It has to be frustrating at home to read “We’ll look into it” or “We’ll talk about it”. Realize that my writeups of each panel are on-the-fly and I simplify and summarize questions and answers as best I can. So any answer from the devs like “That is something we can look at” or “This is something we weren’t aware of” or “We need to talk to the team about this” or “We’ll put it on our list” sometimes got distilled into the ubiquitous “We’ll look into it”.

So what questions didn’t you see get asked at Fan Faire? I sense a lot of exasperation at the questions that do get asked that we’ve heard before (Q: When can we get armor dyes? A: If you want this, EQ2 will have to add flat-shaded armor that doesn’t use any Shaders 1.0 or 3.0) instead of the hard-hitting questions. Even I was surprised at how few raid content questions were asked compared to housing, grouping, itemization, PvP, and class balance questions.

No doubt the best part of Fan Faire is talking to the developers. So far I’ve gotten to ask Rothgar both serious and geeky questions about the new UI, server upgrades, guild halls, and of course free-to-play.

I’ve made no secret of my concerns about the logistics of free to play seemingly cutting off the flow of new players to the live subscription side of EQ2.

E3 took place this year from June 15-17.  SmokeJumper was interviewed and said that the current subscription model would not change.  When asked after the announcement of EQ2 Extended about that interview, he had this to say:

Yes, at that time, we were discussing the concept. No, we were not ready to commit to it, nor did we have any details of what we might be doing.

On July 27th, EQ2 Extended was announced.  I counted up how many work days passed between the interview and the announcment.  Guess how many work days went by?

I still talk about the 1-50 (or 1-89) game in EQ2. I would be naive not to realize that once most folks reach 90, does it really matter how they got there? To a growing population — not really.

However people quit EQ2 all the time. Whether over an unpopular policy, or the draws of real life, a slow trickle of players are always leaving MMOs and they must be replenished. You need new players. All the great players of eq2 had the luxury of leveling up at a pleasant pace, playing fun content from at *least* 35-70 with KoS and EoF.

If you aren’t training up new players, then eq2 is a bucket with a steady leak and no refills (thanks to whomever coined that apropos euphemism).

The last 3 expansion have been all at endgame. I’m not saying they were great. But the focus is in the right place.

But I feel that level grind + aa grind using parlor tricks like RAF, potions, and high xp potions is a sorry introduction to an MMO for new players.

Remember all that time spent revamping named and adding achievements and quests for level 1-50 content?

Imagine if there were optional quests to unlock AA lines. Imagine quests that reward 1-2 aa points for experiencing defining content of the game. Imagine if Alternate Advancement really were an alternative means of advancing.

I know 1-50 or 1-89 is meaningless to endgame raiders. Honestly I want to blow through those levels myself. But you know what happens if you stop scouting and drafting from high school and college games? You get empty Pro teams with no players.

Of course announcing 1 week before Fan Faire that the eq2 subscription servers will be all *downside* compared to F2P servers does not instill confidence either. Nobody wants to start playing a new-to-them MMO on older servers that, by all accounts will be “teh suck”.

It seems inevitable that most conversations over the coming Fan Faire weekend will now somehow be tinged by Free-to-Play’s arrival in the EQ2 universe. I predict that Free-to-Play will be the elephant in the room that everyone is talking about. Even in SOE’s other active and in-development games. Even in other MMOs by other developers.

Enthusiastic players who take the future profitability of EQ2 seriously have barely had a word to say about the basic concept of Free-to-Play, but have instead focused their concerns on it’s implementation, and how SOE’s choices may very well lead to a fracturing of the community itself.

The question “Should EQ2 have Free-to-Play?” has taken a back seat to analysis of the avalanche of announcements and forum responses thus far from expert tap dancer Dave “SmokeJumper” Georgeson.

Today marks the official rename of our site to EQ2Wire.com. No more feldoncentral.com, and while we were at it, we ditched the www’s too. It’s just plain  EQ2Wire.com. This should make our site easier to remember, and result in a substantial cost savings on your next tattoo. We’ve also refreshed the logo to make sure we aren’t using any SOE art.

