SOE Live

[webrunner5]

Yeah, I run EQmac on my PC. The only thing that does not work for me is mouse look. I can't scroll back on the wheel. No big deal. To lazy to fix it, but I am sure it can be fixed. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Gadwen]

Originally Posted by webrunner5 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, I run EQmac on my PC. The only thing that does not work for me is mouse look. I can't scroll back on the wheel. No big deal. To lazy to fix it, but I am sure it can be fixed. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm not sure if this is a PC related or if that camera mode just isn't in that version of the game.

[Hex]

Fippy isn't too dead.

[Essedge]

one could view the music industry the same, Tony Bennett vs. Justin Bieber.

Bennett sells out the casino's he plays in, Bieber sells out arena's. When Tony puts on a show he'll draw his old fans still alive and a few herpderp hipsters, when Bieber puts on a show he'll get massive amounts of 5-15yr old kids and their suicidal parents along with making shit tons of money for the labels and sponsors.


on a side note, if Tony represents EQ what is Bieber? probably not WoW since that game is almost classic, maybe the Rolling Stones who keep pulling the "we're not dead yet" routine.

[Kagatob]

Originally Posted by Essedge [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

on a side note, if Tony represents EQ what is Bieber? probably not WoW since that game is almost classic, maybe the Rolling Stones who keep pulling the "we're not dead yet" routine.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That kind of speak should be bannable. I'm not even joking.

[Essedge]

Originally Posted by Kagatob [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That kind of speak should be bannable. I'm not even joking.

That game is old as hell now, in the early 2000's they were playing grunge on classic rock stations.. just sayin

[Malice_Mizer]

Yeah, WoW didn't used to be purely random queing for dungeons and 100% linear, hold-your-hand content.

Almost 10 years old :{

[stormlord]

Well I've got the chance to log into live and try it. I'll still play a bit, but...

I think it just feels watered down and I respond negatively to that. By watered down, I mean that you level up with a mercenary doing most of the work. There're not many groups. People complain about the smallest things. It's too easy. Defiant gear erases the feeling of progression and discovery in the world. Some of this comes from mudflation and some comes from the shift away from old mechanics to wow-like mechanics.

I'll start by explaining mudflation then I'll end the post with a comment about wow-like mechanics.

Mudflation is a real simple concept, but I guess if someone has never been introduced to it, they won't know what I mean. I'll try to keep my definition simple. Mudflation is similar to the rich vs poor divide. It's what happens when the rich get richer and the poor can't rise up. In MMO's, the rich are like high levels that keep gaining more levels and power. The poor are like new players that enter into the game. The increasing amounts of levels and powers have grown so much since the beginning of the game that new players have to spend increasing amounts of time to reach maximum power.

Get that? Maybe?

Basically, it's a mathematical thing. If a game is adding X amount of power/levels via expansions then it's adding X amount of grind/progression (content). So with each new expansion it takes longer to reach maximum power. You can actually calculate how long it will take a player to reach maximum power at any point in the life of the game, as long as you know how much the game will grow in the future.

Like this:
Year 1: A player can reach max level/power in 8 months (average playtime estimates).
Year 2: A player can reach max level/power in 11 months.
Year 3: A player can reach max level/power in 13 months.
Year 4: A player can reach max level/power in 16 months.

SO, if you started at year 1 then it would require 16 months to maintain max power/level at year 4. This is true only if you stop playing once you've reached max. Now, for a player that STARTS in year 4, it'll not only require 16 months to reach max, but it will require more since the game will grow during the time that they're playing. On Year 5, the game might require 18 months to reach cap, for example. This means that for a player that doesn't play consistently, they'll very likely never reach maximum power/level. It also means that for a person that starts on year 1, they only need to play 8 months to reach maximum power/level and after that they only need to play a couple months with each new expansion to reach maximum level/power.

The problem is that new players want a chance to reach maximum power and want to be able to play with the veterans. This is especially true with older games that're top-heavy because there're not many new players entering the game. New players don't like to play alone. SO the response is to mudflate the game.

By mudflating the game, you can maintain a set amount of time to reach maximum level or power in the game. So a new player entering the game when it has just launched will require as much time to reach maximum level/power as a new player that enters the game in its fifth year.

There're lots of ways do to this. One way would be to kill off the veterans. This would be like adding perma-death to the game once a player reaches a certain power or level. It's not a popular method. A more practical way is just to give new players a leg up. Give them faster experience and better items than the veterans had at that point in their lives. This will allow the new players to catch up.

But how does muflation water down the game, as I stated previously???? Well, it primarily does this to the new players or the players that're not quite veterans. Basically, with all hte increased experience and ubber items and hand holding what happens is that the experience becomes somewhat like racing down a beautiful scenic road at 550 mph. It's hard to appreciate the scenery and grow attached to it when you're moving so fast. It inevitably feels watered down and even too easy. It's like you're disconnected from the world. To make matters worse, you're probably playing in OLDER content that has bad graphics AND you're playing mostly alone, unless the game you're playing has a matchmaking service. FAct of the matter is, most old games will not have a lot of new players, so when you play these games, you have to plan on soloing a lot.

Lastly, SOE has shifted from its 1999-2003 focus. It has watered down the game intentionally to compete with games like WoW. Increasingly, new mmo's are also supporting the console video gamers. Obviously, casual players are a far larger customer base than the hardcores will ever be. So this inevitably leads to gameplay that feels too easy or too soft. For somebody like me that likes to feel I'm living on the edge in a tough brutal uncaring world, this easing of the standards and expectations on me is highly undesired. But I guess if I play a more mainstream game like EQ, I should not be surprised when they try to appeal to casuals.

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by Malice_Mizer [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, WoW didn't used to be purely random queing for dungeons and 100% linear, hold-your-hand content.

Almost 10 years old :{

In its first year, it was remarkably like EQ. No corpse runs and whatnot, but still similar. It even had home-cities, just like EQ. I read the people who worked on WoW were raiders in EQ a few years prior.

[Lagaidh]

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In its first year, it was remarkably like EQ. No corpse runs and whatnot, but still similar. It even had home-cities, just like EQ. I read the people who worked on WoW were raiders in EQ a few years prior.

I remember playing WoW beta and thinking that so many features of what I was seeing were a direct answer to the cries of EQ players.

I went back to EQ for another 2 years before giving WoW a try in Live. Wow was fun enough for what I needed out of a game then - less commitment.