Comments on: When do you redo your old zones? http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/ MMO game development Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:45:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Babs http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/comment-page-1/#comment-79 Babs Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:51:42 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/24/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/#comment-79 Repurposing the zones would make it worth the while. All those damned doors in Freeport that lead to nowhere...and zoning inside the city? So last decade. I don't know why games don't put it in their plans to revisit areas that need improvement and build new content in it. Not SWG-NGE style, but just as a matter of course. Surely there are interesting reasons to have people repopulate old art! The new content is stunning. Kunark is gorgeous. This team (not the one responsible for slumlord gray) has done a beautiful job. I think you will be proud. Come see! Repurposing the zones would make it worth the while. All those damned doors in Freeport that lead to nowhere…and zoning inside the city? So last decade. I don’t know why games don’t put it in their plans to revisit areas that need improvement and build new content in it. Not SWG-NGE style, but just as a matter of course. Surely there are interesting reasons to have people repopulate old art!

The new content is stunning. Kunark is gorgeous. This team (not the one responsible for slumlord gray) has done a beautiful job. I think you will be proud. Come see!

]]> By: GAX Online http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/comment-page-1/#comment-72 GAX Online Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:50:11 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/24/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/#comment-72 [...] a recent article over on Elder Game seemed to imply that this might be something lacking in the game’s original starting zones of [...] [...] a recent article over on Elder Game seemed to imply that this might be something lacking in the game’s original starting zones of [...]

]]> By: Azaroth http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/comment-page-1/#comment-53 Azaroth Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:26:32 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/2007/10/24/when-do-you-redo-your-old-zones/#comment-53 Oh, ow. Ow. I hope those screenshots are somehow not entirely representative of what the game looks like. Even if it's just in those areas. At best, that's a barrier. At worst, a lot of very normal, very sane people (my girlfriend included, I guarantee you) would never touch the game because of visuals like that. I could get into a huge spiel about why I've never gone so far as to even try EQ2, and why I think nobody else has either, why it's never come close to being a serious WoW competitor - and my views as an outsider of how and what should be changed if they want to give it a go. But frankly, we all saw how the SWG NGE went, and it seems like companies are nearly always better off just keeping the subscriber base they have with a running MMO and a expensive new project if they want to give something else a shot. Because of this, something as basic as improving the cosmetic side of the newbie experience seems so very essential and especially impactful for the time spent. Don't even say you're doing it, just improve it and throw a note about it in the patch notes one time. That way it becomes "wow, cool" instead of "MAN I can't believe they're spending time on that, I'm already level X and this has no impact on my daily play experience so it SUCKS". Oh, ow. Ow. I hope those screenshots are somehow not entirely representative of what the game looks like. Even if it’s just in those areas. At best, that’s a barrier. At worst, a lot of very normal, very sane people (my girlfriend included, I guarantee you) would never touch the game because of visuals like that.

I could get into a huge spiel about why I’ve never gone so far as to even try EQ2, and why I think nobody else has either, why it’s never come close to being a serious WoW competitor – and my views as an outsider of how and what should be changed if they want to give it a go.

But frankly, we all saw how the SWG NGE went, and it seems like companies are nearly always better off just keeping the subscriber base they have with a running MMO and a expensive new project if they want to give something else a shot.

Because of this, something as basic as improving the cosmetic side of the newbie experience seems so very essential and especially impactful for the time spent. Don’t even say you’re doing it, just improve it and throw a note about it in the patch notes one time. That way it becomes “wow, cool” instead of “MAN I can’t believe they’re spending time on that, I’m already level X and this has no impact on my daily play experience so it SUCKS”.

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