EverQuest II: Producer's Letter

Meddle · January 2005

Scott Hartsman, EQ2's new senior producer has posted a letter on the EQ2Players site:

New Beginnings: A Time of Change

It's a great time for EverQuest II. The game is continuing to grow at an amazing pace as we strive to always provide a stable, reliable, and fun-filled gameplay experience for the hundreds of thousands of EverQuest II players.

That being said, I'll apologize for the length of this letter ahead of time -- when you're excited about your game and this proud of the teams working on it, it can be hard to stop talking about all the great things that are going on, especially when there are so many of them.

Read the entire letter here.

Regus · January 2005

Yeah sorry guys very strange but i thaught it was about WoW yesterday when i first read it, strange things seems to happen to me. Maybe i need to consider professional help.

Znith · January 2005

Huh? less problems in Europe? It's been in Europe since a week after the American release in November (if not the same day of). I think you got confused with the WOW Euro release

Anofalye · January 2005

He is good at talking.

I almost believe him, for a moment.

But, after reading twice, solo uberness is still in the hands of raiders and much easier to achieve in groups, some will think it is fine that way, me I think KOTOR 2, FF 12 and Xeno 2 are coming quite soon and will make me happy for a full 2 months!

nexus42 · January 2005

They listen so well, and care so much, that they couldn't be bothered to respond to the numerous and lengthy threads about the 4 character limit.

Talk is indeed cheap.

Minimum · January 2005

It's a crying shame they didn't feel this way when the game went public. I preordered this game and istalled it the day it came out.

I wanted it to work. I really really did. I was really looking forward to seeing how they had updated the world. But there was a problem. The game wasn't fun. They kept telling us about how Solo'ing would work in this game. But what's the first thing they did? They nerfed what little solo content there was. We were punished for small groups (I hunt mostly just myself and a friend) and soloing. They needed to force us into groups where we were also punished (group exp debt). That's all this game is about. Punishing the player.

The problem is, they have competition now. In EQ, there was none, they could get away with this. Not any more though. I don't need to be beat with a baseball bat. I don't need to be hammered everytime I make a mistake. This game is for elitists. There is no place in it for casual players who want to relax and have a good time. I hate the thought that a mistake I might make would lead to EXP loss for other players. It's just not a good system. And for the record, I played a Cleric, someone who should benifit from the shared debt.

Then, of course there is the greed factor. Adventure packs? Multiple Expansions a year? They won't divert people from the "live team" for these? SOE has yet to hold to the non diversion of resources in either EQ or SWG, when they make that claim, I'll say it to there face that they are being less than honest. They of course have a right to make a profit, you just have wonder when the profit stops and the gouging starts. My opinion is it's starting right off the top. Why not just send them your credit card and let them use it all they want.

They can talk about these changes, but I'll believe them when I see them. And the old attitude is still there, you can see it. They will "allow" more loot for solo'ers. Of course "at a lower amount" than groups. So in truth, the punishment continues.

Sorry, I played the month that was included in game purchase, I really tried to enjoy it. I really wanted to play. But the overwhelming desire by the developers to make sure you suffer for anything and everything was just too much. I'll go to a game with a sense of humor, where they aren't in my pocket every few weeks for cookie cutter expansions, or "adventures" that really should be part of the normal upkeep anyway.

To those of you who are still playing and enjoying it. I truely hope in goes well. To SOE though, I shake my head in sadness and more than a little disgust. I had hoped this would be different, I was wrong.

Minimum · January 2005

Originally posted by nexus42

They listen so well, and care so much, that they couldn't be bothered to respond to the numerous and lengthy threads about the 4 character limit.
Talk is indeed cheap.

Unless things have changed recently, they never responded to ANYTHING that was on their boards. It was all almost totally ignored.

They did respond to the 4 character limit. For the extra money<greed> of a full station pass to a bunch of now second rate games, you can get "gasp" 8 characters.

The reality is, they don't give a damn about the players, and I'm betting they think we're really doing them wrong. This game could have and should have sold 500 copies too. It would have if they'd moved in the present, and quit spending so much time trying to seperate us from our money, and not tried so hard to find new and creative ways to punish us for our playstyles.

