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: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.