So what do you think of the DarkPaw Games announcement?

Daybreak uses so much waiver language that they basically reserve the right to do anything they want.

The apt example here would be the fact that they can ban a lifetime subscription account. I think this was brought up during the lifetime sale and someone on EQ1 remarked that it occurred to them. A dev remarked "just don't do anything that would warrant a ban" or something to that effect in response.

I hope I'm not the only person who thinks this will change almost nothing for EQ2 in general. At this point the game has eroded into a mediocre cash grab that uses a once-beloved IP to prey on nostalgia players in order to keep revenue flowing with the least amount of effort possible. Live servers are too much of a mess for me to want to even comment on, but the rehashed TLE servers that gets dropped by the majority of the player base after TSO (arguably the last xpac that wasn't complete garbage, imo) are losing their appeal as even these servers seem to ignore any sort of criticism from the player-base to help improve the quality. These servers see an influx of players for each xpac until the relevent content is quickly (and I mean quickly) grinded through and then a noticable drop in population occurs until the next xpac is released. This problem is compounded by the microtransaction cancer of XP pots and spell upgrades along with being able to bypass most of the content through mentored SKs pulling entire maps to boost people to max level.

I think the number one priority of Darkpaw Games should be to make a sustainable server that can offer quality content that doesn't have to rely on recycled content disguised as "new expansions" or being shut down after x amount of months because the population died out after the best content has been played through. For me personally this would mean: recreating peak EQ2 as close as possible (many would say RoK to be the peak, I don't necesarilly disagree), balancing the content to be challenging in order to regain the sense of accomplishment that drew us to the game in the first place, listening to player feedback to implement changes that improve the quality of the game while retaining the classic feeling, respecting the players time and money (deleting the god awful Marketplace would be a start), and treating the server with a long-term commitment in mind to preserve the quality and minimise the degradation that so many games fall into. I would personally also like to see other changes like bringing back PvP (and fixing it to be competitvely viable) and other small things like corpse runs, reduced XP, incentives to participate in the less-played content (make leveling up rely more on completing quests, for example), no guild halls, no flying mounts, no mercenaries. I think that DBG can take a page out of Oldschool Runescape's strategy for reviving and expanding an older game that caters to what their dedicated players truly want (while also bringing in new players), and so far they have been relatively successful while working with an active community to make sure that the server continues to provide quality content. At this point I have been disappointed enough by DBG that I truly expect nothing good to come from this new company.

Please let me know if I'm misinformed here, but I can't shake the feeling that this new company will continue to be clueless regarding the direction of EQ2 and that nothing significant will come from this split. I think preserving the feeling and spirit that brought joy to so many gamers is in the best interest of whoever holds the EverQuest IP and that the people that have stuck around this long deserve something worthwhile that can be enjoyed in the many years to come. /rant

I would rather they put their time and money in to the game and not in to a fan faire. Very few can attended and more subscribers would benefit the added time and money put in to the game fixing bugs and issues that have been around a lomg time.

After the last 12 minute video that Holly made I have come to the conclusion that it wont matter who owns it as long as the current team are n charge it will be just more of the same thing.
Throw a fresh coat of paint on a rusted out junk car and what do you have...a shiny rusted out junk car.

How many times have we been pumped up for a positive change only to be let down again? No nvm..that's a rhetorical question

They are going to have to show me a leopard can change its spots or its all just more bs

A lot of us play EQ2 because there is no other game out on the market with the sense of team effort and community. I have never felt the satisfaction of killing a mob in a guild raid in any other game as I have in EQ2. I also have leveled my achievements to the highest level of of home decorator you can reach, again a sense of community as people I know and even don't know compliment me on my efforts.

This is what's at stake. It's not overly profitable in the current format however it could be with a few minor adjustments. Unfortunately Sony sold us out to the Ferengi and we have little hope they can see the game as we do.

Buying a dozen or so unflattering jackets and t-shirts with the name of a new owner just wont sit well with us. I'm angry about DB selling off Eq2 but also guardedly optimistic that someone will get the game back to it's roots and stop messing it up. As a community member, I want to see everyone around me happy, but that vison is not in the focus of the current development team.

I agree that buying Pantheon is *highly* unlikely. It just isn't quite as unlikely as it was a month ago,
I also agree that as of now this development changes nothing. They have simply decentralized their organization. Now if some third party buys one or more of the new operating divisions/companies that will be a horse of an entirely different color.

