The secret of how to turn lead into gold

[Lohann]

<DIV> ...has never been found. Okay, now that I have got your attention, let me tell you a sad story. <P><BR></P> <P>I started playing Everquest II as soon as the servers opened in 2004. Right from the beginning, I loved this game, which had its flaws, but managed to hook me. Graphics were awesome, gameplay was good. Granted, I had a few bad experiences with SoE (SWG and the Jedis, to name one), but SoE seemed to be wanting to change its old ways. They said so. I trusted them.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>The problem is right here. I trusted the devs. Please note the past tense.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>The first crack in my trust was caused by the translation. I'm French, you see. It's not my fault, I was born like that. The game was sold to me as "Completely Translated In French", that is what is <EM>written</EM> on the box. Yet, when I started playing, it was NOT comlpetely translated. I'd say 30% of it was. This caused quite a ruckus among the French community. "Sure," said Smed, "it's not translated, but give us 8 more weeks and it will be." So we gave him 8 weeks. During those 8 weeks, we had Japanese, English and French dialogues all mixed together. But they had promised. So we waited.</P> <P>Yes, they had promised the game would be completely translated. And guess what ? It is NOT.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>A few days ago there was the "frogloks incident". "Sure they are in game," they said, "you just haven't been able to find them, please look again, and be clever." Roughly speaking, that's what they told us in Cannes. And you know the rest of the story.</P> <P>Yes, they had promised to us the frogloks were in the game. And guess what ? They were NOT.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>Now they are planning a complete change of the combat system. According to what I have read in the forums, the game on the Test server is becoming a huge mess with tanks running around naked to have a better avoidance, and level 48 mages being smitten in one hit by grey creatures. Even if half of what I have heard is true, it is scary. I think this kind of change would take months to be correctly attuned, and that would be possible only if we were allowed to copy our characters to the Test server. Which we are not. So how will these changes be properly tested ? Only the frogloks know. Ooooops I forgot, they are not in the game yet. So I guess nobody knows. Moorgard (not blaming him, he is just doing what he is told to) has promised that these combat changes will not go live until they have been tested. Aaaaah yes, but I, unlike SoE, have learnt my lessons. I know how to deal with promises.</P> <P>Yes, they have promised it will be thouroughly tested. And guess what ? It will NOT.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>So here is the situation. When this patch goes live in say two weeks, without having properly and thouroughly been tested of course, I will log in, and play. If my playing experience then appears to be as miserable as it seems to be on the Test server, I will cancel right on the spot and never look back.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>I have played so many MMORPGs to know that thins kind of radical change can ruin it in a matter of weeks. I have witnessed with incredulous eyes the crumbling of many good games being turned to dog doo because a high executive who had never really played it thought he knew the solution. Making changes is good. Turning the game upside down every other week is bad. Everquest II is taking a wrong direction, because it knows NOT where it is going. Oblivion, if you asked me.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>Oh, I forgot. I promised to tell you a sad story. Well, here goes : there was once a man who thought he had found the secret of how to turn lead into gold. And guess what ? He had NOT.</P> <P><BR></P> <P>Want another one ? It's even sadder. There was once a company named SoE who had gold in its hands. They are trying to turn it into lead. And guess what ? I think they WILL.</P> <P>I hope I'm wrong. And guess what ?...</P> <P> </P></DIV> <P>Message Edited by Lohann on <SPAN class=date_text>04-17-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>04:10 PM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Lohann on <span class=date_text>04-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>04:13 PM</span>

[Fle]

<DIV>And at the end of the day remember it's just a game. Make up your own mind and don't go by what someone else says. One mans meat is another mans poison.</DIV>

[froglockpalad]

<DIV>properly tested all i can tell you is that we are indeed testing it  come to test server and show me how to properly test things if you don't think we are </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>just have patence the translation will come and i want the frogloks just as much as the next person who wants them to but i pretty much knew from </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>the begining that was the reason the truth was fairly obivous if you looked</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>calm down if this game makes you stress out don't play it its not for you play some thing that relaxs you and is fun and to add to that you make your </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>reality change it to what you see fit</DIV>

[Rock]

<P>Lohann's quote: </P> <DIV>it's not translated, but give us 8 more weeks and it will be." So we gave him 8 weeks. During those 8 weeks, we had Japanese, English and French dialogues all mixed together. But they had promised. So we waited.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>One good thing is being as how your English is so good all you need do is learn Japanese and you can play no matter what language they throw at you <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV><p>Message Edited by Rockem on <span class=date_text>04-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:37 PM</span>

[Andre]

