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EQ 'Shadow of Luclin' -- Pretty Graphics, Ugly Release
For starters, everyone reading this should understand that persistant gaming of various forms is here to stay. EverQuest will likely be around for at least a few more years, and its successors will probably take over the gaming industry for several reasons: first, they offer a different and more lucrative revenue model; second, they offer some intriguing secondary revenue possibilities; oh, and third, there are the players who actually seem to enjoy adding more social elements to their gaming ;-)
EverQuest has been a rocky road since day one because the people developing it have never truly understood their market (this can be evidenced by how many customer service policies have been reversed over time). Now, on the eve of their most hyped release, they have done the unthinkable: They released a product which has substantial crash-to-desktop bugs and made the update process so painful as to be impossible for many players. Now, with Quake you'd say "that's awful, but they'll fix the bugs and players of the old version will be fine for now". With EverQuest, everyone gets patched at the same time, and no one can play until it's done and works.
To give some examples: every player is now required to run Microsoft's DirectX8; Minimum memory and processor specs have gone up, and if you dare to run the new expansion you will have to have at least 256MB of RAM just for the core functionality (they provide a way to back out most of the new UI stuff for those who have 128MB of RAM, but I'm told its almost unplayable); 512MB of RAM is suggested!
Ok, so what was the first day like? Well, the servers were down for most of the day, when they were supposed to just be down for a night. Then, when they came up, it seems that Sony did not provide enough network bandwidth for the patching storm that ensued, so no one could patch (and thus, no one could play) until a crittical mass of players gave up and went to bed.
Worse, the patching program was intolerant of the network failures and would leave droppings that would prevent subsequent attempts to patch. I required 2 reboots, 5 file deletions and 2.5 hours to finally patch and run.
"So, how is it?!" you ask? Well, it's a whole lot better than it was, but it's really still not there yet. The graphics are actually disorienting because of their quality and the new hardware T&L acceleration from DX8. Turning around makes you feel like you live in the land of smooth scroll. The facial feature selection for humans is very nice, but for the Iksar (the lizard race), it's rather sketchy, and not much different from before. Horses are cheaper than some had suggested (8,000 platinum minimun). New models for summoned pets and other character-related models like "wolf form" are very slick. The new zones seem to stress their size quite a lot (it's hard to accept that humans would build on such a scale).
I've yet to see the new race, as I assumed that everyone would be starting those characters and the server would be quite slow in those zones.
There are some problems, though, and I think Verant should have held off on the release until they were finished. First is the much anticipated Bazaar zone, where players will be able to become merchants (to some degree which is not yet clear) and sell their goods automatically. This functionallity is off, and still being worked on.
Second, there appear to be a number of bugs. Teleportation while in the new zones was supposed to take characters to a central zone ("The Nexus") from which they could then teleport to their destination. (Currently, that's not the way it works: 10-20 seconds after teleporting, everyone in our party except for the person who teleported crashed to the desktop with no warning!)
There are some problems with spells. Someone pointed out to me that low-level wizard spells do not animate at all, so its hard to tell that your wizard is actually doing anything in a fight.
Overall, I'm going to give this release a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. It's pretty and in a month, it will likely be the best MMORPG on the market, but again -- it's just not there yet. This release hurt a lot of players who didn't even want to buy the expansion yet.
Some key resources for those who are trying out Luclin are:
- The zone connection map on eqatlas.com.
- Also, Allakhazam is adding items and quests as fast as possible to keep up.
- Expect lots of news on Everlore and the Everquest Realm on castersrealm.com.
Enjoy!"
Interesting to note...
The thing that makes these games so popular and addictive is the human interaction element, not the graphics, the plot, or the monsters. I remember playing MUDs in high school that people were just as devoted to as EQ.
So by that reasoning, the true key to a successful multiplayer RPG would be improving and rewarding actual role-playing and character interaction.
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
Why isn't this game regulated by the DEA yet?
Ugh, how could they do this? I played EQ on and off for two years and had planned to go back for another around for SoL, and from the sounds of things it's a total disaster. Well I can wait for now and tool around with my Shadowblade in Dark Age of Camelot for now. SoL sounded like it had such potential though...
heehee
Thankfully I never got into evercrack. I think I'm going to quit my job when Star Wars Galaxies comes out, though.
Well you know what happens when addicts can't get their evercrack, they'll just have to get hooked on another drug like DAOCocaine.
I've not got the luclin expansion yet but many of the problems introduced were there even with the old version.
The article is fair, but the expansion had only been out for 36 hours when it was written and already they have had one patch which has cured many of the worst software problems, and are promising more to come in the next few days.
I have every confidence that this will be a great game by the end of the week and everyone has forgotten about the launch problems.
As for the requirements, they are high, but that most people who buy a new computer now will get one that easily meets them. And they have to target the game at people who are likely to be buying it soon, not at those who last upgraded their PC 2 years ago. I'd rather they pushed the spec and made a nicer game than just went for the lowest common denominator and lose out to other games.
The worst problem I've got is that the expansion is not yet available in the UK!!!
But if you've not played everquest I have to recommend it to you. Yes there are some problems with this update but they'll all be sorted out in the next week or so and it will continue to be the best game around at the moment.
Sig is taking a break!
It's painful.
I've decided just to hunt in the empty Zones and wait a month before doing any serious Moon hopping.
Enjoy the game everyone, it's pretty. (buggy =)
Check out the Buggy Naked Pictures from the expansion. I guess someone didn't have all the files downloaded or DX wasn't loading properly. Makes for interesting grouping... Later, Binestar
Do you Gentoo!?
contrrast this to real life, where if your wife, or girlfriend or roommate has unpleasant emotions, you have to deal with them, you can't just shutdown the program.
Getting back on topic, if these MUD's get too realistic, no one will play them. Who wants a gorgeous cybergirlfriend who gets PMS?
I have P3-500MHz 128MB RAM TNT2 Ultra
and without the new textures, can play very well thank you.
"EverQuest will likely be around for at least a few more years, and its successors will probably take over the gaming industry for several reasons... oh, and third, there are the players who actually seem to enjoy adding more social elements to their gaming..."
I certainly hope you're wrong about persistent online gaming taking over the industry. If that's the case, I'm going to hang up the old joystick.
For me, socializing is socializing, gaming is gaming, and rarely the twain shall meet. I play games to enjoy myself and de-stress, and the last thing I really need is to do is log on and transport myself away to a magical faery world where "L0RDBADA$$23" and "SexyBiGrrrl8775" gather in Ye Old Inn and ask "hi how r u r u m or f? lol brb u sux." And then be PKed and have my corpse looted.
I've just never met an online game that I could get into. The plot and roleplaying elements are fine, but nothing I couldn't get from a single-player RPG, in general. And as for human interaction... while I'm sure there are a lot of intelligent players of EQ or UO out there who like to roleplay their characters, somehow I've never met them -- most everyone I've ever met playing either game has been the intellectual equivalent of the goatsex ACs or a deep-sea tube worm. Why would I pay American money to interact with people like that?
Single player games don't have server downtime, cheaters, whiners, politics, or require a credit card to keep playing them. UT bots don't try to crash the server when they start losing, or strip naked looking for cybersex.
I realize, of course, that I've probably just had one too many bad (and maybe even unusual) experiences that have soured me on the whole concept. I understand there are many people who have deeply satisfying and personally fulfilling hours of fun playing persistent MMORPGs. I'm very happy for them, but I prefer my games single-player, offline, and not charging me ten bucks a month for the privilege of continuing to play it.
I hope there are enough gamers out there with a similar outlook to sustain a market for single-player games. Because if persistent online worlds take over, I'm pretty much going back to chess.
there are the players who actually seem to enjoy adding more social elements to their gaming
Hey, I have a suggestion. When I want to add a social element to my gaming, I call some friends and go play football. It's actually surprisingly warm outside today for December and all, especially out here on the east coast. Either way, football is fun in the cold too. Give it a try!
I recommend this one to anyone fed up with EverCrack or other online games.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
I never ceased to be amazed by the virtual societies that are created in massive online multiplayer games. I used to be an Asheron's Call addict because I fell in love with the idea of being able to adventure across the landscape to far away lands. I didn't really get into the role-playing aspect, but was intrigued by people that would complain about theft, treachery and the multitude of con-artists that sprung-up in game. The sheer fact that these games mirror our own society (with greed, deceipt, etc.) is truly a great technical feat!
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
- It's becoming obvious that a fair number of Win95 users are pissed that the game they bought and ran under Win95 has suddenly stopped working. Note: this has nothing to do with the fact that the expansion does not run under Win95, but that old, installed versions of EQ were updated (via the patcher) with a game that refuses to run under 95!
- Verant has been BUSY! There is now a patch for some of the larger problems that people were seeing. I was personally bit by the auto-follow, crash-to-desktop bug several times
:-(
This is not a bad release, really. It's just pointing out a lot of the problems that games now face when everyone gets updated/patched at once. The artificial lines between people running "Luclin" and people running "the old EverQuest" are very thin....So basically, what you are saying is that there's a downside to subscription based software when the user has no choice about the upgrade? That the manufacturer of the subscription software can put out a buggy update and force you to take it, which means the software is useless until the fix is in. And you can be forced to upgrade your hardware instead of using existing hardware and existing software.
/.
Hmm. Why does this sound so very familiar.
And you thought there wouldn't be an M$ bashing post under the evercrack story. Shame on you! This is
You forgot to mention their new interface is MIA! We are still stuck with the old dated rather poorly designed UI. This was one of my main reasons for purchasing SoL. (now I'm the one SOL)
I had vowed to stop playing EQ when DOAC came out only to find out that i never should have quit.
With the new expansion pack out i have found some new life in EQ.
Be ready Thanks to SONY You really have to pay attention to the location that they try to install SoL to. Every other copy of EQ installed to c:\Program Files\Everquest, and the new one tries to install to c:\Program Files\Sony\Everquest. All I can say is thanks Varent.
