Everquest II wins Gamespy 2006 Award

[Wilin]

EQ2 won the Gamespy Special Award in the PC Gaming category for "Most Improved Game" in 2006.<a href="http://goty.gamespy.com/2006/pc/index21.html" target=_blank>http://goty.gamespy.com/2006/pc/index21.html</a>(There are 2 games listed on that page. Scroll down to see the listing for EQ2)<p>Message Edited by Wilin on <span class=date_text>12-22-2006</span> <span class=time_text>11:42 AM</span>

[EQ2Playa432]

<div></div><div></div><img src="http://gotymedia.gamespy.com/2006/images/layout/goty_nav_day4_index.jpg"><div align="center"><img src="http://gotymedia.gamespy.com/2006/images/headers/goty_hdr_pc_special.gif"></div>Congratulations EQ2!<div></div><p>Message Edited by EQ2Playa432 on <span class="date_text">12-22-2006</span> <span class="time_text">12:04 PM</span></p><p>Message Edited by EQ2Playa432 on <span class=date_text>12-22-2006</span> <span class=time_text>12:05 PM</span>

[bensilvi]

Congratz!!! They made a good game Great!!!

[Rui]

It's certainly an achievement to get me back from practically spitting on EQ2 when I bought it just after it came out to enjoying it more than any MMO for a very long time. The direction they seem to have gone is definately the correct one if they want to keep my money, and whilst they shouldn't rest on their laurels, EQ2 is definately looking good. I'll certainly recommend it to a friend or two, especially as people burn out on WoW (and in six months or so, we can expect to see a lot of WoW burn-outs, given all those planning on rushing to 70 then doing the 70-oriented content over and over until they're sorry).

[ca]

<P>As a community we gripe about any change but in the end this game is a thousand times what it was at release, congratulations SOE on your award and I hope to so even more improvements to the game.</P> <P>Now get on some daggone advertising, the other guys have Office Space as a commercial! we need that!</P>

[Celestian_]

Well deserved award. It has been improved greatly from release to now more so than any game on the market.<div></div>

[daeaorn]

<DIV>Congrats on this award you guys are truely the best game on the market!! Keep up the good work SOE!!</DIV>

[Parethos]

I have to say, I agree with Gamespy. After a really disappointing (IMO) beginning, this game has really improved by leaps and bounds. I gave it another chance a few weeks ago and got hooked. Nice work!<div></div>

[dawy]

More than deserved tbh..well done!

[kenm]

<div></div><div></div>You know, I've always hated gamespy and this still isn't going to change that.  I liked the game far better at launch.  I mean it's still good, but meh.  It's had the awesome crafting system made stupid, the death penalty made non-existent, and the combat system made worse and worse every revamp.  The last thing this game needs is encouragement from those idiots.<div></div><p>Message Edited by kenman on <span class=date_text>12-23-2006</span> <span class=time_text>03:24 AM</span>

[Killerbee3000]

<div><blockquote><hr>kenman wrote:<div></div><div></div>You know, I've always hated gamespy and this still isn't going to change that.  I liked the game far better at launch.  I mean it's still good, but meh.  It's had the awesome crafting system made stupid, the death penalty made non-existent, and the combat system made worse and worse every revamp.  The last thing this game needs is encouragement from those idiots.<div></div><p>Message Edited by kenman on <span class="date_text">12-23-2006</span> <span class="time_text">03:24 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>they atleast say the truth and clearly state that soe is working on making eq2 noob friendly like wow is.....</div>

[kenm]

<div><blockquote><hr>Killerbee3000 wrote:<div><blockquote><hr>kenman wrote:<div></div><div></div>You know, I've always hated gamespy and this still isn't going to change that.  I liked the game far better at launch.  I mean it's still good, but meh.  It's had the awesome crafting system made stupid, the death penalty made non-existent, and the combat system made worse and worse every revamp.  The last thing this game needs is encouragement from those idiots.<div></div><p>Message Edited by kenman on <span class="date_text">12-23-2006</span> <span class="time_text">03:24 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>they atleast say the truth and clearly state that soe is working on making eq2 noob friendly like wow is.....</div><hr></blockquote>Oh I'll give them that, but they have to nerve to call it improved.When I bought EQ2 I wasn't paying for a stupid dumbed down game for casual idiots that believe they deserve to be able to do anything in five minutes, the way the game is going is anything but "improved."</div>

[Parethos]

