I guess they just didn't have the skills required for the job.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire: Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
Well, I guess the writing has been on the wall for awhile, but it is still hugely disappointing, to me at least.
I, like many here I'm sure, have extremely fond memories of time spent in EQ back in the day (and, like not so many, the time I spent in EQ2). And I was truly hoping that EQnext would recapture some of that, or at least represent the world of Norrath in a way that I would enjoy experiencing. I know now that "feeling" that I had in the early days of EQ is impossible to recreate, and a waste of time trying b/c it was a mix of a lot of factors that made EQ what it was. But a big part of my enjoyment in EQ was the world itself and the (if you bothered looking for it) deep lore that everything was built on, and I was looking forward to experiencing at least that again.
I think that this may be "it" for me as far as MMO's go....it was the last one in development I had any real interest in playing, and unless they decide to try again with EQ I don't see myself investing the time into any other MMO. That sucks b/c MMO's were a large part of my life for a long time, but I find myself not willing to go back into old games and play catch up, and none of the MMO's in the pipeline pique my interest. A sad day to be sure...
There is plenty of room in the MMO player retirement home, i live on and off there myself
Well, I guess the writing has been on the wall for awhile, but it is still hugely disappointing, to me at least.
I, like many here I'm sure, have extremely fond memories of time spent in EQ back in the day (and, like not so many, the time I spent in EQ2). And I was truly hoping that EQnext would recapture some of that, or at least represent the world of Norrath in a way that I would enjoy experiencing. I know now that "feeling" that I had in the early days of EQ is impossible to recreate, and a waste of time trying b/c it was a mix of a lot of factors that made EQ what it was. But a big part of my enjoyment in EQ was the world itself and the (if you bothered looking for it) deep lore that everything was built on, and I was looking forward to experiencing at least that again.
I think that this may be "it" for me as far as MMO's go....it was the last one in development I had any real interest in playing, and unless they decide to try again with EQ I don't see myself investing the time into any other MMO. That sucks b/c MMO's were a large part of my life for a long time, but I find myself not willing to go back into old games and play catch up, and none of the MMO's in the pipeline pique my interest. A sad day to be sure...
You might take a look at Pantheon if you haven't. It's Brad new game and its shaping up nicely. www.pantheonmmo.com
Originally posted by Scagweed22 is it the graphics? the repetativenesses? i mean what is the point? you could be so much more productive in real life Real life brings repetition and pointlessness too. The only thing real life offers is Great graphics. Its kinda expensive too and way to dependent on the cash shop. Totally pay to win as well. No thank you. Ill stick to my games.
They just went way overboard with what they wanted to do - the voxel engine they picked had major scalability issues, the AI alone was crazy overambitious - again based on a small company that had major scalability issues as well.
And still, if the MMO playing public had embraced it, they would have found a way and made it.
From the beginning it was a marriage of two different grand ideas where the whole didn't really appeal to very many and put off quite a few.
My interest in it was always the AI and the new ideas of non-static spawns, NPCs that reacted to players differently, opportunistic mob migrations and attacks, etc.
The voxel part of the game, which also dictated the cartoonish art style, was never a plus feature for me. EQN deserved nex-gen high fantasy art and graphics, not just jumping on the minecraft-profit inspired voxel bandwagon.
Storybricks and Dave Mark had some great ideas. I'm much more likely to follow anything they are involved in than any regurgitated crap Daybreak comes-up with.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Whatever.... we funded Landmark with the express purpose of using that technology to further EQN... this is BS but I'm not surprised. Daybreak is just another company that craps all over everything it touches.
Honestly as soon as I heard that an "investment firm" bought a gaming company, I figured nothing good was going to come of it. The same thing happened to Atari when Infogrames bought it. They ran the Atari name right into the ground. The best games are always put out by people that have an understanding of game design and business both. It's sad. Doubt they will put out anything decent anytime soon and maybe not even at all.
No kidding and then they lay tons off including the community people and claim,they were all about community is a big LOL. I wish PR people would understand that just because President's give BS speeches,nobody si actually buying anything they are selling,well maybe the 80-90 year olds but nobody else with a brain still working.
When you take the FACE, Georgeson,weather i like him or not and remove it,you are sending a message that this is not about moving forward but more about cutting corners and trying to squeeze money out of a stone.
Soon i saw those layoffs i knew EQN was going into hibernation mode,a sort of we will do a little at a time i between projects IF we have time.Smedley's idea was that Landmark would pay to build the game,bad idea,not happening,i knew this game was in trouble. The funny part is that Smedley pulled the wool over the eyes of DBG,he sold them a dud and even funnier is he came back immediately trying to sell us a new dud lmao.Smedley should get into comedy or run for presidency ,he makes me laugh and can fool people.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
They just went way overboard with what they wanted to do - the voxel engine they picked had major scalability issues, the AI alone was crazy overambitious - again based on a small company that had major scalability issues as well.