I guess im not going to be that upset when I sell my char for alot more than I have paid to play the game.
--[A computer is] like an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no mercy.
-- Joseph Campbell
This is what I'm waiting for.
I guess commenting on the stupidity of article submissions is not wanted around here...
Turning around makes you feel like you live in the land of smooth scroll.
If you actually turn around, without using your computer's I/O peripherals, you'll get an even smoother scroll...
__
Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
...Now that they've tried to listen to the players and update it, people whine that it is now too much updated. No-win situation here.
36 hours is definately not enough time to write a review of something like this, heck, the reviewer hasn't even SEEN the new race, and in effect, 25% of what the expansion offers. Kind of like reviewing The Sims Hot Date without ever going downtown.
It does suck that Verant had some last minute problems. They even stated a pre-emptive apology that there are things that can only be caught with a load of 400,000 players and the strict scrutiny. If the game is still unplayable at the end of the weekend, then let's start roasting. The latest patch was a step in the right direction.
Verant Interactive (the company that makes EQ) was simply not prepared for the anticipation for this release. The release is the first major upgrade to the systems graphics. Previous upgrades only affect territory in Norrath (the fictional world that is the setting in EQ), but this one affects a whole lot more. Previous expansion packs didn't affect the anywhere near as much of the game.
This combined with lots of hype (every time you log into EQ they send a message saying Luclin is comming) left Verant feeling like they had to make deadlines. Luclin wasn't even in most stores when it was supposed to be. I know people who preordered and were supposed to have it delivered by now who still don't have it.
All the hype means 400,000 subscribers all foaming at the mouth to see the changes. So they log in as soon as the system is back up. The catch? All of them need updated files, and none of them have them. That by itself isn't bad, but when they had trouble updating their servers, the system didn't come back up till 4:00 California Time, which means that all of North America was in primetime for playing.
Since the server came up at the worst time of day, The patch servers got hit hard. Most users were stuck waiting to get their updates because the patch server couldn't handle the load. Eventually over the night Verant got more patch servers up and things started moving more quickly.
By 5:00 AM California time, (8:00 AM for me) the traffic jam was gone.
In Short it was all hype and incredible bad timing that made it such a mess.
Slashdot is an anagram for Has Dolts, and I am Dolt number 468543
This one falls squarely on Verant for blowing it big time.
Rather than let the release date slip, they shipped a very not-ready-for-primetime product (just in time for the Christmas shopping season!), hoping they could get the bugs fixed in patches before the release date when everyone would find them. They missed.
They also should have never allowed Jeff Butler & friends to do the player wipe on Test Server last year. This cost them a bunch of loyal players who either quit EQ or moved to other servers, myself included. All those players they lost from Test probably could have been very helpful in finding all the bugs they are facing now. You can't do quality testing on a project this ambitious with a small testing group.
The new graphics engine is (currently) way too hardware picky, and that should have been caught months ago. (I downloaded 3 different version of eqgfx_dx8.dll last night off the patch server in under 1 hour. Think someone isn't in Verant's offices furiously trying to get it working?)
I think people should bear in mind that this is a revamped graphics engine, and that thousands if not millions of people enjoy this game worldwide. Of course when this rolls out, in a years time, there are going to be kinks that need to be worked out.
This is a fairly optimistic outlook considering it took me 6 reboots to get my install to connect. When I did finally get things to work I couldn't keep from going LD (link dead to the uninitiated), with my Vah Shair character. The lag and what not wasn't a suprise to me as alot of people that play ran out to get their copy on the same day. Many of these people hadn't played in months, and were looking forward to the alternative skill option of leveling. Case in point East Commons had like 60+ people on the server that I play on. Making a fairly commonly used zone almost unplayable. Most of the people were sitting around checking out the new social animations like a bunch of newbies.
All this said I tell you, this is a great expansion pack, with great graphics, even for the Iksar, which I play. Give it a couple of weeks when the newness wears off of the wannabe players, and everyone starts going back to performing their quests instead of admiring the new graphics, and everything will start to shake itself out.
Remember hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
...I'm too busy actually playing an MMORPG right now. See you all in Camelot! :)
Am I the only one who had to read that sentence three times to make sure I wasn't the idiot?
Good, I'm not alone. :)
The potential is still there. I don't see why the fact the launch went bad is going to alter your decision to buy the expansion in a few weeks when it's stabalized.
I couldn't get in to Star Wars Episode 1 on the day it came out either, didn't stop me from trying to see it later.
The whiners started up 2 weeks before, complaining that Verant/Sony said, back when EQ was released, that you'd never have to replace your computer to continue playing. Well, the new requirement of DirectX8.1 (not Dx8 as the review says, but 8.1) forced a bunch of people to have to upgrade theor video cards. You know what though? Suck it up, your Voodoo3 hasn't been supported for almost a year and nas no company behind it any more, why would you expect Microsoft to support it in Dx8?
And then the revised Luclin specs were released about 2 weeks before launch. Suggested specs went from 256M to 512M. Hardware T&L recommended, required if you're not running a P-III or better. And the new install requires an additional 1G (yes, 1 gig) of disk space to install all of the new textures and character models to. Oh, and you can't play Luclin on Win95 any more.
What people fail to grasp is that Luclin is an expansion, and a complete revamping of the original game at that. No one is required to buy Luclin to keep playing. You will still see the new characters and new equipment without it, you just can't BE one of the new characters, or go to the new locations. Loading character models, which is where the memory hit comes, is configurable - you can load all, none, or any combination in between. Many people are reporting very acecptable performance with 256M. And DirectX8.1, while bleeding-edge, is a FAR improvement over 8.0a - bug fixes, performance boosts, the whole lot. We covered the video card already. And as far as Win95 no longer being supported (it's still supported for the OLD version), well, check out Microsoft's home page people - 95 was end-of-lifed on November 30, 2001. That was last week.
The servers _always_ suffer after an outage when everyone is trying to reconnect every 30 seconds, waiting for them to come back up. And as far as the patch running long, most of you numbnuts can't even run Windows Update and keep your own computer running right, let alone manage the patching of a 1,200-computer server farm within 8 hours.
You claim Verant should have done more testing before release. You have no idea now many variations of motherboards, chipsets, video cards, sound cards, network connections, and whatnot there are. It is physically IMPOSSIBLE for a company in today's technology world to be able to anticipate every software interaction on every hardware platform. It always amazes me when Verant stages a patch that doesn't cause lots of problems, adds lots of new features, and frankly, only inconveniences you. If not being able to play for a day is such a big loss for you, drop me an E-mail, and I'll refund the $0.33 cents you lost for that day because you're too lazy to get off your butt and go outside to see the sun (AAA MY EYES). Just leave me a credit card number for me to run the refund onto :-P
For what Verant is doing, they manage to do it really well. You claim the release of Luclin was a failure. Perhaps you forget the 2 recent MMORPG releases. Remember Anarchy Online? That was gonna be an EQ killer. So was World War II online. I don't htink I've heard anyone mention them in months now. THAT was a botched release.
Considering what you're getting, IMO Verant is doing a great job. If it's that much of an inconvenience to you, maybe you should take a break and watch TV for a few days, talk to some RL 'toons', go to the mall, clean off your desk, say hi to your parents for the first time in months.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
be warned that the everquest link up there is evil!!!!!!!
EverQuest isn't Free Software! Support freedom! RMS can do no wrong.
You die too easily.
Which is not a percistant world, but it was still big fun, adventuring with your party of 4, finding cool items and making friends.
Develop, Market, Release, patch, patch, patch, release sequel, patch sequel, etc etc As long as we keep buying games the day they come out, they'll keep on releasing games like this. Wait until after it's been patched before buying it, especially if other people say it's buggy, or if it's a company well known to release buggy software, and send them an e-mail telling them that's why you're holding off on buying their game. Same rule applies to hardware, applications, OSs, anything Microsoft, and Linux Kernels ('cept the Linux Kernels are free, so you're not buying them, just downloading and installing them).
The universe is held together with duct tape and karma. What goes around, comes around, and gets stuck to your forehead.
Here are some screenshots
http://www.carnifex.com/~kitae/luclin.html
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I support spreading santorum
The makers of Underlight has been advocating this feature in their game for years now, so why has it's popularity deteriorated so much since it was started?
"Ok, so what was the first day like? Well, the servers were down for most of the day, when they were supposed to just be down for a night."
Well at least patch day has stayed the same!
I quit playing EQ a while ago, and I still don't have any regrets. And I really don't like the newer character models anyway. But what this is all missing is that the REAL heart of the problem are the fundamental rules of which EQ is based off of. And don't even get me started on how FUBAR the high end game is (level 50+) for most classes. Insane hardware requirements, Driver problems up the wazoo, and bad servers make this situation just that much worse. And what is with that patch client anyway? Hello Verant? Why can't I resume a download?
But then there are other rampant problems as well stemming from the players themselves (twinking, power leveling), which doesn't help either. But what is this? Verant has the ultimate surprise which will right all wrongs: cat people.
I mean WTF? Iksar were stretching it, but freaking CAT PEOPLE?!?
They have had many months in which to perfect the release of SoL, and when it came time to release it, they were not prepared. This I might have suspected from a smaller gaming company. But we're talking about Sony/VI.
They have a test server to try out their new implementations so that when the time comes to update new patches and expansions, it should be a smoothe transition. I'm just wondering why if they had a test server, why everything went so wrong?
Friends of mine, with computers in the 1+ Ghz range, are having zone load times of 10 to 20 minutes in some areas of the game. That is completely unacceptable.
The new system requirements are incredibly steep if you want to enjoy the game in its entirity (is that a word?) It used to be you could play the game on a Win95 machine with rather low speed and memory and a bad video card. Now all people who have Win95 and wish to play EQ will have to upgrade. That's right, EQ in its current state can not run under Win95. Even though if you go pick up an original version of the game, or the new trilogy, it will say Win95, but once you patch you are screwed.
