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Author Topic: Today's Patch & Summary 11/28  (Read 5734 times)
Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942

Muse.


on: October 28, 2004, 09:45:30 AM

Quote
*** Headlines ***

 

- New spells and combat arts for all adventuring classes and subclasses!

- Individualize your character with Traits and Traditions!

- New options for player housing, including addresses!

- Specialized tradeskill workshops added!

- The cities love their artisans! Citizenship granted to crafters at level 6!

- You can now delete quests from your journal and see the quests of your group mates!

- "Fog of war" map system on its way!

 

*** Character Differentiation ***

 

- Final class spells and combat arts are available. Many of the old spells and arts have been removed and replaced with new versions.

- Entertainment spells/arts are now available on scribes and trainers.

- Traits and Traditions choices can be made at the following levels:

   Level 8 - Trait

   Level 14 - Trait

   Level 18 - Tradition

   Level 22 - Trait

   Level 26 - Tradition

   Level 28 - Trait

   Level 34 - Tradition

   Level 36 - Trait

   Level 42 - Trait

   Level 44 - Tradition

   Level 46 - Trait

   Level 48 - Trait

- Additional Advancement Paths will be implemented in upcoming updates.

 

Social Structures

- Treasure has been attached to the level 5, 10, and 15 guild raids.

- The quest log has been improved for the level 5, 10, and 15 guild raids.

- A level 25 guild raid is now available.

- City tasks now award faction when completed.

- Additional tradeskill entrances have been added to the city of Freeport and Qeynos. Each village has four entrances and a district to represent each Tradeskill Social Structure.

 

Player Housing

- Reduced the number of houses in Qeynos city zones.

- Housing prices now vary based on the location and size of housing.

- The number of sellers that can sell from a particular home is limited by the quality and size of that home.

- Certain homes can now be paid for with guild status and require you to be in a guild of a particular level to access and buy.

- Each home now has a unique address and waypoint to lead you to a person's home.

- The amount of furniture that can be placed in a home is limited by the size and quality of the home.

 - Housing zones have street signs so that adventurers can easily locate other adventurers and vendors in the city.

- Players should now be able to access their homes in Stonestair Byway.

 

Changes & Additions

- Gurk Strongarm no longer has treasure on him.

- Bouncer Prod should no longer break his encounter when engaged.

- Menders within the cities had their buy/sell options removed. They only repair items now.

- Mariner's bells have been updated in Thundering Steppes, Nektulos Forest, and Orcish Wastes.

- Boulden Smitestone should now be wearing Qeynos armor.

- Additional exploration points have been added throughout the world.

- The Isle of Refuge has been renamed to "The Isle of Refuge: Freeport" and "The Isle of Refuge: Qeynos", depending on which alignment you choose.

- Added new food and drink to vendors.  Higher-level characters will need to buy the more expensive food to get adequate regeneration.

- The cities of Freeport and Qeynos now place a higher importance on the craftsmanship of their skilled laborers. Artisans who are not already citizens will automatically be granted citizenship when they've obtained artisan level 6.

 

*** Quests ***

 

Heritage Quests

- Ghoulbane: Toranim Skyblade's dialogue has been modified.

- Stein of Moggok: The quest should advance properly upon completion of the tradeskill portion.

- Status points are now awarded upon completion of heritage quests.

 

Quest Updates

- The following quests should now be working correctly:

