Kingdom of Sky Press Release: Part I
Yes, it is Kingdom of Sky week here on Aggro Me as I take an in-depth look at the SOE Kingdom of Sky press release.
SAN DIEGO, Calif., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced that the second expansion for EverQuest® II, entitled Kingdom of Sky(TM), is scheduled to be available at retail and for download on Feb. 21.
I would have waited a few more weeks. Now, I am not one of those people who get offended that SOE puts expansions out in a timely fashion. I like their fast paced schedule. It is an option. You do not have to purchase it. I would much rather be overwhelmed with new content than bored.
I was desperate for an expansion when DoF came out. However, this time around, I think I have enough content to last me through at least early March. That may be due to the fact that I played at a more casual pace for a month or two. But I don't get the sense that people are bored with DoF yet. And I would rather people be a little hungry for that next expansion. Still, just a minor quibble with the timing, and I'm only talking two or three weeks.
I'm not saying it is going to be rushed either; separate teams work on these expansions. I'm only throwing it out there as more of a player psychology issue. And honestly, part of me is kind of happy it is coming so soon.
"The retail SKU of Kingdom of Sky will sell at the recommended price of $29.99 and contains the full version of the base EverQuest II game, the new expansion and a special in-game item. The digital version will contain the new expansion for $26.99."
I think digital downloads are great. Any time I don't have to endure the agressively bad service at EBGames I am very happy. The three dollar discount is just gravy. But I realize that for marketing reasons they have to make the retail box desirable so I understand the need for a retail only in-game item. I will wait to see the specifics on that item before deciding whether it is worth braving EBGames for. Let me give you a hint, I'm not doing it for a house pet (well maybe if it's a flying monkey - hey it fits the theme).
I've used the Direct2Drive site for other digital downloads and I have had no problems. I assume that's the site they're going to use because you can buy EQII and Planetside and other SOE games there. If anyone had any problems with downloading the last expansion I'd like to hear about it.
Oh, and I think it is great that new players can get the expansion and the original game for one reasonable price by buying KoS at retail. I just hope they can convince the retailers to display it correctly. I never see copies of EQII or DoF out at my local game stores. But then again, all the PC games are usually relegated to a dark and dusty corner anyway.
For me the price tag for an MMO like EQII is the best value per dollar in my entertainment budget so the expansion price sounds fine to me. The content I have enjoyed playing DoF has been tremendous compared to the price, even counting the monthly subscription. Movie tickets for two and a few snacks in Manhattan cost the same price as an expansion and that's three hours of fun as compared to hundreds of hours of fun.
"An entirely new form of advancement introduces a structured Achievement system of skills and abilities to further specialize and individualize your character."
Everyone I talk to is saying, "Oh, AA's are back." That is what it sounds like. But even though I have no idea of what the specifics of the system will be, I guarantee you that it will not be the exact same AA system of EQ. There were several pitfalls with that system and SOE is not going to repeat their mistakes. This system will differ from the one you may be expecting in significant ways. Well, I hope so anyway.
Moorgard's post on the system speaks of choices. And unfortunately in MMO's a lot of the time choices come down to "Choice A: Correct choice" and "Choice B: Reroll Newb LOL." It is a true challenge to have options that are equally desirable for different people and different types of gameplay. It would be very cool to see it done right. If it comes down to three out of four choices making your character undesirable in groups or raids, then, well, it won't be cool.
I know it is hard to create level-based content when some people have a ton of AA's and some people have none. Let's say Mage A and Mage B are both at the same level and both trying to solo a level 70 mob for a quest. Mage A has a bunch of AA's which make it too easy and Mage B has no AA's making it very hard. So I wonder if the new Achievement system will be a little underwhelming so as not to unbalance things. I hope it can be fun and meaningful nonetheless.
If the new system fulfils the goal of making your character feel unique while avoiding the traditional AA pitfalls, it will be a major accomplishment.
"Over 30 new Collections expand upon one of the most popular features exclusive to EverQuest II. Find them all and earn all new rewards."
I happen to like the collection stuff. It adds a little flavor to things. They are completely optional and just nice to have.
Okay, obviously there is a whole lot more to cover and I'll be back at it tomorrow. But today I wanted to bring up two brief side notes.
