HA HA HA. Do you really think that people who have spend loads of time and REAL money on their character on EQ2EX just going to toss that out of the window and start anew on EQ2 Live??
Get real please. SOE put that limitation in place for a very OBVIOUS reason! They DO NOT want people to move to EQ2 Live. They want you stick to EQ2EX and spend MORE money!
That has been their whole goal and objective for a long long time.
They failed with Station Exchange.
Then they tried with LoN.
Then came the Smed Shop aka Station Marketplace.
And now their last attempt is EQ2 Extended. Wich will be the final nail in the coffin for this game!
Why would people want to roll on the EQ2X servers with all those restrictions and the high price of marketplace items? Do you have a logical reason why anyone would want to STAY on a server like that? You're making the very far-fetched assumption that all these myriads of f2p players (which, by the way, haven't materialized yet...so we don't know if it's even going to BE a large amount ),are going to be spending "loads of time and REAL money." We don't know if they will even spend a DIME on a game with only four measley races and so few classes when they could go play SOMETHING ELSE with far less limitation and far cheaper item shop items. That's a pretty huge assumption.
Most free to play players, I'm willing to bet....really want to play MOSTLY for free. I don't have statistics on that, but I'm just guessing they're drawn by the word FREE attached to the word PLAY. So to assume they're going to spend loads of time and money on trying out this game....is really stretching. When I went to "try out" Allods....I didn't spend a DIME. I determinded after about level 17...it wasn't something I would continue to be interested in. I imagine a lot of people do similar things when "trying out" a game.
Try this.....would YOU be willing to play AND STAY WITH a free to play game that has the limitations that EQ2X has, or....would you more than likely just TRY the game without spending any money to SEE if you like it?
Do you REALLY think people are as STUPID as it seems you do?
HA HA HA. Do you really think that people who have spend loads of time and REAL money on their character on EQ2EX just going to toss that out of the window and start anew on EQ2 Live??
Get real please. SOE put that limitation in place for a very OBVIOUS reason! They DO NOT want people to move to EQ2 Live. They want you stick to EQ2EX and spend MORE money!
That has been their whole goal and objective for a long long time.
They failed with Station Exchange.
Then they tried with LoN.
Then came the Smed Shop aka Station Marketplace.
And now their last attempt is EQ2 Extended. Wich will be the final nail in the coffin for this game!
Why would people want to roll on the EQ2X servers with all those restrictions and the high price of marketplace items? Do you have a logical reason why anyone would want to STAY on a server like that? You're making the very far-fetched assumption that all these myriads of f2p players (which, by the way, haven't materialized yet...so we don't know if it's even going to BE a large amount ),are going to be spending "loads of time and REAL money." We don't know if they will even spend a DIME on a game with only four measley races and so few classes when they could go play SOMETHING ELSE with far less limitation and far cheaper item shop items. That's a pretty huge assumption.
Most free to play players, I'm willing to bet....really want to play MOSTLY for free. I don't have statistics on that, but I'm just guessing they're drawn by the word FREE attached to the word PLAY. So to assume they're going to spend loads of time and money on trying out this game....is really stretching. When I went to "try out" Allods....I didn't spend a DIME. I determinded after about level 17...it wasn't something I would continue to be interested in. I imagine a lot of people do similar things when "trying out" a game.
Try this.....would YOU be willing to play AND STAY WITH a free to play game that has the limitations that EQ2X has, or....would you more than likely just TRY the game without spending any money to SEE if you like it?
Do you REALLY think people are as STUPID as it seems you do?
I think that the freebies do want to play free. If they get to the point that they like the game and its time to decided how much to spend they may well reroll on the P2P servers instead of spending anythihng on the F2P servers. But again, some may try to squeak by on 5 bucks here and there until the realize the trap they are in at which point many will just leave the game entirely.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
HA HA HA. Do you really think that people who have spend loads of time and REAL money on their character on EQ2EX just going to toss that out of the window and start anew on EQ2 Live??
Get real please. SOE put that limitation in place for a very OBVIOUS reason! They DO NOT want people to move to EQ2 Live. They want you stick to EQ2EX and spend MORE money!
That has been their whole goal and objective for a long long time.
They failed with Station Exchange.
Then they tried with LoN.
Then came the Smed Shop aka Station Marketplace.
And now their last attempt is EQ2 Extended. Wich will be the final nail in the coffin for this game!
Some people just cannot see what is going on right now and try to dismiss it as doom saying, because they enjoy the game.
Like you have also pointed out, it is a fact that soe is removing the free trial for the legacy servers and only supporting unsolicited free trials on the extended servers. This shows clearly where soe wants new players to go.
It is also a fact that currently they are only going to consider allowing 1 way moves (via copy) off of the live servers to the legacy servers. This also shows where soe wants old players to go.
This is what is happening and it doesn't take mystic powers to see that soe is moving away from the live servers right now. They just can't read the writing on the wall.
Why would people want to roll on the EQ2X servers with all those restrictions and the high price of marketplace items? Do you have a logical reason why anyone would want to STAY on a server like that? You're making the very far-fetched assumption that all these myriads of f2p players (which, by the way, haven't materialized yet...so we don't know if it's even going to BE a large amount ),are going to be spending "loads of time and REAL money." We don't know if they will even spend a DIME on a game with only four measley races and so few classes when they could go play SOMETHING ELSE with far less limitation and far cheaper item shop items. That's a pretty huge assumption.
