Why is this game never mentioned.....

I have actually seen a LOT of adds on webpages for eq2 COE since it came out..far more than wow..

This.

Really? I didn't take that away from his drivel.

My apologies heh, I was being sarcastic and I also assumed that most people know about SJ saying before that, pretty much anyone who says anything negative about eq2 at all, or disagrees with anything SoE does, is a troll.

I'm fairly certain the only troll in this thread is the dev.

Cool!
Makes sense, sorry.

haha I like the way you think

Yeah, I played WoW high end through vanilla WoW and stayed in touch through Throne. Firstly to dispel the numbers point people keep making, about 70% of WoW subscribers are Chinese, folks. It doesn't have the numbers it does because it's insanely awesome to North American gamers or even Japanese gamers. It's primarily a thing in China where gold-farming is a real occupation.

Secondly, no WoW doesn't have more content that lasts longer. When content is put out in WoW you can bank on 100% of it it being beaten in less than a month. As in a full clear of the content. WoW's burnout rate for high end members is just ridiculous and it's at this point in the game's life that they've made raids that easy to the masses. It's not only the high end players that are destroying this content. It's the casuals. Leveling in WoW is a large a joke as it is here. Knowledgable players in WoW hit cap in a few hours. It's the exact same here.

Not really certain how to address the issue of obtaining fluff in game or in a virtual store. I hate RMT, but frankly most of WoW was fluff. It was the only existing MMO spoof basically. Each quests typically has nothing to do with lore and often is a pop culture reference in some way/shape/form.

I'm not really certain what to say to people that find more abilities to be troublesome. Really, playing a rogue in WoW and smashing 3 buttons only was right at intolerable. I'll play an assassin or ranger here any day over one of the pathetically simplistic classes in WoW.

As for PVP, I'm with Salty on this one. MMOs have never been balanced around PVP. It simply doesn't work. Even in WoW's BG/PVP hayday there were major issues. Balance issues are easy to spot. Out of the top 10 best PVP teams are 8/10 the exact same setup? Yes? That's almost certainly a balance issue then.

Weird. You'll have to show me that quote. I certainly don't think I said anything of the sort, but if you can show me the post, I'll stand amazed. I actually love feedback, whether positive or negative. I don't have a love for people that troll because intentional mischief is not admirable, but that doesn't mean at all that I don't appreciate criticism.

I admit that I'm biased toward these games (EQ and EQII). There is so very much to like in both games and both teams are constantly honing their craft to make them better. "Chains of Eternity" has a lot of brilliant stuff in it and our player feedback has been fantastic.

This year, we're mostly focused on crafting better gameplay (more varieties of gameplay using the game mechanics you already love) and better stories, while working under the hood to improve the tools for the dev team. The end result should be really great adventures for you to experience, with more variety and freshness. We're finalizing our slates for both games now (well...as final as feature slates ever get in a Live game and we'll tip you off to a bunch of it soon.

To fix this game in its current state here are some things that need to be done in my opinion.

1. Merge all like classes. IR Warrior Guardian, etc. It will help by reducing the amount of time it would take to balance each class.

2. Revamp all item drops from all current zones.Do away with zones people no longer venture too or leave them. But if you decide to leave them you need to revamp the loot. It is easier to completely destroy them then it is to completely revamp them.

3. Fix the dungeon finder.

4. Take pvp off all servers, except for in battle grounds. Reason being? Because most new subs decide to give it a go on the pvp server, though they might not like to pvp they like the option being there. It really stinks when you hit lvl 10 and are in full quested gear and you meet an alt with 120aa and the best gear one can possibly have. IE people get frustrated and quit which is a huge no in MMO's

5. Make all quest lines easy to follow. For example when you get through with the great divide there is really no quest to tell you to go to eidolon planes.

6. Use your head when it comes to how a player obtains gear. The whole obol system really stinks. The advanced solo instance are nice but lets face it RNG stinks like nothing else. My suggestion is to make a weekly and a daily, the daily rewards you with 3 obols, and the weekly rewards you with one essence of your choice. The weekly could be something like run 10 advanced solo instances. The daily could be like run 3 solo instances. You could also make a group weekly and solo. 10 heroic instance for 2 essences of your choice, and a daily that rewards you with a random crafting material, reforge shard, something fabled, or just plat. This would solve the whole issue of RNG and give players a reason to group.

