EQ2Wire: Aug 13 2008-September 8 2017

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

After 9 years, it is time for me to call it quits on this EQ2Wire News site.

I feel I have always put players first, and that choice has repeatedly cost me support I might have otherwise gotten from the EQ2 team and Sony Online Entertainment. At the last SOE Live, I was jokingly branded “chief shit-stirrer” by the Community Council for my constant vigilance of issues affecting customers, and my frequent and often uncomfortable requests for accountability.

I have often cast a bright spotlight on business and development choices that I felt negatively affect players. Even though all that, a mutual respect had been maintained for 7 years. And for every negative article, I spent as much time (or more) promoting Game Updates and Expansions and providing players with up-to-date information whenever possible.

A great many other things are going on in my life which bring me great satisfaction, from growing heirloom tomatoes, to judging and preparing competition BBQ, to developing circuit boards from Arduino projects. With limited time, something had to give. With my deteriorating relationship with Daybreak Games, and the fact I no longer play EverQuest II, that decision has come into sharp focus over the last few months. The hardest part has been the idea that I will be letting players down. All I’ve ever wanted to do for 9 years writing this site and 7 years flying to Las Vegas and writing about this game, is to help people.

I wish Norrath well and hope that the next expansion is successful and that players out there step up and document it and help others.

I will continue to maintain and update the EQ2U Players site, which still receives over 30,000 character lookups per day, as long as the EQ2 Census service remains available.

eq2wire2017-soelivephoto

Dellmon, Feldon, Kander, and Leko at SOE Live 2013

   

EverQuest II’s Black Box Problem

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

black_box

I believe that the best games, whether in the real or digital worlds, on any platform, should have clear and concise rules which are obvious or well-documented for the player. For years, Dellmon (host of the now-quiet but formerly popular EQ2Talk podcast which frequently interviewed members of the EQ2 team) and I have railed against a severe lack of documentation in EverQuest II. Our requests for improvements have spanned how game mechanics work in unexpected ways, to trying to clear up vague item tooltips and spell descriptions, and many other suggestions that would improve the Quality of Life for players. Our input has completely fallen upon deaf ears.

From effects/procs on items that do 1,000 times more damage than the description says, to the way Reforging, Infusing, and Experimentation are indistinguishable from each other when reading item examine windows, and many other examples, it has become tediously difficult to figure out what the hell is actually going on in with your character in Norrath. Despite the availability of 3rd party tools like DarqUI, ProfitUI, Dragon’s Armory, and our own EQ2U, trying to keep even one character fully informed and properly geared for the latest content has become a joyless tedious second career.

Commentary: Mogrim’s GU103 DPS Ranking Predictions

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

First of all, I’d like to thank EQ2Wire for giving me the opportunity to rant about…I mean discuss the current situation regarding DPS in EQ2.

What I’m going to do here is give 3 rankings and 1 “score” for all DPS classes. Firstly, I will rank where they were. Next I will rank where I expect them to end up after the dust of GU103 settles. Lastly among the rankings, I will include a “value” rank that indicates my opinion of the overall. Finally, the “score” for the DPS classes will be in relation to each other, with the top ranked class being 100, and the rest of the classes being numerically related to my expectation of what % of the damage output they will be compared to the #1 ranked class.

“I’m Not Sure If I’ll Chosooth to Continue My Training at This Time.”

Written by Wiouxev on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

The backbone of any MMO is defined by character progression. That character is you, and that character reflects your hard work. Like any MMO that has been around as long as EQ2 has, you need to be creative, and come up with more ways to improve and increase potential with your character. Whether that means all or some of: new gear, new levels, alternative “systems” to increase power (AA’s), abilities, and then of course new areas to explore and quests to complete.  These things keep people engaged, something to work on with their character, and most importantly, playing the game.

EQ2’s latest expansion Kunark Ascending is no different.  Developer’s took a very creative and unique approach in the latest expansion instead of simply increasing the [Adventure] level cap (which was the de-facto standard set from EQ1 as well as previous EQ2 expansions); they introduced a “secondary” class, Ascension classes. These classes can be trained and used by any existing EQ2 class, and the ability to switch between all 4 if you’d like. These classes work and are synergistic with each other, as well as your existing class (such as a Bard & Geomancer).

