EQ2 to ship on Nov 8th

[Sky]

Dear EBgames.com Customer,

Thanks for pre-ordering from EBgames.com!  As an added benefit to ordering from us, we’ll keep you informed of ship date changes. We are writing to let you know that the publisher has set a new ship date for Everquest 2 of November, 8th 2004. As always, EBgames.com will not charge your credit card until we ship your order.

Ready or not!

[Kageru]

Time to have a laugh at those who said, "With all these changes, they'll surely take the time to get it right!".

[Soukyan]

Time to have a laugh at those who said, "With all these changes, they'll surely take the time to get it right!".

They didn't take the time needed for EQ1 or SWG, so why change the way they do business now. Besides, they need to strike while the iron is hot and people are fiending for it. Sell a bunch and then patch a bunch of fixes/improvements/"freebie" extras and string people along with carrot out front as always. It works. It just works. On the downside, I won't get to beta test very much if that date is true. :( How depressing.

[HaemishM]

/em shakes his head in disgust

This will not end well.

[Sable Blaze]

They're going to crash and burn. This game is NOT ready. I doubt it'll be as bad as AOs launch, but...I remember EQlive's and I personally don't want to go through that again.

I can wait six months before this one I think.

[schild]

The same day as Halo 2 and Half Life 2? What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. November?

[WayAbvPar]

/em shakes his head in disgust

This will not end well.

By all accounts it won't even START well.

[Fargull]

By all accounts it won't even START well.

Keyboard.  Now.  Work upset...

[kaid]

Before I start my mocking in ernest I will wait for the devs to officially shoot themselves in the foot. The places like EB world are just to prone to pulling release dates out of their ass to take to seriously.

kaid

[jpark]

It's a great business model.  Blizzard did not charge for their stress test.

But SOE will on November 8th.

[kaid]

Actually if you want to pay to stress test you can do that now.

http://www.fileplanet.com/subscribe/eq2/

WEEEEE!


kaid

[Rasix]

Ohh, I think it's time to all tilt our head backs and let out a nice laugh.

What a bunch of goons. Nov. 8. Yah. Good luck with that.

[dotter]

After reading the reactions on several boards, I've come to the conclusion that SOE will make money no matter what.  They can stick poo in a bag and label it EQ3 and a good number of EQ fans will buy it.

Some people's rose colored glasses are so thick I'm wondering how they are walking around.

[Signe]

Oh, I don't know.  They seem more ready for launch than most have been.  I think the game will be very playable at release, as far as content and bugs go.  Well, if the mechanics hold up, that is.  They seem pretty quick to fix issues.  Last time I logged in, the disconnects and most of the lag seemed to have lessened quite a bit.  Even in Qeynos.  They'll have the new additions to skills in by the 25th, I think, and that still gives a couple of weeks to bug fix those.  Maybe this launch will have a better time of it.

Maybe....

[Resvrgam]

This has SWG written all over it.  How many more festering piles of crap does this company need to excrete before people wise up and stop giving them money?

Now that EQ2 is their sole domain, I wonder who they'll try to blame for their shortcomings? (Lucas Arts wasn't involved in EQ2, so there went that excuse).

[kaid]

If they can pound out the last issues with antonica lag and some zone stability they could easily release by that time if they are willing to tell people to stfu about the character diversity until post release.

kaid

[Liquidator]

The same day as Halo 2 and Half Life 2? What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. November?

When it rains it pours.

I don't have enough money or time for all of these games. :(

Edit:  Additional comment

Quote:
Dear EBgames.com Customer,

Thanks for pre-ordering from EBgames.com! As an added benefit to ordering from us, we’ll keep you informed of ship date changes. We are writing to let you know that the publisher has set a new ship date for Everquest 2 of November, 8th 2004. As always, EBgames.com will not charge your credit card until we ship your order.

Ready or not!

So I guess we'll be hearing a gold announcement any day now.

[schild]

This has SWG written all over it.  How many more festering piles of crap does this company need to excrete before people wise up and stop giving them money?

No, it does not have SW:G written all over it.

[El Gallo]

LOL

I never thought SoE could do worse than SWG.

[schild]

LOL

I never thought SoE could do worse than SWG.

And you were right to think that. They can't. I'm pretty sure, proportionally, the number of bugs in SW:G triumphed Horizons. If AE had gotten the Star Wars named attached to Hz and slapped some fwg5's in there, they would have done just fine.

[HaemishM]

I don't know that it'll be as bad as SWG, but it won't be good. The fact that in the time I've been in beta, they've been unable to fix the Antonica lag issue is telling. Add in the ridiculuous character diversity changes, and you have a Charlie Foxtrot waiting to happen.

But there'll be content.

[Ardent]

Ready or not!

Not.

I got a message that my WoW preorder was pushed back one day (big whoop).

For some reason, I have this mental image of SOE scrambling to assemble a horde of scattered puzzle pieces and tossing them out the door, while Blizzard is reclining in a comfy chair, hands clasped behind its head, whistling and waiting patiently for release day.

[El Gallo]

Unlike SWG, EQ actually has the raw potential to be good.  If everything in EQ2 actually worked as intended and had a polish pass, it could be a good game.  EQ is also SoE's flagship line.

Objectively, EQ2 is much better right now than SWG was when it was vomited out.  But, unlike SWG, EQ2 actually had the potential to be good and that potential was ruined by shitty execution and a rushed release schedule.  It's the difference between shovelling a pile of cow shit on a nice carpet, and shovelling a pile of cow shit onto a pile of human shit.

