Why is this game dying?

Here are few hints why is so hard to get new players, I don't even try to get friends here anymore.

Pay wall. You can't play free seriously with all those restrictions. So buy sub for 15 usd which is more then most even modern MMO. Then you have to pay to unlock mercenary, reforge and other stuff. If you want to play latest content to be on same level as others buy expansion, which is usually arround 40-50 usd (actually discounted for limited time). So just to get started and play full game prepare like 60-70 usd +24 % vat if you play from Europe.

You will also get time ticket into 2004 year where MMO was new. I am actually playing Zek and there is no quest helper anymore so I spent more time on EQ2 wiki then ingame. I am not rp player who would enjoy looking for quest objective by self until get old man. Some player told me that Thalumbra also doesn't has quest helper is it true? I wanted to buy it but I am not masochist, AOM timeline was like 20-30 hours with quest helper so without it would be for months. So at 2016 we are playing hard way and instead of immersion and gameplay we play google. How the hell this game wants to bring new players with this? Is it aspiring for most annoying game of the year?

Another thing is I used to love this game, it used to be sandbox, you could go anywhere without annoying quests timelines, but not anymore. I wanted just to check Zek adv. solo dungeon so I bought all acces only to discover there is signture timeline in the way. I was so pissed off, I don't care about stupid quests I did like milions in EQ2 allready and in other MMO's and can tell you they are all the same, there is no suprise anymore. I don't need to them for quests or loot. Just waste of time, which I could spend in some dungeon having fun.

Then we have resolve which will prevent me from soloing current when it get older or just dueo heroics for fun and challenge with friend. Resolve is just closing doors for fun.

Infusions are so annyoing, they keep drop from named very often like 80% of time. They are maybe end game items but are absolutelly uselless to me now with resolve 1 items. Another very annoying feature and casual unfriendly, becouse you need to do deep research on equip build where to use them in future.

While I am writing this I am waiting for spawn of some shrine for language side quest to be able to continue in the awfull Zek signature timeline.

tl. dr. Game should not be such as pay wall and pain in the *** at every corner. If the devs trying to make it more hardcore then it's nice that they go against mainstream but the result are emtpy servers. I quess PVP is very dead as well?

That's where you lost me.

You can play a ridiculous amount of content for free. EQ2 is the most generous F2P game on the planet as far as content you can play for free.

I agree with you there. If you want Channeler, Beastlord, Mercs, Reforging, etc. it's gonna cost. I wonder if they will charge us separate for Infusing.

LOL at paywall .

Honestly it's time to add these features to the base game already.

They game would die if everything were free.
Money is required for:

• Electricity (particularly for the temperature control of the server rooms. Bad things happen when those puppies overheat)
• servers
• a location for the servers to exist (which also keeps the employees out of the elements while working)
• people to write code
• people to fix bugs in code
• people to do the art that gives us something to look at other than code
• program updates for the security that keeps the average hacker away while the skilled hackers have better things to do than hack a video game (DDOS script kiddies do not count as hackers.)
• people to lead the teams of artist and programmers so we don't wind up with a hot mess.
• advertising (I've seen it, it exists. For a while every web page I opened had EQ2 adds. Hasn't been for a while though...)
• people to develop new ideas so the game doesn't get stagnate.
• moderators for the forums
• customer support
• Probably a bazillion other things I don't even have a clue about

Now, what does EQ2 already give any one who joins right now.

