PCGamesN: "Community neglect and a pay-to-win ethos are killing EverQuest 2"

Someone should post this on the official forum and underline the need for a discussion about it and see if they will allow a real discussion to run.

 

The article as well as your full write-up were interesting reads. Obviously you had far more invested that I did (personal relationships with developers, all the work you put into your site, etc), but most of the reasons I quit subbing and playing are the similar to yours. I was never a raider but just keeping my characters somewhat up to par became too tedious and the fun factor has gone for me. While I still loved the tradeskilling & decorating even some of that has been gated behind being of a certain level or on a certain raid to obtain recipes/items. Plus I want to enjoy my player housing in a game I actually adventure in. It's why I'm back in LOTRO. The housing is far below the EQ2 standard for decorating, but I enjoy actually playing the rest of the game so I can live with that for now.

 

It'd be gone as soon as Roxxly got round to checking the forums.

However if you titled it "Why we love EQ2!" you'd probably get away with it staying for a few days.

 

The closing paragraph of the article sums it up for me. EQ2 isn't EQ2 any more, the remnants are still there in the old content, but for the rest... it's a different game with the same name:


Would Asheron’s Call players have been happy to see their world reach a similar state? Or is it better to get closure, painful though it may be, rather than hold onto a tainted version of the experience they were originally sold on - one, admittedly, now defined by wistful memories of what once was? In the end, the players will decide, but on current evidence, it seems that many are now ready to finally let go.

 

eh, that author is still just bitter about AC/AC2.

I am of two opinions about that article. It is obviously heavily biased towards the negative, and that is bad, as it allows DBG to handwave it away as valuable criticism. However, it DOES appear that the author took some time to find a few other positive views, and that is a good thing.

Overall, I expect this to have zero impact. Thanks for putting in your two cents on this however, Feldon.

 

Feldon you have always been fair and balanced in your reporting of EQ2 whether you were a defender or a detractor. The community, myself included, will always appreciate all you have done for us.

This part of the article stood out for me:

"Longdale’s response to player complaints is formulaic, offering the now familiar line that all paid power can be obtained through game play alone, and is aimed at those who “are happy to pay for convenience or cool vanity items.” One thing she said, however, stood out to me: “Overall, it is really difficult to convey to players that we need to run a healthy business to keep our awesome game alive.”

We all understand that a business needs to make a profit to remain viable. What I want to know is why our paid subscriptions, expansion purchases, and in some cases, krono purchases are not enough money for them? Other games seem to survive just fine by those same cash influxes without becoming greedy and inserting hidden p2w mechanics in the game.

In my opinion, they are trying to make up lost revenue due to the shrinking player base by being greedy. If they don't have the resources any more to provide the quality and quantity to their paying customers, then they should reduce their monthly subscription and expansion prices accordingly. If people feel like they aren't getting price gouged, they may continue to support the game longer and/or return. Stop with the hidden p2w mechanics.

Also, her statement of paid power can be obtained through game play alone doesn't address the fact it involves endless hours of painful grinding and/or research all designed to encourage players to spend money.

I continue to be boggled by their decision making processes and attitude towards their player base.

 

I played Rift for a while and had a blast, but over played it and burned myself out. When they launch this new TLE server, I am going to try it. I am very excited as well.

 

Out of curiosity, where are you seeing this excitement? I've been following the news as well, and I see a lot of discontent over the fact that your character gets deleted at the end of the year (which is also why I wouldn't play on it). At least with Race to Trakanon you were able to transfer after it was over.

 

When a game in 2018 gets this advice on the official forums when complaining about the lag:

(1) Turn your graphics down to "Extreme Performance"
(2) Shift your camera so you are zoomed in and looking at your feet

I mean... really? Should I really need to play the game by just stare at my hotbar and the ground around my feet? The quality of the game and the feeling of constantly playing in a beta (sometimes alpha) along with the ridiculous lag is what finally got me to throw in the towel. If they kept their product more polished instead of going after quick fixes while pumping out items on the marketplace and the turn towards more p2w that the last two expacs (not played either of them) brought, I would probably still be playing and paying eq2.

Besides... that advice only work if it is your computer that is halting.. but 90% of the time it is server lag, so it wont matter what you do...

 

Based on this interview, it looks like they're reconsidering their decision, which is good. But yeah, it's not intended to be a permanent server, so it's like: "Hey, did you hate all of that F2P crap we added and designed our advancement systems around? Have we got a server for you!* (* But only for a year)." What a weird thing.

 

Post it late Friday night US time and it will probably still be there Monday morning

 

I disagree with article's author that there were two events that have embittered players.

The complaints are rooted in two key events in the game’s history. First, the decision by Sony Online Entertainment in 2011 to shift it to fit a free-to-play model, causing a creep of what many players feel are pay-to-win features. Second, Sony’s sale of SOE to investment company Columbus Nova in 2015, which led to staff layoffs, the departure of key community-facing figures in the company, and the rebranding of SOE as Daybreak Games.

Rather I think there are two other things that upset the applecart of players

First, I think was when EQ2 became the game to experiment and showcase "cutting edge" things that I don't think players were looking for and certainly the development teams weren't interested in producing. I think SOE and now Daybreak has tried to take what they thought was their flagship title and put sparkly features on it which would get them mention on the cover of PC Gamer for a month.

The "highly successful" Dungeon Maker
SOEmote
EQ2X
The concept of content is free, you'll pay only for mechanics and feature (a.k.a., the one and done Age of Discovery model)

And where are these now...all one and done...for the most part all gone or very, very far from what they were first touted as... Investing time, effort, and resources into these pet projects which players never embraced could have been spent on creating a better play world rather than a personal sandbox.

Secondly - this might be my pet peeve, but I do think it is an issue shared by many. That on any given Tuesday - and especially at launch of a new expansion, guspansion, game update, or even weekly patch - the way you played the day before might be totally different the next with no warning, explanation, or documentation. That past accomplishments, efforts, and rewards can be completely white-out or obsoleted. Anything, at any time, including elements that you might have spent green dollars on can be changed or even erased. As consumer and customer why would I want to continue to invest in something if these are the risks that my virtual accomplishments might need to endure. If there is little to no continuity from the vendor - why continue to stick with them...

 

One thing that drove a lot of players away that folks seem to have forgotten was the ProSeiben debacle. We lost a lot of Euro players with that nonsense.

 

Ah yes. I remember this little gem from that time

 

Disappointed no one posted on the official forum about this article, and even more Disappointed about the white knight commenting on the article in their own section...

So few people care about the game that not even a drama article can spur up the community.

 

It really doesn't help that Daybreaks MO is to shut anything down. You can't fix something if you are not willing to understand the problem. Much like you can't make the game better if you don't understand the players or the game.

Thought about posting things quite a few times, but is there a point?

I've been playing the game since 2004, as much as I would like it to last. You can't help people that aren't willing to be helped.