Quite scary betaforum experience

Harafnir

Now, I know this is the wrong forum to put this, since MMORPG.com have a moderator that has the right to insult and flame anyone speaking against EQ II, but I will try anyway. I will also leave this thread afterwards, because that kind of behaviour in a (used to be) impartial MMO gamesite, kind of wraps my knickers, and I dislike arguing with people that go with the "agree or I kick you" style. Anyway...

There is a post in betaforum about the 4 chars/ account that has actually survived! All threads about this topic has been quickly locked and deleted, so that we are allowed to have one took me by surprise... By now it is 16 pages long, but it should be a lot longer, by one single reason. They are deleteing 90 percent of the posts speaking against 4 character per account. Right now those 16 pages are almost entirelly posts for 4 slots. Several people, including me have tried several times to post there, but been deleted within a minute, several posts have appeared "why was THAT deleted" from calm betatesters and some girls, real nice people without a hint of cursing or abuse in their posts.. Only problem has been that they were against it. Those that agree with 4 characters per server though can say almost whatever they want and still have their posts up.So the post right now consist of almost 95 percent posts saying those that want more than 4 chars are stupid... and 5 percent posts that, in a VERY meek and careful tone say "Well, it would have been nice... BTW You ROCK!" or something in that line... Of course quickly getting flamed by those that can say what they want....

I find this amazing in a beta from a semiserious company.... betatesters can only give feedback if it is the same as the moderators... Any negative feedback is deleted. Thanks for testing. I have put a new post up now to try this again.. last disappeared in less than a minute. But, just so people know.. People are trying to talk to the devs.. But as of this week, only those that say the same as SOE have the right to post on key issues.

I am actually waiting for them to put a yellow cross on my avatar soon.

Only game I wait for right now: Imperator.
Go Mythic!

Gindolmer

Hmmm... that is fairly interesting assuming its true. The only thing contradicting is that the beta forums will inevitably be deleted at launch anyway... so what's the point in making it sound like 95% of the beta testers were for the 4chars/server when there will soon be no proof. I personally hate the idea of 4chars/server but I'm sure I will get used to it... and hey, at least it's not 1 char/server

rdvenom

My biggest concern with only 4 characters is what happens when an expansion is released in a year that introduces a new playable race and my 4 character slots are already taken?  Will I be forced to delete one of my characters to try the new race?

Goob

Yet more proof of what kind of company SOE is.  It's not like anyone needs convincing that SOE isn't a fair company anyway.

If there ever is any reason I won't play EQ2, it's becuase of SOE's actions, towards their games and their fanbase.  Customer aid/support, in any business, is what makes it a good company.

If anyone thinks SOE is a 'good/fair' company, please explain why, along with your perspective on their negative actions.

Doomsayer

I believe its 4 slots PERIOD....across ALL servers. Not 4 slots per server.

Once people find a server they like, they will probably be reluctant to go anywhere else...so its basically 4 slots on 1 server. And none on the others.

So basically the most characters you can have at any time in this game is 4. Which could really suck if you invested alot of time and a server with a different ruleset comes out. Unless they allow transfers you either start over and delete your character...or just be SoL.

And yes, with further expansions, adding races/classes...having only 4 characters will truly suck. Hopefully they will add character slots if they add content like that.

I do believe that 4 slots for the first 6 months is plenty...then they can add more should they have the available rescources and the demand from the player base.

We shall see. SoE is on such thin ice with me right now its not funny. Luckily I have Vanguard to dream of...someday...someday....

Everything born must die. All that is, will come to ruin. This is the essence of Doom. So sayeth the Doomsayer.

Amatay

I still believe (whether it's wishful thinking or not) that the four slot thing is still just for beta. It makes no sense to me when EQ1 can hold 8 toons per server why they would drop it down. It won't really increase 2 boxing any in my opinion because people who 2 box will do it anyway. The people who don't (like me) will continue to NOT do it. I'm not going to buy another computer, another copy, and pay for another account just to have more characters. It's just a game for crying out loud.

