Gamespot News: SOE talks EverQuest II updates

Removed content because it was multiposted...
Message Edited by Malifestro on 01-07-2005 01:12 PM

Ellyana, what do you think of this idea? Do you think this will take away resources from other development? Give advatages to those willing to spend more money? You obviously dislike the idea (or maybe not!). How about you tell us?

Why not put all the manpower behind first? Because the person who creates the geometry needed to make a new zone, or the person that populates a zone with mobs probably have very little if not absolutly no knowledge about issues relating to the Nvidia 6800. They might not have any knowledge of how tradeskills works.

WAKE UP PEOPLE...noone on the eq 2 team is knowledgeable about every single aspect of the game...ok there's bugs and problems with the game right now...do you think the texture artist and zone designers should just sit down and do nothing until all the bugs are fixed?

No they can produce new content while other member of the team fix the bugs...and that's what they are doing. Having 75 people fixing the same problems wouldn't solve anything.

Just wake up...they have a team fixing game issues...and they have another team working on adventure packs, on expansions etc...

I totally agree with that.

All my friends and I are using EQ2 as a stepping stone for Vanguard: SOH. For those who know what I'm talking about, you know in your heart Aradune will get it right. The best way to revolt against being nickled and dimed is to not pay for the piddly stuff and/or move on.

I love how everyone is so reactionary on the boards. If you had read the article they stated it was something they were working on (as in it isnt coming out tomorrow) and that everyone will have access to the zones and it is optional content, no one says you have to buy it, but if you do you get some extra quests and story lines to follow, which in my opinion is a good thing.

I think if you read these posts more carefully you will find that the posters generally understand the concept of the adventure packs completely. In fact, you'll probably find that their complaint isn't even about the adventure packs, it's about some side-effect they believe their release will have.

Moor also said that they will still be adding in regular content and patches as they have been so it is all in all just a mini-expansion.

Yes but that blanket statement is vague and people are upset. They want something more specific.

I have no problem with people venting about being upset about it, but to then come back and attack people for their viewpoints when you don't agree with them is just rude.

Attacking people is completely unnecessary, but there hasn't been many attacks. There's been some sarcasm and some "serious joking" about the pricing model, but the only attacking I've seen actually began when someone who *does* agree with the viewpoints of SOE attacked those who don't.

At least that is my opinion, I bet when they make the full announcement about the adventure packs that people will have all new things to complain about. That is the nature of most forums, more people complain on these (and other game) forums than on any other forums I belong to.

We have a situation where people are investing hundreds of hours into a product which can change at will, often undermining the goals set during those hundreds of hours of work. It would be likened to working on a masterpiece sculpture of marble only to be told a month into the project that instead you'll need to carve it out of wood. The parameters of the game change and when they change in a way deemed unfavorable, people feel a need to complain. You seem to understand this need to complain so I don't follow why you are surprised it's occuring or feel it shouldn't occur. I don't know what other forums you visit, but it seems likely that comparing them to a gaming forum for an online community game would be apples and oranges, if not SUV's and oranges.

SO in conclusion, I feel everyone just needs to step back, take a deep breath, maybe go outside, and relax.

I don't think suggesting ways people can spend their time non-gaming since they're not pleased with the game will help anyone. I don't think you made the statement intending to actually help anyone, either. These people are not upset because they're overreacting. They're upset because they have complaints and don't feel they are being heard.

Vanguard will rock, it can't come soon enough as far as I am concerned.

Do you think this will take away resources from other development?

Of course it will. If SOE can make money from selling these "adventure packs" which contain all the Fun and Exciting content then why would invest anything but token support/resources for the "Non-Premium" for which they get no added income?(other than the monthly fee)

Give advatages to those willing to spend more money?

Again, of course it will. How do you maintain a "balanced" game where some of the players can BUY advantages?


