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How come EQ II doesn't attract more players?
Lazzaro
Member UncommonPosts: 548
in Everquest II
I was listening to podcast and he brought up a good point; Why doesn't EQ2 have more players? With the tons of content and great community why do you think EQ2 can't retain its player base or add to it. It always seems to hover around the same amount of people. Now, new people join, but they seem to quit a month or so later. To me, it seems like EQ2 just can't really grow like WOW, or WAR.
What do you think the problem is?
Comments
Think that is a bit too hard to answer, but I think a mmo is based on how good the initial response to the game is, unless the friend's friend effect is large. EQ2 had a less than good response at launched for various reasons. That response they can never turn, the major of ex-players will always refer to that time, not on how the game is today.
The second thing is marketing. This is probably the most important failure of EQ2, or any SoE games. SoE do not market their products any good. I have not seen a single ad for EQ2 or other SoE games, this is the only site I have seen that, unless it is a fan site or a SoE owned site. And if you look at how Blizzard did market WoW. That has some major impact on the number of players a game has today. Even my parents that has never touched a computer game in thier life knows about WoW. EQ2 is on the other side of that scale, the game is still quite unknown for very many gamers, even mmo gamers.
--
Leemeg.
Looking at myself, I can think about several reasons why I avoid it.
All the zoning. Its so much zoning so you almost are bored of the game even before you reach your destination.
Every time I have resubed to this game, they have changed the game. I don´t mean added stuff or balanced some skill or rule, but really changed the game basics. First time i reactivated my account, I had to respec my character and some skills was gone and replaced with something else. Second time reactivating, a respec again. It is one thing to expand the game, to add new content, more options, but it is not ok to mess with peoples old characters imo.
Its not fun to level up in this game. You grind, level up and find that you your new skills are recycled versions of old skills. I don´t know how many times my druid got the same heals and spells with improved stats to replace an outdated version with. Compared this to WoW or CoH, where you gain new skills all the way, who actually makes your character better and more fun to play. Here it is all the same over and over again.
Combat could be more fun. I have never really noticed that you need different strategies for different enemies. Even in raids it was pretty much the same thing as normal group play, just with more players. I always found combat very static and slow. Nothing you did really made any big difference. It always felt like you just exchange mana into damage before you run out of life, and usually you could see early if you had enough mana to beat an enemy or not. Heroic mobs with way to much hit points takes away all sense of action, and it makes the average bad guy feels much more powerful and heroic than you, who are supposed to be the hero.
EQ2 have a great community, but there is no gathering place for people to just hang around and chat. Compare to Ironforge in WoW, or Atlas park in CoH. People are just spread around the zones, and talking in guild or group chat most of the time, and this makes the game feels dead and quiet, even when much people are online. I believe they have made to much effort to split the community into smaller parts, with zones, instances, guilds, groups and by levels, that there is no sense of a world. It´s almost like they don´t want people to play together except for in small groups.
I enjoyed EQ2 at one point, but after 3 years of play I just had my fill of the it. Now I'm just playing WAR waiting for Aion.
Well I have been in and out of this game since beta. I am currently subscribed and playing. I find there are a few things that this game has that cause poeple to leave on a regular basis.
The first thing is the reputation that Sony has in the MMO community. They own the biggest mistake in gaming history, namely the CU / NGE disaster of SWG. In that case you had a very loyal and interested fan base that was playing a very unique game. The developers wanted to capture some of the WOW market and drastically changed the game several times. This was viewed by the vocal majority and an epic failure and the shock wave can still be felt to this day. IN fact MMORGP.com had to start an "I'm angry at SOE flame thread" for every game this company puts out. Some people will not go near a Sony game for this reason and they have friends that have friends and so on.
The second reason is that the developers change the game on a regualr basis. I have been back over a month and so far there have not been any huge changes and this surprises me a great deal. The developers use to alter the game a lot on a regualr basis. While all games change and evolve, the Sony developers dropped the ball on a regular basis and some people just don't like to invest time in a game to see their hard work nerfed out of existance.
The third reason is they tend to release a lot of expansions in a very short time. Instead of releasing one major expansion they prefer to release a lot of smaller ones and charge for each one. This gets old fast. In contrast, other games provide updates and upgrades for free. Sony does do a lot of things in the game for free also but this is overshadowed by the constant marketing blitz for their latest expansion. They will usually offer a bundle deal for new players at a much lower price than existing players can buy the new content for.
