What would it take for you to feel confident/optimistic about the future of EQ2 again?

I want to see the Tips,Tricks,New player section thrive.Then I will be more optimistic.But I have some hope left

 

I look at it this way: If the extent of your effort to express your opinion is "Daybreak sucks", then I can expect everything else you say to have the same quality and effort. As such, it makes it simpler for me because I can just skip reading what you say since you've demonstrated that you don't care to write anything worth reading.

So you might want to consider this: If you want people to put effort into reading what you write, you might want to try putting more effort into writing it. On the other hand, I could be wrong...

 

I understand people are frustrated and angry. DB is not exactly honest in how it does business these days, they don't have the staff to produce a finished and quality product, years and years of shortcut quick fixes and bandaides (ex death touching non fighters is a recent example) pool and mechanics bloat, rng mechanics engineered to push people to the cash shop.....the list goes on.

But...it helps to stay calm and centered when vocalizing this stuff.

If it makes people so mad they can't do this, then close the wallet and stop playing.

Not invalidating how peeps feel. But people at large aren't going to assign credibility to reactive posts.

 

look it's a derail train.

 

They just upped the ante to a point that has me stunned... Is Celestial Teachings locked behind the tradeskill mount? | EverQuest 2 Forums

They would do better to have NO WAY to upgrade the spells in game and just have two options, pay or wait. The anger this kind of thing sparks is just pointless.

So to recap, in order to get "pages" for ascension skills level 11-15, you need to be a GM Ascended (no sweat in comparison to...), and have finished the Planar Crafting Completionist Achievement. That's the one that needs at least 48 rare drops from heroics, and one person in that thread calculates that it would take a minimum of 144 runs to get it, assuming there are no duplicates found. Once you find the item, it might be a duplicate, and you can't even trade it to an alt, or a fellow player, it's a 100% waste if you get a dup.

This means your alts can NEVER get these from weeklies. It forces everyone to pick a main and stick with it, which reduces the game to ONE toon, which reduces the playtime of the content. Why would I ever bother to tank for people if I know that completing a weekly will rob me of a chance at something essential?

Ditto fragments from KA PQs for the Epic 2 spells.

Nobody would've had a chance to test this in beta, so no feedback would have been provided. I honestly would accept it if they just pulled all the crafted asc skill books and declared we have to pay or wait instead. The KA version of this never worked anyway. I would feel more optimistic if they just designated a few things as "pay to win" and made their bucks that way, without horribly arcane bullshit that they can point to and claim it's not p2w. I have no problem budgeting and paying for things I have to. But this isn't helpful.

Just look at people in that thread struggling to say anything positive so they don't get banned.

 

The example you provided is why normally positive and constructive players, myself included, have reached a breaking point with civility as we know that it falls on deaf ears.

As I have said before, at this point, the only thing the EQ2 team/DBG will understand and comprehend is players closing their wallets. It is pretty obvious to me that their primary concern is wringing the dish rag until it runs dry and then one day abruptly announcing that the game will be sunsetted.

I have been playing up until now because of a dear friend who is too lazy and stubborn to try anything else even though they are unhappy with the games direction and present state. Honestly though, even my friend isn't enough of a reason for me to log in any more.

 

Seems to me the current senior staff doesn't consider tradeskilling as a main profession...

 

I have been in this spot since just prior to the KA release, when some of the actual details of the expansion started to trickle out. I have two very dear friends that still play - One like yours, refuses to even try to learn another game (has only played EQ2) and another whose spouse and a long time friend (with whom they do heroics) refuse to move on and learn a game with actual good end game content. I log in to hang out with them, chat and occasionally RP. I don't play the game anymore, and haven't had the desire to do so for a long time.

If I want to play a game I enjoy, I log into Rift.

What we're seeing now isn't so different to what happened with Landmark, and I wouldn't be surprised if, like that game, there was a rather abrupt 'The End' announcement. It would be a relief at this point.

I have been an advocate of 'money talks' for many years. Don't support entertainment (or anything else) you don't enjoy. Enough cash flow gets cut, notice gets taken. Unfortunately in EQ2's case, all that will mean is a shutdown.

 

I thanked Caith for being brave enough to reply and in the forums instead of or as well as discord.

 

I suspect the reason this design was not included in beta was because knowledge of it would have reduced sales.

Still people shouldn't really be surprised. It's really just more of the same crap they pulled in KA - Same substance, different form.

Only difference is, this time around, they are pushing crafters into heroic zones because the games population has reached the breaking point.

Can't see this game lasting much longer.

P.S. Really, this is the first time I have ever seen a company so ok with constantly pissing their customers off. It's also the first time I've seen customers so willing to keep buying the product under these circumstances.

Makes no sense (to me at least).

 

If 4 people quit over it, but 1 person starts 6 boxing/botting, they make profits.

Quick Math DBG style.

