Feldon 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.
Regarding Mounts:
It’s not a serious game disadvantage not to have a mount. The stats aren’t game breakers, and the run speed is a “nice to have”, not a “must have”. I’ve played six characters up to 35 without mounts since I’ve been on the team. It’s nicer having a mount, but it’s not critical.
However, we plan to fix [low level characters being unable to play LoN or SC] in the next few months. That’s all I’ll reveal on that right now, but the fix is in-progress. Lowbies are going to get cared for soon.
About comparisons to WoW:
The fact of the matter is…WoW just beat us to it. We didn’t know they were going to do mounts on their marketplace. We had already started the process to do this when they made their announcement.
Parallel development in this case.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We ain’t WoW. We have no intention of being WoW. From here on out we’re going to become more and more unique and embrace the fact that we are different.
We may occasionally do something that they do, but that’s only because both of our companies can occasionally be smart at the same time.
In response to suggestions that SmokeJumper was brought in as the “Micro Transaction Director” (Mozo):
Just so you’re aware, I’m not “the microtransaction director”, although I do know more about it than most folks.
Some of my pedigree:
- Pools of Darkness
- Absolute Zero
- Mechwarrior II series
- Heavy Gear 2
- Tribes 2
- PlanetSide
- zOMG!
And there a bunch of others. I’ve been making PC entertainment for over 20 years. Microtransactions are relatively new. And…well…I was only on Free Realms for a grand total of about six weeks before moving over here after starting at SOE again recently.
Just so’s y’knows.
On the topic of “What does StationCash buy for the development team?”, SmokeJumper, er, jumped in with:
Marketplace items are completely voluntary. They’re not required and you don’t need them to get ahead in the game. You can get similar stats from other mounts found elsewhere. (Just not with that same appearance.)
Some people *like* looking unique. And some folks don’t mind paying cash for that privelege. This caters to those players, if falls under the category of “paying for entertainment”, and it’s no different than going to a movie or a concert.
What do we do with the money from these mounts?
Do we roll it up into green cigars and light them with $100 bills? Or do we reinvest that money into the development of this game?
If you think it’s the former, then you’re wrong. If you think it’s the latter, then bingo. You win.
The more money the game makes, the better off the game will be, and the cooler things we can make while justifying keeping a large dev team on the project.
This explanation won’t satisfy some of you, but the rest of you seem to like ungarnished truth. So there you go.
covic followed up on that with:
Well I can say that it all comes back to helping us create a big massive game. The expansions and free updates are always priority. And SC is a nice suppliment to help us get funding to create an even bigger game. I actually have got an apprentice this year and have an intern coming next month. With the funding from doing SC stuff here and there. Getting two more devs to help create an even bigger expansion is well worth the 5 percent of my time I spend on SC.
My apprentice has been making a mass amount of wiedables for the expansion. If a few SC items means we will have the funding to make an expansion with very little reuse and mostly new models and art for our base player population I am all for it.
If a few SC items means we will have the funding to make an expansion with very little reuse and mostly new models and art for our base player population I am all for it.
Rothgar‘s angle on this:
I can also confirm this from the programming side. We’ve recently been given the go-ahead to hire a new Senior Programmer. You probably saw a post from Kiara on the forums last week regarding this. Would we have been given the ability to hire someone if it wasn’t for the funds that we earn from Station Cash sales? I’m not sure, maybe not.
We have budgets and those budgets are determined by profitability. If we make more, we can operate with a larger budget. (This should not be a foreign business concept) We are also spending a small portion of our time creating items for Station Marketplace. So yes, you could say that due to the funds we earn from the Marketplace we are able to make more Marketplace items. But we probably spend more of those “dollars” towards non Marketplace features and content.
When the new senior programmer joins the team this will give us the bandwidth to fix more bugs, work on performance issues and make more improvements to the game. So we look at this is a very positive result to the marketplace.
We know that everone won’t agree, but that’s just the nature of the business.
About Appearance Mounts (by Rothgar):
Yes, we still want to do a more robust [Appearance] Mount system but no, it doesn’t have a specific place on our timeline yet. Things can change and sometimes features can be added or removed from our schedule, so you never know when something like this might appear. But yes, we want to do something and we have some really cool ideas for it.
Commentary
It has not gone unnoticed by us that the “First Ever Mount on the Marketplace” thread has received over 20 responses from 5 different developers, while other issues regarding game mechanics and class balance have gone unanswered for years.
From Aerfen:
Why can’t we get that kind of response in threads regarding broken items, mythical nerfs (mystics and furys), broken TSO endline spells (the old Stonewall thread)…there are so many other things that need your attention in this game…
From GrunEQ:
There have been more Dev responses regarding this “Fluff” item than there should be, especially considering there are a number of threads out there that desperately need a dev’s attention. They seem to know they’ve crossed a line but are going to defend their actions and willfully deny any wrong-doing.
Maybe it’s just me, but when covic starts talking about, “my apprentice,” I just can’t help but picture a ratonga (Mickey Mouse) in a star-covered pointy hat (available now through the Marketplace!) directing brooms to do their work and being overwhelmed . . . hehe, with some of what’s been happening recently (I point to the “waiting for zone info” times that STILL hamper us (at least on the Guk server)) it’s an apt analogy.
CoH has had microtransactions for a while, it does generate useful extra money, and if properly handled, becomes “cool” but not “must have”. Though every single hero/villain I have MUST have ‘Ninja Run’ from the martial arts booster 😛
I have no problem with SOE doing these under these auspices. Now fix bards!
dont worry they will have a fix for bards soon but you will need to buy the fix with SC.
ya i have seen 800 post threads go on with no dev love. seems funny they waste all their time in 1 thread about sc…
Regarding “commentary” quotes.
Wow they are So defensive about the SC mounts, yet they totally ignore other important topics. When people do something they don’t normally do, i tend to think, based on human psychology, that something is rotten in Denmark.
SOE has just produced a for-pay expansion that had the least content in the history of the game. They suffered the lowest sales figures for a EQ2 expansion in the history of the game, by far.
My weekend attendance count puts current peak attendance back at the before expansion levels. Layoffs are forthcoming at SOE.
Rather than include the “must have” fluff/stats mount as content, which would get folks off running some long quest line (a la Rime mounts) they chose to hold the content out of the game and sell it on the side for cash.
They’ll be selling copy machines and desk furniture next.