Finally I think that in the past, Sony showed little interest in the customer base. They were more interested in making you like what they put out rather than exploring what we wanted. People have a choice and this tactic will not work for long. They use to have the worst customer service bar none. Since I have returned to the game I have found just the oposite to be true now. Customer service will bend over backwards to help you in the game today. I have only used them once and was amazed at the level of service and how much it has come up.
Overall, if you have not played EQ2 you are missing one of the best MMOs ever produced and a ton of content. I am glad I came back and I see evidence that perhaps Sony has finally gotten a handle on some of the flaws that have held this title back for years. I play on the PVP server and it is a blast.
1
While all of the above are correct - the one thing I believe was the main reason they lost their playerbase from start was the outright lack of Marketing. Europe alone saw 2 servers, and no games for sale in any stores. If you wanted EQ2 it had to be digitally bought. Meaning not even in a regular store selling games could a MMO player see EQ2 on the shelves.
The second problem with the lack of marketing is unfortunately today, that everyone has become WoW'ified. Meaning no matter how good they do today, very few people will go to EQ2 and play it. It has a harder lvl'ing curve, and different graphics from WoW for example. Which while it doesn't matter to me as a personal individual, it does matter alot to some who have been looking at WoW for 4 years. They are the ones who leave EQ2 after a month cause they just don't feel attached to it.
I feel sad that EQ2 never got a stronger community than it did. Heck I even have to play on US servers now a days if I want to see just some community. The european servers are unfortunately going extremely fast downhill.
Knowing I wouldn't be able to raid on US servers cause of the different time zones and the lack of community on European servers - I kinda end up giving up and leaving EQ2 to be a casual "I'll do a lvl once a month" game.
I think it's a great game with many good concepts. It has some things that other MMO's don't but naturally lack some things other MMO's have. The latter being the real issue I'd wager for most people.
Being a WoW ( retired) player from end of Beta until 2 years after. And moving to Eq2 ( being an old EQ1 player) I feel Eq2 is far superior in most ways. I enjoy that I actually have to use my brain to play, not like I was in WoW. Pretty much half asleep while on raids. I felt I really needed a change from same ol same ol day in day out on WoW, and Eq2 has given that to me, when I am online with my guild and we are running a dungeon/grp/raid I actually have to be on the ball and utilising my ability toplay my character to the best I can. Something I have missed in a long time in MMO's
Eq2 should have a big player base, But most players have gotten into a simple routine of leveling in a few days to max level, and rinse and repeat of raiding the same instance over and over for some shiny's. I don't mind the size of the player base in EQ2, There is quite a few players online regularly to grp/raid/ or just chat with while doing your own thing. And lets face it simple to play MMO's keep he morons away from good MMO's. Which is something I reallylike. My ignore list in EQ2 is very small compared to other MMO's I have played.
Anyways just my thoughts on the subject
Cheers
Tan
Most people want PvP nowadays. EQ2 wasn't designed to be a good PvP game so people who want pvp who go to this game wont like it. Gamers who like EQ1, Vanguard etc... will like EQ2. Its the gamers who are more into the WoW/WAR type games that wont like EQ2.
I think the truth is that the majority of gamers want PvP over PvE, which is why i believe WoW has turned more into a PvP game since launch because Blizzard know PvP is more popular.
I'm just glad the younger community enjoy PvP over PvE because the community in EQ2 is fantastic. 95% of the community are friendly and mature.
Funny this is what I always say on this forum, although people keep deluding themselves that is just my imagination or I am being biased.
EQ2 never had the same success as Everquest, and there are multiple reasons that can be easily pinpointed.
1) Reason number 1: Bad timing, and bad marketing.
As someone said before me, at launch EQ2 never attracted too many players, that's true.
Although I tend to disagreer with most about the reasons.
Of course there is a bad marketing on behalf of SoE, in particular in the European market which they keep ignoring (WoW, WAR, AoC didn't ignore it and they sold so many more copies at launch), but I don't believe the reason is because the game was bad at launch.
On the contrary I believe at launch EQ2 was a far superior MMORPG (not game.....for me the 2 definitions have different meaning).
The real reason why EQ2 never pulled big numbers at launch was WoW, released in the same period, that' as simple as that.
2) Reason number 2: SoE keep changing the nature of the game (like they did with SWG).
We are not talking about normal updates and adjustement which every MMO requires.
I am talking about changing the way the game looks, play and feel.
Soe still don't get the fact that is wrong to radically chance a game half way through.
They did it with SWG and now with EQ2 in a more gradual way.