 

I think one of the main differences is the more obvious lies. With KA there was enough ambiguity for wiggle room between 'this is what we meant' and 'this is what you thought we said'. And, especially in the case of tradeskills, there was just enough content to keep folks distracted (and also just enough ammunition for folks in the bubble to shout down those outside it).

With PoP the disingenuous behavior and statements are right there in the open with no content to distract players. The class revamps they hyped, and apparently almost immediately cancelled, with no comment (even when it was brought up over and over) until AFTER folks had already pre-ordered... to help test out the revamps. The excuse that the tradeskill signature quest wasn't included at launch because it 'wasn't fun' - given what was released for PvE, and the pittance of actual content, it became pretty clear that it 'wasn't fun' because it hadn't even been worked on.

Not to mention their excuses for certain design choices - aka pack pony upgrades and wanting crafters to get out and 'experience' all 20 minutes of the single zone to harvest in - reflect they are completely out of touch with (arguably) the most loyal section of their playerbase.


The company can get away with it because of The Bubble. The success of WoW was a 'perfect storm' scenario, so was the formation of The Bubble.

Folks are inside The Bubble for various reasons, but are all staunch defenders of The Bubble vs Reality. They are also the most bitter, vehement voices when That One Thing finally drags them out of The Bubble.

CN/DBG doesn't care if the customers are angry - or happy, for that matter - so long as they keep paying up.

 

îf I had known that there is so much repetable quests to do to get through signa, to go through those crafter stuff in heroics with all the norrathworld wanting those klickables, I would not have paid for it. Not even talking about those orange runes. Or the still missing craftertimeline.
What I do like is the look of the new addon and the instanzes. So I do hope that at least the craftertimeline is much better then I am afraid it might be.

 

Do you think the developers are in on the scam, or just poor saps doing the best they can?

Bonus points if we can get 3-5 posts discussing whether scam is the correct word to describe the situation.

 

The problem in eq2 is the grp dev leader and producer. Of course the problem is not born in this expansion, but is growing and growing after years. The dev replacement during the years was strange (not sure.. but seems was holly job to build the eq2 team and talk with the big boss), to me seems the 90% of the job is only in the Caith hands.. Was impossible for one man build new gear for the exp, focus on the new spells, and manage the class balance..


You can't blame a worker if is not able to move rock using a cart with square wheels, and the chief sitting on a cart with round wheels and two oxen.

 

The above is taken from Naoki Yoshida's (the director that took over FF14 ARR) presentation at the 2014 GDC convention.

The EQ2 Team falls down on every point, but especially on points 2 and 3.

While we can't be 100% certain, since none of us work there, some speculation is safe to make, based on the industry. Columbus Nova is not making development decisions for DBG, and not specifically for EQ2. They set a benchmark, likely financial, that DBG is expected to meet (and possibly titles individually). And then it's up to DBG, and the specific Team from there.

So yes, to answer the above question, The Team is in on it, though I'm not sure I would call it a scam - they are delivering a product, just not the quality (or quantity) expected.

It is also The Team who decides how the goals set by CN are met. This process is probably top down in nature, but The Team is still responsible for what content is created, how it's implemented, and how it's presented to the players.

And the The Team is 100% responsible for their own communication (or lack of) and attitude.

It's not Caith doing 90% of the job. He has his own part, as do the few remaining members on The Team. He is also one of the three 'lead' members of The Team that has poor communication and a very bad attitude - both of which he has control over.

 

Outside of this and the official forums any mention of EQ2 often results in a comment of amazement that the game is still running. Still despite all this I see 200+ playing on HoF during US peak and 140-160 off peak.

 

If I had to guess, I'd speculate that Holly is at the heart of all the nonsense, because she is responsible for the profitability of the franchise. Ultimately, she is the one calling the shots on how the game is marketed, the revenue model, and on the staff hired. In other words, if she wanted things to be handled differently, they would be.

Kander, Caith, Mooncaste, Roxxly.......I suspect they are busy keeping her ass fully kissed, and purely focused on delivering on the marching orders she gives them.

The rest of the staff, prob just doing the best they can with the resources available.

All wild speculation if course. All I can go on is who says what, and who isn't saying anything.

Do I think Holly would with hold information that could effect sales or intentionally mislead people ( i.e. prioritize money over the welfare of the games customers)?

Yep.

Because otherwise, she would have put a stop to it already.

Seems clear to me that whomever is in charge here believes manipulating and/or misleading people into overpaying for a poor quality product > marketing a quality one on its merits.

Heck, I'd even respect them if they just came out and said, "Hey, we have small staff, we can't produce what we have in the past. We're gonna do the best we can, but some of the stuff you've become accustomed to is gonna have to go...

HERE IS WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU...."

Instead, what we get is misleading, insincere, and sometimes dishonest communication, which can be executed both by what is said and what is not said.

It's all very insulting, really.