Quote:
Originally Posted by Kika Maslyaka
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When, PoK, Bazar and AAs were added - the EQ was growing from 400k subscribers to 600k for yet another 2 years and 3 expansions - hows that possibly qualifies as a downfall???
eq was too hard core for the majority of people that played it.
Except there was no alternative to it for a long time, so people kept playing it.
When EQ2 and WoW came out, the majority of players (and potential player) have clearly shown that they prefer the casual gaming, rather than hard-core group/raid oriented gameplay. So they left.
Those who still like the hard core- they still playing to this day.
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I am not sure if MMOcharts.com is still up, but their data showed
how EQ was declining. If you accept their charts at face value then EQ was declining from 1999 onwards. It was the RATE of new players incoming to the game that declined, NOT the total user base! The game eventually became top-heavy. This means most of the players were high level. So any new players that entered the game found themselves much lonelier than their forebears. It got increasingly worse. This made the game harder and, of course, increased complaints. But this was not the only reason EQ did some of the things it did. In sum, SOE did a mediocre job with EQ over the years and gave up on it. GOD is probably the best example of their failure to connect with their users. They could afford to be cocky and sure of themselves when they owned the market, but they couldn't do that anymore because back then MMORPGs were popping up all around them. They just got too confident and perfekt.
(there is one thing I will say, though. i like the music in god. feels so bittersweet.)
They don't learn very well. I don't think SOE can make a game that respects its players. Whether they're just spending their time and money on some other project, or ignoring you even when they do help your game, or impulsively making changes to your game, or just not understand you... they're the underachiever that beats himself up over not getting number #1 in the charts. They focus so much on being number #1 that they forget to BE number #1! Now, I don't want to criticize them too much or give them unearned hate. Obviously, I played EQ1 off and on until 2010, so I was giving them my money even when I disagreed with them. And they can make good content. The problem is that all of the good things I can think of are too far and few between.
I hate to generalize. You know another reason EQ1 got hurt was because SOE put its attention on EQ2 and other sony online games. EQ1 was just one part of their portfolio. If you look at EQ2, it has many upgrades that would be nice to have in EQ1. But, bottom line, i've been hurt before by SOE and I just can't trust that they can look past the $$$ and be original. They're too indifferent. Too business-oriented. Too cocky.
But again... maybe I'm generalizing too much. One possibility is that all MMORPGs get old and all companies respond similarly: they move on to another game. Who wants to invest in an old game? Even I wouldn't, if this were 2005. I would have invested in EQ2. Maybe MMORPGs will always die. Looked at from this perspective, SOE is just like anybody else. It was a gut reaction to recoil from the old and run to something new. So it goes.