Yes I dislike this idea. I think SOE is squeezing us finacialy here and there for the FUN and CONTENT (which the game sorely lacks in some places) that this games needs to make it enjoyable. Where is it gonna end? I am shocked that we're arent billed by the hour.

Because you made a personal attack on an individual and used profanity. Ferondia made a general statement about those of us complaining. Basically Ferondia laid some bait and you jumped on it. As a result this thread is nothing but bickering now. What was the topic again?

Valderen:

Your points are valid except that in SOE has a limited budget. They could allocate less budget to people who build zones or populate them and/or quest builders, and allocate more to those who can fix various system problems.

There are several possible reasons why we may be seeing more zone stuff and quest stuff coming in, and I recognize that. Maybe there are simply more qualified people for one job or another, despite where they are willing to shift money. Maybe it's just simply much less work and can be completed faster. But these are not the things we're hearing from SOE. All we are hearing is that they intend to fix bugs, and occasionally specifics.

My actual complaint with EQ2 is balance. I think the product is horribly balanced. The reason I am not pleased about the release of these adventure packs is because despite whatever reality may or may not be, the perception I have is that SOE is building a lovely building on a crumbling foundation. Furthermore, they seem to feel confident in their foundation, while I feel very much contrary to that perception.
Message Edited by Jeridor on 01-07-2005 01:26 PM

I found what he said to be a personal attack. I see such statements go unchecked and uncensored all over these boards and Im tired of being insulted because I dont smile and say "more please" everytime SOE does something like this.
How concerned are you about staying on topic? Noone asked you to respond to my posts? You felt the need to say something and you did.. so did I.

Message Edited by Ellyana on 01-07-2005 04:29 PM

I kinda agree. I do like this game but until the Devs prove that they deserve more of my money I'll level and then quit. I won't pay them jsut because "It's EQ2". I'd just as soon leave the Everquest franchise and start fresh with WoW or DDO if they don't start treating customers like they are thankful to us for playing thier game.

Expansion packs were good for me in EQ1 because they gave major game changes and a ton of new contect. It was worth the $30 - $40 they would charge. But $5 just to get quest content and the loot drops/quest rewards sucks. It's just like buying items for real world money. I take it back. I'd pay for it happily if they didn't already charge me $15 a month as it is. This is starting to look like a way to roll a Legends server into Live. Speaking of which, what does the $15 a month per player go to anywyas?! I know maintaining servers doesn't cost the entire sum because I work in that industry. Now, keeping people on staff to create new and exciting content, fix bugs, and have good customer service... THAT'S what it's supposed to be for. But having to pay more for it now... I don't know. It just doesn't seem right. Oh well. We'll see how they do it and hopefully I can stay in the game I started with instead of moving to a new franchise. Here's to hoping this doesn't hurt.

SOE, you try to pull this nonsense and I'll happily turn my business towards your competition.
Message Edited by egofalter on 01-07-2005 01:39 PM

OK, now we're getting somewhere:
I really think the difference here is like a buffet restaraunt vs. a sit down one with a menu. At a buffet style you pay one price and get as much as you can eat. But unless you are prepared to pay a LOT for the buffet, it's mostly mediocre food at best. But it can be really nice not to have to worry about paying for every little thing you eat.

A sit down restaraunt is different. There you look at a bunch of options and choose the set that appeals to you. You do have to pay for everything individually, including your drink, desert, and often your soup or salad. I find, however, that the food is a bit better, often a LOT better.

Now you may say that SOE is double dipping here, charging both a buffet style and an individual item charge. I've noticed Fresh Choice doing this too. Maybe it will go over well, maybe not. But I'm kinda hoping for something better than buffet style food. If they can keep the buffet pretty good and offer some premium items for the people who want a little chicken with their salad, I don't see the harm. The key part is if they keep the buffet pretty good, or good enough to justify the buffet cost. I understand your doubt, but they do have a LOT of competition this time, so I'm hopeful. If they don't keep it up, I'm sure many of us will look elsewhere. Heck, Anarchy Online is offering the buffet for free, hoping they can get people ONLY on the premium items.

