Watched my brother play EQ for a couple hours the other night. Was interested in seeing the changes, but it wasn't long before seeing that all the reasons I quit back in 2001 (I was an original launch player) were still there. I'm still of the opinion that this game began to go downhill with the first expansion, and never recovered.
It is faster xp these days with the hotzones and if you have the lesson of the devoted vet aa it will double your xp for half an hour or so as well. But along with that you got a fair bit of a grind when you consider all the aa's you want, and doing that grind you're likely being in a 'camp' and sitting 'n' grinding for pure dullness.(though you do have Ldon and DoN)
I've refound some enjoyment in the game like revisiting old areas and soloing around places like KC or Sebilis- that is quite fun. Surprisingly the graphics don't becomes so big an issue the more you play it as well, despite being such a world apart from the recent releases. However, stuff like the animations and music gets annoying. The combat system can also get a bit tiring like any mmo when you're doing the same thing over and over, and irritating when you have stupid crap like 'your spell is interrupted' even when you have stopped for long enough and the system is simply being anal.
Oh and downtime has been improved a fair bit where you got an out-of-combat regen thing after 30 seconds- though you do find you're still having to watch your mana bar and watch it increase before you can take on the next mob or so.
This is viral marketing. It's hilarious how SOE games seem to get viral marketed 1,000X more than any other games. Nice conicidence huh?
There is something funny about this, I think most people in this thread just like a game.
But SoE is very good at overstating their case. The main EQ designer said EQ was the second most successful MMO in North America last year.
That was a complete lie since Guild Wars / WoW / Lineage / Dofus / Lineage 2 were all ahead of EQ.
SoE has good relationships with a lot of sites but their games are less successful than their online presence and hype is. In Asia SoE doesn't even exist, only a few hundred Asian players play EQ for example.
In total their games have 300.000 subs +/-, a lot of games have more and do not have anywhere the hype SoE games have. It's viral marketing.
There is something funny about this, I think most people in this thread just like a game. But SoE is very good at overstating their case. The main EQ designer said EQ was the second most successful MMO in North America last year. That was a complete lie since Guild Wars / WoW / Lineage / Dofus / Lineage 2 were all ahead of EQ. SoE has good relationships with a lot of sites but their games are less successful than their online presence and hype is. In Asia SoE doesn't even exist, only a few hundred Asian players play EQ for example. In total their games have 300.000 subs +/-, a lot of games have more and do not have anywhere the hype SoE games have. It's viral marketing.
I agree with you Waterlily
SOE is totally unknown also in South America and EasternEurope but Blizzard and NCsoft are very very popular, even Funcom and Turbine have some popularity, but no one know or play SOE games.
It is a bit funny as Sony games and consoles are very popular in these places...
By the way, it was not only SOE that lied about this "second most popular MMO" , Turbine also did it, somehow it seems they like to forget Guild Wars and NCsoft games as they are more popular not only in NA but in the whole world .
I enjoy SOE games anyway, but after a couple of years playing their games and always seen the same players on the servers I was in ( usually the most populated servers ), I started to think SOE games are much more unpopular than it seems.
I downloaded and played the Everquest trial for the first time yesterday. I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's much better than I was expecting it to be. The graphics are also nowhere near as bad as what I assumed they would be. Of course there were the inital few problems like getting it to actually work lol, but all in all I'm impressed.
The sad thing though is that SOE have absolutely no presence over here in South Africa. We have tons and tons of WoW, Guild Wars and almost any other MMO players, except SOE games. It's rather strange considering Sony and the Playstation brand are very popular over here. Ah well, their loss I guess!
Well, so as I can see SOE only has a small presence in NA and a very small presence in Western Europe.
Guild Wars probably has at least 10 times more players than all SOE games together around the world, and we can blame only SOE for that.
This is funny as even some free small games are more popular around the world, I agree with you the strange aspect is, Sony and their consoles are very popular...
I also felt the alluring draw back to EQ1 a couple months ago (before the Legends Promo). I'm on Erollisi Marr which has turned into a ghost town (or else I hang out in the wrong areas). I quit playing EQ1 after Planes of Power so there is still tons of stuff I haven't done and tons of areas I haven't been to.