And still, if the MMO playing public had embraced it, they would have found a way and made it.
From the beginning it was a marriage of two different grand ideas where the whole didn't really appeal to very many and put off quite a few.
My interest in it was always the AI and the new ideas of non-static spawns, NPCs that reacted to players differently, opportunistic mob migrations and attacks, etc.
The voxel part of the game, which also dictated the cartoonish art style, was never a plus feature for me. EQN deserved nex-gen high fantasy art and graphics, not just jumping on the minecraft-profit inspired voxel bandwagon.
Storybricks and Dave Mark had some great ideas. I'm much more likely to follow anything they are involved in than any regurgitated crap Daybreak comes-up with.
The proposed AI had me salivating. It's shitty having to be left in the dark about how far that part of the development had materialized. How far did it come?
The honest answer would have been: "Yeah, CN was tired of paying for this goat rope, so we are canning it now to stop losing money on something that will never be profitable or probably release."
As I and others have said before many times, Columbus Nova are not game/MMO makers, they are a VC company.
As such, they are not going to fund the development of an MMO for years. Period.
Company A buys Company B Company A looks to where Company B is bleeding money. Company A stops the money bleeding.
Guys, this is pure business. It happens in any software development business, not just games.
Why should we care? Because we are passionate about games! We invest our time and money in these little pieces of software to make our lives more enjoyable. And that's why we all should be sad. Because these people show they have no passion about games. It's all business.
And don't tell me all companies are like that. It's reasonable to mix passion with business. Hell, it's a necessity and it's doable.
The Senior Management members that were passionate about this franchise are no longer there. And as someone that worked on EQ2, let me say. I'm frustrated reading this news, also this company won't get one more penny out of me. There are a lot of underdogs in the industry that deserve my money.
I won't deny it - I had held out hope despite everything. The vision of this game as a truly living world with emergent AI and an engine capable of building a world 1000x bigger than Skyrim to explore... it had me head over heels with excitement. I had hoped to created a Dark Elf Cleric-type whose only mission was to go places and assist the Teir'dal and their allies in creating a vast empire.
Hopefully, one day, something like this will emerge.
FUCGGING DB, finish the damn game and quit bitching about your butt being hurt
Are you offering to put up the millions $$ needed to make it happen? With no realistic prospect of getting your money back. No?
Remember that Sony wrote off - as in declared that they had wasted - $60M. Closure of SoE must have been on the cards. DBG was simply the ashes of SoE - not a "new" company just a new name. CN could have laid off all the EQN staff on day 1. They didn't. So what CN were told / shown by Smed etc. must have looked good / sounded plausible: lots of people saying they called it but difficult to believe that CN are that stupid. That said I think we would have been a more difficult audience to impress who would have asked more searching questions.
Either way CN gave the game a (final) chance. And when they realised they had been sold a lemon did what Sony didn't - pulled the plug. And this may have come as a shock to DBG who - as SoE - might have become confident in their ability to sell lemons based on how many they sold to Sony.
And I think if I had to lay blame anywhere it would be Sony for not keeping SoE's senior management's feet on the ground and rooted in reality.
I don't think it has anything to do with lack of ability, or being over ambitious.
I think it has all to do with the fact that a lot of the people that would play Everquest Next are the people playing Everquest 1 and 2. And after those people left a lot of the people who stayed would quit. So for the amount of money they would have to spend they might not be looking at a lot of profit over all. The same reason WoW won't make another MMORPG for now.
Whatever.... we funded Landmark with the express purpose of using that technology to further EQN... this is BS but I'm not surprised. Daybreak is just another company that craps all over everything it touches.
and people wonder why I keep urging them not to fund these company's up front. It's pure lunacy to pay someone for work that they haven't done.
It's one of the reasons that I have a huge amount of distrust for Star Citizen. Not only have people been tripping over each other to throw their money at a completely unproven concept, but now people are finding out that the original concept is many many years away, but here you go, you can have this single player game in the meantime... even though we took your money for an MMO.
I don't think it has anything to do with lack of ability, or being over ambitious.
I think it has all to do with the fact that a lot of the people that would play Everquest Next are the people playing Everquest 1 and 2. And after those people left a lot of the people who stayed would quit. So for the amount of money they would have to spend they might not be looking at a lot of profit over all. The same reason WoW won't make another MMORPG for now.
Nope not even close. The people most vocal in their criticism of EQ Not! were current players of EQ and EQ2. There would have been some crossover for the first couple of months but this would have faded fast as reality set in.
