Gamespot News: SOE talks EverQuest II updates

I can see it now, the continent of Odus is slowly added to the game, one zone at a time over the course of the next five years.

LOL, sorry I couldnt help myself.

(For those of you who dont get it, that is how most of that continent was implemented into EQ)

I posted this as a joke about 2 months ago... eveyone said "No, they'd never do that"

Maybe I just have a brighter outlook on life..

But I'm assuming these wont be more than $5 each...and it seems like you'll get the zone...but the "epic" quest that goes along with it you will have to pay for....or something similar to that.

However, every expansion cost money...if its a small expansion that I can just download and not have to pre-order or find a store thats gonna carry it...yea I'd be happy to pay a small fee for it.

However, on the darker side...I WILL NOT pay per update...thats something that everyone should refuse...fix the bugs(which should and I believe are seperated from the expansion stuff we are talking about) first and without an attached cost.

I was going to buy the station access option. I was intending to buy every expansion the minute it was available. I was intending to back the EQ2 team with every dollar necessary to get the greatest game experience available.

However, I am very dillusioned with the current state of things, mostly tradeskill related. At this point the only reason I've not done a full 180 and canceled is because of the presence of my friends in EQ2. Still, I can't see myself buying new content at this point until I feel the EQ2 staff is serving the needs of their customers.

BTW, in case it isn't clear that's a doctored picture. My point being, this is what we "could" see. And from Moorgards post, it looks like my prediction was correct.

wow, everytime I think "SOE cant beat this" I read something like this. Well, wow, Im impressed what ways of money making you are inventing. First we have to pay for some little stats, now we have to pay for extra content ... uh ... so whats coming next? Paying money if you want to ding level 60?

Yea, this game had real potential… but I really think this is the last straw. I'm going to have to think long and hard over the weekend on weather I want to continue putting work into my character. I really like her, but I'm having a harder and harder time justifying giving SOE my money. My God Sony… what on earth are you doing?

This really pisses me off, gotta pay 15$ a month gotta pay 2.99$ for the player sitre extras now gotta pay for content that we already been paying to get what the hell where does it end? Are you going to start charging every time we login or every time we enter a new zone. And it sounds like we get the new zones but you gotta pay for the quests for that zone? Thats just some underhanded [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] there, give you a zone but gotta pay for the quests. I give up I love Everquest 2 but not enough to get screwed and go broke paying for content THAT I'M ALREADY PAYING FOR.
Message Edited by Ibiki on 01-07-2005 11:58 AM

I was going to say this is unbelievable...even for SOE. But no, it's not really. :smileyindifferent:
Message Edited by Nizam on 01-07-2005 02:36 PM

Hmmm, the adventure packs sound like exactly what this game needs - some in-depth, continuous content. Not the 'get my broom, here's a rock' filler quests. Too bad you are going to force us to pay more for it. Correction, force others to pay more for it.

The server downtime every morning has nothing to do with backups. it's to reset the memory leaks and database problems. Also not every game has daily downtime. EQ1 goes for weeks without any server down time. SWG was the first game that I've played that was so poorly written that it required daily downtime. Besides most mission critical storage systems use snapshot technology to allow backups without ever shutting down the applications.

My, aren't we a petulant bunch...

If they can make it work and get people to pay, great! More content for those who want it. If they don't provide enough free new content as well there will be consequences and people will quit, just as is the case right now.

And regarding dev resources, you can't just throw every developer you have on "bug fixes" and magically expect them to be fixed faster. The benefit has a law of diminishing returns. Too many developers looking at the same code can in fact be counterproductive. I'm not saying they have the right amount of people on bug fixes, but putting every last resource on it isn't the right answer either!

I don't want to be nickle and dimed for everything. Just do a normal $30.00 full expansion once a year.

They are, this is in addition to that.

Like I said just do "ONE" full expansion a year. I don't want to see a $5.00 or $10.00 charge pop up every couple of weeks just so I can go play with my friends.

You don't understand... the only way people are going to pay for this stuff is if there are items involved... GOOD items... This is almost assuredly going to be "Epic quest" type stuff... Items that give people an advantage over other players. SOE is basically going to start selling individual items for money. That just sucks.

Basically, it seems that SOE is charging for what others offer free as part of their service. More character slots (old argument), adding in depth content, etc. As a consumer, I will not take part in a game or company that is, for all intents and purposes, fleecing their customer base. Although I would hope others will follow suit, I know better.

Not enough exposure. If they release something new only once every year, EQ2 "noise" would be likely muffled by the many competitive options in MMO market atm and in the future.

But if they have mini-packs every so often throughout a year, they can rev their Marketing Engine up and keep the "noise" going.

Of course this is a cynical position to take, I would think they are more about delivering continuous content to keep the game competitive and interesting for their players then rushing out mini-paks to give their Marketing Budget some fodder.

As one with 3X lvl 40 artisan .. hmm, not really ... 2X and one 39 artisans, I am really feeling this is a pay-to-play beta test for tradeskills. There are numerous bugs unfixed.

The notorious iron ring that could kill an armoror on a grey recipe, and would only need a change in text field, is not fixed.
Millions of missing recipe icons like "Refined Elm" as to "Elm Lumber", which requires someone with minimum wages to work 4 hours, is not fixed.

And the new expansion is coming?

Oh, they broke the /togglebags with the new patch too. This is kinda frustrating.

That does seem like a problem. I'm not sure that people will only pay for more items though. SOME people will only pay for more items. Others are different. Some will pay for a new area to explore, others for more involvement in the backstory, and others because they want new enemies to fight.

In the end, what difference does it make to you if someone has better stuff? What advantage do they get? Level 50 faster? If that's all they care about, let them have it. Perhaps this is exactly why there is no PvP. So they can milk money from those who want nothing but better stuff. I just don't see the harm, provided they don't cease providing new and good content for the rest of us. (A big if, I'll grant, but this new idea has nothing to do with it.)