The results are that veterans like me stopped playing the game, because it wasn't the same game I fell in love with.
On the other hand new casual players that were supposed to join in masses, never materialised, because although EQ2 got easier and easier to access and play, the real deal (WoW) is still more fun than EQ2.
3) Reason number 3: SoE reputation
Yes, SoE reputation is bad not because people hate big companies (funny enough no one hate Blizzard......), but because they brought this on themselves.
Bad customer service at times, but most of all they don't listen and they don't respect their actual customer base, with their constant changes to their games (see point number 2)
SWG is the only game I know that has 2 forums, one for the first version of the game (veterans) and another for the new version (NGErs).
A MMORPG shouldn't have 2 versions of the same game, now SoE hasn't got just 1 but 2, SWG and now EQ2, and this makes people really unhappy, with John "haven't got a clue" Smedley.
All the bad word of mouth SoE gets as a result of their disaster decision, influence some players to invest money in their games.
4) Reason number 4: Lack of PvP.
Yes EQ2 has PvP, but the game hasn't been designed to include it, therefore it just doesn't feel right.
Even PvE players like some kind of PvP in their game, and EQ2 failed big time in its implementation.
Lastly, EQ2 is an ok game, it is just average which means is better than most but worse than some others.
Problem is that it has no identity, it has nothing that make it stand up from the crowd and surely it has nothing that make it better than WoW (which is the game it is trying to copy).
EQ2 was awesome at launch, it needed more time and much better marketing.
The kids which started playing MMOs with WoW will have liked the first version of EQ2, and after "beating" WoW they would have liked a more challenging game like EQ2, which WAS a little bit more difficult to "beat".
Instead SoE couldn't wait, and it went for the same route as SWG...............making exactly the same mistake (hence Smedley nickname "haven't got a clue").
So whether you like it or not, those are the reasons why EQ2 is going down the drains (unfortunately).
Now SoE is going against the big names of gaming industry with their new semi-MMO The Agency and DC Online.........watch the 2 games bomb big time.
SoE need to stick making REAL MMORPG, because I think they are good at it, and stop trying to break through the mainstream market, where there are far bigger fish than them and more experienced too.
What SoE need is the true successor of Everquest, that will put SoE on the map again.
But they seems enchanted with the Disneyland circus at the moment, so I don't think is going to happen (unfortunately).
I think you are wrong with saying EQ2 is going down the drains. Theres new players all the time. All the "newbie" zones are full of new players and the odd reroller. EQ2 is still going strong and will do for many years.
This is a common, and very insulting misconception. PvP is not simply a younger thing. PvP had it's start in MUDs, long before children started saturating the market.
PvP has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with higher competition (players are often more challenging than NPC monsters because of the player's ability to adapt to situations and react accordingly, something monsters are incapable of).
You should check your ignorance at the door, especially when you consider age has very little to do with maturity as far as gamers go.
This is a common, and very insulting misconception. PvP is not simply a younger thing. PvP had it's start in MUDs, long before children started saturating the market.
PvP has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with higher competition (players are often more challenging than NPC monsters because of the player's ability to adapt to situations and react accordingly, something monsters are incapable of).
You should check your ignorance at the door, especially when you consider age has very little to do with maturity as far as gamers go.
You don't get my point. Its FACT that younger gamers prefer PvP over PvE. What 12 year old wants to run around in a dungeon, healing his party and taking a look at the fantastic scenery? Hardly any. What 12 year old wants to have his almighty orc warrior charging at a weak gnome to pewpew? Nearly all. If you don't like the truth, don't comment.
Sure it is not gonna die, that's not what I am saying, it will still be profitable for SoE for a couple of years.
What I am saying is that the game has far less players than couple of years ago or even a year ago, and the reasons are the ones described on my previous post.
I played this game in July after quitting last January and the server was virtually dead, all the biggest guilds left the game or disbanded, everyone was soloing, and there were very few group stuff going on.
That was not the EQ2 I knew and loved...........
So the game is definetly on a descending curve.
Sure it is not gonna die, that's not what I am saying, it will still be profitable for SoE for a couple of years.
What I am saying is that the game has far less players than couple of years ago or even a year ago, and the reasons are the ones described on my previous post.
I played this game in July after quitting last January and the server was virtually dead, all the biggest guilds left the game or disbanded, everyoe was soloing there were very few group stuff going on.
So the game is definetly on a descending curve.
Shame that, my server is fine. You'll probably notice a lot of players will come back with expansions, like RoK. Maybe SoE will put some things back to how it was, who knows with them, heh.