Most free to play players, I'm willing to bet....really want to play MOSTLY for free. I don't have statistics on that, but I'm just guessing they're drawn by the word FREE attached to the word PLAY. So to assume they're going to spend loads of time and money on trying out this game....is really stretching. When I went to "try out" Allods....I didn't spend a DIME. I determinded after about level 17...it wasn't something I would continue to be interested in. I imagine a lot of people do similar things when "trying out" a game.
Try this.....would YOU be willing to play AND STAY WITH a free to play game that has the limitations that EQ2X has, or....would you more than likely just TRY the game without spending any money to SEE if you like it?
Do you REALLY think people are as STUPID as it seems you do?
Let me get this straight.
You think soe all these restriction on the extended servers will result is pushing players to the live servers? Is that really what you are getting out of all of this? That soe removed the free trials to the live servers, so that new players starting on EQ2 will have to give up everything they have earned, leave people they have met, lose all real cash spent, and then actually buy the game just to start all over... As if this is all just to make this some sort of ass backwards free trial that starts on a totally different server and funnels people to the old servers?
You ask why anyone would want to stay on an EQ2x server. How about they never lose access to their characters, even when they don't have a subscription fee. Need any more?
SOE wants more money and that is the only thing that is important here. While their plan with EQ2X may have huge holes in it right now, you can bet your ass that if your miracle situation did start occuring they will make some knee jerk change to put an end to that. Soe doesn't want players to move to the old servers, otherwise they would have made some open ended trial there. Read that again, if soe wanted new players to join the old servers, they would have beefed up the free trial there. This change is entirely about increasing the cash shop and to think otherwise is foolish.
EQ2X represents a higher subscription fee and a massive increase in cash shop offerings. It is freedom for soe to monetize anything they in game that they desire and that is exactly what they have been trying to do for years. EQ2X is right where soe wants players to be and they are going to do whatever they think will get players there. Even if they have to lose current players in the process. They have done it before and I'm more than certain they will have no trouble doing it again.
Just watch how much the game updates, the class rebalancing (or whatever they are calling it) and the expansion focus on the EQ2X experience side of the game. The live servers are just a fall back in case this doesn't work. Nothing more.
The two German servers are almost empty these days. And with the new EQ2ext system, we wont get any new players for those who leave. So the servers maybe will be pushed together, but it wont help long without any new players
To me, if SOE wanted to do this thing right they would completely remove the cash shop from the P2P model and make it a bit more painless to transfer from F2P to P2P. I like the idea of two different server sets, some for F2P and some for P2P but the way they are doing it I cant see it working out for anyone, be it players or SOE.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Soe could have just put this whole free to play levels of subscription on the current servers minus the cash shop if they really wanted to.
Bronze = free, Silver = $5?, Gold = $15 and Platinum = whatever. Obviously some tweeking would be needed and I'm just throwing numbers out for sake of discussion.
That would have boosted servers while only giving away the most meaningless parts of the game and leaving the relevant portions of the game available for money. It would have breathed new life into the beginning levels (much needed), added more players to the servers (since they need mergers anyhow) and offered people an extended view of what the game really has to offer (much needed).
That is not happening, because this change is all about the new improved cash shop and not revitalizing the old servers.
With the Race and Class restrictions on the extended servers, I don't even see them as useful from a trial perspective. With a trial account you don't have those restrictions. Everyone knows you can go to Best Buy and get Sentinel's Faith box for dirt cheap, anyways.
Don't see the use outside of milking as much money out of players that they can, which is laughable.
You think soe all these restriction on the extended servers will result is pushing players to the live servers? Is that really what you are getting out of all of this? That soe removed the free trials to the live servers, so that new players starting on EQ2 will have to give up everything they have earned, leave people they have met, lose all real cash spent, and then actually buy the game just to start all over... As if this is all just to make this some sort of ass backwards free trial that starts on a totally different server and funnels people to the old servers?
You ask why anyone would want to stay on an EQ2x server. How about they never lose access to their characters, even when they don't have a subscription fee. Need any more?
SOE wants more money and that is the only thing that is important here. While their plan with EQ2X may have huge holes in it right now, you can bet your ass that if your miracle situation did start occuring they will make some knee jerk change to put an end to that. Soe doesn't want players to move to the old servers, otherwise they would have made some open ended trial there. Read that again, if soe wanted new players to join the old servers, they would have beefed up the free trial there. This change is entirely about increasing the cash shop and to think otherwise is foolish.
EQ2X represents a higher subscription fee and a massive increase in cash shop offerings. It is freedom for soe to monetize anything they in game that they desire and that is exactly what they have been trying to do for years. EQ2X is right where soe wants players to be and they are going to do whatever they think will get players there. Even if they have to lose current players in the process. They have done it before and I'm more than certain they will have no trouble doing it again.
Just watch how much the game updates, the class rebalancing (or whatever they are calling it) and the expansion focus on the EQ2X experience side of the game. The live servers are just a fall back in case this doesn't work. Nothing more.
Well said! You explained it even better then me.
John Smedly's wet dream has always been about putting full RMT in their games!
