Eq2 patch for 2 -17-05

[kaid]

Love it or hate it you cannot argue that EQ2 seems WAY more on the ball with content additions and bug fixes than WoW.



Update Notes: February 17, 2005 2/17/2005 6:00 AM

*** Headlines ***

- See your enemies in a whole new way with our new /con system!
- Short-duration group buffs now last 10 minutes! Single-target buffs last 15 minutes!
- No more fizzles on spells that are blue or lower to you, and less fizzles on other spells!
- Shorter timers and less restrictions on instanced zones!
- Give your beloved house pets a name!
- All tradeskill classes can now refine their own materials and components!
- Wizards and Warlocks go nuke happy!
- Tanks now tank better with increased mitigation!
- Strike back at your rival city through new sabotage quests!
- More encounters added for soloers and small groups, including solo instanced dungeons!
- You can now store empty bags inside other bags!
- Improved examine information for spells, arts, potions, and more!
- Four new level 50 epic raid zones have been added!
- Now easier to search for potions, poisons, activated items, and food!
- Even more residents of Norrath gain their voices with our optional voiceover download!
- Choose different Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training options!


*** IMPORTANT NOTE ***

- Most equipment must now be attuned before it provides any benefit. This is likely to affect items currently being worn by your character.
- Wearing gear that is not attuned will display a warning message in your Inventory window.
- If you wish to attune everything your character is wearing, you can type the "/attune_equip all" command. This will only affect items currently being worn.
- Until you attune your gear, IT WILL NOT PROVIDE ANY PROTECTION WHICH MEANS YOU MAY DIE HORRIBLY. Please remember to attune your gear!
- Items that have been attuned cannot be sold or traded to other players, but they can be sold to NPC merchants.


*** Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training ***

- We are now allowing characters to reselect their Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training options.
- If you have previously chosen Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training, you can reset your selections and make new choices by typing the "/respec" command. This will remove all previous choices from your Knowledge Book and will place a blinking "+" sign in the lower right corner of your screen.
- Clicking the "+" sign will open the selection window and allow you to pick new Traits, Traditions, Tactics, and Training.
- You may receive your selections in a different order this time. Class-dependent choices (like Tactics) will be presented after the others. Characters who gain these abilities as they level up normally will get them in the normal order.

** IMPORTANT! **

- While you can issue the "/respec" command at any time, you will not be able to receive quest rewards until you make all pending choices available to you.


*** Consider System ***

- A new NPC consider system has been added that provides players with information on the creatures they encounter.
- When appropriate, your target's level appears next to its name.
- The target window varies based on the target's level of challenge. A weak opponent will have a plain target window with swords under the target's name, while the target window of an epic opponent will be much more ornate.
- While the new system still shows which opponents are linked in an encounter, the consider message is based on the challenge presented by each individual target. Players who prefer to evaluate their opponents' strengths for themselves may enjoy this option
- You can switch between the old system and the new one by selecting the User Interface tab on the Options window. Under the Name and Chat Bubble heading, you can toggle the NPC Evaluation drop-down between Simple (new system) and Detailed (old system).


*** City Sabotage ***

- Wreak havoc behind enemy lines! Sabotage missions are now available from agents in Antonica and the Commonlands.


*** Solo/Duo Instanced Zones ***

- Solo versions of the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes have been added. You can choose whether you wish enter the solo or heroic versions of these dungeons. We recommend the solo versions for one or two players, and the heroic version for groups of three or more.
- Tallon Hording Halls
- Sullon Mines
- The Dark Den
- The Caves of Wonder
- Cavern of Tangled Weeds
- The Rumbler Caves
- A Pirates Hidden Stash
- An Open Grave


*** New Level 50 Raids ***

- Four new 24-person level 50 raid zones are now available for play.
- Shattered Stillness, entered from Antonica, is where you must defeat Arch Lich Udalan.
- Echoes of Time, accessed in Commonlands, is the home of the mighty King Zalak.
- Cove of Decay: Epic Angler, located in the Thundering Steppes, is where you can find Rognog the Angler, the renowned giant fisherman.
- Meeting of the Minds, found in the Feerrott, is the lair of the mysterious Overlord Oxulius.
- The reuse timer on these raids is 18 hours on success, 6 hours on a failure.


*** Gameplay ***

- The Swornlove siblings wish to thank you for helping them keep the spirit of Erollisi Day alive. Now that the festival is complete, they will no longer be seeking your assistance.
- You no longer need to defeat an entire encounter to get credit for completing most quests.
- Your speed while on a mount is no longer limited by the maximum speed of the mount. If you receive a movement buff that is faster than the default speed of your mount, you will now move at the faster speed for the duration of the speed increase. This includes spells such as Spirit of the Wolf and abilities such as Sprint.
- There are now stable hand merchants in West Freeport and South Qeynos that will purchase mounts at their full value, less any merchant markup you paid when buying them.
- House pets can now be named while you are in your house by right-clicking on your pet in the inventory window and selecting Name Pet.
- Creatures that used to appear alive after being killed should now look properly dead.
- Added an on-screen message after purchasing a ticket to travel by sea that lets players know they must use the ticket before camping or leaving the zone.
- There is now a ding, accompanied by congratulatory text, when your guild levels up.