Although, I must say, that if this IS true, and for some reason or another SOE is kinda selling me short, then I just might be breaking my rule on only have one account and buying WoW as well.

I feel that 4 characters per account is not enough, especially when I am playing a game nearly 6 years old that allows WAAAAAAY more than that. I cannot think of any type of physical/networking/databse reason as to why they would have to limit character creation so much. I mean how many millions of people had battle.net accounts to play diablo 2 online?

jayheld90

that's definitely a wrong thing for them to do, if what your saying is true. but, personally i see no reason to have more than 4 chars. for one reason though, i usually only play one char and maybe have a second alt to try something different, so one or two chars would have been fine for me. i just don't see a need for more than 4.

Ominis

I have no problem having only 4 characters for an online game that I'm going to play only for a short period (like a few months to a year) but EQII is another story altogether. Most people who are planning on buying this game are planning on keeping it for the next few years (like EQ, maybe even longer) and 4 characters just will not cut it for that long a period a time. That's excluding anything that might be released with any expansion packs, which I think it would be terrible for SOE to make people delete characters of theirs just to be able to try new classes that they might not even like. I would be fine with 4 characters per server, but only 4 per account is kind of cheap on SOE’s part considering we're paying $15 a month.

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Currently:
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Dulain

The threads on this issue are being locked/deleted on the general forums as well. The problem is that they are turning out to be some flaming between posters. Instead of stopping the flamers, the mods said not to post anymore on this topic.

I really think that only 4 characters per account is a rip off. This is not 4 per server. It is 4 characters total for $15/month.

I will be forced to delete a character if I ever decide to try something new, or use another server.

Nightbrother

I've played Star Wars: Galaxies a lot, and SOE treat criticism exactly the same way on those boards as well. Quick deletion of said 'naughty' post, without explanation, and when you privately ask moderators why, you're met by a wall of silence.

That's one of the things that drove me away from SW:G, and one of the reasons why I'm tentative about EQ2.

seakelp911

How many char slots per server were you given in SWG?

jimruk

Maybe if you grind through all the classes with your character slot you will be able to open your force sensitve slot.  Do that with each slot then you can have 8 characters of one server. 

Do they have the force in Norrath?

j/k

Skratch1320

That's a contridiction in terms...

"Let's see, lets have a beta test with a forum for testers to post all potential problems and feedback suggestions. If it doesn't match what we think, then we delete it. If it does match, we keep it. Yea that sounds like a good plan!"

But, I have to say this, Were you expecting anything else from SOE?

 

"Rehab is for quitters."

Saranth

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Originally posted by jimruk
Maybe if you grind through all the classes with your character slot you will be able to open your force sensitve slot. Do that with each slot then you can have 8 characters of one server.
Do they have the force in Norrath?
j/k

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That's funny.

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dtritus

As things stand it's 4 toons per account. You select the server AFTER making and naming your character.

In SWG you had 1 character per server. If you wanted to try something else you had to do it on a different server.

Perhaps they want to encourage people into buying multiple accounts?

Skratch1320

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Originally posted by dtritus

As things stand it's 4 toons per account. You select the server AFTER making and naming your character.
In SWG you had 1 character per server. If you wanted to try something else you had to do it on a different server.
Perhaps they want to encourage people into buying multiple accounts?

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WHOOHOO! Bot encouragement!

/sarcasym off

"Rehab is for quitters."

Amatay

If I can only have 4 toons per account, I will definately be buying 2 accounts. 1 for EQ2, 1 for WoW. Only one will stay active though.

Hint hint SOE.

Theely

They will use this for "damn it buy me" expansion fodder. The thought of it pisses me off. I'm a use Alt fan. I use to alts falling all out my arse and loved it.....

I can't see myself liking this idea AT ALL.