Problem was that they generated so much negative publicity and such an uproar with Station Exchange, that John Smedly himself had to come down to the forums back then and put the flames out and announce that Station Exchange would be done on completely different fully isolated servers.
Ofcourse it failed, as the interest in Station Exchange is low.
Then they saw Blizzard coming with an online card game with ingame WoW loot cards and the money it generated.
And so was Legends of Norrath born and put on the live servers. And going much much further with the ingame Loot cards. With extremely low drop rates in the booster packs. Preying on the people with addiction problems.
They know people on the live servers were against any form of Cash Shop, so they purposely waited till TSO expac was released and everyone just bought it and then "stealth" patched the Cash Shop just 1-2 weeks after Expac release. To minimise the rage quiting of angry players.
Station Cash doesn't seem to generate enough cash as they wanted to, so the last months they have been steadily increasing (read doubling) the prices of new items on the Market Place.
And now comes EverQuest 2 Extended with all it's restrictions to funnel all new players to it and keep them there.
All with one single goal! Turn EverQuest 2 in a full RMT game! And let the current EQ2Live servers slowly die out.
And this die out process on EQ2Live will be accelerated, as you can bet all development focus from now on will be EQ2 Extended and NOT EQ2Live anymore.
All future updates, Expansion packs, additions will be developed based on EQ2 Extended.
....clipped because we've all seen it before and it takes up space....
Well said! You explained it even better then me.
John Smedly's wet dream has always been about putting full RMT in their games!
Problem was that they generated so much negative publicity and such an uproar with Station Exchange, that John Smedly himself had to come down to the forums back then and put the flames out and announce that Station Exchange would be done on completely different fully isolated servers.
Ofcourse it failed, as the interest in Station Exchange is low.
Then they saw Blizzard coming with an online card game with ingame WoW loot cards and the money it generated.
And so was Legends of Norrath born and put on the live servers. And going much much further with the ingame Loot cards. With extremely low drop rates in the booster packs. Preying on the people with addiction problems.
They know people on the live servers were against any form of Cash Shop, so they purposely waited till TSO expac was released and everyone just bought it and then "stealth" patched the Cash Shop just 1-2 weeks after Expac release. To minimise the rage quiting of angry players.
Station Cash doesn't seem to generate enough cash as they wanted to, so the last months they have been steadily increasing (read doubling) the prices of new items on the Market Place.
And now comes EverQuest 2 Extended with all it's restrictions to funnel all new players to it and keep them there.
All with one single goal! Turn EverQuest 2 in a full RMT game! And let the current EQ2Live servers slowly die out.
And this die out process on EQ2Live will be accelerated, as you can bet all development focus from now on will be EQ2 Extended and NOT EQ2Live anymore.
All future updates, Expansion packs, additions will be developed based on EQ2 Extended.
And yet after detailing how SoE has FAILED repeatedly to make Smed's "dream" a reality, you somehow think THIS lame and restrictive effort will magically succeed.....
And yet after detailing how SoE has FAILED repeatedly to make Smed's "dream" a reality, you somehow think THIS lame and restrictive effort will magically succeed.....
....clipped because we've all seen it before and it takes up space....
Well said! You explained it even better then me.
John Smedly's wet dream has always been about putting full RMT in their games!
Problem was that they generated so much negative publicity and such an uproar with Station Exchange, that John Smedly himself had to come down to the forums back then and put the flames out and announce that Station Exchange would be done on completely different fully isolated servers.
Ofcourse it failed, as the interest in Station Exchange is low.
Then they saw Blizzard coming with an online card game with ingame WoW loot cards and the money it generated.
And so was Legends of Norrath born and put on the live servers. And going much much further with the ingame Loot cards. With extremely low drop rates in the booster packs. Preying on the people with addiction problems.
They know people on the live servers were against any form of Cash Shop, so they purposely waited till TSO expac was released and everyone just bought it and then "stealth" patched the Cash Shop just 1-2 weeks after Expac release. To minimise the rage quiting of angry players.
Station Cash doesn't seem to generate enough cash as they wanted to, so the last months they have been steadily increasing (read doubling) the prices of new items on the Market Place.
And now comes EverQuest 2 Extended with all it's restrictions to funnel all new players to it and keep them there.
All with one single goal! Turn EverQuest 2 in a full RMT game! And let the current EQ2Live servers slowly die out.
And this die out process on EQ2Live will be accelerated, as you can bet all development focus from now on will be EQ2 Extended and NOT EQ2Live anymore.
All future updates, Expansion packs, additions will be developed based on EQ2 Extended.
And yet after detailing how SoE has FAILED repeatedly to make Smed's "dream" a reality, you somehow think THIS lame and restrictive effort will magically succeed.....
ROFLMAO
Sure...okay.
BINGO! You seem to have finally opened your eyes! BRAVO my friend! BRAVO!
That's what we have been trying to say all the time. Together with the fact that with his sad wet dream pursuit all these years he has been slowly killing the Live Servers.... more and more with each of his attempts.
And if they put out EQ2Ex like they do now and stick with it. Then it will be the final killing blow for the EQ2 Live servers.
And as EQ2 fan since launch I have seen it all and it's a real shame to see it happen.
Soe could have just put this whole free to play levels of subscription on the current servers minus the cash shop if they really wanted to.
