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SOE to Distribute Turbine Expansion Packs
voncheesebiscuit writes "Sony Online Entertainment (developers of Everquest, EQ2, and Star Wars Galaxies) and Turbine Entertainment Software (developers of Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2) announced today an agreement whereby SOE will distribute the upcoming Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2 expansion packs. Interesting news, what does this mean for future Turbine games and other MMP's as Sony increases its visibility in the space?"
Or how about being told by a guide that he can't help you, even though you're stuck in a wall, because it's against policy to assist players unless their problem is one of a few SOE-confirmed bugs.
/goto the person in question, and then when you determined that you were stuck there along with them, you either /zoned back in and walked around to find them, or asked for the name of someone nearby to /goto. Then you just /summoned the stuck person, exchanged pleasantries, and were off.
As a former member of the EQ Guide Program under Verant, before the program was eviscerated by SOE, I can refute this assertion.
Determining that someone is stuck in a wall (such as the portcullises in Permafrost, people were always standing underneath those and getting pushed up into the space above them when they lowered) is incredibly easy. All you had to do was
A guide who didn't put even this minimal amount of effort into their work had no business being a guide.
Since then, SOE has indeed dismantled the Guide Program, and hasn't instituted volunteer CS in any of their newer games. Obviously, the old AOL wage lawsuit put the fear of The Man into the industry, because (to my knowledge) there aren't any games out now with volunteer CS. And to be perfectly honest, it has hurt the quality of these games tremendously.