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New Producer's Letter reveals server merges
darquenblade
Member Posts: 1,015
in Everquest II
http://eq2players.station.sony.com/news_archive.vm?id=695§ion=News&month=current
I'm a fan of EQ2 and all, but I just don't see a good way to put a positive spin on server merges (as they are obviously trying to do)..
Comments
I thnk it is always a good idea to merge servers, especially if some are barren. With PVP comming in, I know there is going to be an influx of new players. I can't wait to see, Antonia 1, Antonia 2, Antonia 3, Antonia 4, again.
I dont have a problem with the merges. I think once the PvP servers open you will see a drastic drop in server populations as people head over to try the PvP servers. So merging them is a good idea now so that we dont end up with barren servers.
I noticed too that my server (Permafrost) isnt on the merge list. Must already have a decent enough population.
I think it's a better idea than the upcoming changes, although my server isn't too bad it will be nice to see more people. I'm just debating on moving my character myself or staying for the merging.
Doubt you'll see multiple instances of Antonica. At most 2. You might however see two sinking sands.
I remember in beta as they allowed more and more phases come in you saw more and more zones!
Antonica got to like 6/8 every night and we all called it lagtonica cause sometimes it had 5 min lag spikes
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Don't click here...no2
Though the CL had no problems!
My best times were in the CL, amazing game when you can actually find a group
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Don't click here...no2
Everyone always argued me when I said it was nowhere near as full as it was when I started playing over a year ago. As far as I am concerned SOE deserves this one. I have sat listening to so many people say they would come back if they jsut did this or that. Those type of promises from ex-players almost never work out and all they have done is flailed with change after change in the game to try to get players back. Now they have a product very few are interested in anymore and I am losing interesting in rapidly myself.
Perhaps they will do some New Game Enhancements to make the game more "Everquest-y" and up the game speed yet some more to make it even more rediculous looking to move in and make for fast paced combat!
Sorry, I have no pity for them at this point.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
This is just more backpeddling and moving to try to keep people, I mean seriously, how in the world could they possibly imagine that their player base is stupid to believe them when they say:
"No no, our population is fine but uh... we're going to do server merges because our world is SO big that people aren't seeing each other anymore!"
I'm sorry, but have they forgotten that "most" people have to at least come back to the main town's/instances (freeport & QEynos) at least once in a while, since those are virtually empty, how exactly does this fit into the excuse ?
Don't get me wrong, I think a large scale server merge is a wonderful move, during my last stint on EQ2 even the AB server where I had started was sparce, certainly no where near release numbers and or the following 6 months where we saw a big exodus.
I certainly hope this helps the players of EQ2 but it's way to much instability for me to be comfortable there.
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Everyone always argued me when I said it was nowhere near as full as it was when I started playing over a year ago. As far as I am concerned SOE deserves this one. I have sat listening to so many people say they would come back if they jsut did this or that. Those type of promises from ex-players almost never work out and all they have done is flailed with change after change in the game to try to get players back. Now they have a product very few are interested in anymore and I am losing interesting in rapidly myself.
Perhaps they will do some New Game Enhancements to make the game more "Everquest-y" and up the game speed yet some more to make it even more rediculous looking to move in and make for fast paced combat!
Sorry, I have no pity for them at this point.
I'll never become a company-hater but I must say SOE is beginning to irriitate me. I've played about every game there ever was. I was thinking back over it and I realized that I don't have any sense of irritation with any other game company. Something is different. Tough to put your finger on.
And with SOE I just don't get any sense that they have a clue where they're going next week on anything ... you could wake up any day and find some game completely turned on its head. They don't seem to have any visionary people there anymore ... if Smedley is it, I guess the big vision is the (wildly successful, lol) station exchange. And after the SWG deal I don't know how you ever trust them again enough to feel like making a big investment of time to build up characters.
...lol, they are merging servers huh? EQ2 merges servers, SWG will most likely be shut down or left as the bug ridden mess it is with a whole 10 people playing, yet WoW can't keep up with adding more servers to keep up with it's booming population... Funny thing is, WoW hasn't had any major revamps, some tweaking was needed for classes, but that is about it... I dislike WoW, but it delights me to no end watching SOE squirm under the thumb of Blizzard...
SOE = Blizzard Wannabe
I love EQ2 I think its a great game but I knew from the begining it wasn't going to be anywhere as big as WoW. There is just no way in hell it was ever going to be, Blizzard has got a following unlike any other game company, Not better just bigger.
I agree they have to do this. And while I agree you can't spin this in a good light It was needed for some servers, thankfully not mine as there is no shortage of people on it but some are patheticly low. While I hope to see more players come with the introduction of good PvP its a little late and coming its a feature WoW had from the start and has only inproved apon. EQ2 is never going to have the same amount of people as WoW and thats a fact I somehow doubt any other game will other then mabey the next Blizzard MMO but then again probably not. Im happy for Blizzard Ive always liked there games and Im not afraid to admit it .. they were fun and thats all I want in a game.