Did you know? EQ2Wire will have T-shirts at Fan Faire!! We’ll post more info later today.

Starseeker is another new contributor to EQ2Wire and wanted to share a viewpoint on the aftermath of EQ2’s F2P announcement.

This is my commentary on Free to Play.  I have to get it off my chest.

EverQuest 2 is an old game, 6 years, that is a long time for an MMO.  I have been playing this game since launch.  I remember the days when you would have spirit shards, and experience debt that would take away XP instead of just give you a % penalty.  I remember when your guild could lose levels, and when there was heroic content in overland zones.

Things change.  It is the way of life that nothing can stay the same forever.  EverQuest 2 is no exception. It has changed and morphed and gone through its trials and tribulations.

The rest of the article after the jump…

Our own Druidess gives her perspective on the long-term effects of StationCash and what Free-to-Play means for the future of EverQuest II.

Since SoE decided not to sugar coat the news on F2P, I figured I’d return the favor and save the sugar for cookies I plan on baking later.

Early birds trying out Game Update 57 on the Test and Test Copy servers have encountered an intriguing error message when they try to purchase something from the Broker. (don’t be alarmed by my ProfitUI broker window, it’s the message in the lower right that is worth a second look):

You must upgrade to at least a Gold membership in order to purchase items from the broker.

I am really keeping these non-EQ2 posts to a minimum as per the request of readers during the spring Survey. But there’s a lot of news around the industry and in related games, and since Comic-Con is going on, well, we’re going to step out of EQ2 for a second for a few updates…

First-Timer’s Guide to Fan Faire

First up, Minerva, Community Relationships Manager for SOE Denver, has posted A First-Timer’s Guide to Fan Faire. It’s really an accounting of her experiences at last year’s Fan Faire event. A travel diary if you will, which may give you some ideas of what to expect, what to avoid, and how to have the best possible weekend.

Speaking from personal experience, it’s so easy to miss the chance to talk to more people, or focus too much attention on one thing and miss out on something else. I myself and struggling with the insane panel schedule this year trying to figure out how to catch everything I want to. There is one block where there are FOUR separate panels I wish I could be in. Aaarrghhhh!!

CORRECTION: Ikik is still on the Vanguard team.

Today we learn from EQ2Flames just who was laid off from the EQ2 team. Timetravelling designed some of the more interesting raid encounters in the Sentinel’s Fate expansion, including Roehn Theer:

I wanted to pop in and thank you all for playing EQ2 for the last few years.

You helped make it an absolute joy of a job, and I’m sorry to be moving on, but I suppose that thems the breaks.

Please keep on keepin’ on, having fun, and kicking the crap out of all of the encounters us poor Content designers create for you.

Hopefully y’all enjoyed some of everything I’ve worked on over the last few years as much as I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to create it for you.

And good luck with Roehn Theer…Slackers! =)

Brett – Timetravelling

Also, Saavedra, EQ2 designer from 2004-2008 and who had been working on other SOE projects also posted:

Guess I can post on flames now eh? Yeah, I am currently LFW

Vanguard

Also, if you have had any optimism for the future of Vanguard, they lost Wigin, as well as their Community Manager Raijinn. “On life support” would be a charitable way to describe the situation at this point.

Marketing?

Sources tell us that Marketing lost 2 team members during this layoff.

I guess now we know how SOE paid for those new Oracle 11G servers for EQ2.

The most difficult part of a raid encounter can be managing the Adds or additional enemies that come at predefined moments during the fight. EQ2 has a storied history of people trying different methods to manage, crowd control, confuse, or completely reset Adds during challenging fights. Clearly, the desire to beat more difficult enemies is a powerful temptation to cheat.

Manipulating the outcome of a fight through timely brawler death feigns or leashing certain mobs by fighting at a distance are tactics which have existed in EQ2 from the very beginning. Such exploits were very publicly documented in Veeshan’s Peak. But while it is one thing to participate in such tactics in a private instance. It is quite another to do so in a contested environment with plenty of witnesses!

EQ2Wire is not in the habit of pointing out particular guilds or players, but the controversy will likely be brewing until this exploit in the Klaaktuus Unbound fight can be closed.