Another strange thing is that Sony/VI didn't release the information about dropping Win95 until just days before the new release. They virtually left all those Win95 users out in the cold. Upgrade or don't play. That's sort of a harsh attitude to have towards your clients.
I do not have the system requirements for SoL, but I assumed everything would be about the same on my computer. Nope. I've gone from 45 second zone load times to 90 second zone load times. And for what? To see a new image of a skeleton that looks more lifelike? To see wizard's new familiars? To see better effects and textures? For all the effort that has gone into it, it does not seem worth it.
There are ways to reduce the system resources that EQ requires, but they are not easily gotten at. Nor are they really documented. But they are there. You just have to look really hard.
I'd liek to go out and spend $1,000 (Cdn) to buy a new computer system so I can run this game at a speed it deserves. But considering just five days ago I was running it fine, I don't think I should have to.
Sony, Verant, you guys have the resources to prevent screw ups like this from happening. What happened? Did all of your employees lose what brain cells they had all at the same time? Did no one just stop for a second and think about what you guys were doing? Or were you so worried about new games like DAoC that you thought you had to have the best. And therefore screw over a lot of your loyal clients?
/sigh
/rant off
There is also a huge bug that causes players to see each other as butt nekkid! The screenshots have been pouring down the pipeline all day long. I've tossed one of them up as the daily screenshot over at Everlore (everlore.com) and it's pretty funny to see such a hilarious bug become such a heated issue.
I'm really not sure how this 'review' got undeserved space on Slashdot. I presume the subject was interesting, the words sounded appropriate, and voila. Hey, he's flaming Sony Online Entertainment, this must be news! Unfortunately, the reviewer is whiney, inaccurate, and the content of the review is sub par.
First the required version of DirectX is 8.1, not 8 as the reviewer suggets. This is perhaps not a huge point, but it shows that accuracy of this review is not high.
Second, the comments on graphics quality suggest the reviwer never managed to correctly configure his machine. Running on my fairly modest Duron 850 with a Geforce 2mx, I encountered beautifully detailed graphics, and smooth performance. I enjoyed several hours of just running around and looking at things. The new models for all the player races were facinating. The large textures improved the appearance of, well, everything. It was quite an experience to run through West Commons (a classic well known area of Everquest) and see the updated textures on the trees and grass.
The remainder of the review is primarly a bunch of first-impression complaints that are not particularly accurate, well supported, or meaningful to non Everquest players.
The only real value in this report is the comments that:
- The quality of the release is not high (many bugs that prevent people from playing a game they have purchased)
- When initially released, Sony was not able to handle the 'patch' load and as a result no one was able to play
Everything else is fluff.
If you're interested in seeing some pictures of Luclin graphics, there is a nice collection at Gamespot. The release graphics are actually higher quality than those featured here. One of the reasons I find so much value in this release is these wonderful new graphics.
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/s
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I support spreading santorum
With many games, console and PC, publishers really want to make that all important X-mas release, so sometimes, a game gets rushed out the door. With console games, this usually takes the form of levels or features.
PC games however, and especially MMPORGS, can and often are patched post release. In this case, I would guess that Sony really wanted a new EQ expansion on the shelves for christmas. What the fail to realize is that their decision can potentially backfire.
The business model is subscription based. I do not know how such expansions affect previous subscribers, but if they are forced to upgrade, they will be angry. And if the user gets too angry, they will seek alternatives. A really badly handled expansion could do wonders for the sale of Dark Age of Camelot (which may be another reason Sony rushed the release in and of its self).
END COMMUNICATION
but indoor soccor is much better!
Nothing like playing goalie and getting your face pounded again and again and again. Gotta get back in to that sport...
Oh yeah, and don't forget unlike computer games, real life has very few glitches, and no worries about ping.
Umm, excuse me? As one of the people with one of those "obsolete" video cards, I do think this is Verant's problem. They released a game, with specific system requirements on it. I paid money for that game. I'm paying money on top of that to *play* the game. And now they're suddenly changing those requirements, with no choice provided for the people who already bought their product?
If the non-expansion game is no longer playable under the information that is listed on the box, that IS Verant's problem. I didn't buy a game that required a video card I don't have and lack money for.
Actually, I've heard from quite a few reliable sources that DirectX 8 isn't incredibly stable, and that DX8.1 has seems to fix a considerable amount of problems.
I remember hearing reports that Lucas would not allow the individual theatres to screen their copies before the first public showing. So on the midnight showing on opening morning, the film reels would sometimes roll off and cause the movie to stop while the employees fixed the film and restarted.
It's only a model.
all the linux weenies know that
You bought a game that requires Win98 or later, and DirectX 8, latest version of which as of the game release is Dx8.1. If your system doesn't meet those requirements, directly or indirectly, then that's your fault for not fully investigating the listed requirements on the box and just buying it when you saw it.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
Nope, roast now.
There IS not reason for these bugs except poor QA.
More ram, and changing the OS requirement does not equall updated.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Ask them how close they are to "beating the game" ... :)
[i]More ram, and changing the OS requirement does not equall updated.[/i]
They upgraded the engine to DirectX 8.1, and Microsoft refuses to fix DX8.1 run in Windows 95. I blame Microsoft on that one.
I'm wondering how they're supposed to update the engine when it was already maxed at the minumum specs.
Even though I haven't bought SoL, I ran in to a couple snags playing EQ last night: First, it took the patcher a considerable amount of time just to update itself... and after that, the program was somehow unable to find any dns servers. Okay... exiting and subsequently re-starting did fix the problem, after a whole new barrage of updates. On the plus side, the new updater is much prettier than the old one. Finally, I got to play the game... since I haven't purchased the new software, didn't see much new, personally. I did notice that the model for the "decaying skeleton" was updated. It looked alot better, now, besides the fact that it had no animation for attacking. This did create the problem of a few people almost stealing my kill.
Obviously a troll, but who can resist a good troll...
The patch breaks the original, non-expansion game unless you have the latest hardware/software. That's the complaint.
Nobody is complaining that they can't run SoL. Folks are complaining that they can run Everquest, Kunark, etc without spending $100-$200 on new microsoft products (win98)... Plus buying new hardware, etc...
I've never played EQ. I never much saw the point. It seemed like a MUD with pretty pictures. Or I don't have the time to. I forget why. Anyway, am I to understand that when they release one of their expansion packs, you *can't* play the game anymore, unless you buy the expansion pack?
I've heard the stereotypes about Java programmers being uptight nerds who don't know how to cut loose. Well, that's about as far from the truth as Enterprise is from Gene Roddenberry's original vision. Contrary to what you may have heard, Javaheads can be quite the cut-ups. In fact, I've been working at Symantec for more than a year now, and compared to the systems administrators and IT support personnel around here, I'm a regular Jim Carrey.
;-)
Don't believe me? You should have been here the other day. Tim Hauser, one of the more humorless C++ programmers around the office (and that's really saying something!), went out to Starbucks for some Essence Of Life. While he was gone, I changed his desktop wallpaper from the Death Star to a picture of Smallville's Tom Welling without a shirt. He didn't find it too funny, but me and the other Java guys sure did.
Some folks may have stopped there, but yours truly was just getting warmed up. About an hour later, while Tim was using the "facilities," I went in and changed the classpath on his computer, resulting in a confounding stream of ClassNotFoundExceptions. It took poor Tim a couple of minutes to figure out what the heck was going on. All the while, I was in the next cubicle, laughing my Dockers off.
That wasn't exactly the most productive day I've spent at work, but it sure was one of the most memorable
Of course, I have other, less disruptive ways of being a goof-off at work. Don't tell my department head, but a day doesn't go by when I don't spend a few on-the-clock minutes on slashdot.com, riffing with my fellow techies. People post some pretty funny stuff, but somehow, the funniest bits always seem to come from Javaheads. There's just something about that language that seems to attract the clinically insane!
Slashdot's weekly polls give me even more opportunity for mischief. Like, a few weeks ago, they had people vote for Favorite Bot Weapon. I picked Pneumatic Jack Spikes, but they were beat out by Spinning Sledge/Armature and Backlash-style Saws. Furious that Pneumatic Jack Spikes lost, I suggested in IRC that the poll's voting was rigged, calling it "the product of a vast conspiracy by a secret cabal of BeOS users." You better believe that got a reaction!
Mass e-mailing jokes is another way Java programmers share laughs. If something is funny--I mean really funny--we like to spread it around. For example, when I found this hilarious Shockwave game where you do target practice on The Backstreet Boys, I made sure to e-mail the link to all my friends. And have you seen those e-mail "snowball fights"? The ones where you get splotched with a virtual ASCII snowball? Well, I've started more than my share of those, believe you me.
The laughs don't stop at quitting time. When I get home from work, the first thing I do is turn on Channel 27 for The Simpsons. There are no less than three reruns a night, and if I get home before 6 p.m., I usually catch them all. To me, The Simpsons is the comedic holy grail. (No offense, MPFC!) It's filled with smart jokes, like references to The Prisoner and Logan's Run. Plus, they poke fun at nerds. And, hey, as a nerd, I can take it. If you can't laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?
Still not convinced that Java programmers have got it in the wit department? Check my homepage sometime. In addition to the complete lyrics to The Rutles' All You Need Is Cash and dozens of downloadable audio clips from MST3K, I've installed some hidden spots that will cause the Knights Who Say "Ni" to appear on the screen if you roll over them with your mouse. As for links, I have some real doozies, like one for a site that has a Flash-animated baby that sings classic rock songs in a high-pitched voice. And, for what it's worth, I was linking to the Hamster Dance waaay before anyone else. (There's plenty more where all that came from: Just visit nateorenstam.com.)
So, as you can clearly see, Java programmers do know how to laugh, and we often do so at our own expense. Never tell us we don't have a sense of humor... or you just might find all your applets replaced with ActiveX components!
Excuse me?
