ZAM Interviews Dave Georgeson

[Calthine]

Curious about the new Senior Producer?  Me too!  I got to chat with him for about a half hour yesterday, and we had a great talk about the future of EverQuest II, the role of microtransactions in the gaming industry, and his production style.  Dave's passion for gaming and game production is fun and infectious.  While he readily admits he's got a lot to learn about EverQuest II, his production principles are solidly based on maximizing fun.

Read the interview at ZAM!

[Lader]

some of his replies make me nervous about this guy. i knew he was involved with microtransactions, but i didnt realize he was such a huge fan of them. Not a good trait imo.

I sure hope the devs have good reasons for "why do you want to create a raid zone for each update?" seeing as how theres only 3 zones, its a good idea dave

[Vortexelemental]

Honestly, I already like the guy, first interview has a lot of pressure and for switching to a new game 3 days ago he seems very set on his position of what he should be doing and where he should be going and seems rather capable.

[Obadiah]

Buttering him up doesn't seem inappropriate for someone in Calthine's position.

That said, I think what scares me the most after the ongoing issues with SF & it's still-incomplete state 2-months after launch is seeing him say that the scope & plans for the next expansion are "extremely ambitious."

[Brook]

Microtransactions are not to bad as long as it stays fluff and my biggest problem with them being added was the way it was done.

My concerns are what he considers fun. Fun is what exactly? It means different things to each of us. I for one enjoyed shard runs and penalties for failing at meeting an objective (death penalty) and things like that. I enjoy challenging gameplay where when I finish I feel like I accomplished something and was rewarded appropriately for that challenge.  Others don't like that kind of gameplay and to them that isn't fun, but that's what hooked me on the game in the first place.

I do hope he gets someone to update some of the older loot at least. I don't get much enjoyment from finishing something that I had to run through 10 zones, do countless task, finish with a raid for a piece of FABLED loot that is beaten out by treasured gear of the same tier.

Bleh, didnt mean to get wound up.

[Gaige]

He sounds like a pro casual, pro micro transactions, anti-raider.  I'll give him the benefit of the doubt though.

However this game isn't new, this game isn't Gaia.  It has a pretty much set playerbase, much like the original EQ.  The original EQ is still going and making a profit for SOE because they cater to the players left there, which are primarily raiders.

This game needs to focus on adding additional heroic/raid content with each GU, which is what most players still playing focus on.

That along with the monthly/quarterly solo festival things is basically what needs to be done along with fixes to combat all the bugs/lag.

If he tries to go another direction to lure in new players, he'll fail like the others who tried before him.

WoW does WoW better than EQ2 ever can, FR and Gaia do that better than EQ2 ever can.  He needs to make EQ2 be the best EQ2 it can, instead of a watered down mess that resembles a lot of games but is worse than all of them.

[KerowynnKaotic]

Quote:

Dave:  I have been extremely active in the forums from my previous games.  I will probably be at least somewhat active in this one.  We do already have Community Managers and stuff, so probably a lot of times I'll work through them.

End Quote.

As long as you are involved.  We've gone through several people who seem to think their contribution to the player community ends at smiling for the camera for their head shot. Nice smile, btw. 

We don't need someone who spends all their time on the forums as you said we have Community Managers for that but it would be nice if from time to time you actually remind us of who the heck you are. 

I had inital doubts about Brenlo being our Producer and then 2nd guessed myself thinking he'd at least be more active since he is a bit of showman but turns out I was right on the 1st thought.  Not saying Brenlo was a bad producer or anything .. as far as I know he did his behind the scene stuff fine .. just for the most part I forgot he got promoted.  Hardly ever stopped by and seldom ever posted his own Producer's Letter .. Hasn't even said goodbye   *sigh*

Learn the game, Enjoy the game, Communicate with the Players and for crying out loud if you aren't going to stick it out longer than a Year (or less!) .. please leave now.   We need someone who is going to help guide the game not someone who wants a blurb on his resume!

That said .. Welcome to Everquest II .. You're in OUR world now. 

[Kendricke]

Gaige wrote:

WoW does WoW better than EQ2 ever can, FR and Gaia do that better than EQ2 ever can.  He needs to make EQ2 be the best EQ2 it can, instead of a watered down mess that resembles a lot of games but is worse than all of them.

I think this is a fair assessment.  If EQ2 pushes too far toward silly, players who aren't looking for silly (hint, most of the players I interact with) are simply going to either (A) go to the games that do silly better already or (B) jump ship to a more serious product when it launches (i.e. - Telara, Copernicus, Tera, etc.). 

