Wikia Wednesday: Blog From Your Community Manager

Salutations,

It's Wikia Wednesday, Norrathians! Where we blog about things...For reasons! So I'll get this started.

Luperza and Firiona Vie model at the 2014 EverQuest Next Landmark Community Celebration Event

This last week and a half has been quite an emotional roller coaster for me. My new title as EverQuest 2 Community Manager, drops me into Norrath, a place I have so many memories of and has me "leaving" Auraxis. "Leaving" because I am not truly leaving. I am just no longer the Community Manager. I'll still be playing PlanetSide 2 to get my FPS fix and I'll be involved in lots of things like Friday Night Ops and Community Clash. I never realized how hard it would be to find the words to say goodbye and hello to a community. If you want to check out my hello and goodbye posts, they'll go over everything a bit more in depth.

So...Here I am! The New Community Manager of EverQuest 2. What does that mean? For me, it means, I am here to help grow and direct our player base into a conglomeration of what EverQuest 2 is all about! This includes EVERYONE - solo-ers, multi-boxers, dungeon groups, questers, crafters, interior decorators, trades brokers, raiders, PvPers and so on and so forth! I often see MMO communities get split up into tiny groups, but what a lot of people don't realize is that together...Together we are WAY more powerful. United, we make the game. Honestly, we do. Without us, the players, these games wouldn't exist.

What I want to see is all of us working together and if not agreeing, at least understanding one another. Let's work as one to build a better community where new people feel welcome and there's always something fun to do!

First of all, I want to go over what I generally do:

• Reports - I scour the internet to aggregate analytic data
  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Upon Development's Request
• Forum Moderation and Duties
• Social Media Engagment
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • G+
  • YouTube
  • TwitchTV Livestreams - NEW!!
• News and Announcements
• Articles
• Events
  • SOE Live, etc

Beyond that, I want to do so much more! With a game like EverQuest 2, we have potential to create some really amazing stories together for all kinds of aspects of the game.

This is where I want your help! I usually end every blog with a question, but today, I have many questions! I'll be setting up a new livestream series, similar to Friday Night Ops if you've ever checked that out.

• What kind of content would you like to see?
• What day would be best for you to view the livestream/partake in it - Keep in mind it must be between Monday and Friday?
• How often would you like to see these streams? Weekly, biweekly, monthly?
• And last, but not least, what should we name the livestream!?

Here are some general ideas I have for the livestream segments:

• Dev Spotlights
• Content Spotlights
  • Throw Back Thursdays - Checking out old content
• Guild Spotlights - Including all types: PvP, PvE, crafting, etc
• Event Spotlights
• Fansite Spotlights
• Individual Player Spotlights
• Discussion Panels
• Guild Recruitment Videos
• General Video Submission
• Screenshot Submissions
• Fanart Submission
• Guide Program

Let me know what you think of my ideas and leave yours in the comments section below!

Good hunting,

-Margaret "Luperza" Krohn
EverQuest 2 Community Manager
Sony Online Entertainment

------------------
TL;DR

• Hi! I'm your new Community Manager
  • Saying hello and goodbye is hard
  • I do lots of things, read the blog to find out what it is that I shall be doing
• Weekly Wikia Question(s)
  • If we did an EverQuest 2 livestream: what content would you like to see, what day would you want to watch it, how often should we stream, and what should we name it?

------------------
Originally posted: http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Luperza/Hellos,_Goodbyes_and_Community_Management

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. Good to have you here.

Hello, and welcome aboard the crazy train!

Luperza, you are a cutie! Loving the piercings.

Welcome to the mayhem, glad to have you here at eq2. as for the question? I'm on a different schedule than many are, I'm here est daytimes during the week. For topics? I'm always curious about the design process, about story lines, and good gods tell us if Plex is coming back and/or about her mission from Cobalt Scar!

I'd also like to see some server spotlights. What makes a server unique? Is there a server where more people solo, or where more participate in raids? Which server has the most/fewest people or guilds or... stuff like that.

