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Mythic Rips SOE a New One

Posted by Zonk on from the that-would-be-pvp dept.

GameDailyBiz has a statement by Mythic's head honcho Mark Jacobs. The CEO of Dark Age of Camelot's developer takes great exception to the aforementioned EQII auction site. From the article: "I'm disappointed with the decision from a leader in the MMO industry to go down a path which in the past, has been an anathema to them and remains so to just about every other MMORPG company in the industry. I think that not only supporting the sale of in-game characters, items and currency, but also taking a 'cut' of those sales, is not only a mistake but one of the worst decisions in the history of the MMORPG industry..."

3 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. SOE will have bigger plans... by dhakbar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    SOE is always looking for a bigger slice of the pie. If they can be hypocritical enough to open a sanctioned auction site after years of banning players for auctioning things off in their games, they will do anything. Be prepared for a whole new breed of micropayment based MMORPGs.

    Would you like to loot this UberSword of Might +7? That will be $0.10, tyvm.

    1. Re:SOE will have bigger plans... by shoptroll · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But apparently that's up to the devs.

      This is from Mike Capps, Epic Games President on downloadable content for Unreal Championship 2:

      "available via Xbox Live as downloadables. And no, we're not charging you for downloads, that's lame."

      http://www.beyondunreal.com/daedalus/singlepost. ph p?id=8113

      Regardless, this just looks like SOE being stupid with EQ2, especially in light of the /pizza command. If they think allowing in-game pizza orders and an official auction site are going to draw people to EQ2, they seriously need to get their head out of the sand and realize what's REALLY wrong with their game.

      --
      Insert Sig Here
  2. Make leveling a positive experience by kongjie · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Disclosure statement: I hate SOE for making Mac players eat the leftover crumbs off a very cold plate. That being said...

    The statement I find most damning by SOE's Smedley is this one:

    It is clear to us that we have many loyal and honest players who simply don't have the time to take multiple characters through the game's higher levels of play and want a sanctioned, secure means to broaden their play experience.
    Look, if you made those levels and the time spent attaining them worthwhile, instead of just grinding, then "loyal and honest" players would want to experience them.

    In my mind, the IGE-type solution sucks because

    • It encourages farmers, and a true farmer is not someone experiencing game for the entertainment value that most players are. That creates imbalances in the game universe.
    • It betrays a deficiency in gameplay. It creates the equation paying for weapon X is more desirable then spending Y amount of time attaining it. This is because, in the case of SOE, you're more than likely required to grind to obtain weapon X, senseless and boring.
    Make the game only a game. Don't allow people to buy their way through it.

    Either improve gameplay or accept that some people are not going to be willing to expend hundreds of hours in mindless grinding. I think the real problem is that SOE is not willing to lose customers who aren't happy with gameplay, and they think that by allowing said customers to buy content, they'll keep them in the fold.