So I have thought long and hard about this but now I have to ask the question? Does anybody else who has played this game for years feel this expansion has had the most bugs and patches sense launch. For weeks now I have read posts and discord regarding things they say in the patch notes, that after patch are either more bugged or half fixed. I think the Devs are trying to appeal to the younger crowd which I get but games like fortnite already have that age group on lock. I really enjoy this game and love to raid and group with friends, but case and point I talked two members into coming back for them to tell me this morning that they feel the company doesn’t care about this game anymore.
I've heard many of the same comments. I really can't offer my own opinion though, as I've only been back since late September / early October. My break was for about 13 years, so I just don't have the knowledge base to offer a valid opinion on if this was the worst expansion or not. I do feel comfortable saying that I can remember a fair degree of user angst in EQ (original), EQ2, and Vanguard: SOH around each patch day, "way back when." Just remember, the forums can be a bit of an echo chamber - those that are satisfied are usually in-game playing, and not spending time posting about how happy they are. Heck, I usually post, then visit Norrath for awhile before checking back in later, myself! Maybe we should start a "2004" club?
I don't think they're trying to appeal to the younger crowd. I think they're trying to appeal to our wallets. All it's done for me though is stop me spending at all, because various changes in this expansion have annoyed me so much.
No one should expect anyone else to work for months without pay; that is ridiculous to even hold that up as some sort of standard. Expecting people to be homeless is daft. Would you work for months on end without pay? Of course not-- unless you're some kid living in your Mom's basement free of charge or something, and you have zero idea of what living in the real world is like. And Daybreak aren't "evil vultures," either. There are very few devs left, they do whatever they can, and monetization schemes come from higher up on the food chain-- much like they do for every game. Game monetization is a definite issue across the gaming industry, but it's actually at its very worst with mobile games. Even so, railing about one company while it's pretty much the industry standard will get you nowhere, especially since there are whales out there across the gaming spectrum who are willing to pay crazy prices for RNG items, etc. That's why these crazy monetization schemes ultimately exist: Because there are those players willing to pay those prices. I play on Kaladim, only switching over to Rivervale now for holidays. If you want to avoid the pay to win end game that got bolted on after EQ2 went free to play, then play on Kaladim instead.
Well put Siren I love the people crying about the overseer's too. It's a way for us to get free stuff, so how is it bad? Even if you get crappy stuff 90% of the time, you can still get free stuff and it didn't cost you anything. This is the exact reason why we don't get vet rewards anymore, there were too many people crying about what they gave us. It was free stuff you should be grateful, even if some of it is garbage or repeat.
Agreed! Good thing no one is actually holding it up as "some sort of standard" or "Expecting people to be homeless". That would be awkward and weird. But I mean, that doesn't take away from the fact that in the pre-release days of Everquest, at Verant Interactive, before SOE came into the picture. Original Developers including Brad Mcquaid, went without pay for a while, so that they could keep the lights and power running long enough to finish the product (obviously there was some monetary incentive down the road, like stocks/big payouts after release/profitability). Most people WOULD leave in that situation. People with no excitement or passion about the product they are developing. Can't pay me? Well I'm not staying for this crap, and leave. But it speaks volumes that these developers STAYED and EQ was released. You can't take that away from them. it shows passion. I guarantee as soon as the well dries up at DBG, not a single dev is willing to work a single hour without pay. No passion. No excitement. F U, PAY ME. So how much higher does monetization devisions come above DBG? The investment company? Daybreak is just what the investment company called the building where the new game thing they bought would be called and for other reasons such as liability under bankruptcy under LLC sub-corporations. The man who literally brokered the deal to buy SOE is now the CEO of DBG. The current CEO of DBG, is also one of the majority owners/investors of the investment company. So I think you are WRONG there as well. The investment firm doesn't map out plans, they hire a CEO to do that. You obviously don't know how parent companies and acquisition management works, but that's fine. I rail against greed. I don't sit and shut my mouth up about it because "they aren't the only greedy ones!" and "some people are rich and dumb enough to pay them so it's okay!" That's weak sauce. Just join the bandwagon when it's appropriate but don't do anything that anyone else might disagree with? Nah. If you aren't making people angry, you aren't doing anything worth doing.
Don't you think if DBG was all that greedy they would be laying so many people off? They are obviously hurting for money not over run with it.