   A Tour of Antonica

   A Lonely Tree

   Bird Watching - The Double-Headed Thrush

   Bird Watching - The Horned Woodpecker

   Crazy is as Crazy Does

   Crimson Paw Cloak

   Destroyer's Folly

   Dragoon Zytl - Black Rank

   Dragoon Zytl - Blood Rank

   Dragoon Zytl - Green Rank

   Enchanted Creature Culling

   Enchanted Serpent

   Fallen Explorers

   Far Seas Requisition #ANT0244

   Far Seas Requisition #ANT0424

   History of the Runnyeye Goblins, Vol. II

   History of the Runnyeye Goblins, Vol. III

   Horguz

   Hunting the Bloodsabers

   Journal of Elkare

   JumJum for the Soul

   Message for Anessa

   Offering of the Faithful

   Pretty Ponies, All in a Row

   Report to Blight Sage Destroz

   Report to Disciple Telas'velle

   Report to Marauder Kindolus

   Report to Shepherd Sell'ar

   Restoring Ghoulbane

   Rise to the Challenge

   Runed Acorn

   Rusty Key

   Starwisp Sword

   Targok - Part I

   Tempt Fate

   The Crossing of the Fanged Sea

   The Pawn

   The Storm Shepherds - The Calm

   The Storm Shepherds - The Downpour

   Tinmizer's Astounding Frost Disruptor

   ZaZa's Little Problem

 

- Journal entries for the following quests have been modified slightly:

   Evil Eye Rampage

   Far Seas Requisition - # FG 016

   Far Seas Requisition - # FG 073

   Far Seas Requisition - # FG 212

   Far Seas Requisition - # FG 244

   Far Seas Requisition - # WC 002

   Far Seas Requisition - # WC 045

   Far Seas Requisition - # WC 077

   Far Seas Requisition - # WC 124

   Far Seas Requisition - # WC 154

   Ruins of Varsoon: Tomes of Life and Death

   The Amygamalion - The Four That Are We

   Treachery

 

- Items that give quests will now be consumed when the quest is granted.

- Some quests have been re-categorized.

- Updates have been made to the class and subclass quests.

- Killing the Coldwind octopi in Antonica now updates Fawn's Garden appropriately.

- A kill counter has been added to the "Cooking with Elves" and "Far Seas Requisition - # 124" quests.

- A reward has been added to the "Architectural Underground, Part II", "Late for Supplies", and "Stinking Badgers" quest.      

- Additional text has been added to the "Path of the Shaman", "Protect the LMS Intruder!", and "Protect the QSS Bootstrutter!" quest.  

- An item needed from Pelleas' room has been modified to make it more noticeable.            

- Completing "Scrawlings in the Dark" will now remove Scrawlings of Chriannis from the quest journal.

- Examining a Double-Plated Breastplate, a Meteor Chunk, a Shriveled Garlic Cove, an Arcane Rod, a snapped ring, a Metal Bandolier, or a Fading Shirt will now initiate a quest.        

- Extraneous data has been removed from the "Roll of the Dice" quest.

- Hailing Aesthetic Winchester should now return a quest if all requirements are met.

- Ironcast will now give players the "Earth and Water" quest if all requirements are met.

- Inspecting an Owlbear Feather should no longer update the "Owlbear Menace" quest.

- The quest completion text for the "Runnyeye - Banker's Favor" quest has been modified.

- The starting quest item in "A Burglar Alert" should be destroyed upon completion of each of the quests in this series.

- The tome quests for the Age of Monuments, Turmoil, Cataclysms, and Destiny now give a reward when completed.

- The "How Did Their Garden Grow?" quest now progresses correctly when a player finds the atrium.


 
 
 
Quote
Re: Update Summary - October 28, 2004      
 
  *** Zones ***

 

Dynamic Adventure Camps

- Some modifications have been made to the Sabertooth gnoll adventure camps in Antonica.

- Respawn times have been slowed down for all the dynamic adventure camps. This makes them more manageable.

- New dynamic adventure camps have been added to the following zones:

   Enchanted Lands

   The Feerrott

   Orcish Wastes

   Thundering Steppes

 

-Ecology behaviors have been updated in the following zones:

   Willow Wood

   Baubbleshire

   Big Bend

   Stonestair Byway

   Temple Street

   Beggar's Court

   Longshadow Alley

   Scale Yard

   Elddar Grove

 

-Fishing spots have been added to the following zones:

   Antonica

   Enchanted Lands

   The Feerrott

   Nektulos Forest

   Obelisk of Vul

   Orcish Wastes

   Rivervale

   Thundering Steppes

 

Zone Modifications

 

Antonica

- The spawn times for all solo wanderers have been increased.

- Young timber wolves have been added.