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shadowgrx20

Heh. of course SOE isn't going to be fair if they get tons of posts on their official website saying 95% of the people posting think SOE chose the wrong number of char. slots.... we are dealing with the big boys, and they are never fair and will do a lot to save the image of their game.  Maybe they will take it into account and give 5 slots.  I doubt it but maybe over time in expansions they will.  I plan on probly play 3 chars so for me 4 slots is fine... it could get frustrating if i want to make more than 4 but i plan on playing a troll monk, human necro, gnome dirge and probly some other scout class if i choose i don't like one of these.  i can deal with it, its not the end of the world

dsorrent

Well, there's two things that I see that make this interesting..

 

Who has the authority to delete posts on the board?  If it's the developers, maybe they are deleting them because it's something that will require ALOT of work to re-do and they don't want SOE to day "Hey, the customer wants this, lets give it to them."

 

Why would they delete those posts? 

 

UPDATE:  Ok, so I checked the Beta Forums and there is a thread there which about 90% of the posts on it say that 4 characters per account is a bad idea.  I'm not sure what you are posting here about?  I do know, it's common to lock threads on the Beta Forum where an "official" thread already exists.  Perhaps people were starting new threads on an already existing topic?

jayheld90

dsorrent, seems they deleted that post from the link you provided... "Access Denied"

jimothypetro

Hmm.. why is this a problem?

Yes, they are deleting every thread BUT 1 about the 4 characters per account.. the keywords are "BUT 1".

Do you realize how many threads there were in the beta forums when Moorgard made that statement. More than 10+ on the first page easily.

So the mods on the forum limited it to one thread. Makes sense to me... pretty much every website would do the same.. why have a bunch of topics on the same thing when you can have one, where everything is in the same spot?

Even this site does it.. "WoW vs. EQ2" threads ring a bell? This site would be filled with almost nothing but those posts, but instead there is only one post about it.

By the way, I hate the idea of 4 characters per account as well, but I still think the devs might change it. SOE has actually been pretty good listening to the players so far(Quest journal, fog of war maps, more variety between characters, etc., all changed because the players made threads that ended up being 15+ pages).

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jimothypetro

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Originally posted by jayheld90
dsorrent, seems they deleted that post from the link you provided... "Access Denied"

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That's just because you're not in beta, it's still there. 18 pages long.

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"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977

dsorrent

Oh, yea.. sorry about that... since it's on the Beta Forums you need to be in Beta to see it... I probably should have mentioned that...

jayheld90

hehe, ok i understand now. but, i thought they opened up the beta forums to everyone when the lifted the NDA? whats up with that? anyways, if they were deleting them, they probably only wanted one thread going about it, so it didnt spiral out of control maybe?

dsorrent

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Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Being an altaholic, I can see why people are upset about this. When I played EQLive and DAoC, I don't think I ever had less then 8 characters created. It was fun to play a different type of character from time to time, plus it was helpful if a group needed a particular level or class of character. If it was 4 slots per server, I could probably live with that and since I never play on more then 1 server, I guess I can live with 4 slots total. Logical approach to this would be that you can make 1 of each Archetype and since all Archetypes of the same kind are fairly equal, I see no problem with this current setup.
I'm not saying I like it, but it won't keep me from playing EQ2, thats for certain. If you want something to worry about, we got bigger issues to deal with like the multitude of bugs still infesting the game. I sure hope SOE stops adding crap to the game, fixes the problems and lag they currently have or else the launch is going to spell certain doom for their ongoing reputation.
 

One of many,
Rhojan

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Well, the problem with making one of each archetype is that you'll still need to delete a character if you want to try all of the level 20+ classes.  So, you need to level a character to 20, try him out as a Ranger, lets say.. Then.. Delete him.  Level another scout to 20 and try Assassin...

 

At least with 8 slots or moving to a per server basis, doing a delete of a character can be pushed off for a decent amount of time, taking alot of the pain away...