I *specifically* mentioned NON-EXPANSION.
I did NOT buy a game with those system requirements. Sorry. That development is occuring later, AFTER THE PRODUCT IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR.
I have not bought the expansion. I would not, (at least, now) because my system appears not to support it (although, the Luclin website very clearly places the Voodoo3 in the WORKING list of tested hardware).
I haven't bought anything without investigating the system requirements. Got any other attempts at brushing this off?
I hate when these numbskull software companies install to directories named after the company instead of the program! Note to companies:
I DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THE NAME OF YOUR COMPANY! Name the frickin directory after the program it contains so I can find it!
You may now return to your regularly scheduled slashdot reading.
I was exploring an area known as the Hole, which is a deep hole. You can only go along a ledge on one side of it, and then into either a nearby city or off to a nearby forest. However, I discovered how to jump up onto another nearby ledge that I wasn't supposed to be able to, and began exploring around up there.
Before long, I found a trench up behind where the normal players could see, and decided to jump in to see what was in it. It appeared to curve around beyond where I could see it. To be safe, I first deposited all of my items into a bank so that I could retrieve them if I died -- I was in exploration, not combat mode.
When I jumped in, I realized that it didn't really go anywhere, and further, I was stuck. I couldn't get back out. There is also no 'suicide' function, so I was stuck. I paged a GM, but it took two days before anyone came to help me. I even tried to
This event destroyed the illusion of the world for me. I was stuck in a noninteresting place, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Eventually, a GM came and teleported me to a safe location. However, I was never again able to get into the game, or care about my character's wealth or level. I canceled my EQ account about a week later.
Well, I loged in the first night, and it took me three hours to patch. Multiple reboots between each 'crash' of the patcher. Once I got in to the game, I find that it runs fin on my systems. There have been some crash to desktop bugs with the /follow command and group bufs aren't working properly (as of last night). The launch is buggy but not terribly worse than Kunark or Velious. Yes, it took off horribly, bit in a few days no one will rember that.
I like what I've seen of the new expansion so far. Some of the graphics of the new models are just bad, some are plain awesom. Textures on some of the high end armor is messed up so that it looks like low level armor.
The new zones for the most part are very nice to look at and some of them are incredible. The zones are fun to play in and the there have been some really neat spells added to the game.
So far, despite the bumpy release and things not working yet (the bard class has been totaly shut down for the past few days) I think that overall this is going to be a very nice expansion.
Batou Of The Nexus
Heirophant of the Harbingers
Karana Server
> if you dare to run the new expansion you will
> have to have at least 256MB of RAM just for the
> core functionality (they provide a way to back
> out most of the new UI stuff for those who have
> 128MB of RAM, but I'm told its almost
> unplayable);
You were told wrong. It runs fine on 128MB. You
do need to turn off the fancy graphics, but even
so the graphics are better than they were, which
is plenty good enough.
In fact I know someone who is playing succesfully
post expansion with only 64MB.
> I've yet to see the new race, as I assumed that
> everyone would be starting those characters and
> the server would be quite slow in those zones.
If you are going to take the time to write a
review why not take the time to find out for
sure?
The new zones are not slow and work fine. They
are very interesting and different. I recommend
that you make yourself a Kitty!
There were problems with the patch, but the latest
patch fixes most of them. The upgrade was
significant so it is not surprising that there
were problems, but it looks like everything is
going to be ok.
Max
Despite what we all might thing, microsoft does generally improve as time goes on... so moving people off of win95 is probably a blessing of this game :)
I'm still waiting for the LotR MMORPG to come out. Heck, all of those ElendorMUSH folks would cream themselves. I know I would.
I think this review could have focused on the actual upgrade process more. This is Eq's third major upgrade, and as far as that, they should have learned a few lessons along the way.
The upgrade this time came in two forms: the revamping of the game engine, and the addition of SoL zones.
The SoL zone addition was quick, easy. That they learned with the two previous expansions (kunark and velious). You stamp the zone files onto CD (three this time) and the users install and register. Voila, new zones.
The real news this time was the game engine upgrade. They moved everything to a new engine, with lots of new XML functionality, which in turn requires a lot more hardware to play. And there's the real story, if this is a "news for nerds" story at all... How do you take an existing game, with hundreds of thousands of people in it, and upgrade its engine? What can you force people to do in terms of a hardware upgrade? More ram? More HD space? Better video card?
Remember, we're talking about subrscribers here - people that pay Sony every month so they can play Eq. At what point is it ok to say "If you don't meet X hardware standard, you can't play."?
In this case, Sony raised the bar rather high. Minimum is now 128mb of ram, a Nvidia Geforce card, and I think around a 500mhz processor. Quite a bit steep for a game I was able to play with a K6-2 233, Voodoo 3 2000, and 64mb of RAM. And that's now minimum specs.
Let's face it - in a few months the bugs in the interface, the "features" they were supposed to add that didn't make it, and the "memory leaks" will be forgotten. What won't be are the people who were paying to play, up until Sony said they had to upgrade past what they were willing or able to afford. And there will be a lot of those cases.
Those of us lucky enough to have the hardware to play it (I play on a tbird 900, Geforce 2gts 32, 512mb ram) will get to enjoy all the new features - I've been playing it steadily and have had few problems yet. But for those who don't... well, it seems Sony is saying "Tough Luck".
Kraegar
...and so long to the fishes.
I'm glad to read that this release is not so great. Why? Not because I work for the competition, but because Verant literally kicked me out after wrongly claiming that I was "cheating." Class action law suit anyone? I heard that I am not the only one in that boat.
I have been with the system since the beginning. I went thru their buggy eervers, buggy releases, awfull support, you name it. You have it. It appears that they made their decision when some sysop was logged in (which is something exceptional as they usually are not here when you need them, like when all your objects disappear because of long lasting bugs.) So the guy sent me a message to verify if I was in front of my machine while I was feeding the cat or on the johns. And since I didn't reply right away. The next thing I got was a mail to get lost. No proof of what they were claiming is shown, unless they scanned my machine and they would have find nothing wrong.What followed was a message exchange (think replies one week after my original message), ending to nothing, nada, zip!
Verant is the Sirius Cybertronics company as Douglas Adams defines it in the HGTTG book. A company whose complain department covers the landmasses of the 3 first planet in whatever solar system. A company so badly managed that the bulletin board needs to be censored by customers of them who can't get their hw working, connection to their servers, drops, items lost, crashes bugs. Remember their intent for scanning software on your PC. You should have read the BB.
That was fun!
I won't be able to get my character back, neither pay their subscription every month. In one way, I should tell them thank you for curing me from this habit of login and meeting friends from all around the world I was talking to every night.
Hi guys! If you wonder where I have been, you know now. My ultimate request to Verant was to be able to log one last time (even if they judged me guilty for something I didn't do) and let the people I had fun with daily online know that I wouldn't come back. I have still to read a reply from Verant support. It's been 3 weeks now...
PPA
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
Actually, I've verified that the non-SOL-expansion game (EQ/Kunark/Velious) works with Voodoo3 cards after all the patching... But I also have a fast processor, plenty of RAM, and a good net connection...
The problem to me is that, due to the incredibly long time it takes to level, that many bugs aren't found because there isn't a decent spread of levels on the test server... especially when the need to wipe characters appears (and I see that as a valid need from time to time).
My suggestion to Verant was to provide a randomization feature when a new test server character was created - go through the character creation as usual, but prior to the first world entry, the server comes up with a random level assignment and populates the character with an appropriate amount of coin and equipment for that level.
That way, Verant would get feedback from all levels, and could even weight the assignments based on the levels they were most interested in watching.
--
"Words are relative. They're only symbols. If we don't use ugly symbols, we won't have any ugliness."
I just heard sad news on the radio - Stephen King was found dead in this Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details - it was just a little news blurb. I'm sure the slashdot community will miss him; even if you didn't like his books and movies there's no denying his contribution to american pop culture. Truly an icon.
Works for me too, on a brief test, but I'm hearing lots of problem reports from some guides I know.
And, there's still the problem of Win95. Although I luckily don't have that problem (WinXP here), I don't like the idea of it just being brushed off... changing the system requirements for a product that's already been paid for is definately not the consumer's problem.
I have a level 5 sword of Zorkon with the frost enchantment. IS it worth selling on ebay, or should I hang on to it? I used it last night and really kicked ass on a bunch of vampire lizard assassins
EVE Online is designed to be Elite of the 0's (can you say that?) Remember Elite? The classic from 32KB 4Mhz BBC computer. I spent countless nights playing that one.... Please make it feel like Elite...
I am surprised at this - I have never played EQ (in fact, the last FP game I ever played was the last KQ - I am not much of a game player), but I wonder if you could have "starved" to death - just like real life? In fact, if exposure and food (or lack thereof, I should say), were taken into account, a number of interesting possibilities could open up (imagine actually going to a tavern, having to sit down, and eat a meal, while discussing what to do next with fellow players). Anyhow, in your case you should die from lack of food and water, just like a real person stuck in a trench would be able to.
Furthermore, assuming another player could see you (or hear your cries for help), they should be able to throw a rope up/down to you, to help get you out, or something. Now, I know EQ probably doesn't allow this - but that is one of the things about these - dare I say it - virtual environments: Gaining insight about what happens in the real world, and how it would be solved in the real world, which would change the game somewhat. Sooner or later, you end up with a simulation of the real world (in theory, at least)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Shhh!!!!!
and it seems that the only thing left is the community/society. The newest updates aren't that great, the expansion was a great monthly update, but not really worth $20 bucks. If it weren't for the wonderfull people I've met I would have stopped playing again.
.NET Passports, which I don't want.
Then there's AO which also had great people, and great potential, but was ruined by a worse release than this EQ expansion (though not by much). I played that till the free game expired and they tried to bill me. There was no way in hell I was paying for more beta software, and I would love to get the $50 bucks back I paid for the box.