Bronze = free, Silver = $5?, Gold = $15 and Platinum = whatever. Obviously some tweeking would be needed and I'm just throwing numbers out for sake of discussion.
That would have boosted servers while only giving away the most meaningless parts of the game and leaving the relevant portions of the game available for money. It would have breathed new life into the beginning levels (much needed), added more players to the servers (since they need mergers anyhow) and offered people an extended view of what the game really has to offer (much needed).
That is not happening, because this change is all about the new improved cash shop and not revitalizing the old servers.
QFT...
I can't help but wonder if this is just a sign of the direction that SOE is intending to move with their other games too, Free Realms is perhaps their most successful title, it wouldnt surprise me in the least if SOE decided to shift from subscription based to a microtransaction model, across all their titles, not sure if this is a good or a bad move personally, but in this case i can't see it being a good thing for the regular EQ II players, but, EQ1 is still going so i would imagine that the P2P version of EQ2 will quietly be shunted into the same level of maintenance etc..
This is from a NYTime interview with John Smedley back in June 2007.
"Right now our revenue is almost all subscriptions,” John Smedley, the unit’s president, said in an interview. “In two years, we would like to see no more than 50 percent of our revenue coming from subscriptions, and five years from now we think less than 10 percent of our revenue will come from subscription sources." -John Smedley
I don't think there is any guesswork needed to see where soe is heading. Smed has been pretty clear about where he is piloting the company and what is not considered important to their goals.
When the president says he wants to go from almost 100% revenue to 10% revenue from subscriptions that tells you all you need to know about the importance of the subscription only servers.
I guess I view it as a problem that they should release a server for people to migrate to for free. I actually resubbed right before this announcment to play a bit casually, but seeing that it'll cost me 35 just to transfer, I'd rather just play the character I am.
This move will no doubt in many people's mind, including mine bite SOE in the end. It is a poorly laid out structure. It doesn't look like they are giving discounts for multi-months on these servers, and $200 bucks for a year is a rip off. It should of been at the most 144+30 or 40 depending on cost of a new expansion. Instead they squeeze every dime out of you. (Now you do get point each month, and 100 point=$1, so you do get 60bucks with buying power a year, so maybe that is why there is the slightly jacked up price)
And yet after detailing how SoE has FAILED repeatedly to make Smed's "dream" a reality, you somehow think THIS lame and restrictive effort will magically succeed.....
ROFLMAO
Sure...okay.
I think you are starting to see the picture.
Nope. LOL I still think you guys are, for the most part, batshit crazy.
People who enjoy EQ2 Live are NOT going anywhere unless the servers close completely. I imagine that the ones that are really bothered by anything SoE has done with EQ2...have already left. Like I said, if that happens, and the live servers DO manage to go belly up....by the time it would possibly have the chance to come to fruition....I will more than likely be playing GW2, TSW, or Rift. So for me....it doesn't matter one way or the other. As much as I like EQ2....it's still only a GAME. Another great MMO with customizable housing comes along, and at the VERY least....I'll be trying it, so....I'm really pretty unmoved by the DOOMSDAY potential everyone keeps harping on. I don't buy it, but even if I'm wrong....it really doesn't matter.
I still enjoy EQ2 more than any other MMO. If SoE manages to FINALLY totally fuck it up....which I doubt, because as you've both beautifully detailed....they have been unable to do so regardless of any perceived attempts to date....it's still...bottomline... just a game. There are other games up and coming that will probably make EQ2 seen blase, even to me. BUT....those games have not arrived YET.....and I'm not holding my breath. I've learned holding your breath is pointless. We are video game hobbyists.....it's not like we're talking life and death here. It's just that some of you want to proclaim "the end of days," as if we WERE.
It seems that you all have a LOT more faith in SoE's abilities than I do....which is pretty ironic.
I don't think they'll succeed to kill EQ2 live servers with this AT ALL, whether it's their intent or not. It's a very lame, restricted, bland, watered down version of EQ2 that also forces people that WILL tolerate it....to put up with pay to win items in the item shop. I still don't think that LOADS of people are going to like that form of MMO. If they like free to play and don't mind stat item shops....there are other f2p games that have FAR LESS restrictions that they will go play rather than choosing THIS. And if they DON'T like stat item shops....they won't be playing EQ2X anyway.
I'm not sure why, with the constant "fail record" you two are "reporting," that you have so much FAITH in SoE. That really seems incongruent to me.....
I very well may have done so IF they weren't segregating the servers.
I am in the boat that I can certainly afford to pay for the subscription, but I can't really justify doing so since some months I wouldn't be able to log in at all, and other months for at most a couple of hours. Additionally, it's not like I can also forsee that I will have a lot of playing time coming my way, and simply resub for a month and then cancel the sub.
So, if they would put a F2P system on the Live servers that only included stuff to purchase to unlock things such as zone, levels, races, classes, and other features, I would so be back in game playing with my ex-guild. Also, I am not the only one from my guild who has expressed the same thing as well.
Trust me as well, I would be happy doing so taking some form of that gimped bronze tiered version just to log in, have some laughs on TS, while goofing around on guild hunt nights or inpromptu hunts with guild members. Sometimes, there is more to MMOs than simply raiding and getting the best gear.
