Kander's Candor: Rum Cellar and Beyond

@ Nooloon I like the idea of what you're saying, not quite how you said it.

To rephrase, I believe the idea should be to get "free to play" players to go subscription, and the way to do that is to make campaigns part of the subscription model. Daybreak should be making subscribing more attractive to it's player base. Perhaps in their bundle offerings (which I haven't seen yet) they will do more for subscribers.

I also agree with other posts in that they are fragmenting players with limiting who can play the content. Would have been more enthusiastic if the campaign would have scaled.

Bashem said: ↑

“Seeing how we have the people who want to buy the DLC and the people that think the DLC should be included for free as part of an AoM update then anyone who is allaccess can decide themselves and if they want to pay for DLC if they want or the want to get the DLC for free and then everyone can be happy!”

That was me being sarcastic and mad at the same time over being charged for this updated content.
I been posting in this thread to see if we would get any justification on the directions of this game from someone authorized to make the comment but I can see now they already planning on making me buy cellar to use it even tho its equal to one instanced zone in with 1 more instanced solo, advanced solo, heroic, and raid instance.

I give up trying to get any fan boys to change there toon but was hoping to see more outcry here from the people that feel that game is going in wrong direction so.
I am encouraging anyone voice there opinion now.

thanks for clarifying. had me a bit confused there. and yes, some people, including people i have talked to ingame, are under the impression it is 6 zones. to them, each type of instance is a zone. they don't get that it is one zone with different levels of hard. i think the problem is not so much in what the company is saying but in how people are understanding what they are saying. what looks clear to you and me is not so clear to someone else.

I don't mind paying for new content as long as it has something great in it for me. So far, I haven't heard of anything that will be useable to me. My highest toons are 98 and stagnating from having to mindlessly grind xp wherever they can find it.

The AoM content, unless I missed something, only goes so far for soloers and then you have to start grouping. I found some really great people to help me on Oasis but Test is another matter.

And when I group I feel less adequate than I do when soloing with my merc (and he does a great job of making me feel inadequate as it is). All I do is follow the group around as they slay and hack everything for me. I can't even target before the mobs are history.

So basically I'm asking lovely people to take time to help me finish the storyline because DB didn't give me a way to do it by myself. The people helping get nothing to speak of, out of helping, and that make me feel like I'm unable to bear my own weight. I have no interest in content that perpetuates my feelings of inadequacy.

Until I see what is being offered, in the new package, I have no way of knowing if there is something in it I can use. I'm hoping it at least has the new tradeskill process, we have on Test, so I'll have a reason to buy it. I want to support EQII but I don't want to just throw away money either.

I've read the pros and cons of paying for the new DLC and I still think it is premature to get angry over something we know so little about. Life has enough content to make us angry without going looking for it.

If it turns out the DLC is a load of garbage I'll yell as loud as everyone else and refuse to buy it. I am sincerely hoping that isn't going to be the case.

I would suggest, that instead of ranting about an unknown product, everyone let DB know what extras you would like in the DLC that would motivate you to pay $15 for it. There is no way of changing the zone, at this point, but DB could throw in some nice incentives that would be worth paying for the DLC.

My list is:

Expanded personal fuel, L&L, food, and totem depots (and any I missed that others have been wanting expanded).

Being able to add tinkered items to guild and personal totem depots or separate depots.

The new tradeskill process (my personal "most-wanted" add on).

Lots and lots of new furniture to make.

A furniture warehouse with unlimited space. The dungeons are too cumbersome. It needs to be just one huge room that expands as it is filled.

New buildings we can either make or buy on the marketplace.

There are tons of great furnishing and decorations, in the older zones, that still haven't appeared in our recipe books. For example, in the ELs there is a mill with a great kitchen. Why haven't those items been turned into recipes?

There are also tons of stuff in all the cities that haven't been turned into recipes. I now have over 200 houses begging for more decorations and furniture.

New dungeons are well and good, for one segment of players, but they aren't everyone's cup of tea as DB well knows. I don't mind dungeons I can solo (which I haven't found in AoM yet) but I spend the majority of my playtime crafting and decorating. The new DLC has got to have some great stuff in it, for those who are like me, if DB wants to make any money off the new DLC.

Just curious how will you know if Rum Cellar is garbage before you buy and try it?
I know they wont be giving a refund if you try and you dont like it after!

By logging into the Beta server and trying it? Perhaps visiting some of the sites doing write ups and even videos?

http://eq2wire.com/2015/04/10/rum-cellar-preview-livecast-video-now-on-youtube/

http://eq2.zam.com/

They did give their justification, even if it's not the answer that everyone likes to hear. Expansions have been replaced by Campaigns. In essence you are buying pieces of content in blocks that replace the expansions we have been accustomed to in the past. If it is the sort of content that appeals to you, buy it and enjoy it; if not, pass it by. That's never been an option for most players when referring to a full expansion that usually contains enough variations in perks to compel one to buy the whole expansion or pass up on everything.