- Zombies should no longer be wearing clothes.

- Mender Durry Buntan has been added to the zone. This provides betrayers a place to repair items.

- A floating tent was fixed.

- A dialog response has been modified in Oracle Ulinara's conversation.

 

Blackburrow

- Some solo content has been changed to group content.

- Centipedes and snakes are now aggressive to players.

- Respawn times for NPCs have been modified.

 

Commonlands

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Treasure has been added to all bosses.

- Mender Gubta has been added to the zone. This provides betrayers a place to repair items.

- A floating tent was fixed.

- Bloodskull lumberjacks should no longer appear naked.

- Fisherman Safiya should now have a fishing pole.

- The Orc Runner should now be aggro.

- Additional Bloodskull orcs and wisps have taken up residence within the zone.

- Commander Grik'Sna and his platoon should now be functioning correctly.

 

Cove of Decay: A Treaty for Treasure

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Treasure has been added to all bosses.

 

Edgewater Drains

- Attacking skeletons should no longer cause encounters to break.

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Bosses should now drop loot.

 

Enchanted Lands

- Additional Seamist sylphs are now available.

- Lamia Thrasher no longer spawns in the air.

 

Fallen Gate

- Ghosts are longer naked.

 

The Far Journey

- Players no longer stay in combat mode after killing rats or the goblin.

 

The Feerrott

- The zone out from the Obelisk of Vul is in a safer location.

- A floating tent was fixed.

- Anrev Kaelyna no longer floats.

- Cythan now looks more like a ghost.

 

The Graveyard

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Treasure has been added to all bosses.

- A floating tent was fixed.

 

Maid for the Mist

- Captain Corrigan now allows characters level 36+  entry to the zone.

 

Maulic's Stronghold

- Missing kill on sight (KOS) faction has been added.

- Increased the level range.

 

Nektulos Forest

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- An event with Captain T'Sanne has been added.

- A tent at location -1661, 20, -1102 is no longer floating.

- The patchwork men should no longer be stacked atop one another.

- Gurndundl is no longer a small giant.

 

North Freeport

- Players can now hail Paragon Jalex.

 

North Qeynos

- A new dialog response has been added to Merchant Tara Ironforge.

 

Oakmyst Forest

- Karach the Spider Queen no longer gets stuck after wandering the zone.

 

Obelisk of Vul

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Treasure has been added to all bosses.

 

Orcish Wastes

- The "unnamed" NPC is now called a "Ritual Pire".

- Deathfist Protectors are now aggro.

- Royal Accountant Folwer now responds to hails.

 

Rivervale

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Treasure has been added to all bosses.

- The Dusk Maiden is no longer a pink box.

- Shakey is no longer a pink box.

- Fredwen Goldsyrup can be hailed when right-clicked.

- Merchant Timbertop is no longer a merchant.

 

The Ruins

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

 

Ruins of Varsoon

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Some solo content has been changed to group content.

 

Runnyeye

- Some solo content has been changed to group content.

- Additional group content has been added to various areas.

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

 

Serpent Sewer

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

 

Stormhold

- Missing kill on sight (KOS) faction has been added.

 

Thieves' Way

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

 

Thundering Steppes

- Factions have been added to the centaurs.

- Mora Oshus now walks a different path.

- "[placeholder] Cemetery" is known as Coldwind Shores Cemetery.

- Steelhoof Hunters and Steelhoof Pariahs no longer look like unicorns.

- Walon March now responds to hails.

 

Tomb of Valor

- Missing kill on sight (KOS) faction has been added.

 

Tower of the Drafling

- NPCs have been re-leveled.

- Additional treasure has been added.

 

Training Grounds

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

 

Trembling Lagoon

- The timing of the event has been adjusted.

- Breaking into the zone should be much easier now.

 

Wailing Caves

- Some solo content has been changed to group content.

- Factions have been added to certain NPCs.

- Treasure has been added to all bosses

- Respawn time for NPCs was slightly modified.



 
 
 
Quote
Re: Update Summary - October 28, 2004    
 
 
 *** Mechanics ***

 

Items

- Tinting has been applied to weapons and shields.

