Pay to play, and have to buy it to boot?

/Sucker born every minute.

dumbstudent2002: Pay to play, and have to buy it to boot?

At some point, you may want to go ahead and advance beyond 2002.

SOE hasn't scrapped this abortion?

What does EQ have to do with WoW?

TheHopeDiamond: What does EQ have to do with WoW?

They both suck.

TheHopeDiamond: What does EQ have to do with WoW?

Most of the population playing EQ2 came from WoW of late.... maybe subby is one of them

/got nuthin

I guess it's a result of a dev's ingame character being outted on eq2flames yesterday.

just play wow. its better. really.

Oh snap, 'it's FFA on SOE', they mean business!

Caeldan: I guess it's a result of a dev's ingame character being outted on eq2flames yesterday.


lol

That'll do it!

Honestly, I would be a bit surprised that Everquest II was still up and running, except that I know that DAOC is even still running!

Meh... Back to Tempest Keep tonight for me!

dumbstudent2002: Pay to play, and have to buy it to boot?

/Sucker born every minute.

Pay to use the internet?
sucker born every minute
Pay to drive?
sucker born every minute

/well, technically you don't need these either.
//*insert argument about it being cheaper to pay monthly than the 50-80 dollar game every 2 months with the combine cost of the console that just plays games and movies*

Hell... isn't Everquest itself still up and running?

Thac0isWhac0: Hell... isn't Everquest itself still up and running?

As is Asheron's Call, though AC2 finally got shut down I believe.

Ultima Online also I think is still going(as are a gazillion free shards).

People still play Everquest 2?

Thac0isWhac0: Hell... isn't Everquest itself still up and running?

7 million active accounts strong.

CravenMorehead: People still play Everquest 2?

It's not that bad if you want a mostly solo experience with grouping thrown in on occasion. The server populations tend to be more mature than that of wow, so you actually get people being helpful on public channels.

/plays, 58 sk on unrest.

I am a level 32 Winocerous so I'm getting a... hic!... real kick out of... hic!... umm... stuff.

FTA:
Craig Dalrymple
Senior Community Relations Manager
Sony Online Entertainment

How do you say this dude's (obviously made up) last name?

ProdigalSigh: FTA:
Craig Dalrymple
Senior Community Relations Manager
Sony Online Entertainment

How do you say this dude's (obviously made up) last name?

it's not common, but it is real.
no, it's not my last name either, then it would really seem like a stagename.

Damn, I read one page and the linked site got farked. Oh well, SOE sucks anyway.

/doesn't mmo anymore

LOTRO FTW.

The only mmorpg I play is progress quest

City of Villains, baby.

EQ2 > LOTRO > WoW > DDO

/carry on

Seriously though, wtf happened? AFAICT someone posted the identity of a dev's character on a message board, and the community relations team stopped talking to the message board owner. Is that it?

I love watching Sony fail.

Idealist1984: TheHopeDiamond: What does EQ have to do with WoW?

They both suck.


Still stranded in Northshire, eh?

Can I get a quick-and-dirty run down of what's going on here? Not being in the loop of massively emo online events leaves me wondering what exactly is happening.

My guess is that EQ2Flames.com is a fan site created to discuss EQ2, and the admin/founder had special privileges with SOE that are now revoked? Confirm, deny?

Seems to be the case, and as a result, they're leaking info they've held back so far (Real names+player names of developers/moderators etcet)

If they want to really stick it to Sony they could, you know, stop playing the game.

For those wondering about what went down without going through 30-something pages of e-drama, apparently someone at SOE promised this guy at EQ2Flames something concerning a new expansion, then after they welshed on that and wouldn't respond to his e-mails to him, like a completly rational he person posted the real names and phone numbers of some of the devs, and then SOE cut their ties with them.

E-drama at it's finest folks.

Belac: The only mmorpg I play is progress quest

Thank you. This game is amazing. I could watch this all night.

EQ2 tends to have a more mature userbase. It's come a long way from its start and it's pretty fun to play on.