EQ2Wire Looking For a Staff Writer

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

classified-ad

After eight and a half years, it is time for me to step back and see if there is anyone else in the EverQuest II community with writing ability and a desire to lend their voice to this site. I have barely played EQ2 in the last few years and it shows in the lack of coverage exhibited. Other than Update Notes, there has been limited discussion about the Kunark Ascending expansion, the race to discover Epic 2.0 Weapons, Public Quests, Burnt Keys, and all other elements of gameplay which EverQuest II players wish to know about. Keeping this site running without actually covering the game does a great disservice to readers who wish to stay informed about the happenings in Norrath, and so I find it necessary to find another writer to carry the torch.

Closing the Book on EverQuest Next and Landmark

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

eqnext_georgeson

In a eulogy, it is customary to say positive things about the deceased. Now where to begin…

I played Landmark in Alpha and quite enjoyed what depth it had in the progression of harvesting nodes, huge array of crafting materials, compounding recipes, and choice of crafting tables. And I was blown away by what players were able to create. Inside of just a few days, players discovered bugs (unintended features?) with the engine that allowed the partial removal of voxels which allowed for incredible designs and nearly photorealistic structures to be created. While there wasn’t a whole lot of “game” per se, what was there had enough complexity to hold my interest. I had a genuine desire to level up my harvesting tools and get access to better recipes and spent hours harvesting and exploring the world.

Turbine Spins Off LOTRO, DDO to New Studio, Daybreak to Publish

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

NOTE: No EverQuest II content.

lotro_ddo

Turbine has announced today that Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) are being spun off to Boston, MA-based Standing Stone Games. As part of the announcement, we’ve learned that the two Free-to-Play games will fall under the publication of Daybreak Games. It is unclear if the two new titles will become part of Daybreak’s confusingly titled “All Access” program which includes EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide 2, and DC Universe Online, but excludes H1Z1:KotK, H1Z1: JS, and Landmark.

Here’s Turbine’s announcement:

Greetings,

Today we have some momentous news! The game teams responsible for The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) are now moving from Turbine to Standing Stone Games, a newly formed indie game studio. In addition, we’ve partnered with Daybreak Games to provide global publishing services. They’ve had a long, successful history developing and publishing MMOs, and we’re happy to lean on their expertise.

With the announcement out of the way, I wanted to talk to you about what all this means.

PCGamer: What It’s Like to Manage a Gaming Community on Fire

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

A great article from PCGamer.com:

Micah Whipple didn’t believe in Real ID. It was unveiled in 2010 as a new social initiative in the Blizzard forums, effectively forcing players to register their real names instead of Battle.net aliases to cut down on the witch hunts and treachery that so often define anonymous, online public spaces. Whipple thought the policy would be unsustainable and unenforceable, but as a World of Warcraft community manager it was his job to go to bat for it. The CM role is simple: be a plebeian, embed yourself in the community, serve as liaison between publisher and community, and most importantly, stay optimistic.

What that really means: when the players got angry, Whipple was paid to run into burning buildings. Sometimes he was a firefighter, and sometimes he was a meatshield.

..

As violent as it was, the Real ID pushback was managed. But at a price. Real ID was one of the more painful experiences in his life. “I think [Real ID] actually woke me up a bit, and made me realize my employment with any company is a partnership, and not any kind of debt or life-oath that I need to repay,” he says.

“[Being a community manager] requires a huge amount of empathy, so of course if you’re reading negativity day in and day out it’s difficult not to take at least some of that with you,” continues Whipple.

Read More at PCGamer.com

 

EQ2Wire Asks: Who were your favorite Community Managers for EverQuest II and why?

Kotaku: The Surprising And Allegedly Impossible Death Of EverQuest’s ‘Unkillable’ Dragon

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

NOTE: No EverQuest II content in this article.

kerafyrm-eq1

Cecilia D’Anastasio of Kotaku has unearthed the legend of how guilds of classic EverQuest on the Rallos Zek server almost killed an “unkillable” mob — the Sleeper — Kerafyrm. My partner was present at this battle and fought right up until the moment SOE panicked and despawned Kerafyrm. It was a big deal and caused much consternation. Now the story can be told…

From Kotaku:

Rare today are opportunities for gamers to step outside the prescribed outlines of a developer’s intended gaming experience, especially in MMORPGs. Back in the early 2000s, anarchic players eagerly hunted down the virtual unknown, where possibility and impossibility were deadlocked within some specter of the original game.

