Another EverQuest II Update from Producer Dave Georgeson [Archive]

KerowynnKaotic

07-27-2010, 05:43 PM

Considering the new guy has been with us since @ March - April and as far as I know hasn't been to a Fan Faire yet, I think he over-uses the Royal 'We'. He's got like 18 of them and 2 'ours' in this blog. I started out reading the blog and ended up counting 'we'. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /> Reading the blog I come away with the feeling that Smokejumper was involved in every aspect of the game from start to finish. Which I'm pretty sure is not true. lol.But, I got to give him credit, thus far, he's been pretty productive in commicating with the players .. regardless of if we like the content or not .. and I liked the Xpac hint and thought it was cute & sly at the same time.

dawy

07-27-2010, 05:46 PM

Lol yeah i got the impression that he'd been in the booth with Chris Lee when he did Lucan <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> its a shame this has been over shadowed by other eq2 news today

Paddyo

07-27-2010, 06:02 PM

What I don't like about this post is everything else getting placed on a back burner because its time to work on the expansion. Yes, work hard on the expansion and make it good and all....but we are on a 3 month game update cycle instead of a monthly one because we were getting bigger and better updates in that cycle, ASIDE from work on the expansion. Don't throttle down what we have been led to believe is going to happen and use the expansion as an excuse.

Karae

07-27-2010, 07:05 PM

<cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Considering the new guy has been with us since @ March - April and as far as I know hasn't been to a Fan Faire yet, I think he over-uses the Royal 'We'. He's got like 18 of them and 2 'ours' in this blog. I started out reading the blog and ended up counting 'we'. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /> Reading the blog I come away with the feeling that Smokejumper was involved in every aspect of the game from start to finish. Which I'm pretty sure is not true. lol.But, I got to give him credit, thus far, he's been pretty productive in commicating with the players .. regardless of if we like the content or not .. and I liked the Xpac hint and thought it was cute & sly at the same time. </blockquote>Select all, copy, paste into word. Find and replace "we" with "the team I've just recently joined." :pIt all sounds like good news to me. Ease of use and refinements in gameplay mechanisms and UI seem very needed if they're going to make a push to bring in new users. As it stands, EQ2 is far too difficult and obtuse for most people.I'm also glad to hear that they're not only planning to enhance the existing game but will continue adding to it with a new expansion.I guess my only disappointment is that the vast majority of those new players will be stuck on EQ2X for life... I wonder how negatively that will affect populations on EQ2 Live. :/

Yask

07-27-2010, 09:09 PM

I love at the bottom of that blog on a SOE website no less, there is an advert to buy plat from a goldfarmer website!<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" />

Amnerys

07-27-2010, 11:18 PM

Heads up that I removed a few posts in this thread that were crossposted from the EQ2X Feedback and Discussion thread. I'm collecting the feeback, post for post, so you only need to post it in one place for it to be seen. Thanks! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Also, yeah...rotating Wordpress banner for the lose. When I looked at the blog I saw an art print canvas ad, but apparently more than one person is seeing the plat ad./facepalm

Orealius

07-28-2010, 12:35 AM

???? My post was not applicable to this forum? That's a new one. I guess you get to choose what you like to hear.

Saintedone

07-28-2010, 01:12 AM

I love the idea and think it is the future...Now please make the time and look at the issues with LG servers.Will LG servers be able to leave and go EQ2X or merge into the live servers anytime soon? I didn't see this addressed anyware and wanted to ask.Thanks,Saintz

Jacra

07-28-2010, 03:46 AM

What I found ironic when reading the blog-post was that google added as random ad some promotion for a gold seller page (for EQ).While I don't mind the whole "have both things parallel but not connected" things I am increasingly concerned what that means for "additions" to the "Life" = old servers.Understand me please, I play a Carpenter and there is a big number of beautiful furniture in the Station Market of Life servers I can't compete with. The furniture I can make looks mostly clearly superior in quality. Ingame trophies looks superior too. And there is constantly more added. And I guess the tailors feel similar with the vanity clothes? It is not possible even with big rares numbers to make something similar. That is frustrating for me at least.Than the cat/tiger mounts were added to the station market. I like those but paying that insane price - far too much for me. And there is no way ingame to aquire a cat mount otherwise. Now the EQ2X suddenly says ... EQ2 life subscription means gold plan. No surprise since gold costs the same as the EQ2 life monthly fee eh? Well, it IS a surprise as gold means onlz 4 races. Others you have to purchase.What does that mean, the EQ2 Life servers will in future offer only those four races too and the other ones you have to buy via Station Access too? Where is that going to end I ask?!?And will the Items with stats be available only on EQ2X servers or on EQ2 life too? Seriously, first vanity clothes, than vanity furniture and pets, followed by mounts, now races and than what?Edit: I have another question. What motivation is there for new players to start on the Life servers (thus keeping them alive long term) when there is no more free trial at those - except the "recruit a friend" program which implicates they get in contact with you first and give you their mail? How do you plan (if at all?) to keep the Life servers from dwindling away?