- Black Iron Chain Vambraces now use the correct icon.

- Leather Strapped Symbol now uses the correct icon.

- Earring of the Shattering can now be equipped.

- Reptile Meat is now stackable.

- Skullcrusher now appears as a hammer.

 

Tradeskills

- Values for all crafting components have been adjusted.

- Added three more tradeskill instances to each Qeynos Village and Freeport District.

- Added new tradeskill reaction arts and special events.

 

Mechanics

- Tuned shield blocking rate so that you block more often.

- Adjusted group encounters in the following ways:

- Reduced damage of NPC abilities like Crushing Blow and Assault.

- Made minor adjustments to damage and hit points.

- Reduced the power of NPC heals.

- Removed negative resists from Trolls, Ogres, and Iksar.

- The speed of all mounts has been reduced in order to avoid the ability to bypass certain content.

- Spikes are no longer available from standard weapon merchant lists.

- A basic torch has been added to merchant lists.

- Traveling boats have been removed from Antonica, Commonlands, Nektulos Forest, and Thundering Steppes.

 

*** Stability and Performance ***

 

- Optimizations to improve server performance.

- Server stability fixes.

- Client rendering performance has increased.

- Fixed a crash bug related to the /disband command.

           

*** Audio ***

 

- Reverb point is no longer tied to the camera.

- There are now 'watery' footstep sound effects for the Isle of Refuge.

- Use Avatar as Listener option has been fixed.

- Large objects like walls should now obstruct environmental sounds.

 

*** Characters, Appearances, and Rendering ***

 

- Added fix to reduce post-combat 'twitching'.

- Armor pieces with spell particles now move when they should.

- Fixed visual bug with the water in Permafrost.

- Tails should no longer wag or heads track while feigning death.

- NPCs should no longer head track while dead.

 

*** Gameplay ***

 

- You may now delete unwanted quests as long as they're not related to your character's progression!

- The maximum number of active quests a character can have simultaneously is 50.

- You can now view your group members' quest by using the Group tab in the Quest Journal.

- Skills are once again learned through use where appropriate.

- Fixed bug causing the 'Zone Full' message while exiting Mizan's Cellar

- Setting an item's price in your store now automatically places it for sale.

- The maximum amount of in-house merchant items is determined by the size of your house.

- Changing a friend's housing access level will send them a message if they are online.

- Players riding griffins are no longer targetable.

- Changes have been made to how maintained spells work:  

   - Group beneficial spells will be maintained as long as group members are within proximity of the caster.

   - Group beneficial spells will be reapplied to fallen groupmates if they are within proximity of the caster when rez'ed.

   - Single target maintained spells are now subject to the proximity rule. However, the spell will be dropped if the caster leaves the group.

   - When in a group event or pocket zone (not standard instanced zones) the proximity radius is ignored.

   - Hostile maintained spells still work as before, but the effect will be dropped if the caster leaves the zone.

 

*** Controls, Commands, and UI ***

           

- Main UI: Attempting to destroy silver pieces will now do that instead of destroying copper.

- Main UI: Fixed bug causing item quest text to get narrow.

- Maps: Maps now feature a Discovery system (Fog of War) that will reflect the areas of zone you have explored. At the moment this has only been enabled for the Isle of Refuge. If you have already explored this zone (and you are still there) the map will appear fogged when you log in after this update.

- Options: Audio Performance option now allows you to set max number of audible sounds.

- Quest Journal: The Journal will now display if you have too many active quests.  If you currently have more Quests than the Journal can carry, you will have to complete or delete some before being able to obtain more.

- Persona: To prevent accidental editing of your bio, you now have to select 'Edit' to do so.

- Waypoints: There is now a Houses category in the waypoint menu to lead you to where the house access points are.

- Pressing back while in auto-run now turns it off.

- Double-clicking on a scroll now auto scribes it.

 

*** Known Issues ***  

 

- Still working on improving server performance.

- Remaining zone maps will soon be converted to the discovery system. Also, additional maps will be included for the non-city zones.