*** Mechanics ***

- The damage bonus given by extremely high amounts of strength has been reduced. For example, having a strength of 400 previously gave a 200% damage bonus; after this change, the damage bonus is 155%. There is no change to the damage bonus at a STR of 100, and only a slight reduction at 200 STR.
- Heavy armor now mitigates 11% more damage. Light armor now mitigates 35% more damage.
- Having stamina greater than 200 will now increase the character's maximum health pool.
- Maximum power will increase when the stats used to determine it (strength, agility, intelligence, or wisdom) go above 200.
- Melee combat arts no longer decrease in effectiveness when equipping a weapon that is blue, green, or grey to the user.
- If an epic opponent can only be hit by a certain quality of weapon, that weapon's level must be within 75% or 5 levels of the target's level.
- A bug that was giving some characters extra points in certain skills has been corrected. For example, Artisans will no longer receive 5 extra points in the skills they stop advancing when they choose a class or subclass, and Brawlers no longer gain extra Deflection at lower levels.
- Players will no longer receive a "mini-ding" at reaching 100% of a level if they are unable to gain a level due to a milestone requirement (such as the citizenship quest, class quest, etc.).


*** Spells ***

- Spell casters will no longer fizzle on any spell that is blue, green, or grey to them, as long as their casting skills are maximized.
- The fizzle rate on orange, yellow, and white-con spells has been reduced.
- Targeted persistent hostile spells (such as DoTs) should no longer drop if the caster summons a pet.
- Spectral Guard and Malefic Shroud will now last up to 10 hits before expiring instead of fading after a single hit.
- Flaming Agony and Fiery Doom should now show in the maintained window once they have been cast.
- Vexation upgrades are now available in from the appropriate merchants, recipe books, and loot drops.
- The stat bonuses given by Geotic Brand will no longer change when a player zones.
- Flameshield now does heat damage instead of divine.
- Summoned pets should no longer "dance" their way into unintended aggro.
- Dumbfire pets will no longer remove maintained spell effects from an encounter. This includes the following spells:
- Conjuror: Aqueous Hunters
- Shadowknight: Tainted Sacrament, Cursed Sacrament
- Necromancer: Jaul's Rotting Packhounds, Swarm of Rats, Plague of Rats
- Wizard: Protoflame
- Warlock: Netheros
- Defiler: Purulence, Eerie Avenger
- Illusionist: Construct of Order, Construct of Logic, Basten's Construct of Light
- Wizard changes:
- Breath of the Tyrant and Immolation no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flames and Ball of Fire no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Piercing Icicles and Icy Coil no longer share the same reuse timer.
- Ball of Flame now has a cast time of 2 seconds and a recast time of 6 seconds.
- Burning Intimidation now does 4 times its previous amount of damage.
- Immolation now deals 2 additional ticks of heat damage at 120% of the initial instant damage. The cast time has been increased to 3 seconds and the recast time is now 21 seconds.
- Ice Comet's damage has been increased 275%, and its reuse time is now 45 seconds.
- Freeze and Daenor's Lingering Frost now do 3 times their previous amount of damage.
- Icy Coil's initial instant damage has been increased 350%.
- Piercing Icicles now deals 200% additional instant piercing damage.
- Warlock changes:
- Negative Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Null Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5.
- Null Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolution or Nil Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time.
- Nil Absolution no longer shares a reuse timer with Negative Absolution or Null Absolution, and the maximum number of targets has been limited to 5. The spell now deals additional poison damage over time and lowers strength by 5.
- Dark Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Nil Distortion, and its damage has been increased to 150%.
- Nil Distortion no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Distortion. Its damage has been increased to 240% and it has a reuse timer of 18 seconds.
- Flashfreeze now has a casting time of 1 second, and its damage has been tripled.
- Noxious Bolt now has a reuse time of 6.5 seconds, and its damage has been tripled.
- Dark Emanations no longer shares a reuse timer with Torment of Shadows.
- Torment of Shadows no longer shares a reuse timer with Dark Emanations. Its instant damage has been tripled, and its damage over time has doubled.
- Dark Nebula now does 3 times its previous damage. It is an upgrade to Grievous Blast, sharing a reuse timer with Grievous Blast and Putrid Cloud.
- Devastation will now affect up to 5 targets in a radius of 10 meters with a recast time of 45 seconds. Its instant damage and DoT effect has been reduced by 50%.
- Short duration group buffs now last 10 minutes, and single target buffs now last 15 minutes. This affects the following spells:
- Assassin: Bleeder's Talent, Merciless Villainy
- Bard: Bria's Stirring Ballad, Performer's Talent
- Berserker: Bloodlust, Battle Chant, Screaming Fury, Tides of War, Destructive Rage, Greater Fury, Uthros' Superior Tactics
- Brigand: Burgle, Rough Skin, Stealthy Burglary, Aegis
- Bruiser: Intimidating Orders, Rousing Cry, Velan's Nervy Order
- Coercer: Recklessness, Refresh, Annoying Demeanor, Empathic Link, Mind's Eye, Konious' Glowing Breeze, Glyssa's Emboldening Glyph
- Conjurer: Provocation, Fire Seed, Volatile Refuge, Vehement Stone, Flameshield, Blazing Presence, Varski's Encouraging Ward
- Crusader: Offering of Armament, Theron's Heartening Call
- Defiler: Dread Invective, Lucar's Grasping Tendrils
- Dirge: Death's Scent, Lithe Disbelief, Tuyen's Chant of the Arcane
- Druid: Nettleshield
- Enchanter: Breeze
- Fighter: Call to Arms
- Fury: Bristlepelt, Savagery, Fae Fire, Porcupine, Brishan's Quillshield, Hammerwind's Zealous Frenzy
- Guardian: Form of Ferocity, Guardian's Call, Call of Command, Desperate Flurry, Do or Die, Call to Battle, Return to Battle, Briteblade's Command, Braksan's Desperate Rally
- Illusionist: Fleeting Thoughts, Alacrity, Scintillating Aura, Intensity, Kor-Sha's Adroit Seal, Fozzin's Propitious Visions
- Inquisitor: Act of Belief
- Monk: Wisdom of Zephyl, Everburning Flame, Quiet Purity
- Mystic: Avatar
- Necromancer: Boon of the Lifeless, Rending Frenzy, Opal's Aggravating Seal, Darkbriar's Corpseskin
- Paladin: Blessing of the Penitent, Divine Inspiration, Blessing of the Devout, Prayer of Devotion, Call to Glory, Caswon's Penitent Benediction, Theron's Call of Hope
- Predator: Hunter's Instinct
- Ranger: Steady Aim, Forester's Insight, Veil of the Forest, Tolan's Talent
- Rogue: Smuggle, Street Smarts
- Shadowknight: Unholy Order, Insatiable Hunger, Genux's Dark Embrace
- Sorcerer: Burning Radiance, Accord
- Summoner: Agitation
- Swashbuckler: Swarthy Distraction, Freeboot, Flight of Fancy, Feigned Bravado, Bootleg, Bladeweaver
- Templar: Vigilant Benediction, Glory of Combat, Resolve
- Troubador: Elise's Ditty, Daelis' Dance of Blades, Cassindra's Chant of Clarity
- Warden: Barbcoat, Primeval Instinct, Numbing Spores, Duststorm, Vesteri's Gorseshield, Salmekia's Pact of the Pride
- Warlock: Venomous Runes, Abhorrent Gift, Toxic Grasp, Nihilism, Palon's Burning Blood
- Warrior: Battle Tactics, Uthros' Defiant Cry
- Wizard: Flametongue, Concurrence, Frostbound Gift, Frostshield, Casthopur's Frostburn, El'Arad's Custodial Warding


