Good real life example ......... people are discussing ways to improve the limited solo gameplay in eq2. Basically think of ways to improve the game, well some of the eq purist come in the thread, give thier OPINION and start to derail the thread of its original topic. People in this thread now have to wade through many post they dont even want to read just to see the ones about the threads topic. By post page 26 people give up picking through it.
Know what a hollow review is? It is a review of a product after only reviewing it a short time. Most of you gamer magazines do this becuase they have so many games to review. So why did i push your 6 hours and ten minutes? Becuase you gave a hollow review ................ a game is designed to hook someone in, in the first 30 minutes, its gonna show the flash and the glam ......... however this will fade over time. I could not play a game for 6 hours and speak so highly of it with thinking i would be taken seriously by serious people. A hollow review is another way to hook people in a 30 minute period, marketing loop hole if you will. Using laziness to help the cuase if you like simple black and white explanation.
SWG was crap when i tried it. ill admit that, but i feel like its more the devs. fault for that. now im no expert on EQ or EQII, i played EQ for 10 mins b4 uninstalling, and ive just started playing EQII. i played EQII last night for 6 hrs straight tho, not too many games keep me attention that well. as far as EQ goes, it looked like it might b a great game...5 yrs ago. But in this day and age, i want good grafix and sound. anyway, im not knocking EQ, but it looks like EQII is an updated version of that game, so i play it. so what im trying to say is when a game is crap, stop playing it, dont go on and on about it for a yr on the forums. u will come across many crappy games out there, doesnt mean that the publisher or devs. r complete retards, just means that they published a crappy game. move on, good ppl, move on...
There is still a ton of broken and incomplete content in EQ2. Pet classes cannot rely on their pets to follow them close or follow orders, Itemization, especially in the the newest expansion is totally out of whack (level 72 MC gear is superior to legendary items that are 5-7 levels higher?) and 99.9% of the treasured items and quest rewards are pure vendor fodder...Instance zones have been tweeked to account for epic weapons, but for the vast majority who have not received their epics yet, the instances are now death traps where you can expect to die 8-12 times and STILL may not complete the instance the first time through...
Epic weapon quests were obviously designed by lazy developers who designed the quests, then Devs gave out cheats to favored guilds (/wave NPU) who got their mythical epics in less than 4 days....SOE brushed it under the rug, apparently doing nothing to the cheating Devs (one is still playing in the same guild he helped to cheat)
the laundry list goes on and on....there are some SOE bootlickers out there who believe that SOE can do no wrong....That's fine....keep enjoying your tainted little game full of plat farmers, harvest BoTs, cheaters, hackers and exploiters...SOE turns a blind eye to them all...Basically it's bad for their business to try to counter the cheaters in game...and it's quite apparent all they care about is their bottom line. They got rid of all the good developers and hired a bunch of piss ant interns who work for bird seed and no nothing about developing content, much less repairing the bugs and incompletions that the game is rife with
A "critic" is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased – he hates all creative people equally. -Robert A. Heinlein
To the Heinlein quote, I offer a quote from a sig I saw here:
"I don't have to be a better game developer than you, I just need to know where the cancel button is."
Don't ever let people who are trying to sell you something rule your decisions on any basis whatsoever, ESPECIALLY on an "I'm smarter than you, so shut up and give me money" basis.
I don't personally have the skills to machine and assemble my own car's engine, but I have every right to decide if I want to give money for that car, and when I do, I expect it to do what the maker said it would - get me from one place to another without problems. That's what they said it would do in the advertisement, and that's what I expect to have in exchange for my money.
But software development has been given an incredible immunity to every customer protection law we have, and therein lies all of our problems. I can't think of any other kind of product where you can sell someone something they can't really examine, then claim "caveat emptor" and keep their money the instant they open the package even if the product doesn't actually do what the maker said it would.
I think SOE's problems are directly related to this right across the board. They think that because the law gave them (and every other software manufacturer) a free pass to sell lame software, customers have to obey that law too and buy whatever they shovel out from the rear ends of their developers.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The ultimate law for any company is "will people give me money for what I'm doing for them". If what they make isn't good enough by your standards, then you have every right to limit your losses and spend your monthly sub on something that does deliver what you wanted to buy in the first place.
For me, it's all about fun. I am paying for a GAME, after all. EQ1 was fun (despite the grind) because it took skill and decisionmaking in combat to win tough fights, and when you had that skill, you felt good when you won. That was worth putting up with all of the other problems it had.
EQ2 is just a theme-park grind though - run their little quests for levels and items, then run them some more, then run them some more, until you can raid for teh phat lewts, because everyone is just a retarded wannabe winner and it's easy to set up a treadmill for those types and let them sweat money for you.
