EverQuest II: Dear Devs: Player Questions Answered

Stradden

MMORPG.com's Adele Caelia recently submitted some questions from EverQuest II players to the game's developers. Today, we present three of the company's answers. Remember to check back next week for more.

Dear Devs,

I would like to know if there is any hope for graphical revamps for EQII. Specifically in regards to adding support for features like dual core, as well as upgrades to the graphics themselves. Unfortunately, it's been over three years now, some of the environment textures are not looking so hot and the sky could definitely use a revamp. [I] would just like to know if this is possible or not.

Read the whole thing here.

kitsunegirl

Why did she give the devs two of the nearly same questions? Mine would have been alot better than a second "Hey you going to update the graphics engine lol."

Mine is, are they still going to update the models, and do something about Soga? And, are you going to be bringing Erolissi back soon or at all? But of course its too late now...

adolf102

I did read second question was hoping they will answer finally to missing shadow questions.

Duh no luck

 

And for so many MMOs on marked those from SOE have biggest problems with "broken" NVidia drives, and poor SOE need to develop workarounds.

 

Now how unfair toward SOE it is  !

 

 

 

Citron

I was curious also why two graphical questions were asked? However it is a pretty big issue, expecially for an 8800 user like myself. Its hard to believe that EQ2 still crawls and stutters on some of the newest systems. I installed AOC and run everything maxed at high resolution and it runs like a champ! (looks better in every aspect also)

Oh well, my days of EQ2 have finally come to a close.

 

 

JudithWilliams

I submitted all questions that were sent to me within a reasonable time after the request. The devs were great and answered all of them, so more letters will be posted:) Keep checking back:)

Thanks again SOE for taking the time to write back to the players!

docminus

Yes, all in all pretty dissapointing those answers. I do understand them, but it doesn't help that it, well, doesn't help.

Just yesterday I completely purged one of my 2 accounts, I am only holding on the 2nd one out of nostalgia. But somehow I doubt I would go back (for very long). Too bad, I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Enigma

These EXACT questions were asked and answered about 3,000 times on the official EQ2 forums (which is accesible to non paying customers)

You guys should have looked there first before asking those questions.

Enigma

PS

 

I hope one of your other questions wont be about the skeletal revamp because they answered that too lol

JudithWilliams

Again, these were not questions asked by MMORPG.COM. These were letters submitted by the community and for the community. All letters were submitted.

Ironman2000

Originally posted by Enigma


PS
 
I hope one of your other questions wont be about the skeletal revamp because they answered that too lol

Sorry, I hadn't heard any answers as to when or how long or if the skeletal revamp is going to take place, can you fill us in on what the answer to that question was?

Citron

Originally posted by Enigma


These EXACT questions were asked and answered about 3,000 times on the official EQ2 forums (which is accesible to non paying customers)
You guys should have looked there first before asking those questions.

I posted on the huge thread on the graphical issue and in particular the 8800 issue. The Devs never could come up with much answer or help for that matter. They pointed a finger at Nvidia, and Nvidia pointed back at them. The interesting fact is the main 8800 "lag" issue mainly only happens in EQ2. I have yet to see it in any other game. In any event it seems by their above answer they are still blaming Nvidia, they did say they "fixed" something on their end. But we all have to still sit around for Nvidia to update their fix on the next driver release. Who knows which release it will include, or if it even exists. I will say one thing, after spending a ton on a nice system with dual 8800's, quad core and a bunch of other tech EQ2 will never use its pretty depressing, but seeing it actually make the game all laggy and crapped up is disheartening. 

 

 

kitsunegirl

Originally posted by Adele


I submitted all questions that were sent to me within a reasonable time after the request. The devs were great and answered all of them, so more letters will be posted:) Keep checking back:)
Thanks again SOE for taking the time to write back to the players!

No offense my dear, but they didnt answer the questions, they responded to them. Two totally different things.

piotrsan

They are treating eq2 like a milk cow and they want to milk it out before it dies, after all updating  the engine wont turn into money, that's Sony for you.

adolf102

Originally posted by kitsunegirl

Originally posted by Adele


I submitted all questions that were sent to me within a reasonable time after the request. The devs were great and answered all of them, so more letters will be posted:) Keep checking back:)
Thanks again SOE for taking the time to write back to the players!

No offense my dear, but they didnt answer the questions, they responded to them. Two totally different things.

haha very well put!