But this is hypothetical, the project was always too ambitious to actually be delivered and its death has been forecast by many for the last year.
Everything they revealed about it looked pretty damned awful, so it doesn't surprise me they ultimately decided against it. The combat system, the "destructable world", the player made quests... It all sounded absolutely terrible.
It also infuriates me, because I have been waiting for a third EQ game since I lost interest in EQ2 in 2007... Now I'll likely be long dead before a fresh installment is released.
You know what grinds my gears even further. Smedley scrapped the original game because it "wasn't different enough." I would bet anything the game they scrapped is actually what EQ fans wanted. And we could have been playing it years ago.
Literally, F--- Smedley.
Comments
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
Like.. from the first screenshot of Landmark even?
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Originally posted by Scagweed22
is it the graphics? the repetativenesses? i mean what is the point? you could be so much more productive in real life
Real life brings repetition and pointlessness too. The only thing real life offers is Great graphics. Its kinda expensive too and way to dependent on the cash shop. Totally pay to win as well. No thank you. Ill stick to my games.
The voxel part of the game, which also dictated the cartoonish art style, was never a plus feature for me. EQN deserved nex-gen high fantasy art and graphics, not just jumping on the minecraft-profit inspired voxel bandwagon.
Storybricks and Dave Mark had some great ideas. I'm much more likely to follow anything they are involved in than any regurgitated crap Daybreak comes-up with.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I wish PR people would understand that just because President's give BS speeches,nobody si actually buying anything they are selling,well maybe the 80-90 year olds but nobody else with a brain still working.
When you take the FACE, Georgeson,weather i like him or not and remove it,you are sending a message that this is not about moving forward but more about cutting corners and trying to squeeze money out of a stone.
Soon i saw those layoffs i knew EQN was going into hibernation mode,a sort of we will do a little at a time i between projects IF we have time.Smedley's idea was that Landmark would pay to build the game,bad idea,not happening,i knew this game was in trouble.
The funny part is that Smedley pulled the wool over the eyes of DBG,he sold them a dud and even funnier is he came back immediately trying to sell us a new dud lmao.Smedley should get into comedy or run for presidency ,he makes me laugh and can fool people.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
I am so good, I backstabbed your face!
As I and others have said before many times, Columbus Nova are not game/MMO makers, they are a VC company.
As such, they are not going to fund the development of an MMO for years. Period.
Company A looks to where Company B is bleeding money.
Company A stops the money bleeding.
Guys, this is pure business.
It happens in any software development business, not just games.
Why should we care?
Because we are passionate about games! We invest our time and money in these little pieces of software to make our lives more enjoyable.
And that's why we all should be sad. Because these people show they have no passion about games. It's all business.
And don't tell me all companies are like that. It's reasonable to mix passion with business. Hell, it's a necessity and it's doable.
The Senior Management members that were passionate about this franchise are no longer there.
And as someone that worked on EQ2, let me say. I'm frustrated reading this news, also this company won't get one more penny out of me. There are a lot of underdogs in the industry that deserve my money.
Peace out.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Hopefully, one day, something like this will emerge.
Are you offering to put up the millions $$ needed to make it happen? With no realistic prospect of getting your money back. No?
Remember that Sony wrote off - as in declared that they had wasted - $60M. Closure of SoE must have been on the cards. DBG was simply the ashes of SoE - not a "new" company just a new name. CN could have laid off all the EQN staff on day 1. They didn't. So what CN were told / shown by Smed etc. must have looked good / sounded plausible: lots of people saying they called it but difficult to believe that CN are that stupid. That said I think we would have been a more difficult audience to impress who would have asked more searching questions.
Either way CN gave the game a (final) chance. And when they realised they had been sold a lemon did what Sony didn't - pulled the plug. And this may have come as a shock to DBG who - as SoE - might have become confident in their ability to sell lemons based on how many they sold to Sony.
And I think if I had to lay blame anywhere it would be Sony for not keeping SoE's senior management's feet on the ground and rooted in reality.
I think it has all to do with the fact that a lot of the people that would play Everquest Next are the people playing Everquest 1 and 2. And after those people left a lot of the people who stayed would quit. So for the amount of money they would have to spend they might not be looking at a lot of profit over all. The same reason WoW won't make another MMORPG for now.
It's one of the reasons that I have a huge amount of distrust for Star Citizen. Not only have people been tripping over each other to throw their money at a completely unproven concept, but now people are finding out that the original concept is many many years away, but here you go, you can have this single player game in the meantime... even though we took your money for an MMO.
But this is hypothetical, the project was always too ambitious to actually be delivered and its death has been forecast by many for the last year.
When you're designing a game, you don't "find the fun" in the game design, you create it yourself !
If you fail to come up with a "fun" design, it's your fault, not the game's...