Sorry SOE, you promised fun and delivered a brainless grind with some really bullcrap quests, like search the entire mob-filled zone for 4 things, each of which is about 1 foot long and hidden by terrain features. Yeah, that sounds like fun, lemme call my friends and tell them about it lol, I'm sure they'll rush to sub.
Yeah, exactly. Also all the other mmos are the same. They are based on the same formula so there wont be major differences at all and it seems that all the new and upcoming mmos are following the same footsteps. So not much diff at all, every one of em want to make money.
Actually, I find LOTRO to be a step above the lot. They put in some fun challenges, and the storyline is the best I've ever seen in an MMO - you play through lots of side stories, often running alongside NPC's as you beat up some particular bad guy.
Great community too, anyone filthing up the chat channels gets spanked immediately, so it's a good clean environment.
So yeah, I have a problem with SOE. Star Wars Galaxies was fine until they utterly destroyed it. I mean, sure, there are bad patches and updates now and then, it's common... but the *entire game* gets shot to hell because someone just had to reinvent the whole thing and produce a half-arsed game out of it? I would be fine with the changes now if they spent some time to polish it, but I'm sorry, it was a mess at the NGE launch and it still is. They're trying desperately to do the same thing to EQ2, it would seem. Right when I joined, they nerfed the crafting system. I mean, seriously, I was willing to put SWG behind me and play another game, but they just changed it dramatically for the worst right as I started playing. That's not cool. While this may be a decision on the studio's part, and not the publisher's, I blame them because they screw up enough to warrant it . SOE needs to take some time to re-think their development strategies and it wouldn't hurt them to replace some higher-ups with more intelligent and creative people.
That's why I decided to join the industry as an artist / animator / programmer (I'm not great at coding, but good enough to put it on my resume)... I'm employed at Atari currently, which I'm quitting to join something else, probably THQ, Activision, NC Soft, or Take Two (Firaxis hopefully). Atari isn't doing too well, and I say that lightly.
Their problem is that they shift poor developers around from one game to another, thereby spreading the rot. Their recent lead dev appointment to Planetside was someone with no FPS experience- he was an SWG developer who had played Quake on his own time.
I could see it coming. And it came in the form of "new content" releases (which were actually old content lying around on shelves) that were totally exploitable and rolled out in a rush.
Content like:
New weapons that were first released only to the veterans so they could happily farm people without being challenged, like
new guns that totally rendered the most heavily armored people helpless to perform their job of rushing and breaking the enemy's line to end stalemates and move the game on, etc.
New vehicles that were totally exploitable and unbalanced, such as
invisible aircraft that could farm people all day without risk,
insanely armored air gunships that could go up against the massed fire of several tanks and WIN THE FIGHT omg - ppl would spend all day just flying around owning everything below.
But no changes that the playerbase had been asking for for years, such as improved command functions, barriers against known in-game exploits and cheater programs, new bases and base capabilities such as rearm-recharge stations at towers, etc. Things that would fix known problems and add more depth and dimension to the gameplay.
Nope, it's all about rolling stuff out so you can claim accomplishments to your bosses. The results? Numbers at all time low, cheaters rampaging all over ruining the gameplay, and a dumb, frustrating game experience now. Good job SOE.
It's good that EQ2 is such a different game that they can't do as much damage. But they have turned it into a "maintenance mode" game, where everything is about the end-game people, and nothing is about making the game more fun for everyone. Kunark was a total waste of money for me- I expected a better EoF with more fun and content to play up, and got a laggy, crappy high-end quester/raider "phat-lewt" deal.
They could have just item-malled the stupid lewt for those who care about such crap and spared me the deception of thinking that I was buying something fun to play with a friend (the only reason I play EQ2, for those who wonder - until I couldn't take it, I used it to hang with my best friend since we live hours away now).
Anyone know if any SWG devs are working on EQ2? I bet they are....
Tried to renew subscription and SOE in it's wisdom updated it to something which doesn't work correctly either (Oo surprise)
Seems they have some issues with checking currency and country and are craping out on some cards checks (check two of course none of them want to work with SOE)
Even better to report problem with payment system you need to click somehow 10 times, and bug report form ain't flawless either...
Jeez I can't belive sometimes this company can make money
After a few days into EQ2's 14 day trial, I thought I would go ahead and get me and the wife a couple of accounts.
Living in australia, It took a few days to track down 2 box copies it, only 1 being Rise of Kunark, the other the original release.
Not realising that we needed to pay the first month before we would get our first 30 days free. . . , I went ahead and activated my box key, and killed my trial account in the process. Not having a credit card (more of a personal preference than anything else), I was unable to subscribe. I opened a support ticket for the both of us, mainly asking a few questions that we were unsure of and that were not answered in the knowledge base.