DAoC had a great release, but it really seems like Dark Age of Everquest so it didn't appeal to me for long. The world is quite small and it feels like they made up for it by makeing everything slow. It's still a good game, and I know a lot of people like like it, but it hasn't been able to hold my attention... I think maybe I'll renew it now that the msn gameing zone is moving thier accounts over to
I would also comment on WWII Online, but everyone I know hated the release (worse than AO?) becaues it was mostly unplayable so I didn't waste my money.
Actually, it is the consumers problem.
In the EULA you click on every time you load the game, in every published EQ manual, and all SOE documentation regarding requirements it CLEARLY states, and I know I'm paraphrasing here... "Requirements for the game may change at any time to keep up with current technologies." "This is our game and we can do what we want. If you don't like it, or it doesn't work, get lost." I know EULA's are just clickthrough garbarge, but the message is there. SOE is going to continue to supply the demand of hardcore and casual gamers with rich content, beautiful graphics, and amazing gameplay, even if it is at the cost of lower end systems no longer being able to run it. They didn't make this move until after M$ said that Win95 is no longer supported by them. SOE needed DirectX 8.1 to put in the new graphics, 8.1 does't work with 95, and that meant no more 95 EQ users.
Is it your problem your problem that your OS is 7 years old, or you're running a video card made for the original Doom with horrible 3d acceleration? I would venture to say yes. The OEM for Win95 no longer supports it, so why should SOE? Besides, in 6 months no decent games will support those garbage cards anyway, Verant and SOE are just leading the pack requiring upgrades.
Actually, I think it is the consumers problem.
In the EULA you click on every time you load the game, in every published EQ manual, and all SOE documentation regarding requirements it CLEARLY states, and I know I'm paraphrasing here... "Requirements for the game may change at any time to keep up with current technologies." "This is our game and we can do what we want. If you don't like it, or it doesn't work, get lost." I know EULA's are just clickthrough garbarge, but the message is there. SOE is going to continue to supply the demand of hardcore and casual gamers with rich content, beautiful graphics, and amazing gameplay, even if it is at the cost of lower end systems no longer being able to run it. They didn't make this move until after M$ said that Win95 is no longer supported by them. SOE needed DirectX 8.1 to put in the new graphics, 8.1 does't work with 95, and that meant no more 95 EQ users.
Is it your problem your problem that your OS is 7 years old, or you're running a video card made for the original Doom with horrible 3d acceleration? I would venture to say yes. The OEM for Win95 no longer supports it, so why should SOE? Besides, in 6 months no decent games will support those garbage cards anyway, Verant and SOE are just leading the pack requiring upgrades.
System:
Windows 2000 Pro SP2
Athlon Thunderbird 1.33GHz
512MB DDRAM
Visiontek Geforce3
Connection:
DSL
I had to go through the exact same runaround to try to get on from 3pm to 7pm on Tuesday.
To best explain what I feel about EQ:SoL, I repost part of my statement from Everlore.com:
"Before Shadows, I felt okay about EQ (even as the leader of Solace de L'esprit http://www.eqsolace.com/ on Luclin). I felt EQ was a prelude to Neverwinter Nights (much like all movies this year are just a prelude to LotR, but I digress).
They talked all summer about the cat people, the classes, the horses... yah yah yah. Whatever, don't care. I actually did not plan to purchase SoL until the screenshots of the models started rolling in. The naked gnome looked promising but I was dying to see what a Half Elf Female would look like (which they did not release). The more and more screenshots they released, the models were so great looking, I thought they were tricked up 2D pictures.
Now I was hyped. I wanted the new graphics so bad I could taste it. Tuesday night around 8pm CST, I had to scramble to pick up my jaw off the floor. My Half Elf Ranger in basic Banded Mail look fscking hot! I was so damn sexy and cute that no one could talk to me.
I did not do the standard "make a kitty and lagged down Luclin" because I did not care. None of the other features compared to the beauty of the updated models.
Sure, there wasn't much difference in the outdoor environement, I won't own a horse anytime soon and I got time to level a kitty but since SoL, I play in 3rd person view and I would go to no windows if I did not have to watch for text (and health, mana, etc).
For me and my money, I would have paid $30 for my armour not to look like poo brown. The designers and developers outdid themselves by a long shot.
If you have to wh0|23 yourselves to the men and women of your town to save enough money to upgrade your OS (why in the world are you running Windows95 is beyond me) and/or hardware, DO IT!"
ChozSun
ChozSun.com
Offtopic here, but when will you fucking spineless geeks learn that stating something Loud And Clear does not automatically make it permissible, in either a legal or moral sense? Does The Man's boot leather really taste that good?
"I have a clear policy of not paying my taxes."--think the IRS would give someone saying that a free pass? Doubtful.
I saw one poster say (not exact quote, but close) "but they've only had 36 hours and have already fixed most of the major bugs with one patch"
This may sound like (somewhat) of a rant, but if they only need 36 hours to fix most of the major bugs Why didn't they start 36 hours earlier a year ago and get it right the first time? Have everyone on the team stay late an hour for a week or two. I realize they have release dates etc., but in any other industry releasing something this bad would absolutely KILL your marketshare/ sales. Nobody would buy it, and thousands of people would be screaming for their money back.
Anyway, my real question was why, after so many games do developers still get this wrong? Why don't they learn from past mistakes and get it right the first time? Not only will they accomplish the same thing as with multiple patches, but they'll get major kudos from everyone who doesn't have to madly patch to try to get into the game!
If someone can explain this to me please do, in all serious (not being facetious) if there's a reason I'd like to know.
No sig for you.
I've played EQ since before it game out in March of 1999. Started in Beta around November of 98, so I have a little insight on the game's evolution.
EQ uses their own engine which was built with the voodoo 1 card in mind. This has been the same engine they've used up to the latest expansion.
EQ has 3 expansions today:
Ruins of Kunark
Scars of Velious
Shadows of Luclin
EQ does not require any expansion for you to play. No expansion requires a previous expansion to play. Together they make a huge game. In 2 years of play, I'd say I've really explored about half of the game(and that doesn't include SOL in that figure).
Since the game engine up to SOL was written back in 98, with a voodoo 1 as the target, there were HUGE limitations on where they could take the game.
SOL changed that. They redid all the textures in the old expansions with SOL, 3 cds worth, and upgraded their engine to use the new Direct X 8.1 API and incorporated a whole new bunch of core game mechanic changes they can use to enhance gameplay.
If you don't upgrade to SOL you don't get the new textures and graphics, but they have to force the new engine on you so they can give you the new features.
Problem: Microsoft is dropped Win95 off their supported list, so the new Direct X's won't support it.
So EQ no longer supports windows 95 as well. There's no real way around that. But barring windows 95 you can continue to play EQ on your old slow system without SOL.
And for SOL's "stability"... the release night hammered the patch servers. By day two the hammering stopped and everything was smooth again.
Should they have increased their bandwidth for that 1 night and added XXX more servers? Some think so, I don't. It would've been a waste of resources to handle that 1 time surge of traffic.
And the game itself? It's been decently stable. There are lots of bugs, but most haven't affected gameplay any. The bugs that are affecting gameplay they're hammering out in daily fixes.
I've played EQ off and on for 2 years and see enough to want to play for years more. Not many games can do that.
"In the EULA you click on every time you load the game, [...] it CLEARLY states, and I know I'm paraphrasing here... "Requirements for the game may change at any time to keep up with current technologies." "This is our game and we can do what we want. If you don't like it, or it doesn't work, get lost.""
Sorry, you're wrong about the EULA. The closest thing in the EULA says that they don't have to give you any new updates they create, and states, "You understand that we may update or enhance the Software at any time and in doing so incur no obligation to furnish such updates to you pursuant this Agreement."
Note that this says nothing about them changing the system reqs. It ONLY says that they can make enhancements and upgrades and they don't necessarily have to give them to you.
"SOE is going to continue to supply the demand of hardcore and casual gamers with rich content, beautiful graphics, and amazing gameplay"
heh, heh, heh.. that's rich. Are you quoting from SOE's brochures, or is that BS coming out naturally?
"running a video card made for the original Doom with horrible 3d acceleration"
The voodoo3 is hardly all that bad. Heck, when Everquest came out, Nvidia was having incredible problems with drivers and their hot new cards couldn't run most games. At the time, voodoo was the best bet for 3D games. The card can still hold its own, even without all the bleeding-edge bells and whistles.
Wow.. ya know, it's just a shame I run Linux[debian] and spend my time kernel hacking[ko]. I could be playing lots of Windows games. They have such neat features, like accelerated T+L, patches for bugs once every 2 hours, delayed release dates, MMORPGs that act like giant Troll-o-matics[eq], massive resource requirements, memory leaks, and - you guessed it - pathetic sequels... I don't know what's wrong with the Linux gaming scene nowadays... You just can't seem to get that same good old homegrown unreliability and monthly credit expenses. I'm green... no no, I forgot, the SOD is blue... with envy
Remember when the first thing you did when you bought a game was play it? The only games I've bought in the last three years that didn't require a patch before I played it were Black and White, and Unreal Tournament.
Where has quality control gone?
Wu-Tang Name: Half-Cut Skeleton Get your own Wu-Na
ok.. next time something from a REAL company takes over my screen like that I just might have to pay them a visit and carry along some shotguns and high explosives.. FUCK YOU!.
"Waah. RandomGame was delayed to fix bugs. Waah."
"Waah. RandomGame was shipped on time with bugs."
"Waah. No one updates their games."
"Waah. CompanyX updates their games and makes me download patches."
"Waah, EQ PK sucks. Play DaoC for PK!"
Waah. Dark Age of Oh, Please Don't Hurt Me! sucks.
http://cs.vv.com
"Waah, someone just killed my character permanantly, took all my cybernetic implants, and my $60k armor."
Tough shit, chummer.