The other day, I heard a piece of virtual worlds lore that brought me back to those times: On EverQuest, in November of 2003, nearly 200 players came together to defeat the apparently invincible dragon Kerafyrm, known as “the Sleeper,” against Sony Online Entertainment’s designs. The story has everything: warring factions, a tomb, an invulnerable dragon, surprising partnerships and a panicked multinational corporation

In EverQuest lore, he explained, the crystal dragon Kerafyrm was imprisoned in “The Sleeper’s Tomb,” an icy cave, because he was the child of two dragons from warring families. As the developers’ script went, when players entered the Sleeper’s Tomb and killed the dragon’s four warders, Kerafyrm would awaken. Then, he would kill everyone in sight before rampaging across the world.

After three hours, Kerafyrm’s health was depleted to about 26%. He was going to die. And, when did, he wouldn’t go on his rampage, as he had on every other server, and trigger the rest of the storyline. It was completely off-script. What would happen to EverQuest’s precious story?

Read the entire story by clicking below:

Kotaku: The Surprising And Allegedly Impossible Death Of EverQuest’s ‘Unkillable’ Dragon

Commentary: Daybreak Calls, Legends of Norrath Folds

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

This commentary piece comes to us from guest author Dellmon of EQ2Talk.com.

Dellmon-schwag

The day has arrived and the online trading card game Legends of Norrath is no more. I suppose this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who played or is familiar with the game. LoN had long since reached the tipping point where, even in lights-out, no-development, break-fix-only support was costing more than the game was bringing in.

There was no fanfare. No sendoff. No final bonanza giveaway week or God-mode gameplay. No last hurrah. Not even a reminder post on the forums. Legends of Norrath went out not with a bang but with a whimper. Honestly between you and me – I don’t think there is anyone left at Daybreak who knows enough about supporting LoN to even attempt anything beyond hitting the power switch.

Within the Daybreak family, LoN seemed to be that uncle that, while still part of the family, no one ever talked about. He was always just hanging around creepily, standing in the corner sipping on a bottle of who-knows-what out of a brown paper bag. LoN was the only Daybreak title that customers could still spend green dollars on, yet did not have its own Twitter handle, Facebook page, or even its own support forums (which were summarily deleted despite receiving sporadic use). The Community and Marketing teams ranked LoN discussions up there with EQ and EQ2 General Gameplay in its twilight days — superfluous.

So why write a commentary about a sunset game that is gone and has taken up residence in the Parthenon of Former SOE Titles alongside Star Wars Galaxies and Free Realms (both of which also had incorporated card games too), EQ Worlds, or the absolutely amazing Fortune League? Well, some time ago I boldly said that I enjoyed LoN and that I was having fun playing it and Feldon aghast and in a bit of a shock asked why and dared me to write an article about this revelation and confession. Honestly I don’t think he believed I’d really do it. But here we are…

Commentary: Is the Pokemon GO Phenomenon Over?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

No EverQuest II content whatsoever!

pokemongo

Talk about being in the right place at the right time. After a single month on the app store of iOS and Android devices, Niantic‘s Pokemon GO (Pokemon being short for Pocket Monster) has obliterated even the loftiest expectations and entered the national consciousness. Some 80 million people have downloaded and played this new augmented reality game. Despite a few early hiccups, including a spying fear when the initial iOS release requested FULL access to your Google profile before a patch fixed it, the game has been a staggering success. The Pokemon GO juggernaut was strong enough to buoy Nintendo’s own stock from a low of 13,500¥ six weeks ago to a high of 31,770¥, a 135% leap, despite the fact that Nintendo actually has no role in and gains no financial benefit from its development. This realization has caused the stock to return to year-over-year averages.

pokemongo_finding2

So why do an article about a game I’ve never even played? Because I feel strongly about APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and public data.

The Pokemon GO app for iPhone and Android provides scant guidance to its players. At first, the app provided a Footsteps feature which provided an exact distance to the nearest monsters. However after one week, this feature was reduced to a misleading estimate that reports all “nearby” Pokemon as being the maximum distance away. With this change, players were obligated to walk (or drive) around aimlessly in search of Pokemon. Nature abhors a vacuum, and, so a cottage industry of third-party websites sprang up including Pokevision, Pokehound, and PokeNotify. These sites harvested game data to pinpoint Pokemon on a convenient Google Maps overlay.

pokevision-mapa-com-pokemons-e1469575840664

Norrathian Spotlight: Niboota the Tourist

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

Suka has taken up the mantle of spotlighting EverQuest II players who contribute to the community in meaningful ways and this month she has chosen Niboota.

From the EQ2 Forums:

Today we put a face on Niboota! We are all familiar with Niboota and her marvelous videos tours of different houses on each server. She has done a great job of inspiring decorators and promoting them. She has posted many things on the forums including a detailed post on how to invite her to video tour your home.

niboota

Q: How long have you been playing the game?