I haven't decided if I am going to be a true regular to EQ1 due to time constraints... I can't spend 2 hours a night looking for a group like I used to when my server was populated. I may transfer my toons to a populated server or cross my fingers that there will be free character transfers in the future.
I still have to meet the first Asian player in Vanguard. SoE seems to focus only on the American market lately.
On Seradon, I usually see Guild recruitment shouts for a lot of Asian-friendly guilds at around primetime hours (America). There is one guild in particular that advertizes raid times in-line with Asian primetime hours but I can't remember the name of the guild at the moment... I'll keep an eye out for it.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
There is something funny about this, I think most people in this thread just like a game.
But SoE is very good at overstating their case. The main EQ designer said EQ was the second most successful MMO in North America last year.
That was a complete lie since Guild Wars / WoW / Lineage / Dofus / Lineage 2 were all ahead of EQ.
You could be right but you used completely the wrong games. Dofus- a free game isn't it? Lineage 1/ Lineage 2- one of them only had 7k subscribers in NA.
SOE definitely focuses on North America. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "viral marketing" when associated exclusively with SOE, though. What game franchise doesn't use viral marketing with the advent of fanbois and internet?
I'm also interested in where that 300,000 subscription number across all of SOE games was taken from. I'd actually have to agree that the estimate sounds about right... most of them seem to still be hanging out in EQ1, though.
I did a /who all count last night prime time EST on the PvP server in Vanguard and there were only 154 players on... this is including all of the "come back to telon" promotion (of which I was a part of). In a huge world like Vanguard, <300 players= dead IMO. I didn't bother logging in to Seradon yet although i've heard its population is decent. Alttogether, I can't imagine more than 20K actively paying subscribers to Vanguard.
SWG sold a ton of boxes at launch and i haven't returned with the "come back to SW" offer to test populations yet. From what I've read, most of the servers are dead with exception of maybe bloodfin, and of course Bria (which has always been the most populated). Still, I can't imagine more than about 50K active subscribers in SWG.
Planetside.... never played. From just diddlying about on the internet I'd guestimate it's doing the same as Vanguard if not worse.... roughly 20K active at most.
Everquest2 was supposed to be SOE's flagship game. They put ton's of money in to this baby. I remember seeing advertisements for EQ2 in the previews of theaters in early 2004. There's just not that many people playing the game, though (in all of my experiences). I can't image that EQ2 has 100k subscribers (not counting station pass users). But I'm not sure, maybe people just leave their accounts active while they're not playing. Maybe someone can link some concrete data?.
Everquest I seems to still be the flagship game of SOE, and although SOE has attempted to phase EQ1 out to compete with newer titles, EQ2 has failed in that respect. NOTE- EQ2 is a great game I'm not saying the game's failed, i'm just saying it didn't turn in to the "flagship" SOE had intended it to be. Everquest2 has a faster-based combat that caters to newer gamers that enjoy game's with less downtime (I.E WoW). Although Everquest2's graphics are far superior to that of WoW, I think a lot of people that are searching for that "faster" combat decided they might as well just play WoW. In addition to this, a lot of EQ1 players were turned off by EQ2 and went off to WoW and either stayed with WoW or returned to EQ1.
People has also invested HUGE amounts of time in Everquest I (it's been around a while, afterall). I mean people have played characters with over 500 days /played on them. Lot's of the vets in EQ1 have no intentions of ever leaving- it's their life.
But, I digress. Would be cool if someone could link some concrete and accurate data concerning subscription numbers amongst these SOE games, though.
Doing the same thing, but I canceled AoC, got tired of submitting tickets all day long and not getting it answered for a stuck character.
Only problem with EQ, it has the exact same problem as EQ2 has. Not many low levels hence it is very hard to get a group together. I have had LFG flag on for half a day before I get a group.
if you're starting fresh start on Stromm. you should have no problem there. Once you're out of the tutorial and level 10 (which you can solo in ~2hours), just shout in OOC that you're looking for a group. People on stromm (and especially bristlebane) are very nice. most people now hang out in the guild hall, it's like the new PoK. Everyone buffs and chills in there.
Also, make some friends. Tell people you've recently returned, try to find a guild, and you'll be surprised how much help you'll get. There's been a a HUGE platinum inflation and veteran players love to throw plat at other returning vets and newbs !