3 days later, after realizing that not a single gaming store anywhere near us sold SOE game time cards, my 30 days were activated, minus the days i spent on the trial.
My wife's account however changed from "Offer only available to new accounts" to "You do not have a subscription".
2 days after that and we have still yet to hear from any soe employee after numerous attempts to email them. Being in australia, chat support is at a very awkward time for us, and phoning them is excessive.
We are getting a credit card, reluctantly (for more than just EQ2) but this "phantom" customer support is really starting to wear thin.
After a few days into EQ2's 14 day trial, I thought I would go ahead and get me and the wife a couple of accounts. Living in australia, It took a few days to track down 2 box copies it, only 1 being Rise of Kunark, the other the original release. Not realising that we needed to pay the first month before we would get our first 30 days free. . . , I went ahead and activated my box key, and killed my trial account in the process. Not having a credit card (more of a personal preference than anything else), I was unable to subscribe. I opened a support ticket for the both of us, mainly asking a few questions that we were unsure of and that were not answered in the knowledge base. 3 days later, after realizing that not a single gaming store anywhere near us sold SOE game time cards, my 30 days were activated, minus the days i spent on the trial. My wife's account however changed from "Offer only available to new accounts" to "You do not have a subscription". 2 days after that and we have still yet to hear from any soe employee after numerous attempts to email them. Being in australia, chat support is at a very awkward time for us, and phoning them is excessive. We are getting a credit card, reluctantly (for more than just EQ2) but this "phantom" customer support is really starting to wear thin.
eeehhh ummm urrr... emmh... you don't have credit cards? that was a new one... hehehe
anyway good to see that there is so many people showing their love for SOE... spent lots of good times with SWG, EQ2 and PotBS... all fun games if you like the settings.. since this is a dedicated hate section I think I will post my hate to SOE as well... shame on you for having fun games for me.
to the other haters quit sobbing and play something else which you want to play. People spend way too much time and energy hating a silly game... it's a GAAAAAAAAAAAAME... you don't need to play it if you don't like it...
yeah support for most mmo's is not really helping much and it seems like the game company puts too little effort making good service for people... worst I've ever experienced must be CCP and EVE sent a petition on tons of issues from when i started.. the waiting time was 1st 3 days then a week and finally a month to get response.... haven't had so much issus with SOE mostly because I haven't had much problems and when I had they got solved fairly quickly.
Most important when it comes to support is that they adress the issue within 48 hours no matter which day it is only then I think people will be happy and that the help actually helps. General bugs and stuff that need patching is ok if they just tell us gamers that they're at least aware of the problem instead of leading people on stupid solutions that won't help at all... too many mmo companies is bad when it comes to support..
I think EQ2 is great, sometimes I just login to chat to old EQ friends other times I might go group a bit or I might just buy a petrified troll eye and run about thinking im a troll. I just generally have fun and if im not having fun I log off. SOE have been good and bad, I played SWG I worked damn hard to get my jedi and it was ruined when they decided to make it a selectable class, I felt all my hard work had been for nothing *shakes his fist at SOE* but EQ2 yeah there is bad bits and yeah there is good bits.
Like a few people have said already on this post, its a game if you don't like it don't pay to play and if you don't pay to play then why bother being upset about it.
Well, this thread seems interesting. Why would they put a thread for SoE hate in the forum of the only half decent game they have going for them? Thats just like kicking an autistic child when its on the floor.
I saw a comparison of WoW vs EQ2 instances and dungeons somewhere in this thread, I couldn't find it again so I can't quote it but its a laugh if you think that WoW has anything near what EQ2 has. I'm a player on the other side of the fence, I've been playing WoW since release and only recently stopped playing because of lack of content. Sure it takes forever to grind your gear from the end game instances but who wants to do the same one instance (or few, Hyjal, Sunwell and BT) over and over? They aren't even that fun, I can name the fun fights on one hand, Archimonde and Eredar Twins. The rest is boring and monotonous. I also saw a comparison for low level content and I had to laugh. Who the hell actually runs the low level instances in WoW PROPERLY? They just get their 70 friend to destroy the instance for them and farm the gear so they can go back and solo grind to 70 faster.
I haven't played EQ2 much because it is indeed hard to get into but I can see all the content they have and it does stack much higher against WoW.
I see complaints about tradeskills in EQ2 being useless. Have you actually LOOKED at the WoW professions? Lol, jewelcrafting and enchanting and the gathering professions are the only ones that you should bother looking at because the rest is a waste of your time. Even at low levels the armour and weapon crafting profs (blacksmithing, leatherworking, tailoring) are completely useless but from what I hear you can gear yourself decently at low levels with their counterparts in EQ2.