Hi,
Just saw your post, thought you could use a little less modern day stuff in the background, hope you are having a great day!

Well that didn't work...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...874.1073741825.100004961981062&type=1&theater

Well when all else fails try the link, have fun.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...874.1073741825.100004961981062&type=1&theater

Oh, almost forgot, I don't have any ideas on what a good name for a livestream would be, maybe Vixens of Norath? Or not, my schedule allows me to be online when I feel like it, today is a great example, online for 34 minutes and the power cuts off, then on and off, just like some kid playing with a light switch, thanks to rural power. Also sorry about the blank posts, your SA should make it a bit easier to post an image on here, but I understand how security conscious they can be.

You are so engaged in what is going on, I really do appreciate the time you took at the Landmark event to share some thoughts with my family, let alone take a picture with my youngest kid, he finally starts his own and my 8th paid account for EQ2.
That means I spend $120.00 a month on this game and I have a large vested interest in how it progresses.

We have a collective thought we would love to see, and that is complete usage of the old zones. We want level 90 quests in Zek, we want to go back to Crushbone Keep and complete high level quests in there. Solo quests that take a long time and reap massive awesome rewards are what drives this game for us. That's my input, and good luck, I know you will do amazing!

A live stream on Twitch or Ustream of a guide event is a great idea. My favorite old zones are Runnyeye, Ruins of Varsoon, Zek and Palace of the Awakened.
A guide hosted arena event I think would be fun. A custom zone where players face monster(s) until that player dies, Then those who survive are to duel until 1 player is left standing, that person would get the grand prize. Afterwards a treasure hunt in a dungeon to find a chest hidden somewhere with some serious plat. Finally a party at the guide hall to celebrate the winners and give prizes to all participants, with a special appearance of Haldeen and his collection of fine brews.

oO yes! We shall definitely cover some of these topics. Love them!

Hmm server spotlights! That sounds interesting. We could definitely do that. I already planned to hop around onto various servers, so this fits.

OMG! Thank you Baphmistra! I LOVE THIS! Hehe.

Aww...Thank you for sharing this photo and for the kind words! It means so much to me!

In regards to going and checking out old content, that's part of the "Throw back Thursday" idea I had! SO YES YES YES!

Buahaha! I love these ideas! They definitely fit under the Event category. I'm sure everyone will come up with some amazing ones. I mean, that's one that just came to you! Now, imagine if you got to plan it out and see it come to fruition. This is going to be FUN! Glad everyone has such great ideas!

Welcome!

In response to your question regarding live streams, personally I'd like to see them either in the late evening or at lunch time. And any day except Wednesday.

As for content, I think you are on the right track. I would love to see more promotion of the lower level zones. I know everything that is coming out at the upper end of the game is all special and new and shiny, but those old zones hold some serious nostalgia for those of us who have been playing since beta. I find myself constantly creating alts just so that I can experience the joy of getting my butt handed to me by a gnoll now and then (I also have a bad habit of using chronomages to go back and re-experience those zones...which are usually very empty. So yeah, I'd really like those zones to get some love...player events would be a fun way to send people into those zones. I could go on and on.

Thanks!

Luperza, everyone loves you! WELCOME! What am impact you have made. I think we are all excited to see what happens next, and anticipate fantastic fun. Everyone at my guild is talking about you, and I promise its in a good way LOL

Listen, why not make all quests scale to level? Keep the Chrono Mages and maybe do something new with those quests, but scale all other quests to level so that high level toons can go back to ANY zone and do them. It would also be great to see the payment upon completion scale up a bit as well. Many players want to go back and do quests in the older content, but a few copper doesn't make it sound too appealing. And maybe ramp up the old Mythical weapons so that people would go back and get those also along with their spells. In addition, this would also be nice since the plat chests were nerfed some time ago. At least players could quest and earn plat at the same time. It would also be nice to see gear drops from quests like this ramped up a bit. That's my thought...

