EQ 'Shadow of Luclin' -- Pretty Graphics, Ugly Release

ajs writes: "EverQuest isn't a book or a movie, but a work of fiction that's kept a 400,000 member audience enthralled for months is worth a closer look. The most recent update to EverQuest, Shadows of Luclin, is out and of course much of the subscriber base is flocking to be the first to kill the big bad ... whatevers that lurk in the long-lost moon of Norrath. My review touches more on the release than the software, since I think that's what's truely interesting about this industry right now. But to sum up: if you play EverQuest, wait a few days or weeks and then give this a spin ... it's a ride." Read on for the rest of his account.

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!"

Comments

MUDs will live forever

[Marx_Mrvelous]

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.

Re:MUDs will live forever

[FortKnox]

Actually, muds are still quite popular.
Mudders say its the difference between reading a book and watching a movie. Muds (text-based) allow more freedom of imagination.

I say its just because its free, requires no bandwidth, and doesn't really require any extra software (although telnet in windows is icky) ;-)

Re:MUDs will live forever

[ivan256]

Actually in a weird way this keeps me away from everquest. From what I've heard, without a making friends and building relationships you'll never be in a party that can do the advanced stuff. But the amount of time you have to devote to the game in order to build such relationships would have a negative effect on my social life in the real world.

In other words, you can't just pick it up and play every once in a while because you will lose the social aspect of the game, which is necissary for success. Unfortuantly, I only have time to play every once in a while so it'll never be really fun for me.

Re:MUDs will live forever

[ryusen]

i think the addictive element is different for different people.

if you look at the stereo typical male element.. then you have the competative aspect... i must outdo my friends and beat down on my enemies i've noticed muds like godwars and genocide (heavy pk) are very heavy in male population...

if you look at the stero typical female elemnt then you have that social interaction thing going... if you look at "muds" that are mainly aimed at just talking and less or no killing there is more of a balance between male and famle patrons

note: i don't mean only men want to score and only women want to interact.. that is just the stereo type that these muds (and many other games) market on... i know no girls that are into first person shooters, but i several who are into "final fantasy"

of course after playing and coding godwars (yes i was one of those) for a few years i've found that the greatest chalenge a mud can give long term players is "getting bored" unless the coders are constantly adding new stuff, more stuff, cooler stuff, people get bored eventually and leave.. or it turns into a chat room with occasinal killing.

Re:MUDs will live forever

[ADRA]

MUD's may be popular, but I don't think that player interaction and role playing is enough of a holding factor for so many people.

MUD's may be acceptable for a small segment of die-hard players, but you will never get 10,000 people at any time into a giant chat room to role play.

RRORPG's give a direction for players to move forward, to give people structure in the fact that they are accomplishing things. That may be accomplishing goals, meeting new friends, selling your account on ebay, whatever, but "most people" can and do not become so imersed in a chat room.

Many people join these games for differing reasons. I may join because I love adventuring, becomming a better skilled player, and to meet new friends. Some may just want to pk my ass into dirt. These games are so big, because they give the user strong freedoms over what they do. This is baring many many limitations put in to spoil hard-core cheating.

I think there are some fundamentals that are necessary for a successful, large scale online game.

1 Large worlds to explore, with many hidden suprises
2 diverse character selection process, because the stats junkies love it
3 Simple, intutive chat system
4 Temporary grouping for common gain
5 A longterm allegence structure which benefits everyone in it (I liked the AC experience pyramid a lot)
6 Strong insentives to be a moral player (aka don't be a bastard)
7 Detailed storyline with micro and macro plotlines (player or non-player, I think structure put in for both is good)
8 Trade skills are good if applied right(In DAOC, one thing I really haterdd was that there was no special hinderance in developing trade skills besides the time put in, so a character could spec in trade skills, and still have a non-gimped warrior. It leads to a more general player base without specialization)
9 Good balance between Average and extream character templates (This has killed so many otherwise good games...)
10 Good graphics / sound / playability / controls are always a gooder
11 Ugh.. this list is longer than I thought.

I would love to hear back what others would love to see in an MMORPG, so please respond with some interesting comments ;-)

Re:MUDs will live forever

[kwashiorkor]

I think the reason why these games are so addictive is that they present goals which are clearly defined, easily comprehended, and acheivable through consistent methods.

Kill monster. Get reward. Rinse and repeat.

This is very much unlike real-life for many people, thus they feel a measure of control over their destiny when they are gaming. This of course is very satisfying, and so the activity is repeated over and over again. Thus the "addiction".

Another reason is that "points"/rewards bring "power" and "prestige", within the corresponding community, to the accumulators. Again, this is very much unlike real-life for many people. I mean, admit it, 90% of us as children never expected to end up living on adequate street in somewhereville.

