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