OK, yeah, I was just exaggerating.  It's Friday.

[schild]

Ready or not!

For some reason, I have this mental image of SOE scrambling to assemble a horde of scattered puzzle pieces and tossing them out the door, while Blizzard is reclining in a comfy chair, hands clasped behind its head, whistling and waiting patiently for release day.

No, Blizzard is already working on their bi-yearly patch for the servers.

[Merusk]

It's a great business model.  Blizzard did not charge for their stress test.

But SOE will on November 8th.

Shit, isn't that what I've said the entire EQ2 dev cycle?  I know if you go back and read my posting history I said at least once that SOE  WILL ship come November, regarless of how "done" the game is.

All one has to do is look at the history to see. They've published 3 MMOs so far, and none of them have been "ready." However, they've always managed to keep players around long enough with patches & promises to maintain revenues.

SOE knows that regarless of how shitty a product they launch they can spin it and keep people around.  Players are asshats and will pay for shit so long as they get it 'now'.   Fuck, that there's still people playing AO and SB should have told you all of this.

  Blizzard would do well to learn this lesson, because right now I don't see them shipping in November like I originally did.  There's going to be at LEAST one more patch before 'open' beta to get the remaining skills & talents in.  With no patch this week, there's no activity indicating there will be one early next week, either.

I said before that Blizzard's glacial pace of doing things was going to stand to hurt them. SOE just has to keep those 'undecided' accounts entertained enough. By launching 'early' and being faster by a factor of 20 on patches, I give them a good shot at keeping them.

Edit:

Objectively, EQ2 is much better right now than SWG was when it was vomited out.

EQ2 is better right now than SWG is right now, not just SWG at launch.  If I didn't hate the progression time, art and feeling of EQ1 creeping into it I'd play EQ2. You couldn't get me to play SWG if you gave it to me free. (And they tried. I'm looking at you the 1.5 hours I checked out the "10 day re-up")

[schild]

There's a lot of bitching going on about this, but let's get one thing clear. Even if I don't like it Everquest 2's core game is stable, solid and has about 5-10x more quests than any game I've ever played. There are better things to complain about than their ship date right now.

[jpark]

There's a lot of bitching going on about this, but let's get one thing clear. Even if I don't like it Everquest 2's core game is stable, solid and has about 5-10x more quests than any game I've ever played. There are better things to complain about than their ship date right now.

True... but I guess the rest will have to wait until the rest of us try it on release :)

[kaid]

Well if the release date turns out to be the 8th not like you have long to wait.

kaid

[Ardent]

Even if I don't like it Everquest 2's core game is stable, solid

Which is why they are dramatically changing their archetype system 2 weeks before launch?

[SirBruce]

Hey Raph, if people still listen to you over there, remind them they shipped SWG 6 months early and it probably cost them 200,000 subscribers.  EQ2 needs at least 6 more weeks of work, and trying to beat WoW out of the chute won't help.

Bruce

[jpark]

It's a great business model.  Blizzard did not charge for their stress test.

But SOE will on November 8th.

Shit, isn't that what I've said the entire EQ2 dev cycle?  I know if you go back and read my posting history I said at least once that SOE  WILL ship come November, regarless of how "done" the game is.

All one has to do is look at the history to see. They've published 3 MMOs so far, and none of them have been "ready." However, they've always managed to keep players around long enough with patches & promises to maintain revenues.

SOE knows that regarless of how shitty a product they launch they can spin it and keep people around.  Players are asshats and will pay for shit so long as they get it 'now'.   Fuck, that there's still people playing AO and SB should have told you all of this.

  Blizzard would do well to learn this lesson, because right now I don't see them shipping in November like I originally did.

Agreed.  My comment above was not intended as insight.  Point taken about lesson for Blizzard.  I am still betting a case of beer with Grind that WOW won't go retail until 2005.

[jpark]

Hey Raph, if people still listen to you over there, remind them they shipped SWG 6 months early and it probably cost them 200,000 subscribers.  EQ2 needs at least 6 more weeks of work, and trying to beat WoW out of the chute won't help.

Bruce

Ah this is a great point.  First impressions are forever in this industry - so it seems - if they ship too soon - the rep damage could take too long to deal with in the months and years ahead.

[schild]

EQ 2 is stable enough and has enough quests to ship. Jesus christ. What? Are you worried about the imbalance hurting pvp? I mean what's the gripe here? You don't think it's as good as WoW yet? Comeon.

The stupidest thing is the day they are shipping. 4 games on the same day that the majority of gamers want? That's no good.

[Ardent]

Yes, the game servers and the quests are stable ... my point was specifically about this brand-spankin'-new system of spells, skills and racial traits that beta testers have not even seen yet. If the archetype system was so stable, why would they be restructuring it on the verge of release?

[jpark]

EQ 2 is stable enough and has enough quests to ship. Jesus christ. What? Are you worried about the imbalance hurting pvp? I mean what's the gripe here? You don't think it's as good as WoW yet? Comeon.

Ardent summarized well my view.  To go further, Schild:

1.  Do we agree that with the changes announced recently these are major changes to the game as we have come to understand it in the past?

2.  Do you agree that Wow is EQ1.5 and graphics aside, has executed well on that mandate?

3.  If you believe this game to be in good shape - would it be fair to say you expect a relatively smooth launch that attracts former players and new ones back to the franchize?

#3 is the kicker - arguments aside - if the guys ranting are right - of which I am one - this launch will be a big disappointment.