EverQuest II Turns 1

[Evil Avatar]

Sony sends along a short Press Release announcing that EverQuest II is now 1 year old and as a reward players can now use the Anime-themed SOGA character models created for the Asian/Pacific market.

EverQuest II launched one year ago today, November 9, 2005! Everyone at SOE would like to thank our community for playing and making the past year such an enjoyable experience. In celebration of EQII's 1st Birthday, players will gain access to the SOGA models, receive gifts with the new Veteran Rewards system, and much more. Check out the headlines from today's update, Live Update #16:

EverQuest II celebrates its first birthday by introducing Veteran Rewards!
Griffon tamers are seeking your assistance in the Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest!
Give the residents of Norrath a fresh look with the new SOGA character models!
Two new iksar scale patterns now available for each gender!
Crusaders, Mages, and Priests can now equip symbols in their ranged slot!
Carry extra ammo in quivers you can equip!
Using clickable items is now even easier, and food and drink get their own inventory slots!
Population and item improvements made in some of Norrath's deadly dungeons!
Can't reach your spirit shard? Now you can have your spirit restored... for a price!
Guild quest raids now scale according to player level and reward additional status!
The user interface gets a spiffy new look!
Find out more about Live Update #16 Here (http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=stat&message.id=212).

[Bushido]

Yaaawn. Zzzzzz

[Zurik]

I bet the one guy that plays this and reads Evil Avatar is soooo happy.

[Klade]

When those models first came out people were saying they should be loaded right into EQ2 US, what the hell took them so long?

[bobbler]

If EQ2 was in the state it is now at launch it would be doing so much better. Every single complaint I've had with the game has been fixed, it just lacks my friends (and I don't have the time reall anymore). The dev team is top notch though -- Hartsman and his team deserve quite a bit of praise as far as I'm concerned -- they've listened to the players and fixed/changed things that players don't like (and patch quite often -- adding new stuff).

Too bad it will inevitably continue to be overlooked because of WoW. But I suppose the excellent devteam work has been a direct response of trying to compete with the blizzard name.

[GoblinToe]

Add to that list: has never even matched the original Everquest subscriber number.

OUCH!

You deserve every bit of it, Sony.

Learn from the masters...Blizzard!

[Bushido]

Too bad it will inevitably continue to be overlooked because of WoW. But I suppose the excellent devteam work has been a direct response of trying to compete with the blizzard name.


Overlooked because of WoW? Excellent devteam making pay for loot servers? Yeah that makes sense.

[Rommel]

The new models aren't so much anime inspired as they are not absolutely hideous.

[bobbler]

Overlooked because of WoW? Excellent devteam making pay for loot servers? Yeah that makes sense.

It would help if you had a clue what you were talking about.

The "ebay" servers were wanted for a long time -- believe it or not there is a lot of people out there that like to ebay items in MMOs -- and they are clearly marked -- you have to choose to play on them for it to happen. How is that a bad thing to give players a choice? If you don't want to partake in it, then don't -- but don't whine about it and act as if Blizzard is holier than Jesus' shit.

And yes, it is overlooked because of WoW -- don't for a moment think WoW would be as successful without the Blizzard name behind it. It was the next blizzard game, people bought it because of that -- Don't get me wrong, its a good game, but it isn't 3-4x as good as every other MMO out there (like the user base numbers would lead you to believe).

You'd be a moron to consider the work that has been done by the live team deserves the treatment you seem to be giving it.

Of course this forum is seemingly the wrong place for any sort of sensibility lately.

[JupiterV2]

Cheers Bobbler, the first to make sense.

I don't intend to get into a flame war, but anyone going "x game is better than y game" is a tool. Why? What is better for you may not be better for me. Are you basing your opinion soley on popular vote? That's not better, that conforming and not basing your opinion on your own ideas. Just because EQ2 doesn't work for you, doesn't mean its a bad game and isn't worth any merrit.

[Royal Fool]

On another note, WoW wouldn't even exist without EverQuest. A big part of the old Blizzard people were EQ fans - even to the extent of one of them (Nebu) running a big guild if I recall correctly. They saw an opportunity to improve on a very successful formula...

[triptogn]

EQ2 is a good game and you are doing yourself a disservice if you aren't checking it out in it's current state.

Everything you ever whined about when that game launched has probably been either done away with or tweaked into a very playable and fun game.

Yay for the new player models btw, it was a nice free present from SOE no matter how you look at it.

[bobbler]

On another note, WoW wouldn't even exist without EverQuest. A big part of the old Blizzard people were EQ fans - even to the extent of one of them (Nebu) running a big guild if I recall correctly. They saw an opportunity to improve on a very successful formula...

