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It's so funny

Discussion in 'EQ2U Players Support & Feedback' started by Feldon, Jul 16, 2020.

  1. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    As some of you know I'm neck-deep in electronics these days. I'm building prototype PCBs as a contractor, and I'm designing my own PCBs for wearable cosplay and props. Lately I've been shopping for Oscilloscopes. This is one of those crazy areas where you can spend $99, $999, $9,999 or more.

    Arguably the biggest YouTuber for electronics is Dave aka eevblog. He's done over a thousand videos on a range of topics including numerous video reviews. The thing you have to get is, he receives test/sample/prerelease/new equipment all the time, reviews it on his channel, and he absolutely TRASHES it on his channel.

    Rigol sends him their $1000 new scope they're hoping to succeed with, or Siglent sends him their brand new $379 scope they've been developing for years and 50% of his video is talking absolute sh!t about everything he thinks is wrong with it. Yeah the gist is usually that it's great bang-for-the-buck, but yeah wow. Despite all this, these companies see him as an ally worth sharing prototypes and prerelease hardware because he's HONEST, has a wide audience, people trust what he says, and they do get sales as a result, even though his videos are all "warts and all".

    Now I think about EQ2Wire and the number of times I got e-mails from Holly, from Kander, from other devs, from Community pleading, guilt tripping, admonishing, and threatening that I was "hurting" the team, harming sales numbers, and that I was trying to "kill the game". My site was openly dismissed as a "trash tabloid".

    I can't even imagine what I'd be writing if I were trying to cover EQ2 these days.

    The good things about every expansion are the 3 things that have always been wonderful -- the environments and art, the live events and storytelling, and the animations. That's Tim Heydelaar's team, Kaitheel, and Tom Tobey. Everything bad has been the same bad things for years -- class balance, baffling gear progression that requires an Excel spreadsheet, lack of grouping tools, item examine and spell tooltip windows that boldface lie to the player, empty zones, one-shot-kill mechanics in casual content, healing being a miserable experience, and focusing on stuff that will never work like PVP.

    It feels like a decade, but truthfully it's been less than 3 years since I stopped writing EQ2Wire. They won't have someone to blame, I guess? I dunno.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
    • Agree Agree x 4
    • Funny Funny x 2
    • Like Like x 1
    • Appreciation Appreciation x 1
  2. RhodrisNZ

    RhodrisNZ Geographically Challenged

    Granted I've only experienced the group finder in FFXIV once, but I was seriously impressed with it. EQ2 should consider looking into FFXIV's system - no constant spamming chat with "LFG" or "LFM", you have a display that shows what class roles and slots are still to be filled (and when they are filled - a 4-man group has 1 x tank, 1 x healer, 2 x DPS), average time to fill the group and a timer so you know when you are getting close to or over the average time, automatic start to the instance when all slots are filled (no waiting for people to get into the right zone before you take the group in). It really was a painless experience, and that's quite the compliment coming from someone who absolutely hates grouping.

    EQ2 have no qualms about ripping off other games' ideas and systems (Rift minions = familiars; GW1 & 2 henchmen = mercs; etc) so why they don't look to do this for the group finder, I really have no idea.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  3. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    Any time an honest, frank assessment of your product is considered an 'attack', the problem isn't the assessment...
     
    • Agree Agree x 7
    • Winner Winner x 2
  4. Wulfgyr / Erytheal

    Wulfgyr / Erytheal Active Member

    I have to agree with Rhodris regarding FFXIV's group finding system. And as I level a bit more and learn more about the mechanics, I'm finding it has even more features! There's an option you can select for "undersized" parties - and yes, you can queue yourself to do a dungeon or trial as a solo player. It's very handy if you want to grind a lower level dungeon for gear drops for a new job you're starting, glam wardrobes, or powering up Relic weapons (think upgradeable Epic weapons). Using that option allows you to instantly start (from anywhere) as a level 50+ player for a dungeon that might be tuned for levels 16-20. Just make sure you turn it off before queuing for "real" content... there's penalties for leaving content early or without an "abandon" vote. :p (and yes, I accidentally solo queued into a level 50, 8-person trial at level 63... gave it a shot - it did NOT go well. Had to wait 15 minutes to initiate a "withdraw" vote, lol!)