Comments
Watched my brother play EQ for a couple hours the other night. Was interested in seeing the changes, but it wasn't long before seeing that all the reasons I quit back in 2001 (I was an original launch player) were still there. I'm still of the opinion that this game began to go downhill with the first expansion, and never recovered.
It is faster xp these days with the hotzones and if you have the lesson of the devoted vet aa it will double your xp for half an hour or so as well. But along with that you got a fair bit of a grind when you consider all the aa's you want, and doing that grind you're likely being in a 'camp' and sitting 'n' grinding for pure dullness.(though you do have Ldon and DoN)
I've refound some enjoyment in the game like revisiting old areas and soloing around places like KC or Sebilis- that is quite fun. Surprisingly the graphics don't becomes so big an issue the more you play it as well, despite being such a world apart from the recent releases. However, stuff like the animations and music gets annoying. The combat system can also get a bit tiring like any mmo when you're doing the same thing over and over, and irritating when you have stupid crap like 'your spell is interrupted' even when you have stopped for long enough and the system is simply being anal.
Oh and downtime has been improved a fair bit where you got an out-of-combat regen thing after 30 seconds- though you do find you're still having to watch your mana bar and watch it increase before you can take on the next mob or so.
This is viral marketing. It's hilarious how SOE games seem to get viral marketed 1,000X more than any other games.
Nice conicidence huh?
I went from:
EQ to .......... every MMORPG on the market .......... back to EQ.
Guess what? I am having fun than when I started - shocks me too.
There is something funny about this, I think most people in this thread just like a game.
But SoE is very good at overstating their case. The main EQ designer said EQ was the second most successful MMO in North America last year.
That was a complete lie since Guild Wars / WoW / Lineage / Dofus / Lineage 2 were all ahead of EQ.
SoE has good relationships with a lot of sites but their games are less successful than their online presence and hype is. In Asia SoE doesn't even exist, only a few hundred Asian players play EQ for example.
In total their games have 300.000 subs +/-, a lot of games have more and do not have anywhere the hype SoE games have. It's viral marketing.
I agree with you Waterlily
SOE is totally unknown also in South America and EasternEurope but Blizzard and NCsoft are very very popular, even Funcom and Turbine have some popularity, but no one know or play SOE games.
It is a bit funny as Sony games and consoles are very popular in these places...
By the way, it was not only SOE that lied about this "second most popular MMO" , Turbine also did it, somehow it seems they like to forget Guild Wars and NCsoft games as they are more popular not only in NA but in the whole world .
I enjoy SOE games anyway, but after a couple of years playing their games and always seen the same players on the servers I was in ( usually the most populated servers ), I started to think SOE games are much more unpopular than it seems.
...
I downloaded and played the Everquest trial for the first time yesterday. I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's much better than I was expecting it to be. The graphics are also nowhere near as bad as what I assumed they would be. Of course there were the inital few problems like getting it to actually work lol, but all in all I'm impressed.
The sad thing though is that SOE have absolutely no presence over here in South Africa. We have tons and tons of WoW, Guild Wars and almost any other MMO players, except SOE games. It's rather strange considering Sony and the Playstation brand are very popular over here. Ah well, their loss I guess!
No presence in South Africa too Lydon?
Well, so as I can see SOE only has a small presence in NA and a very small presence in Western Europe.
Guild Wars probably has at least 10 times more players than all SOE games together around the world, and we can blame only SOE for that.
This is funny as even some free small games are more popular around the world, I agree with you the strange aspect is, Sony and their consoles are very popular...
Anyway, it is a shame as SOE has some good MMOs.
....
It is indeed sad. I'm sure they'd be very big over here if people just knew they existed
I can speak for europe because I played on the single european server a long time.
Germany has maybe 40 or so players in EQ , 1 guild on AB I know of that is combination of english and german players.
France has maybe 60 or 70 players, also just 1 guild.
UK has a lot of players, maybe a few thousand.
Asia has 3 guilds, one on Luclin, one on povar and one more, but I'm not sure they are around still.
So if you take the US/UK out of the equation you have maybe..wild guess..1000 players outside of the US/UK.
US players are the majority in EQ by far.
I don't think it's much different for EQ2.
I still have to meet the first Asian player in Vanguard.
SoE seems to focus only on the American market lately.