Side note 1: As a comment to my wishlist post, Scott Adams made the excellent suggestion:
"I would like to see the mentoring system automatically scale spells/abilities down to whatever you have scribed in your book. No more have to shift hot bars around etc. Those spells with no precursors (like scout escape at 25) would then simply become red."
And thankfully, it looks like this might happen in LU 19, according to this post from Moorgard. Excellent. Mentoring should not be a hassle for the person doing the mentoring.
Side note 2: Congratulations to the winners of the Aggro Me Frostfell Contest! Haazardous takes home a copy of DoF and Tancread scores Gripshift for the PSP! If you didn't win, don't despair, I'll be running a consolation drawing some time in March with an as yet undisclosed prize for everyone who entered the Frostfell Contest (read the thread for details). And there will be more great contests down the road.
posted by Aggro Me at 8:00 AM
39 Comments:
Features:
Higher level advancement—now reach level 70 as an adventurer or artisan
All-new Achievement system to further enhance and specialize your character’s abilities
Guild advancement expanded to level 50
Four new arena champions and two new arenas
All new Heritage Quests allow players to gain amazingly powerful items, personal status, adventure experience and even a reward made famous in the original EverQuest
Signature Quests which reward large experience bonuses, personal status, new items, and advance the lore of EverQuest II
Over 30 new Collections expand upon one of the most popular features exclusive to EverQuest II. Find them all and earn all new rewards
Challenging new zones, from floating islands to menacing dungeons
25 new enemies to fight
Brand new pieces of armor, such as Profession Hats, Helmets and Pauldrons, will make your character look more distinct
Over 30 new items to put in your player house
All new player titles
All this says to me is that when they robbed everyone in September, 2005, they're now giving some of it back in February 2006 after you pay for this expansion.
We need MORE collections?
And you should work on that old crappy armor before you tell us about anything new to get excited about.
Some of that scenery looks awfully familiar too. Cut and paste palaces from DoF maybe? Change the bumpmap and throw in some trees for that jungle look too.
The rest just screams at me with the words, "TIMESINK INCOMING!" /cringe
Too bad there's no one around on my server to cringe, I mean, timesink with. MERGE the servers and swallow your pride Sony. Geez! Or put in solo content otherwise we're all going to have to be content with looking at the media pics you put up.
Oh well, I'm going to checkout the old Freeport facelift I hear they have in EQ1 now. How come you didn't write anything about that?
AHH! Fix the forums! :P
Can't wait for the expansion, either, hehe.
Uhh! Anon? What solo content isnt there in EQ2? It's everwhere and sometimes by a huge margin. Almost to much for my taste.
I'm unsure at your post as to weather or not you even play EQ2.
Besides how did SOE rob anyone and then give back in 06?
Not to say SOE has some work to do to fix the game. And Anyone here can atest to my dislike for the recent changes but com'mon man.
Q, he's probably talking about the revamp where they made several characters a lot weaker. Now they introduce the AA crap and basically that's just giving you back what they took. Get it now?
BTW, you can't solo for crap in that game. It'll take you 5 years. good luck and forget about any epics!
Obviously he does play or he wouldn't know the things you're apparently ignorant of. Do you play?
EQ2 needs a ton of work. I don't think their programmers are top notch compared to what's out there. Their advertisements pretty much say it all. LFP (looking for programmers) constantly.
This expansion doesn't impress me. I won't be buying it. I probably just ditch it by then anyway because there is no talk about fixing the numerous bugs in the game right now.
Servers ARE dead. Argue with that one.
I never said you couldn't solo. You are mis-quoting me. I said you can't solo for crap, meaning that if you do, it's going to take you 5 years for max level. Also, you can't get any epics in EQ2 going solo. In other games I play, I can.
My problem with this expansion is that they aren't addressing these types of problems people have in the game. There's no one around anymore. Progress is slim to not at all due to having to find people to do the same quest you are on.
Quests also don't give me near as much experience as I'm getting in 2 other games, atm. What's up with that? So people are rushing out to do collections because that is what gives the better experience. Come on! More experience for collections instead of doing an entire quest? No wonder everyone is using collections just to make money and tons of it, too.
I don't want a game where some stupid collection quest gets me 75% more experience then the quest I'm on and killing solo mobs is a slow and tedious way to grind.
I want my experience coming from - here's a concept! - from the time I spent doing the quest and ample rewards for killing the mobs in that quest.