Personally, I guess I'd work on identifying the frachise strengths of the title and concentrate on those areas that EQ2 does better than other games.  For example, the guild system here is one of the best in any game.  Yet, for the past couple of expansions, it's essentially languished (there weren't even guild rewards available for level 90 guilds when Sentinal's Fate launched and the rewards which were tacked on after the fact aren't exactly all that exciting - you can basically buy better rewards through Legends of Norrath or Station Store). 

Guild Halls?  I can show a non-player a Tier 3 guildhall and it's one of the best recruiting tools EQ2 has going for it.  ...but you won't see new Tier 3 halls with New Halas (at least not at launch).

Epic story arcs?  Deep and established lore.  More realism and less stylism?  Tradeskilling?  Strong raid progression?  Strategic grouping and raiding encounters?  The mentoring system?  All of these are areas where Everquest II has shown strengths over other games in the past.   Those are all areas of opportunity that can be seized on and strengthened for easy wins. 

I hope someone is advocating for these sorts of things over there at SOE.   Ignoring the "sekrit sause" that built up the game in the first place to start experimenting on new ways to reinvent the same wheel that other games are already doing better seems like a more challenging way to gain back subs lost to churn, while potentially alienating some of the long time evangelicals who are still bringing in/back players. 

I wish Dave luck.  He's got a lot of docs to pore through and a lot of brains to pick.  I hope he gets his sea legs quickly and doesn't burn the midnight oil too much in the process.  Welcome to Norrath, sir.  May your stay be long and comfortable. 

[Jesdyr]

I hate agreeing with Gaige ...

[Savanja]

That was a really good interview Calth.

I agree with Gaige though, he sounds like he's making an awful lot of comparisons to other games when EQ2 has it's own unique brand of awesomeness. Taking a older AAA title and trying to put it in the same league as F2P would be a mistake. EQ2 will never have gigantic numbers and it shouldn't really at this point.

I hope the new producer takes some time to get to know the game, the community, and the dev talent before diving in!

[Terrius]

It's nice to see an interview with the new producer, I'm rather dissapointed he hasnt personally introduced himself yet, but understand he must be very busy. I agree with what Gaige said, EQ2 should be the best EQ2 it can be, not the best WoW knock off or the best FR/Gaia knock off. Since GUs are quarterly, I loved the idea of 1 new raid per GU, gives plenty of time for people to mess around in it before the next one and adds to the diversity of raid zones, which tbh right now at 3 raidzones isnt very diverse... If this long term goal gets changed I will be very dissapointed, and I'm sure others will be aswell. It'll definatly be interesting to see how things go.

[Armawk]

Lader wrote:

I sure hope the devs have good reasons for "why do you want to create a raid zone for each update?" seeing as how theres only 3 zones, its a good idea dave

Heh well he did only use that as an example of working processes in response to a question about it so I wouldnt worry.

Some of his talk on microtransactions I dont like mind you.

[ke'la]

shaunfletcher wrote:

Lader wrote:

I sure hope the devs have good reasons for "why do you want to create a raid zone for each update?" seeing as how theres only 3 zones, its a good idea dave

Heh well he did only use that as an example of working processes in response to a question about it so I wouldnt worry.

Some of his talk on microtransactions I dont like mind you.

Plus if you read the whole quote it is:

ZAM:  I think the longest term plans we've heard is of course the next expansion.  And they committed to at least one raid per Game Update for the next fiscal year.  Dave:  Well long term plans, like I said, what I'm going to be doing is asking people a lot of questions about why. That's probably the most annoying question I ask on a regular basis to a dev team.  “Okay, that's great, you want to do a raid every quarter.  Why?  Tell me the reasons.  What does that do, who does that feed, how many people is it?”  You know, that kind of questions.  And if those are all good answers?  Absolutely we'll keep doing that

He was giving insite into his design proccess, and just wants to make sure that there is accually a good reason for doing something. You know questions that may have stopped the Figher revamp befor it started, or the Skelli revamp, to name a few mistakes that might have been avoided if they where questioned more thourghly.

As far as his talk about Microtransactions goes, first, he even stated in a differant way, that anything added would face a similar questioning process. He also was clear that this is very differant then a F2P game in reguards to microtransactions. Secondly, he accually seems less gong ho on RMT, in EQ2 atleast, then Smed does, and really if you think about it he does have a point about the whole if you don't like it you don't have to pay for it thing.