And you don't escape any of this if you don't upgrade to Luclin. No, EVERYONE is suffering this. Worse yet, EVERYONE has been forced onto DirectX 8.1, despite this breaking the system requirments pledge that it runs on Windows 95.
There are a lot of shills on the usenet groups who are bleating that if you don't like it you should go elsewhere. What they don't realise is most people EQ the game, but think the administration of EQ stinks to high heaven. The amount of downtime is totally unacceptable. If Verant ran a proper ship it wouldn't nearly half as much and fiascos like this and last week could have been avoided.
For example, one of the questions I had was about the policy regarding resolution of a stolen account. It stated in their FAQ and in other places, that if an account was mishandled and a password given away that led to theft that it would be deactivated upon 'resolution'. However, it did not mention what would happen if the account was actually stolen and the end user had done everything they thought possible to prevent theft. I asked what the policy was in the case where the account was actually stolen, without any 'help' from the user. In this email I quoted many of the FAQ and other policy print, but yet this genious in the customer service department ignored both my question and the fact that I printed what was indeed given by them. He replied by reprinting exactly what I had included with no sort of 'explanation'. I then thanked him for his time, but then asked if he could re-read my inquiry, paying special attention to the actual question especially in the context that I stated very clearly (with quotes) that my question was about a clarification of what was printed and gave him a very specific example of someone having their account stolen, but with no case of negligence on the part of the victim. His response simply restated the general policy but did not infact answer my very specific question or hypothetical scenario. He did however mention that it was "The users responsibility to provide security".
So, I tried again, this time trying to clarify by mentioning that I was not talking about guilt, because in the case of a lack of negligence on the victims part, the guilt is only on the criminials part, with the exception of Verant's data being exposed through negligence or through inside corruption. I restated once again that I wanted an answer to my question. I also reminded him that in the majority of homes with internet access, only the basic (if any) security procedures are usually in place. Following this, I asked him for any assistance on how to setup a more secure environment in my home and if this information might be helpful to other customers and potential customers (that would be me).
His response to this was that 'it was my responsibility to provide adequate security for my home and if my account was stolen through no action of my own that my account would remain deactivated pending an decision by Verant, if I chose to petition them to reactivate it.' Furthermore, apparently 'It is the users responsibility' also means that the user should damn well already know everything their is about advanced network security simply to play a game and that they had no intentions of providing such information to the customer. I then thanked him for his time, and told him that since I had obviously annoyed him by actually requiring after 5 emails that he do his job, that he would be happy to know that I will never put one red cent towards anything Verant was involved in. So, Verant, what do you think about Dark Age of Camelot? I hear their primary claim to fame is their EXCELLENT customer ethic, from that they have tremendous customer service along with a very bug limited release, considerate and ETHICAL maintainers and operators that let the user know that it is indeed possible in the Gaming (much less the general IT) industry to avoid releasing crap.
I guess Verant wishes to muck amongst the dung eaters like EA (Origin, RIP), Sierra and the newest member, Interplay. BTW, congrats BIOWARE on having the balls to stand up for what is legally and ethically right. I hope you have better luck with Infogrames (or whoever). BTW, Wizardry seems to be doing rather well, hmmmm, however I doubt it will serve as any sort of wake-up call to the suites
Also, if ones definition of Role Playing Game is 'a game in which you play a role', could I consider Super Mario Brothers to be a Role Playing game? And while asking these oh, so important questions... Do spaceships always make neat engine sounds when in space? And what about tumbling unpowered objects like derilects and astroids? Isn't it cool that they make those neat motion through air 'whooshing' sounds? Doesn't that mean we should install sonar beacons in space to warn of any nasty aliens or their evil weapons of astroids and comets? Hmmm, I must meditate now
AD&D second part II edition (or the TRUE third addition as some say) Much better than the current system, including a comparison of feats and stuff. *sigh*
as a developer looking at converting several hardcoded messagin systems to XML based solutions I have been looking over what would add, not detract from the existing user's experience. While I understand the overhead in communicating with the parser, interpreting the data (logic) and then perhaps transforming it or making database calls. In theory, wouldn't all that be streamlined because XML is more mature than any custom job I could come up with myself? After all, a custom job would still require the same transformation, processing and formatting. However, even if streamlined to be as efficient as possible, I wonder if it comes down to the age old problem of weighing a little bit of immediate efficiency over a longer term one that results in a much larger net gain. Hmmm, sounds like sex and kids. Well, I hope you get the picture
In some respects, navigating P2P filesharing systems is kind of like exploring new worlds, each a little microcosm of a person's music, video or pr0n tastes. What isn't there a MUD-like game that is a likewise distributed computing effort of world builders and world surfers?
It would really be the ultimate buzz-word compliant product, an open-source P2P distributed gaming system.
Actually people should realize that there are a lot of us who have just be effectivly kicked out of the game. This upgrade did not work for either of the video cards in both of my machines. (Well they work but the graphics have enough bugs to make it unplayable) And they are Rage Pro's, not very new but still decent. Everquest seems to not care that lots of people meet the hardware requirements for the older versions and have been paying good money for some time. I know this is ranting but I'm sort of ticked off with thier 'support' right now.
You make good points; I'd basically agree.
Combining a couple of your observations, the consistent rewards plus the social structure of online games very much provide an environment of "meritocracy". The justice of such an environment has a subtle but remarkable appeal.
--LP
DirectX 8.1 doesn't support Windows 95.
What you're neglecting to mention is WHY they did the item wipe. There was a day (maybe 2?) where the creature item tables were all screwed up on the test server. Low level monsters were carrying loot normally reserved for super high-end encounters. Of course, most of the "testers" on the server weren't saying anything: they were just collecting the goods.
Wiping the items was the only way to get back to a decent simulation of what is present on a production server. If people were truly testing, they wouldn't mind the item wipe. The ones who got pissed off and left were players, not testers.
Just my $.02
Here's a good Forgotten Realms MUD for AD&D enthusiasts and those that won't bother to fork out money to play Everquest or DAOC.
r ps 2.html
:)
telnet sojourn3.org 9999
Here's the info I stripped from MudConnector.com:
In May this year Sojourn opened its doors again after being closed
for some 12 months. Initially there were no plans to reopen, but it
turns out the admins didn't want it to die and they spent half a year
making things better and developing new stuff before
opening again.
Sojourn3 has a long tradition, it is one of the older muds out there.
The player base peaks at around 160, but the mud just opened and as
more people return or learn about it this should rise still. The
players are generally older and mature.
The mud is based on AD&D with two 'sides': good and evil. However
there is no pkill, but there is also very limited interaction between
the sides. You can trade or sell equipment, but you cannot group and
the hometowns are off limits to the other side. role playing is
optional and you can do so if you like. You won't find players by
the name of Killer or Exterminator, nor will you find Driztt or
Gandalf. Names have to be unique and original and fitting to the FR
theme and race. The goods consist of barbarians, halflings, elves,
gnomes, humans, mountain dwarves and half-elves. The evils have
trolls, illithids, ogres, duergar, yuan-ti, orcs and drow elves.
Every race has its advantages and disadvantages, the evils generally
having stronger races with better innates (regeneration, levitation,
ultravision) but this is offset by their increased dificulty, some
racial drawbacks and smaller player base. The sides are not carbon
copies of each other, with certain classes available only to the
other side, requiring different approaches to zoning and grouping.
The world is also very different, every race having its own hometown,
and the evils generally living in the southern regions of the world
and the Underdark. The classes are warrior, enchanter, invoker,
illusionist, cleric, druid, psionicist, rogue, elementalist,
paladin, antipaladin, bard and shaman. Every class here is unique
and to successfully conquer the bigger zones you need a good mix
of these.
The mud is huge, dare I say it, I don't think there are other muds
this large out there. There is no 'map' as on Duris for example, you
walk from one place to the other through single rooms. The layout is
based upon the AD&D world of Faerun, with the icy mountains up north
to Waterdeep in the middle, to Baldur's Gate and Calimport
in the south and Zhentil Keep and the Moonsea to the east. Evermeet,
the Moonshaes and the Chultean Peninsula are accessible by ship or
spell. You really get the feeling you are in the realms, the
atmosphere and detail is incredible. There are a great many zones
and they are all unique, non-stock. They are the heart of sojourn,
and they are all very detailed. You won't find a smurf village here,
only zones which fit the AD&D theme. Nor will you be able to walk
from one side of the world to the other in 5 minutes, far from it
indeed. The zones range from low level XP to ultra-hard high level
EQ zones which are done very rarely. Every race has its own hometown,
and some of these are a great indication of the standard of the
zones. For example Ghore, Hyssk and Ixaarkon are wonderfully
detailed and will keep you quite busy for your first few levels.
Aside from the prime material plane, there are also other planes
such as air, fire, demi, astral and ethereal. Each of these houses
hard-to-reach zones, and getting to the planes is a challenge in
itself since only a few classes have access to the spells needed
to get there. The planes usually are not a safe place to stay at
either... There is a log of a rarely done fight from a hard zone
so you can see the difficulty of it, the effort put into weapon
procs, mob AI and procs, and spells at
http://home.wanadoo.nl/stefan.pieterse/logs/sco
Be prepared to be kept busy for a very long time, as this is not a
mud where you will be done in a month. The are no player wipes
planned ever again, which should indicate the challenges. There are
50 levels, but to attain level 50 takes very long indeed. Along the
way you will require better equipment, make friends, get better
groups and perhaps you may even quest a powerful spell or two. You
will slowly learn the world, but even after years there will still
be sections you are unfamiliar with. Challenge! But the journey
itself is fun! Once you are higher level you will zone and quest
a lot. The zones are very challenging and require a good mix of
classes, and the quests range from simple to ones that may take you
months. The rewards are mostly the best equipment or spells in the
game. Before you start thinking that everyone will end up with these
items, they don't. The quests are hard and most people only know a
few, choosing not to share the information. But you can learn them
yourself, exploring the world and zones and finding a quest is very
rewarding. So hard work can pay off
The admins are great. I'll admit that in the past there were some
problems with player-staff interaction, but this time around it is
all going very well. They are kind and work hard. The staff consists
of perhaps more than a dozen people, so updates, changes and new
code/zones are added regularly.