 

*** Art ***

 

Characters

- Fixed centaur female LODs

- Fixed centaur female animation issues

- Fixed elephant LODs

- Added tint color support for LODs on player armor

 

FX

- Created additional combat art variants

- Created additional spell effect variants

- Added spell projectiles that fire two and three at a time

- Fixed shaders on all spells displaying ghost animals

- Optimized more spell effects

 

Zones

Fixed collision/stuck issues in the following zones:

- Blackburrow

- The Peat Bog

- Nektulos Forest

- The Willow Wood

- Oakmyst Forest

- East Freeport

- Obelisk of Vul

- Nektropos Castle

- Freeport Graveyard

- Enchanted Lands

- Qeynos Harbor

- Qeynos South

- Qeynos Elddar

- Ruins of Varsoon

- The Bloodskull Valley

- Thundering Steppes

- The Ruins

 

Fixed cosmetic issues in the following zones:

- East Freeport

- West Freeport

- The Forest Ruins

- Obelisk of Vul

- Elddar Grove

- The Feerrott

- Nektropos Castle

 

*** Audio ***

 

- Fixed text to the match the voiceover of various NPCs

- Replaced some of the PC voiceover (mostly jump sounds)

My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
Ardent
Terracotta Army
Posts: 473


Reply #1 on: October 28, 2004, 10:52:46 AM

Lots! Of! Exclamation! Points!



Heh, I like how they have a heading called *** Character Differentiation ***. As in, "Hey, you whiney babies, here's what you're asking for, so shut yer pie holes."



Quote
- Entertainment spells/arts are now available on scribes and trainers.


Sweet! Hopefully this means they are adding mind wounds into the game. (kidding)



Quote
- You may now delete unwanted quests as long as they're not related to your character's progression!

- You can now view your group members' quest by using the Group tab in the Quest Journal.


Good, and good. Now add sorting by quest source or quest destination. (definitely not kidding)

Um, never mind.
Riley
Terracotta Army
Posts: 64


Reply #2 on: October 28, 2004, 11:46:30 AM

Quote
"Fog of war" map system on its way!


Could be interesting...

I've heard they implemented this on the newbie Isle for now as a test and will be expanding it later on.  Hopefully expanding it beyond just the cities.
WayAbvPar
Moderator
Posts: 19268


Reply #3 on: October 28, 2004, 11:56:02 AM

Quote
Some solo content has been changed to group content.


Distressing how many times I read that. Even more GROUP OR DIE mentality. Fuck.

When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

Always wear clean underwear because you never know when a Tory Government is going to fuck you.- Ironwood

Libertarians make fun of everyone because they can't see beyond the event horizons of their own assholes Surlyboi
Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942

Muse.


Reply #4 on: October 28, 2004, 02:57:34 PM

Looks like this patch broke the game in oh, so many ways.

My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23612


Reply #5 on: October 28, 2004, 02:57:52 PM

Quote from: WayAbvPar
Quote
Some solo content has been changed to group content.

Distressing how many times I read that. Even more GROUP OR DIE mentality. Fuck.

What's even more bizarre is that SOE doesn't want you entering Blackburrow unless you are in a group. The 3 of the 4 entrances I've tried to enter are heavily guarded by mobs that are Yellow++ to a level 15. I made it into one entrance by sprinting to the zone door but then I couldn't get past the entrance area cause the next room is guarded by a Yellow++ that can see through my sneak. And of course I died on the sprint back out past all the Yellows.
Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23612


Reply #6 on: October 28, 2004, 03:06:03 PM

Quote

- The maximum number of active quests a character can have simultaneously is 50.

What is up with that? That was one of the few quest related mechanics they were doing better than WoW (unlimited active quests) and they went and nerfed it. I seriously hope they aren't counting collection quests as part of the 50. I have 14 of those stupid quests active right now on one of my characters.
angry.bob
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5442

We're no strangers to love. You know the rules and so do I.


Reply #7 on: October 28, 2004, 04:31:59 PM

Quote from: Signe
Looks like this patch broke the game in oh, so many ways.


