Why No Love For EQ2 in Marketing?

[Nuadah]

<p>To be quite honest I'm a little peeved about a commercial I saw. It was for DCUO. Why don't we get advertising? DCUO got advertising when it first came out...we got nothing. We're getting ready to make the jump to f2p and I haven't seen anything for EQ2. Don't we deserve some consideration? I don't understand why I can see advertising for DCUO, but not EQ2.</p>

[Darkennz]

<p>I saw the exact same commercial and was exactly as peeved as you man. It makes no sense to me either since we can all vouch that Everquest II is much better than that garbage. I honestly don't know what goes on through these developer's heads when it comes to this game. It doesn't seem that they're very willing to invest in this game very much, even with its enormous potential if the population was higher.</p>

[Hamervelder]

<p>EQ2 subscribers have been asking questions like this for years.  My opinion is that if SOE thought they had a product worth marketing, then they'd do so.  I'm also of the opinion that SOE's marketing people are buffoons for not marketing EQ2.  Their idea of marketing is an animated gif on a webpage.  /eyeroll</p>

[TheSpin]

<p>Here's one thing you may want to consider.  SoE is the only company that's really invested into EQ2.  DCUO also has DC comics behind it.  Maybe it's the DC people putting up the money for any ads you see. </p><p>Also... super heroes appeal to a much broader audience than the fantasy genre... Not to mention it's both a PC and a console game.  These two reasons mean there's a much broader potential player base.  It doesn't suprise me at all that DC gets more marketting attention than EQ2.</p><p>What's good to remember is that DCUO's success is also likely to spread over a little bit to the EQ2 side, because people who start on DCUO may look at what else SOE has to offer, especially with the All Access subscription and F2P will make trying EQ2 easy.  Besides.. I started playing DCUO a few weeks ago and it's actually really fun.  Totally different gameplay than EQ2, but I like it.</p>

[TheGeneral]

<p>I would still love to see a real commecial for EQ2.</p>

[bensilvi]

<p>Since EQ2 went live people have been complaining. Who cares how many PC games let alone MMO's do you see commercials for?? Like someone said DC put $$$ behind DCUO. </p>

[Banditman]

<p>Marketing in this day and age, and particularly for this macro genre (PC games), is far more than what you may or may not see on TV.</p><p>How many times have you browsed an internet site and seen a banner for EQ2?  I can't recall a single one, and my JOB is largely internet based!  I've seen WoW banners pretty much everywhere.  I've seen EVE Online banners all over.  Rift.  SWTOR.  AOC.  COD.  The list is endless, and absolutely does not include EQ2.</p><p>Frankly, EQ2 "Marketing" is non existant.  It's simply an excuse to keep things under wraps.  "Marketing doesn't want us to say anything".  That would be a valid excuse if we ever SAW any marketing.  The problem is, we don't.  We sometimes see a podcast or a terribly orchestrated webcast.  That's not marketing.  Don't kid yourself.</p><p>EQ2 has no marketing.</p>

[yohann koldheart]

<p>they used to advertise, i remember back i think it was kunark. i went and seen a movie, it happened to be produced by sony pictures and it had a eq2 commercial mixed in the  trailers at the beginning .</p><p>but that was the last ive seen.</p>

[Hogatha]

<p>The closest thing I've seen lately is a Wal-Mart commercial with some guy video conferencing which had a sound sample from the NPC scarecrows "Ow!" noise they make, and I'm not sure if this is originally created by EQ/EQ2 or not LOL.  Anyway, kind of caught me by surprise</p>

[Golbezz]

<p><cite>Nuadah wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>To be quite honest I'm a little peeved about a commercial I saw. It was for DCUO. Why don't we get advertising? DCUO got advertising when it first came out...we got nothing. We're getting ready to make the jump to f2p and I haven't seen anything for EQ2. Don't we deserve some consideration? I don't understand why I can see advertising for DCUO, but not EQ2.</p></blockquote><p>I think they are still trying to figure out how to make the game look good to people who might see the ad.</p><p>If this had been done back when the game was new things might be different. It's a bit tough to market this expansion without real content.</p><p>It would be like a property developer trying to sell you a home with just the living room and bathroom. Then they tell you the rest of the house is coming soon, but don't worry if you buy now we'll build the rest for free.</p>

[Nuadah]

<p>The rest is coming soon? Makes me think of the rest of Velious coming next year.  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" /></p>

[gourdon]