My guild had a conversation before I made this post. Everyone wants gear. We don't want to be a "hard core" raiding guild, but we do enjoy doing casual raids. We all find it hard to obtain gear unless we do SLR's, and that gets quite expensive. It also seems unfair to solo players (and there are so many of us out there) to try and compete with people who multi-box. I can promise you that if you were to make low end raid gear (or better) easier to obtain more people would group and raid. That in itself would bring back so much magic to the game for me, and many other players. We all did the grind for the Cryptic sets, and still have a very hard time running any Heroic content. This makes the game so frustrating, and so many players are discouraged. Gear should be progressive and allow you to run the next tier of content with some relative ease, and easier to obtain.

Another issue they wanted me to bring up were the Elite Mercs (Wonderhoof and such). Many players want them, and yes their locations are marked on EQ2Maps but many have camped them with no luck and the true locations are sold for plat, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads and to be honest, a bit angry. They have been in-game for how long now? And not one single member of our guild has ever found them. Could you please see what you could do to make them accessible to everyone? Perhaps make them part of a Signature quest or something so that guilds can work together to get them? But PLEASE .... don't make it raid content if you do so.

Another thing they talked about was having you pop in and actually visit guilds. Maybe even offer to run a quest or two with them and chat for a bit. Post pics of what you do, make posts about the conversations and fun you had with them. This would show the players that Sony is really there, and give you insight to what players really want. I know that's a tall order, and I am sure you would be spammed in 2 seconds or less with complaints .... but how about a "live chat" day or something?

Thank you for taking the time to read all of that Luperza. Again, a HUGE "Welcome!" from our guild to you!

Is that your real hair color?

Welcome to EQ2. It is always nice to see a new person added to the EQ2 Community, and sad to see one leave.
EQ2 is the first online game I have stayed with for longer than 2 I/2 years. Most games become boring for me with in 30 days to a year. I love that I can solo play, group and raid as my mindset or rl time demands. I am what they call and alt addict, with 27 alts, which allows for a variety of play time. After 10 years of playing EQ2, I am still enjoying it.

Hopefully you will find the EQ2 community as wonderful as I have. The people who play EQ2 are truly special, each in their own way. Good luck and best wishes on your new job.

Heya Luperza nice to meet ya=)
For content new deity quest maybe, with unique emote as reward and (or) unique appearance gear?
Ty for your time and welcome on board!

I liked to see a weekly progressive group (guild?) livestream. Like, find few other people (devs?, guides?) to do content progressively. Have the live stream during the "big events" for your group, i.e, dungeon crawls, raids. Typical progressive toons, level locked, etc., etc. This would be a great way to introduce old content to new users, especially Heroic toons. Call it "Barefoot, In The Snow, Uphill Both Ways"


Also, I think that a Battlegrounds livestram would be cool to bring in the whole community to beat up on you, er I mean each other. Call it "Norrathian Gladiator"

I love that you are being so active with the community and taking such an interest. That speaks volumes about you as a community manager, and I am impressed. What I absolutely loathe though, are sites like facebook, twitter, etc and I refuse to join them, so I hope your live feeds will not be the only place you go to for feedback from the community, as you won't find me on any of those sites at all. I know most people call them 'social media sites' but I call them 'anti-social media sites' lol. Too much garbage and way too much drama posted on sites like those. I prefer to just stick to our good old fashioned forums on the games forum site, personally. This is where I come to find stuff out, this is where I come to offer my feedback, and I like it that way.

As for what I would like to see, I know I said it in your original thread here, but definitely more solo dungeons. I would really like to see some old raid zones turned into solo dungeons so those of us who can't/don't raid can experience that content also. Again, I don't really care about the loots so much as just being able to do the content. I have been mentoring down and working on some lower level raid zones, and can solo parts of them, but there are a few bosses that are simply impossible to beat solo, even with a merc, because of the strategy required to beat them. Unfortunately, I cannot progress any further in those dungeons because they are required in order to move further along in the dungeon.

For future expansions, I would like to see more solo dungeons added with them. Seems most of the focus is put on raid zones, and well, that just isn't something I do. Not saying raid zones should be excluded, but it would be nice to see some solo love put into the game side by side with raid content.