As long as EQ2 keeps going and I enjoy it thats all I really care about.
I'm not big on company-hating either, but I do agree with you about SOE. I've been thinking about coming back to EQ2 for a while now, but with all these sweeping changes SOE is making to most of their games, I keep procrastinating because you just don't know if they're done yet, you know? I mean, there's no real guarantee that if I resubscribe today, that what I like about it now will still be in the game a month from now.
The funny thing to me is, there are a bunch of other companies that are below SOE when it comes to profits, but you don't see them scambling to make their games more like the competition (*cough*WoW*cough*). I think a big factor to all these changes is that for years SOE was top dog in this industry, and they just can't cope with the fact that the throne was stolen from them. Nothing wrong with trying to keep up with the competition, but they've been changing way too much and way too fast lately--it doesn't make a gamer feel like they're playing in a stable environment.
You've hit the nail on the head there. I still enjoy EQ2 regardless of any changes that have happened so far as none of them have bothered me or affected my gameplay enjoyment.
It is inevitable that as the game gets older the first waves of players will hit the level cap, with increasingly top heavy servers and more barren new player areas. You also face the problem of retaining players when they reach the level cap and you can only release so much free content to keep them playing. SOE solved that problem with an expansion, with a second soon out, but that adds to the problem of spreading the server population out and leaving low level starter areas even more barren.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The solution is to keep pulling in new players and sending them through the game, which SOE has addressed by "dumbing down" the game to look more like WoW; quests markers over NPCs, no shard recovery, race/class tutorial and starter zone revamp, trade skill changes.... So far it does not appear to have been a great success, but they are adding PvP in the hope of attracting many WoW fans.
I've just started playing EQ2 and it's a good game, no better of worse than WoW, overall, but it does have problems. Getting an XP group (1-20) is no problem, but if you want to complete the group quests it's tricky, since you are not committing yourself to group for hours. Sometimes you find someone to quest with for half an hour sometimes not. Many of the low levels areas are almost deserted, the Caves, Down Below, Vermin Snye, even Black Barrow; barely enough for 1 group let alone several.
EQ2 also suffers from it's starter game. It needs more variety, like WoW, or even EQ. How many times can you redo all the starter quests, trial of Isle and Qeynos/Freeport with a slightly different class/race combo? In WoW you start as a NE and play through a set of quests, in detailed well-designed starting zones; switch to a human and you are in a totally new area, different quests, different progression.
Ironically WoW copied this from EQ, among others. EQ had much more variety at the start. I played a barb warrior to the 50s, through Everfrost, Blackbarrow, the Karanas; switched to a WE ranger and played through GF, Crushbone and so on. Two completely fresh experiences. I also started a halfling druid and human monk. EQ2 sorely misses this new player variety.
And speaking of EQ I started playing it in August 2001, 2 years after release and 2 expansions later with a 3rd close. Yet even after the release of SoL the newbie areas were still full and fun to play, and easy to find a group. 6 months later when I started a WE ranger the GF area and Crushbone was brimming with players. When I quit in January 2004 those older newbie areas were mostly deserted, but that was because you got far better XP in Paludal Caverns in SoL.
EQ had no problem adding expansions, spreading out the player base, yet keeping a flow of players through all levels including new players. Server merges made be a good "thing" but are not a good sign; when WoW continues to expand, EQ2 has peaked and may even be contracting.
In my opinion now is the best time to play EQ2. You have loads of content to get through to the high levels, an expansion to keep you going once you get there, and another expansion out by the time you hit 60, unless you rush. Wow on the other hand is stagnating. Same end game grind, whether PvP or PvE, very little fresh content added, unless you like to raid all the time, and the expansion still months away. Yet WoW grows and EQ2 has levelled off. SOE just needs to attract 10% of WoWs present player base, or even all those, like me, that have quit over the last 6-9 months, to DOUBLE it's sub base, and EXPAND it's servers.I generally don't hate companies either. I think this is real good medicine for them though. Perhaps they will start getting their act back together if they tank far enough down. Unfortuntely I don't think they will realize it til AFTER they put out their new financial model for their upcoming games and it doesn't draw in the masses either because people simply don't want to deal with SOE and Smedley anymore. Time will tell but I have a feel they have not hit bottom yet and they will be falling for awhile.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
It's not about being as successful as WoW, its about customer retention. Their numbers are going well lower then they were at launch or even 6 months after launch. The game started declining in population after only 1 year of release. That doesn't look good to investors nor the players and SOE has been flailing lately with change this and change that trying to stop it from happening.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
I think your outlook on it sums up most people's when it comes to SOE at the moment. They have lost all consumer confidence, and that is a very very bad place for a company to be.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
This Article also explains what is happening and why.
I like the idea
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OGRank.com - Online Games News
OK so WoW hasn't done server merges why? EQ 1 never had to do server merges why? You just feel for a smokscreen. The fact is the zones are empty because they have no new business coming in and old business leaving. You can spin it however you want, the server populations don't lie. If there was still a growing population to the game they would not be able to merge servers because the servers can only handle about 2500 users per REGARDLESS of what zone they are in.