This is just an attempt to convert the live servers to full blown cash shops. It may kill the servers in more than 1 one and it is causing people to leave the game right now. No need to say people will stick out as some already left. I think you are translating your enjoyment of the game into wishful thinking.
SOE wants to monetize all of their games, agreed? The players said no, so soe hit the them exactly where they knew it would hurt, new player growth. This is a squeeze play to get players to cave in. Go read the official forums if you don't believe me. People are already willing to roll over, because they know the live servers are already in poor shape and EQ2X is a very heavy threat. Other are just leaving.
I agree with your assesment of the EQ2X program. It isn't fully thought out and poorly implemented. I don't really know how well it will work, but I am certain it will not push people to the live servers. Increasing the barrier to join existing servers doesn't make for a believable conclusion that new players will somehow increase to the old servers. Again, keep in mind the old servers already need mergers.
The "faith" I have is soe is pretty much backed up by their history, reputation and performance. I can point to many instances where soe has shot themselves in the foot. This move is already alienting more of their current players, but this isn't exactly something new for this company.
Other than really enjoying the game and thinking others are crazy, I don't see much convincing information from your side of the issue.
Thot I would just share my thoughts on this topic. I heard the news about EQ2 going F2P so I went ahead and started a trial account to see how it was. Dont really know why I havent gave it a chance in the past, just havent. Maybe bc im kinda in between MMOs for now. But to be completely honest the game is great so far. (Im only 13 so im only speaking about that)
I am going to continue playing the trial, and will go from there. But you guys have brought up a intersting point about the subscribers now moving to the F2P. If I continue to play (IF) there will be no way in hell I will use the F2P service. It sucks! I dont like restrictions. So I would simply sub and continue on the normal servers. What you guys arent seeing is there may be more people like me that end up subbing and moving to the other servers. This would then help the sub community as well.
So, just my thoughts. Not saying for sure I will do that, but if I did. At least this move on Sony's part made me wanna play the trial.
Thot I would just share my thoughts on this topic. I heard the news about EQ2 going F2P so I went ahead and started a trial account to see how it was. Dont really know why I havent gave it a chance in the past, just havent. Maybe bc im kinda in between MMOs for now. But to be completely honest the game is great so far. (Im only 13 so im only speaking about that)
I am going to continue playing the trial, and will go from there. But you guys have brought up a intersting point about the subscribers now moving to the F2P. If I continue to play (IF) there will be no way in hell I will use the F2P service. It sucks! I dont like restrictions. So I would simply sub and continue on the normal servers. What you guys arent seeing is there may be more people like me that end up subbing and moving to the other servers. This would then help the sub community as well.
So, just my thoughts. Not saying for sure I will do that, but if I did. At least this move on Sony's part made me wanna play the trial.
Exactly.
Not like if you LIKE the game, that leaving a lvl 20 (or so) character behind and starting on the paid server would be that big of a goshdern deal to lose all those silly restrictions, now, would it? Nope.
I think for one of the first times ever SOE may damage themselves more than the players. They think people are too stupid to do the math or at least read about the math from other people.
It will cost MORE money to play the f2p version. Sure they will use the extended to try the game, but once they realize the price for all the stuff they need to be successfull they will probbaly just go to live servers or quit.
I think all the development time for this will be worthless to SOE unless they dramatically change the RETARDED restrictions involved.
This is like saying, "Yea sure WoW is F2P now, but you can't do any thing past scarlet monestary unless you pay money."
EDIT: I'm not saying F2P is a bad idea and I support it to get EQ2 revenue. But in it's current incarnation it is stupid and waste of money. To Think F2P is a waste of money....kinda ironic.
Not like if you LIKE the game, that leaving a lvl 20 (or so) character behind and starting on the paid server would be that big of a goshdern deal to lose all those silly restrictions, now, would it? Nope.
That is how I was hoping it will all turn out, but honestly the way people are talking here, I'm seeing more damage being done by the predictions of what will/might/could happen than reactions to what has actually happened. You see people unsubbing because they hate the idea, arguing that it is the foretelling of cash shops in the rest of the game, and the death of all regular servers, etc. etc.... That might well be, but I'm just surprised at how many people are ragequiting before the outcome they say is making them angry has even happened yet. Sounds like Minority Report in here, with everyone discussing how SOE killed EQ2, in the near future.
SWG was one thing. The NGE happened, then lots of people got pissed off and left. SOE deserved that, and the reaction made sense. With EQ2X, we haven't even seen the final version of it yet and people are already quitting. Even arguing about the subscriber matrix is irrelevant because any and all of us can just stick with our regular sub as if it never happened. It's like that dev said, if there is a mass exodus to EQ2X then it will show it was a good idea. If there isn't and people stay on reg servers, then SOE will be the only ones to lose the time and money they invested on it. Instead, players are shooting their self in the foot by quitting because an alternate method of play was introduced. Things are just being blown out of proportion.
All I think is it'll be nice to have the option of playing a F2P character with similar limitations that I face in any other F2P, or pay to play my normal characters with a sub like I would've done anyway if the F2P wasn't introduced. I get to try out a new way of playing it and see if I like it. If not, then I lose nothing and go back to the way things were.
Comments
Okay, Nostradamus. Whatever you say. I'm sure you're 100 percent accurate. *rolls eyes*
Read what you typed.....
