EQ2 Producer’s Letter “Coming Up for Air”
From EQ2 Senior Producer Holly “Windstalker” Longdale on the EQ2 Forums:
Hey Norrathians,
It’s been (too) many weeks since you last heard from me. I have been watching the forums and been eager to post as these are very exciting times for us. And here I am. I’ve come up for air!
In the past month, I’ve been in the trenches with the team reviewing the state of the game and having loads of meetings about our plans as we move forward. I’m fully absorbed in EQII-ness.
As you can imagine, the design and art teams continue to be hard at work developing the latest Game Update. The content is really coming together and the art is also – as usual – amazing. The Velious story is being well-served and we’re jazzed. We’ll start giving more details in the coming days.
At the same time, engineers are hammering out bugs and refining the features we already have (designers are too). For our engineers, that is their focus for the foreseeable future. You see some of the results in the updates already, but there is a lot being worked on. And while we are looking into several issues, we are still chasing the Quest feather/book graphic issue. It is one of those bugs that makes me fully appreciate how complex game programming and art is.
On the subject, I have spent time with various divisions here recently, like Customer Service and Community, to identify concerns and the big hot-button issues with the game and I feel I’m getting my feet wet on that front. These teams forget nothing and have a very good detailed list we will continue to review and respond to.
We are about to post our March Update plans for the month, and you may have see the February Update message too. Our plan is to package up what we are doing over the month and share it with you. When you see it all in one fell swoop, there’s a lot of live content and improvements that are planned and ongoing as we toil away here.
And for what it’s worth for those who asked about my Dev name…”Windstalker” has an obvious connection to Holly Windstalker which is a wood elf druid character who exists in both EQ and EQII. She’s very protective to put it mildly. The name felt appropriate. For those who are interested, Vahlar was my EQ Dev name for my Vah Shir though I’m sure that’s old news by now. I thought about hyphenating…
I plan to communicate regularly, ideally with something interesting to say. Or I may just report the weather. (It’s still raining…)
My best to all of you intrepid gamers. Until next time (which will not be another month away)…sigh.
Holly “Windstalker” Longdale
Proud Producer
EverQuest II
Tags: game update 63
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Comments (38)
Wanda_Clamshucker
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I WAS going to give her a pass because she’s the new chick, but she has been around 6 months prior to SJ announcing her ascension, so this delay isn’t all that excusable. She really should have been addressing the community regarding the PSS1 deal, not letting Brasse hide behind locked statements or throwing Piestro to the wolves. While it is nice to hear from her, it is fluffy, generalized tripe and there are fundamentally important things going on that she really should be doing more than “getting her feet wet”.
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Arabel
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Lots of words to say nothing at all
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Atan
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Wanda: I doubt she has input or involvement with the PSS1 deal.
Arabel: It was alot of words and saying nothing other than, ‘I plan to say something in March.’ But that’s more communication than we’ve had thus far in February.
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Pyratt
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@Atan I do tend to agree that communication in some form is better than nothing;however, alowing that long of a lapse with nothing of substance does very little. I have to agree with Arabel, lots of BS nothing of value.
How many times have we heard…we are working so hard you guys are gonna love it, if you could only see how much we are doing, the vision that we have for this game is amazing…
I know you feel the same way. Even those that have invested the most into this game and SOE are waivering at this point.
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Seffrid
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Her appearance was nothing more than an attempt to provide a distraction, given that she had absolutely nothing to say. If only she had added something to the effect that she understood players’ concerns and was confident there would be positive news soon, that would at least have indicated that she was trying to stay in touch.
The bottom line is that she is the game’s Producer, when players are cancelling in their droves she really ought to say something relevant to that.
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Kwill
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I think it’s a good letter. It was probably very hard to write, to strike the right note and not feed any fires. I also think it’s almost impossible to get the community’s trust back at this stage of the game, without a lot of work. This letter would have been fine two years ago, but today, people are much too cynical to accept promises and excitement at face value. It’s sad.
I don’t think she had a thing to do with the PSS1 deal, that was all international relations and the sale I am sure was orchestrated by her boss’ boss.
Let’s give her a chance. She is well familiar with the EQ franchise, especially the game the way it was, and she’s organized and has a good eye for lore and detail. I am the one who interviwed her all those years ago, and she impressed me then. I have no reason to doubt she can perform today. Trust does go both ways — as Feldon said, the devs and producers have to be able to trust if they do communicate the community doesn’t unleash all the (justifiable) rage where it doesn’t belong.