If you want to count in time to get to max level, the current record of getting to max level in WoW is something around 4 or 5 days played. Granted thats using rested exp all the way and I'm pretty certain the character was twinked but thats not the point. You can't get to max level in EQ2 in 4-5 days played even with double exp the entire way and the best gear, not even close. (this is from what I hear) Does that sound like fun? Not to me. Call me a carebear but I like my pve content and WoW just doesn't fit the bill. EQ2 seems to and I'd like someone to point out another MMO that has more content than EQ2 from 1 to max level, not just endgame.
Bashing on a company because some of their games don't cater to your tastes isn't right. And the rewards in WoW are handed to you on a silver platter and spoon fed to you. And to all those that say "Noes it takes hours and hours of end game grinding to get those purples!" Grats, the silver platter comes a little slower, its still easymode. How about skillherald? Hmm? Its not very hard to get now with nether vortexes (yes its vortexes) being buyable from a vendor. Talk about your overpowered easymode item.
Addition : And the only reason I'm not playing EQ2 at the moment is because my computer is having a fit and refuses to boot, my laptop cannot handle EQ2 or WoW (failure Geforce Go 6150 integrated) or I would indeed be enjoying myself on EQ2. If you don't want to play decent games because you are sour at a company for their past mistakes then you are just losing out.
Well, this thread seems interesting. Why would they put a thread for SoE hate in the forum of the only half decent game they have going for them? Thats just like kicking an autistic child when its on the floor.
They had to do it because the number of "SoE" suxx posts were getting out of control.
By creating this thread, they can now close every thread that explicitly criticise SoE, therefore the game and SoE looks better.......
I can't blame MMORPG.com, after all SoE is a good advertiser and I would have problably done the same.
Plus some of the threads were frankly too trollish.
But then again if people hate so much SoE, there is a reason.
People just don't wake up in the morning and decide that all of a sudden they don't fancy SoE anymore..........
Well, SoE finally kicked itself with the RMT update yesterday. Having promised that no RMT will touch the non-exchange servers, we had a surprise yesterday -- welcome to F2P with a damn paid subscription icing.
It's no wonder why folks HATE SoE with a passion.
No warning, and an excuse that the ingame survey dictated this move. Ah, it had to be programmed w-a-y more in advanced than one week that survey existed.
Well, SoE finally kicked itself with the RMT update yesterday. Having promised that no RMT will touch the non-exchange servers, we had a surprise yesterday -- welcome to F2P with a damn paid subscription icing. It's no wonder why folks HATE SoE with a passion. No warning, and an excuse that the ingame survey dictated this move. Ah, it had to be programmed w-a-y more in advanced than one week that survey existed. Station Trash is the new name for it. Pass it on!
personally i am very unhappy about the adding of the itemshop, and how they did it in a stealth action.
but on otherside i don't agree with itemshops = RMT, for me RMT involves a waythat players can sell other players things and earn money (and itemshops usually don't allow that). but that still changes nothing to the fact that this is just another greedy way for soe to earn more money.
i agree with the idead of having itemshops in F2P games to allow developers to earn some money, and if teh implementation is done in a way that you also can live without spending money. But itemshops in a p2p game is just pure greed.
If SoE made EQ2 a F2P (like canceling the subscriptions) it could be tolerated more, but what burns me is I didn't even get a advanced warning. Compound it to buy TSO and that crap, I'm more than irriate.
Hate to leave my friend who've I've been playing with for awhile, but a game with cheaters by design isn't gaming. Already enough of those dopes are claiming XP/AA potions are "fluff".
Well it just goes to show these extras (Items)are the types of things that should be included in content patches and or updates with subscription games. New armor, decorations, different items. Why should players have to pay for it twice? You know you aren't going to get any more cool new Items/Armors/Weapons/Mounts in patches, right? It will be added to the store and or card game,RMT.And just to add this in, what do you think if they ever went with another Expansion Pack?Are those days over for the packs as well?So much for the New stuff...
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
Yeah, in some ways I miss playing EQ2, as I miss playing that F2P game. But item malls ruin gameplay, to the point that leaving early will save you more grief down the road. You'll be thanking yourself later.
BTW, is there any MMO publisher hated more than SoE? I mean this thread has over 21,000 views alone.
Most likely will cancel my subscription in a few days. After the stealth introduction of an item shop (something they promised NOT to do) I have no fait for SOE anymore. And I still think it's the best MMO around... Just not the one worth sticking with at this point.