Telesphorus

07-28-2010, 01:34 PM

Color me frustrated......where'd my posts go.....along with the 50+ other pages of postings?Not really sure what's up with that.......Amnerys can you shed some light on this?

Jaremai

07-28-2010, 02:42 PM

<cite>Telesphorus wrote:</cite><blockquote>Color me frustrated......where'd my posts go.....along with the 50+ other pages of postings?Not really sure what's up with that.......Amnerys can you shed some light on this?</blockquote>Um.. you mean this posting?<a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?start=760&topic_id=483444�">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...483444�</a>It's still there... you're looking in the wrong thread in the wrong forum. =p

Telesphorus

07-28-2010, 02:58 PM

<cite>Jaremai@Guk wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Telesphorus wrote:</cite><blockquote>Color me frustrated......where'd my posts go.....along with the 50+ other pages of postings?Not really sure what's up with that.......Amnerys can you shed some light on this?</blockquote>Um.. you mean this posting?<a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?start=760&topic_id=483444�">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...483444�</a>It's still there... you're looking in the wrong thread in the wrong forum. =p</blockquote>HAHA! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /> yeah I was in the wrong forum....never mind me, helps to go to the correct thread <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" />

Valdaglerion

07-28-2010, 08:26 PM

Valdaglerion

07-28-2010, 08:27 PM

<cite>Jacra@Valor wrote:</cite><blockquote>What I found ironic when reading the blog-post was that google added as random ad some promotion for a gold seller page (for EQ).</blockquote>Not so random. I have hit that blog page on multiple machines since yesterday, same ad comes up everytime.

Jacra

07-29-2010, 02:16 AM

Bump ... I'd like a reply to that please:What motivation is there for new players to start on the Life servers (thus keeping them alive long term) when there is no more free trial at those - except the "recruit a friend" program which implicates they get in contact with you first and give you their mail? How do you plan (if at all?) to keep the Life servers from dwindling away?Since that question popped up in my mind yesterday it keeps working there and I don't like the feelings of discomfort that stirs. EQ2 has been a home for me for years now and this is the first time where I feel uncomfortable with it since the "this has a future" feeling is gone and I am not interested in the EQ2X service at all. So ... if I "ignore" EQ2X it means we won't see fresh blood anymore ...? We had quite some new guild members from random new players over the last few month and it helps to keep our guild members number stable. Which is sorely needed.What now?

Yongqi

07-29-2010, 06:36 AM

I too thought it was funny that there was a plat seller link at bottom of blog via google.

Buneary

07-29-2010, 07:16 AM

The expansion pack is scheduled for release this Winternow, me been with EQ2 since day 1 but...is there any reason there has to be an expansion released almost every >1 year?its has just been 5 months since SF has been released and we are already talking about the next one?me would rather they where released on 2+ year intervals.thats the reason me thinks the expansion rate with this MMO is kinda ridiculous. releasing too many expansions makes current content get too obsolete fast.me really isnt looking forward to anymore lvl cap raises, AA revisions and the like happening again way too soon.Additionally, we intend changes to occur in the Battlegrounds and PvP aspects of the game. There are some obvious imbalances we need to address, and we’d like to make it more rewarding and fun for everyone that participates.as long as any incoming nerfs only effect the PvP/BG side of things and will have no impact on PvE players, me cant complain here. (but that fighter heal nerf thing is making it hard to believe SoE will actually do just that)And last, (but certainly not least), we intend to release a design overview for what the classes should be, how they should work together…and then execute on that plan.really hope that doesnt mean classes will be pigeon-holed into certain "jobs" and loose their hybridness. this just reeks of NGE...sorry to be a downer, but the current direction EQ2 is heading in doesnt seem so 100% awesome.

Sola

07-29-2010, 10:29 AM

I find it ironic that SOE post about how we should not buy/sell plat or leveling services, yet on this official SOE Station Blog website I see a Google Ad posted by a plat seller right under Georgeson's post. It's true that this site is not hosted by SOE and they have no control over how WordPress chooses their ads, but shouldn't SOE be a little bit more aware of such things and host their own site to avoid supporting such practices they feel are harmful to the player base?!?