Why would people want to roll on the EQ2X servers with all those restrictions and the high price of marketplace items? Do you have a logical reason why anyone would want to STAY on a server like that? You're making the very far-fetched assumption that all these myriads of f2p players (which, by the way, haven't materialized yet...so we don't know if it's even going to BE a large amount ),are going to be spending "loads of time and REAL money." We don't know if they will even spend a DIME on a game with only four measley races and so few classes when they could go play SOMETHING ELSE with far less limitation and far cheaper item shop items. That's a pretty huge assumption.
Most free to play players, I'm willing to bet....really want to play MOSTLY for free. I don't have statistics on that, but I'm just guessing they're drawn by the word FREE attached to the word PLAY. So to assume they're going to spend loads of time and money on trying out this game....is really stretching. When I went to "try out" Allods....I didn't spend a DIME. I determinded after about level 17...it wasn't something I would continue to be interested in. I imagine a lot of people do similar things when "trying out" a game.
Try this.....would YOU be willing to play AND STAY WITH a free to play game that has the limitations that EQ2X has, or....would you more than likely just TRY the game without spending any money to SEE if you like it?
Do you REALLY think people are as STUPID as it seems you do?
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I think that the freebies do want to play free. If they get to the point that they like the game and its time to decided how much to spend they may well reroll on the P2P servers instead of spending anythihng on the F2P servers. But again, some may try to squeak by on 5 bucks here and there until the realize the trap they are in at which point many will just leave the game entirely.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Some people just cannot see what is going on right now and try to dismiss it as doom saying, because they enjoy the game.
Like you have also pointed out, it is a fact that soe is removing the free trial for the legacy servers and only supporting unsolicited free trials on the extended servers. This shows clearly where soe wants new players to go.
It is also a fact that currently they are only going to consider allowing 1 way moves (via copy) off of the live servers to the legacy servers. This also shows where soe wants old players to go.
This is what is happening and it doesn't take mystic powers to see that soe is moving away from the live servers right now. They just can't read the writing on the wall.
Let me get this straight.
You think soe all these restriction on the extended servers will result is pushing players to the live servers? Is that really what you are getting out of all of this? That soe removed the free trials to the live servers, so that new players starting on EQ2 will have to give up everything they have earned, leave people they have met, lose all real cash spent, and then actually buy the game just to start all over... As if this is all just to make this some sort of ass backwards free trial that starts on a totally different server and funnels people to the old servers?
You ask why anyone would want to stay on an EQ2x server. How about they never lose access to their characters, even when they don't have a subscription fee. Need any more?
SOE wants more money and that is the only thing that is important here. While their plan with EQ2X may have huge holes in it right now, you can bet your ass that if your miracle situation did start occuring they will make some knee jerk change to put an end to that. Soe doesn't want players to move to the old servers, otherwise they would have made some open ended trial there. Read that again, if soe wanted new players to join the old servers, they would have beefed up the free trial there. This change is entirely about increasing the cash shop and to think otherwise is foolish.
EQ2X represents a higher subscription fee and a massive increase in cash shop offerings. It is freedom for soe to monetize anything they in game that they desire and that is exactly what they have been trying to do for years. EQ2X is right where soe wants players to be and they are going to do whatever they think will get players there. Even if they have to lose current players in the process. They have done it before and I'm more than certain they will have no trouble doing it again.
Just watch how much the game updates, the class rebalancing (or whatever they are calling it) and the expansion focus on the EQ2X experience side of the game. The live servers are just a fall back in case this doesn't work. Nothing more.
The two German servers are almost empty these days. And with the new EQ2ext system, we wont get any new players for those who leave. So the servers maybe will be pushed together, but it wont help long without any new players
To me, if SOE wanted to do this thing right they would completely remove the cash shop from the P2P model and make it a bit more painless to transfer from F2P to P2P. I like the idea of two different server sets, some for F2P and some for P2P but the way they are doing it I cant see it working out for anyone, be it players or SOE.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Soe could have just put this whole free to play levels of subscription on the current servers minus the cash shop if they really wanted to.
Bronze = free, Silver = $5?, Gold = $15 and Platinum = whatever. Obviously some tweeking would be needed and I'm just throwing numbers out for sake of discussion.
That would have boosted servers while only giving away the most meaningless parts of the game and leaving the relevant portions of the game available for money. It would have breathed new life into the beginning levels (much needed), added more players to the servers (since they need mergers anyhow) and offered people an extended view of what the game really has to offer (much needed).
That is not happening, because this change is all about the new improved cash shop and not revitalizing the old servers.
With the Race and Class restrictions on the extended servers, I don't even see them as useful from a trial perspective. With a trial account you don't have those restrictions. Everyone knows you can go to Best Buy and get Sentinel's Faith box for dirt cheap, anyways.
Don't see the use outside of milking as much money out of players that they can, which is laughable.
Well said! You explained it even better then me.
John Smedly's wet dream has always been about putting full RMT in their games!
Problem was that they generated so much negative publicity and such an uproar with Station Exchange, that John Smedly himself had to come down to the forums back then and put the flames out and announce that Station Exchange would be done on completely different fully isolated servers.
Ofcourse it failed, as the interest in Station Exchange is low.
Then they saw Blizzard coming with an online card game with ingame WoW loot cards and the money it generated.
