Why don't people care anymore?

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by ARCHIVED-ericsweeney, Jan 12, 2011.

  1. ARCHIVED-ericsweeney Guest

    People just don't seem to care about EQ2 any more. At least from what I've seen. Why? I guess that's what I'm personally undecided about.
    Is it Vellious? Perhaps the concept of people buying a partial expansion is the issue. Or the fact that SOE hasn't even posted a release date for the expansion which is supposed to go live some time in Feb. EQ2 Flames and the SOE EQ2 Forums seem rather apathetic about the expansion as well. Even a couple of the end game raider people in beta have made verbal comments around me about how they're seriously questioning whether they will even bother buying the expansion. That's a real statement in my book.
    Is it the age of EQ2? Every year there are newer games that are coming out. So many EQ2 players seem more interested in Rifts than they are about Vellious. There's even more Star Wars: The Old Republic buzz from players than Vellious buzz. While I know that people will be attracted to the newest games released, it just feels like this atmosphere is just so much larger this year than it was in the last couple of years. Even the post counts on the SOE forums from the old regulars have died off in the SF era to a much greater extent than it died during RoK and TSO.
    It's just kind of strange for me to be seriously questioning my interest in EQ2 after having found a good fitting guild about a month ago for my main. While the guild is vitalized to finish killing as many hard modes as they can on LDL before the expansion hits, the guild also isn't that excited about Vellious either. "It'll be like all of the other EQ2 expansions." That's the most common comment which I've heard, which sounds indifferent in my book.
    Are other people seeing the same thing that I am?
  2. ARCHIVED-Greatscate Guest

    Dareena@Lucan DLere wrote:
    No. You're not the only one...
    From what I have noticed, the lack of interest in EQ2 stems from the lack of satisfaction on multiple fronts:
    ~ SoE transitioning the game to Extended / SC Fluff. When will our $15 be good enough?
    ~ Lack of ingenuity from developers. Each expansion just gets worse and worse...
    ~ Game mechanics that get easier and easier with every given day. Simplified stats, etc.
    ~ Sub-par Customer Service and In-Game Support. Long queues for phone support. No 800 #. etc.
    ~ *Insert Complaint Here*
    Really, the list can go on forever...

    The games age means nothing to me. It still looks beautiful for beaing 6 years old. Having said that, I have zero desire to play a game that is transitioning away from its "dedicated core audience" and not looking back.
  3. ARCHIVED-Zin`Carla Guest

    i think you've hit it pretty well on the head with most all of your statements.
    The age is one thing. with that though comes a multitude of issues... the game wasn't designed (as everyone knows) for technology today. it was designed on what was expected (and didnt) to happen with processors, etc. The game was released at a time when technology was at a crossroads. So it suffers incredibly so for that. imho, that's not SOE's fault at all. No one really could have known i dont think. WoW suffers the same issues. So it's not limited to what some may perceive (or claim, whine, bawl, accuse, etc) as to being short-sighted on SOE's part.
    I am disheartened though to hear that Velious is being decried as being a half built expansion... it seems like ever since Rise of Kunark, the expansions are going this way. Partial content released at the beginning and then "updated" as time goes on... "updated" translate to mean, "finished and released because it wasn't done in time for launch". Players are feeling shortchanged by this business practice. How long did we hear about Kurn's tower before it was finally opened. yea... way too long.
    Looking at other games on the market like Aion (as my example since i played it at beta and for the first couple of months and have followed it's boards since leaving it just to keep informed), while a differnet type of MMO all together, it's a beautifully done game. Were it not for the pvp mechanics of it, i'd have stayed with it. The graphics, play control, music and over all quality of the game is just leaps and bounds above and beyond that of EQ2. But issues like loot drop rates, unlimited pvp range and the fact that NCSoft West is wholely dependant upon NCSoft Corporate to accomplish anything (meaning that unless NCSoft Korea makes any changes at all to the game, it's not happening on the servers, regardless of what the playerbase is asking for). Now, that's can be taken for what it is because you will always have players wanting, wishing, demanding, etc for things that are just beyond reasonable... however the playerbase of the western servers is much different than that of the Asian. I'll leave it at that so as not to completely derail this thread. Bottomline is though, yes i believe that SOE has "turned over EQ2 to the interns" so as to focus on newer endeavors and venues.
    As for advertising, SOE has rarely ever done anything in regards to advertising for its EQ franchaise. they tried it... it was horrid. absolutely horrid. "It's Time To Slay The Dragon!" -- if you aren't sure what i am referring to, google that and you'll understand. So it's no wonder that people are buzzing more about other games than they are anything EQ related.
    Like i said, if Velious is really going to be released with missing content that will be "released in later installments/gu's, etc" then it's no wonder no one is excited about it. It's just SOE... for lack of better description, half-arseing it because they know they can get away with it since people will buy it anyway.
  4. ARCHIVED-Shrell Guest