Sure it is not gonna die, that's not what I am saying, it will still be profitable for SoE for a couple of years.
What I am saying is that the game has far less players than couple of years ago or even a year ago, and the reasons are the ones described on my previous post.
I played this game in July after quitting last January and the server was virtually dead, all the biggest guilds left the game or disbanded, everyoe was soloing there were very few group stuff going on.
So the game is definetly on a descending curve.
Shame that, my server is fine. You'll probably notice a lot of players will come back with expansions, like RoK. Maybe SoE will put some things back to how it was, who knows with them, heh.
I bought all expansions til Rok, but I am not coming back, and like me many veterans won't, because of RoK and how it killed the game for us.
Also I don't see any hipe or interest in the new EQ2 expansion like previous years, so don't count too much on many new players.
Anyway, SoE knows how many customers they are losing..........giving 2 months free play to old veterans like me to tempt them back is a sign that the game isn't doing well, no matter how you wanna put it.
This is a common, and very insulting misconception. PvP is not simply a younger thing. PvP had it's start in MUDs, long before children started saturating the market.
PvP has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with higher competition (players are often more challenging than NPC monsters because of the player's ability to adapt to situations and react accordingly, something monsters are incapable of).
You should check your ignorance at the door, especially when you consider age has very little to do with maturity as far as gamers go.
You don't get my point. Its FACT that younger gamers prefer PvP over PvE. What 12 year old wants to run around in a dungeon, healing his party and taking a look at the fantastic scenery? Hardly any. What 12 year old wants to have his almighty orc warrior charging at a weak gnome to pewpew? Nearly all. If you don't like the truth, don't comment.
What truth do I see? You state an opinion as fact, which I can do, too! All of the PvPer's I know are 17 or older, so that most certainly means PvPer's are predominantly adult! Brilliant! I amaze even myself at times.
Adults and teens share a common thread, they like both PvE and PvP. To think otherwise is ignorant. They also happen to share a thread as far as maturity goes, an all adult community would have just as many immature asshats as a community composed of teens and adults. (Early UO and EQ have pretty good examples of adult asshats.)
In conclusion, if you don't like being wrong, don't post.
Toodles, Darlin'.
Because too many people have been wowified and EQ2 didn't start to really get easier until just recently.
SOE
Be paid for Beta Testing, don't pay to Beta Test.
This is a common, and very insulting misconception. PvP is not simply a younger thing. PvP had it's start in MUDs, long before children started saturating the market.
PvP has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with higher competition (players are often more challenging than NPC monsters because of the player's ability to adapt to situations and react accordingly, something monsters are incapable of).
You should check your ignorance at the door, especially when you consider age has very little to do with maturity as far as gamers go.
You don't get my point. Its FACT that younger gamers prefer PvP over PvE. What 12 year old wants to run around in a dungeon, healing his party and taking a look at the fantastic scenery? Hardly any. What 12 year old wants to have his almighty orc warrior charging at a weak gnome to pewpew? Nearly all. If you don't like the truth, don't comment.
What truth do I see? You state an opinion as fact, which I can do, too! All of the PvPer's I know are 17 or older, so that most certainly means PvPer's are predominantly adult! Brilliant! I amaze even myself at times.
Adults and teens share a common thread, they like both PvE and PvP. To think otherwise is ignorant. They also happen to share a thread as far as maturity goes, an all adult community would have just as many immature asshats as a community composed of teens and adults. (Early UO and EQ have pretty good examples of adult asshats.)
In conclusion, if you don't like being wrong, don't post.
Toodles, Darlin'.
Play WoW, talk to the people in WSG. Majority of them will be kids. Play EQ2/VG/EQ1, go into a dungeon, majority will be adults. Do i have to keep explaining the truth to you. This isn't an opinion. Its a FACT. You just can't handle the truth, its sad, seriously.
And as for "Toodles, Darlin'."... Please, try harder next time.
Because you cant wear what you want you got to wear stuff only at your lvl.
Armor dont make much diff. either. Not skill bace so everyone is the same. Every lvl 1 is the same as every lvl 1 and so on.
With a skill bace game that only gos up in skill on what you do , and you have thousands of skills to do then everyone will be diff . they will have diff work skills and diff fighting skills. Skill should only move up on what you do and drop on what you dont do.
There is nothing to fight for no object no resources because everything can be got at the local npc.
No sandbox type in this game .
If you craft you craft the same thing everyone else crafts no diff stats on the food or weapons and so on.
