Player Disquiet Leads To EverQuest Expansion Delay

EvilBastard writes "Sony Online Entertainment have announced that, due to an almost universal player backlash against the next expansion pack that is seen more as a $30.00 patch for missing content, they are delaying the new EverQuest expansion by 6 weeks, and will 'spend time fixing the problems you have brought to our attention'. Also announced is a plan to fly some of the more vocal website people to SOE headquarters, to try to restart enthusiasm for what may be the last EverQuest expansion ever. With the cancellation of Everquest for Mac, some high-profile guilds quitting, 6 months of allegedly declining numbers, big - budget competition and now a widespread call to boycott future games, is the much-predicted end of EverQuest almost here?"

Comments

FP

[roseblood]

I for one dumped EQ over this exact problem. Why charge your loyal customers another $30 for something that should have been in the last bloody expansion!

Re:FP

[code-e255]

Same here. I never liked EverQuest expansions, especially because they came out far too frequently, in my opinion, and they were overpriced for the stuff they added. By continuously adding more for powergamers to do, this game turned into just one long level-grind. I've been "clean" for a bit over two years now. :)

Re:FP

[TheViciousOverWind]

The last expansion?

What I don't get about MMORPGS (I play City of Heroes right now) is that they charge 10-15$ a month, and they excuse that payment with "adding new content, etc." - So why, are most new content almost always in expansions, which costs about the price of another new game, and not in the monthly updates.

To me it just seems like a sort of inflation, just like when DVD came out and the manufacturers promised that it would be cheaper than VHS because it was a lot cheaper to manufacture. Then when customers are hooked, you suck them dry.

Re:FP

[grumpygrodyguy]

Same here. I never liked EverQuest expansions, especially because they came out far too frequently

Something happened at Verant after the "Scars of Velius" expansion. I don't know what it was but EQ went downhill from there. "The Shadows of Luclin" was such an ugly, ill-concieved expansion. The bazaar is a moronic way of implementing player auctions. Why not run the auction on a separate chat channel, with visuals, accessible from any vender? Instead they decided to pack 600 players into the same zone and bring everyones graphic card to its knees.

A single programmer could have implemented a good auction system in a few weeks. Instead they make this crappy bazaar idea a 'feature' of thier expansion.

Unfortunately Sony is just using EQ as a convenient cash cow, leveraging its addictiveness to provide funds for the war against the x-box(I do sympathize, as Microsoft is as hostile as ever with its constant price gouging). Still it's a shame that such a great game/player community as Everquest used to be is being sacrificed.

Sure they need money to finance EQ2 and SWG, but it's sad that they are canabalizing such a wonderful piece of art as the original Everquest world. I bet you 5 to 1 that the artists/designers Sony end up hiring won't have clue-one how to breath real life into a fantasy world...it will just be another lifeless clone with slightly improved player models. *sigh*

Who knows, maybe another company will fill the very large shoes that EQ used to wear?

Re:Not being an Everquest player

[Anonymous Coward]

People are basically angry that SOE has promised them the world, but delivering a not-so-polished turd. They have released a neutered character class, tons of high-end content that casual players will never have a chance to see, and a new game engine that has severely broken collision in the game. The gameplay has become even more of a grind and massive time sink over the years and EverQuest is basically no longer that game that had such amazing appeal.

EQ2 aims to fix a lot of the design issues they had with EQ. The graphics engine in EQ2 is fucking incredible, and if the gameplay has quality half as good, it will be an awesome game.

Bizarre

[obeythefist]

The bizarre thing is that the mechanics of just about every MMORPG are identical to the mechanics of MUDs, only the interface is significantly altered.

Now, with most MUDs, especially free muds, the client is free but you can use a commercial one (telnet, tf, zmud). With MMORPGs, you have to pay for the client, and it's the same price as most modern PC retail box games.

MUD: $0
PC Game: ~$50US
MMORPG: ~$50US

With most MUDs, and most modern PC games, online multiplayer is free. You need to pay a monthly fee for MMORPGs. Valve also wants you to pay a monthly fee to play CounterStrike (they call it Steam, but if it looks like a porkbarrel and it quacks like a porkbarrel...)

MUD: $0
PC Game: ~$50
MMORPG: ~$50 + ~$10/month

Now we come to expansions, which is what this is all really about. Expansions for MUDs just happen overnight, and they're more or less free. PC Game expansions are rarely free but usually inexpensive. MMORPGs use the same price structure. There will probably be more than one expansion on a successful game.

MUD: $0
PC Game: $50 + $30 + $30 = $110
MMORPG: $50 + $30 + $30 + $10/month = $110 + $10/month

Okay so basically MMORPG's cost a lot of money. Do they provide a better interface than a standard PC game? Debatable but lets' say it's about the same. So we can more or less suggest that in terms of measurable quality metrics (graphics, sound, polygons, etc) a MMORPG is identical to a PC game.

In terms of gameplay, you essentially need to be a mudder to appreciate a MMORPG (bear with me) because the nature of MMORPG gameplay is identical to that of a MUD. You farm items, you kill rats and level up and gain XP and gain gold and gain items. The gameplay is identical. MMORPG's are more successful than MUDs have been because the interface has broader appeal. This is nothing new! Gaming in general is in a golden age because the level of quality in the graphical interfaces has progressed to the point where games appeal to a vast and wide audience, previously locked into TV only.

So in essence, a MMORPG is a graphical interface on a MUD, and it's an interface that people are willing to pay more than the cost of a similarly interfaced PC game for the privelege of play. Combining in essence MUD and PC game.

Will EverQuest die?
MUDs have been known to live for over a decade. Theoretically then, EverQuest has the potential to live for over a decade. However, the eyecandy factor that attracts more players to EverQuest than muds have attracted also works against EverQuest. More and more MMORPGs are entering the market. They have nicer, cleaner graphics, because like a PC game, a new MMORPG will have better graphics than an older MMORPG. Let's assume that all MMORPG's cost around the same - so there is no price factor in demand. Let's assume that there is a fixed number of people playing MMORPG's, this figure will not grow dramatically over the coming years any more than the overall gaming market will. The determination then is whether the value of the time invested in EverQuest outweighs the personal pleasure obtained in playing a newer, better interfaced MMORPG.

Re:This proves it.

[Anonymous Coward]

This post would make more sense if its fundamental thesis was actually true...

First-generation MMORPGs are dying. In this group, I'd include the classic MMORPGs such as Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online etc. However, I see no evidence that this is symptomatic of a wider decline of interest in MMORPGs in general. It's like saying that the FPS is dying, because fewer people now play DooM than played it 5 years ago.

All that's happening is that players are switching to the second-generation MMORPGs. Galaxies' player numbers tend to wobble up and down quite a lot, but they're still solid. Final Fantasy XI is bigger than pretty much anything we've seen before. World of Warcraft is also almost certainly going to be massive.

Everquest deserves its place in gaming history. It may not have been the first MMORPG, but it was the first one to have a really major impact on the mainstream gaming consciousness. It's had an extraordinarily good run and, for all its flaws, will probably remain the model for the successful MMORPG for a long time to come. But it's an old game. Its joints are getting creaky and its looks just don't seem as good as they once did. With games like FFXI helping MMORPGs to shed their "ugly duckling" image, it's inevitable that games are going to move on to the latest generation.