    The community seems boggled by how absent red names are from these forums since before Christmas. Normally when you are ramping up to an expansion release they would be out in great numbers talking things up and generating excitement.
    In the multiple threads about preorder not a single red name can be quoted as explaining the reasons why.
    Smokejumper are you even employed at soe anymore?
  5. ARCHIVED-Yimway Guest

    Dareena@Lucan DLere wrote:
    Yes.
    There are things about the upcomming expansion that has all of us questioning going forward with it. I can't really talk about that in detail on these forums though.
    Many of the things that have happened in the eq2 community over the past year has really broken the spirit of us 'veterans'. I've seen more of an exodus this year than any other, and overall I sense the same lack of interest in the current game as well as the expansion.
    I feel most of the people I still play with are only logging on to hang out and spend time with old friends, and are not remotely logging in for what the game has left to offer.
    Certainly part of this is the age of the game, but if you listen to these folks, there is a sizeable amount of disenchantment that is the result of soe's own rhetoric. As a guild leader, it is a considerable challenge to keep people having fun and not focussing on all the negative around the game at the moment.
    I believe you'll find this disenchantment with fantasy MMO's is nearly universal at this point, and players in most of the tittles are just 'coasting' waiting for something genuinely new and fun to come out. Unfortunatly DoV isn't that new thing, and honestly neither is Rifts.
  6. ARCHIVED-souldnce9 Guest

    Atan@Unrest wrote:
    I'm glad to see someone say this. I've been looking at Rift and it just seems a lot of hype to me. Sure it looks pretty, but my computer will not be seeing it as such anyway. I hate to hear some of my friends say they are going to leave the game for Rift, but I think they will probably come back when the novelty runs out.
  7. ARCHIVED-Jaremai Guest

    I still care because I have a time investment, friends that still play, the cost is still outweighed by the entertainment value, and there's a lack of anything worth drawing me away from it at this time.
    I'm disappointed by Sony's leadership, direction the game has taken in the last 12 months, and some immediate-future stuff, but I still care. I'm also hopeful that this downward slope will taper off and maybe climb some eventually, but the rational side of me says I shouldn't be too hopeful.
    If all my friends quit, or the cost became prohibitive, or another game came along that was sufficient for me to go be addicted to it instead of Norrath, then I would care a whole lot less. I was honestly up-and-down hoping Rift would be that next big thing (same hope I had for Aion), but sadly, no. Guild Wars 2 has a lot of ooh-shiney about it but I think I'll probably end up not going there either.
  8. ARCHIVED-Embret Guest

    I am the very last of my old EQ2 friends online, even my guild is devoid of life any more. There is rent and status in escrow for about 3 more years, but it's not much fun when no one is on, ever. On a positive note I can generally find a PUG any time I wish and I can still play with my daughter now and then, but she's not much interested because her friends are gone now also. I'm hoping the next expansion livens things up again, but I sort of doubt it. I wish SOE would do some serious advertising. I'm really sad, because I like this game and world and every new game I've tried has been a serious disappointment.
  9. ARCHIVED-Yimway Guest

    Xiotia@Lucan DLere wrote:
    There is 0 replayability in Rifts, and the progression is the same cut and paste questlines, repeat and grind ad naseum. The mechanics are grossly simplified (far worse than eq2 beta).
    The plus is it is beautiful graphically and runs well on moderate equipment. It is pretty to play, and the lore is interesting to level one toon up to 25-30. Beyond that, it falls off rather quick.
    The class mechanics are interesting, and really what adds any value to the game at all. Unfortunately, interesting class mechanics stacked into a combat system that is way over simplified and a progression system that is horribly repetitive does not make a good MMO.
    I recommend it if you don't mind paying 50 bucks or so for an MMO that you wont play more than 60 days.
  10. ARCHIVED-JoarAddam Guest