Scaris · January 2005

Originally posted by Minimum
It's a crying shame they didn't feel this way when the game went public. I preordered this game and istalled it the day it came out.
I wanted it to work. I really really did. I was really looking forward to seeing how they had updated the world. But there was a problem. The game wasn't fun. They kept telling us about how Solo'ing would work in this game. But what's the first thing they did? They nerfed what little solo content there was. We were punished for small groups (I hunt mostly just myself and a friend) and soloing. They needed to force us into groups where we were also punished (group exp debt). That's all this game is about. Punishing the player.
The problem is, they have competition now. In EQ, there was none, they could get away with this. Not any more though. I don't need to be beat with a baseball bat. I don't need to be hammered everytime I make a mistake. This game is for elitists. There is no place in it for casual players who want to relax and have a good time. I hate the thought that a mistake I might make would lead to EXP loss for other players. It's just not a good system. And for the record, I played a Cleric, someone who should benifit from the shared debt.
Then, of course there is the greed factor. Adventure packs? Multiple Expansions a year? They won't divert people from the "live team" for these? SOE has yet to hold to the non diversion of resources in either EQ or SWG, when they make that claim, I'll say it to there face that they are being less than honest. They of course have a right to make a profit, you just have wonder when the profit stops and the gouging starts. My opinion is it's starting right off the top. Why not just send them your credit card and let them use it all they want.
They can talk about these changes, but I'll believe them when I see them. And the old attitude is still there, you can see it. They will "allow" more loot for solo'ers. Of course "at a lower amount" than groups. So in truth, the punishment continues.
Sorry, I played the month that was included in game purchase, I really tried to enjoy it. I really wanted to play. But the overwhelming desire by the developers to make sure you suffer for anything and everything was just too much. I'll go to a game with a sense of humor, where they aren't in my pocket every few weeks for cookie cutter expansions, or "adventures" that really should be part of the normal upkeep anyway.
To those of you who are still playing and enjoying it. I truely hope in goes well. To SOE though, I shake my head in sadness and more than a little disgust. I had hoped this would be different, I was wrong.

I am sorry to hear that was your experience. I am a fairly casual player as well and haven't really felt punished at all with the game. As for the charges, I could see it getting alittle old if you had to pay for them, but since they made them free to people with the access pass I can't complain, I won't ever have to pay for one. 2 expansions a year isnt bad, that means in 3 years there will have been 6 expansions, I think thats fair, I can live with that pace.

Also, there are a large amount of people that ask for more content with EQ and EQ II, the expansions sales of EQ 1 have proven that. I felt about EQ 1 as you do about EQ II, they were putting out expansions far to fast, I never really got a chance to get one soaked in before there was another. I also had an issue with them because of the lack of effort I felt they showed in making them. I am hoping and I think I will be right in the fact that the quality of the expansions for EQ II is going to be far better, to me atleast in both quality and bang for the buck.

cedori · January 2005

The game has potential, but does have alot of issues and flaws, some major that really need looked into. Lets just hope this time around they will eventually get some of those glitches, that are affecting people and those getting random crashes to desktop fixed. Only time will tell if things get resolved, and if players continue to stay or leave, as it is right now, I'm seeing alot of players leaving the game.

Cheers

Scaris · January 2005

Originally posted by cedori
The game has potential, but does have alot of issues and flaws, some major that really need looked into. Lets just hope this time around they will eventually get some of those glitches, that are affecting people and those getting random crashes to desktop fixed. Only time will tell if things get resolved, and if players continue to stay or leave, as it is right now, I'm seeing alot of players leaving the game.
Cheers

Really? Interesting, I hear no negative feedback about it when I am in the game. If I want negative feedback I have to hit the official forum, and I always take a forum with a grain of salt. I have experienced zero stability problems with the game, no crashes, no errors. I do suffer from the stutter issue, which I can hardly see happening unless I watch for it. I would like to see nvidia get it fixed none the less.

There is only one player I have grouped with that would drop regularly and I would have to wait for him to get back but it was worth it because he was a dam good player. And he self admittingly said he computer was a peice of junk.

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