A few of the developers were found on EQ -- Rob Pardo, aka Ariel, was the guild leader of the top guild of the server I played on back in the day. Jeffrey Kaplan, aka Tigole, was in the same guild with him and through Rob got a job. Furor (Alex something, I think) now works on WoW as well, and he was one of the loudest voices EQ ever had.

[Bushido]

Blaming a games lack of sucess on a better quality game is nonsense. WoW is straight up better and everyone quit Eq2 to go play it. Dont cry and tell me im stupid, hell I dont play either game but I have and found them to be very dull indeed. EQ2 is a game for bedwetters.

[Vyzov]

Blaming a games lack of sucess on a better quality game is nonsense. WoW is straight up better and everyone quit Eq2 to go play it. Dont cry and tell me im stupid, hell I dont play either game but I have and found them to be very dull indeed. EQ2 is a game for bedwetters.

Blaming a games lack of sucess on a better quality game makes perfect sense. People are going to buy a better quality game over the poorer quality game.

WOW may have more subscribers, (Just over 4.5 million world wide I believe,) but that's mainly because of the Blizzard name on it. It has many flaws just like EQ2 has many flaws. Well, the only real flaw I know of in EQ2 is the lack of PVP.
WOW has server instability, bad PVP and tons of incomplete content in the game, (Zones, quests, Items, classes.)

If it wasn't for the great RP community I probably wouldn't play that game any more. I miss EQ and would very much enjoy trying EQ2. If only there was some sort of free trial availble...

Alos, if you don't play either game how can you know which one is better?

[Talltale]

M-Unit, here is a link to the main EQ2 website. Click on the "Trial of the Isle" banner and you can play as much as you like on the newbie island. It's pretty big and will definately give you an idea as to what the game is all about. Enjoy!

http://everquest2.station.sony.com/en/

[thecrazyd]

Blaming a games lack of sucess on a better quality game makes perfect sense. People are going to buy a better quality game over the poorer quality game.

WOW may have more subscribers, (Just over 4.5 million world wide I believe,) but that's mainly because of the Blizzard name on it. It has many flaws just like EQ2 has many flaws. Well, the only real flaw I know of in EQ2 is the lack of PVP.
WOW has server instability, bad PVP and tons of incomplete content in the game, (Zones, quests, Items, classes.)

If it wasn't for the great RP community I probably wouldn't play that game any more. I miss EQ and would very much enjoy trying EQ2. If only there was some sort of free trial availble...

Alos, if you don't play either game how can you know which one is better?
PVP was added to EQ2 with the expansion.

[Heretic Machine]

as a reward players can now use the Anime-themed SOGA character models created for the Asian/Pacific market.

The non-suck models, done by people who weren't hacks? Neat.

[AversionFX]

I dunno wtf you people are talking about, I'm still playing Zork.

[CypherAZ]

Blaming a games lack of sucess on a better quality game is nonsense. WoW is straight up better and everyone quit Eq2 to go play it. Dont cry and tell me im stupid, hell I dont play either game but I have and found them to be very dull indeed. EQ2 is a game for bedwetters.

You don't play either game, yet you have somehow formed a strong opinion with reguards to there playablity? You should write a book about how to make yourself look like a total jackass online. Bushido's Guide to Talking Shit, Even Though You Don't Know Shit.

[ShankTheChicken]

I just checked out close up screens of the SOGA models. Pretty neat looking. I lose interest in an MMO just because my character doesn't look very interesting sometimes, so it seems like it might be worth trying EQ2 out again just to see these in action.

[Pugwash]

I have to agree that EQ2 is a great game but the combat upgrade came at the wrong time and took too long for all the bugs to be ironed out.
My guild has gone from 40 to around 6 active members, pretty much all our 50+ have left.

Interestingly enough the vast majority have gone to SWG and not WOW.

[Vandenh]

>WOW may have more subscribers, (Just over 4.5 million world wide I believe,) but that's mainly because of the Blizzard name on it.

Nope.. WoW is the first MMORPG that is enjoyable by casual gamers (not the end game though). WoW deserves those 4.5M players.

[Cupelix]

This post needs an exclamation point!

[bobbler]

I dunno wtf you people are talking about, I'm still playing Zork.

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

[Shodan2020]

Gratz, EQ 2. I'm still playing AO though. (Turned 4 a few months ago.) :)

[Kelegacy]

Blaming a games lack of sucess on a better quality game is nonsense. WoW is straight up better and everyone quit Eq2 to go play it. Dont cry and tell me im stupid, hell I dont play either game but I have and found them to be very dull indeed. EQ2 is a game for bedwetters.
Blizzard owes the MMO's before WoW a great service. It is because of those games that WoW is so good. (I don't play it, but I'll take others' word for it.)