    We've got a good game here, with broadly overarching lore, piles and piles of group and raid zones and decent loot, good appearance stuff in game... but it's never enough. SOE came up with a way to offer even more of what we want, and we all complain that they actually had to charge us extra for it. If SC never came around, we'd just have a billion we want we want threads... heck, we do now. What if they charged you 20 bucks a month to offer you the SC stuff free? Would you still play this game if it cost an extra 5 bucks a month? Many wouldn't. But increased revenue was required to bring us some of the things we asked for, and we've got people willing to chip in extra so we can get it. It's not really a bad thing to have more art added to the game, even if YOU can't afford to wear it, it's still there to be appreciated.
    If you haven't noticed the culture of negativity building about everything everywhere... not just the game... Good for you! I wish I lived under the same rock you do... because everything is bad, everything is some highly visible figurehead's fault... Dave G. Should have chosen the name Whippingboy instead of Smokejumper... Sarah Palin could say NOTHING for the next year and every cold a democrat caught would be laid at her feet... Barack Obama could lower taxes, raise employment, feed the poor, blind the rich, Add the entirety of Asia as the 51st state, cure aids and cancer for free and someone would still complain that it wasn't enough...
    You wouldn't feel as bad about the game if people weren't complaining as much. I'm as guilty of jumping on the complain bandwagon as anyone... it's becoming a knee jerk response, and that's a bad thing. While freedom of speech is good, it doesn't mean you should listen and play along with the crazy complainers all the time... and just because someone else has a complaint, it doesn't necessarily mean their complaint should become yours...
    Austin F agothey wrote "speech is not merely repeating what one has been told to say, but is a manifestation of ones own thoughts."
    Let's all start manifesting our own thoughts about the good parts of the game, of which there are many. Instead of expecting everything to be perfect and vast and far beyond what the budget could produce, we could start appreciating what the game actually is. We might be getting 2 whole expansions of Velious content! How can that be a bad thing? At least it's not some new wholly unheard of place with aliens like got slapped on in eq1....
  11. ARCHIVED-Brook Guest

    Dareena@Lucan DLere wrote:
    Some people believe the age of the game has a lot to do with why people are losing interest, I think thats BS, you offer a product that people think is worth thier money they will gladly pay it. You have to offer something better or different than the compitition to get the monies.
    This game is so radically different than the game I started playing in 2005 that I hardly recognize it anymore. The game as it was in 2005 is what hooked me, the game now doesnt hold much interest because of the changes. What started out as a game for a player that liked a little challenge has become nothing more than what everyone else is offering.
    What is to keep me here now? Most of my friends have already jumped ship.
    What does this game offer now that another company cant? It was the artwork, and epic spell graphics, and voiceovers, and rich lore, and most importantly relationships with others I enjoyed playing with. Now the artwork in the newer zones is bigger but not better, the spellcast are for the most part bland, hardly any voiceovers, and disjointed lore. The list of the good things still in the game are shadowed by the list of things I dont care for and, when another company comes out with something that doesnt follow what everyone else is doing and has engaging gameplay I will jump ship as well and it will most definatly NOT be EQ3, not after I have seen this company suck the life out of this one.
    My personal opinion is that had SOE not tried to follow what everyone else was doing they would be right up there with the king of the hill. Its still an ok game, just not really different from anyone else now.
    I won't be getting the next expansion either.
    If your having fun with the game then hang in there, there is really nothing different out there right now.
  12. ARCHIVED-Volov Guest

    It's a bit odd really, EQ2 is still a great game. I think though over the past year there have been some terrible decisions made by the management in Sony:

    1. The move to Free to Play. It may have worked for LOTR and DND, but there was no need to do that here. The live servers are dieing because of it. Maybe the game will live on as F2P, but I sure as heck don't care about it anymore.
    2. The push for the marketplace. I'm glad Sony has a bit more money because of it, it's made me care much less about the game than I use to.
    3. The blatant disregard to advertise the game. Of all MMORPGs that are out now, EQ2 could go after the WoW player base, they could expand. But they don't advertise the game at all.. it's so frustrating.
    Those are high level decisions by Sony that has made me stop caring. Couple that with my server getting the RP tag ripped off of it, I could really care less about the game anymore. Just my opinion, but I see a game change coming here in the near future if things don't change soon. How can I justify even buying the expansion coming out with all this going on?
  13. ARCHIVED-Grumble69 Guest

    It's hard for the players to care when it doesn't appear that the developers do.
  14. ARCHIVED-Dasein Guest