7. Always ALWAYS allow adornments to be bought of current content vendors. I have been back playing eq2 for about 2 months now. I won't spend dkp on gear unless it has an adornment that I want it to have on it. It also really stinks that PoW trash doesn't drop red adorns, so if I win a piece how am I suppose to put a re adorn on it? Run advanced solos until my eyes bleed, or run old raid zones, sorry not backtracking to progress.

There are other issues I will list when I have more time.

I didn't put quotes for a reason, because I couldn't remember the exact context, or wording.
HERE
or LISTEN

That whole podcast has some very interesting quotes...
Also an example of quite a few empty promises of things you guys would do within the next year, that never happened...
For example: the part about the fact that the game from 1-90 is ignored and skipped by most players, you said that was a big problem, and something that needs fixed. Yet as time goes on, nothing happens to lower level content to encourage players to go back into 1-90 content.

Only other thing i'd like to point out, if around minute 33 you said in regards to raiding
"when I came back to the game and started playing and leveled back up to 90, i started playing with the uber guilds and getting involved with them, and of course they didn't know who I was. So i was working my way as a newbie into some of the big guilds, I'll tell ya, i wasn't very happy with my raiding experiences because basically I was getting told - "this is the way we have to do it, there's a formula, you have to stand here, you have to do that at exactly this time, and thats the only way you do it, and if you deviate you're out." and i'm sorry, but that's just not a game. That's just not fun at all."

Of the top-ten things that are "wrong" with eq2, eight of them can be called "itemization", whether item balance, item usability, outright bugs, keeping tradeskillers relevant, every xpac 99% invalidating the last by moving the curve up so far, etc. This has been true for several expansions. (The other two are probably 'useless skills' and 'class balance', but I don't think a wholesale merger is the fix.)

Look at what people care about, relative to chat channels. A huge number looking for grouping in current zones (to get current items), or SLR of current items, and a tiny percentage of buying/selling powerlevelling or looking for "SS grind groups", because 95/320 is the expected minimum for a character. Once you're there, what is the only difference between people? Itemization.

The one thing that completely boggles my mind about this game is that itemization is done by a (broken and buggy) script and not a human, when it's 99% of the reward for everyone in the game. It's like going to an art gallery where the curator takes great care to protect the building and grounds, but doesn't give a fig about what happens to the Mona Lisa.

as far as im concerned eq2 is still 1 of the best looking games out there but it,s now along the same lines as eq1 in that its old most of the people playing are raiders who have been with the game for many years and sony just isnt going to dump tons of money into advertising for a stagnant game.

and even tho the sig on the left says new member i have been with the game since day 2 of launch

I think that part about raiding deserves a comment from SJ. Seems he was criticising those guilds for following a "formula" that works, yet he takes a big part in the development of the scripts, which require a formula to complete. That is a very confusing comment.

I agree with Arch -- it's strange that SJ would say something like that when if you don't follow the scrips his team has written, you can't get through an encounter. The whole point of raiding is working as a group -- or you die, over and over again. Did he mean that he wanted just to zerg around and try to win an encounter without strategy? I think he needs to play his own game more, perhaps in a guild that isn't "uber." Also you don't get in an uber guild as a newbie, or at least not on my server. I find it amusing that even the Producer doesn't like the miliary aspects of a hard core raiding guild. It's true, SJ, that the top tier raiders are not like the rest of us...

Also I wanted to add that I also agree with the post topic, because it does seem if you look at a magazine like Game Informer, EQ2 does not even hit their radar on any top game, or top villian, or any of those kinds of lists.

If I stop blocking/deleting tracking cookies I see adds for EQ2. If I remain an anonymous user of MMO sites, I do not see the adds. I swear their marketing is targeting their current players =P

I'm a newer player and came to EQ2 in August 2012 via the MMORPG.com site. That site covers all the MMOs and has links to them. So be happy! EQ2 is mentioned out there on MMO sites.

I've played a bunch of other MMOs over the years, such as Eve Online, SWTOR, DDO, Age of Conan. With all those other MMO experiences behind me, I'm really loving EQ2.