Actually, cutting staff to reduce costs is not an uncommon step. Now they aren't on the hook for that person's salaries, benefits, 401k, etc. Aren't they located in California? Expensive state to do business in, these days. I wouldn't be surprised to see them and some other organizations relocate, especially with the recent changes to how "contractor" benefits are handled. I chose to be a contractor for my current position- my vendor company HQ is in another state, but I fall under the laws of the state I'm working in (no income tax, X number of sick leave hours, etc.) It sucks that the people that are left are asked to do more (with less resources), with the knowledge that if they don't, they might be next. I'm not saying this is what actually happened, just playing devil's advocate.
Almost 16 years of eq2 here. RoK was the peak of this game and the plates started to wobble from TSO onwards. ToT marked the beginning of the downward spiral. The risk vs reward equation was written out of the game and replaced with rewards for no real effort. The superfluous stats like the tithe system for potency completely disrupted the game and downright awful gating mechanics in KA furthered the bad game design. PoP, CD were very very average and continued the trend ToT started with. BoL is the most undercooked and rushed out expansion to date and to charge a premium collectors edition on this must be against some statuatory law somewhere on this planet. The release could easily been in February (iirc SOE did that in one expansion a few years ago). The developers are stretched to make up for the quitters/lay-offs beyond what they can realistically handle right now, hence the lack of responses from them on the plethora of threads from playeres about bugs and incomplete/badly designed mechanics. The sun should have set on this game a long time ago but where there is money to be made, i guess even a corpse can be dolled up to make a buck.
Every xpac since launch has multiple negative forumites predicting the end of the game. Early on there was even an entire website dedicated to questioning the mgmt of whomever's vision was guiding the game at that time. Alas...EQ2 Flames...burned out, as it were, lol. And EQ2 is still here. Imagine. Some things never change.
Times are changing, MMO RPG's change too. Old school games are still fun, but there's much more new games like modern MMO shooters and they take many players away. It is amazing how strong some old school MMO RPG's are. People are playing it for decades and they can still find some new players too.
For me, now is the best xpack in the visual arts and solo-playable content since ToT, but tons of unfixable -since beta- bugs are the reason of some questioning of the devs' way...
It really is a beautiful expansion. There has been a TON of bugs in this one though. But they (hopefully) will get them all worked out.
I enjoy the game just as much now as I did in November 2004. It has changed, but dang, anything this old changes. I enjoy the new xpac, therefore I'm still playing and still paying.
I've been around 15 years too, and I still haven't found a game I like better than EQ2 (and boy, did I ever shop around during the Dreaded Downtime of Doom when Sony was under DDoS attack!) But I agree, the bugs frustrate me. It's not so much the bugs, which I expect, but for example the Researchers. Fix one, break one. Rinse and repeat? I'm hoping they still have a QA team that can check this interrelated stuff. I'm not real clear on why bugs reported in beta still exist, though. Why even do a beta if you don't exterminate the bugs?
The current expact is a good thought process but executed poorly and for the wallets. if it was more tuned towards quality standards, players would stick around more and keep the subs
I have spoke with a few that bought the lifetime sub, and they are in the mind set with the current expac, to stop playing for a while. This expac feels like a large adventure pack ala Mara tbh. They spread things out and put about the same amount of content that Mara had/has.
I've seen worse implemented Expacs. I think DoV had a lot of issues. Previous Expacs had a lot more downtime that the last 4 expacs. I remember taking a day off for an expac launch only to find that the server was down for over half the day then had to come down later to fix bugs. There were times when we had patches 4 days our of 7 for 2-3 weeks. There are bugs this expac, but previous expacs have been worse in terms of them. I personally am enjoying this expac. In saying that though, there are some item progression issues, and issues with the way tradeskills were done this expac (mastercrafted, experts, shadow prospecting). This expac we see a full gear reset and new players don't have to play so much catchup as the previous 3 expacs you had to. From the ethereal events only 1 item (the red rune) will be usable from the heroics onwards. All orange adorns are dead, ascensions are much more easily crafted, planar energy and a page and you are set.
Harsh Reality Time. If this game doesn't make money on it's own, it will quickly cease to exist. DBG has already laid off lots of people...and they didn't do so because the cash is just rollin' in. And now....it's not even DBG anymore. It's Darkpaw Games now, isn't it? An even smaller company. Will you be railing against their 'greed' too?
I am right there with you Sig. I started on launch day, 04 November 2004 and have been around ever since. I get frustrated but I stay, I pay, I play. I attempt to give constructive feedback. I do /bug when I find them and I attempt to categorize it properly so it goes where it belongs. I know a lot of people on these forums detest me because I am quite outspoken on my opinions. But I am allowed my opinions and they should be respected, just as I give respect to every other player's opinions. Its to bad that is a pipe dream as well.