I guess I'm a fan boy because I feel that if it is able to provide me with some interesting things to do in the game, even if only for a short while, it's worth $15.00 to me. I accept that like it, or not, they changed the way they will be releasing content in the future, so it's go with the new method or go without.

I have no real problem with the change to campaigns instead of expansions. The issue is the fact the you only get 1 dungeon for $15.00. If fact, it is not even a completely new dungeon it is a re-skinned Mistmoore Catacombs. Release new content that is worth the price and I will buy it. I will not buy this first campaign due to low value.

This game has gone so downhill its funny. I have been playing wow the last 3 months looked at my email and seen the new content email. Then i click the link and they want $15 for content that should have been in aom from jump. I dont care that they where bought out. I log in all i do is lag. I log into wow 2 boxing with other things running no lag. EQ2 was one of the best games i started when i was 13 played until 23. They need to take this game out back and shoot it. Sad thing is when reading the email i was thinking about resubing lol gg soe the only company that trolls itself.

I been off since first of year for medical reason and I would love to be playing full time again hopefully in the near future and I have posted and commented on the videos in this thread already which is why I said start charging for new content in Nov and from that point forward can do that because the Rom Cellar seems like update to fix a beneficent AoM content which Kander himself stated it was.

Once again its not whether the Rum Cellar content is good or not its whether we should pay for it or it should be added as a late to the game AoM patch.

First off, welcome back and hope you are feeling better. The issue that I see in the suggestion that this be an included update to AoM is at what point then do the campaigns provide them with the revenue needed to develop future content and when is ever the right time for that to start?

In essence, people are asking that they give this one away, then charge less than the expansion price for the fall campaign. That means less revenue in the fall than an expansion would yield and no revenue now for this campaign. Be great if they could pull that off, I for one would like to save some money, but I doubt it's an attractive option to them.

Also they stated that they are looking into a price scaling matrix to lower the cost for multiple copies for those with multiple accounts either as an individual or a family. That sounds rather attractive (5 accounts in the family), but again, it reduces their revenue even further. So what we are asking for is a campaign for free, then a campaign in the fall, released at less than the cost of previous expansions, volume discounts and of course the all access discount. I honestly don't see that happening, even if it would save me a bundle.

One dungeon is not a campaign. Hold off on this campaign, add some more content to it, then release it as a bona fide campaign. I would be happy to buy it then.

The only way you might get any sort of response in here for anything would be if you mentioned duck mounts. Other than that those DBG people will never honestly answer that question.

except those of us on a tight budget that have budgeted for the year based on the expansion model. this caught me off guard I wish they had of waited to implement it in November when they used to have the expansion and given us 4-5 months warning.

I was going to start a new rant thread but thought better of it and just going add my 2c and hope for the best and had no expectations that anyone from Daybreak would comment directly but this is only game I played these days and had to make an attempt to get some direct feedback.

what class are you? and what level? what armor are you wearing?

I am a casual player who doesn't go in for all that tier 3 armor and all. i do good just getting my mastercrafted armor adorned. I don't use the ones with the malice gems in because first of all i may have found 2 pieces that one of my toons can use,but not my main and unless i am missing something, they seem lacking when compared to my mastercrafted.

but i am a wizard, wearing all silk, and with only a little over 700k hitpoints. I am accompanied by kenny. i hit 100 during my last week of completing AOM - a bit before completing it actually. I had help only once and it was because i didn't understand what i was supposed to do to be able to kill a named in one of the dungeons.

i have had no problem completing it. of course though, i went through solo and not advanced solo. so i didn't get the shinies and the looted items. Maybe i'll do that later. for now, i am happy that one toon has completed it and two others are working on it.

So i am wondering why you had problems with it. of course i heard people say the same thing about tov but my wiz had no problem completing that one either.

i beta tested the new campaign. i had a few problems, but i managed to figure it out and it wasn't so bad on my level 100. but with only 2 on that account who might be able to use it, i don't see how it can be worth it to me. and i am wondering how long it will be available when i have enough toons advanced enough to use it. i don't rush my toons to 100. on my main account, which is the only one i plan to do any buying on, i have maybe 5 toons who will eventually make it to 100 - perhaps in a few years. right now there are only 2. but those other toons are over 90. if they could play it, if it would scale, then it would be worth my buying it.

but there is so much else i can do in the game that i am sure i won't miss it.

Looking forward to the update, but I don't like the "quality of life" updates being bundled with rum cellar. The game update notes have been sooooooo boring for months. I wish there would have been an exciting update or two along the way.

You were clear, but maybe I wasn't. I understand that Rum Cellar is the only thing we need to pay for. My point was that I don't think the quality of life (free stuff) needed to be bundled with the paid content (same release date). I was hoping to see those updates in small doses over the last few months.

Thank you very much for the response.