GlitterPaws

07-29-2010, 11:42 AM

<cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Considering the new guy has been with us since @ March - April and as far as I know hasn't been to a Fan Faire yet, I think he over-uses the Royal 'We'. He's got like 18 of them and 2 'ours' in this blog. I started out reading the blog and ended up counting 'we'. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /> Reading the blog I come away with the feeling that Smokejumper was involved in every aspect of the game from start to finish. Which I'm pretty sure is not true. lol.But, I got to give him credit, thus far, he's been pretty productive in commicating with the players .. regardless of if we like the content or not .. and I liked the Xpac hint and thought it was cute & sly at the same time. </blockquote>When teams produce a product announcements generally refer to the team(s) as 'we' as in 'we,' the team developed this, and 'our' as in 'our' project is a team effort.This is corporate culture speak and has existed for decades. There is no Royal 'We' involved.Glitterpaws

Aerinn

07-29-2010, 10:44 PM

<cite>Buneary wrote:</cite><blockquote>The expansion pack is scheduled for release this Winter...is there any reason there has to be an expansion released almost every >1 year?its has just been 5 months since SF has been released and we are already talking about the next one?me would rather they where released on 2+ year intervals....And last, (but certainly not least), we intend to release a design overview for what the classes should be, how they should work together…and then execute on that plan.really hope that doesnt mean classes will be pigeon-holed into certain "jobs" and loose their hybridness. this just reeks of NGE...</blockquote>Some of us don't take a decade to get through new content, so the release cycle of 1 or 2 per year isn't too bad, especially if they kept up with something meaningful being updated even more frequently. Same old grind of the content gets dull over time, there's no getting around it. For what we pay you could buy a whole new game every 3 or 4 months, so the content should keep coming regularly.As for actually defining what the class is meant to be and balancing them in that way, kudos to the team! The amount of hybridization has made class distinctions almost meaningless. I'd love to see the class mean more than the type of armor you can wear or the name of your spell. Just because the class is tuned to do its "designed" job very well, doesn't mean that some exceptional players won't find a way to do more jobs with them. I mean, you can dig your swimming pool with a spoon....but it's just not the best tool for the job. It's a great step forward, because you can't balance a class that you haven't defined up front.As for BG/PvP, there's some belief that it's what we want. I'd personally be happy if they focused on keeping all of the totally separate from the game I purchased and pay for. PvE is good, but PvP feels like digging that pool with a spoon....maybe a fork. There are MUCH better PvP platforms out there...and to force a mediocre experience on people by any method just highlights how 'bleh" it is.

Aerinn

07-29-2010, 10:50 PM

<cite>Sola wrote:</cite><blockquote>I find it ironic that SOE post about how we should not buy/sell plat or leveling services, yet on this official SOE Station Blog website I see a Google Ad posted by a plat seller right under Georgeson's post. It's true that this site is not hosted by SOE and they have no control over how WordPress chooses their ads, but shouldn't SOE be a little bit more aware of such things and host their own site to avoid supporting such practices they feel are harmful to the player base?!?</blockquote>I'm sure that SoE would host everything themselves internally if we'd all only pay a little bit more. Google ads and the like have gone crazy everywhere and those "tailored" ads only starting showing up more frequently because some people click through the links.Give them a break, it's not like their page is about helping children with ads for hardcore pornography in their banner (though I have seen that happen more than once). Blame the ad people (usually Google) for their stupidity.And before it's said, I'm NOT a SOE fanboy or anything....they almost lost me completely with BG (and still may), but attacking this sort of stuff is pointless. Pick something legit to gripe about that they DID do on purpose (there's a lot) if you're wanting to whinge a bit.

Gladiolus

07-29-2010, 11:31 PM

<cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Reading the blog I come away with the feeling that Smokejumper was involved in every aspect of the game from start to finish. Which I'm pretty sure is not true. lol.</blockquote>The way I read it is that he takes ultimate responsibility for it all, which is great.Now if we can get some real news about the actual game, as opposed to peripheral things like PvP, the UI, battlegrounds, etc., that will be even better.

Jaremai

07-30-2010, 02:46 PM

The humorous(?) thing is when someone sets up a google ad account, they can specify domains, etc. that will not show up in their ads on your site. This is so you can stop competitors' ads from coming up, or just stuff you don't want.The fact that the ads are still there should tell you something. Either someone is lazy, or they're getting a cut - not just from the clickthru revenue, but what happens as a result of that service.

