EQ2 Producer’s Letter: Enter the Den of Darkpaw Games

I thought I was talking to the Women's Christian Temperance Movement for a moment.

It seems logical that those who want to regulate loot boxes should also want to regulate gambling (i.e. Republican legislative proposals). The moral outrage logically holds for this type of gaming.

 

Your assertions of outrage don't make it so.

The only one behaving in a weirdly illogical and emotional manner is you.

But do go on pontificating about how superior you are.

 

You may not be morally outraged but Mermut surely sounds like it:

Oh, and you "Agreed" with his post. ​

 

I wouldn't assume Mermut's intentions, or state of mind. I suggest you don't either, it's not a good look.

I might agree with a point made in a post, but not the sentiment of it, or vice versa. Again, with your weird assertions.

 

Heck, many of us agree with many people. Hitler felt he was doing Germany a favor getting rid of the 'undesirable". If you check history, many other countries during that time period also did some such actions to a lesser or greater degree. Doesn't mean we agree with all of his actions, though. Just some of his views had some good points... some.

 

When the Bubble Gnomes have lost the debate, or lost too much face, they resort to weird and wildly speculative personal attacks and assertions.

It's 100% predictable behavior, and he seems to be right on schedule.

 

Hmm.....

 

Hitler good.

 

Nope, you fail again.

I have asserted nothing weird, nor even remotely like a personal attack against you. I have erected no strawmen, etc. etc.

Nor have I claimed that the opinions of others are <insert whatever weird thing that has nothing to do with the game discussion at hand here>.

Try harder.

 

I need only quote you to respond. This is sweet.

 

While I have been morally outraged recently, it hasn't had anything to do with the EQ2 and certainly not by you.

 

I haven't played EQ2 in 2-3 years now, but even back then, the amount of people visible IN the world in LOTRO was huge compared to EQ2. Low level zones in LOTRO were and still are thriving with lots of people. EQ2's low level zones were ghost towns even 2-3 years ago.

 

I have, in the past week, popped in to check on both GW2 and ESO to see how things are going. GW2 spins up new maps once a particular threshold is reached, and ESO uses phasing (you don't see all the people around you). In both games I visited a hub city - Divinity's Reach in GW2 and Belkarth in ESO and in both cases, I could SEE with my own lil peepers, more people than came up in /WHO in EQ2 (yes, yes, I know, it doesn't count the /anon ones) when I stopped playing 2 years ago.

I went out into the world - zones where daily events go on, and zones where they don't. I saw folks roaming around in both cases.

So, yeah, the MMO industry as a whole might have reached it's peak and started to drop off, but non-guilded folks not being able to group up to do normal stuff and the empty post apocalyptic atmosphere is definitely an EQ2 thing (Rift is actually in the same boat for similar management reasons).

 

I've said as much in the past on the OF and received stupid as a response.

Part of EQ2's problem is the bad management. Part of it is the overworked and attitude riddled staff putting out crap. Part of it is the declining population due to those things and more. I would argue a big part of it is what guilds themselves have been allowed to become over the years.

Any which way you look at it, though, EQ2 doesn't appear healthy no matter what many apologist might want to argue to the contrary, and that appearance speaks loudly.

 

I don't believe mmo's have peaked. The 3 or 4 at the top are doing just fine.

I do believe theme park mmo's have peaked. Rift (and many others) have shown that adding twists and features to a theme park design is just not interesting enough to hold folks.

Wow, eso, ffx; those games continue to produce because they are 100% customer-focused.

The mmo industry simply needs to evolve, and there are going to be successes and failures as the process iterates.

I have zero confidence that longdale can put together a new title. If she thinks she can produce essentially the same game she has now, but stick it in an Unreal engine, add a few twists and call it eq3, we're all going to be disappointed.

And let's face it, Longdale is not going to take risks, she's not going suddenly become customer-focused, and DBG is not going to step-up for a meaningful development budget.

 

Get your T-shirts!!!

$30 (exception: $220 for any shirts heading to Tekka's address)

Limited to 1,000!

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Everquest Official II 15th Anniversary Tee Shirt (Extra Large) Vintage Black

 

What is that logo from? It's entirely possible my brain has gone a bit melty, but it's not pinging 'EQ2' for me.

 

It kinda reminds ne of RoK. Seems like there were sone house items with that flavor. Other than that, dunno.

 

Wow, they managed to perfectly capture the awful red UI with the logos.

 

When I played TLE the first thing I did was download the "earth" theme on DarqUI. It looks sooooooo much better.