*** Items ***

- Empty bags can now be stored inside other bags. You can't put any items into a bag that is located within another.
- Items that have been attuned or that are marked as no trade can now be sold to NPC merchants.
- Attuned items should now stay attuned when you zone.
- The run-speed benefits of mounts and certain items have been reduced:
- Starter Mounts (2.5pp) - 24%, formerly 32%
- Standard Mounts (5pp) - 32%, formerly 40%
- Best Non Status Mount (8.2pp) - 40%, formerly 48%
- Flying Carpets/Undead Mounts (50pp and status) - 48%, formerly 56%
- Crusader Mounts - 10%, formerly 32%
- Totem buff - 24% with a 30 minute duration, formerly 40%
- Cold Link Greaves should now have the correct item icon.
- Necklace of Doom can now be equipped in the correct slot.
- The Rallosian Tunic is now light armor.
- The pants for the Monk and Bruiser level 20 quest armors should no longer use the tattered legging appearance.
- The Bramblewood round shield now looks like a round shield.
- Inspecting Petrified Eyes will now provide text explaining bone consumption.
- Vials of swordfish blood should no longer display a bug icon.
- The Rod of Everlasting Flame should now have the correct appearance.
- Bruise Forger Cestus now does the same type of damage as other cestus weapons.
- Starter weapons on the Isle of Refuge will not need to be attuned before using them.
- All kukri swords now look like kukri instead of falchions or scimitars.
– Holiday foods will now provide the same regeneration as other store-bought foods. This includes Aromatic Red Wine, Box of Jumjum Chocolates, Schmenko's Warm Spiced Cider, Festive Fruitcake, Nyla's Holiday Eggnog, and Jumjum Snap Cookies.