SOE... You do more harm, than good for yourself. Shame on you.
I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again.
People hate SOE because of SWG. Honestly people, why keep on crying about something that happened years ago?
LOL. If after all these years you still think it's only because of the NGE. Well then you are pretty narrowminded and very naive.
After the NGE, years later they brought a lot of hate on them with Station Exchange.
So much even... that The Smed himself was forced to come to their official forums to calm people down and that they reverted the idea and put Station Exchange on new seperated servers.
I guess you forgot that one didn't you.
Now years later again SOE brings a lot of hate on themselves by STEALTH patching a Cash Shop on ALL EverQuest 2 servers! Something they said never to do on the existing servers!
Now months later, a game they would never touch with any RMT, Vanguard is the next victim and they going to slam FULL FLEDGED RMT (Live Gamer) to ALL Vanguard servers!
Something NO ONE was asking for!
So give me a break. The excuse that people still only hate SOE because of the NGE is getting old!
Comments
Some posters here seem to be under the illusion that games companys do this for love..how wrong they are
Good real life example ......... people are discussing ways to improve the limited solo gameplay in eq2. Basically think of ways to improve the game, well some of the eq purist come in the thread, give thier OPINION and start to derail the thread of its original topic. People in this thread now have to wade through many post they dont even want to read just to see the ones about the threads topic. By post page 26 people give up picking through it.
Know what a hollow review is? It is a review of a product after only reviewing it a short time. Most of you gamer magazines do this becuase they have so many games to review. So why did i push your 6 hours and ten minutes? Becuase you gave a hollow review ................ a game is designed to hook someone in, in the first 30 minutes, its gonna show the flash and the glam ......... however this will fade over time. I could not play a game for 6 hours and speak so highly of it with thinking i would be taken seriously by serious people. A hollow review is another way to hook people in a 30 minute period, marketing loop hole if you will. Using laziness to help the cuase if you like simple black and white explanation.
SWG was crap when i tried it. ill admit that, but i feel like its more the devs. fault for that. now im no expert on EQ or EQII, i played EQ for 10 mins b4 uninstalling, and ive just started playing EQII. i played EQII last night for 6 hrs straight tho, not too many games keep me attention that well. as far as EQ goes, it looked like it might b a great game...5 yrs ago. But in this day and age, i want good grafix and sound. anyway, im not knocking EQ, but it looks like EQII is an updated version of that game, so i play it. so what im trying to say is when a game is crap, stop playing it, dont go on and on about it for a yr on the forums. u will come across many crappy games out there, doesnt mean that the publisher or devs. r complete retards, just means that they published a crappy game. move on, good ppl, move on...
There is still a ton of broken and incomplete content in EQ2. Pet classes cannot rely on their pets to follow them close or follow orders, Itemization, especially in the the newest expansion is totally out of whack (level 72 MC gear is superior to legendary items that are 5-7 levels higher?) and 99.9% of the treasured items and quest rewards are pure vendor fodder...Instance zones have been tweeked to account for epic weapons, but for the vast majority who have not received their epics yet, the instances are now death traps where you can expect to die 8-12 times and STILL may not complete the instance the first time through...
Epic weapon quests were obviously designed by lazy developers who designed the quests, then Devs gave out cheats to favored guilds (/wave NPU) who got their mythical epics in less than 4 days....SOE brushed it under the rug, apparently doing nothing to the cheating Devs (one is still playing in the same guild he helped to cheat)
the laundry list goes on and on....there are some SOE bootlickers out there who believe that SOE can do no wrong....That's fine....keep enjoying your tainted little game full of plat farmers, harvest BoTs, cheaters, hackers and exploiters...SOE turns a blind eye to them all...Basically it's bad for their business to try to counter the cheaters in game...and it's quite apparent all they care about is their bottom line. They got rid of all the good developers and hired a bunch of piss ant interns who work for bird seed and no nothing about developing content, much less repairing the bugs and incompletions that the game is rife with
To the Heinlein quote, I offer a quote from a sig I saw here:
"I don't have to be a better game developer than you, I just need to know where the cancel button is."
Don't ever let people who are trying to sell you something rule your decisions on any basis whatsoever, ESPECIALLY on an "I'm smarter than you, so shut up and give me money" basis.
I don't personally have the skills to machine and assemble my own car's engine, but I have every right to decide if I want to give money for that car, and when I do, I expect it to do what the maker said it would - get me from one place to another without problems. That's what they said it would do in the advertisement, and that's what I expect to have in exchange for my money.
But software development has been given an incredible immunity to every customer protection law we have, and therein lies all of our problems. I can't think of any other kind of product where you can sell someone something they can't really examine, then claim "caveat emptor" and keep their money the instant they open the package even if the product doesn't actually do what the maker said it would.