[SmokeJumper]

A few quick responses:- EQ2 is EQ2. It's *not* any other game. I have no intention of trying to "make EQ2 like any other game". My presence here will not radically change the flavor of this powerhouse of a game. However, that being said, despite its uniqueness and its depth and the fact that it's already immensely fun, it's not perfect. There are ways that it can be made more successful (as in "more fun" and "more popular") and it's my job to help the team identify and find those solutions.- I *do* like microtransactions, even from a player's pespective, because they put the responsibility for quality directly on the developer's shoulders, requiring the developer to watch behavior patterns and listen to feedback closely. But EQ2 is not a "free to play" game, so microtransactions are unlikely to ever have the "front seat" role that they have in F2P games.- Don't worry...the silliness of "zOMG!" will not bleed over into EQ2. For two reasons: a) EQ2 is high fantasy and that zaniness is not as appropriate (except in rare doses), and b) I don't have the same role here as on "zOMG!". I am in more of an overview perspective on this project and not in the trenches actually creating content. The team here will keep doing what they've been doing and the flavor of the game will remain unchanged.- Talking about "raids" in the interview was probably a bad choice on my part. I actually like Raids. But I do intend to question (aka "ask why") about most, if not all, of the features we're actively supporting. Not to necessarily stop those efforts, but definitely to ensure that the things we're doing are the *best* things that we *can* do. This is my time to be the "outside guy looking in" and it's a good time to do that sort of thing. If we can imagine better things, then we should be doing them. That's all I meant by my interview comments.- Sorry for not introducing myself yet. You're absolutely correct that I'm busy. 10 years of lore and 6 years of established Live gameplay. You could say that there are a *few* things for me to learn.

[Terrius]

SmokeJumper wrote:

- Talking about "raids" in the interview was probably a bad choice on my part. I actually like Raids. But I do intend to question (aka "ask why") about most, if not all, of the features we're actively supporting. Not to necessarily stop those efforts, but definitely to ensure that the things we're doing are the *best* things that we *can* do. This is my time to be the "outside guy looking in" and it's a good time to do that sort of thing. If we can imagine better things, then we should be doing them. That's all I meant by my interview comments.- Sorry for not introducing myself yet. You're absolutely correct that I'm busy. 10 years of lore and 6 years of established Live gameplay. You could say that there are a *few* things for me to learn.

Glad you posted now I know what forum handle to stalk! *shifty eyes* bah! only 10 years of lore and 6 years of gamplay? pft light reading! Also glad you clarified on the whole raid thing, sets my mind at ease a bit. Hope you enjoy your time here and have alot of fun! Will be looking forward to reading your posts!P.S. Gnomes>all

[Maroger]

I hope you will take a hard look at Kunark - and the work of Scott Hartsmann. Kunark and Scott's work was one of the best for EQ2.  The last two producers have nearly ruined the game.

Scott was great in adding quests for all play styles to the game and make sure the rewards were worht the time. I hope that you will be more in the tradition of Scott and not another producer who thinks raiding is the be all and end all of the game.

I hope that your work in so many action games will not color your choices in EQ2. I would hate to see action-style game play and mechanics introduced into the game. I am not a fan of jumping and other arcade features of twitch-style action game which I think WoW had too much of.

Also I hope you can pull this game back from the undue emphasis on PvP which has crept into the game with BG's and make sure that what is done and gained in BG stays in BG and does not creep into the PVE game which seems to be currently happening.

I hope that for the next expansion we can  go back to wide-open geographical areas like Kunark and less of these cramped outdoor mazes such as SF and TSO had.

I like the idea of micro-transactions and hope more useful ones can be added to the game. 

In any case welcome aboard and good luck.

[SmokeJumper]

And in case anyone cares, I'm currently in the Butcherblock Mountains geeking out over all the EQ1 ruins that are present (the chessboard, Kaladim, the vaguely familiar geography of the zone...even the emerald drakes). Ah, the memories.

[Malacha]

I sincerely hope you (SmokeJumper/Dave/Mr. Georgeson) will look at (if not post at) other forums for ideas of what the community wants. EQ2flames may not be as PC as these forums, but in general the people there know what they're talking about. The class forums, for example, are chalk full of information about classes by the people that play them to the nth degree. I don't expect you to try to make best friends with the EQ2Flames posters, but it would be advantageous to you to at least read what they have to say.

[Barx]

SmokeJumper wrote:

And in case anyone cares, I'm currently in the Butcherblock Mountains geeking out over all the EQ1 ruins that are present (the chessboard, Kaladim, the vaguely familiar geography of the zone...even the emerald drakes). Ah, the memories.