I also felt the alluring draw back to EQ1 a couple months ago (before the Legends Promo). I'm on Erollisi Marr which has turned into a ghost town (or else I hang out in the wrong areas). I quit playing EQ1 after Planes of Power so there is still tons of stuff I haven't done and tons of areas I haven't been to.
I haven't decided if I am going to be a true regular to EQ1 due to time constraints... I can't spend 2 hours a night looking for a group like I used to when my server was populated. I may transfer my toons to a populated server or cross my fingers that there will be free character transfers in the future.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/28371832@N02/2648951313/[/url]
On Seradon, I usually see Guild recruitment shouts for a lot of Asian-friendly guilds at around primetime hours (America). There is one guild in particular that advertizes raid times in-line with Asian primetime hours but I can't remember the name of the guild at the moment... I'll keep an eye out for it.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/28371832@N02/2648951313/[/url]
EQ 1 loading screens > AOC loading screens
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
You could be right but you used completely the wrong games. Dofus- a free game isn't it? Lineage 1/ Lineage 2- one of them only had 7k subscribers in NA.
SOE definitely focuses on North America. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "viral marketing" when associated exclusively with SOE, though. What game franchise doesn't use viral marketing with the advent of fanbois and internet?
I'm also interested in where that 300,000 subscription number across all of SOE games was taken from. I'd actually have to agree that the estimate sounds about right... most of them seem to still be hanging out in EQ1, though.
I did a /who all count last night prime time EST on the PvP server in Vanguard and there were only 154 players on... this is including all of the "come back to telon" promotion (of which I was a part of). In a huge world like Vanguard, <300 players= dead IMO. I didn't bother logging in to Seradon yet although i've heard its population is decent. Alttogether, I can't imagine more than 20K actively paying subscribers to Vanguard.
SWG sold a ton of boxes at launch and i haven't returned with the "come back to SW" offer to test populations yet. From what I've read, most of the servers are dead with exception of maybe bloodfin, and of course Bria (which has always been the most populated). Still, I can't imagine more than about 50K active subscribers in SWG.
Planetside.... never played. From just diddlying about on the internet I'd guestimate it's doing the same as Vanguard if not worse.... roughly 20K active at most.
Everquest2 was supposed to be SOE's flagship game. They put ton's of money in to this baby. I remember seeing advertisements for EQ2 in the previews of theaters in early 2004. There's just not that many people playing the game, though (in all of my experiences). I can't image that EQ2 has 100k subscribers (not counting station pass users). But I'm not sure, maybe people just leave their accounts active while they're not playing. Maybe someone can link some concrete data?.
Everquest I seems to still be the flagship game of SOE, and although SOE has attempted to phase EQ1 out to compete with newer titles, EQ2 has failed in that respect. NOTE- EQ2 is a great game I'm not saying the game's failed, i'm just saying it didn't turn in to the "flagship" SOE had intended it to be. Everquest2 has a faster-based combat that caters to newer gamers that enjoy game's with less downtime (I.E WoW). Although Everquest2's graphics are far superior to that of WoW, I think a lot of people that are searching for that "faster" combat decided they might as well just play WoW. In addition to this, a lot of EQ1 players were turned off by EQ2 and went off to WoW and either stayed with WoW or returned to EQ1.
People has also invested HUGE amounts of time in Everquest I (it's been around a while, afterall). I mean people have played characters with over 500 days /played on them. Lot's of the vets in EQ1 have no intentions of ever leaving- it's their life.
But, I digress. Would be cool if someone could link some concrete and accurate data concerning subscription numbers amongst these SOE games, though.
Doing the same thing, but I canceled AoC, got tired of submitting tickets all day long and not getting it answered for a stuck character.
Only problem with EQ, it has the exact same problem as EQ2 has. Not many low levels hence it is very hard to get a group together. I have had LFG flag on for half a day before I get a group.
if you're starting fresh start on Stromm. you should have no problem there. Once you're out of the tutorial and level 10 (which you can solo in ~2hours), just shout in OOC that you're looking for a group. People on stromm (and especially bristlebane) are very nice. most people now hang out in the guild hall, it's like the new PoK. Everyone buffs and chills in there.
Also, make some friends. Tell people you've recently returned, try to find a guild, and you'll be surprised how much help you'll get. There's been a a HUGE platinum inflation and veteran players love to throw plat at other returning vets and newbs !