Quote:
Originally Posted by fadetree
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Once the 'suits' got involved, money became the only focus. The 'Vision' became "We envision more money".
The problem was when they started focusing on how to attract more people. They asked people who left "Why did you leave?". Answer : "Too hard and we are bored". So they made everything easier and destroyed what made the game great. The question they should have asked was to the people who didn't leave : "Why did you stay?"
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The trouble was making the game so much easier. Is the Bazaar a convenience? Absolutely. But before the Bazaar, I was trying to research a Mage spell that required Gloves of Rallos Zek. And I eventually did stumble across some (I got them off of an Aviak, if I recall). Even if I hadn't looted it, I would've been just as satisfied to be in EC when someone was selling it.
That sense of satisfaction is lost in the Bazaar. One can buy all the hard-to-come-by items in one place. Because of the increased availability, prices plummeted, making gear that was worth several hundred platinum available to any lowbie with 5pp in the Bazaar. This inevitably led to everyone being (what I'd call) twinked.
And then there's PoK. Not only can you get around the world without the help of a porting class, but PoK offered more destinations than a porter. It's not just a functional problem, either. PoK is a ludicrous concept. As a Wood Elf, if I decide to walk into Oggok or Neriak, I'll be attacked because they just don't like Wood Elves there. But in PoK, every race and class seems welcome in all parts of the zone, making me wonder why they included NPC guards in the zone at all. And then to cap it all off, you used to visit your home city, to buy spells and supplies, or at least, a friendly race's home city. But after PoK, there is little reason to ever travel to any of the existing cities, which is why hardly anyone ever does. I don't know for sure because I played so little of post-PoP EQ, but wasn't there an NPC in a zone adjacent to PoK that would summon your corpse for free, with no additional penalties or anything?
These measures did work to broaden the base of gamers who would play EverQuest because it opened the game up to people who weren't particularly creative or good at playing MMOs.