I think SOE's problems are directly related to this right across the board. They think that because the law gave them (and every other software manufacturer) a free pass to sell lame software, customers have to obey that law too and buy whatever they shovel out from the rear ends of their developers.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The ultimate law for any company is "will people give me money for what I'm doing for them". If what they make isn't good enough by your standards, then you have every right to limit your losses and spend your monthly sub on something that does deliver what you wanted to buy in the first place.
For me, it's all about fun. I am paying for a GAME, after all. EQ1 was fun (despite the grind) because it took skill and decisionmaking in combat to win tough fights, and when you had that skill, you felt good when you won. That was worth putting up with all of the other problems it had.
EQ2 is just a theme-park grind though - run their little quests for levels and items, then run them some more, then run them some more, until you can raid for teh phat lewts, because everyone is just a retarded wannabe winner and it's easy to set up a treadmill for those types and let them sweat money for you.
Sorry SOE, you promised fun and delivered a brainless grind with some really bullcrap quests, like search the entire mob-filled zone for 4 things, each of which is about 1 foot long and hidden by terrain features. Yeah, that sounds like fun, lemme call my friends and tell them about it lol, I'm sure they'll rush to sub.
Actually, I find LOTRO to be a step above the lot. They put in some fun challenges, and the storyline is the best I've ever seen in an MMO - you play through lots of side stories, often running alongside NPC's as you beat up some particular bad guy.Yeah, exactly. Also all the other mmos are the same. They are based on the same formula so there wont be major differences at all and it seems that all the new and upcoming mmos are following the same footsteps. So not much diff at all, every one of em want to make money.
Great community too, anyone filthing up the chat channels gets spanked immediately, so it's a good clean environment.
Their problem is that they shift poor developers around from one game to another, thereby spreading the rot. Their recent lead dev appointment to Planetside was someone with no FPS experience- he was an SWG developer who had played Quake on his own time.
I could see it coming. And it came in the form of "new content" releases (which were actually old content lying around on shelves) that were totally exploitable and rolled out in a rush.
Content like:
New weapons that were first released only to the veterans so they could happily farm people without being challenged, like
New vehicles that were totally exploitable and unbalanced, such as
But no changes that the playerbase had been asking for for years, such as improved command functions, barriers against known in-game exploits and cheater programs, new bases and base capabilities such as rearm-recharge stations at towers, etc. Things that would fix known problems and add more depth and dimension to the gameplay.
Nope, it's all about rolling stuff out so you can claim accomplishments to your bosses. The results? Numbers at all time low, cheaters rampaging all over ruining the gameplay, and a dumb, frustrating game experience now. Good job SOE.
It's good that EQ2 is such a different game that they can't do as much damage. But they have turned it into a "maintenance mode" game, where everything is about the end-game people, and nothing is about making the game more fun for everyone. Kunark was a total waste of money for me- I expected a better EoF with more fun and content to play up, and got a laggy, crappy high-end quester/raider "phat-lewt" deal.
They could have just item-malled the stupid lewt for those who care about such crap and spared me the deception of thinking that I was buying something fun to play with a friend (the only reason I play EQ2, for those who wonder - until I couldn't take it, I used it to hang with my best friend since we live hours away now).
Anyone know if any SWG devs are working on EQ2? I bet they are....
Tried to renew subscription and SOE in it's wisdom updated it to something which doesn't work correctly either (Oo surprise)
Seems they have some issues with checking currency and country and are craping out on some cards checks (check two of course none of them want to work with SOE)
Even better to report problem with payment system you need to click somehow 10 times, and bug report form ain't flawless either...
Jeez I can't belive sometimes this company can make money
Regards,
adolf
After a few days into EQ2's 14 day trial, I thought I would go ahead and get me and the wife a couple of accounts.
Living in australia, It took a few days to track down 2 box copies it, only 1 being Rise of Kunark, the other the original release.
Not realising that we needed to pay the first month before we would get our first 30 days free. . .
, I went ahead and activated my box key, and killed my trial account in the process. Not having a credit card (more of a personal preference than anything else), I was unable to subscribe. I opened a support ticket for the both of us, mainly asking a few questions that we were unsure of and that were not answered in the knowledge base.
3 days later, after realizing that not a single gaming store anywhere near us sold SOE game time cards, my 30 days were activated, minus the days i spent on the trial.
My wife's account however changed from "Offer only available to new accounts" to "You do not have a subscription".
2 days after that and we have still yet to hear from any soe employee after numerous attempts to email them. Being in australia, chat support is at a very awkward time for us, and phoning them is excessive.