Here's my list of why I think EQ2 is Uber:

• Races/Classes: Lots of race/class combos - I like a lot of variety in this area. Too few gets boring which is why I'm not in those other games any more. Love that there are fairy, and even animal and monster races, plus lots of mysterious classes I haven't even explored yet.
• Huge World: Oodles of places and expansions I haven't reached yet. The game has plenty of content because it's so well established (something many other games have too little of - they might be newer, but they can't compete with the size of this game)
• Crafting: Lots of crafting to level up with, plus lots of special crafting events (Frostfell, etc). It's nice that recipes are still being added to the game (like those nice new window recipes that came with Chains of Eternity) and also that some events add new recipe books (eg Frostfell and Erollisi). I really hope that a robust and necessary crafting system is also a huge part of EQNext. I'd like the EQNext crafting to be an integral part of the EQNext economy.
• Houses: Great variety of houses, always interested to see new house styles get released. (Please have housing in EQNext.)
• House Decorating: House Decorating is an amazing activity (EQNext hopefully includes a lot of this and also builds in more ways to place house items - flipping items on their side, swivel them around all axes etc). I love to house decorate when I'm not in the mood for questing or combat. As an activity it's very absorbing and creative, and adds a whole new non-combat dimension to gameplay. Love that I can craft stuff for house decorating. Also like that the Station Store adds more furnishing variety etc.
• Festivals: I do all the events in the game as much as possible, and love that there is always another one coming up. I totally adore them! I'm looking forward to the Kelethin city festival starting tomorrow, and to Erollisi with it's quests and crafting Eeks, though I hear that the mount will cost 500 Erollisi tokens, which is a bit steep, wish it could be 300.
• Player Studio: It's a super concept. It brings the player into the loop, and they even get a cut of real world profits if their items get accepted - Way To Go!!! Another benefit is that it adds more fun goodies to the store, which sometimes needs to add stuff a bit faster.
• Triple Station Cash and Rebate Sales: I like that Sony does occasional triple station cash days and the occasion uber rebate sale: this makes frivolous station store shopping way more fun - when I'm not too impatient to wait. It's a fact that even as a subscriber, I spend more on this free to play game that I would have on an old style subscription game. The reason why? Blame the store, it's too fun! I think Sony is way less greedy than for example, that ridiculous Cartel store in SWTOR. I think the cash specials and rebate sales are important because of the simple fact that I am buying virtual goods, not stuff I can touch, and one day they may all go poof if the game ever closes. Plus of course, those special deals mean I feel comfortable enough to buy stuff I wouldn't buy in their absence, such as the Legends of Norrath cards - I don't play LoN and am only after mounts/housing items. The outcome of what items I'll get from Legends of Norrath packs are too random and sparse for me to ever pay full price. PS: need a triple station cash day. D'oh! - My hubby'll never let me restock without it.
• Station Store Favourite Items: My favourite things to buy are houses, furnishings, fashions, and unique mount variations. I love the gliders and got the grey chipmunk and icy prankster (which is my favourite). Also bought way too many of those gingerbread/gumdrop packages because I'm crazy. PS want a icy pink crystal prankster mount for Erollisi/Valentine's day. Plus want more variety in jumping mounts (fluffy pink bunny with long floppy ears for eg), let the less fluffy peeps get a charcoal one. Guess the guys might go for a slimey mount.
• Fan Faire: Glad to hear about the Sony Fan Faire, Might be a fun thing to attend.
• Broker: I like that when I list something it stays listed until it sells. Way more time to play the game, and less time spent fixing inventory messes when too much unlists.
• Built in chat: I favour games that include voice chat as a part of the game. It improves player interactions, whether they're in the same guild or not. I think it's short sighted that some games don't launch with it.

Summary about why it's a great game: Lots of class/race variety, content variety, lots of gameplay variety because of special events/crafting/house decorating, lots of shopping variety, lots of character appearance customizability (though I'd love more hairstyles and funky hair dyes, maybe even lipsticks!).

SM

^^^
Do you read thread titles?

Yup, the idea that EQ2 isn't advertised is incorrect. Media coverage on MMORPG.com is a form of advertising.

Plus there is a fair amt of EQ2 critique going on, so I'm posting my view in response to that.

SM