Enigma

Originally posted by Ironman2000

Originally posted by Enigma


PS
 
I hope one of your other questions wont be about the skeletal revamp because they answered that too lol

Sorry, I hadn't heard any answers as to when or how long or if the skeletal revamp is going to take place, can you fill us in on what the answer to that question was?

yes

The skeletal revamp has been worked on for the last year and a half. The first steps of the skeletal revamp was incorporated with the new race; the Sarnak.  There is no specific timeline as to when the skeletal revamp will be done as the developers do not have it as a priority on their list.

With the skeletal revamp, you will see new original designs in armor, robes, etc.

Enigma

Originally posted by Citron


 
Originally posted by Enigma


These EXACT questions were asked and answered about 3,000 times on the official EQ2 forums (which is accesible to non paying customers)
You guys should have looked there first before asking those questions.

I posted on the huge thread on the graphical issue and in particular the 8800 issue. The Devs never could come up with much answer or help for that matter. They pointed a finger at Nvidia, and Nvidia pointed back at them. The interesting fact is the main 8800 "lag" issue mainly only happens in EQ2. I have yet to see it in any other game. In any event it seems by their above answer they are still blaming Nvidia, they did say they "fixed" something on their end. But we all have to still sit around for Nvidia to update their fix on the next driver release. Who knows which release it will include, or if it even exists. I will say one thing, after spending a ton on a nice system with dual 8800's, quad core and a bunch of other tech EQ2 will never use its pretty depressing, but seeing it actually make the game all laggy and crapped up is disheartening. 

 

 

 

The Devs answered this specific issue NUMEROUS times on the official forums. Hell, one even joked about it. They said recoding the engine for it to work on a dual or quad core system would require so much work in recoding everything that they minus well make an Everquest 3 because of the sheer amount of manpower needed to execute this.

They answered that a LOT. On the official forums whenever someone brings this question up, someone inevitably links a dev response.

I do agree with you. They need to fix A LOT of things in EQ2, but my main point of this thread is that these are questions that have been answered hundreds of times (maybe not hundreds...but dozens) by the developers and tech support.

Maybe MMORPG.com should have reviewed these questions and picked out ones that the Devs never answered. As a Senior Guide for Everquest 2, I know quite a few issues that the DEVs never really tackled in the official forums.  But to be all fair, the last question was a good one as many DEVs like to skirt that issue with low quality loot in older zones.

JudithWilliams

Originally posted by Enigma


 
Originally posted by Citron


 
Originally posted by Enigma


These EXACT questions were asked and answered about 3,000 times on the official EQ2 forums (which is accesible to non paying customers)
You guys should have looked there first before asking those questions.

I posted on the huge thread on the graphical issue and in particular the 8800 issue. The Devs never could come up with much answer or help for that matter. They pointed a finger at Nvidia, and Nvidia pointed back at them. The interesting fact is the main 8800 "lag" issue mainly only happens in EQ2. I have yet to see it in any other game. In any event it seems by their above answer they are still blaming Nvidia, they did say they "fixed" something on their end. But we all have to still sit around for Nvidia to update their fix on the next driver release. Who knows which release it will include, or if it even exists. I will say one thing, after spending a ton on a nice system with dual 8800's, quad core and a bunch of other tech EQ2 will never use its pretty depressing, but seeing it actually make the game all laggy and crapped up is disheartening. 

 

 

 

The Devs answered this specific issue NUMEROUS times on the official forums. Hell, one even joked about it. They said recoding the engine for it to work on a dual or quad core system would require so much work in recoding everything that they minus well make an Everquest 3 because of the sheer amount of manpower needed to execute this.

 

They answered that a LOT. On the official forums whenever someone brings this question up, someone inevitably links a dev response.

I do agree with you. They need to fix A LOT of things in EQ2, but my main point of this thread is that these are questions that have been answered hundreds of times (maybe not hundreds...but dozens) by the developers and tech support.

Maybe MMORPG.com should have reviewed these questions and picked out ones that the Devs never answered. As a Senior Guide for Everquest 2, I know quite a few issues that the DEVs never really tackled in the official forums.  But to be all fair, the last question was a good one as many DEVs like to skirt that issue with low quality loot in older zones.

Again... we did not just choose specific questions. We sent in ALL letters that were sent to us, so it was not a matter of sending in ones that were never answered. We cannot control what players ask, and we only gave players the opportunity to write a letter to the devs and have those letters answered. Again, everything that was sent to us was sent in.  All letters were answered. More will be posted soon.