[Speed_D]

There are a lot of reasons WoW is more popular than EQ2, and Blizzard's name has little if anything to do with it.

- Levelling in WoW is generally pretty easy. You can feel like you accomplished something in a fairly short game session.

- Every single class in WoW can gain experience soloing. Also the tradeskill system allows people to create goods without huge interclass dependencies.

- WoW's death penalty is minimal.

- WoW's hardware requirements are very modest. I doubt anyone had the hardware for a large scale battle in EQ2 when it was released, and few do now.

- WoW's PvP, contrary to what someone said above, is fairly well balanced between classes. The battlegrounds are pretty much ripoffs of UT game modes but they are fun for some quick frags.


All of those things are attractive to more casual gamers. Blizzard made the game more accessible and less frustrating. They took out a lot of the crap that comprised EQ1. That's why they won the majority of the mmo subscriber base. I'm not saying WoW is perfect and problem free - I'm just outlining why it is successful.

[GoblinToe]

Excellent list of reasons, Speed. Also Sony's consistent policy of nerfing classes to the point of removing all semblance of what the class used to be when the player originally created their character.

Even worse, Sony's game "balancing" that increasingly made it more difficult for any class to solo, or to even get anything done in the game within a reasonable play session. Everyone is familiar with "two boxing" which was virtually required to level up new characters, or access end game content within a reasonable time span. Or how about that 5 headed hydra monstrousity that one player came up with?! 5 computers playing EQ at once. Insanity. You wouldn't even consider this with WoW, because there is no need for it.

I started EQ at launch and loved it. After Sony bought Verant, they slowly destroyed the entire franchise IMHO. So much so that they've lost me as a customer forever.

World of Warcraft sure isn't perfect, and has it's own version of the grind, but it's a far, far cry from the time sink that EQ 1 and 2 attach to the leveling process. Blizzard also includes improvements that matter within each patch. Something Sony only now has begun since they've witnessed their wonder baby in EQ2 become a still birth.

[CypherAZ]

I quit WoW based on the players. Blizzard has done an awesome job taking a very good game and spamming it to the masses. The quality of players in EQ1/2, experience and maturity wise is vastly superior to that of WoW.

- Levelling in WoW is generally pretty easy. You can feel like you accomplished something in a fairly short game session.

That's a good thing? Everyone and their dog has a level 60, no skill necessary.

[Bushido]

Damn I never hit 60 I was bored of the game at 54 I played lots of PvP and as a Paladin I ran in Rezzed peoples spam shield and teleport out /wave.

[triptogn]

I replied to your points in orange. I think both games are great, but I also think alot of people have misconceptions about what EQ2 is offering to players right now. MANY things have changed since launch, trying to list them would be impossible. What you do get is a damn good game though.

RE trying the Isle: while the isle is nice, it is not really representative of what the real game is like anymore. It presents a nice picture of what the game used to be, but it has improved a bunch since that isle came out. However, it is a pretty good test to see how the game will run on your computer.


There are a lot of reasons WoW is more popular than EQ2, and Blizzard's name has little if anything to do with it.

- Levelling in WoW is generally pretty easy. You can feel like you accomplished something in a fairly short game session.

EQ2 leveling is quite easy too. There is a ton of easy/solo content to get something done in a short amount of time.

- Every single class in WoW can gain experience soloing. Also the tradeskill system allows people to create goods without huge interclass dependencies.

There are no interclass dependancies in tradeskilling in EQ2 anymore and havent been for a long time. Every class can solo in EQ2 and most of the outdoor zones were changed to accomodate this.

- WoW's death penalty is minimal.

EQ2 does have a harsher death penalty, but the group penalty has been removed altogether, and now that have NPCs that you can buy your shard back if you are super lazy.

- WoW's hardware requirements are very modest. I doubt anyone had the hardware for a large scale battle in EQ2 when it was released, and few do now.

Can't argue with you there. I would say this is one of the #1 reasons so many people play wow over eq2. It's just more accessible and easy to run even on a laptop.

- WoW's PvP, contrary to what someone said above, is fairly well balanced between classes. The battlegrounds are pretty much ripoffs of UT game modes but they are fun for some quick frags.

/agree PVP is WoW is implemented very nicely. They pair players up in an easy way. EQ2's implementation of PVP is still in its beginning stages and has to do alot of catch up to even compete with WoW

All of those things are attractive to more casual gamers. Blizzard made the game more accessible and less frustrating. They took out a lot of the crap that comprised EQ1. That's why they won the majority of the mmo subscriber base. I'm not saying WoW is perfect and problem free - I'm just outlining why it is successful.