    I really don't see what sort of challenge people thought the game had back around launch. If anything, the game was far simpler - there were no AAs, gear was mitigation/abilities/resists/hp/power with the odd damage proc here and there. No blue stats, no adornments, procs were rare, and so on. Encounters were almost universally tank and spank, with levelling being done by grinding the same few sets of mobs for hours on end. Sure, overland zones had lots more heroic mobs, and it took longer to get around, but once you actually got where you wanted to go, the game was pretty easy.
    What has changed is that players have gotten better. We've built more tools like ACT, custom UI plugins and adopted voice chat nearly universally. While classes have been changed over the years, most core functions have remained essentially the same since launch, so group and raid makeup has not radically changed - sure, the tank of the month has switched a few times, as has the preferred DPS, but overall, the DPS/healer/tank combo is unchanged, as is the role of most utility. Thus, we've gotten far better at optimizing group and raid setups, and we have learned how to deal with AOEs, adds, memwipes and the other tricks encounters throw at us.
  15. ARCHIVED-Te'ana Guest

    Atan@Unrest wrote:
    I agree, I played four Betas over there and was not impressed. I won't be buying it.
    Based upon what I have heard and read, I think DoV won't be well recieved either.
  16. ARCHIVED-Rieven Guest

    Atan@Unrest wrote:
    I am not saying you are wrong, but I am curious to know where this info comes from? I have played the last 4 RIFT Beta's and as far as I know you could only go to lvl 27 and a lot of the zones were locked out. I would just like to know how it falls of rather quick after lvl 30 if nobody has been able to see that content yet?
  17. ARCHIVED-Embret Guest

    I've got it on good authority that Rift will be something to at least try. I love EQ2, but all my friends are gone and it sort of defeats the purpose of an MMO if none of my friends are here any more. (I'm not discounting making new friends, but it's lost some of it's appeal if ALL of my old friends are gone. Some were RL, many were met in-game. Even my cousins have all left.)
    What is DoV?
  18. ARCHIVED-Zarulm Guest

    I could care less about Velious. It's going to be yet another small, half-baked expansion with poor content. And I really dont understand why SoE seems to think they have to revamp the game and stat system with every expansion. We are already into the mudflation, why not do what EQ1 did and just roll with it, rather than trying to stop it.
    Rather than the continual nerfing and dumbing down of the game just to save dev time it would be better if we went the EQ1 route- gear gets bigger and bigger, mobs get more and more hps and hit harder and harder. I dont see what is so hard to grasp.
    Another thing people are down on is that ever since Extended went live, the devs have more or less ignored these Live forums entirely. All SoE cares about are Smedbucks anymore. Personally I would like to see some actual effort taken to improve the game seeing as all the extra money they are making.
    Back to Velious, the xpack is supposed to be releasing in under a month, yet we still have very little information about it. This means that the pack will not make it's release date, or for some reason SoE is being extremely quiet about it, which is NOT a good thing.
    Im voting with my wallet. Im not going to support anymore half-done crappy expansions.
  19. ARCHIVED-JoarAddam Guest

    They did all the non-velious stuff they could do until around October, then they said "talk to you all after velious". Were you not paying attention? They told everyone that it was going to happen, and then it happened! Why? Because eventually, there comes a point where they can either respond to old nit-picking or finish the new content. There comes a point in the development cycle of... ANYTHING.... where eventually, one project takes precedence over current product management. Right now, that project is Velious, and I, for one, am glad they're grinding away at their Velious work and not playing forum games in NGD and writing 50 page essays about their current projects and hopes for the game and defending every change they make.
  20. ARCHIVED-Woody67 Guest

    Nehamiah@Permafrost wrote:
    Thats the $40 question at the moment considering about the only mention you see of the next expansion on any of the SOE sites is the little banner at the top of the official forums and it doesn't do anything other than give you hope of something coming in the future.
    There have been serveral threads asking about pre-orders and Collector editions and with less than a month to go we have the same amount of official information as we did 3 months ago which is not a lot. Are they going to go to a strictly digital distribution and if so why the delay in letting folks know this is the path they have decided to take?
    I have been a player of EQ2 since it started, dont have many high characters due to altitis and a tendency to get sidetracked by shiny things and trying to do everything with all of them. I have bought at least one collectors edition from each of the expansions even when EQ2 wasnt the main game at the time. This year, even with more folks that i know playing the game I have the least amount of enthusiasm than ever before an expansion launch, mainly due to the lack of what to expect.
    What do we know? It will be targeted at the 86 - 90 crowd, have a flying mount you can get from a quest line, increase of the AA limit and a new line, there are 3 main over land zones ( i think) and it seems it will be a multi-part expansion. Is that enough to cause a sense of anticipation in your base?