*** Zones and Population ***

- Timers on most instanced zones have been reduced. Level and group size requirements have been removed, except for guild raids purchased with status points and certain quest-specific zones. The new timers are as follows:
- Level 10-19 zones - 1 hour fail, 8 hour reuse
- Level 20-29 zones - 2 hour fail, 12 hour reuse
- Level 30-39 zones - 2 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 40-49 zones - 4 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- Level 50+ zones - 6 hour fail, 18 hour reuse
- The quality of drops from level 50 epic raid encounters has been increased.
- The vertical doors in Solusek's Eye and the Obelisk of Lost Souls should work better.
- Keys that allow you to progress deeper into the Wailing Caves will now be found on their respective owners' corpses rather than inside treasure chests.
- Venekor's breath attack has been adjusted so that subsequent ticks of its damage-over-time spell do the same amount of damage as the initial hit.
- The Vision of Vox's breath weapon does less damage, but can now affect all members of a raid party. Her loot quality has been improved.
- The loot dropped by encounters in the Draconic quests has been improved.
- Foulgill the Rotten's loot has been adjusted to better match the challenge of the encounter.
- Raids cannot zone into the instanced dungeons in Enchanted Lands and Thundering Steppes.
- Entrances to the instanced dungeons in Orcish Wastes, Enchanted Lands, and Thundering Steppes will now appear more frequently.
- Advanced solo/small group encounters have been added to the Orcish Wastes, the Feerrott, and Rivervale.
- That greedy little rat Stiletto fired his scouts and is carrying out his orders alone now to maximize his profits.
- Bouncer Prud can now be found more frequently.
- Opponents that require two or more groups are now more likely to drop useful crafting components.
- NPCs in the Open Grave Heroic zone should now be between 25 and 27, except for the boss who is a higher level.
- Adjusted some of the abilities of the Drakota Niscanth.
- Under Rumbler should now be spawning correctly in the Rumbler Caves.
- Level 40+ epic encounters do slightly more spell damage and heal for slightly more.
- Boss lifetap abilities now do more damage.
- Fixed some cases where boss mobs would drop twice their intended amount of personal treasure.
- The damage done by Darathar's breath weapon has been reduced.
- Stench in the Serpent Sewer should now drop items appropriate for his level of difficulty.
- Level 50 spell scrolls will now only drop from epic encounters.
- NPCs that had been using charm spells will temporarily use other abilities until an issue with charm effects can be corrected.
- NPCs that are Wizards or Warlocks will also benefit from the changes made to player class spells. Approach with caution.


*** Quests ***

- Sir Tatters will now give the Small Matter of Bristles quest to those adventurers who declined or were unable to accept the quest before.
- Nillipuss will now only reward adventures upon completion of his quest.
- Varski, Part III can now be completed and the appropriate rewards will be given.
- Drodo will now let you complete Drodo's Goodies if you completed Curse of the Bloody Shank beforehand.
- Completion of The Lost Legend of Lavastorm heritage quest will now award status points.
- Targok will now give you another chance at accepting the third part of his quest if you initially declined the invitation.
- The items Bendik Jonkers seeks can now be found in the Edgewater Drains.
- Language quest items will now drop as corpse loot to allow those who have outleveled the creatures to complete the associated language quests.
- Additional dialog responses have been added into the Bitter Brew quest.
- Players will now receive a title reward for completing the "Deception" quest.
- Fixed some issues with the Hostile Forge instance and lowered its reuse timer.
- Corrected an issue with the access quest to the Vestibule.
- Emissary Midia in North Freeport should now allow you to complete her quest.
- You should now be able to find the bones of the Knights of the Swords of Flame.
- Gawar the Bad should now be appearing correctly in Antonica and Thundering Steppes.
- The "Deepening Barrier" quest should now be working correctly.


*** Tradeskills ***

- Four new crafting abilities have been discovered: apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. These skills allow all artisans to refine the materials and components needed to make final products. New recipe books can be found on merchants or scattered throughout Norrath which teach you how to use these skills. Artisans automatically gain 5 points per level in these skills.
- New events and reaction arts have been created for apothecary, weaving, timbercraft, and geomancy. Reaction arts for these skills are based on thaumaturgy, binding, woodcraft, and geocraft. These skills increase through use. The higher your skill level, the better your chances of creating higher-quality items.
- Using the new crafting abilities to create components not normally made by your profession requires additional fuel, since you aren't a master of the skills from which these new recipes originate.
- All tradeskill recipes now require a new type of fuel at each 10-level range. Fuel cost increases with level.
- Base level 0 - 4c
- Base level 10 - 14c
- Base level 20 - 58c
- Base level 30 - 2s 30c
- Base level 40 - 9s 22c
- Culinary recipes use different types of fuel that are less expensive:
- Base level 0 - 1c (Walnut Kindling)
- Base level 10 - 4c (Mulberry Kindling)
- Base level 20 - 14c (Cherry Kindling)
- Base level 30 - 55c (Hickory Kindling)
- Base level 40 - 2s 21c (Mesquite Kindling)
- A bug causing certain artisan-related skills to be 5 points too high has been corrected.
- The Advanced Scholar 15 book has been added to the appropriate loot drops.
- You can now consume food and drink properly when performing tradeskills.
- Tradeskill society tasks will now reward a 60% profit margin based on the fuel costs necessary to create the items.
- Guild tradeskill tasks that award status will also provide a 20% monetary profit based on the fuel costs necessary to create the items.
- Crafted food and drink now restores 25% more health and power per tick. Store purchased food and drink has had its restorative benefits reduced by 66%. Summoned food and drink is now half as effective.
- NPC vendors should offer to buy crafted goods at 80% to 120% of production costs. Please note that their offer is based on how many steps are required to make the item you're selling. Finished goods will sell for a small profit, whereas selling back a refined item will result in a slight loss.
- The number of charges on totems has been increased from 1 to 5.
- The number of arrows and thrown weapons produced has been increased from 5, 10, 15, or 20 (based on quality level) to 6, 13, 19, or 25.
- The number of charges on potions and poisons has been increased from 1, 2, 3, or 4 (based on quality level) to 4, 5, 6, or 7.