If you are new, feel free to play an evil to look at their hometowns
and skills, but be forewarned that there are less players, the
hometowns are harder and that there are aggro mobs around. Goods
have it easier with Waterdeep being the place most people stay
around, and being within reach of the Dwarven and Halfling hometowns.
Casters are generally harder to play for the first 20 levels, but as
they rise in spell circles their power greatly increases. The
memorizing of spells is done according to AD&D, with 10 spell
circles, very nicely done. Starting off will be hard for every class
though, until you get the hang of the game and get some equipment to
make things easier. I personally recommend to follow the newbie
tutorial (go west from the starting room) and then entering the
world in your hometown itself (type recall, then enter sojourn)
since this is much nicer than the newbie zone. Enjoy.
i dont own lucin But i have 2 stuck chars in vel due to there patching
/useTnL=fasle does not work its not peoples systems with bugs its eq
.i had a wizard summon a new taunt pet next to me and a large human poped out . bard songs Do not play root does not work at times . gate was casueing people to crash to desktop . group buffs dont work . npc's are naked Lots of naked wood elf npcs roaming around in some areas everlore.com has goofy screen shots THIS was a bad way to go about things
it also has laptop users buged. amd chip sets runing k6/2/3 some p3 chip sets all buged. no jokes it locks up your comp win2000 has amem leak when runing eq it seams
tnt2 ge2 v3 v4 v5 radeon video cards are also buged or cause people to crash or 5 min zones times even with updated drivers
from size of chat room invasion on eq and msg boards i am guessing few thousand has bugs was a good 70 people trying to get there char moved due to stuck in one chat room on eq
i dont own lucin but kunark/vel is buged . del zone files / game files
It was a lame roll out some monetsers dont have skins and look like humans
on DAoC has casued alot of people to leave eq
no joke RZ server i play on has no one at times Gfay has top 15 people in zone at prime time.
RP server has 1 person in Gfay at times. DAoC has takein its toll on eq much of a toll they dont tell you how many players are on eq servers anymore
GMs are telling people to get new drivers or buy new video or upgrade my video card is 3 days old and computer is uptodate wtf 1 mth lifespan?
m0zone
nuf said.
Best bug found so far - it seems all the new textures and models for clothing and armour are occasionally not being drawn. It is not known yet if this is the fabled "bonus" for signing up for the game early.
Boy those skinners really need to get out more.
On the bright side, if it's a bug, surely you could duplicate it with a simple client side memory resident program.
And, of course, once you have written said program,you could sell it on Ebay for only $139.99 and make yourself rich from 13 year old boys.
Topless Female Elven Paladin
Topless Female Barbarian Shaman
Naked Female Half Elf Warrior From Rear and Front
Naked Male Elven caster with carefully placed spellbook
If EQ isn't a geek title, I don't know what is. I know lots of geeks who play. Most are friends who are Network Admins and programmers. What sucks is it doesn't run on Linux... :P
So you'd have no problem if say.. As part of your most recent virus software updates, the mfr. changed your virus engine to require a p4-2g with 1g ram?
Or if the next time IE connected to the 'net it went to MS' homepage, DLed a patch you couldn't opt out of and told you, "You must upgrade to WinXP, and an Intel p4 1.7g or higher processor to continue using IE."
The scenarios are much the same.
anyone else find that ironic?
lol
Speaking of bugs...EQ Nude.
This game isn't good. People just get addicted to it and can't stop playing it. I played it for more than a year and I finally realized I wasn't playing it because it was fun, I was just playing it. Every release since the original has had major flaws, bugs, features that were left out etc...
Verant's customer service is so horrible that I do not want to ever purchase a product from them again. Which is sad because I really want to play Starwars Galaxies...hopefully they have a different team working on that one.
This is supposed to be a roleplaying game, but Verant has gone as far as to discourage roleplaying, not only by their actions but by their words. Yeah I'm bitter...
Read my short stories - You won't regret it.
Do you work for Verant or something?
Speaking of MMORPG's, does anyone know if Asherons call is still being played and what the servers / services around it are like ?
If you believe the Neal Stephenson Metaverse way of thinking about the future, the successful RPG/virtual reality will have some sort of tangible relation to the real world. A digital reality superimposed over the underlying organic reality, both integrated significantly with each other.
:P So lame. Then I'd give up, quit that app, load up zMUD and telnet into my fave MUD, and work on my mudding script some more.
By the way, some MUDs have rather large regular populations, taking into account the large fragmentation of the mudding community versus the fewer, more publicized networks of more graphical RPGs/MUDs/whatever.
I'll always love MUDs more even though I mainly just experiment with le jeu de jour these days. Something neat and simple from a programmer's point of view, a flexible world where things can be added and removed easily without whole CD/patch updates and new art and models having to be drawn. And from a player's point of view, the MUD is less frustrating (your system not blue screening or freezing) and more imaginative.
Man, I remember sitting on Sierra's The Realm like the rest of us dumbasses listening to the programmers say they couldn't add new armor yet because they had to get the artists to draw it up first.
I would estimate that at least %50 of the people posting "well informed" opinions of EQ have never even seen the game, let alone played it.
It's not some frickin IRC hot chat session. It's a game. You kill monsters. If you want to talk to people, you can. If you want to play by yourself, you can. Jeez, get a grip. It's not like they force you to stand up, say your name and your hobbies or something.
It's funny that people opining on a message board complain about "fake human interaction". Hah. Hippocrites.
manitee
Four-digit slashdot ID. Recognize.
Actually, the pwipe (and the later apologetic rollback to an iwipe) was more the result of poor scrutiny of testers, not from players going loot mad over "phat" drops. The "players have been greedy and they are corrupted" was a nice cover story for the real reasons behind the wipe.
I'll not argue that probably some 80-odd players (out of a player base of over 1500 or more) did "benefit" from the corrupted loot tables making dragon loot drop off lvl 30 mobs. (I knew of one raid leader in the Plane of Fear who left his own raid to go collect loot once the word got around it was dropping.)
However, those who were on Test to actually test Kunark were under an NDA, as well as having their characters specially flagged in the player database. Those flagged accounts would not show up in any of the standard "/who" commands, so ordinary players wouldn't know where in the game they were, or even if they actually existed on the server. (I know of this because my wife's character's name got duped in the database by accident by a tester, and she was privy for a few days to all of the chat going on in the developer's and tester's private chat channel, although she couldn't enter the new zones herself.)
Part of the NDA was where those testing were to never have their characters in any "public" (non-Kunark) zones.
What happened was when the the loot table corruption was discovered, Jeff Butler didn't call the unofficial "GM" of Test (Khelbin) to fix the problem, but instead decided to do a player rollback from a previous backup. This would wipe the "illegally" obtained loot off those who had looted it. This had the unfortunate side affect of also restoring many of the now deleted Kunark tester characters, some complete with full sets of "uber" Kunark armor and equipment. Some of those players decided that they weren't going to delete those characters, and instead decided to go into hiding until things blew over, thereby keeping characters equipped not with mere dragon loot, but with loot off the yet-unreleased expansion...things which made dragon loot pale in comparison.
Khelbin explained to many of us in chat that it would have been a simple matter to do the rollback and let him delete the accounts which were the Kunark test accounts, and Butler wouldn't allow it...hence it became the infamous pwipe. It only became an iwipe after the majority of Test's regular players "stormed the fort" in e-mails to Verant, and all the EQ websites were carrying the story. Verant did what they could to appease the Test player population, and do damage control.
Wiping the items was the only way to get back to a decent simulation of what is present on a production server. If people were truly testing, they wouldn't mind the item wipe. The ones who got pissed off and left were players, not testers.
Likewise, if it was a true "test" server, folks wouldn't mind an item wipe, but that was never the case. Many folks on Test would have loved to have been chosen to help out with testing, but were never offered the chance. The majority of those players shouldn't have to suffer an iwipe when all they had was legitimate items earned the "old fashioned way", through killing mobs, questing and the like. Test accounts were moved to Test from other servers and often "buffed" to higher levels for testing purposes. It was Verant's failure to properly isolate (and later on, account for) those Kunark test accounts which led to the iwipe, not player greed as Verant would have you believe.
Ok I play alot of EQ, But I am not tring to be biased here.
Just want to say, I understand the person that went to the store and bought the game , only looking at the system requirements on the box, and now 2 years later is made cause they have to change their OS or video card.
Also I really dont think that SOE ment to mess up this badly, but that, is that.
I for one understand that this not being a single player game means everyone has to upgrade at once, that has its good and bad side. They updates can be god you know.
But for just a second look at the huge achivement SOE has went through to provide a backwards compatable game like this, The models in the game have the ability to be seen in 2 different ways LOW poly and now HIGH poly, that means alot of things have 2 models for everything. and also means that I can have a brand new fast pc and if I want someone else to play with me and thier pc isnt as nice , it can still work. they can use the old models and I can use the new ones, very nice really. sure alot of people are going to say of course that can be done DUH, but alot of times this kind of option is passed off as too much work to do.
As long as me and the guy with the older system stay in the older citys and areas we can play together with the lower polygon zones, and have a fun time.
Now the win95 stuff is silly, just go ask someone that has a win98 cd if you can borrow it, install it over win95 and get over it. it wont take long and it easy to do, dont cost NOTHING, everyone does it, EVERYONE does it. why you running win95 anyway is just lazy, this is 2001 people dont run win95 for games. I dont know about going to XP yet, alot about that OS sucks, you know what I mean there. win98 is a good medium for now.