<p><cite>Golbezz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Nuadah wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>To be quite honest I'm a little peeved about a commercial I saw. It was for DCUO. Why don't we get advertising? DCUO got advertising when it first came out...we got nothing. We're getting ready to make the jump to f2p and I haven't seen anything for EQ2. Don't we deserve some consideration? I don't understand why I can see advertising for DCUO, but not EQ2.</p></blockquote><p>I think they are still trying to figure out how to make the game look good to people who might see the ad.</p><p>If this had been done back when the game was new things might be different. It's a bit tough to market this expansion without real content.</p><p>It would be like a property developer trying to sell you a home with just the living room and bathroom. Then they tell you the rest of the house is coming soon, but don't worry if you buy now we'll build the rest for free.</p></blockquote><p>The new content/mechanics that are coming out with GU63 and AoD are far more relevant to a new player than the "expansion" you're clamoring for that would be aimed at Tier 9.  I'm pretty sure the new player will be far more likely to find their way into Freeport revamped than some new Tier 9 zone, but that makes too much sense.  Instead, it seems we've graduated to making stuff up that makes no sense just to bash AoD at this point.</p>

[Ilovecows]

<p>There was that one commercial where the guy was looking at a whole bunch of charges to his credit card and eq2 was one of them.  That is what eq2 marketing has been doing.</p>

[Evanair]

<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-CHG_To7Ag">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-CHG_To7Ag</a></p><p>This was an EQOA ad... Personally, I think EQ2 could do without this kind of advertising.</p>

[Golbezz]

<p><cite>gourdon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The new content/mechanics that are coming out with GU63 and AoD are far more relevant to a new player than the "expansion" you're clamoring for that would be aimed at Tier 9.  I'm pretty sure the new player will be far more likely to find their way into Freeport revamped than some new Tier 9 zone, but that makes too much sense.  Instead, it seems we've graduated to making stuff up that makes no sense just to bash AoD at this point. </p></blockquote><p>I'm sure the new players will be lured away by some other shiny new game a few months later, or they will get bored and leave. The new players SOE is trying to attract that may be more willing to spend aren't exactly known for their long term loyalty.</p><p>So in the end SOE loses existing customers and tries to attract new ones. What happens when the new players discover the issues that caused so many other players to leave over the years? Do you think they will really stick around?</p><p>SOE is doing things backwards, if they really want to increase numbers they need to first stop the loss of players and add to that population with new players. Trying to add new players while causing existing players to quit isn't going to result in more total *active* players long term. In the end it will cost the game long term customers and the game will be worse off than it is now when the "I want it now" crowd gets bored and moved on to the next pay-to-win game.</p><p>I guess new players and pay-to-win supporters are just easier to rip off with SC marketplace items and overpriced "expansions".</p>

[gourdon]

<p><cite>Golbezz wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>gourdon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The new content/mechanics that are coming out with GU63 and AoD are far more relevant to a new player than the "expansion" you're clamoring for that would be aimed at Tier 9.  I'm pretty sure the new player will be far more likely to find their way into Freeport revamped than some new Tier 9 zone, but that makes too much sense.  Instead, it seems we've graduated to making stuff up that makes no sense just to bash AoD at this point. </p></blockquote><p>I'm sure the new players will be lured away by some other shiny new game a few months later, or they will get bored and leave. The new players SOE is trying to attract that may be more willing to spend aren't exactly known for their long term loyalty.</p><p>So in the end SOE loses existing customers and tries to attract new ones. What happens when the new players discover the issues that caused so many other players to leave over the years? Do you think they will really stick around?</p><p>SOE is doing things backwards, if they really want to increase numbers they need to first stop the loss of players and add to that population with new players. Trying to add new players while causing existing players to quit isn't going to result in more total *active* players long term. In the end it will cost the game long term customers and the game will be worse off than it is now when the "I want it now" crowd gets bored and moved on to the next pay-to-win game.</p><p>I guess new players and pay-to-win supporters are just easier to rip off with SC marketplace items and overpriced "expansions".</p></blockquote><p>Generally, it is easier to keep a customer than to acquire a new one.  However, there are always customers that are going to take too much effort to keep, therefore some customer loss is inevitable.  That is why getting new customers in and keeping them is absolutely necessary, because even a 99% retention rate trends toward 0.</p><p>There is no pay to win in this game even though the marketplace has been around for years.  The only questionable items they had on EQ2X were the rez potion and the death wand(rather weak though).  Both are gone.  Many other things that weren't a big deal like MC armor and harvest rares have been removed as well.  We are so far from pay to win that a slippery slope will take us a century to get there.  You might think that the SC for plat trade is pay to win, but the plat trade existed long before SC and will always be there, because perfect enforcement is impossible and good enforcement is expensive.</p><p>As for tier 9 content, I wouldn't get too worked up until the Q1 2012 update rolls around and we don't get some of the anticipated new zones in Velious.</p>