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

- Examining a spell or art now gives you more detailed information on the exact effects of the ability.
- Heal amounts are now sent to the chat window, as in "You heal for X hit points." A healing subcategory has been added to the chat options.
- A Combat General chat option has been added to filter start/stop fighting messages.
- Dragging a recipe icon into the chat window should no longer cause a crash.
- Checking and unchecking categories in Chat Options now work more logically.
- Merchant UI: New categories have been added for Potions, Poisons, Lore, and Attuneable items.
- Merchant UI: Searching for Activateable items works properly.
- Merchant UI: Searching for food by con color works properly.
- Merchant UI: The names of unusable items now appear in red.
- The scroll speed of the recipe examine window has been increased.
- The chat tab frame now fades along with the main chat window frame.
- Various issues with chat scrolling have been addressed.
- A keymap has been added for the Implied Target window. You will find the option to bind a key to this window in the Controls tab of the Options menu under Window Keys.
- Chat tabs no longer share the same buffer. You can now view up to 1000 lines of text in each chat tab.
- Chat tab titles can now be up to 20 characters long.
- Shift + Page Up and Shift + Page Down now let you scroll through responses on the primary chat window (defined with "Always Chat Here").
- Your guild will no longer show up at the bottom of the social structure list.
- Quest update messages now tell you the current/needed target numbers. The wording on many quest update messages has been clarified, and colors have been changed for emphasis.
- The tooltip on ranged weapons should now report the correct damage information for when the user masters the weapon.
- Item con colors in the broker, merchant, trade, and examine windows should better indicate whether someone can use an item.
- Changed the default targeting options so that an arrow indicates the current target and there are no frames around the names of encounter members. As always, you can set the options to your liking.
- The /who command will now allow you to search on a partial guild name. Typing "/who bumb" would list people in a guild called "Bumblebees" as well as those in a guild called "Bumblers."
- There is now a confirmation dialog when destroying coins.


*** Art ***

- Riders should no longer float above their horses. Additional fixes for riding animations will follow in our next update.
- Fixed the tail on fancy horse LODs.
- Improved the horses' idle animations.


*** Audio ***

- You can no longer change the speaker type from within the game.
- Many city folk who were quiet before have found their voices.


*** UI Files Updated ***

eq2ui.xml
eq2ui_examine.xml
eq2ui_FrameStyles.xml
eq2ui_gamedata.xml
eq2ui_ime.xml
eq2ui_generictexttemplate_chatfont.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_experience.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_target.xml
e2qui_mainhud_impliedtarget.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_mainchat.xml
eq2ui_mainhud_persona.xml
eq2ui_proxyactor.xml

- The EverQuest II Team

[jpark]

I spoke to my old guild last night (I stopped in December).  They are losing members - but the people they have lost have not been seen online at all.

I noticed a similar cycle when our guild raided other guilds for members - those guilds were in decline with rampant "inactive" members.

SOE had better patch faster.

[shiznitz]

We have lost about 10 since November, although none of the professed reasons are game specific - although the "not enough time to play" reason could be considered a game critique.

[Toast]

The EQ2 team is rolling out tweaks at an impressive clip. Congratulations to them.

[trias_e]

At this rate, EQ2 may start gaining on WoW's numbers over the next year.  WoW is losing subscribers right now due to their ridiculously slow patching, while the EQ2 devs have been extremely quick and to my knowledge haven't broken anything about the game.   I have to admit that I did predict this possibility before either of the games came out.

[Alkiera]

At this rate, EQ2 may start gaining on WoW's numbers over the next year.  WoW is losing subscribers right now due to their ridiculously slow patching, while the EQ2 devs have been extremely quick and to my knowledge haven't broken anything about the game.   I have to admit that I did predict this possibility before either of the games came out.

I believe several people, including Schild and myself, noted that while Blizzard may produce an initially better product, they don't have the experience in update process that SOE has.  SOE seems to have actually learned something about maintaining a live game over the 6 years they've been at it.  Patches for EQ2 take an hour or 2, max, compared to the 8+ hour marathons that early EQ1 patches were.  They also break things with patches much less often than they did in EQ1.  And their major patches are HUGE with updates, including major changes to the game.

Alkiera

[jpark]

At this rate, EQ2 may start gaining on WoW's numbers over the next year.  WoW is losing subscribers right now due to their ridiculously slow patching, while the EQ2 devs have been extremely quick and to my knowledge haven't broken anything about the game.   I have to admit that I did predict this possibility before either of the games came out.

I believe several people, including Schild and myself, noted that while Blizzard may produce an initially better product, they don't have the experience in update process that SOE has.  SOE seems to have actually learned something about maintaining a live game over the 6 years they've been at it.  Patches for EQ2 take an hour or 2, max, compared to the 8+ hour marathons that early EQ1 patches were.  They also break things with patches much less often than they did in EQ1.  And their major patches are HUGE with updates, including major changes to the game.

Alkiera

Agreed.  And while I have said it before I will say it again:  I'd rather struggle to update a charming game, than make a game charming through updates.  Dominance comes from the design phase, not the update phase - I wager.

Having said that, and this is not a rhetorical question:  can anyone give me an example of an online game that turned its fortunes around through updates?  EQ became a bigger game, but 6 years of expansions did not fundamentally change the play experience (ya you can list all the changes but that means nothing).  Shadowbane, SWG... Let me put in another way again, do you believe that subs can suddenly spike 2 years after a game has been released because of updates?

Historically, how long typically does it take a game to reach peak sub numbers?  My impression is 6 months - but I am unsure.  So this is my second musing:  the stength of the subscriber base in the first 6 months (or so) may be historically predictive of how the game will do in general.  EQ2's 6 month harbringer on this point is not looking good.