I'm sorry, but this game was<i> terrible</i> at release. Not because it was harder, because it wasn't, but because it just wasn't very good. The game has improved considerably, and it's showing in terms of re-opened and new accounts.Death penalties do not make a game good. Your enjoyment of a game is not increased by having to collect a spirit shard. That's just masochism. Annoying subcombines on crafting do not make a game (or a crafting system) good. They just make it take longer. Longer doesn't equal good. People rushed to 50 when the game launched, and complained that the game wasn't hard/long/whatever enough. People rush to 70 now and complain that the game isn't long/hard/whatever enough. Some people are just never going to find an MMO uber enough. But thankfully for the rest of us, those people are the minority.<div></div>

[kenm]

<div></div><div><blockquote><hr>Parethos wrote:I'm sorry, but this game was<i> terrible</i> at release. Not because it was harder, because it wasn't, but because it just wasn't very good. The game has improved considerably, and it's showing in terms of re-opened and new accounts.<font color="#66ff00">No, no it wasn't.  Outside from a few issues such as collection quests hogging up journal space, the game was far superior to what it is today.I must say it's almost clever that you defend this by saying in terms of new accounts because you registered this month.  Well get this, this game is freaking BARREN compared to what it was at launch.  Nearly every lowbie I see has one or two level 70s already, very rarely do I see a true new person playing.  This game is dying and SOE's doing a horrible attempt at dumbing everything down and cloning WoW to try to steal their customers.  But wait, people getting sick of WoW and looking for a new game don't want to play a cheap knock-off of WoW.  If they did they'd still be playing WoW.  Shame that SOE doesn't see that!</font>Death penalties do not make a game good. Your enjoyment of a game is not increased by having to collect a spirit shard. That's just masochism.<font color="#66ff00">Yes they do.  They make you not want to die.  </font><font color="#66ff00">They make you have to be careful.  </font><font color="#66ff00">They make venturing into risky areas actually that, a risk.  I personally love the thrill of succeeding at something with high stakes.  Just imagine Castle Mistmoore with shards (or better yet, a corpse run!), your heart would be racing just trying to get clean pulls and avoid adds.  As it is now, people blindly throw themselves at encounters because they'll have to eventually beat it.  And at the cap, what is 10% or even 50% exp debt?  And heck, after you get that drop you wanted or that update from way down in the dungeon?  Well, running into mobs to suicide is faster than fighting back to the entrance!They also work as a barrier that must be overcome if you want to succeed.  Getting to level 70 should mean that you know how to play well, it doesn't.  Loads of 70s have no idea how to play their class whatsoever because the game rewarded them for being reckless, not worrying about death in the least. </font>Annoying subcombines on crafting do not make a game (or a crafting system) good. They just make it take longer. Longer doesn't equal good.<font color="#66ff00">They were what made crafting good.  Now you just buy a few things off the broker, pop it into the forge, spam 123 and presto, out pops a breastplate made out of a root, some raw ore, and a pelt!Before you actually had to use a little bit of logical progression to make the item.  It was sort of like a puzzle, you had to figure out what exactly you needed to make in order to make what you wanted to make.  And at launch, you had to rely on other people to provide you with materials, and barter with them.  Believe it or not, there actually was a crafting community!  As far as I'm concerned, it's long dead now.And I disagree, longer is better.  Instant gratification is freaking stupid.  Having to dedicate time and put forth a lot of effort to reach your goal, that's what makes it all worthwhile.How fun would the game be if all you had to do was click a single button to get a full set of armor, and just click another one to instantly level to 70?  People thought crap like that would be fun on other MMORPGs when they made private servers.  I remember loads of Ragnarok Online servers with 1000000x exp rates, kill a few Poring and hit level 99.  Visit an NPC to get the best gear and cards in the game.  Actually beat the game in no more than 5 minutes!  Woohoo... it's no wonder the lower rate servers always had a higher population.</font>People rushed to 50 when the game launched, and complained that the game wasn't hard/long/whatever enough. People rush to 70 now and complain that the game isn't long/hard/whatever enough. Some people are just never going to find an MMO uber enough. But thankfully for the rest of us, those people are the minority.<font color="#66ff00">Okay first off, when the game originally came out it took longer to get to 50 than it does to get to 70 right this moment.  People always want more.  I mean, have you never seen a great movie and just wished it never ended?I'm just going to call you weird if you haven't, and assume you watch every movie in fast motion because it's a time sink and it's masochism if you actually like to watch movies in entirety.Seriously, why would you want things to be fast?  Even if you can only play an hour a day and would never reach the raising level cap, you'd log on knowing you always have something to shoot for.  A reason to play, to progress.  You'd always know you could progress.That's what I'd personally love to be able to do, always be able to log on and progress my character.  But instead I'm sitting here capped out in level and AA raiding whenever possible and just waiting for the next expansion to come along to hopefully progress more.Why do you have to be able to beat the game?  I know every time I beat a great game, say Psychonauts for instance, I cry.  It was a great game, I just wish it could have stretched on forever.  I... I didn't want it to end.  <span></span>To be able to say "Well, I beat the game.  Time to find another one." isn't why I play, it's to always be enjoying myself while playing!<span></span></font><div></div><hr></blockquote></div>

