So what do you think of the DarkPaw Games announcement?

What does this mean to "all access" members?

Buried deep under all the BS is a response from Dreamweaver about this.

Both of those organizations support this game. Do you like this game? Because you should have more praise for them than criticism. If you think they should operate differently, then don't come to the official forums and complain about other social media outlets. Basic common sense. If you have a problem with them, take it up with them. Not us.

In Dreamweaver's defense, he can only report what he's told.

We had lots of discussion about the lifetime membership offer at the time they made it. I don't imagine that if they're going to modify terms, they'll do it before the customer break-even value.

Still, it's DBG, so who knows.

I wasn't talking about Dreamweaver or DBG when talking about BS.

Are you kidding me? Do you even know Massively OP? They voted Daybreak the studio "Most Likely to Fail" in 2020. How do you they support the game other than peddle conspiracy theories (that the EQ2Wire forum folks like to copy)?

I have heard "Pantheon" so long I think it has become somewhat of a joke. Daybreak/Darkpaw cannot fix what they have and remove and fix the messed up tradeskilling they created so why would they spend time on another game?

Let's be honest Feldon. The conspiracy theorists want the "smoking gun": the company memo that reads "swindle EQ2 players out of their hard earned cash by consciously selling power on the marketplace." Any thing less than that is not enough transparency.

This argument is very weak. This is a personal problem and not a game problem.

'You just suck at the game' is an interesting pivot.

That's putting words in my mouth.

You misunderstand me: if you have some psychological need to be a "completionist" that is not a game/dev problem. If the devs want to a design the game with steeper power curves, that is their prerogative. They don't need to create the game according to some people's quirks or idiosyncrasies.

And how does one "top the parse" as a tradeskiller? Does that make those that focus on crafting and decorating "bad in general" or "beta af"?

The ability to be and do more than one thing is what makes the game attractive to some people. While you've found enjoyment in competing on the parse, others find it in creating something new or in their own unique way. Just as you wouldn't want that scale applied to you, don't apply yours to everyone else.

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According to zerya, you a beta Wulf.

I never said that I felt obligated to spend money in the marketplace. I said I was disappointed that there was nothing on the currency merchants worth buying. I said I was unmotivated to long in because there is nothing in game we can work towards to 'earn', to improve our toons. I pointed out that nearly every possible upgrade was locked behind RNG.
I don't buy gamble crates with dbc because I have zero interest in gambling. If I'm going to spend my money, I want to know what I'm getting for it. For me, there is no 'thrill' that many seem to find in gambling.
I've always been goal driven. Currently, there is nothing I can log in to work towards as a goal. Being randomly blessed by the RNG demons isn't a 'goal', because it's not something I have any control over.

It did sound like you were impatient about the RNG mechanism.

Let me give you an example from EQ1: For the latest expansion, there are raid equivalent (to last expac) tradable drops that drop from group mobs in EQ1 called Ice Encrusted. (The expansion has its own raid gear). These items can be armor and weapons. They are ultra rare and players do not know the odds (likely 1:10,000 or higher). You can use this gear to "top parses" or improve gameplay. People often buy Krono to purchase these items ("malicious marketplace" connection). However, EQ1 players see it as a bonus and not a requirement.

Again, being on the upper echelon and top of the power curve is optional.

If there is a problem with mudflation (currency/missions), that is a valid concern to bring up to the devs. However, you have to decouple it from the min-max expectation.

I'm not asking for the 'best' gear. I'm looking for ANYTHING that is an upgrade over the sig line gear.
But
1) this is off topic
and
2) either by accident or design you're consistently missing my point
so
I'll be exiting this specific discussion.
I've said my small piece about the OPs question/topic and have nothing further to add there.

What I don't like about MassivelyOP's coverage is that they post poorly-written rants about things they miss that are no longer in EQ2 (like the old neighborhoods) a good six months after those things have been put back in. Do they ever actually play the games they claim they're writing about? They also demand that all EQ2's content should be free (like said neighborhoods), or they threaten to complain even more about the game. How can companies keep online games running and continually updated without paychecks? The sense of entitlement there is pretty shocking.

They also wrote about Amazon's incoming Lord of the Rings game, but 75% of the article was just one giant bash of Standing Stone's LoTRO. That would be like writing an Eve Online article, but spending 75% of the word count complaining about Star Trek Online. If the point is to cover game X, then cover game X, and try actually playing it first besides.

MassivelyOP increasingly comes off like hit ****** whose main focus is trolling.

Heck yeah. I agree Siren!

That is questionable (free neighborhoods?)! They've had something against Daybreak since they ended - rightly or wrongly - EQN.

Massively used to be the "go-to" (player supported) source for all things MMO until they hired a bunch of professional non-gamer, social influencer freelance writers.

How can Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) not be "Most Likely to Fail"? Pantheon was not even mentioned as a candidate as a questionable.

They literally put more stock and value in vaporware than actual operating games with new expansions (content).

They've started to inhale their own self importance. And they expect studios to kiss their ring for favorable coverage like the Instagram social influencers who expect free lodging and services!

I am old gamer, I started in 1979. Not much impresses me, well, that and the hurricane at sea I and the other people on a certain DDG survived on about 1970.

As I told the undergrad advisor at university, some things just don't impress me. Pompous windbags in Acedemia never did.

Tomfoolery in forums, and tomfoolery in business decisions being some of the others.

Taanstafl.

Gamers, probably none born this century though, should know what that means. Well, if they have read Heinleins 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' and a book called 'Callahan's Cross-time Saloon' by another author they would understand. Nope, not going to define that acronym.

Even when I was employed full time, at 62K$ US a year, I didn't spend a plethora of money on online games. And I've played around 20. The only one that ever impressed me was EQ/EQ II. But maybe not much longer.

I do expect to not be treated like I'm a mushroom.

If I'm still alive 20 years from now, I hope EQ/EQ II are still around. And PLAYABLE.

While we have more fun in these forums than the EQ forums, the virtual trips, I am beginning to think EQ is much more playable than EQ II.

I could be wrong as I haven't done raids, nor massive groups taking on named. Staying up all night isn't what I care to do.

Anyway. I think I made valid points.

Ymmv.

Dreamweaver on Monday morning:

Going further with my analogy, if I were a Toyota exec, and an industry magazine said I was most likely to fail of the car companies in the American market, my ego would come second after attempting to fix the issues they brought up. I might even hold a press conference to reassure my shareholders. Anything else is bad business practice.