I’ve been playing since launch, with the exception of a 2 year break after the release of Age of Discovery

Q: What server do you play on?

Antonia Bayle

Q: What inspired you to create videos of houses

I have always loved the housing and been an ambitious tourist. I can easily kill an entire day touring, and what better way to get more people to design homes than to show everyone how much you enjoy them?

Q: Can you tell us how to find your videos? and your website?

The Evertour Entries can be found at http://evertour.livejournal.com

Continue reading the interview and spotlight on the EQ2 Forums…

Update: Daybreak Games to Unban Accounts That Purchased Third-Party Keys

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

prisoners-release

Thousands of EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Planetside 2 players have purchased content packs and expansions from discount websites such as Steam, PlayerAuctions, and G2A over the last five months. This was all fine and dandy until it turned out that all of these purchases originated with large fraudulent purchases from Steam. The platform’s publisher Valve Inc sent an eyewatering bill to Daybreak Games for thousands of dollars. Valve’s failure to recognize and address this issue until the problem had snowballed to this point is a topic for another article, but what is more near and dear to Daybreak Customers is what will happen with these numerous banned accounts.

I’m sure the peanut gallery will be quick to dismiss affected players as cheaters and cheapskates. However what they’d fail to realize is that many of these expansions and content packs were gifted to other players by friends, family, and guildmates months ago and now these bans are striking accounts which have been active for upwards of 17 years.

After 24 hours of forum debate (especially on the EverQuest forums which were the harder hit community), it seems that cooler heads have prevailed and the bans will be lifted. Instead, the illegitimate content packs and expansions will be stripped from players’ accounts, allowing them to buy them from trusted sources. Now would be a great time for a proper sale, perhaps $25 for the EverQuest II expansion (since the new one is just four-and-a-half months away) or $120 for six keys.

Here’s the e-mail that affected players received:

botting_ban_reason2

Daybreak Games Bans Thousands of EverQuest and EverQuest II Accounts for After-market Keys

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

boxing_bans_2016

Update
Players who were banned for these cheaply acquired expansions and content packs for EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Planetside 2 are currently in the process of being unbanned. The expansions and content packs will then be stripped from these accounts. Continue Reading…

After last week’s banning and suspension of hundreds of EverQuest II players for running third party software including boxing and botting programs (the bans seemed to be indiscriminate and extremely random), it seemed like things might be getting back to normal. So much for that idea.

For years, it has been possible to buy EverQuest and EverQuest II expansions at a discounted rate on sites like Steam, G2A, and PlayerAuctions. There is nothing in the EQ or EQ2 EULA or TOS that constrains where expansion keys can be purchased. Now that is being called into question as thousands of EverQuest and EverQuest II players who bought a code from the aforementioned market sites in the last five months were banned overnight. We can guess that at least some of these keys were acquired from Akella-Online when they were still publishing EverQuest in Russia. The provenance of all these keys has not been confirmed but they’ve been accepted by the official Daybreak websites for nearly five months now.  Now, all of these customers have been banned for the reason “Chargebacks” even though some accounts purchased the expansion nearly 5 months ago. That is a month beyond the maximum chargeback time.

   

Norrathian Spotlight — The EQ2 Guide Program Brings Life and Lore to Norrath

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2, Grouping

On March 16, 1999, EverQuest launched, and with it, a volunteer Guide Program. They would “act as basic customer service/support via ‘petitions’. Issues could be forwarded to the Game Master assigned to the server or resolved by the volunteer. Other guides would serve in administrative functions within the program or assisting the Quest Troupe with dynamic and persistent live events throughout the individual servers. Volunteers were compensated with free subscription and expansions to the game.

In 2003 the program changed for these volunteers, shifting them away from a customer service focus and instead placing them into their current roles as roving ‘persistent characters’ role-playing with the players.” (wikipedia) There’s always been confusion within the player community at large about whether the Guide Program was a part of Daybreak Games, a completely separate entity, or something in-between. We asked for clarification from the Guides and got this answer from Elder Guide Rynara:

The Guide program works side by side with Daybreak, they always have. The Program was never “run” by SOE. Since we are volunteers we are separate and do not work under them in any way but along with them to support the players of EQ and EQII. [While] Kander does not run the Guide program, he does support us as acting liaison to Daybreak. He is our contact.

The leaders of the Guide program back when it started at the beginning of EQ wrote a policy and procedure manual that we follow today. It has been updated and tweaked along the years however the fundamentals still apply today.