[ReturnOfMadness]

Congratulations as a first too the eq2 team on winning this award and just like the above posters i got my mind split in two too, i played fairly close when eq2 launched and got back a month or 2 ago and i see alot changed, a fair bit of things improved, others stayed the same but there is also a big part that got worse, if this worse part gets improved (like bugs that have been ingame god who knows how long and certain classes/aa trees) this game will be a killer<div></div>

[Araxes]

Congratulations!I think it is well-deserving.  All of the reviews on the 'net have been decidedly positive for EoF with <i>almost </i>all of them being 8.5ish or thereabouts. (coughGamespotcough)EQ2 has evolved into something extremely good - for awhile I had doubts about whether I would continue to play it - but I stuck with EQ2 and I can say I am truly glad I did.  Seeing this game evolve and being part of it from the beginning has been a truly great experience and I think it is only going to get better.  Seeing the recent Producer's letter it is clear that the design team has made a committment to change gears and has a more unified vision now than they did last year or the year before - and that can only mean a better game.I completely agree with Gamespy when they say they are excited to see where it goes from here.<div></div>

[Parethos]

<div><blockquote><hr>kenman wrote:<div></div><div><blockquote><hr>Parethos wrote:I'm sorry, but this game was<i> terrible</i> at release. Not because it was harder, because it wasn't, but because it just wasn't very good. The game has improved considerably, and it's showing in terms of re-opened and new accounts.<font color="#66ff00">No, no it wasn't.  Outside from a few issues such as collection quests hogging up journal space, the game was far superior to what it is today.I must say it's almost clever that you defend this by saying in terms of new accounts because you registered this month.  Well get this, this game is freaking BARREN compared to what it was at launch.  Nearly every lowbie I see has one or two level 70s already, very rarely do I see a true new person playing.  This game is dying and SOE's doing a horrible attempt at dumbing everything down and cloning WoW to try to steal their customers.  But wait, people getting sick of WoW and looking for a new game don't want to play a cheap knock-off of WoW.  If they did they'd still be playing WoW.  Shame that SOE doesn't see that!</font>Death penalties do not make a game good. Your enjoyment of a game is not increased by having to collect a spirit shard. That's just masochism.<font color="#66ff00">Yes they do.  They make you not want to die.  </font><font color="#66ff00">They make you have to be careful.  </font><font color="#66ff00">They make venturing into risky areas actually that, a risk.  I personally love the thrill of succeeding at something with high stakes.  Just imagine Castle Mistmoore with shards (or better yet, a corpse run!), your heart would be racing just trying to get clean pulls and avoid adds.  As it is now, people blindly throw themselves at encounters because they'll have to eventually beat it.  And at the cap, what is 10% or even 50% exp debt?  And heck, after you get that drop you wanted or that update from way down in the dungeon?  Well, running into mobs to suicide is faster than fighting back to the entrance!They also work as a barrier that must be overcome if you want to succeed.  Getting to level 70 should mean that you know how to play well, it doesn't.  Loads of 70s have no idea how to play their class whatsoever because the game rewarded them for being reckless, not worrying about death in the least. </font>Annoying subcombines on crafting do not make a game (or a crafting system) good. They just make it take longer. Longer doesn't equal good.<font color="#66ff00">They were what made crafting good.  Now you just buy a few things off the broker, pop it into the forge, spam 123 and presto, out pops a breastplate made out of a root, some raw ore, and a pelt!Before you actually had to use a little bit of logical progression to make the item.  It was sort of like a puzzle, you had to figure out what exactly you needed to make in order to make what you wanted to make.  And at launch, you had to rely on other people to provide you with materials, and barter with them.  Believe it or not, there actually was a crafting community!  As far as I'm concerned, it's long dead now.And I disagree, longer is better.  Instant gratification is freaking stupid.  Having to dedicate time and put forth a lot of effort to reach your goal, that's what makes it all worthwhile.How fun would the game be if all you had to do was click a single button to get a full set of armor, and just click another one to instantly level to 70?  People thought crap like that would be fun on other MMORPGs when they made private servers.  I remember loads of Ragnarok Online servers with 1000000x exp rates, kill a few Poring and hit level 99.  Visit an NPC to get the best gear and cards in the game.  Actually beat the game in no more than 5 minutes!  Woohoo... it's no wonder the lower rate servers always had a higher population.</font>People rushed to 50 when the game launched, and complained that the game wasn't hard/long/whatever enough. People rush to 70 now and complain that the game isn't long/hard/whatever enough. Some people are just never going to find an MMO uber enough. But thankfully for the rest of us, those people are the minority.<font color="#66ff00">Okay first off, when the game originally came out it took longer to get to 50 than it does to get to 70 right this moment.  People always want more.  I mean, have you never seen a great movie and just wished it never ended?I'm just going to call you weird if you haven't, and assume you watch every movie in fast motion because it's a time sink and it's masochism if you actually like to watch movies in entirety.Seriously, why would you want things to be fast?  Even if you can only play an hour a day and would never reach the raising level cap, you'd log on knowing you always have something to shoot for.  A reason to play, to progress.  You'd always know you could progress.That's what I'd personally love to be able to do, always be able to log on and progress my character.  But instead I'm sitting here capped out in level and AA raiding whenever possible and just waiting for the next expansion to come along to hopefully progress more.Why do you have to be able to beat the game?  I know every time I beat a great game, say Psychonauts for instance, I cry.  It was a great game, I just wish it could have stretched on forever.  I... I didn't want it to end.  <span></span>To be able to say "Well, I beat the game.  Time to find another one." isn't why I play, it's to always be enjoying myself while playing!<span></span></font><div></div><hr></blockquote></div><hr></blockquote>I'd take your post more seriously, but I looked at your posting history and realized that it's not necessary. I played this game at launch for several months (despite my registration date on this account) and thought it was god-awful. Now it is much improved, and not because it's easier, but rather because it's richer, and more enjoyable overall.Good job, SOE and EQ2. I seriously never thought I was going to play your game again, but you proved me wrong.</div>