• all previous expansions up to and including Altar of malice except for Age of Discovery, which they divided up into smaller, cheaper parts. Base game was what, $40? Average expansion is $50, 10 expansion.. so around $540.00 of free game and expansions.
• $15 a month used to be required to log in at all, so if you play 3 months, that'd have been $45 dollars more. (I'm assuming most people play FTP more than 3 months though, so quite a bit more $ they don't have to pay.)
• free customer support (IIRC, paid members get redirected through the game's /petition command now, and FTP have to go to the website manually?)
• features like agnostic dungeons, group-finder, guilds, any chat (can't even /say in some games unless you pay), buying from the broker, kronos (If you can earn the plat), and 100s of other things that most companies would restrict non-paying players from in an attempt to basically blackmail you into paying. (And then there's the companies that went Pay to Win, and they can GDIF before I ever join those games!)
• nearly lvl cap without spending a penny, lvl cap for non-subscribers with purchase of expansion. Some games hold you to lvl 20 or less for their FTP/non-subscribers.

>.> I gotta say, EQ2's FTP is pretty awesome. (Although, I do pay by the year on my main account. Selling on the broker is the only absolute necessity I can think of that is subscriber only, but there are more.)

P.S. I LOVE it when people complain about questlines in a game called EverQuest or EverQuest II.........

You can if you know what you're doing

But that was certainly true

I'm not sure what one expects from a game called EverQuest beyond having questing as a big part of the play? I'm not sure what to say there...

A. I find fifteen dollars quite reasonable. I have a decade and counting of stories and quests to do.
B. I get crafting, guilds, holidays, moonlight enchantments, collection quests/shiny hunting, house deco...it's no one trick pony.
C. I get a pony. It harvests. I love this.
D. We get appearance vear. This is nice.
E. Hall of fame for housing, with voting and tons of cool properties to tour.
F. We get direct help from Ttobey, on all things code related. <.<

I lied. We get Gninja and crew for coding. Ttobey does broom mount animation.

Ftp here is not to the point of making a sub useless (thank the Gods), but it does give you a lot of game content, no stopping at level ten or being locked out after twenty game play hours, or anything like that.

Why is the game dying? I think a better question is why has the game been able to stay alive so long. This game is 10 years old, but still has quite the fan base. It has its problems, but overall...wait I play on TLE. Nevermind.

Ok huge free to play content. Tell me how many adv solo dungeons with resolve gear are available to join? And how many with all access? And how many heroics? Becouse it's impossible to get to even know unless you ask someone.

Game has low population on Skyfire server. You can see that on brooker, there are not any skills not even adepts, also nothing is selling etc. I would say it's worse then before merge. Groups are only for daily eth and from chat it feels like 50 ppl are on server max. If new expac won't sell good then this game will end which would be shame.

Look at the forum how is pretty much dead with low views and comments only from last few same fanboys. Noone bother to post anything about game or reasons why uninstalled as it get atacked by fanboys.

EQ2 needs plenty of changes and big ones if it gets survive. Check the reviews on Thalumbra on steam .. oh wait there are not any. Why? Becouse maybe noone ever heard about this game?

The reason why the game is old is simple, the expacs were good and addictive. I played vanila and then last 3 expacks and I had blast. I didn't play Thalumbra yet but if it's like Zek then I won't buy it becouse Zek is so bad.

Players have been crying the demise of EQ and EQII for years yet the games are still around. There is definitely a much smaller player base but that is because both games appeal mainly to more intelligent players.

There is little about the game that is easy or intuitive so you have to do lots of homework out of game. You have to keep up with the forums and update notes. You have to print out maps and cheat sheets for scripted dungeons. You need to research crafts and quests. And even with all that there is still much that requires high-level thinking.

My only real gripe with the money aspect of EQII is that many items, for sale in the marketplace, are way overpriced for what they do such as the de-attuners. Thirty dollars for 7 of them is really steep and beyond my budget. I have 100-level toons with master-crafted gear that I would like to pass down to sub-100 toons, but at $30 a toon I just can't afford it even when the de-attuners are half price.

I think the price of the AoD features should be reduced to no more than $5 each, for non-subs, and free to subs after 3 months. I didn't include this as a gripe because I already bought what I need from AoD but I can see where it would help other players.