Yeah, I was fence-wobbling over whether to go ahead and try it in retail or not, but half that shit is either more mandatory grouping (and by most reports it had almost no solo playability as it was) or masterbatory ego stroking for people believing their guild will be supreme and whatnot. These patch notes end my hand-wringing and make me feel good about deciding not to touch with a ten foot pole. In fact, it looks like it'll just be filled with the same useless human garbage beneath my notice as the first EQ.

I really hope developers hurry up and get over the notion that designing your game around making the 150 most cutthroat, smarmy assfags on each server happy is a good thing. One of the things DAoC did do right from the start was trivialize guild membership. Being in the "best" guild on a server does help, but it's not much of an advatage playability wise. At least until ToA, which broke the game all to hell and is the #1 reason why realm populations are completely unfixable at this point.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.
Kageru
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4549


Reply #8 on: October 28, 2004, 05:26:13 PM

I imagine they don't want unlimited quests because it leads to the whole thing feeling undifferentiated. Go and get "all" quests and then kill "all" monsters means there's really only one big quest per level, and no downtime reading lore and returning to quest givers. I really wouldn't be surprised if they drop it even further before release, down to 10 or 20 perhaps.

Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf?
- Simond
Kageru
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4549


Reply #9 on: October 28, 2004, 05:50:03 PM

Looks like it's being well received.
(borrowed off www.eqii.com)
---------------------

OK heres a condensed summary - I know the NDA has been lifted for 2 weeks + but I just wanted to double check because they were locking threads and banning people left and right for critizing this patch on the beta boards and the banner over there still says the NDA is active. Let me add that this is still BETA and I believe that many of these things will be fixed for sure.

So here are the main criticisms I've heard and some of my own for this patch - I really loved this game FYI pre-patch.

1) Priest spell changes remove diversity from the game by stripping the baseline ward/regen/direct heals from druids/shaman/clerics etc. Having all three base lines but specialized lines in the partical class-specific arts was a far better system since it added much more diversity to gameplay (i.e. weaving minor ward and regen and a minor direct heal as a druid instead of punching the regen key over and over) and their new system broke the whole HO system for most priests. Basically content and mechanics wise this a step backward. For clerics they now have no HOs available in the teens that are known. Shaman - I should point out - are probably the least effected by this patch since they didnt rely much on minor regen the way druids used ward and clerics used both.

2) Removing solo content from dungeons is an unfortunate change. Where there was solo content it was mainly focussed around the zone in and gave people productive things to do while waiting for groups to go further in and also gave people a way to work on quests in that dungeon without having to find a group of people insterested in killing the mobs YOU need. There is a whole thread in which about 90+% of the people feel this pretty much sucks so I hope it will be reverted.

3) The new Tradeskill, trait and fun-spell systems obviously werent tested internally much. You cant even get the new spells, the traits dont work, and the tradeskill pricing system is just silly. Update: this is being hot fixed today at least as pertains to the new spell availability from trainers.

4) Food/water replenishment is terribly expensive now. As a lvl 15 character for example it will cost you 3 times more to stay in food and water then it will for your rent. I'm sure this will be tweaked but many people were upset with the dramatic increase in cost due to making food level-appropriate coupled with an apparent slowing the regen effect granted.

5) WORST OF ALL - in a game called EVERQUEST - the new 50 quest limit is ludicrous. There are a hundred better programming ways to reduce the lag from checking killed mobs against the quest needs of the players killing them. Collection quests which count against the 50 limit should never figure in since they are never involved in mob kills drops. Many mobs are not involved in quests are should never be checked - but they are.

There are other problems with this patch also dealing with removal of the boats and several major game crashing bugs - its all very worrisonme considering release is in 2 weeks.

Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf?
- Simond
Resvrgam
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Posts: 122


WWW
Reply #10 on: October 28, 2004, 11:58:38 PM

With such an exobitant amount of cash invested into the over-hyping of this game and the "Hollywood" fluff that will go un-noticed (for the most part), I'm really surprised that there was no real effort invested into the actual product. :(

This patch only serves to solidifty how much of a rushed, half-assed title this game really is.  I won't even get into how poorly the graphics engine has been designed and how it requires an uber-rig to run despite looking like ass on "today's hardware".