[Pitt Hammerfi]

<DIV>well i played the game since launch and never left, and to me the game is more richer now than it was back then..anyway thats for another thread</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>GRATS SOE !!</DIV>

[Siru]

<DIV>I tried eq2 at launch as well.  While starting off as one archetype and specializing further and further from there sounded appealing (beause some games pull it off amazingly, i.e. final fantasy tactics and the likes,) but in practice it really turned me off.  Now I am back, and yes I levelled up fast, but I enjoyed levelling, I have some sense of identity whereas before i was just mage #1,000.  That change alone did it for me, I wont say anything about any of the other changes!</DIV>

[Crimson Blade]

<P>Absolutely well-deserved. Played for a while not too terribly long after launch and was frustrated to the point of quitting. Too much rough and too little diamond. Now, I have a great time playing, even if I have had a difficult time narrowing down a class to stick with (I'm getting there...). I don't want everything handed to me on a platter, but I don't understand the mentality of gamers who want blood, sweat and tears to be part of their experience. People in that category really need to go outside more.</P> <P> </P> <P>Congratulations to the team. You folks certainly deserve the kudos.</P>

[Parethos]

<div><blockquote><hr>Crimson Blade wrote:<div></div> <p>Absolutely well-deserved. Played for a while not too terribly long after launch and was frustrated to the point of quitting. Too much rough and too little diamond. Now, I have a great time playing, even if I have had a difficult time narrowing down a class to stick with (I'm getting there...). <b>I don't want everything handed to me on a platter, but I don't understand the mentality of gamers who want blood, sweat and tears to be part of their experience.</b> People in that category really need to go outside more.</p> <p>Congratulations to the team. You folks certainly deserve the kudos.</p><hr></blockquote>Agreed. I mean, I don't like things to be easy. I played Final Fricking Fantasy XI for well upon three years (on and off) and had a great time doing it. And nothing in that game is ever handed to you on a silver platter. Not that it's the uberest of the uber, I'm just saying - I am not a fan of easy rewards. As long as I'm having fun playing, I don't care how long it takes to reach my goals. EQ2 now provides what I want from an MMO, and I'm glad they are getting recognition for their work. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   </div>