Smedley's letter posted in another thread, tacitly recognized this.

[shiznitz]

Attentive patching isn't going to narrow the subscriber gap between the two games. The chasm is too wide. Blizzard has to make a grand scale fuckup. Even if they manage that, I would not expect a large shift to EQ2. The playerbases are really not the same. EQ2 probably peaked the first month of release. Players that quit tend not to follow the patches so a new expansion would be the best opportunity for EQ2 to get new players.

[Sobelius]

I think it's good to differentiate at this point between experienced and new players. A coworker of mine had never played a MMORPG before -- he is hooked into WoW so deep now he brings his WoW guide with him to work every day.

Warcraft players or others who heard of Warcraft, but had never played a MMORPG, I'd wager are folks no other game has ever brought into the MMO market.

For experienced players, I still see a number of folks playing DAOC, AC, EQ and CoH -- as well as SWG, AO, AC2, etc. -- though the numbers are certainly down.

Give these big new games a year and see where they are. My guess is WoW will retain a large number of its first-time MMORPGers for quite a while -- much in the same way EQ retained so many people for whom EQ was their first MMORPG. The new games coming out this year (DDO, MEO, MxO, AA, GW, etc.) will likely pull experienced players away from existing games rather than bring in much new blood -- and are even less likely to pull WoW's first-time MMORPG players away from WoW.

All conjecture of course.

I'm actually glad EQ2 is not the biggest MMO at this time -- the servers have stayed fairly stable and the dev/production team can't sit on its laurels. I have a feeling if WoW had never been created, EQ2 might be taking a lot longer between major patches.

And WoW would have to fuckup on the scale of Anarchy Online's 12.6 patch to really take a hit, don't you think? I mean, 2+ hour server queues didn't slow it down, and now that the queue issue seems to be resolved, what else could go wrong?

[jpark]

And WoW would have to fuckup on the scale of Anarchy Online's 12.6 patch to really take a hit, don't you think? I mean, 2+ hour server queues didn't slow it down, and now that the queue issue seems to be resolved, what else could go wrong?

hehe knock on wood :)

But good point.

[Riley]

It looks like the EQ2 team took a bit of a break after launch and then until Xmas, but since then they've been reeling off patches like mad.  This is the 3rd patch of this size since Jan 6th.  It is good to see from a players perspective and I think backs up Smed's early claim that they were increasing the dev team after the launch instead of decreasing it like most games do.  It is pretty clear that SOE is basically betting the farm on EQ2.  We'll see how it goes in the long run, but the rest of their games seem to be in somewhat of a decline and they have nothing else on the immediate horizon.

I think Jpark's point is a good one though - will they be able to create a blockbuster game out of EQ2 through updates?  Even if they blew WoW out of the water from this point on, would they ever be able to catch up?  Its tough to answer those questions - history doesn't suggest they could do so, but history also doesn't have a dev house putting this much effort into an already launched game.  History does point out however how fast a game can decline due to poor/delayed patches.

Neither WoW nor EQ2 were very innovative games in their design, but I think we may be seeing a new trend for MMORPGs here - to be successful they require a tremendous amount of effort and investment.  Wow put that effort in up front with a long beta and launched a fairly polished game, and EQ2 is putting the effort in now.  If EQ2 sets a standard of large monthly patches, 4 small addon pay-to-play dungeons and 2 expansion packs a year - will anyone be able to keep up with that kind of pace?  (And what kind of subscirber base do they need to justify that kind of development effort?)

[Sobelius]

One of the other things they have done is bet on the future of video cards. They're assuming that in 2-3 years today's high-end vid cards will be cheap -- i.e. when you can buy an 8x AGP GF 6800 Ultra with 256 MB Ram for $50 -- that people will be willing to either try it out for the shiney or stay because of the shiney.

They might be right. With the exception of the recent re-release of Bad Mojo, other older games I've fired up (e.g. VtM: Redemption) look quite dated today. When Redemption came out, it was as cool or cooler than anything 3D I'd yet seen -- and better than EQ or AC. While I think EQ2's armor modelling is teh_suck, the modelling and skinning of a lot of other things in it are quite well done -- *technically*. Too bad it lacks a lot in the personality department. CoH has, IMHO, the best combination of technical finesse, art design/direction, and personality.

[Abel]

One major reason why WoW is taking slowly to patch is that the WoW dev team is currently still finishing most of the PvP content they had cut from release : Battlegrounds and the Honour System.

This pretty much is the equivalent of a small expansion pack and if executed well can address one of WoWs main criticisms : not enough to do at the end game and add a lot of longetivity to the game.

I don't know about EQ2, over half of the people I know who went try it quit after a month or so. Haven't heared about the others. In any case atm I don't hear anyone talking about trying out EQ2 "because of the cool patches", it'll need a major overhaul to attract players.

[WindupAtheist]

"Did you see how quickly SOE patched in 4% less catass on monsters starting with 'Q' on every third Tuesday?!  WoW's massive marketshare lead is DOOMED!"

 

[El Gallo]

I said this before, but I really think SoE dropped the ball on release timing.  They might patch EQ2 into a very good (but still largely charm-free) game.  But it was nowhere close to release-worthy.  They would have been better off waiting until ~6 months after WoW released.  That way, they could capitalize on players (both experienced players and newly experienced ones) being burned out on WoW and turned off by its (likely) lack of content.  Those players would be more likely to go to a content-heavy and relatively polished EQ2.

