Interesting news

Oh if you dig deep in OF you'll find that they've come up with a use for Essence of Chaos. It's something new and exciting! IT'S F*%*^%G INFUSERS!

Oh but if you want the recipe you'll have to pray to the RNG gods. There's one other thing we can make with them, but I was so overwhelmed I forgot what it was.

New Added Recipes | EverQuest 2 Forums

 

Wow. I did not see that coming. I'm blind sided. Shocked. Dismayed. Aghast.

Can't wait to see the awesome changes in store for overseers.

 

It's nice to see my work appreciated. lol

 

When i read this morning "Holly's Announcement " i was first thinking of game content information. Something like "We planning exiting stuff for the GU" or " The expansion at the end of the year will have Luclin zones you never knew existed". But not her farewell.....
After some consideration it is now plausible why the game/expansion is in the state it is. But also why there was no communication.

My first thought reading her post was " Rats and the sinking ship" you know, sorry for being so harsh.

The following possible reasons i come up with are :

1.) She always mentioned Brad “Aradune” McQuaid being a mentor to her, so my guess would be Pantheon to be her next game. Some player on massively had similar thoughts. She could see this as "Everquest 3" that will never happen with DBG/DPG.

2.) As some mentioned about Money Laundry, knowing how easy it is to become caught up even you don't participate directly. After all she has a family to protect so she decides to leave before its to late.

But i think the upcoming GU will be more of a Gamebreaker now , with Holly's leave, than it was before.

 

I prefer to think she was fired. Why would anyone actively seek her out? It's not as if she had EQ running smoothly, and she's old and a has been.

She may be the first rat to desert to flee the sinking ship, but I doubt it.

 

Iirc, DBG awards funding around late Jan, early Feb. My guess is she got the inside track about stuff coming down the pike, got out her Rolodex, and gtfo.

Could also be that after her plan of "we have a million former customers we can get back" fell flat on its face, reality finally dawned on her.

I wouldn't be surprised if Smed found something for her to do at Amazon, but who knows. There are a gazlillion things she could be doing.

 

The sad thing is that the plan to bring back former players might have worked if they pulled their heads out of their butts and started producing something like the game(s) many of us used to enjoy.

 

Dunno what she'd do there. "Hardcore raiding", her obsession, isn't going to save New World, trust me.

 

Yeah, maybe. The problem is, they've burned up too much good will and trust. The eq brand is toast.

 

Anyone else chuckling about the slogan on all those purple t--shirts: (something like): "Never Give Up!"

Lols.

 

The plan to bring back previous players was solid af as shown by Jagex and Blizzard, the problem is Daybreak half assing it. Which has been their problem for the last 20 years. OSRS and WoW Classic both had a ton of effort put into them and that effort translated directly into success, meanwhile TLE has broken itemization and terrible game balance. Not to mention how many bugs were introduced by disabling the expansions that weren't addressed, like random spell effects on NPCs and player characters being completely silent until DoF released.

Also the zero effort put into holiday events sucks too, and I can't believe how many people on the OF defend that. Holiday events are the one thing Daybreak has always done super well and I think they're a huge part of EQ2, it would've been worth the effort to at least put a short little quest or something on TLE for each of the classic events.

 

My favorite comment on Discord and the Forum is : " The best game update in recent years"

 

Ummm I just noticed this. What the hell does it mean?

Even though I am leaving Darkpaw Games as a producer for now, I will remain part of the community as a player. - Holly "Windbag" Longdale

I wonder if the new Producer speaks Gnollish. I trust we're not subjected to more letters for 5 year olds.

 

Probably just a 'door is always open' style thing. Doubt she wanted to right '**** this **** I'm out'

 

Eh, I saw that also. I think she just jumbled the sentence. Move the comma two words to the left, and it changes the meaning.

The tone of the letter left little doubt in my mind that she's done, but who knows.

In any case, as long as Kander is still running the show, the game has no chance.

Be interested to see what Jen Chan does. Will she assert herself and try to reverse the damage, or, is her placement an indication the franchise is going into maintenance mode?

 

I honestly think she had the best intentions and loved the Everquest games. But ever since DBG took it over I think she never got the chance to follow the path she really wanted for the franchise. She had to hunt dimes to meet the profit that the investment company demanded. If you look at the photos of her from before the sale and compare it to how she looked later, you can tell how overworked she was.

I suspect she found an offer and was so tired and unmotivated to continue to push the games towards more p2w with a smaller and smaller staff. She could see what a mess it is and she wanted out, couldn't take it any more.

I hope she will find joy in her new adventures.

Edit: Maybe I am naive in my believes... wouldn't be the first time I give someone more credit then they are worth...

 

The biggest problem I had with her was the way she 'communicated'... zero communication punctuated by erratic letters that said absolutely nothing, promised everything and pretended that everything was WONDERFUL!!!! (add rainbows, unicorns, and fireworks)

 

All you said is fair enough, but in my mind, doesn't excuse the shady business practices. There was a definite absence of honesty, candor, and respect for customers.

Personally, I would have resigned years before. Maybe she finally decided she didn't want to operate that way any more.

/shrug

 

I give Longdale no quarter.

Regardless of her 'intentions' or how much control she had vs the 'nebulous corporate overlords', she chose to remain an employee for years. She chose to lie and mislead for years. She chose to treat the paying customers like garbage for years.

Folks like to point out Smedley is responsible for his mistakes and the state of the game under his tenure, that Smokejumper is responsible for his mistakes and the state of the game under his tenure, well Longdale is also responsible for her attitude, mistakes and the state of the game under her tenure.

The two former might be remembered and disliked for changes they made that allowed the acceleration of the game's decline. She will be remembered for making the changes that killed it.

 

This. And they wonder why they are met with such vitriol now. It's a relationship, it follows the same rules as any relationship. Once you quit communicating, or communicating anything of substance, and at the same time lie, well what do you expect from your "partner" in that situation?

Everything else follows those rules as well. It's an easy correlation using the analogy.

I have friend A who just caught her husband cheating for the 7th time. She ended the 3 hour long conversation the way she always does, IF we get a divorce...

I have friend B who caught her husband trying to cheat. He's lucky to be alive and she's off hiking in Patagonia.

Here's the thing though, A has 2 children, both under 9. B doesn't have any. Sunk costs and whatnot.