Well, as some of you may know, Sony has a bad habit of releasing half finished products. WoW has been in beta for quite some time now, and it seemed to be in a nearly finished state from my experience playing the game. EQ2 beta is still pretty new, maybe Everquest 2 dosn't plan on having an extensive beta test like WoW is doing.
If it comes down to a release date race, I think WoW could release today with a more complete game than Everquest 2 will be able to release in November.
I'm not trying to bust your bubble here, but the concept behind Everquest 2 is pretty boring. Competition between good and evil races, based on who can do the most quests, and kill certain bosses maybe? I don't understand what the fun in that would be.
On the other hand we have WoW. The game is just so nicely done. It is filled with USEFUL quests that actually give you good items for your level. Not to mention that the quests don't take days upon days of camping for rare spawns. Some people have complained about the quests being easy in WoW, but with the amount of people around that will be doing these quests at the same time as you, it will be much better for these quests to be easy, so you can do the quests at the same time as other groups and not have to blow your entire time playing waitiing on the other group to finish something so that you can start doing it. Not to mention PVP based quests that have not been implemented yet.
I have no experience qith Everquest 2, so my oppinion is based off of Everquest. Sony has a bad record for releasing lame content. I've never seen Blizzard release anything lame yet. I really think Blizzard will totally dominate the mmorpg market with WoW. No other game I have played can even touch this game.
Originally posted by digitydarkman odd, i seem to have been told yesterday i will recieve my copy of EQ2 on the 6th of november
Nice sig. If only Star Wars Galaxies modeled its PvP goodness after Pandemic's Star Wars Battlefront, using the design, structure, and build of SOE's propietary Planetside...the frenetic fun would be had by many in Star Wars Galaxies PvP. Oh, well, Jump-to-Lightspeed looks to fulfill that wish.
I prefer games not being released until they're ready for launch, but the marketing reality sometimes speaks louder, and so the game launches, warts and all. And the publishers of WoW and EQ2 know that timing is important for a product's initial launch.
I'm finally sold on EQ2 because of the boots, but regarding the game that will end up becoming king...my bet lies with Guild Wars, from the ex-Blizzard devs whose influence reaches into Battle.net, Starcraft, Warcraft, and even WoW. Its revenue model mimics Diablo, with optional expansions offered periodically, and that alone spells millions in revenue. I've played the game on open game day, and it's rock solid fun and stable with luscious graphics and sounds. Sure, it's a risky venture for this underdog dev team, but I have faith that this revenue option would be welcomed by players the world over.
edit: pre-ordered Guild Wars for the Ithas Bow and beta weekend invites.
The economic model has changed. It used to be develop a game, market it for $30-50/box and move on to the next game. Then came EQ. Sell the game then sell $10/mo subscriptions for continuing revenue. However after a few years EQ learned that it could increase its revenue substantially by selling expansions. This added to the products life cycle so people subscribed longer and had the additional box sale. It didn't take long for DAoC and others to have expansions as well.
I suspect this is going to be a pretty standard model for MMOLGS going forward. Sell the game $50/box, sell the subscription $10-15/mo, then sell regular content bursts (6-10 mo cycle) for another $30-50/box. I would guess WoW, EQ2, Dark and Light, or any game with staying power will follow this cycle.
Comments
Well, as some of you may know, Sony has a bad habit of releasing half finished products. WoW has been in beta for quite some time now, and it seemed to be in a nearly finished state from my experience playing the game. EQ2 beta is still pretty new, maybe Everquest 2 dosn't plan on having an extensive beta test like WoW is doing.
If it comes down to a release date race, I think WoW could release today with a more complete game than Everquest 2 will be able to release in November.
I'm not trying to bust your bubble here, but the concept behind Everquest 2 is pretty boring. Competition between good and evil races, based on who can do the most quests, and kill certain bosses maybe? I don't understand what the fun in that would be.
On the other hand we have WoW. The game is just so nicely done. It is filled with USEFUL quests that actually give you good items for your level. Not to mention that the quests don't take days upon days of camping for rare spawns. Some people have complained about the quests being easy in WoW, but with the amount of people around that will be doing these quests at the same time as you, it will be much better for these quests to be easy, so you can do the quests at the same time as other groups and not have to blow your entire time playing waitiing on the other group to finish something so that you can start doing it. Not to mention PVP based quests that have not been implemented yet.
I have no experience qith Everquest 2, so my oppinion is based off of Everquest. Sony has a bad record for releasing lame content. I've never seen Blizzard release anything lame yet. I really think Blizzard will totally dominate the mmorpg market with WoW. No other game I have played can even touch this game.
Nice sig. If only Star Wars Galaxies modeled its PvP goodness after Pandemic's Star Wars Battlefront, using the design, structure, and build of SOE's propietary Planetside...the frenetic fun would be had by many in Star Wars Galaxies PvP. Oh, well, Jump-to-Lightspeed looks to fulfill that wish.
I prefer games not being released until they're ready for launch, but the marketing reality sometimes speaks louder, and so the game launches, warts and all. And the publishers of WoW and EQ2 know that timing is important for a product's initial launch.
I'm finally sold on EQ2 because of the boots, but regarding the game that will end up becoming king...my bet lies with Guild Wars, from the ex-Blizzard devs whose influence reaches into Battle.net, Starcraft, Warcraft, and even WoW. Its revenue model mimics Diablo, with optional expansions offered periodically, and that alone spells millions in revenue. I've played the game on open game day, and it's rock solid fun and stable with luscious graphics and sounds. Sure, it's a risky venture for this underdog dev team, but I have faith that this revenue option would be welcomed by players the world over.
edit: pre-ordered Guild Wars for the Ithas Bow and beta weekend invites.
The economic model has changed. It used to be develop a game, market it for $30-50/box and move on to the next game. Then came EQ. Sell the game then sell $10/mo subscriptions for continuing revenue. However after a few years EQ learned that it could increase its revenue substantially by selling expansions. This added to the products life cycle so people subscribed longer and had the additional box sale. It didn't take long for DAoC and others to have expansions as well.
I suspect this is going to be a pretty standard model for MMOLGS going forward. Sell the game $50/box, sell the subscription $10-15/mo, then sell regular content bursts (6-10 mo cycle) for another $30-50/box. I would guess WoW, EQ2, Dark and Light, or any game with staying power will follow this cycle.