    Typically, the FF group finder puts you in "synched" content, where character level and equipment iLevel is adjusted to the content you queued for. That way content isn't "too" trivial (tbh, not many dungeons are terribly challenging, save for some interesting mechanics like doors you have to remember icons to and open at a specific time or it's a wipe) and gets you ready for the higher difficulty levels like Extreme. I haven't tried Savage yet, maybe soon. :D
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Informative Informative x 1
  5. Wulfgyr / Erytheal

    Wulfgyr / Erytheal Active Member

    First off, thanks for all you did, and all you CONTINUE to do for a community that quite frankly doesn't deserve you. From player gripes on the forums that "I can't find XYZ on EQ2U....."; "well, did you report it?"; "No, Feldon should know what I want by reading my mind!"; etc., etc., to how certain folks at DPG treated and still treat you. Please know that you ARE appreciated and are probably the reason many folks have stuck with EQ2 as long as they have. Could you imagine current players (let alone returning or new ones!?) trying to figure out what swapping a piece of equipment or what stats they need, without the tools you provide them? While Siggy's holy wiki is great for content <100, I found it became less and less helpful as I leveled. (And her snark about "well then, it's your fault for not helping to update it..." can go right up her ass with the rest of her opinions.) Again, I think that's because things have become so convoluted it's hard for anyone to decipher, let alone document what's going on.

    Grr. Might be time for some morning whiskey in the coffee! Getting too spun up and still need to get this schedule for next week done and published, lol.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  6. Wulfgyr / Erytheal

    Wulfgyr / Erytheal Active Member

    Exactly. When even constructive criticism from people that love the game and want to see it get better (and draw more people to the thing) is regarded as "bad mouthing devs" or leads to bans from Discord, it's a clear sign things are wrong. And that they likely aren't going to get any better - especially when the same behavior continues after a leadership change.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Appreciation Appreciation x 1
  7. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    The thing is, Sigradrifa has come around. She sees the problems now. It was pretty abrupt. But it doesn't erase the previous times she was... not nice... to people with different opinions.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
  8. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    There are also fewer and fewer of us updating the wiki as many of the biggest contributors have curtained their game time or stopped playing.
    I know I won't be doing the write-up for the new content when beta comes out this year (if it IS this year). Ironically, I actually ENJOY figuring things out and also figuring out how to put them into a concise and player-useful format (weird, I know), but I'm not sure I'll be playing next expac.. I certainly won't be pre-ordering since they refuse to give us actual useful information about what is IN the new expac. From the continued changes, I expect healing to be an even worse dumpster fire next year.. and I also expect crafting to be no better than it was this expac, despite Kander's early noises about 'better next time'.
     
    • Appreciation Appreciation x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
  9. Dano84

    Dano84 Active Member

    Gninja said that there will be an Open beta for Raid Content testing and i am guessing you will get an idea what the upcoming expansion will be like.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  10. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    I'm guessing that 'open beta for raid content' only means no need to sign up your raid. I highly doubt management will let it be an ACTUAL open beta that doesn't require a pre-order.
    After all, they don't want people to be able to sample before they buy...
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  11. Feldon

    Feldon Administrator Staff Member

    Open beta = all the decisions have already been made. We just want to whet your appetite.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Appreciation Appreciation x 1
  12. Dano84

    Dano84 Active Member

    It doesn't change what i said. Even if you don't re-order there will be enough High End Player /Raider doing so. As its an Open Beta people will talk /discuss about it on Discord, the Forum or on your server. This way you will find the information you are looking for about the expansion.
     
  13. Mermut

    Mermut Well-Known Member

    Except high end raiders ONLY care about raiding.. and raider healers tend to give less feedback in discord these days. And most non-healers don't seem to think there is a problem with healing.. unless they're complaining about healers or having to put in max health gear...
     

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