While the earlier Guide quests were of a “milk and cookies” nature, in recent years, more dynamic and complex quests have been added. None has gained more visibility than the Nebulous Newsies quest. The reward is millions of status and one of the largest inventory bags available in the game. Players line up by the hundreds to pickup the quest from a Guide (it cannot be acquired by any other means) when word breaks that they will be seeking player help on a server. A new Terrors of Thalumbra guide quest was just added to the Guides’ repertoire this month and it will be interesting to see how frequently it is made available.

Ethereal Coins & Vendor Coming This Summer

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding

pain_reliever

MMOs like EverQuest II can’t help but include a loot chase. While EQ2 offers many different styles of gameplay from crafting to decorating to soloing, those players who elect to group or raid find themselves on the loot treadmill and want to be able to point to forward progress. In recent years, the EQ2 team have scattered a few best-in-slot items throughout the content so that crafters and soloers get some “Whoa!” items. Still, most Progression items come from extremely difficult content that requires substantial coordination. There’ll always be that one ridiculously difficult heroic zone. There’s always that Wing 3 of raid content. With Terrors of Thalumbra as well as Altar of Malice (after some post-launch tuning), the heroic content has been made accessible so that more people get to enjoy it. But as with any organized sport, the tolerances between success and failure shrink the higher you go into more challenging fare.

I don’t envy game developers who are forced to create enough content to last a year. What has concerned me about Ethereal runes, Ethereal weapons, Mythicals, and Ancients is that they are acquired almost entirely based on the luck of the dice roll, not player skill or effort. It saps the sense of accomplishment when you say “This item took me 374 heroic runs!” after the person next to you says “I got it the first time through. Now what?”

EQ2Wire Interviews the EQ2 Team About Game Update 100: The Siege of Zek

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, DGC Wants Feedback, EQ2, Game Updates & Maintenance, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding

gu100-the-siege-of-zek-logo-eq2wire

On April 28th, EverQuest II launched its level 100 content release “The Siege of Zek“. The update takes us back to Zek, the Orcish Wastes and a lot has changed in 12 years. While the original level 35-appropriate zone can still be accessed, players may now choose to travel to the new level 100 Scourge Wastes. The update contains updated versions of classic Zek zones in Advanced Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, and Heroic Contested versions as well as a Raid zone. Rather than a simple up-tiering of existing zones, the Designers and Art Team have put a lot into this All Access-only update with totally redone Orc models and many other touches that make this content feel fresh.

As it had been a couple of weeks since the release of the Siege of Zek, we had an opportunity to peruse the official EQ2 forums for player questions and concerns. The EQ2 team are already working flat out on EverQuest II’s thirteenth expansion slated for later this year, so our interview focuses on the few questions that I submitted about itemization and some of the new systems in the update including Heartbound, which is an in-game celebration of the real-life bonds that players have developed, and the new progression-tied Resolve stat.

After the jump, our interview!

EverQuest Worlds Closing Thursday, March 31, 2016

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

As you have by now heard, EverQuest Next has been cancelled, and the great purge is underway to remove all trace of the product from Daybreak’s official channels and websites. EverQuestNext.com and the EQNext YouTube channel have been cleared out. Next up is the EQ Worlds App for iOS and Android.

everquest_worlds_app

The EQ Worlds app is not something I ever featured or talked about here on EQ2Wire, and perhaps that was an error on my part. I objected to the glitchiness that players reported when they first used the app at SOE Live 2013, and I was less than enthusiastic about an app that requires you to Share things on Facebook to access content. However in exchange for Facebook sharing, players of EverQuest and EverQuest II received in-game rewards, as well as bits of the EverQuest Next story. Maybe it wasn’t a bad deal at all for those who got the app to work.

From Laylaih, Communications Coordinator at Daybreak Games* on the EQ2 Forums:

We will be closing the EverQuest Worlds mobile app at the end of this month.

If you would like to play any of the current mini-games, finish up quest lines, and/or retrieve codes for rewards, you will need to do so on or before midnight (11:59PM PDT) on Thursday, March 31, 2016.

The app will remain available in the App Store (iOS) and via Google Play (Android) until its sunset on March 31, 2016.

We hope you enjoyed this app while it was available, and continue to use and enjoy the rewards you’ve redeemed in EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Landmark.

*a name I have not heard before.

EQ2Wire Asks: Replace or Upgrade?