The new video card, can suck, I for one bought SOL and will probally upgrade my voodoo 5500 to a Geforce3 , cause I want it to run really nice, It dont bother me, I for one do not mind in the least if I have to upgrade , I love more polygons, shit up it again soon! the better the graphics the better! I love the gaems to push the scale, and I wish to some extent people that dont want to upgrade would just live with it, and do it for the whole community of the game, the game gets better, it dont fade away.
I got my Voodoo 5500 to work had to upgrade drivers etc... but it works now , and it didnt when I first tried. you might have to go download a new driver people, reinstall DX8.1 or something big deal.
Alot of the whinning comes from people that really might be having a hard time because they dont know how to do shit.
BTW the new models look great! some of them better than others , but some so cool and so much different foor each other its really cool. you really would have to see to understand, the new animations also are really nice. new zone pretty cool, and i am sure the new drops will be awsome.
Bugs will be fixed. I am sure there wasnt anyone else that was cussing like made more than me on the 4th while tring to patch, it has happened before, I always seem to get over it, I do agree is is BS they can afford to do it better than that, I dont care if they got to buy more servers more bandwidth etc... for a launch they could do it right, and not make you sit there liek you dont have anyhting better to do on a launch night while you just got home with you new SOL game bax and are ready to play. I think it I could do it, best thing would be just to wait a week before you buy this expansion let the bug get worked out first. But most cant wait, that says something about the game.
I run the same as you, 512MB and XP, and I have yet to bomb out, or slow to a crawl.
What video card are you using? I'm using a Geforce2.
The real problem might be a memory leak in your driver, since the texture requirements have been up-ed quite a bit.
That's really not what happened.
The argument was raging inside Verant for weeks prior to the event about whether or not to do a player wipe.
The test server was really nothing more than a play area for GMs and annointed players that they liked.
Every run through Solusek B with a GM death touching fire giants and Nagafen while you collected the loot?
I have.
Ever go with a GM to Vox's lair and watch him solo the dragon with his rogue while you cheered him on (collecting the loot, of course).
I have.
This sort of crap was common on the server and Verant couldn't decide what they wanted to do about it.
An ever more rigorous set of rules came down to the GMs and other Verant staff on the server about what they could and could not do. A few were fired and things seemed to settle down.
Unfortunately, what had been the norm on the server didn't really change - it just went into hiding. Abuses were still common - and while Verant didn't worry so much about things that were happening in Antonica, they cared greatly about a) what was happening in the new Kunark expansion and b) what the future of the test server was going to be.
The wipe, however, was a knee jerk reaction that blamed the players for actions created by the Verant staff. Verant players set the "rules" about what was acceptable and what was not. When they decided that they didn't like those rules anymore, then exploded all over the playerbase.
The most exciting thing about test server back then was the nasty political landscape. For those that play Everquest, imagine the bitterest uber guild on your server also having GMs who could enforce their playstyle. Made for a truly amusing environment when different guilds were represented internally by different Verant factions.
--Latro
Without a doubt, that was THE most pathetic review I've ever seen. Did you even play the game Timothy? From a site like Slashdot, I would have expected the reviewer to use his/her own experiences instead of "I'm told" and "from what I hear." Want to see the new cat people? MAKE ONE. Want to see if low level wizards have casting animation? MAKE ONE. Your review was horribly slanted and didn't mention many innovations like wizard pets, new illusions, world textures, and an assortment of improvements.
P.S. the "topless" screen shots there...evidently elves and barbarians go through some sort of rite where their nippes are burned off or removed. Not what I'd call even mildly titillating.
I have been playing EQ off and on for 2 years. Basically I would play
untill either I got bored with it, or could not afford the added expence.
Last Tuesday (Dec. 4, 2001) I bought the Shadows of Lucilin add-on pack. I
got home and installed all four sets (EQ, Kunark, Velious, and Lucilin) then
went through the patching nightmare that is quite well known by now. When I
finally got to the point that I needed to login to update my account info (I
WAS with @home, and now have dsl as a replacement), I realized that i had
forgotten my Sony Station password. Normally this is no biggie because you
can retrieve it via the web on one of the forms that they have. Therein lies
my problem, I have a different email address now than the one that I had
given when i had signed up orginally. The next thing i tried was to call
thier tech people to update my email and have my password sent to me.
Problems came from that route as well. First off, it is long distance...now
while not an insurmountable obsticle it was rather annoying to say the
least. Second, they seem to only have ONE line rather than a block of
numbers linked to a single number like most companies have. In other words,
it has been busy for 4 days straight except for one time at 1am on Thursday
morning. At one time i even called a Sony product tech line thinking they
could transfer me to the correct depatment.
Now back to the forms problem, I had been continually sending emails to
thier "Accounts" address, thier "Feedback" address (as a "gripe"), and to
thier "Technical Support" address. I have saved all the responces that they
have sent me (if you would like them tell me and ill send them to you), but
the jist of what i have recieved seems to point to the fact that they think
that either DirectX 8.1 or my video card are the reason why i cannot
retrieve my password. Now anyone with an IQ above that of a canine would be
able to tell you that was utter BS (Bovine Sturcum).
So far it has been 5 days and i still can not log in.
I have an EverQuest webpage, it is for my guild, Shadows Council on the Zebuxoruk server. On it I am putting (eventually) a picture of each gender of all the races' new models. If you are interested in viewing these new models, visit shadowscouncil.com
> Actually, it is the consumers problem.
No. He doesn't get what he paid for.
> "This is our game and we can do what we want.
> If you don't like it, or it doesn't work, get lost."
Terms like that are most likely invalid.
> I know EULA's are just clickthrough garbarge, but
> the message is there.
There's the idea of a term not to be expected. If the box clearly says A, but the EULA says B (conflicting with A), then the EULA term is most likely invalid.
BTW: IIRC, the EULA is not a contract. Everything on the box, though, is part of the buying contract ('as advertized').
> Is it your problem your problem that your OS is
> 7 years old
For the record: IIRC, Win95 was released at the beginning of 96, which would be not even 6 years.
Considering that, for some users, WinME doesn't offer advantages over a Win95 with patches, why should he upgrade? (In some aspects, it is even better, when compared to WinXP.) Maybe you want to pay his software and hardware upgrade?
A major culprit is not VI and their programming, it is actually microsoft. They have a major memory leak in dx 8.1 and it has and will affect every game that uses it.. I have seen the same complaints from people who play games that use dx8, not just eq.
You damn pansies! DAoC is for the EQ challanged. Those that found EQ too difficult flock to DAoC because it is easier. I guess they just can't stand the challenge of EQ. DAoC looks pretty nice and has a very cool combat system, but people get bored fast due to the lack of challenge. People claim that DAoC rips off EQ. There would be no DAoC if it wasn't for EQ so who's ripping off who? I'm all for a new game, but I'm not getting all excited over a mediocre version of EQ. Those of you that need the "EQ Lite" will enjoy DAoC. When you get tired of everything being handed to you on a silver platter, check out EQ.
I was an admin of mid-level on a FREE thing, similar to EQ, text base, called a MUD. The specific MUD was JediMUD, and in its heyday we had over 300 people online at once, and a player base exceeding 10,000 I think. This was 1994 or so... Well, none of us admin types got paid a dime and we worked HARD to code areas, items, PC and NPC interaction, as well as set out a coherent policy for the players. Verant, the company that runs Everquest got an email from me tonight suggesting they get a coherent policy, and post it on their web site (Verant's parent company is Sony, its not like they are strapped for cash when anyone who can run a web page is looking for a job now, and willing to work for a lot less than 2 years ago). They dont even *pretend* to pay attention to their customers, I have emailed them 6 times on different issues, gotten the same form reply each time, and ONCE a "GM" there, or game-master, who is supposed to know what is going on told me he 1) could not help me, and 2) could not explain why. This company doesnt even bother faking having a policy or any care for its customers-who they view as crackhead teenagers. I play EQ, I like it, its nice to see the work I was involved with develop from text to graphics, but as it did, and the money came in because it was corporatized rather than run by students (one, was 13 when he was such a wizard he had FULL ACCESS to the machine - rlogin, run from a major university). Now that the money hogs have taken over its become a joke from the CS end. Sure a new piece of work like the Shadows of Lucian update was HUGE, it took tons of coding, lots of adaption and I expected it to fail miserably for a month or so - in my case it did not, it ran from the first try on a p3 with 256 RAM, and a 32MB vid card. But they care not a whim for their customers, have proven it over and over, and deserve to take a lot of flack for this 'buggy' upgrade and it patching issues. -Gil
Actually,
What I'd do is ask myself..."Do I enjoy this software?" If I did, I'd upgrade to meet their requirements. If I didn't, screw them, and I'd buy a new software that worked on my current system. My point is, there are lots of games that work on lower end machines. Nobody is saying you HAVE to play Everquest.
Nobody is asking why Windows XP won't run on the 286 they have in the garage.
EQ:SoL caused many customers to be SOL
-Henry
"Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
OMG i cant believe you wrote such a negative report on the new expansion...i sure hope you dont turn off potential EQers from it because youd be hurting them more than they know...i would like to clarify somethings...sure the night of the expansion was bad and noone could patch..but by the next day it had cleared up enough to patch it wasnt a big deal really...not as many people as the writer of the article would like to think are having severe crashing to desktop problems..the servers were very full then and remain full now which means many people arent having many problems at all me and my friends are having minor zoning problems and lag but its to be expected...especially if you have a computer on the lower end of the spectrum of the suggested requirements... also the projected date of the new expansion had been for december..i am very glad they went ahead and released it now then just worked out minor bugs than keeping it from us longer than they had already...A note on the graphics.. they are AWESOME.. used to i saw several people a day that loooked just like me now everyone looks different.. new graphics for people and armor make everyone very unique!!! and if your computer cant handle em then just dont buy the expansion instead of complaining that you crash and its too laggy and such...PLEASE do not bash on a game in its first few days of release..give em at least a week to work out the big problems then give your opinion to keep from harming the game itself and its reputation
a dedicated EQer
Daystaar Atrieus