Sure it's a good idea, it means I may see more then 5 other people running from qeynos to nek forest on the way.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
OK so WoW hasn't done server merges why? EQ 1 never had to do server merges why? You just feel for a smokscreen. The fact is the zones are empty because they have no new business coming in and old business leaving. You can spin it however you want, the server populations don't lie. If there was still a growing population to the game they would not be able to merge servers because the servers can only handle about 2500 users per REGARDLESS of what zone they are in.
Sure it's a good idea, it means I may see more then 5 other people running from qeynos to nek forest on the way.
Yeah, that's my feeling too. SOE is very good at spinning things into some PR campaign ... "yup, we've put in SO much new content that even great player growth can't keep up so now we can merge servers to keep the the millions of zones busy. Ain't this great!". Uh huh ... well pardon me but this sounds just a titch fishy. I mean did you not plan to put in all this content in the first place and did you not expect to be able to keep 36 servers busy? Merges definitely is a good idea, but the situation is still awfully fishy.
And as far as the 60 gazillion zones they claim to have, I'd like to see how that's counted. Take, for example, that clicky on the beach in TS, which offers three different physically identical zones ... all lousy unimaginative tunnel bits, btw .. kill 3, move 30 feet, kill 3, move 30 feet ... repeat ad nauseum. Does that count as three zones in the total? And does three difficulty settings on an instance count as three zones? I can tell you where my money is on that question. I wonder how many actual ZONES there are.
Meanwhile you watch the almost bizarre progress of WOW. They don't seem to be physicaly able to open new servers fast enough. And maybe half of the existing servers are closed to new players at the moment. Yeah the queues and occasional lag are a pain, but when you watch what's going on it truly does boggle. I do think they could do a better job keeping up with it but sheesh, every time they open five new servers or whatever they're drowning before you turn around.
People also need to be careful of ANY numbers announced for EQ2 servers. I keep peeking at the EQ2players.com search function and that EQ2 census site and all the characters on my cancelled account, as well as the cancelled accounts of numerous friends, keep showing up. There's no way to get counts of people actually subscribed - it seems if you were ever there they still count you. I don't have to wonder how many people are playing WOW because everywhere I go on every server I try is buzzing with people.
Ya, like I said. If their spin was actually true they couldn't do it because the servers would already be at max load regardless of who is in what zone. They can try to spin it however they want but if they are merging serves then they aren't even getting close at the best times to max load on each server which tells me no new customers and bad customer retention.
The players that are there seem to be moving to the heavier servers to be able to group so the server merge really started awhile ago informally. They have nothing to stand on with their spin, from every single angle you look at it, it's hollow and transparent.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Hey Mantees, that article is what we could call back in South Dakota, "Puttin' lipstick on a pig"... Don't fool yourself, all games have that many zones and instances... Global chat, towns and merchant areas all help connect the players, EQ2 simply doesn't have enough players to connect... For example, in EQ2's second adventure pack, The Splitpaw Saga (which was very well done BTW), there was a plaza area that connected all of the instances... Real easy to find people and to find a group... In Nek, you have the entrances and exits, and the area right by Nek castle...
My point is, EQ2 is after all an MMO, and MMO's are created from the ground up to be conducive to connecting players... This article makes it sound as though there isn't any community structure to EQ2, and that the world is simply too large...
Such commands as /who lfg, /who all really helps people connect themselves with other players too, Fad is right, it is indeed a smokescreen...
I used to feel bad for SOE and EQ2, that is until all of the pathetic revamps will all of their titles, because a major reason everyone is leaving to play WoW is because, well, because EVERYONE IS PLAYING WoW!!! It is a lemming effect, and when it comes right down to it, EQ2 and WoW are the same TYPE of game, and people want to play where everyone else is playing.
Take this analogy: Two house parties are going at once, both are serving keg beer, the house on the right is serving Miller Lite and the house on the left, Bud Light... Since the house on the left has a really good repuatation for throwing killer parties, more people started going to this party first... The house on the right, while known for throwing decent parties too, (in fact, they were one of the first pioneers in throwing keg parties), can't seem to keep up with the party in the left house... Their reputation simply isn't as good as the house on the right... The house on the right scrambles at the last minute and starts serving Bud Light instead of Miller, only problem is, the house party on the left is a full blown rager by now and people really don't give a damn what kind of beer is being served, but want to go where the action is... And the people who were at the party on the left the whole bloody time dislike the fact that they changed the kegs to Bud Light, and are even more likely to leave this house and go next door... Why not right? Aren't they both serving the same type of beer now?
Then you have a pothead like me walk by both parties and say, "Pfffffft, lite beer tastes like shit, I would rather sit with a close group of others and drink some Guiness or Newcastle, don't really care how many people show up, I like to taste my beer"... Hence why I am gonna try EVE out tonight and have been playing CoV and etc...