I think it is a good move for the reasons they have given. Perhaps they can go beyond video games, but my feeling is that video gamers are the main customer as this time. That is the core business. If EQ wants to be a board game then that is a new field of competition. Hard core fans might buy it, but main stream success will be about as difficult as inventing a whole new, unbranded, board game. Books, movies, and other ventures will present the same challenges. In my view, anyway. I am not a big business person. I have to put that disclaimer in.

meh.
this intimates that said "lipstick on a pig" that the original was ALWAYS said pig.
Not so with EverQuest.
What we have is more like a episode of This Old House, where Bob Vila is finding 25 LAYERS of PAINT on Linoleum laid on top of beautiful Select grade Oak hard wood flooring,...
the foolish paint and linoleum, were obviously from the ... previous owners,... catering to the Vain.
So.
"Let us Roll up OUR sleeves and gently get to work, let US recover said beauty by rescuing it from the previous mismanagement,..."
Shall this be Your motto Darkpaw?
*I* am certainly willing to be included in the "us" and "our" in regards to assisting in the recovery/restoration of such a valuable resource.

I feel like Intrepid have more SOE/DBG alumni working for them than VR. I know Brasse is with VR, not sure who else is from EQ/EQ2. Maybe now that Darkpaw won't be funding other non-EQ franchise projects, they can expand their team and focus solely on EQ. Maybe rehire some of those that made EQ2 great in the first place.

What has to be done? I don't play nearly as often as many here do, but I can certainly see the efforts that have been made to introduce new mechanics over the many years. I think that is an attempt to not just introduce new areas and quests, but to add new gameplay goals. Is it mainly new stats?

When I look at the character specs, it looks very complex. I don't know if this is the same thing as mis-management. It might be more like multiple managements and visions built on each other.

How and what to change though? Those that made the original games probably didn't plan for a game that would last 20 years. How do you keep finding new ways to challenge players? New goals? How long does a player want to just look for a higher statistic on an item?

What should have a 20 year vision for the game looked like? It is a very interesting question.

VR would burn Pantheon to the ground before they sell it to DBG

Isn't that basically what they're doing anyway? Well, to be fair, it's a really slow burn that hasn't even made it out of Alpha yet.

And its fairly obvious to anyone with just a couple of healthy functioning brain cells that it never will.

worried about my lifetime membership......and hoping that EQ2 remains for the rest of my life

I made a thread about my worries

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq2/index.php?threads/darkpaw-lifetime-memberships-concern.593004/

I will say this, if they choose to negate the lifetime membership for EQ & EQ2. I am done, that to me is the ONLY reason I payed for it, the other games are garbage to me.

I ain't worried about it...the thing is that if your not happy with the changes they have made,, and you really are considering leaving the game anyway as they don't seem to care how happy we are with it...are you really losing anything?
Im not saying you are considering throwing in the towel, but if you are.

QFE!

Cute so this new move is just to screw us all over? 300.00 USD worth of screwed! Then also LM & EQNext 150.00 USD, wow lets make it even better! Can you possibly stick it to your loyal members anymore?

Your lifetime memberships are more than likely safe. DBG is still the Publisher of EQ2, even if under the development of Darkpaw.

My assumption would be that your lifetime all access is still with DBG to give you access across all the games included, even though they are over multiple companies.

Unless you do something that warrants your account being banned/suspended, I'd suggest you'll be fine.

I don't think the $300 lifetime sub will be impacted with these changes unless Daybreak outright sells the Everquest franchise to another publisher, which I doubt they will do. It appears that EQ1 and EQ2 are their flagship games now, and there are hints from Holly's recent interviews that they're planning EQ3 now as well.

Daybreak still publishes them all, and that's who we paid then and who we still pay for subs. I mean, those with month to month subs are still here playing, and so are lifetimers.

I think the lifetime sub was a move to get quick cash for Planetside Arena's development; that's why they didn't offer it again this past December. Daybreak already had the Planetside engine, which is a real time and money saver. This new PS:A "game" (just a mode that should have been added to Planetside 2, really) is only a limited Battle Arena, so it didn't cost nearly what a new MMO would have to create.

The fact that Arena failed mainly just impacted the Planetside team, which, sadly, was let go. They should have just tacked on Arena to PS2 as an extra new mode, then tried to capitalize on it somehow with new cash shop items to show it off. (I don't play Planetside, so they might not have been able to stave off the layoffs either way, I don't know.)