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Landiin
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I want some of that cool-aid for sure!
What exactly did we learn from her letter? Same as always; more to come later…
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Taka
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While I appreciate this communique, I looked forward to the list of whats coming soon. More specifically the next round of character tuning and general content. Rime, Kraytoc, Drunder, EOW cycles are getting kinda stagnant.
Btw, since we have flying mounts, any chance we’re gonna see “shards” of Luclin (it blew up). …envisions “The Grey” on a meteor only accessible by flying mount through a portal. -smirk
The Grey
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Onorem
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If the March plans look anything like the February Publish Plans – More to Play, Your Way…
Love is in the Air with fun new content – Feb. 7 – 20
Dungeon Maker item additions and game play changes
Feature Update: Get mail anywhere
Feature Update: In-game Polls
Limited-Time and Love-themed Items on Marketplace, coming soon!
…I won’t be all that excited. I picture:
Brewday is here with a couple new quests…
Dungeon Maker is still boring, but with new SC options
In-game Polls: We might start to use them
Even more SC options
There’s no substance to the message at all. I don’t envy her position, but she’s eventually going to actually have to say something.
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Feldon
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I notice that lots of posts from the official thread have now been removed as being “spam”. What are people linking to?
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Lakoda
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She deserves the benefit of the doubt here. She’s responsible for the whole flipping game, so she has to get caught up on EVERTHING and that initial learning process is killer (think of your first few weeks at a new job, not tack on the responsibility she’s got…just because a lot of others at SOE are asshats doesn’t mean she is…only time will tell). Now that she’s surfaced though, she better stay active with your communications.
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Atan
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Feldon, they are not links for the most part. It seems ‘spam’ is the new word for negative feedback.
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Lempo of Everfrost
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@Lakoda She has had far more than a few weeks to get caught up.
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Anaogi
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Given the state of the community, she really needed something better, or at least more appropriate.
It may not be fair to expect her to stick to a steep learning curve, but given the state of things, ‘fair’ is pretty much out the window.
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Melanore
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Anyway, she wants to share March Dev Plans, but were are the February plans?
Dungeon Maker item additions and game play changes: not seen the changes to the gameplay?
Feature Update: Get mail anywhere: where is that?
Feature Update: In-game Polls: not seen any!
So, don’t give us plans you never respect.
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Anaogi
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Feature Update: Get mail anywhere: where is that?
Been in for a week or so.
Feature Update: In-game Polls: not seen any!
Came in with the mail change.
Granted recent events have seemingly overtaken everything else, but these two at least have happened.
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Lempo of Everfrost
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@ Feldon I finally identified one ‘spam’ post it was some dogsqueeze that Deago posted a link to a youtube video, he keeps making these silly one liner posts that have nothing to do with anything.
“500Kdps mercs to compensate us!” etc.
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Frank
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I’ve never understood their mentality about updates. “We can’t tell you, but it will be good.” What possible reason is there for that? It’s not about being a public company and it’s not like a competitor will beat them to market with an EQ2 expansion…
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skippydippy
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This type of message should have been done within the first couple of days of her taking over,the usual vapid stuff we expect from an incoming producer you then take a bit of time to put a bit of meat on the bones for the next message.
To leave it so long was borderline ignorant to me.
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Necromancer
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9 paragraphs of saying nothing at all.
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Nyna
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so the hot announcement that Smedbucks Butler promised for monday turned out to be 100% hot air an ZERO new info.
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badcat
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@Nyna typical par for the course, soe “we are working on it” In other words it reminds me of the child asking “are we there yet” and the parent knowing full well its another 24 hours before we get to the destination says “soon”. It is something I really hate they think we are children and can keep putting us off while they go do whatever. Actually I feel like I am a random dollar sigh waiting to be moved to an unknown destination.
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Necromancer
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Why is the two most commonly uttered phrases by anyone at SOE are “We are working on it”, and “Working as intended”?
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Abatha
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I’m still waiting for the answer from
Smokeblower…err jumperSmedley that was promised on Monday. Perhaps he meant Monday February 4, 2013 and not yesterday.It was good that Holly posted (even fluff) because that gave us all something else to gripe about for a few minutes.
I hope SOE gets their act together… soon.