Enigma

Originally posted by Adele


 

Again... we did not just choose specific questions. We sent in ALL letters that were sent to us, so it was not a matter of sending in ones that were never answered. We cannot control what players ask, and we only gave players the opportunity to write a letter to the devs and have those letters answered. Again, everything that was sent to us was sent in.  All letters were answered. More will be posted soon.

I know...you already said that

What Im saying is maybe you all should have reviewed the questions people here wrote down and mmorpg.com should have picked out the questions that aren't the most popular ones on the official forums where the Devs already officially answered.

You could kind of tell the Dev was a little miffed from answering the same questions

I know you guys sent them a list. Im just saying you should have gotten a mmorpg.com staff member who is familiar with the official forums over there and picked the questions that were asked the least over there.  Again, like I said in an earlier post here the third question was good because the DEVs usually skirt that question.

Enigma

Originally posted by Ironman2000

Originally posted by Enigma


PS
 
I hope one of your other questions wont be about the skeletal revamp because they answered that too lol

Sorry, I hadn't heard any answers as to when or how long or if the skeletal revamp is going to take place, can you fill us in on what the answer to that question was?

This was the answer from last month

kitsunegirl

Ew... vistaids! lol

Elikal

Originally posted by kitsunegirl


Ew... vistaids! lol

Yuck, indeed! Pestering my beautiful XP with yer fugly Vista shots.

But seriously, I didnt really get the answer to "will there be a graphical rework"? The graphics IS a bit outdated. Didnt DAoC have a graphic overhaul once too? So it should be possible. Aww well.

I am a bit disappointed the skeletal rework apparently seems stuck. So many robes and armours still look exactly the same just differently painted. In the core EQ2 is such a great game but always has been bogged down by the many small issues.

bahamut1

Sorry,

But I agree with Enigma, 3 pretty stupid questions. If you're (not mmorpg.com, but people in general) wanting to know the same political answer to those questions ANY of the game developers will give ya for any game that's ever been written, I'll be more than happy to give you the standard stupid question answers ALL devs give.

Ask something important, like gameplay, what is the direction for casual to hardcore gameplay? or what are their plans for overcoming dimishing returns? You know, smart, intelligent gameplay decisions of what I have to look for as a player, not coding which doesn't effect but .1% (that's 1 tenth of a percent) of the playerbase and asked by people who haven't played, or never plan on playing.

Nadia

regarding 8800

 

EQ2 is -not-  the only game with these issues, as you will see if read these links

kriegshauser.blogspot.com/2008/03/nvidia-8800-frustrations.html

It seems EQ2 isn't the only game affected. UT2003 and UT2004 and Team Fortress 2 as well as Test Drive Unlimited have people reporting problems. Even a Mac user reports issues using applications. Curiously, however, some games seem to be largely unaffected but I don't know why.

 

update  04/04/2008

kriegshauser.blogspot.com/2008/04/nvidia-8800-update.html

 

 

Nadia

Originally posted by bahamut1

 what are their plans for overcoming dimishing returns? .

  in a dev blog, commentary was given - but nothing promising

blog.gregsplace.com/2008/03/armchair-programmers-4tw.html

Greg Spence said...

We're working towards improving client performance on new systems but don't have any concrete information or dates to release at the moment.



Currently, the following hardware upgrades may improve EQ2 performance.



Increase RAM (up to 4gb)

Increase hard disk access times

Increase CPU speed



CPU's with multiple cores and SLI setups don't currently offer significant performance benefits for EQ2.

Kaynos1972

That's it, 3 questions, 2 almost identical ?  This is a joke.

bahamut1

Originally posted by Nadia


 
Originally posted by bahamut1

 what are their plans for overcoming dimishing returns? .

  in a dev blog, commentary was given - but nothing promising

 

blog.gregsplace.com/2008/03/armchair-programmers-4tw.html

Greg Spence said...

We're working towards improving client performance on new systems but don't have any concrete information or dates to release at the moment.



Currently, the following hardware upgrades may improve EQ2 performance.



Increase RAM (up to 4gb)

Increase hard disk access times

Increase CPU speed



CPU's with multiple cores and SLI setups don't currently offer significant performance benefits for EQ2.

Diminishing returns on stats, you know, something that actually affects someone actually playing the game. I have no idea what that has to do with it at all.

However, it cracks me up to see a real programmer comment on the hordes of armchair programming morons out there that think they can program "The Greatest MMORPG In The World"(echo: world world...) with a rubber band and ink pen. What are they, McGuyver? I love this comment:

Any programmer that thinks you can flip a switch or "plug and play" some code from another application and you magically have a high performing multi-threaded application seriously needs to find another line of work.

LOL, great stuff.