Do I see that in this article? Nope! I see advertising just another zone with more collections.
So, no, I'm not impressed. I was hoping for fixes to the design that has me frustrated NOW as outlined above.
The guy explains himself and you call him every name in the book. I got what he wrote and his explanation. You need glasses Twodragons, and a shrink if you think that game has nothing wrong with it.
I didn't cancel yet, but I just might after being notified of this blog. All you soe fanbois make me sick when you can't take a few facts about your precious game, toolboy.
Oh and i just read your blog. You are an obsessive nutjob. Man, seek help.
oh and I'm anon because I don't have time to register nor post on these things enough to warrant it.
Refusing to allow comments to you personally for ppl like me, well, you are a tool because you wouldn't know me anyway even if I did register, dummy.
This is a blog. Comment on the article, not on other comments to start flame wars because you don't like their opinion, TD.
I will wait to purchase KoS because I don't really care for arenas or collection quests.
Also, I want to see how long it will take for people to progress with this AA system. If it's too time consuming for them, I may just reconsider the whole thing and not buy it at all.
I like MMO's and spent too much time with Everquest Live. But my days of being an addict are definitely over.
So I'm going to take the wait and see position.
Holy Moses...
What's the matter with you? You are obviously quite displeased about something, but I for one couldn't give a rats ass about your petty whining. You could always quit playing the game? If this crap is the best you can come up with, please do everyone a favor and go away.
- M.
Aggro Me petty whines all the time and I don't see any of you telling him to go away. Oh, the irony of it all. Posting on a blog that critiques a game and petty whines a LOT and then getting pissed off about the critical opinions. You should all go away. HAHAHA! why are you here?
Holy flame war, Batman!
I was going to say some things.. but I dn't like feeding trolls.
I just had to peek at Mistmoore to see what was so wonderful. I got to this one here: http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=205&message.id=32343 and decided that if this is what goes on there, none for me thanks, I have a full plate waiting back for me on my server. lololol
Any-who, this blog is being talked about in /tells a lot lately. Expect more "opinions" incoming. Just learn to deal. There's more opinions out there than just your own.
PS: The guy was complaining about the server population and got blasted overkill-style by the forum police. heh, gotta love it.
Well DOH! I forgot what I was going to write after being sidetracked! lolol
I'm personally going to wait on buying that expansion, KoS. Let everyone else spend the money and tell me if it's worth it or not. See? I'm the smart one here. ;0)
For me, it's a decision to either go with this expansion or pack it in altogether.
I don't know about others but what I'm reading is just not enough to keep my interest. All I envision is more grinding and a gnawing feeling of frustration trying to find people to accomplish more of same types of quests. Then more grinding because I'll be worried about AA's. My server is losing a lot of people as is. I don't see how this is possible, at least for me.
I go to the SOE forums to try to explain my feelings and all I get is flames from the same old regulars with thousands of posts to their name and a fancy title which only encourages their trolling.
I have to admit, this is no way to gain customers and influence subscriptions.
I don't know what the answer is exactly. I'm not a game designer. But I have to conclude that the game is getting boring for me. I see nothing in this article that renews my interest. And after the episode of sparring matches on their forums from the fan-addicts (who honestly don't really know what they're talking about anyway from what I've read), after one week of that, I'm leaning toward just packing it in.
Just wanted to write and say that this decision is because of their regular, obnoxious posters on their forums and lack of interest in the advertised fluff.
Sorry SOE. I played since EQLive, but my interest is sorely waning and I'm irritated by the allowance of trolls on your boards who think going to work means posting on a game forum a bazillion times just to argue stupid semantics while collecting a paycheck, and they admit that shamelessly.
I just want to have fun. Not grind endlessly or hear a barrage of insults from your "loyal fans" for stating my concerns. I expected more from you to squash said insults. You know who and what I'm talking about, I'm sure you do.
I still believe that online gaming should be an escape from the daily grind of life as a source of entertainment and fun. When it becomes a constant argument from people who literally LIVE in your world, there's a problem with that and them.
Cut those posters down to 10 posts a month and perhaps you may see people concentrating on the important elements that REALLY concern them. But when you allow what I've seen this week, it's a virtual riot in there and I'm not here for that, sorry.