With the recent attention to exploitation and penalizing players for various BattleGrounds exploits; the publicity of this event leaves one unanswered question, “Will SOE penalize guilds for exploiting a contested encounter, preventing others from enjoying its content legitimately?”

For those players interested in the exact details, the full transcription can be found on EQ2Flames from pages 124 to 129 (and continuing) (NOTE: Coarse language).

There are just two weeks left to register for Fan Faire and the number of Gold and Silver passes available is limited! Platinum passes have been sold out for some time now.

You can read more at EQ2Players.

Plane ticket prices are already rebounding fast, so if you are on the fence, either buy your tickets now, or roll the dice and wait another week. That’s not a bet I’d take!

As we have for the last 2 years, EQ2Wire will be providing Continuing Live Coverage of EverQuest II and Fan Faire.

UPDATE: Blizzard has cancelled their plans to require real names to post on their forums.

Unable to handle the avalanche of trolls overloading their community support forums (with 11.5 million players and over $20 billion in revenue after 5 1/2 years, you’d think they could afford to hire a few Kiara’s), Blizzard has decided to not just touch, but grasp firmly the third rail of MMORPGs — online anonymity.

The Blizzard Announcement:

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name…

Community Reaction

Since the announcement yesterday, there have been 13,000 responses, many of them announcing their depature from the forums for good.

Massively is calling this the WoW Killer.

SOE Reaction?

The irony of their current company spokesman “Mr. T” being a chosen moniker, is not lost on us. Will he be forced to start calling himself Laurence Tureaud in all future marketing? “I’m Laurence Tureaud and I pity the fool” neither intimidates nor rolls off the tongue.

If I were Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley, I would put my marketing department to work getting a slogan like this printed on every flat surface within reach:

Get lost in our worlds, without having to show ID.

Expectations are high that we might see DC Universe Online this winter:

Your secret identity is safe with us.

SOE has released The Agency: Covert Ops Facebook game:

We won’t break your cover.

Identity Theft

WoWRiot is covering this story, and have documented some instant karma reaped by one of the WoW developers.

Now I think it’s fairly safe to say that this is perhaps the dumbest idea that anyone has ever had ever.

To alleviate people’s concerns, Blizzard employee Bashiok decided to say his real name on the forums, his real name is Micah Whipple.

Within a few hours, a full report of Mr Whipple’s personal life was posted online, including full address, phone number, age, parents names and ages, and his Facebook page with extensive personal details.

In the end, it may be the threat of hundreds of employee resignations that nixes this idea.

The Funny Papers

I leave you with this hilarious (and scary) comic strip:

http://www.thenoobcomic.com/headquarters/comics/00378_2.jpg

Breaking News: Christine “Kiara” Renzetti is hopping the fence from EverQuest II to a new role as EverQuest Community Manager.

More after the jump…

Interviews with the EQ2 team have been popping up everywhere, but while interviewing Dave Georgeson (EQ2 Senior Producer) would seem the obvious choice, EQ2Wire prefers to take the road less traveled. Although never officially announced, Xelgad has been appointed the go-to guy for Class Balance and Mechanics changes, filling the position hastily vacated by Aeralik last fall.

We submitted 11 questions to Xelgad and are thrilled to be able to share the results of that exchange. There have been some gameplay changes of late that haven’t had a lot of developer response on the forums, so for our first exclusive EQ2Wire interview, we’ve brought these issues to light, hoping to get some additional insight. While there are few revelations, the community benefits from hearing from someone who has such day-to-day input into EQ2’s gameplay are huge.

Overview

Welcome to the first installment of Dethdlr’s Dungeon. This is my little place on EQ2Wire to post my commentary on EQ2. Unlike the news items, this is more for opinion based articles from my own perspective. For my first article here I’m going to tackle: How to figure out an encounter.  I’m sure some of our readers know all of this information already but there’s probably a tidbit or two in there that may help someone out.  Here goes…

Oh hey, we did an interview!

