Comments on: Please, EQ2, Sell Out More! http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/ MMO game development Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:10:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Peace on Earth and RMT to Games Companies « Welcome to Spinksville! http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-36928 Peace on Earth and RMT to Games Companies « Welcome to Spinksville! Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:56:02 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-36928 [...] seen it in Champions Online, we’ve seen it in EQ2, we’ve seen it in WoW (they’re just more explicitly selling cosmetic items now), and if the [...] [...] seen it in Champions Online, we’ve seen it in EQ2, we’ve seen it in WoW (they’re just more explicitly selling cosmetic items now), and if the [...]

]]> By: Hurgle Durgle http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-18361 Hurgle Durgle Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:55:13 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-18361 Sam, L2P. There's tons of solo content all over EQ2. You can solo to 80 in less than a month without a potty chair and fridge next to it. Sure, everyone's in the high end, but when it's so fast to get there, why whine about it? Just get your ass in gear and level. Even at the low levels, nobody wants to play with people who drag their feet. Shannon, the reason you can't have as much fun at the lower levels as the higher levels is because everything you do at the low levels other than grinding them out is pointless. Sure, you can raid a level 22 drakota in Antonica, but why? The loot will be worthless in days as you hit 50. Sam, L2P. There’s tons of solo content all over EQ2. You can solo to 80 in less than a month without a potty chair and fridge next to it.

Sure, everyone’s in the high end, but when it’s so fast to get there, why whine about it? Just get your ass in gear and level. Even at the low levels, nobody wants to play with people who drag their feet.

Shannon, the reason you can’t have as much fun at the lower levels as the higher levels is because everything you do at the low levels other than grinding them out is pointless. Sure, you can raid a level 22 drakota in Antonica, but why? The loot will be worthless in days as you hit 50.

]]> By: Shannon B http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-17919 Shannon B Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:25:08 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-17919 Old fuddy-duddy here with a question: "...this is a nice way to help players through the doldrum levels so they can reach the place where the other players are." Why isn't this raising red flags for anyone? Why are we accepting that there are huge parts of the game that players don't want to play, as if this is normal? What would it be like if the next Half Life came out with the option to simply skip half of the game, because they know and accept the fact that most players simply won't enjoy it? Why do we even keep content in the game that an obviously large portion of the player base seems to feel should simply be circumvented? Is the problem with the type of players that are now being attracted to MMOs since they became the new weeknight TV? Should they rather go back to games that offer more instant gratification? Or should developers rather look at making a game that is fun to play at all levels? Why can't you have just as much fun at Level 20 as you do at Level 80? Old fuddy-duddy here with a question:

“…this is a nice way to help players through the doldrum levels so they can reach the place where the other players are.”

Why isn’t this raising red flags for anyone? Why are we accepting that there are huge parts of the game that players don’t want to play, as if this is normal?

What would it be like if the next Half Life came out with the option to simply skip half of the game, because they know and accept the fact that most players simply won’t enjoy it?

Why do we even keep content in the game that an obviously large portion of the player base seems to feel should simply be circumvented? Is the problem with the type of players that are now being attracted to MMOs since they became the new weeknight TV? Should they rather go back to games that offer more instant gratification? Or should developers rather look at making a game that is fun to play at all levels?

Why can’t you have just as much fun at Level 20 as you do at Level 80?

]]> By: Sam http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-16898 Sam Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:52:07 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-16898 Me and two friends left EQ2 about a year and a half ago for other games, recently I decided to poke my head back into the EQ2 world to see how it was doing, economy, grouping etc...well.. I found EQ2 to be well...beyond a disappointment and a ruined ghost town haunted by the occassional high level character flitering by on a mount or server wide message that someone had looted yet another mystical item **sigh** (get your mystical items as s-mart). WoW has millions of players, and EQ2 is struggling. I noticed ALL the servers at night were in the green Low population range with the exception of antonia-balye (or how ever you spell that). On the server I used to play on I have several characters from level 32 to level 68, and every zone I went in was a ghost town. To boot soloing is the disk of the day, yet I go into zones and most of them are stocked outside with heroices.. (laughable) so... I can get no groups, and I am faced with heroics..which I mostly can't fight without a group....good one Sony/EQ2!. I don't see these problems in WOW. Economy is rocking, there are players everywhere, its fun the zone design and moster challenges are well placed and make sense. YET the EQ2 plan is to put out pretty much high level expansions only, look at ROK, and now Shadow O. I would expect that SONY would want to grow the game, get more players, get returning players to stay (hey how about new content 1-70) and really impress them, and keep them. Rather not the case... I deleted all my characters, uninstalled the game, and will never be going back (I delete my characters as a way of making a decision final, yup its extreme but its effective)...and its a game...time to move on permanently. Me and two friends left EQ2 about a year and a half ago for other games, recently I decided to poke my head back into the EQ2 world to see how it was doing, economy, grouping etc…well.. I found EQ2 to be well…beyond a disappointment and a ruined ghost town haunted by the occassional high level character flitering by on a mount or server wide message that someone had looted yet another mystical item **sigh** (get your mystical items as s-mart). WoW has millions of players, and EQ2 is struggling. I noticed ALL the servers at night were in the green Low population range with the exception of antonia-balye (or how ever you spell that). On the server I used to play on I have several characters from level 32 to level 68, and every zone I went in was a ghost town. To boot soloing is the disk of the day, yet I go into zones and most of them are stocked outside with heroices.. (laughable) so… I can get no groups, and I am faced with heroics..which I mostly can’t fight without a group….good one Sony/EQ2!. I don’t see these problems in WOW. Economy is rocking, there are players everywhere, its fun the zone design and moster challenges are well placed and make sense. YET the EQ2 plan is to put out pretty much high level expansions only, look at ROK, and now Shadow O. I would expect that SONY would want to grow the game, get more players, get returning players to stay (hey how about new content 1-70) and really impress them, and keep them. Rather not the case… I deleted all my characters, uninstalled the game, and will never be going back (I delete my characters as a way of making a decision final, yup its extreme but its effective)…and its a game…time to move on permanently.