I'll wait and see how people react to this expansion and then I'll make my final decision. I will not post back on your forums again, however. It's not worth the aggravation. I hope you read this and realize that some of your customers are losing interest due to the fanatics who can't seem to pull themselves away from a keyboard and thereby, annoy the living hell out of others to the point where it would be a pleasure to cancel and never have to deal with them again.
I've now switched to reading blogs, instead! ;)
Anon, the obnoxious whack you're talking about is Kendricke. There are others but he's got to be the worst. Yeah, they would probably do better slicing his forum time by 99%. He's a whack job alright. A major coo-coo clock that clucks on the minute, 24/7. lol
There is solo content but the experience you get from it is lousy.
Then they changed it so that groups of 3 would get better experience than a full group. Then they reversed that.
I wish they'd make up their mind, but definitely, the slow experience from soloing is a problem along with items from long quests only attainable in groups at most every step in that quest, is not advantageous for someone like me who has limited (15-20 hours per week) play time. I will note that other popular games have succeeded well in doing away with this mechanic, for example, in epic weapon quests.
Also, there is no mention as to how much experience is gained per kill toward an AA point. If it's ANYTHING like EQ1, this could turn into an even MORE time-consuming game then it already is.
I too, will wait and see from others.
They have banned people who became annoyed with kendricke. You're not going to win so may as well quit. Sony apparently loves him and his ilk. Personally I can't stand the guy or the way that company defends his actions against customers. So I refrain from even reading that board and check out Aggro instead. Aggro is great! He likes the game but knows how to get his points across. He also knows better not to post them where kendricke can see them. HAHA GG AGGRO!
Oh and don't go to Caster's Realm either because kendricke posts there too. I got spyware from there pop-ups just as a side caution. one time at allahkazam too. Blogs are better and more informative.
Kingdom of Sky. I hope it's a good expansion because Sony really needs one this time. I think DOF and the revamp just pissed some ppl off.
Jake
Kendricke has stated he is really Moorgard in previous postings. He also reports guild members who don't agree with him on the forums to their guild leaders and using the serverwide chat channels, only he disguises himself as a GM doing it. I have a PM from a guy who it happened to with the log. The guy was then temporarily banned for posting what happened. Then I read the serverwide chat where Kendricke also had several Templars banned for speaking about their problems. I was speaking about guild status issues while this was all brought to my attention and found my research on this guy to be what people are saying. It's true.
The problem with this guy is how he will affect the game since SoE always stickies all his posts, especially a guild status issue that will affect the KoS expansion. That thread was unbelievable in what he got away with. They moderated posts written by the opposing view and let stand posts that agreed with Kendricke and called people "idiots who shouldn't be allowed on the internet". Wow, just wowwww!
I don't know who he really is, but he certainly seems to run amuck in there with no discipline from the moderators bashing members right and left and gets away with it.
It's sickening really. So they are banning people now? It will be a cold day in hell they see another dime of mine when I get banned for speaking the truth. This guy is a first class asshole! Ban me for saying what's true about this jerk and I'll make sure I publically put it this conspiracy on every other message board out there where SoE can't do shit about it. If Jake thinks we should all shut up and go away because Kendricke spoke, think again. It ain't happening.
And yes, I just looked up the bans of people who argued with Kendricke and I find the whole situation completely biased. Seems Soe has some explaining to do if they expect me to shell out more money for an expansion this Kendricke seems to claims so much influence over.
Ok Soe, just who the hell is this guy and why are you allowing him to piss off your subscribers everyday? Do you actually like virtual suicide?
When you answer, I MIGHT think about purchasing KoS. Until then, you can kiss my ass and pray I don't cancel.
Aggro should take a look into this guy and find out just what the hell is going on in there.
Why is one subscriber given so much influence over the game IF he is JUST a subscriber? Especially where KoS is concerned, why are his speeches being stickied and no one elses?
I'm getting really pissed reading his crap! Maybe FoH should put his ass under the scope where Gallenite can read it.
He said he was Blackguard, not Moorgard. If that's true then he interviewed himself (blackguard interview) about Kingdom of sky. bwahahhaha
It could be Magus too. He's just as much of jerk.
But hey! They're merging servers!!!
About time Soe!!! This is the first thing you've done right this year!
