EQ Next: Best of show at E3!

[Kika Maslyaka]

Selling cosmetic items, that have appearance only value I can understand.
Selling anything with even slightest effect on gameplay - I am out of here.

[Rhambuk]

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

Selling cosmetic items, that have appearance only value I can understand.
Selling anything with even slightest effect on gameplay - I am out of here.

Agreed, though I wish they wouldn't have those appearance only items. I can't help myself and easily spent $200 on eq2 to make my chars look cool then quit a month later...

[Faerie]

If you're able to purchase anything in EQNext that gives you an advantage, I doubt I'll be playing it. This includes runspeed increases, and mounts (unless they're really easy to get in game). I'd kinda forgotten that SOE had moved away from subscriptions and were going the microtransaction route.

This is unsettling.

[Gadwen]

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

If you're able to purchase anything in EQNext that gives you an advantage, I doubt I'll be playing it. This includes runspeed increases, and mounts (unless they're really easy to get in game). I'd kinda forgotten that SOE had moved away from subscriptions and were going the microtransaction route.

This is unsettling.

Check out the EQ 2 shop, I can only imagine that their next game will have even more stuff to buy.

[Shilver]

On the bright side..it is a sandbox. Having a normal cash shop isn't something that can be done; it has to be tailored specifically to not effect gameplay. Really it's so easy to avoid cashshops, and if you really do like the game..put some money down. I've spent over $300 on League of Legends and don't regret it because it's a great game.

[t0lkien]

Just FYI, increasing runspeed has a subtle but deep impact on the entire game flow. Being able to buy it undermines the fundamental feel of the world (the genius of the Bard in EQ is that it's a class whose core mechanic is runspeed).

If you can buy runspeed (item, mount), you *can* buy power.

[Faerie]

The impact of runspeed is not at all subtle, lol :P

Bard class got a big nerf when mounts were introduced in Luclin.

[t0lkien]

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

The impact of runspeed is not at all subtle, lol :P

Bard class got a big nerf when mounts were introduced in Luclin.

Totally agree (and Thott had a great post pointing it out back in the day).

It's really surprised me that people have not understood the fundamental effect of movement speed, and have had to have it pointed out to them over and over again (I laboured to explain the point as a dev on other games, and those making the decisions neither understood nor agreed - so I'm left with the assumption that it must be a more subtle point than it appears to be to me).

Giving it away via ingame purchases or to everyone via mounts removes an element of RPG progression and possible class distinction that EQ got beautifully right. The same can be said for porting, healing, CC etc.

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by t0lkien [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Totally agree (and Thott had a great post pointing it out back in the day).

It's really surprised me that people have not understood the fundamental effect of movement speed, and have had to have it pointed out to them over and over again (I laboured to explain the point as a dev on other games, and those making the decisions neither understood nor agreed - so I'm left with the assumption that it must be a more subtle point than it appears to be to me).

Giving it away via ingame purchases or to everyone via mounts removes an element of RPG progression and possible class distinction that EQ got beautifully right. The same can be said for porting, healing, CC etc.

It has to do with the reliance on other classes. As EQ1 evolved, you can see how all the classes either adopted the abilities of other classes so that they were not as reliant on them or the feature that made them reliant was removed. This was done mostly because EQ1 was getting old and losing popularity and, as a result, there were not enough players for a healthy grouping population; especially for new or returning players. This led to the need for players to be able to solo better or to perform better in small groups.

I think there's another reason that's more subtle. Players might want more abilities because the class they're playing is not interesting enough. AS a matter of reason, this is why I enjoyed the hybrids so much in EQ1. I wanted to have lots of things I could do. If you're limited to only one or two things, it becomes boring. So by having more abilities available, you can stay interested longer.

[Gadwen]

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

This was done mostly because EQ1 was getting old and losing popularity and, as a result, there were not enough players for a healthy grouping population; especially for new or returning players. This led to the need for players to be able to solo better or to perform better in small groups.

I think the biggest influencing factor was the overall change in play style of the average player. Even on this server there is a lot of people who just want to solo so they can race to the top, really only settling for grouping 50+. Game mechanics can only take so much blame for the lack of community in MMOs now, this server (while it has a better community than a lot of games) is just more evidence of that imo.

Hell, I played L4D2 for a long time on a custom 20 player server that had a better community than most MMOs do now.