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Everquest 3?

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  • MardyMardy Member Posts: 2,213
    Originally posted by Uway

    Originally posted by grandpagamer


    Two things I always find amusing are.
    1. Detractors say-SOE is just about making money and care not about anything else.
    2. Detractors say- EQ and EQ 2 are bleeding subs and going under.
    My question is, if SOE is all about the money and the EQ games are not making money why arnt they gone?

     

    All I have read are critical analysis of how Sony has handled its Everquest franchise, which gives us insight of what we can expect from them with EQ3.

     

    ^ Thank you, at least someone understands it.  As for why aren't EQ1/EQ2 gone?  Because they make money for SOE.  But just because a game makes money for the company that runs it, doesn't mean the game is doing "well" or as good as the players/fans would like.  It is ultimately about how SOE handles their games, and their lack of desire to make a game excellent, but make them good enough to make them money so they can move on to the next project.  SOE is going for quantity before quality, you won't find many people disagreeing with that.  And before EQ2 was released, this was not the case, and this is why people are wary about them making EQ3.

     

    EQ1 was a true success story, yes.  It lead the 3D MMORPG genre, sparked many ideas, helped other gaming companies design their first MMORPG.  It peaked at 450k+ subscribers, something none of SOE's other pay-to-play games have ever been able to reproduce.   The problem is ever since EQ2 was launched, SOE has been pushing to make EQ2 its flagship product.  This is even with EQ1 still being more popular than EQ2 even 3 years after EQ2 launched.  Ever since EQ2 launched, SOE has been pulling dev resources away from EQ1 to crank out expansions for EQ2, to create Free Realms, to create online cash shops.

     

    So instead of spending the money they made with EQ1 into revamping character models, something Everquest fans have wanted since....Luclin days, they chose to spend the money into TV commercials for Free Realms.  Instead of giving EQ1 dev resources so they can create more class epics, which many EQ1 fans want, they have pulled devs away from EQ1 to work on other projects.  Instead of creating new armor/weapon/mounts/fluff pets ingame, they've opted to make them something you have to pay cash for.  There are tons of awesome looking mounts ingame, but they are only available if you are willing to pay cash to play their online trading card game, which is nothing but a gambling design since you aren't guaranteed to get them.  There are tons of good looking weapon models out there, but most of them are available again, through cash shops only.  Instead of advertising EQ1's new expansions, most people didn't know about them because they chose to advertise EQ2 instead.

     

    This is how SOE pays tribute to the Everquest fans that got their company started, and ultimately made them the company they are today. This is their business decision to run EQ1 into the ground so perhaps people would finally give up and move to EQ2. Many feels the same way with how they've treated Vanguard ever since Smed promised to never repeat another SWG NGE.  Instead of pooling their dev resources together to make sure they create excellent games, they chose to spread them thin and make lots of so-so games and be happy about it because people are willing to pay them money to buy pets, mounts, weapon graphics, etc..  Because people spend these money in online cash shops, they don't care if their games don't have tons of players playing.  1 person spending $200 in one night on online trading cards paid them more than a year's worth of monthly subscriptions.  I bring this example up because someone did that recently in EQ1.

     

    SOE's business model makes it so their games can't really compete with today's MMO's.  Sure it's unfair to compare them to Blizzard, since Blizzard is much bigger and they always go for quality before quantity.  But size isn't the reason why SOE can't compete.  Look at Turbine, much smaller company, yet they have a game right now that's larger than SOE's flagship product.  Same with Eve, an oversea company, much much smaller than SOE yet they are capable of creating a game that has more subscribers than SOE's flagship product. 

    EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO

  • VallanorVallanor Member Posts: 103
    Originally posted by boojiboy


    Vanguard is what EQ2 should have been.  SoE elected not to properly invest in Vanguard which makes make me doubt they'd make an Everquest 3.  I think the future of MMOs for SoE will be things like Free Realm, cash-shops etc.

     

    You're almost right... I think the concept of Vanguard is what EQ2 should have been.  Heck, the concept of Vanguard is what Vanguard should have been.  Sadly, Brad McQuaid's incredible "vision" was destroyed by his own inability to lead effectively.  SoE hasn't done much with Vanguard since, I'll admit, but the failure of Vanguard is not the result of an improper investment on their part.  It was dead on arrival.

    If EQ3 is what Vanguard was promised to be, I will be a very happy camper.  But, I'm guessing you're probably right about SoE at this point.  They seem to be following the WoW game model, with a little RMT mixed in for good measure, and if that's what EQ3 becomes, count me out.

  • IadienIadien Member UncommonPosts: 638
    Originally posted by boojiboy


    Vanguard is what EQ2 should have been.  SoE elected not to properly invest in Vanguard which makes make me doubt they'd make an Everquest 3.  I think the future of MMOs for SoE will be things like Free Realm, cash-shops etc.

     

    Everquest 3 is already known to be in development. and how does buying out a game relate to SoE's main franchise? lol

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