Gotta give you kudos when you do something RIGHT! WTG! I may buy KoS after all. WOOT! People to play with 8)
Kendricke = Incredibly Annoying SOE-dev wannabe
But I do like the server merger idea. They better not put me anywhere that guy is tho or I cancel. LOL
It's a known fact that Kendricke is emotionally disturbed. Any rational person knows this. My friends and I gave him a zero rating way back when. He gets a wookie finding every controversial post on the SOE boards to jump into with his sanctimonious spewing. His RPG is horrible. He claims to report about 40 posts a day. Can you say retard with no life?
The problem is he's completely disruptive. SOE needs to get rid of his ass once and for all instead of encouraging it like they do. All they demonstrate by giving him stupid titles, things named after him and stickies is how retarded they are too.
I wasn't impressed reading his shit. In fact, I got a headache! Reminds me why I don't read that board anymore. I didn't like him then, I get nausea seeing his name again now. People like him just make me want to stab something.
SOE please make a doofus NPC named Kendricke so I can beat the crap out of it in KOS. thanks in advance!
PS: I read that Templar board today. What a disgrace! SOE, get your ass in there and say/do something about that situation. If I were a Templar reading that Kendricke crap, I would definitely quit by now. That's a fact. Take it for what it is, but you can't possibly be serious allowing him to run roughshot on every player that doesn't agree with him.
I can't imagine how many Templars up and quit already after reading that b.s. from him.
But, if you want to keep up the low number, let him keep yapping. You can thank him for helping you look for a new job and thank me for telling you up front the way it'll go down when you refuse to see the writing on the wall.
We know you read this blog stuff. You hire people to read it. A waste of money when you read but refuse to act if you ask me. Haven't you read enough outrage about this guy by now? How many more do you want to lose?
Ban him from at least the forums. It's out of line and makes you look bad for allowing it.
HA! this is funny. This thing went from Kos to Kendricke Sucks. At least the leading letters are right.
So I take it the concensus is that server mergers are a hit, Kendricke is not and Kos is up in the air, literally. /grin
I am a 60 Templar and put up with so much crap from this Kendricke persona then I care to talk about.
I have quit and canceled my accounts.
I can no longer endure the nonsense that company allows from a few people who do nothing at work, other than brag about having the time to challenge every post written. I know that's what is happening because these people have admitted as much and I have the bookmarks to prove that, too.
I am sick and tired of being brow-beaten to death by Kendricke and his kind because some of us are upset with leveling a character to 50, and enjoying it, to suddenly log in one day and find it totally misconfigured.
I was a faithful subscriber since Everquest 1, since pre-Kunark. But I will not put up with a company who:
a) Refused to address the multitude of issues posted;
b) Refuses to say even if they will ever address the issues posted; and
c) Allows one person to run amuck on those boards just because he does FREE interviews for Caster's Realm.
I have had it and I don't care what SOE does with him at this point. The only way to get away from this constant aggravation, is to QUIT.
I think it is quite clear at this juncture, that SOE has no intention of fixing the problems or banning that asshole.
I hope they all are happy together!
GOODBYE!
And I will add one other comment I feel is relevant:
Literally (and I do mean, literally) hundreds of posts been brought to moderator attention because of the disruption of Kendricke. Many of those posts were reported by Kendricke himself, which he proudly admits, after making condescending remarks to players with a superior and authoritative attitude in the replies.
NOTHING is ever done about Kendricke instigating and fostering thousands of flame-wars. Yet everytime, the unwary new poster gets banned, slapped or locked for answering in kind and made to look foolish on a public message board.
This is unacceptable conduct for any company to endorse.
If you had the time and manpower, to moderate those posts the biased way you have been seen to do, thousands upon thousands of times, due to ONE person, then you had time to do something about him and the problem. You have opted instead, to continue to expend resources in defending Kendricke's actions while keeping silent about what you're going to do, or not do, concerning the issues asked of you on the boards.
I will not purchase your Kingdom of Sky or any other Sony product as a result of this continuing fiasco.
Sony, you have earned my wrath, my distrust and my disgust!
Yes, I'm very mad, but I'll get over it in WoW, which by the way, I'm paying for using the money I gained from selling a 60 Templar that God only knows why anyone paid to own. I do note however, the character was back on your auction the very next week. Obviously a re-seller bought it thinking he could make a profit. Guess what? He received no bids! I kept track.
Yar! I've been keeping track of that forum myself and it would appear the allegations are very true.
Case in point: http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=13&message.id=21953
Kendricke clearly picks a fight when a poster notices that rangers were responded to by Blackguard while templars have been waiting over 5 months.