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MrsBadger
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That’ll be trench foot
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Karl
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Talking with a wall has more content than this letter
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Nyna
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at least she mentioned that theyre chasing the quest feather bug.
amazing that they couldnt wipe it out for that long
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Starlakay
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At one time Holly was one of the great ones, guess she sold out for a steady paycheck. very sad.
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Hypno
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Coming up for air kind of confirms the SOE ship is sunk.
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badcat
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The post was fluff with were going to have some fixes but nothing concrete, and not even one hint about the ps1 problem that we have in the pipe.
I was hoping that with the change of the gaurd we would have a change in attitude, sad to see were still as much in the dark as ever.
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Kwill
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I wonder if they hit a snag with the PSS1 deal, and couldn’t deliver as intended… so now are silent.
Hmmm, let me have more koolaid… naybe instead the region blocking is gone, and there’s nothing to report because it’s all being fixed.
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Kruzzen
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Well I had hoped for something, all we got was we are working on things. That is not really any different then every other producer at this point. I don’t even look at the official forums because they censor it worse than china’s news agency. I am still giving her the benefit of the doubt, but waning fast. 🙁
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Cristamir
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Trade a brown dog for a spotted dog…you still have a dog.
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don johnson
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Wasn’t holly windstalker a human? WHY WOULD A WOOD ELF BE IN THE QEYNOS HILLS YOU STUPID? Is it really so hard to hire someone to do a job that actually knows shit about shit? Y
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Grimmond
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It just amazes me. In the height of the biggest fan frenzy this game has seen (maybe second to the Sony security fiasco) a new producer takes the reigns and does not see the need to make a statement … even just to the effect that “things are too fluid to say anything of any substance, but rest assured, we have heard you and are working on it”. Even a freshman in college public relations could tell you that when things are bad you HAVE to communicate with the customers. The one underlying theme to player criticism over the last year and a frequent fan complaint for the last six years is a lack of meaningful communication from the producers and developers.
I understand their lack of “want” at being roasted here when things go wrong or change. However, this perception that the fans are hostile is a creation of their own making. They either fiddled while Rome was burning or fed the flames, or at the least went on vacation to Pompeii. We as a fan base understand that changes happen, things are not always going to go our way, and that the game has to evolve. However, seeing these necessary changes and or growth ahead should signal to the producers and lead developers that maybe a little communication with the fans might smooth things over and pave the way for the changes to be accepted better with mutual understanding. A positive, worthwhile beta process would not hurt either (that means actual beta time and redevelopment procedures for things that need tweaking). This seems to be the root problem with the games management, and until they understand this and make the vital changes in communicating, the revolving door that the producers position has become will continue.
This is a great game. The producers job should be exciting and have some job security with it, but with the fan base as it is, I don’t think anyone wants to sit in that chair for more than a few months at a time. Changes have to be made. This producer is going to have to communicate. She is going to have to accept skepticism and rebukes and challenges to her assurances. She is going to have to stay the course, and be steady, and make frequent posts to the players, with meaningful content (not the drivel she posted today), and then take the heat … and there will be heat. She may need asbestos lines pantaloons. She will need to smile and turn the other cheek until it hurts to get the fan base back to a 50/50 partnership. Otherwise she might as well leave now and not look back. We deserve at least this much, and she deserves to at least make that much of a commitment. Otherwise SoE might as well let the game go to the Alaplaya developers for a few power item addition.
I wish her all the luck in the world and really hope she makes the effort … the players and the developers deserve better than they have gotten. They deserve a true leader to stand in front and drive the train.
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Daffodil
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She should have been a politician. What a waste of time sitting reading all that bumf that says nothing.
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Eschia
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I don’t know any other place to post this but I just got a email from SOE stating that they are closing EQOA for the PS2, and giving 3 full paid months to people currently subscribed, which also counts all access pass holders. Weird because I just closed my all access pass over the pss1 issue. I hope they count me getting those 3 months or don’t count on me ever resubscribing again lol.
Sad to see yet another SOE game bite the dust though… Body count of 3 now? I keep saying next is Vanguard but they keep surprising me.
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The EQ2 Wire » March Update Plans for EverQuest II -- EverQuest II News & Commentary
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[…] allusions by EQ2 Senior Producer Holly “Windstalker” to a “very detailed list” of issues and bugs and indications that today’s March update would “answer several of the substantive […]
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