Well, these games offer a whole new set of rules, and a blank slate social structure. There is almost a "gold-rush" aspect that is built into that scenario. A whole new ladder to climb, so people began climbing. Then realized that if they ever stopped climbing someone would surpass them. That's when it becomes apparent that many of those same rules which govern real-life social structure now govern these virtual communities, so in order to maintain their level of prestige/power within this new social structure, they have to commit to ever questing.

In summary, I think there are two forces at work here. One is that people like the structured reality where consistent rewards are gained when specific goals are attained. Two is that the social structures within these communities are fresh and there is/was plenty of room for an ambitious individual to gain prestige/power, however in order to maintain that level of prestige/power, real-life social laws still need to be obeyed and thus you need to keep working at maintaining your status.

Is this completely out to lunch?

Re:MUDs will live forever

[billcopc]

Too true. I had joined EQ about a year ago, played 24/7 for 4-5 months (much to my girlfriend's disappointment), then quit cold turkey. I decided to give it another shot last month after discussing it with a coworker, played it a total of 4 times, maybe 6-7 hours total, realized that all my old questing pals had evolved way beyond my level, and got serously bored of it.

On the other hand, I reinstalled Quake 3 and have been enjoying short frag fests at least 2-3 times per week. It's quick, it's simple, I don't care much who I play against, I just blow people into bits and it's fun.

Re:MUDs will live forever

[NeMon'ess]

The problem with these games for me is that the ladder never leads anywhere. Its merely rung after rung. There's no roof or floor to get off at. I played Asheron's Call for four months. The quests were interesting, but I wanted more results. Until my character's actions have a meaningful effect on the world, such as gaining real power or changing boundaries, I won't be playing any of the current crop.

You mean fake human interaction

[Hairy_Potter]

The reasons MUDs like EverCrack are so popular is the level of fake human interaction they provide. If your partner in an exploring party isn't feelign well, you can do without them.

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?

MMORPGs taking over? I hope not.

[dswensen]

"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.

Re:Guess I'll wait..

[ZeroConcept]

One ling I like about DAoC that EQ doesn't have:
"Lack of suffering"

After playing DAoC I will never go back to EQ-series games...there are so many annoying details about EQ...here are a few:
- Loosing items when you give them to the wrong NPC
- You have to buy water and food.
- The boats take too much time...designed to slow you down
- Money weights too much and cannot be converted on the fly...that means you have to drop you 500s800c to get rid of weight
- Zones are designed to keep you in the same place...traveling from one place to the other is very dangerous.
- If you go to a zone you dont know to explore...you die.
- Aggroed mobs will follow you arround for the rest of their lives
- Tradeskills require WAY to much money to start
- Downtime required to meditate sucks.
- Having to run to your corpse after dying sucks and it's an enormous time drain.
- Clerics get rez at lvl 34???? in DAoC is lvl 10

The game has a "against the user" feel to it, I just got tired of getting annoyed and moved over to DAoC...and is sooo more fun!!

If the same ppl that designed EQ designed Shadows of lucin...im not interested.

Blame Verant

[DocMiata]

Well, after 25 megs. of patches (and EQ telling me I didn't have DX8.1 installed despite it being there) I finally got it running well enough to look around at all the pretty new graphics.

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?)

Get over it...

[Muggin]

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.

Triple take...

[Anonymous Coward]

"EverQuest isn't a book or a movie, but a work of fiction that's kept a 400,000 member audience enthralled for months is worth a closer look.

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. :)

Re:Major Bugs

[Binestar]

I was in the first couple Zones in luclin and getting the horrid frame rates. While i guess there is a chance it's my system I highly doubt it. Installed Win2K 2 weeks ago and have the latest drivers for my SBLive!, Geforce2GTS 32MB, have 512MB PC133 Ram, Athlon 1100, and over 30GB of free space on my hard drive. Even spent the night defragging my drives to no effect. It takes about 4 hours of non-stop play in an uncrowded zone to crash me, took 3 minutes (literally) in a luclin Zone.

Don't get me wrong, the game is nice, and I'll continue to play, but I just can't play in those zones until the bugs are fixed.

One of the major issues that people are having is that 4 hours before the patch was completed on the Required System specs page they had Win95 and DirectX8.0a. But when the servers went up they had removed that and said that that wouldn't be supported. Now I can understand not supporting it, but giving 4 hours of notice? Thats just not right.

Ok a review of the review

[truffle]

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/sc re ens/0,11105,477597-177,00.html

A Real Review?

[Anonymous Coward]

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