Kendricke deliberately berates the poster and when the poster responds to defend herself, the moderator jumps in and tells her off.
Echgar writes: "Unfortunately, I need to lock this thread. Who started what, who should be banned, and so on isn't going to be debated or voted on here on the forums."
In other words, Who started what (Kendricke, yet again) isn't a matter of concern because he's a fanboi. What is of concern is someone bashing their fanbois, thus, the thread gets locked before the others responding can vouch for the fact that Kendricke has been breaking the rules all along.
Therefore, lock it before some idle member_12567 notices the bias which can be proven by veteran players/posters.
I'm not liking what I read in this forum. It's obvious bias with moderators that seem to be TOLD to leave anything Kendricke writes, stand, whether he breaks the rules or not.
When it is even shown to a moderator how he JUST broke the rule they banned another member for breaking, they respond with: "Who started what, who should be banned, and so on isn't going to be debated or voted on here on the forums."
Screw you Echgar. I just voted with my wallet. YOU SUCK! I won't contribute another dime toward an employee who gets a paycheck from my subscription for being a biased asshole.
The problem is not Kendricke. It's the moderators who allow him to parade around the boards unscathed by their 'rules of conduct'. They surely don't seem to apply to certain people, Kendricke, namely.
It's not going to change people! You can vent here all you want. The writing on the wall indicates that SOE could care less what you think. Stop frustrating yourselves and quit. Play WoW or Eve Online but stay away from SWG because they're going through their 3rd revamp now.
I've always said that changing a game after release brings negativity from the subscriber, it seems that SOE doesn't give a hoot. Isn't that evidenced by deleting your posts and rewarding the fanbois? Isn't it further proof when they do it again and again and again?
I can appreciate the frustration here. Especially when major changes coincide with an expansion. It's not fair to the customer to invest further only to find out they aren't enjoying it due to something else they slipped into the order. But the more you continue to buy, the more they'll do it.
Vote with your wallet and cancel your accounts. You're obviously not having a good time and they slap you everytime you tell them that. Are you a masochist or something?
I'm taking my own advise. My account expires in one week. Yours should too. Money and word of mouth is MORE powerful then any moderator or Kendricke. Remember that!
My account just expired and I decided not to renew.
I played a templar for a year+ and after LU#13, I felt too much was taken away from the character to feel enthusiastic over. The mitigation was slashed considerably, all but two cures were taken away, the heals were almost halved, the dps was almost non-existent and with the additional interrupts, made gameplay extremely annoying to melee anything.
I would like to say that I have played a priest in many games thus far, including Everquest Live, Everquest 2, World of Warcraft, Asheron's Call and Vanguard Beta. Never have I seen a priest so bland as in Everquest 2.
It is true we have voiced much feedback in this regard to Sony via their member forums. Sadly, it is also true the protectionist fans will tell you to leave, the moderators will lock the posts and the developers do not reply.
I think this is a sad day for SOE. To take this type of approach with seasoned veterans and simply dismiss their enjoyment complaints and ignore the protectionists who condescendingly make snide replies repeatedly to customers SOE has had for years, is bad business.
SOE has had a rather base-arrogant attitude from their success of Everquest Live days. It was to be expected considering the success it enjoyed. I've witnessed their take it or leave it attitude many times while they basked in the sun of their glory days. But today the sun shines on Blizzard and SOE would best take a cue from their customer service handling. Blizzard is responsive to complaints and you see CR's replying to customer concerns in-game and on the forums. At SOE, this is painfully absent. I can attest personally to the difference.
It's truly a shame because I foresee SOE becoming a bankrupt company and soon. I doubt, considering the competition and improvements to classes seen in other games continuously, rather then the nerfs seen in SOE updates, that SOE will continue to have any hold in MMORPG competitiveness.
I am lucky because I played both WoW and EQ2. Unfortunately I'll be giving up the latter (EQ2) in favor of a much, much more enjoyable priest class. The differences now are so vast between my WoW priest and SOE Templar, I can barely login to EQ2 and stand the pain.