It looks like the fanboys will be paying for this in the end. :(

All the revenue customers will be sinking into this colossal waste of time, talent and money will be spent on "the shiny."

That's right, people are only buying a re-vamped EQLive with nicer graphics...all of which should/could have been implemented into the existing game without the need for an entirely new product through patches (their subscriptions have pretty much paid for anyways).  

The EQLive engine was never designed to be upgraded as much as it has but... EQ2 isn't anything substantially different than it's predecessor other than the graphics (and it's attempt at trying to mimic FFXI). A "Buy this new Expansion that comes with a huge set of disks" would have been a LOT less misleading instead of: "Our game was poorly conceived with no real emphasis on future progression and thus we're going to abort this fetus when it stops making us enough cash...and then we'll do it all again with new graphics."

All in all, the beta lasted about a week on my hard drive (after corrupting my TCP/IP settings --sounds like a SOE release candidate to me) and has thus found it's early grave at the bottom of my Recycling Bin.   I couldn't imagine people playing this actually paying a monthly subscription for it!  These patches will eventually homogenize it into an exact clone of EQLive...with veterans being forced to start the treadmill from scratch again: Greed 4 teh pwn.

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Reply #11 on: October 29, 2004, 12:05:25 AM

Both WoW and EQ2 supposedly cost about $30,000,000. SOE spent that money on voice acting and a graphics engine that damn near puts Doom 3 to shame in terms of world. Blizzard spent the money on making their game run well (though Guild Wars runs better...long before it's release, thanks b.net programmers!). Unfortunately neither one brings anything even remotely interesting to the table. All in all, as a gamer that was a huge waste of $60,000,000. On the flipside, I can see why SOE and Blizzard did what they and they'll rake in cash for it. Sony may not make the best games but they know how to sell you *shit* and keep you there. Ruthless businessmen. I like that.

Blizzard, I'm pretty sure, don't even know what they're getting into. Of course, with Tigole and Furor they should have seen it coming 10,000 miles away
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Reply #12 on: October 29, 2004, 12:50:52 AM

I guess they would look pretty similar to someone who doesn't intend to play either. For those people looking to play the best MMORPG I expect differentiation will be a little more precise.

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Reply #13 on: October 29, 2004, 04:53:31 AM

Quote from: schild
Blizzard, I'm pretty sure, don't even know what they're getting into. Of course, with Tigole and Furor they should have seen it coming 10,000 miles away


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Reply #14 on: October 29, 2004, 08:06:03 AM

Quote
Let me add that this is still BETA and I believe that many of these things will be fixed for sure.

Heh.
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Reply #15 on: October 29, 2004, 08:25:42 AM

Quote from: Resvrgam
That's right, people are only buying a re-vamped EQLive with nicer graphics...all of which should/could have been implemented into the existing game without the need for an entirely new product through patches (their subscriptions have pretty much paid for anyways).  


Some of this stuff they DID try in EQLive, to fix "problems" the community was pointing out, and had to take it out, reduce it or abandon it because of the phenomenonal bitching from that same community about it.  i.e. the Trivial Loot Code, Tank & healer imbalance and twinking. Changing the base game in such phenomenal ways is going to incur the wrath of the fanbase.  SOE decided rather than do that, and risk some subs, just re-release the game with those 'fixes' as part of the core game.

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Reply #16 on: October 29, 2004, 09:02:47 AM

Which is really the fundamental problem. They've constructed a game based on all the utterings from the whiniest players. A lot of those things simply weren't big issues and the mechanics to prevent them seem incredibly heavy handed. Not to mention it's distracted the designers from putting positive things in the game. And then at some point they started bending the game towards powergamers anyway, so the casuals are still going to be unhappy.

I've never seen a game with such an identity crisis. And I'm fascinated to know if the high end game is equally messed up.

Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf?
- Simond
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