We are getting a credit card, reluctantly (for more than just EQ2) but this "phantom" customer support is really starting to wear thin.
eeehhh ummm urrr... emmh... you don't have credit cards? that was a new one... hehehe
anyway good to see that there is so many people showing their love for SOE... spent lots of good times with SWG, EQ2 and PotBS... all fun games if you like the settings.. since this is a dedicated hate section I think I will post my hate to SOE as well... shame on you for having fun games for me.
to the other haters quit sobbing and play something else which you want to play. People spend way too much time and energy hating a silly game... it's a GAAAAAAAAAAAAME... you don't need to play it if you don't like it...
I have the same payments issues with SOE.
None of two credit cards were accepted.
I opened support ticket. And got totally useless answer.
Advice to try something I stated in ticket I tried already.
Anyway it's just plain weird that if subscriptions are source of incom, support even in this department is lacking so much.
Luckly EQ2 is in better condition then SOE support is.
Regards,
adolf
yeah support for most mmo's is not really helping much and it seems like the game company puts too little effort making good service for people... worst I've ever experienced must be CCP and EVE sent a petition on tons of issues from when i started.. the waiting time was 1st 3 days then a week and finally a month to get response.... haven't had so much issus with SOE mostly because I haven't had much problems and when I had they got solved fairly quickly.
Most important when it comes to support is that they adress the issue within 48 hours no matter which day it is only then I think people will be happy and that the help actually helps. General bugs and stuff that need patching is ok if they just tell us gamers that they're at least aware of the problem instead of leading people on stupid solutions that won't help at all... too many mmo companies is bad when it comes to support..
Well might as well add my bit
I think EQ2 is great, sometimes I just login to chat to old EQ friends other times I might go group a bit or I might just buy a petrified troll eye and run about thinking im a troll. I just generally have fun and if im not having fun I log off. SOE have been good and bad, I played SWG I worked damn hard to get my jedi and it was ruined when they decided to make it a selectable class, I felt all my hard work had been for nothing *shakes his fist at SOE* but EQ2 yeah there is bad bits and yeah there is good bits.
Like a few people have said already on this post, its a game if you don't like it don't pay to play and if you don't pay to play then why bother being upset about it.
Well, this thread seems interesting. Why would they put a thread for SoE hate in the forum of the only half decent game they have going for them? Thats just like kicking an autistic child when its on the floor.
I saw a comparison of WoW vs EQ2 instances and dungeons somewhere in this thread, I couldn't find it again so I can't quote it but its a laugh if you think that WoW has anything near what EQ2 has. I'm a player on the other side of the fence, I've been playing WoW since release and only recently stopped playing because of lack of content. Sure it takes forever to grind your gear from the end game instances but who wants to do the same one instance (or few, Hyjal, Sunwell and BT) over and over? They aren't even that fun, I can name the fun fights on one hand, Archimonde and Eredar Twins. The rest is boring and monotonous. I also saw a comparison for low level content and I had to laugh. Who the hell actually runs the low level instances in WoW PROPERLY? They just get their 70 friend to destroy the instance for them and farm the gear so they can go back and solo grind to 70 faster.
I haven't played EQ2 much because it is indeed hard to get into but I can see all the content they have and it does stack much higher against WoW.
I see complaints about tradeskills in EQ2 being useless. Have you actually LOOKED at the WoW professions? Lol, jewelcrafting and enchanting and the gathering professions are the only ones that you should bother looking at because the rest is a waste of your time. Even at low levels the armour and weapon crafting profs (blacksmithing, leatherworking, tailoring) are completely useless but from what I hear you can gear yourself decently at low levels with their counterparts in EQ2.
If you want to count in time to get to max level, the current record of getting to max level in WoW is something around 4 or 5 days played. Granted thats using rested exp all the way and I'm pretty certain the character was twinked but thats not the point. You can't get to max level in EQ2 in 4-5 days played even with double exp the entire way and the best gear, not even close. (this is from what I hear) Does that sound like fun? Not to me. Call me a carebear but I like my pve content and WoW just doesn't fit the bill. EQ2 seems to and I'd like someone to point out another MMO that has more content than EQ2 from 1 to max level, not just endgame.
Bashing on a company because some of their games don't cater to your tastes isn't right. And the rewards in WoW are handed to you on a silver platter and spoon fed to you. And to all those that say "Noes it takes hours and hours of end game grinding to get those purples!" Grats, the silver platter comes a little slower, its still easymode. How about skillherald? Hmm? Its not very hard to get now with nether vortexes (yes its vortexes) being buyable from a vendor. Talk about your overpowered easymode item.