Sony, I'm sorry you didn't listen. I think you're going to lose this one because of your obstinance. It's true what they write, you did seem rather biased towards constructive complaints and allowed your regulars to tell us to leave if we don't like it. That right there told me that you'll allow them to talk to us this way without reprisal. Yet when moderation was called for, it was always directed at the person with the complaint, not the attacks coming from your fan-base. I find this completely unacceptable. Taking into account, the personal time spent by a person to invest in characters that are arbitrarly changed without notice, I consider that a change in the product I purchased, regardless of your legal disclaimers.
While you may legally persist in such practices, ultimately the customer will view your product negatively, and lose faith in any other products you stamp your trademarks on in the future.
The impact was LU#13 for me and therefore, I did not purchase Kingdom of Sky and have subsequently cancelled my account today. Your survey did not allow for my comments. I'm sure your message board wouldn't allow them either. Therefore, this seems to be an unbiased place to voice them here.
Thank you, Aggro.
Goodbye, Everquest!
Anora
So which is it? Is Kendricke actually Moorgard, Blackguard, or Echgar? Is he emotionally disturbed - or is he masterfully manipulating the playerbase?
Honestly, I can't keep up with these rumors. Someone please help. :P
It's not a rumor. I read the thread they refer to. He said he was Blackguard but I took it as just another one of his bravado 'jokes' to keep ppl wondering "Is he? Or isn't he?"
Kendricke is the type that would love people to ponder the thought. I'm sure that's why he snuck it in.
Which makes him a mental case.
Kendricke isn't any employee of SOE at all. He's a volunteer writer for Caster's Realm, a gamer fansite that most people don't read since EQL. He just likes to pretend like he's the authority. It's an obsession with the guy and it pisses ppl off. Then you see blogs like this because they wouldn't dare allow you to post it there.
Echgar is the semi-new moderator. They seem to go through those like water since Faarwolf quit for the porn business.
Hope that clears up anything they posted that you didn't read right. ;p
There is no player base with Kendricke around. Normal people don't wanna be around him. 'Nuff said!
Ever get the visual of some dork sliding geeky looking glasses back up his poindexter nose just before a squeeky, blackboard-nail-scratching voice emits from his lips: "That's an ad hominum attack. Your logic is flawed."
That's Kendricke! :0/
ROFL!
Where's EQ-Comics when ya need em?
As far as templars are concerned, it only took them 7 months, but they received higher dps in LU#21.
Too little, too late for most of those customers, however. Most quit or rerolled already.
Shows that 7 months is just way too long to expect changes and the bitter blood generated on the forums from the fanbois who sided with SOE's take on doing nothing, was just more then the average customer was willing to put up with.
There's also the fact that a lot of people weren't asking for dps but it seems Caethre won that fight and the pro-healers lost big time.
Now you have level 70 to get to if you even are thinking of making a templar and even with a little more dps, it's just too time-consuming to bother with by comparison to the other classes.
I gave it up. No regrets. Glad I got out before KOS hit the clouds.
From the Fan-Faire pics he looks kinda fat and balding to me. heh
From the Fanfaire statements, Kendricke claimed fellow templars noted he "stirred the pot" too much.
How KIND they were to his face if you ask me. If I were there, I would have slapped him. Then I would have glared at the developers, kicked Smedley and walked out!
This game has been a total WASTE of my time! Revamps, nerfs, can't-make-up-your-mind updates! Sheer stupidity and I actually bought into it!
Blah, no more Sony games for moi!
And yeah, Kendricke is an assssss!
To the person who predicted SOE would go bankrupt due to the competition and improvements seen in other games, I would like to add.
The MMORPG industry makes the same mistake time and again by concentrating on "eye-candy", while the gamer population devours that which is stimulating and their brains can chew on.
The "too brown" complaints heard from viewers of Vanguard screenshots are only because they aren't immersed in the game. They're only looking at a picture! What else can they say about it? It's a picture and yeah, it's too brown. And what if it's not too brown? The truth comes out that the LAG is KILLING them! Where's the talk about how great the game is content-wise? I haven't seen it. Even with a NDA, we would have heard the hype. But we haven't gotten past graphics and FPS complaints. That tells us that if you can't play it smoothly, there's nothing more to say!
Blizzard is a good example of a company that has understood its player-base. Gamers will settle for "ok graphics" as long the content is there to keep their brains thirsting for more.
There's nothing worse then good content halted by bad FPS rates and system crashes no matter what you've got to offer.