Since some people don't seem to be catching the gist of my argument against this, I'll explain it in more detail.

First, I understand that there will be other content released in the game - just as there was from this last, big patch - as well as the 'entry areas' for the adventure packs will be available to all. My complaint is that the content that has been released to date has been very 'bare bones'. There is no meat to them. All of the quests are extremely episodic with absolutely no impact upon the game in any fashion. "Kill 10 bog sludges - get a shield." and that's the last you hear from him. There is no sense of purpose or any real discovery in the game.

The description of these adventure packs sounds exactly what this game is currently lacking. Other MMO's offer developing storylines and immersive plots as part of their service already. I believe CoH just released a whole new story arc, 2 new 'class branches' and dozens of quests and new opponents and this was a free publish. This is what part of the monthly fee is to go to. Now expansion packs require an actual purchase price because the development of them involve a great deal more programming - they are literally updating the code to fit the material in the expansion pack and not just adding new stories and areas. The idea that I will need to pay extra money to finish an immersive and 'meaty' storyline would be akin to watching Star Wars and as soon as the Rebels launched for the Death Star, they turned off the movie and asked for another 3 bucks. Other MMO's let you watch the movie in its entirety.

This is the complaint I have. SOE is charging for what others offer for free and is expected as free from a company charging a monthly rate.

I guess what will do it for me for the adventure packs is how well the stories are implemented and how much they make me feel like part of the world.

So far, I've felt that EQlive and EQ2 only give you enough story to sell the product. They don't seem to have much in the way of underlying themes that pull quests, etc together.

I want a "Druid" adventure pack that introduces a Druid sect and zone to the world that Druids and others who wish to heal Norrath can go to and start adventures from. I want the renewed League of Antonican bards pulling themselves back together again and rebuilding their spy network.

I DON'T want a bunch of NPC's in adventurer camps saying "Hey, we just rediscovered this ancient race. Please go wipe them out.' And then giving me two lines of backstory for every 5 quests I do.

If they planed to do this buffet style structure it should have been disclosed up front. None of us expected to be "penny and dimed" like this. To spring this "Pay for Pack" on us in this manner is very shadey.

As I stated in another thread on this topic, 15$ monthly fee, 3$ for the eq2players, 21.99$ if you want 8 character slots. Now this. Can you see the trend? Next we'll have subscription rates by the hour, Epics 19.95$. EQplayers.com will start selling platinum and Power leveling services.

Geese, I wish people would stop with the fix the bugs first....

Can't you all get it through your heads, SOE have completely different teams working on code maintenance and new content. The people working on new content do not fix bugs. The people that fix bugs do not work on new content.

If they took some of the people from the "new content" and had them help those working on fixes we might not be having the same old bugs we've had since before beta ended.

Is this poster forggeting that we already pay $15 a month? I don't keep paying McDonalds for my fries nor do I keep paying for leather seats in my car after I've bought it. The bottom line is, EQ2 is fun for awhile. But once I finish the stuff I am paying $15 a month for (The inital game), if they don't have a full fledged expansion for me (AKA EQ2.1) then I'll just head over to my next game. I don't have to be with a game for years. I only buy things that I like to play.

Let's see... Pay SOE for 10 "extra" storylines for a total of $50 or go out and buy WoW with a million new storylines? Hrm... easy one there. I'm excited now to finsih off EQ2 and start up some new content (along with my $15 subcription fee) in another game. WOOT!

They are different teams. You just can't transfer people out of the jobs they were hired to do and tell them, well, you are going to do this now. It is just not that easy.

Are you going to tell your graphic artists, you guys are going to have to hold up on your projects while we have your coders move over to maintenance. NO.. You can't do that. These people work as a team and if you begin moving around team members the whole thing will stop working..