Now, a lot of people tried EQ2 and think it sucked, mostly because the game, as released, sucked.  I don't think they can expect to recapture many of those players, and I don't think they can recover from the bad PR they rightfully garnered on release.  We'll see.  I expect a big PR push and possibly a significant expansion for early summer, timed to capture people who have been twiddling their thumbs in WoW with nothing to do for a couple months and are itching for a MMOG fix, and no other major games are on the horizon (I think Vanguard will be at least a year away at that point).

[trias_e]

I disagree with some of the posters above.

1)  WoW is already hemorrhaging high level players.
2)  If the current patch process continues for each dev team, it's pretty obvious who has the upper hand.  In a sense, constant patching is also like constant communication with their player-base, something WoW is fairly miserable at.
3)  Looking at the long term process, this could result in the population of WoW decreasing, and the population of EQ2 increasing.  I'm not saying anything crazy like EQ2 will catch up with WoW.  I'm just saying that the gap between the two will possibly lower over a long period of time.

[jpark]

I disagree with some of the posters above.

Looking at the long term process, this could result in the population of WoW decreasing, and the population of EQ2 increasing.  I'm not saying anything crazy like EQ2 will catch up with WoW.  I'm just saying that the gap between the two will possibly lower over a long period of time.

Yup.  These could be pretty small movements - but I agree.

[Toast]

I disagree with some of the posters above.

1)  WoW is already hemorrhaging high level players.

I disagree here. WoW's high level players are complaining about things like instance bugs. These complaints cannot be stretched to equal departures.  I'm in a high level PvE guild that has started hitting the high end content (i.e Onyxia and  Molten Core), and there has been exactly zero attrition.

With all these patches, Everquest 2 wins the "Miss Congeniality" consolation prize, but the real contest is long over. It's a niche game, and as long you're not the suit at SOE who has to explain the shortfall to forecast, you should be just fine with that.

[El Gallo]

See how your attrition rate is in 2 months when you've done nothing but bugged, crappily-itemized MC raids on those rare occasions when your guild isn't bugged out, and farming ultra-rare recipes and worthless AD faction when you are.

I don't think they are leaving yet, but if there is not more content -- a lot more content -- in a couple months, you will see a fair portion of that crowd moving on.  You see rumblings already at WoW-fanboi boards like FoH.  In a way, the absurd raid bugs have helped WoW cover up the fact that there's no endgame content.  Much harder to finish MC when you have raid lockout bugs that prevent your guild from raiding weeks at a time.  They'll fix that bug once they have something else for you to do, much like SoE fixed intentionally broken encounters only after they had the next zone finished time after time.  Or Time after Vex Thal.

I think it boils down to whether or not you have faith in Blizzard to keep the content flowing once a substantial portion of their playerbase reaches the "been there, done that" phase. 



http://patchtimer.org/

Since the last content patch on 12/21/2004 at 10:51 AM, it has been:

59 days, 5 hours and 1 minutes

AVERAGE PLAYER'S OUTLOOK: I've been meaning to catch up on those Tivo'd Andy Griffith episodes anyway.

Brought to you by Gin and the Blackhand Server Message Board. Yantis - call me.

18,384 people are wondering whats going on with the Blizzard patch cycle.

Click here for a complete history of World of Warcraft patch notes.

Blizzard forum threads about this site: link | link | link | link



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Right now I believe their focus is the content patch. They are working on class changes, more content, and as always, bug fixes. Battlegrounds are constantly being worked on also. :)"
- Caydiem -
Assistant Community Manager
2/17/2005 1:41:47 PM PST
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Sky]

Whatever you do, don't stop this outrage over patching and having levelled too fast in WoW. You're done. You win. But man, don't quit playing!

After years of games like EQ pandering to the uber crowd, I find it hilarious. It'd take me at least another year to check out everything WoW has to offer, and I'm "powergaming" it (by my casual standards, anyway).

Patchtimer.org? 

Also...how many of the people bitching about content played the shit out of the beta?

[WindupAtheist]

Do you have any concept of how irrelevant ubercontent and patchtimer.org are to the thousands and thousands of MMO first-timers WoW has likely brought to this genre?  What Blizzard needs to do is focus on their servers and their PvP content, not slave away coding more uberfoozles for that super-catass 2% of the population that has already raced through the game.

[El Gallo]

Oh, this is a really fun game.

Whatever you do, don't stop pontificating in response to posts about how high-level players are feeling about the game with self-righteous bullshit.  Yes, we get it.  People that play 15 minutes a month are the only people that matter.  WoW should focus only on content for level one characters, because anyone who has attained level two by now is an OMG UBER pathetic loser who is worthy only of contempt. 

Or you could, you know, actually try to read what I wrote, which was that some substantial number of people will start getting bored in a couple months and may leave because they have run out of things to do unless Blizzard gets some more content in the game, and that EQ2 could have picked up some more customers by releasing later. 

I'm having a great time in the game, but I am not blind to the future.  Thanks, by the way, for promoting me to uber status. 

What Blizzard needs to do is focus on their servers and their PvP content, not slave away coding more uberfoozles for that super-catass 2% of the population that has already raced through the game.