And so was Legends of Norrath born and put on the live servers. And going much much further with the ingame Loot cards. With extremely low drop rates in the booster packs. Preying on the people with addiction problems.
They know people on the live servers were against any form of Cash Shop, so they purposely waited till TSO expac was released and everyone just bought it and then "stealth" patched the Cash Shop just 1-2 weeks after Expac release. To minimise the rage quiting of angry players.
Station Cash doesn't seem to generate enough cash as they wanted to, so the last months they have been steadily increasing (read doubling) the prices of new items on the Market Place.
And now comes EverQuest 2 Extended with all it's restrictions to funnel all new players to it and keep them there.
All with one single goal! Turn EverQuest 2 in a full RMT game! And let the current EQ2Live servers slowly die out.
And this die out process on EQ2Live will be accelerated, as you can bet all development focus from now on will be EQ2 Extended and NOT EQ2Live anymore.
All future updates, Expansion packs, additions will be developed based on EQ2 Extended.
And yet after detailing how SoE has FAILED repeatedly to make Smed's "dream" a reality, you somehow think THIS lame and restrictive effort will magically succeed.....
ROFLMAO
Sure...okay.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I think you are starting to see the picture.
I'll be playing is on and off. If it was no free to play I would never had played EQ2 ata ll.
BINGO! You seem to have finally opened your eyes! BRAVO my friend! BRAVO!
That's what we have been trying to say all the time. Together with the fact that with his sad wet dream pursuit all these years he has been slowly killing the Live Servers.... more and more with each of his attempts.
And if they put out EQ2Ex like they do now and stick with it. Then it will be the final killing blow for the EQ2 Live servers.
And as EQ2 fan since launch I have seen it all and it's a real shame to see it happen.
QFT...
I can't help but wonder if this is just a sign of the direction that SOE is intending to move with their other games too, Free Realms is perhaps their most successful title, it wouldnt surprise me in the least if SOE decided to shift from subscription based to a microtransaction model, across all their titles, not sure if this is a good or a bad move personally, but in this case i can't see it being a good thing for the regular EQ II players, but, EQ1 is still going so i would imagine that the P2P version of EQ2 will quietly be shunted into the same level of maintenance etc..
This is from a NYTime interview with John Smedley back in June 2007.
"Right now our revenue is almost all subscriptions,” John Smedley, the unit’s president, said in an interview. “In two years, we would like to see no more than 50 percent of our revenue coming from subscriptions, and five years from now we think less than 10 percent of our revenue will come from subscription sources." -John Smedley
I don't think there is any guesswork needed to see where soe is heading. Smed has been pretty clear about where he is piloting the company and what is not considered important to their goals.
When the president says he wants to go from almost 100% revenue to 10% revenue from subscriptions that tells you all you need to know about the importance of the subscription only servers.
wait.. SOE gambling with the subscription paying customers in the hope of gaining more players for their games...
Deja Vue anyone..
NGE.. because a mistake you don't learn from, is one you repeat...
I guess I view it as a problem that they should release a server for people to migrate to for free. I actually resubbed right before this announcment to play a bit casually, but seeing that it'll cost me 35 just to transfer, I'd rather just play the character I am.
This move will no doubt in many people's mind, including mine bite SOE in the end. It is a poorly laid out structure. It doesn't look like they are giving discounts for multi-months on these servers, and $200 bucks for a year is a rip off. It should of been at the most 144+30 or 40 depending on cost of a new expansion. Instead they squeeze every dime out of you. (Now you do get point each month, and 100 point=$1, so you do get 60bucks with buying power a year, so maybe that is why there is the slightly jacked up price)
Nope I canceled my account when i heard this news.
Nope. LOL I still think you guys are, for the most part, batshit crazy.
People who enjoy EQ2 Live are NOT going anywhere unless the servers close completely. I imagine that the ones that are really bothered by anything SoE has done with EQ2...have already left. Like I said, if that happens, and the live servers DO manage to go belly up....by the time it would possibly have the chance to come to fruition....I will more than likely be playing GW2, TSW, or Rift. So for me....it doesn't matter one way or the other. As much as I like EQ2....it's still only a GAME. Another great MMO with customizable housing comes along, and at the VERY least....I'll be trying it, so....I'm really pretty unmoved by the DOOMSDAY potential everyone keeps harping on. I don't buy it, but even if I'm wrong....it really doesn't matter.
I still enjoy EQ2 more than any other MMO. If SoE manages to FINALLY totally fuck it up....which I doubt, because as you've both beautifully detailed....they have been unable to do so regardless of any perceived attempts to date....it's still...bottomline... just a game. There are other games up and coming that will probably make EQ2 seen blase, even to me. BUT....those games have not arrived YET.....and I'm not holding my breath. I've learned holding your breath is pointless. We are video game hobbyists.....it's not like we're talking life and death here. It's just that some of you want to proclaim "the end of days," as if we WERE.
It seems that you all have a LOT more faith in SoE's abilities than I do....which is pretty ironic.
I don't think they'll succeed to kill EQ2 live servers with this AT ALL, whether it's their intent or not. It's a very lame, restricted, bland, watered down version of EQ2 that also forces people that WILL tolerate it....to put up with pay to win items in the item shop. I still don't think that LOADS of people are going to like that form of MMO. If they like free to play and don't mind stat item shops....there are other f2p games that have FAR LESS restrictions that they will go play rather than choosing THIS. And if they DON'T like stat item shops....they won't be playing EQ2X anyway.