All you have to do in this game and all the rest of the games out now is hit mobs in head .
Because you get all the money you need no hard work from a trade. If there was some kind of resource to protect and have the rest of you side in there colecting herbs why the others fight off the enemys then that is fun. That is just one example of thousands of trade skills and fighting .
works skills and fighting skills should be baced on your exp. not your lvl.
Let me tell you a turn off for me, ok , broadswords when someone makes these they should all be different in there stats some one that dont have there skill raised in fighting and made weapons all the time to sell should have stats on this weapon at top notch. And these weapons should be for anyone that can afford this weapon.
Everyone should not be the same. Your stats should be based on your skills and how hard you have worked to achieve this skill. If you do not use this skill then it should go down in stat and eventually you will lose it not stay the same. A game should be based on your hard work and willingness to be number one not just to get on and play and have things handed to you. You have to work for what you need and want.
There should be no money drops . Everything should come from your trade skill.
WWIIOnline The Real War!
weg, you just described every game on the market so whats your point?
Okay...all those comments being said, I also have a few other observations.
EQ2 has put a lot of thought into their crafting skills. I LOVE love love the crafting in EQ2. People who only want to "sort of" get in to crafting, probably wouldn't like the level of involvement that crafting takes, however.
The AA changes....those really upset me, and I'll tell you why. They happened right about the time I was taking a break from the game, so that when I came back...I found that I had a very GIMPED lvl 60 wizard, in comparison to allllllll the people that either stayed, or started AFTER I did in the game. And Sony, GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....did not just give you the AA points that you should have by said level (by "grandfathering in" your previous accomplishments, and allow you to spend them. Therefore....for my wizard to be even remotely "equal" in power to the other wizards, I would have to spend tons of time either mentoring or doing old quests, etc., just to get the AA points to "equal me out." BAD CHOICE (in my opinion) by Sony with how to manage that.
What I did about the AA thing....was just continue to level my craft with that toon, and started to level up one of my lower level toons (a troubador that I LOVE), because she wasn't missing as many AA points, and was a bit less labor intensive to bring up to par. So now my level 64 wizzie/prov (I did TRY to get more points and level her a bit) has now become the guild chef.
The community....ahhhh the community. EQ2's community is superior, in my opinion, to all other MMOs that I have played. Wonderful helpful people that cooperate, that discuss, that work together. I just love it. However....I don't think that the children that are attracted to other games, would last long in EQ2's community. They aren't very tolerant of people acting like idiots. Personally....I like that. But it does seem to keep the idiot population down to a minimum, and that is a larger part of some other games' player bases. LOL
One thing I do NOT like about the community, however, is that we can communicate and befriend (???) the "enemy." What the heck FOR? You know...I don't WANT to like those people over in Freeport. I don't WANT to have a TOTALLY "at peace" game world. That's pretty unrealistic and deters from immersion for ME. Actually...it's probably one of my FEW complaints about the game.
But those reasons, lack of marketing, and many others, I'm sure, are all reasons why EQ2 doesn't attract even more people.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
If they want to get more subs they need to really re-think this games solo content and re-distribute dps out amongst some of the lowest dps classes in the game to make soloing 80 levels entirely possible, but also quicker and easier....
Theres really no need for the grind time sink.. Theres 21 other classes in this game I wanted to hit 80 on and play but never could due to time contraints. Im not saying I would take 24 classses to 80 but I would like to get a bard or caster type up there and also a druid...
I stopped playing also because the game revolves entirely too much around raiding to attain the best loot...
I think they need to implement a point system where you get so much points from killing names in the 6 man instances, then you use those points to go buy raid type fabled gear... I quit because I didn't see a single pattern from vp for my assassin in 3 months raiding 7 days a week... I quit because my paladin was a gimp tank in legendary gear that no raid guild would touch due to no experience or gear.. mostly due to gear..
This game will never appeal to the mass of players because its too complex to learn and too hard to solo..
It is by far the best mmo out right now though.. They really need to optimize the engine better though.. It doesn't look all the great on low end pcs while wow looks pretty good and runs smooth.. This game just doesn't appeal to many end users.. But for Gods sake dont dumb it down like wow... I swear that game destroyed the mmo industry and will till someone grows some balls and stops with the wow cookie cutter cloning...
Okay...all those comments being said, I also have a few other observations.
EQ2 has put a lot of thought into their crafting skills. I LOVE love love the crafting in EQ2. People who only want to "sort of" get in to crafting, probably wouldn't like the level of involvement that crafting takes, however.