<DIV>Hello there,</DIV> <DIV>i'm plainng on german server and we have this horrible mix from german and englisch too. What upset me over any limit is quets that was given in german but all ingridients, mobs,npc's and such stuff are still in english. And noone knows a logic ( or atleast a vocabulary) that was used due this translation. Can you ever imagine collection quests where  inbetween task and dialogs/completion messages correlate no one single world ?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>All for almost anyone who i knowon this server will give up such "translation" for pure englsich version of game. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Upss - but we cant even log on our servers with english version of this came.</DIV>

[Rra]

Sounds like the game not being translated sucks, but honestly I don't see any of the changes being that terrible, they just need time to be balanced. And sometimes stuff goes through thats not testing well enough, but it'll get fixed no big deal. I would be [Removed for Content] to if I could only understand 30% of the game. <div></div>

[Iavi]

<p>If the game said it was translated it should be translated. I believe that is called false advertisement.</p> <p>I have been seeing a lot of promises and no fulfillment of those promises. The big armor patch that lead only to even more bowling shoe looks, the promise of frogloks etc… In the mean time, they are working on, not the things that people want, but on Optional Voiceovers, a rampant epidemic that does nothing but annoy people, and what seems to be the assassination of Scout classes.</p> <p><!-- [if !supportEmptyParas] --></p> <p>I logged out yesterday and haven’t felt the desire to log back in. I am slightly frustrated with the game for many reasons, and if they actually read the feedback in game they know why.</p> <p>This is supposed to be a game that casual gamers can play, and yet you have to join a guild if you want to be able to get tradeskill workstations and do writs. They have made it a duplicate of EQ1 where you have to be in a guild if you want to do anything worth doing. Why don’t they make it so one person can start a guild, and make it so that one person can actually level the guild. What difference does it make? What’s the big deal if there are 500 level 50 guilds out there, they are still getting their money and the customer is happily doing solo guild stuff. That would mean they are getting at least 500 x $20 a month from each of those soloing guild people.</p> <p>I too am tired of hearing promises and seeing no results. It seems to me that they are yet again not listening to the people who actually play the game and pay them to make it fun. I would like to see them actually addressing the main issues that players have given feedback on, instead of going off and doing whatever they want and not listening to the customer base. Seems to me that they don’t care what the players/payers think… they already have our money or something like that right?</p> <p>I had high hopes for this game, but 6 months later I still see the same issues unresolved and not even being worked on, but glossed over with sweet words that mean nothing. I sincerely hope that these issues will be resolved soon. The game has a lot of potential. I have patiently been waiting, like so many others, for that potential to be born into a really fun game.</p> <p><!-- [if !supportEmptyParas] --><!-- [endif] --></p> <!-- [if !supportEmptyParas] --> <div></div>

[TD_]

<DIV>Well, I've been thinking. Just an opinion from your average casual gamer. (nothing about translation, all english here- I do feel for you guys though)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The past couple weeks haven't been so fun in EQ. Namely it started with the random zone revamp. I thought it was pretty cool,  being a soloer and what not, but it was a bit overboard. Seeing mighty griffons and giants and centaurs- namely strong creatures- getting owned made me realize how much change the game takes every patch. (much like the knee jerk people describe here) Little aggro and solo mobs WHAM overnight. Being in danger now and then kept the game unpredictable and exciting with group mobs. Creatures became famous because they were mean. Now since everything is solo, just about everything dies the same and quite easily. They just look a bit different. And well, with this horrific LU7 hanging over the game I have personally stopped playing for the time being. I still browse the forums, still check up on how things are, but I've definitly lost the hook that grabbed me for the past 6 months or so. It's actually quite refreshing. I was very addicted- made it up to 35. ^_^</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Don't get me wrong- I'm not one of those folks that threaten to quit at every update. I've never even thought about quiting until now. I'm just your average casual mainly solo player who overall enjoys playing this game. <STRONG>And</STRONG> I would like to continue playing this game, very much so. I'm just letting you know how I'm feeling so that you understand how your customer base is feeling. Overall I'm just sorta tired of beta testing if you will. (Not ment as an insult or harsh words, just how it feels to me)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This patch, for myself and many others so it seems, is really a deciding kinda patch. I play a Scout, a Ranger.Alot of changes are happening that affect them for the worse (as it stands now), and there are alot of changes that need to take place to bring this class back into the overall picture of the game. On patch 7 day, if I find that the changes put me in the same spot, or worse (you have alot of making up to do for taking our hailing while sneaking away), then I will simply wean off, and stop playing. No, I won't leave to WoW, I'm done with onliney games. I got a loving girlfriend out of the first Everquest, so there's nothing I really need anymore out of these games. :smileyvery-happy: Just some on the side entertainment was what I was looking for. :smileyhappy:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm not trying to put the game down, flame, or threaten SoE to make certain changes. I'm just stating how I feel, and how other casual players like myself may feel. I really enjoy playing this game, and I'd like to continue to. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just wanted to let you know how an average fan feels.</DIV> <DIV>My 2 cp</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Tristy Gladestalker</DIV>