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2, Itemization, Raiding

Armor-Choice

The purpose of New Content in any MMORPG is to provide additional length to the “treadmill” so that players who revisit heroic dungeons or raids always have new things to do. New zones provide new rewards that raise the bar and keep that loot chase going. It is totally expected that when a new content update or expansion is released that previous items will be trumped by new ones. However we’ve seen something new and unexpected since the release of the Terrors of Thalumbra expansion.

In an update on January 20th, existing Weapons and Jewelry items were removed from the loot tables of current enemies in raid zones and then newly upgraded Weapons and Jewelry items were added. These new weapons and jewelry had new names.

In an update on February 17th, existing Armor pieces had their Crit Bonus and Potency slightly upgraded, then removed from loot tables while newly upgraded Armor items were added with hugely upgraded Crit Bonus and Potency. This new armor had the same names as previous items.

There is no doubt that the Terrors of Thalumbra raid gear at launch was hardly worth getting out of bed for. Clearly something had to be done to itemization and we’ve been assured that this was the best way to do it with the time available. However there are several concerns with this approach of replacing rather than upgrading items inline.

RadarX: Conquering Community Toxicity like Genghis Khan

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

genghis_khan

Daybreak Games Senior Community Relations Manager Tony “RadarX” Jones seems to view community management as a war between players and developers. At this year’s Game Developer’s Conference in March, RadarX will be hosting a panel to teach other game companies how they should run their Communities. Here’s the course description:

Toxic behavior in a community can drive player sentiment in the wrong direction, distract from desired discussion points, and cripple positive engagement. Examining principles used by military genius Genghis Khan, attendees will learn how to identify and defeat this behavior.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn to identify forms of toxic behavior regularly seen in online game communities, and practical techniques employed to combat it using real world examples in the industry.

You can read player reaction to this announcement on Reddit, but please note, at least two players experienced bans from the official Daybreak Forums in response to their comments on Reddit and/or Twitter.

Vendor Price Glitch Abuse Yields Bans, Inflates Krono Prices

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

cookie_jar

If you notice a few guildmates, recently flush with in-game currency, suddenly absent from EQ2 over the next few days/weeks, now you know why. It seems that there was an item which could be purchased for 1 copper from one vendor that could then be sold back to another vendor for upwards of 10 platinum pieces each.

Some players prudently ceased once they discovered the issue. However others systematically abused this glitch, upsetting the in-game economy in the process. Krono prices jumped 200% on some servers. Time will tell if these players are stripped of their ill-gotten plat and/or allowed back into the game.

If you need a dose of forum rage this morning, you can find it here:

John Smedley & Patrick Rothfuss Announce New Kickstarter Game — Hero’s Song

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary

NOTE: No EverQuest II content inside.

If you’ve been following Sony Online Entertainment co-founder John Smedley‘s Twitter teases and wondering what he would be doing next, now we know…

heros_song_ks

Kickstarter video on Youtube:

Polygon: Touring the living remains of an 11-year-old MMO

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Commentary, EQ2

polygon-everquest2art.0.0

What started as an odd Twitter exchange which felt like a pre-planned stunt turns into a three page backhanded compliment for EverQuest II. From Polygon.com:

Touring the living remains of an 11-year-old MMO
EverQuest 2 has been around over a decade, but there’s still some incredible sights to see in this odd game

My name is Phil Kollar, and I had a weird weekend.

Let’s start our story just over 11 years ago, on Nov. 9, 2004. That was the date that Sony Online Entertainment released EverQuest 2. I had spent a couple years in high school noodling around in the original EverQuest, a period that, despite my inability to make much progress in the game, helped me fall in love with the genre of massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

So I must have been excited for EverQuest 2, right?

EverQuest 2 is not a bad game, and I’m happy that it’s still up and running.

Commentary: Why EQ2’s Decorating Leads to Hoarding and Why Landmark’s Doesn’t

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, Commentary, EQ2

housing_blueprint

EverQuest II has one of the most advanced decorating systems of any MMORPG. It likely has more house items than any other game, as evidenced by the frequently updated, screen-busting fansite EQ2Furniture which allows players to see a spinning preview of all 16,325 house items in Norrath. However this paradise of customization has become a huge data storage problem for the EQ2 team and players alike.

Although the Dungeon Maker feature never lived up to its hype or even the lowest expectations due to the anemic customization and storytelling options it offered, it provided mass storage and an almost unbelievable scale for house decorators. All told, each EQ2 character can own 25 houses and 20 dungeons. With an average limit of 1,000 items (plus 1,000 books, plus 1,000 building blocks), that’s an eye-watering 135000 house items per character.


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