The AA changes....those really upset me, and I'll tell you why. They happened right about the time I was taking a break from the game, so that when I came back...I found that I had a very GIMPED lvl 60 wizard, in comparison to allllllll the people that either stayed, or started AFTER I did in the game. And Sony, GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....did not just give you the AA points that you should have by said level (by "grandfathering in" your previous accomplishments, and allow you to spend them. Therefore....for my wizard to be even remotely "equal" in power to the other wizards, I would have to spend tons of time either mentoring or doing old quests, etc., just to get the AA points to "equal me out." BAD CHOICE (in my opinion) by Sony with how to manage that.
What I did about the AA thing....was just continue to level my craft with that toon, and started to level up one of my lower level toons (a troubador that I LOVE), because she wasn't missing as many AA points, and was a bit less labor intensive to bring up to par. So now my level 64 wizzie/prov (I did TRY to get more points and level her a bit) has now become the guild chef.
The community....ahhhh the community. EQ2's community is superior, in my opinion, to all other MMOs that I have played. Wonderful helpful people that cooperate, that discuss, that work together. I just love it. However....I don't think that the children that are attracted to other games, would last long in EQ2's community. They aren't very tolerant of people acting like idiots. Personally....I like that. But it does seem to keep the idiot population down to a minimum, and that is a larger part of some other games' player bases. LOL
One thing I do NOT like about the community, however, is that we can communicate and befriend (???) the "enemy." What the heck FOR? You know...I don't WANT to like those people over in Freeport. I don't WANT to have a TOTALLY "at peace" game world. That's pretty unrealistic and deters from immersion for ME. Actually...it's probably one of my FEW complaints about the game.
But those reasons, lack of marketing, and many others, I'm sure, are all reasons why EQ2 doesn't attract even more people.
I didn't really read past the part where you said you love eq2 crafting...
The crafting system is ok, but its missing experimentation.... Think SWG crafting.. Think of being able to craft those items you do now, gear and weapons, but wouldn't it be cool to see some variation in min/max damage? Or mitigation, or resists, or imbued procs etc... Wouldnt crafting be a shit load more fun if there was rare components to be found in the game that could be taken to a crafter to make some uber shit?
Eq2 crafting is average at best... It could be amazing if they get whoever designed swg crafting... Id implement everything from various quality resources to experimentation and definitely adds durability and also have multiple items that are the same but some with more rare traits on them than others... Why? Because its endless replayability....
SOE is actually very skilled at marketing and they did indeed market EQ2 very well early on. They may not market EQ2 much anymore, because honestly they are not getting enough return on the investment. The reasons are numerous why EQ2 cannot attract and hold many new players, but it is not due to lack of marketing. This is a common theme across all of the SOE titles that if they just advertised their games they would get more people, but I don't think SOE is dumb enough not to do that if it would grow their subscribers.
Just look at the first few moments people who try the game and what they might encounter.
1) The station launcher has been a very poor experience for many people with slow downloads, misleading estimated times, disconnects, etc. The very first experience with the software can be an absolute nightmare which is a turn off. Maybe it has gotten better recently, but it has always been a pain in the ass.
2) Once the game is loaded, the default graphics settings make the characters/graphics look terrible at the creation screen. I'm talking from a fresh install here, not someone making a new character on an existing account. Upon the first log in and performance is most likely terrible as well. Many times on this very forum I have heard people say the first thing you need to do is adjust several of the many various settings to get the game to look good or perform good. This is not a very good initial impression for many people.
3) The same thing as above applies to the UI. It is ugly and clunky out of the box to many new users. Again many people suggest one of the first things new players do is download some mod or another, because the deafult UI is either non intuitive or just doesn't give a good experience.
Please note I am not saying the game sucks, because it really isn't relative to this. However it often does not start off on a very good first impression with many people and these are topics I have seen many times. It may not be an issue to people who are used to fixing .INI files and downloading mods, but many people just don't want or know how to do that before they even play a game.
Any experience past that is already starting at an uphill battle for many new players. Something that might have a negative impact on a players gameplay experience is just that much more to overcome from an already rocky start. From the actual experience of leveling a character in an established game to the inconsistant and sometimes heavy handed nature with which SOE makes changes to the game. Not to mention any impressions a player might have heard of the game, SOE or what they might expect from a game based on their previous MMO experiences.
Advertising isn't going to make any of that go away.
Ignore daffidoll, she takes every possible chance to slam EQ2 and obsesses with whatever she doesn't like about it over and over and over.