Well, let's meander a bit down derail lane here.  No doubt that server issues should be #1, but I don't know that PvP is the key.  Battlegrounds should be fun, but the "meh" population on most PvP servers should tell you where the interests of most players lie.  They will be more of a side dish for most

Also, the 2% quip is just not accurate, and "more endgame content" does not equal "more raids and nothing else".  The results-oriented 2 hour a night guys (and there are a lot of them) will be 60 in rather short order.  The 2 hour a night + weekend splurges guys (and there are a lot of them, too--we're evil catasses, just ask Sky) are already there or on the doorstep.  At that level, your non-raid choices are Scholo, Strat and BRS.  None of them are doable in 2 hours, and even if Mr 2-hour splurges with a late night or a weekend, two of those are about as fun in a single group as gouging your eyes out with a rusted spork.  If you want to do the 40-man raids, you get Onyxia and her Luclin-style key quest and MC, both of which have laughable rewards, are riddled with bugs, and just plain aren't all that big.

WoW is, at its core, a faster paced EQ clone, another Diku rip-off.  Those games are all about content generation.  The question has always been, can Blizzard keep up with most of their players without patching in the Luclin-PoP-GoD style suck.  I think the jury's still out on that one, but it isn't unfair to look at Blizzard's history and be doubtful.


edited for tone because I <3 Sky and always have even though he thinks I am a degenerate catass

[Miasma]

At this rate, EQ2 may start gaining on WoW's numbers over the next year.  WoW is losing subscribers right now due to their ridiculously slow patching, while the EQ2 devs have been extremely quick and to my knowledge haven't broken anything about the game.   I have to admit that I did predict this possibility before either of the games came out.

Don't forget that every patch also holds the possibility of ticking people off resulting in more cancellations, from people who feel their class got nerfed to role-playing puritans upset about the /pizza command.

I just cancelled because, among other things, the attunement change means I won't be able to afford level appropriate gear anymore.  I actually caught myself dreading a level up because it would turn some gear gray con.  When you fear hearing a Ding! in Everquest you know it's time to quit.

So in short - I wouldn't hope to win people over with patches, at least not more than you drive away.

[Margalis]

It looks like people are whitewashing WoW problems. They aren't releasing meaningful patches because they are working on features that were supposed to be out at release, which will keep them busy for months.

Like it or not, catasses are thought leaders. When your top players turn sour to a game that has a cascading effect. WoW is a fast ride (relatively speaking) and one you hit the end, now what? It isn't like UO where you can spend time on a variety of odds and ends. WoW is a quest and kill game. Even a game like FFXI has more "other" stuff to do than WoW.

It will be interesting to see where WoW is a year or two from now. They've made so much on box sales it might not even really matter all that much.

[WindupAtheist]

WoW is a fast ride (relatively speaking) and one you hit the end, now what? It isn't like UO where you can spend time on a variety of odds and ends. WoW is a quest and kill game.

It's so beautiful to hear that come from someone besides me.   :-D

UO4TW

[Margalis]

I'm not a huge fan of MMORPGs, but I do believe that a lot of the way to retain players is to give them lots of "other" things to do. Those things tend to be more than the sum of their parts. Re-arranging furniture or buying property or doing gardening or whatever isn't so exciting, but it does give people a place of sense that inhibits them from leaving.

It also gives people something to do if they want to log on for a half hour or so.

A lot of people don't want to leave games because they've invested time into their characters. In some games they can also have significant property, and an intangible sense of belonging. Maybe your house and your stuff isn't so expensive, but it's *yours*.

I do think the "world" style MMORPG is a great idea. As far as I can tell there have been 2. One (UO) was phenomenally successful. One (SWG) was not - in part because the style simply didn't match the license at all. That's not a bad average.

[Sparky]

Heh... look at what they’re patching.  They can't get tradeskill interdependency working, so they remove it.  Macroers are abusing workshop tasks to grind out gold, so they make them literally worthless (yes you actually lose money doing them - seems every class does).  They've totally raped casual crafters with this patch.  Give me slow and deliberate over this frantic pendulum development any day.

[shiznitz]

I don't see how casual crafters are hurt. I consider casual crafters to be those that craft for personal use only and only when they don't have time to exp. I still make my own food. I have never done crafting tasks because they seem really "grindy" to me.

[Sparky]

Well you see it was working out nicely for me.  A 21 Templar/21 Provisioner (quite by accident) I'd do one or two workshop tasks every time crafting took my fancy and was rewarded enough cash to pay the harvester's prices, fill the gaps in my equipment and upgrade my most useful spells with enough left over to freely give away drinks to my friends in game or the occasional lagging pickup group member.  But now you pay for the privilege of doing those tasks that's all out the window.  I can either wrestle with EQ2's obtuse player merchant system (the most embarrassingly transparent extra account grab since Sony's last one) and compete with jokers selling Tier 2 stuff for coppers profit or shut up and pharm grey skellies for cash.

[shiznitz]

I had no idea the money was so good from those tasks. My loss, I guess. I made all my money selling collection items to rich people so they could level without playing.

[Strazos]

I use to harvest whenever I was LFG, and get tons of stuff. Then I would go back to the workshop with a friend and repeatedly trade resource units to get my quest count up to complete the quest....I had more money than I knew what to do with.