Ah, you're in store for quite a few moments like that . In any case, welcome to the wonder that is EQ2. Just think of how many folks will envy you for getting to be captain of that ship

((Oh, and you might want to put your name in your signature -- took me a min to figure out who SmokeJumper was ))

[Tenchisama]

points already for being clear about where things will start from and where you stand as you get up to speed.  Honest, concise, and reserved (not always popular).

a plea from a player

As you peruse the project handed to you - Please take a close look at

1) Infrastructure - the database, validation, and performance in loading is a serious issue at the moment - please consider this a priority of the utmost importance - it may be unpopular to roll back a bit - but in the long run it will save frustration and hopefully give a better view at moving forward once again.  That BG has been a drain on already taxed resources seems obvious at this point - every time its on throttled or not we have issues.  Please consider parking it briefly and focusing on what it is doing.

2) Balance - sure the raiding is a heavy part of this - no doubt - but a clear statement on vision for crafting would be dearly appreciated.  There are many ways this can be tweaked without hurting raiding - I wish you luck finding the best path.

3) Enhancing QA - or at least being honest and telling us we are the guinnea pigs =P  all levity aside the sheer quantity of issues feels much higher than normal for any kind of release.  Examples of "growth experiences" The recent change in drop for Ykeshan Warbeads, the recent issues with BG, the historic LU13 experience.  There are test servers - wouldnt it be great if changes got actual stress tests before implementation? 

I have some hope invested in someone who talks clearly about understanding the larger picture in the development process and being a veteran of SSI is already also points in my book (loved many old SSI products - Wizards Crown, Roadwar 2000, Pool of Radiance, Azure Bonds, Sword of Aragon - one of my all time favs) I hope that you find a way to get this realm back on course to continue longevity and viability.

[Morghus]

Server issues, dealing with zoning, and performance based lag while raiding need to be looked at. Client performance improvement must also be a priority.

[Jhanos]

SmokeJumper wrote:

And in case anyone cares, I'm currently in the Butcherblock Mountains geeking out over all the EQ1 ruins that are present (the chessboard, Kaladim, the vaguely familiar geography of the zone...even the emerald drakes). Ah, the memories.

I remember you from the Planetside days, even think I killed you in beta (with a little help from my handy TR rifle), welcome to the show. 

Now you have your first fun one to deal with, determine why we can't login to the game and enjoy that fine BB scenery with you.  The post SF lag and funkiness needs to go go go.

[SmokeJumper]

We're currently working on the performance issues. We'll kill 'em.

[Corydonn]

SmokeJumper wrote:

We're currently working on the performance issues. We'll kill 'em.

I think I love you.

[Cyliena]

Corydonn wrote:

SmokeJumper wrote:

We're currently working on the performance issues. We'll kill 'em.

I think I love you.

Hey now, don't scare him away!

[Azzad]

Here is my problem with RMT:

I always get the impression that this is how a meeting will go:

1) artist creates 20 new armor sets for the expansion.

2) "Guy in Charge" says "these 5 are the best so they go on Station Marketplace and these other 15 can go out for free"

Can you tell me that doesn't happen?

[Armawk]

"EQ2 is high fantasy and that zaniness is not as appropriate (except in rare doses)"

If you really do mean that then you will have a couple of major fans in New Zealand.

[Quicksilver74]

SmokeJumper wrote:

We're currently working on the performance issues. We'll kill 'em.

Awesome.  

   Oh, and when I read your title, it says Senior Staff.   Am I the only one who is reminded of the old Nickelodeon show, HEY DUDE!" when reading that?   

[iceriven2]

Besides what most ppl stated alrdy, performance issues and continued class balance tweaks,  I would like to see more focus, especially for the xpac team to design something new.  SF was a gorgious xpac, with some cool fights but it brought more of the same.  Lvls, AA's and imrpoved items.

Not much of an idea bin, but maybe more focus on dieties, like actual use of there temples or  diety AA's.  Maybe more accessable  herioc like sig quests.   take fun spells, was a nice touch at launch, why not more enviromentally interactive fun spells that  create a more lively experiance for a player and there grp.  Even recent released animations for races dancing a different way, even though they were tests, it brought  a lot of interest.

 Welcome onboard and good luck... cuase you will need it!!!

PS.  I so cant wait for spell effects revamp !!

[Fatuus]

SmokeJumper wrote:

We're currently working on the performance issues. We'll kill 'em.

I am so glad that we have several people locked from the game and unable to even log on because you have fixed the performance issues. This is ridiculous. Its taking insane amounts of time to zone, buy stuff, or even attack stuff anymore.

Frankly the issues that you are fixing sir have only broken the game more.