Addition : And the only reason I'm not playing EQ2 at the moment is because my computer is having a fit and refuses to boot, my laptop cannot handle EQ2 or WoW (failure Geforce Go 6150 integrated) or I would indeed be enjoying myself on EQ2. If you don't want to play decent games because you are sour at a company for their past mistakes then you are just losing out.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
They had to do it because the number of "SoE" suxx posts were getting out of control.
By creating this thread, they can now close every thread that explicitly criticise SoE, therefore the game and SoE looks better.......
I can't blame MMORPG.com, after all SoE is a good advertiser and I would have problably done the same.
Plus some of the threads were frankly too trollish.
But then again if people hate so much SoE, there is a reason.
People just don't wake up in the morning and decide that all of a sudden they don't fancy SoE anymore..........
People hate SOE because of SWG. Honestly people, why keep on crying about something that happened years ago?
Well, SoE finally kicked itself with the RMT update yesterday. Having promised that no RMT will touch the non-exchange servers, we had a surprise yesterday -- welcome to F2P with a damn paid subscription icing.
It's no wonder why folks HATE SoE with a passion.
No warning, and an excuse that the ingame survey dictated this move. Ah, it had to be programmed w-a-y more in advanced than one week that survey existed.
Station Trash is the new name for it. Pass it on!
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
personally i am very unhappy about the adding of the itemshop, and how they did it in a stealth action.
but on otherside i don't agree with itemshops = RMT, for me RMT involves a waythat players can sell other players things and earn money (and itemshops usually don't allow that). but that still changes nothing to the fact that this is just another greedy way for soe to earn more money.
i agree with the idead of having itemshops in F2P games to allow developers to earn some money, and if teh implementation is done in a way that you also can live without spending money. But itemshops in a p2p game is just pure greed.
If SoE made EQ2 a F2P (like canceling the subscriptions) it could be tolerated more, but what burns me is I didn't even get a advanced warning. Compound it to buy TSO and that crap, I'm more than irriate.
Hate to leave my friend who've I've been playing with for awhile, but a game with cheaters by design isn't gaming. Already enough of those dopes are claiming XP/AA potions are "fluff".
Hello, Morrowind and Oblivion.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Well it just goes to show these extras (Items)are the types of things that should be included in content patches and or updates with subscription games. New armor, decorations, different items. Why should players have to pay for it twice? You know you aren't going to get any more cool new Items/Armors/Weapons/Mounts in patches, right? It will be added to the store and or card game,RMT.And just to add this in, what do you think if they ever went with another Expansion Pack?Are those days over for the packs as well?So much for the New stuff...
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
After 4 years of Loyalty to SoE, we are over them.
If you aren't somewhat Raid equipped, dugeons/instances are over powered & there is nothing to do beside grind writs for factions.
For 4 years, my hubby, Son & I managed to log in & find something to do.
Those days are over & we have cancelled 4 accounts.
Personally, I still miss my time in EQ2, but my hubby & son are well over the direction the game has taken.
I expect that by after Christmas, I will feel the same & NEVER go back to an SoE game.
I guess the economy where SoE is is better than Australia, & they can afford the continued revenue loss.
To the Fanbois who will defend EQ2 until the end of time, let me say I was a Fangirl too once, but not anymore.
Yeah, in some ways I miss playing EQ2, as I miss playing that F2P game. But item malls ruin gameplay, to the point that leaving early will save you more grief down the road. You'll be thanking yourself later.
BTW, is there any MMO publisher hated more than SoE? I mean this thread has over 21,000 views alone.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
cancealed my subscription today. been loyal since it came out. this was the end for me.
Most likely will cancel my subscription in a few days. After the stealth introduction of an item shop (something they promised NOT to do) I have no fait for SOE anymore. And I still think it's the best MMO around... Just not the one worth sticking with at this point.
SOE... You do more harm, than good for yourself. Shame on you.
I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again.
LOL. If after all these years you still think it's only because of the NGE. Well then you are pretty narrowminded and very naive.
After the NGE, years later they brought a lot of hate on them with Station Exchange.
So much even... that The Smed himself was forced to come to their official forums to calm people down and that they reverted the idea and put Station Exchange on new seperated servers.
I guess you forgot that one didn't you.
Now years later again SOE brings a lot of hate on themselves by STEALTH patching a Cash Shop on ALL EverQuest 2 servers! Something they said never to do on the existing servers!
Now months later, a game they would never touch with any RMT, Vanguard is the next victim and they going to slam FULL FLEDGED RMT (Live Gamer) to ALL Vanguard servers!
Something NO ONE was asking for!
So give me a break. The excuse that people still only hate SOE because of the NGE is getting old!