]]> By: Tesh http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-16276 Tesh Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:43:11 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-16276 Aye, Lolly; I've purchased a handful of Access Passes from W101 (and blogged a bit about it). It's a brilliant move for a great game. Puzzle Pirates also handles things nicely, albeit a bit differently; they effectively monetize a chunk of time via decaying "badges", but the majority of badges only decay on days you log in. It's very flexible that way. Aye, Lolly; I’ve purchased a handful of Access Passes from W101 (and blogged a bit about it). It’s a brilliant move for a great game. Puzzle Pirates also handles things nicely, albeit a bit differently; they effectively monetize a chunk of time via decaying “badges”, but the majority of badges only decay on days you log in. It’s very flexible that way.

]]> By: LollyGagger http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-16261 LollyGagger Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:06:13 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-16261 @Tesh Wizard101 is pretty good with this. They offer a 'pay-as-you-go' method, or a subscription if you're into that kinda thing, in which you essentially pay a small fee to unlock the next area of content. @Tesh

Wizard101 is pretty good with this. They offer a ‘pay-as-you-go’ method, or a subscription if you’re into that kinda thing, in which you essentially pay a small fee to unlock the next area of content.

]]> By: Tesh http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-16094 Tesh Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:53:42 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-16094 I still think that MMOs should monetize content, not achievement or time investment. If it takes "selling out" to get that pounded into the industry, so be it. I still think that MMOs should monetize content, not achievement or time investment. If it takes “selling out” to get that pounded into the industry, so be it.

]]> By: Eric http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-15990 Eric Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:43:38 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-15990 The only reason I suggested selling "free levels" in EQ2 is because of EQ2's unique position. The game is extremely top-heavy, with very few players in the level range between 40 and 70. Ideally this wouldn't be the case, but EQ2 is not ideal. They could at least let me pay to jump to the 70s where the other players are. I prefer to group in EQ2, not to solo, so the emptiness of the world is a big turn off. The only reason I suggested selling “free levels” in EQ2 is because of EQ2’s unique position. The game is extremely top-heavy, with very few players in the level range between 40 and 70. Ideally this wouldn’t be the case, but EQ2 is not ideal. They could at least let me pay to jump to the 70s where the other players are. I prefer to group in EQ2, not to solo, so the emptiness of the world is a big turn off.

]]> By: rulez http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-15985 rulez Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:17:15 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-15985 RMT is fine as long as a game ships with such features. Introducing them into old established MMOs is just lame and gives me lots of nerdrage. RMT is fine as long as a game ships with such features. Introducing them into old established MMOs is just lame and gives me lots of nerdrage.

]]> By: Stormwaltz http://www.eldergame.com/2009/01/please-eq2-sell-out-more/comment-page-1/#comment-15946 Stormwaltz Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:37:52 +0000 http://www.eldergame.com/?p=115#comment-15946 Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you wish, but EQ2's current system is pretty much what I'd do. You can argue until you're blue in the face about how fun it is to be able to skip playing more of the game, but if it's that great, why not make the basic gameplay more fun, instead unlocking the fun only for those who kick in extra money? What is this, Korea? (*rimshot*) I can understand the temptation to indulge in unfettered capitalism, but that many people play these games as entertainment. The argument can be made that you should be allowed to use your entertainment dollars as you wish. The counter-argument is that this brings in the real-life issue of some people having more entertainment dollars than others. I already work in a world with haves and have-nots, where all my bosses can afford iPhones, and thus assume that "everyone" has them. Why would I want to recreate in a world that also wants to shove me into a social class? Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you wish, but EQ2’s current system is pretty much what I’d do. You can argue until you’re blue in the face about how fun it is to be able to skip playing more of the game, but if it’s that great, why not make the basic gameplay more fun, instead unlocking the fun only for those who kick in extra money? What is this, Korea? (*rimshot*)

I can understand the temptation to indulge in unfettered capitalism, but that many people play these games as entertainment. The argument can be made that you should be allowed to use your entertainment dollars as you wish. The counter-argument is that this brings in the real-life issue of some people having more entertainment dollars than others.

I already work in a world with haves and have-nots, where all my bosses can afford iPhones, and thus assume that “everyone” has them. Why would I want to recreate in a world that also wants to shove me into a social class?

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