[Golbezz]

<p><cite>gourdon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Generally, it is easier to keep a customer than to acquire a new one.  However, there are always customers that are going to take too much effort to keep, therefore some customer loss is inevitable.  That is why getting new customers in and keeping them is absolutely necessary, because even a 99% retention rate trends toward 0.</p><p>There is no pay to win in this game even though the marketplace has been around for years.  The only questionable items they had on EQ2X were the rez potion and the death wand(rather weak though).  Both are gone.  Many other things that weren't a big deal like MC armor and harvest rares have been removed as well.  We are so far from pay to win that a slippery slope will take us a century to get there.  You might think that the SC for plat trade is pay to win, but the plat trade existed long before SC and will always be there, because perfect enforcement is impossible and good enforcement is expensive.</p><p>As for tier 9 content, I wouldn't get too worked up until the Q1 2012 update rolls around and we don't get some of the anticipated new zones in Velious.</p></blockquote><p>This game is very close to having some pay to win items available. Possibly as soon as tomorrow's update. While your view of pay to win may be more limited to things like raid gear my view of pay-to-win is being able to pay SC for anything that improves your character while bypassing the traditional in-game means of obtaining that upgrade.</p><p>The effects will start out small and grow from there. Within the next year it will be far more than just small effect items and research reducers.</p>

[Lempo]

<p><cite>gourdon wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>There is no pay to win in this game even though the marketplace has been around for years.  The only questionable items they had on EQ2X were the rez potion and the death wand(rather weak though).  Both are gone.  Many other things that weren't a big deal like MC armor and harvest rares have been removed as well.  We are so far from pay to win that a slippery slope will take us a century to get there.  You might think that the SC for plat trade is pay to win, but the plat trade existed long before SC and will always be there, because perfect enforcement is impossible and good enforcement is expensive.</p><p>As for tier 9 content, I wouldn't get too worked up until the Q1 2012 update rolls around and we don't get some of the anticipated new zones in Velious.</p></blockquote><p>The marketplace has mastercrafted bags on it, and the next time you play you will be able to buy a master from it, any one you want. The fastest mounts in the game are on it, won't be getting one of those unless you pay. I don't care how the SC is achieved these items should not be there, period. They didn't say those items would not go back they said they would hold in game polls to determine if the players wanted them SJ said it, then within hours they had a meeting and made the results of the first vote for the players in favor of putting a power item on the SC shop. They ALREADY have plans on placing other powerful items in the game SJ all but said that, they are just going to use polls with biased wording to get their way. Don't believe me? Bookmark this post.<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><font size="1"></font></span></p>

[dawy]

<p>We who've been here awhile have all seen many marketing pushes which frankly ammount to nothing at this stage in the game,and no doubt SJ disagree with me here i dont expect it to change one single iota</p>

[Befallen_Valgav]

<p>No Advertising for EQII....simple because people would rather run around in tights than armor...duhhhh <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Zhadowsee]

