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Everquest 2 Premium Services Preview

Posted by Zonk on from the more-bang-for-your-plat dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "SOE has launched a beta preview of their EQ2 Premium Player Services, for current Beta Players. There are a few articles available that describe the services at GamePro, IGN, and GamerGod." An interesting feature, the services include guild websites, character stats, tons of in-game information, and leader boards. Probably part of their final gear up for the November 8th ship date.

10 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. This is a great service actually.. by Pengo · · Score: 2, Insightful


    And really will aid in the retention of players. A lot of the interaction and interest that keeps me playing my games is the friends that I game with . Our guild has it's own similar services, but many people don't have the technical ability to do such a thing themselves.

    I hope WoW will offer a competitive service.

    I know that a lot of small businesses where started offering services such as this to the exact same market. I am sure they aren't happy to see Sony jump right into their space.

    1. Re:This is a great service actually.. by EngineeringMarvel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I agree, why wouldn't a MMORPG producer not want to do this. Even if it means having a third party doing it for you, it still means extra cash flow. I think just about every MMO player likes to see their personal stats and be able to share those stats easily with others. I have always been a big fan of forum sigs that show player stats for online characters.

      --
      I couldn't think of anything witty to say, so...you're stuck with this.
    2. Re:This is a great service actually.. by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it's a great idea, but the fact that they're working on this instead of making the game more fun, playable and bug free bothers me.

      It's another steep level treadmill. There's nothing fun about it. The only thing fun really about original EQ are the higher end raids which unfortunately very few get to enjoy. That occurs only after you invest around 20 real life days worth of time building your character, buy (eBay if you want it fast) equipment etc. Getting to that state is pure tedium. I seriously think all of us who have done this are people who need psychiatric treatment for OCD, it's the only thing that explains why we put up with (and pay for) it.

      As far as I can see, nothing is fundamentally different about EQ2. More candy, same substance.

      The door is still open for someone to make a really good MMOG.

    3. Re:This is a great service actually.. by fireduck · · Score: 2, Informative

      I hope WoW will offer a competitive service.

      I imagine they will have something similar, at least in terms of the premium content EQ2 is offering. For War3, Blizz implemented a fairly slick ranking system with web-based searches for an insane amount of detail (which race does player use most often, which hero, how many times has a player played an arranged team game on a certain map and how long did it take them to win, etc.) They've already built an excellent tool for the task and modifying it for WoW shouldn't be much of a problem. The real question is whether Blizzard trumps SOE by releasing it for free...

  2. This game is not ready, plain and simple by sgant · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wish all the luck to SOE and the people that buy and play EQ2, but the simple fact is, this game is in NO shape to ship yet. This in fact is in worse shape than SWG was when it shipped, and you know how that fiasco finally turned out, they're STILL trying to fix things in it.

    Honestly, they need at LEAST another 6 months on this game before shipping. But we all know it's marketing that's forcing them to ship early.

    Again, I wish the best, but be warned.

    --

    "Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
  3. I hope this is better than the Legends services by BrotherZeoff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I subscribed to the Legends service for about a year. Part of the higher cost was a similar online service--showing what zones you'd travelled to, where you were currently camped, and a character info page showing your stats and gear.

    The website was frequently down. Even when it worked properly, The page was a disappointment. Item stats weren't given (part of the Vision, I guess), and the character info took at least 15 minutes to update after your logoff, if ever.

    What's really mind-boggling is that the Magelo service (www.magelo.com), a free third party application, is much, MUCH better than SOE's own Legends page. You can either update your character manually, or capture your char and new items by running the autoupdater in the background. Within days or weeks of each new expansion, Magelo's character database is updated with new character attributes, etc.

    If the EQII premium services are as bad as Legends, I can only think that SOE will get far worse press. Legends was restricted to less than 5% of the EQ community; EQII's premium services are targetted at the entire population. I really hope they've learned from their EQ1 v. Magelo experience.

  4. Already done FOR FREE in WoW by Moo+Moo+Cow+of+Death · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.thottbot.com/

    Check it out, it's already done for FREE in WoW by the most dedicated guild out there from EQ, Afterlife. Not only does Thot have a good system up and running with this program, he has WAY more stat tracking and creativity than SOE ever showed, and his dedication to games along with his technical skills outweighs anything they can throw his way (except maybe a couple million dollars :P).

    That's right, ONE person outdid all that SOE is trying to do at the last minute (copycat of what he already did if you ask me).

  5. As a beta player... by Jerrith · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let me just say I think this site is great! It's got a ton of neat stats and useful information, including listings of every item found in the game, and the first person to find it.

    You can also chat with people in game, both via your guild channel, and also via tells (private messages).

    I am a bit concerned about the update rate, as my character's information hasn't updated since the 24th, but I suspect this will be worked out. It's still in beta. I've seen a few other minor glitches too, such as spelling the name of the class one of my characters is (coercer, not coercor), but I'm not concerned about it.

    Here's one of my beta characters:

    http://eq2players-beta.station.sony.com/en/pplayer .vm?characterId=121640001

  6. Re:EQ2 si teh sux!! by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People play Everquest because it has something FEW games in the entire industry can brag about.

    It has a history of people dying, losing jobs, divorcing, suffering from insomnia, and emptying out bank accounts over.

    Any game that has this much addiction is worth people's time.

  7. Cost of an Early release by Everguide · · Score: 2, Interesting
    SOE just announced that they would be releasing EverQuest 2 on November 8th http://eq2players.station.sony.com/news_archive.vm ?section=Headline&id=215 ahead of their main competition World of Warcraft (last predicted release date: Week of November 22 http://www.freep.com/entertainment/videogames/gbit s24e_20041024.htm).

    SOE is notorious for launching games with content that is not finished or buggy (SWG Launch, EverQuest Expansion end game content, etc.). Blizzard on the other hand is known for at times delaying a game, and then delaying a game again just to work out all the minor bugs.

    The question I would like to ask Slashdot readers is if it worth launching a game early, yet buggy to grab a certain market from competition? I know Themis group thinks a poor launch can cost a company millions of dollars http://www.themis-group.com/uploads/Cost%20of%20La unch.xls, but will the benefit of launching early exceed the costs?

    Brian Whitener

    http://www.gameguidesonline.com/