It annoys me silly when I see reviews about Kingdom of Sky bragging about "graphics" when most of the gamer-base is not going to see anything comparable to the advertised fluff. Anyone who has taken pics of their guild's raid zones have depictions of characters with muted-colored armor and featureless faces. This is how most people are forced to play because it's just too taxing on their computers.
I bought Kingdom of Sky and I can attest that some areas are worse then the Harbor, causing crashes and lag and frustration.
Yes, the graphics are pretty if you're only going to stand there, turn up your configuration and take screenshots. But for gameplay, especially raiding, it's horrendous.
It may be futuristic, but I'll leave that to the future when systems are built to meet the demands of gaming technology. Right now though, it's costly and doesn't work for the money you're spending.
Bottom line is, do I want to stand there and take pictures or see alien-type creatures to be able to move?
I'm going back to Warcraft because I can't move in EQ2 or raid efficiently. And I certainly can't do either with a gimped character someone decided to change after a year of playing it.
When they start taking advantage of dual-core processing systems and standardized graphic card development, I MAY think about "eye-candy" again, but not before.
EQ2 should of thought about "eye-candy" doing stand-still events like tradeskilling. Instead, they're all looking at stone walls in a sweat-shop setting. Bah! Borrrring. ZzzZzZzZzzzzz
So I need to:
a. Like what I see in a game and be able to actually function in it.
b. Have my brain stimulated with dynamic content that doesn't get old too soon.
c. No flippant revamps after I'm liking how it works.
I don't want a choice of having half of point-A to be able to have all of point-B only to later realize that point-C made points A and B not worth fighting over anymore.
Interesting thoughts since I've been here last. I did bookmark it. It was a good read.
Still I went ahead and bought KOS and lived to tell about the update that decided to give templars a dps boost. I didn't want that. I was in the crowd that wanted pure healer. I came from EQ1 so I was conditioned to that and loved it. I've resigned myself that in EQ2, that's not meant to be and I couldn't get into KOS as a result. /sigh
I then decided to give WoW a try. I never was keen on the thought. All those rumors about kiddie-land made me baffy.
To my pleasant surprise, I found that the rumors are probably due to the massive amount of people they have. Therefore the ratio of kids is higher simply because the population is so.
But I found a great guild and believe it or not, the one guy is a SURGEON! Who knew such prominent people would play a labeled "kiddie game"? Not me! LOL
But I digress. I made my priest in WoW and they even had a revamp. I cringed! Guess what? I got better heals then ones before the revamp and IMHO, were 10x better then EQ2!
So now I'm 60 and I'm loving it! The game is well-designed and I'm constantly not feeling the frustration I did with EQ2. I didn't get that grind feeling either, which was realllly nice!
I don't know here. I think there are very valid complaints trying to tell SOE something. Complaints that came from people who obviously ran the gambut with them for a very long time, same as I did.
I was dismayed to leave EQ2. But I see now that the fun does lie predominantly in the character design. I agree that I can live past the lesser graphics in favor a better skilled character.
But I don't only think that performance is the deciding factor. Obviously if you can't play it, you won't get past a month trying. That's a given. It's after performance issues are out of the way and running smoothly that you relate to the character and build a pseudo-relationship with it.
I agree that once my EQ2 priest was changed, I didn't relate to it any longer and so it was a lot easier for me to say good-bye.
I think SOE needs to look at their EQ1 format for healing classes and study WoW's as well. EQ2 doesn't have what those two games bring to the table. So, beautiful graphics in KOS and the advancement options, didn't do squat for me.
I realize now it was the character all along that kept my -real- interest. Once that was gone, so was I.
I did read the templar forums and agree I was disgusted as well with the Kendrick crowd. Anyone could see there was no point in voicing an opinion there. Ken had his mind made up and there was no telling him otherwise. Such a shame really. Some very intelligent people tried to grab the attention of the devs before it was too late. I have no idea why the mods were so disrespectful to the veteran crowd and the devs just fell into mediocre silence. Vets really did try to get the devs to understand about the importance of a true healer. I think they truly wanted SOE to succeed. It was rude the way they were treated. Can't blame them for moving on.
Oh well. It's water over the bridge now I guess. I just wanted to pop back and give my thoughts. It was the character for me. Not the expansion, not the graphics and certainly not the fanbois.
I'm a Wowie now I guess. Sorry SOE. I'd still play EQ1 though. That NEVER got old for me. :)))
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