go when an expansion released.

I personally cannot harp on devs when it comes to things like that. If what u say has been true then the devs have a year to develop, and test an expansion. The amount of work that goes into something like that is crazy. I do say this with a grain of salt though. If the team is honest and forthcoming with issues and even to the extent as "hey the expansion is taking longer than we planned." I'd be okay with dealys because I know it is actively being worked on. What gets me though is the all of the sudden "oh hey we aren't doing the expansion or game anymore sorry about that." I also don't mind subbing to something I'm actually seeing real work done on. However if I see a team take the money and run without a proper explanation I'm a bit upset.

Going back to the EQNext thing, a lot of us who had been watching it knew it was never going to see the light of day. It wasn't a sudden thing at all.
And Landmark wasn't even supposed to be a stand alone game originally. Then suddenly it was. While I don't know that it would have made a big splash, did have a pretty loyal following...then they started tinkering with it and apparently made changes that drove much of their small following away. /shrug I played that early enough in beta they had no water (lol) but it didn't run well on my machine so I didn't spend much time there so didn't get too deep in the community. But secondhand that was what I gathered.

I haven't loved every single expansion, but most, yes. We get an expansion pretty much every November, plus odds and ends added in every so often. Seasonal festivals in Norrath (loosely corresponding to many Earth festivals) often get new quests, new quest rewards, and the like. In summer, there's often some challenging new things to keep people interested.

If the latest "Producer letter" is any hint or credible source, my guess is more familiars and maybe some stuff to do in between using our credit cards.

There is years worth of content in this game, if you can get a group of you to work through the levels you will have great fun if you make sure you take your time getting there. At the highest levels grouping seems quite light and unfortunately tries to steer you towards buying gambling loot boxes but prior to that there is a lot of stuff you can do for free.

What do you mean by gambling loot boxes. Is this done with daybreak cash or is it a in game thing. I know at end game most MMOs become a RNG grindfest.

I guess they are talking about the things bought with DBC that you don't actually need. Fluff pets, mercenary crates and familiars. That sort of thing. I don't know what other "loot boxes" that poster could be talking about that one would buy. There are drops that come crated, but that's a different animal, you just have to open those.

They have pushed familiars hard (especially with the leveling of familiars) but you can do a quest in game. You'll never level an ethereal familiar with any speed like that, but ethereal familiars are already pretty nice. I've see no reason to ever spend dbc on either merc crates or familiar crates personally.

I see many groups forming (and quickly) on my server at the high end /shrug.

I can let you know that we certainly don't have an expiration date set on EQ2. The team is currently working on Game Update 106, which will be hitting with new content just in time for summer. Beyond that, we're also working on another game expansion to come out later this year.

Individual opinions about new game content aside (they can vary), the game is still receiving consistent content updates even after nearly 14 years, which should hopefully give you some confidence that it won't be going anywhere any time soon.

It would have been nice if SOME specifics were given. We've been told, essentially, that the devs are working on 'stuff' that we'll see 'later'.

Could we have a more definitive launch window for the next game update? Like first half of May or second half of June?

Thanks!

Being a player is a give and take responsibility. We want to know whats around the bend however by learning it we want to try and direct where it goes. It's best to be left in the dark until the final few months of release. This gives devs the freedom to do what they do best and develop our world. Coming from my experience as a GM for my pathfinder games I want nothing more than for my players to enjoy the world and adventures I create for them. I believe devs probably feel the same way. Also as much as we as players want to know whats going on the devs equally want to share what they have been doing. But its unfortunately best for both parties to wait until the project is finalized. This way we as players cannot nit pick and change things and it prevents the devs getting burned out. So i'm right there with you Mermut but we need to be patient.

We'll have to agree to disagree here. As a customer, I prefer to know what I'm spending my money on. Somebody telling me loudly and enthusiastically absolutely nothing does the very opposite of satisfying me..
I don't expect specific details.. I don't need to know how many pages are going to be in the upcoming book, for instance, but I would like to know which genre the book being written is.. Information without specifics is fine.. fanfare and handwaving is not so fine.

If you don't expect specific details there it is :
- 2 new live events in June
- new expert dungeons
- new summer ethereals
-new (Items ?) for Moonlight enchantments
-new game update (we don't know anything about that yet)
-new expansion