<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUL6pF5dTTc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUL6pF5dTTc</a></p><p>They do plenty of advertising.  They just choose not to market to people who are busy watching Reality TV or Talent Gameshows.  </p><p>If you want to consider the cost of advertising, it's expensive.  Advertising with one radio station can cost thousands of dollars.  Advertising on television can cost tens of thousands--and up to millions.  Is the generated revenue going to validate the cost of such expensive advertising?  With games going F2P, it's going to be more and more difficult to give a thumbs-up on that question.</p><p>Let's focus on television for a moment.  People are upset because SOE doesn't have commercials dedicated to EQ2--therefore we cannot increase our playerbase.  I would like to point out a personal experience here--I came to EQ2 because of a SOE commercial.  It was actually a commercial for Star Wars Galaxies.  I made my account, played, and got occasional e-mails from SOE (which is marketing).  Sometimes these emails invited me to try other games.  Eventually I did.  Rest assured every comic buff who tries DCUO will very quickly hear of EQ2 and get exposed to graphics and even see the web-commercial I posted above.</p><p>Back to television.  When do gamers watch television, and what programs do they watch?  What channels are those programs hosted?  How many networks have rights to show those programs?  How many regions can those networks broadcast?  </p><p>There's an average of about sixteen minutes available per hour of advertising available for television.  There are thousands of businesses who want that time, and media networks will charge for it--and commercials only last about thirty to fourty-five seconds.  One person may be willing to pay one thousand dollars for a set of advertising space--but another will step forward and offer one thousand-one dollars.  If this is prime-time television, that cost is going to be significantly higher.  </p><p>Do you want to spend thousands of dollars for your product that is getting at best, fifteen bucks a month for subscription costs?  Even if you get one hundred new subscribers for three months of advertising, you're taking a huge hit.  </p><p>So much for television advertising to promote EQ2.</p><p>But let's back up a moment.  Sony has the Playstation (PS) and we're always seeing them advertise for that, right?  Why not EQ2?  </p><p>EQ2 is one game whereas the Playstation can run MANY games.  One of those games is DCUO--at least that's what the commercial says.  If you compare the market for console gamers versus PC gamers, you'll find console gamers win hands down.  That is where the money is.</p><p>If you're still reading--thank you.  Let's explore further....</p><p>PS gamers often peruse gaming web sites or buy gaming magazines or glance at e-mail.  They want to know what's coming out in the future.  They want to know strategies.  Maybe there are cheat codes.  The point is: when they're not looking at their game, they're looking in these other places.  <strong><em>This is where you find your gaming market!</em></strong></p><p>There are less restrictions when it comes to magazine and web advertising.  If you note the video in the beginning, it's about two minutes.  You can't post that time on television.  The referenced video came from a gaming website, and honestly I pulled it off of YouTube when I searched "EQ2 Commercial."</p><p>So yes, SOE markets.  They know where to find the gamers and how to reach them.  I can tell you many other ways in how they are marketing--and successfully at that, but this post is already "tldr."</p><p><em><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">So short version?</span></strong></em></p><p>SOE has love for marketing EQ2.  Click the above link for an example.</p><p>As a side note, I found one (of many many many) website that gives an overview to costs of advertising.</p><p><a href="http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/business-advice/the-cost-of-advertising-nationally-broken-down-by-medium/">http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/busin...down-by-medium/</a></p><p>Just FYI</p>

[Zhadowsee]

<p>Remember this commercial?  A bit dorky, yes.  Just note what the narrator says in the very end.</p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-CHG_To7Ag">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-CHG_To7Ag</a></p>

[Zhadowsee]

<p>And finally, taken from SmokeJumper's letter:</p><p><span style="color: #d2c5a9; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #221f1c;">"Social networking : We already let you upload videos to </span><strong>YouTube </strong><span style="color: #d2c5a9; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #221f1c;">from within the game, but now you can post to </span><strong>Facebook </strong><span style="color: #d2c5a9; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #221f1c;">or </span><strong>Twitter </strong><span style="color: #d2c5a9; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #221f1c;">from within the game also, and you can also turn on Achievements so that your Facebook page or Twitter feed gets updated with EQII achievements. NOTE: We only broadcast a tiny fraction of the game’s achievements. We have no intent for this to be spam. And this can be toggled on/off per character! (But if you’re proud of EQII, we’d love for you to show your colors. The more people hear about us, the more likely it is that your game will thrive!)"</span></p><p>Just to stress the last line:  "The more people hear about us..."</p>

[apwyork]

<p>Sony game marketing in my opinion and experience is limited to consoles.  I haven't seen an ad for any of their online pc games in years, except on sony site for those online games.  The main reason there aren't tons of new players coming in constantly is probably due to the lack of effort sony makes to get them.  You can hardly watch a tv show nowdays without seeing a warcraft commercial, and that is probably the main reason warcraft has so many players. </p><p>The flip side to that is that flooding airwaves with commercials is hellishly expensive, so unless there's a really good reason to expect that to pay off, most game companies will not throw that kind of money around.  That leaves internet marketting for internet gaming, but then you have the same issue arise.  Blizzard advertises like mad on the sites that gamers are likely to go to, so anyone who wants to target that audience has to outpay what Blizzard will for the same banner spot.</p>

[Golbezz]

<p><cite>Zhadowsee@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Just to stress the last line:  "The more people hear about us..." </p></blockquote><p>Plenty of people heard about Sony/SOE with the hacking incident earlier this year...</p>