A View From the Top – Episode 12 – Morgan Feldon

I sat down with Karen (aka “Jaye”) and Adam (aka “Ferrell”) to record an interview for their A View From the Top program this Saturday. I was a bit nervous at first, but they made me feel very welcome and had some great questions. All in all I had a lot of fun talking about EQ2, the future of the game, and the future of this site.

We really jumped all over the place on topics (there was a script?)  but we covered areas of the game and its development that I think will prove interesting to listeners.

If you’ve not heard of A View From the Top, it is a podcast covering MMOs and hosted by raid guild leaders Adam and Karen. They really know their stuff regarding running successful guilds and navigating guild drama. I could have used their advice in a past guild or two. 😉

• Adam also runs a blog which is EpicSlant.com. He posts commentary about EQ2 and other games from the perspective of a guild leader.

• Karen also runs a blog which is Journeys with Jaye and has a lot of insight into raiding and raiding guilds.

Random Thoughts

As I listen to this interview for the first time since giving it, some things occur to me:

• Crutch Words (“uhh…” “ahh…” “and…”) suck
• I want what Adam’s eating (munch, munch!)

Feedback

I’m anxious to hear your feedback on this interview. Anxious enough that I’ve ordered medication. Seriously, I’d like to hear what you have to say!

EQ2Wire’s Morgan Feldon is recording an interview with Vagary TV’s A View From the Top podcast this weekend. It should appear on their website later this week. We’ll post a link as soon as we have it.

A View From the Top has had a series of interviews including Kiara (EverQuest II Community Manager). They also take reader questions, such as one from Green Armadillo (writer of the Player vs Developer blog). You can catch past recordings of their podcast on their website.

UPDATE: Whew! Just finished the interview. What a rush! Jaye and Adam are great folks and it was an interesting conversation. Again, this podcast should be online this week.

When are we going to quit slacking and announce the winners of the EQ2Wire Prowler Contest?

HOW ABOUT NOW?

The Contest

A trainer of mounted cats recently lost his head about the prospects of limitless wealth and ice (for iced tea naturally) in New Halas and so packed up overnight, leaving behind a manor full of trained battle cats — and no forwarding address.

We have managed to procure five of these highly prized felines and now need to find homes for them.

The Winners

“Slippery Slope”

“Socks”

“Shadow Hunter”

“Yoguart”

“Twisted Mentat” for Schrödinger!

The winners have been notified by e-mail. If I do not hear back from them for 72 hours, an alternate will be awarded.

We are notifying the EQ2Wire Prowler Contest winners by e-mail now.

Any issues yesterday regarding Forum Permissions, inability to Login, or inability to Register for Fan Faire are attributable to Account Services and Commerce undergoing a 12 hour maintenance. This maintenance has been completed, so if you had a problem with one of those issues, it should work now.

Sorry we didn’t get an announcement up sooner.

The Contest

A trainer of mounted cats recently lost his head about the prospects of limitless wealth and ice (for iced tea naturally) in New Halas and so packed up overnight, leaving behind a manor full of trained battle cats — and no forwarding address.

We have managed to procure five of these highly prized felines and now need to find homes for them.

It has been difficult, but we have decided on selection criteria. Those players who reply to this posting with the name they intend to give to their cat will be entered into a drawing. Five names will be chosen at random to receive their very own Prowler mount of their choice.

This is the same Prowler mount which recently became available on the StationCash Marketplace.

We’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in the EQ2Wire May 12th Reader Survey. If you haven’t yet filled it out, check it out here.

We’ve learned quite a bit from the entries so far, and we’ll be posting the aggregated results of this survey soon. Already, your comments are helping us improve EQ2Wire’s coverage. Readers are interested in articles about issues guilds face, player stories, and some general Lore background stories. These are items which EQ2Wire has not focused on before, but which we’d like to start dabbling in.

If you are interested in writing articles for EQ2Wire, even just a one-off article or one article a month, or cartoon strips, or illustrations, or basically anything you think is worthy of posting here, by all means, contact us!

EQ2 Senior Producer SmokeJumper, as well as covic and Rothgar, have continued to respond to criticism about the introduction of the Prowler mounts on the EQ2 Forums. It’s impossible to quote everything they’re posting, so if you read one thread on the EQ2 Forums this weekend, I’d read this one.