I am hoping, with the recent surveys, DBGs will be able to get a better grip on what players want from the game in terms of raiding, grouping, crafting, or decorating. I think ToT was a good expansion but it still had some areas of improvement for physically-challenged individuals who I think are making up a greater portion of the stable population.

Regardless, I've paid for year subs on all my accounts so I intend to keep thinking positively about the game. It may just be my perception but it seems to me that many of the people, who are predicting the demise of the game, are FTP players. Perhaps sub members are more invested in the game so we see a brighter future. I guess only time will tell which group if right.

Not sure what games you've paid for in the past, but $15 USD has been the standard for over a decade for subsription in games. I guess if the only "modern" game you ever paid a sub for was Runescape, you'd have a point.

Ok again question what is this huge free to play content? Can you name adv solo and heroic dungeons with resolve gear?

Everything from base game to AoM is F2P content.

Levels 1-100,
Probably around 200 heroic zones
30 overland zones
About 6000 quests
50+ raids.

All for paying absolutely nothing. If you want to do the most up to date content then pay up, or wait till it goes free in the future.

If you think this is not a decent F2P offer, try World of Warcraft's free to play to level 20 and compare...

I don't mind paying for a sub that unlocks everything in the game and continuing to pay that sub for real full assess - now if you have an expansion I will buy it. I believe that micro transactions are the things that destroys mmo games. I love everquest 1 and 2 but i no longer play, the graphics are really dated even though the game mechanics are still great. Even WOW has had a complete graphics overhaul and to tell you the truth it makes the game into a new game because of that. Sub games may not get the same traffic as F2P but you protect you loyal game players from Pay to win or even feeling that the time money they have spent with you game is worth some company loyalty in return. IF possible i think - you should first bring the game into 2010 graphically as well make it run smoothly. I quit this game after it became F2P - i have tried to come back many times , the graphic suck, the community is barren, and these shops and adverts clutter everything. In the beginning EQ2 was the only game that had a fighting chance against WOW - over the years it has fallen off the mark... and drifted further and further away. I download the game last week and i am still looking at the same quality and textures I played over 10 years ago for sub prize and shop prize of new games - there is no excuse - eq next burn up and disappeared. eq2 is just withering away. if you can't creat something new from scratch take the sucess you had previously - remake it for the new generation that hasn''t seen it before and will not accept it in it s dated form -- you will not only bring back previous players but also draw in to the new generation..... take it back to Sub - do what WOW does free until 20 -- it works. if any one wants it free after lv 20 that just means they weren't will to pay the game in the first place.
Always, This is my opinion - i believe that both eq1 and eq2 has the lore, the game core everything is superior to most games out there - it was the more realistic fantasy game while wow was the cartoon version. Was at one point superior to WOW in every way except marketing.
Today, i don't see it doing anything, an expansion only feeds the few dieing subs you have - an complete revamp of the game , graphics, voices, and appearance will draw in new subs - and get rid of this F2P system it is stupid and it will just kill you in the end - there is an Asian expression " you don't appreciate it until you have to buy it yourself"

Ahh, there it is the true intent of the post - just another whinge about Resolve!

Honestly, if the rest of your post in any way indicated your true feelings about the game, why would you still be playing it? Why spend time doing something you get no enjoyment out of? Why log in just to be more frustrated with the amount of content that you can't have for free?

Nah, just another thinly veiled whine about Resolve!

Considering the same guy posted an almost identical rant two years ago (and a couple days ago necro'd it), I'm gonna say no, has nothing to do with resolve. He's just an ***.

I'm so out of the loop, I didn't realise they had that now. WoW was paywalled for a loooooong time, as many MMOs have been.

People confuse what f2p actually is. It's a try before you buy, NOT a method of always playing for nothing. Companies have to pay for servers, and for staff to keep develop and running a game. Of course they're going to want to push subscriptions and paywalled features, because how else would they sustain the game? Just because you want a free ride and aren't getting as much as you'd like, you cry. Pfffffft.