KerowynnKaotic

07-30-2010, 04:07 PM

<cite>Jaremai@Guk wrote:</cite><blockquote>The humorous(?) thing is when someone sets up a google ad account, they can specify domains, etc. that will not show up in their ads on your site. This is so you can stop competitors' ads from coming up, or just stuff you don't want.The fact that the ads are still there should tell you something. Either someone is lazy, or they're getting a cut - not just from the clickthru revenue, but what happens as a result of that service.</blockquote>Using Firefox I don't even see the ads but I know Niami from EQ2Traders has this HUMONGOUS list of ip/email address & various user names that is always getting something new to added to it for her google ads' as well as her Forums' blacklist. It's a never ending job. Everytime she bashes one, another 3 pop up to take that one's place. So I would expect that it is the same never ending job for EQ2 (and any other Game) to have to constantly battle new Google & whatever else kind of ad sites are out there. If not more since I would expect EQ2's main page to be pulled up more than EQ2Traders as not everyone is interested in Tradeskilling.Google & the ilk .. just use a random pull through their billions of ads in their dbase as long as it has the same use tag as the website. ie: game .. so any ad that has the use tag of 'game' will be shuffled into queue, regardless if it is something legal or not. Google doesn't care, they expect the people to deal with it on their own. Shame they (google) have such a substandard way of dealing with ads to be blacklisted.

KerowynnKaotic

07-30-2010, 04:32 PM

<cite>GlitterPaws wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Considering the new guy has been with us since @ March - April and as far as I know hasn't been to a Fan Faire yet, I think he over-uses the Royal 'We'. He's got like 18 of them and 2 'ours' in this blog. I started out reading the blog and ended up counting 'we'. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /> Reading the blog I come away with the feeling that Smokejumper was involved in every aspect of the game from start to finish. Which I'm pretty sure is not true. lol.But, I got to give him credit, thus far, he's been pretty productive in commicating with the players .. regardless of if we like the content or not .. and I liked the Xpac hint and thought it was cute & sly at the same time. </blockquote>When teams produce a product announcements generally refer to the team(s) as 'we' as in 'we,' the team developed this, and 'our' as in 'our' project is a team effort.This is corporate culture speak and has existed for decades. There is no Royal 'We' involved.Glitterpaws</blockquote>That is still the Royal 'we'. Corporations consider themselves Royality in their sphere. The higher up in that Corp they are the more they take credit for what others do using the royal 'we'.But, instead of using 'we' all the time for something he was only on the periphery of, he could have used 'the team' or even 'the team & I'. Or a few more "I think", "I believe" and "The Dev team is sure/excited/etc". I would have respected him more for that. It's just my opinion, though, and I'm sure he doesn't expect to be liked or respected by even half of the player base much less all of them. So, I don't expect him or anyone else to lose sleep over it.*shrug*

Aule

07-30-2010, 06:01 PM

Yeah I have to say it's pretty pathetic that there's a platseller link at the bottom of the official stationblog. That and the fact that they feel the need to have ads in the first place just makes them look cheap.

ke'la

07-31-2010, 01:15 AM

<cite>Paddyo wrote:</cite><blockquote>What I don't like about this post is everything else getting placed on a back burner because its time to work on the expansion. Yes, work hard on the expansion and make it good and all....but we are on a 3 month game update cycle instead of a monthly one because we were getting bigger and better updates in that cycle, ASIDE from work on the expansion. Don't throttle down what we have been led to believe is going to happen and use the expansion as an excuse.</blockquote>I am fairly certain he was talking about the specific projects in his Producers letter when he was talking about back burnering things. I am fairly certain we will still have 2 fairly robust LUs, we know the upcomming one is fairly large. Also with every expainsion work on other projects slow down as the launch date gets closer.

ke'la

07-31-2010, 01:16 AM

<cite>Artemiz@The Bazaar wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Jacra@Valor wrote:</cite><blockquote>What I found ironic when reading the blog-post was that google added as random ad some promotion for a gold seller page (for EQ).</blockquote>Not so random. I have hit that blog page on multiple machines since yesterday, same ad comes up everytime.</blockquote>Try refreshing your cashe those 3rd party ads are netorious for getting stuck.