I'm not sure why, with the constant "fail record" you two are "reporting," that you have so much FAITH in SoE. That really seems incongruent to me.....
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I very well may have done so IF they weren't segregating the servers.
I am in the boat that I can certainly afford to pay for the subscription, but I can't really justify doing so since some months I wouldn't be able to log in at all, and other months for at most a couple of hours. Additionally, it's not like I can also forsee that I will have a lot of playing time coming my way, and simply resub for a month and then cancel the sub.
So, if they would put a F2P system on the Live servers that only included stuff to purchase to unlock things such as zone, levels, races, classes, and other features, I would so be back in game playing with my ex-guild. Also, I am not the only one from my guild who has expressed the same thing as well.
Trust me as well, I would be happy doing so taking some form of that gimped bronze tiered version just to log in, have some laughs on TS, while goofing around on guild hunt nights or inpromptu hunts with guild members. Sometimes, there is more to MMOs than simply raiding and getting the best gear.
This is just an attempt to convert the live servers to full blown cash shops. It may kill the servers in more than 1 one and it is causing people to leave the game right now. No need to say people will stick out as some already left. I think you are translating your enjoyment of the game into wishful thinking.
SOE wants to monetize all of their games, agreed? The players said no, so soe hit the them exactly where they knew it would hurt, new player growth. This is a squeeze play to get players to cave in. Go read the official forums if you don't believe me. People are already willing to roll over, because they know the live servers are already in poor shape and EQ2X is a very heavy threat. Other are just leaving.
I agree with your assesment of the EQ2X program. It isn't fully thought out and poorly implemented. I don't really know how well it will work, but I am certain it will not push people to the live servers. Increasing the barrier to join existing servers doesn't make for a believable conclusion that new players will somehow increase to the old servers. Again, keep in mind the old servers already need mergers.
The "faith" I have is soe is pretty much backed up by their history, reputation and performance. I can point to many instances where soe has shot themselves in the foot. This move is already alienting more of their current players, but this isn't exactly something new for this company.
Other than really enjoying the game and thinking others are crazy, I don't see much convincing information from your side of the issue.
Thot I would just share my thoughts on this topic. I heard the news about EQ2 going F2P so I went ahead and started a trial account to see how it was. Dont really know why I havent gave it a chance in the past, just havent. Maybe bc im kinda in between MMOs for now. But to be completely honest the game is great so far. (Im only 13 so im only speaking about that)
I am going to continue playing the trial, and will go from there. But you guys have brought up a intersting point about the subscribers now moving to the F2P. If I continue to play (IF) there will be no way in hell I will use the F2P service. It sucks! I dont like restrictions. So I would simply sub and continue on the normal servers. What you guys arent seeing is there may be more people like me that end up subbing and moving to the other servers. This would then help the sub community as well.
So, just my thoughts. Not saying for sure I will do that, but if I did. At least this move on Sony's part made me wanna play the trial.
Exactly.
Not like if you LIKE the game, that leaving a lvl 20 (or so) character behind and starting on the paid server would be that big of a goshdern deal to lose all those silly restrictions, now, would it? Nope.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I think for one of the first times ever SOE may damage themselves more than the players. They think people are too stupid to do the math or at least read about the math from other people.
It will cost MORE money to play the f2p version. Sure they will use the extended to try the game, but once they realize the price for all the stuff they need to be successfull they will probbaly just go to live servers or quit.
I think all the development time for this will be worthless to SOE unless they dramatically change the RETARDED restrictions involved.
This is like saying, "Yea sure WoW is F2P now, but you can't do any thing past scarlet monestary unless you pay money."
EDIT: I'm not saying F2P is a bad idea and I support it to get EQ2 revenue. But in it's current incarnation it is stupid and waste of money. To Think F2P is a waste of money....kinda ironic.
That is how I was hoping it will all turn out, but honestly the way people are talking here, I'm seeing more damage being done by the predictions of what will/might/could happen than reactions to what has actually happened. You see people unsubbing because they hate the idea, arguing that it is the foretelling of cash shops in the rest of the game, and the death of all regular servers, etc. etc.... That might well be, but I'm just surprised at how many people are ragequiting before the outcome they say is making them angry has even happened yet. Sounds like Minority Report in here, with everyone discussing how SOE killed EQ2, in the near future.
SWG was one thing. The NGE happened, then lots of people got pissed off and left. SOE deserved that, and the reaction made sense. With EQ2X, we haven't even seen the final version of it yet and people are already quitting. Even arguing about the subscriber matrix is irrelevant because any and all of us can just stick with our regular sub as if it never happened. It's like that dev said, if there is a mass exodus to EQ2X then it will show it was a good idea. If there isn't and people stay on reg servers, then SOE will be the only ones to lose the time and money they invested on it. Instead, players are shooting their self in the foot by quitting because an alternate method of play was introduced. Things are just being blown out of proportion.
All I think is it'll be nice to have the option of playing a F2P character with similar limitations that I face in any other F2P, or pay to play my normal characters with a sub like I would've done anyway if the F2P wasn't introduced. I get to try out a new way of playing it and see if I like it. If not, then I lose nothing and go back to the way things were.