ke'la

07-31-2010, 01:23 AM

<cite>Gladiolus wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaisha@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>Reading the blog I come away with the feeling that Smokejumper was involved in every aspect of the game from start to finish. Which I'm pretty sure is not true. lol.</blockquote>The way I read it is that he takes ultimate responsibility for it all, which is great.Now if we can get some real news about the actual game, as opposed to peripheral things like PvP, the UI, battlegrounds, etc., that will be even better.</blockquote>He is likly saving that for Fan Faire.

ke'la

07-31-2010, 01:31 AM

<cite>Jaremai@Guk wrote:</cite><blockquote>The humorous(?) thing is when someone sets up a google ad account, they can specify domains, etc. that will not show up in their ads on your site. This is so you can stop competitors' ads from coming up, or just stuff you don't want.The fact that the ads are still there should tell you something. Either someone is lazy, or they're getting a cut - not just from the clickthru revenue, but what happens as a result of that service.</blockquote>Or there are this things called Spam Hackers, that make lots of money devising ways around blacklists and the like, and have far more resources devoted to breaking though things like Google's Ad blacklist then SoE does on adding them too it. Also SoE has NO CONTROL, other then via a blacklist, and tags over what shows up on thier website's ad as such there is no way to make sure a companies ad shows up on your site(short of puting it there yourself and not through a 3rd party) and therefor any "Cut" they would be getting would be negligable at best. Farthermore, I am willing to bet that platseller has more then likly COST SoE far more money in chargebacks and such from the credit card companies.

gourdon

07-31-2010, 02:36 AM

<cite>kela wrote:</cite><blockquote>I am fairly certain he was talking about the specific projects in his Producers letter when he was talking about back burnering things. I am fairly certain we will still have 2 fairly robust LUs, we know the upcomming one is fairly large. Also with every expainsion work on other projects slow down as the launch date gets closer.</blockquote>Too bad our next game update has no new content and very few bug fixes, just a new UI for EQ2X. Look it up. There is a list in the test forum.

Moltove

08-02-2010, 09:41 PM

Who cares about advertisements. It doesn't matter. It's already been covered. We know what was there.How can anyone in this forum be focused on the advert? Seriously, you don't find anything from the blog post a bit infuriorating?One second (And as it always has been), they're spouting about bug improvements. Honestly, your bug fixes and content shifts will help the new players-- not more content to get lost between the new and the old. Not to mention the amount of times this has been said, only to be reversed by expansion development, so everything is ALWAYS on the back burner.Class fixes? Please. I hate the idea of Scouts tanking, or really any class doing what they're not supposed to, but every time classes have been tweaked, they've either been nerfed because they were needed to be, nerfed for no reason, or reverted back to their former class. As much as I would love to see this (if it's even done...), my faith has been lost.More SC? Well, I can only hope you have a seperate team for that, and that all items remain statless, though...it's unlikely you can really give a wide veriety of items enough for individuality. New armor sets are always worn, and for the most part stick for a fairly long time. But regardless, it's still nice, aside from the prices. I'd rather have a way to EARN it by questing for it. I give you guys enough money.The fact that another expansion is on the way is fairly discouraging. We then know we can't expect ANYTHING else while you're working on it, because it's very apparent. Not only do you tell us you can't work on anything else, it's also VERY aparent that NOTHING has changed from one update to another.Why do we need another expansion? We have plenty of content to us, aside from the high levels who are not raiding. but do we really need more items? More armor? More content? Mabe WIDER content, and bug fixes and other issue resolutions, but really...could you please focus on your game? I sometimes wonder what exactly is going on in SOE's HQ.

Kordran

08-04-2010, 04:18 PM

<cite>Buneary wrote:</cite><blockquote>The expansion pack is scheduled for release this Winternow, me been with EQ2 since day 1 but...is there any reason there has to be an expansion released almost every >1 year?its has just been 5 months since SF has been released and we are already talking about the next one?</blockquote>Just to point out the obvious, when they say release "this winter", they're likely talking about next year since winter (on this side of the equator) starts in late December and goes on through to March of the next year. I seriously doubt they're going to be rolling out the next expansion on the solstice.Also, as has been their practice after Kingdom of Sky was released, they only raise level caps every other expansion. The only time they ever quickly raised the level cap was when Desert of Flames was released in September 2005 (increase to level 60) followed by Kingdom of Sky in February 2006 (increase to level 70). I recall that there was plenty of feedback from players that expansions were being released too quickly, and they didn't want to feel like they were on a leveling treadmill. So SOE dialed things back, and the next level increase wasn't until Kunark in November 2007.Of course, none of this means that they won't decide to increase the level cap to 100 with the next expansion, but I'd be surprised if they did.