Subby here. Didn't expect the site to get taken down so fast, they're on a pretty good server (but have been eating DOS attacks all week, along with some other MMO sites). Doing my best to dig up the letter and whatnot soe sent..

The story is a bit more complicated - here's the gist (and those with more knowledge can correct me as needed). A few things happened all at once and I'm going by what I gleamed personally. EQ2Flames is a fan site (possibly the biggest one in the EQ2 community) and has generally become accepted as one of the better places to go for class information and quest help ect due to somewhat heavy-handed moderation on the official boards. The site was one of the few places some of the game developers could come over and discuss with the EQ2Community.. most notably big parts of the community that the moderators on the 'official' forums have pissed off to the point of no return.

So on the 10th, the head of their CR sends the admin of the forum (a guy that goes by the handle of LFG) this letter:

"It has always been the goal of our Influencers Program to embrace people who represent a diverse range of opinions about SOE and our games. The expectation we have for each Influencer is that they will provide open and honest feedback that we can consider or act on as a company. It is understandable that decisions made by SOE will not always be to the liking of every Influencer, and that constructive feedback from participants will enable us to better relate with our communities over the long term.

Your passion and enthusiasm for EverQuest II have always been appreciated, but your own activities in the last few months have led us to the conclusion that it is time for your participation in this program to end. You have been all but silent through the many channels of communication provided by the Influencers program; eliminating any benefit that your voice might bring to our attention in the service of the community.

At the very same time you have actively encouraged many 'sensational' issues to come to the attention of your community at EQ2Flames, even when those issues lacked merit. Additionally, you have abused your personal access to members of our development teams, with no regard to the harm it might cause them in the process.

For these reasons, we are ending your participation in our Influencers program. We appreciate the feedback you have given us when you chose to do so; but it is time for this relationship to end.

Please remember that any private information you were exposed to as a member of the Influencers Program is still protected by the non-disclosure agreement you signed when first joining the program.

Craig Dalrymple
Senior Community Relations Manager
Sony Online Entertainment"

This comes after their new producer and their customer relations buggers refused to provide information that had been previously been agreed on (things like exclusive reporting rights to some new content coming down the pipe that the raiding side of the game is hyped up about).

In retaliation, one of the co-founders of the forum posted the developer handle names, their private "ingame" names of their unofficial toons (the ones they play when they're at home) their guild affiliations, their email addresses, and past projects they've been involved in of, oh, around half a dozen different developers, since, quote, "I am providing this information with the intention that you will use these means of communication to get your opinions across."


In turn, this leaked information (and so far it's panning out)allowed for the discovery that some of the game devs had been spoon-feeding thier "at home" guilds information, ie, using the knowledge they had while working at SoE to help their guilds become uber and know exactly how to beat certain encounters. A lot of grief has gone up about this now... lots of calls on corruption, lots of calls on further censoring, ect.

Anyone that tries to post much of anytihng on this subject - expecially the part about the developers handing out the absolutely perfect strategies on how to beat the hardest raid encounters in the game for personal gain - on the official boards gets a minimum of a 3 day suspension.


Hope that clears up the confusion.


/First greenlit thread, figures it's this one
//WoW DOES suck. But at least I've never heard about this kind of corruption from their devs before.

Cosmosis: City of Villains, baby.

I came here to say this, but it was already said, so I don't need to say it.

But I will anyway.

City of Heroes is the only MMO with Win(TM).

Caeldan: CravenMorehead: People still play Everquest 2?

It's not that bad if you want a mostly solo experience with grouping thrown in on occasion. The server populations tend to be more mature than that of wow, so you actually get people being helpful on public channels.

/plays, 58 sk on unrest.

Can you actually solo in EQ2? The fact pretty much couldn't in EQ1 is what eventually drove me away.

Depends on the class.

likefunbutnot: Cosmosis: City of Villains, baby.

I came here to say this, but it was already said, so I don't need to say it.

But I will anyway.

City of Heroes is the only MMO with Win(TM).


...for about another year or so until Champions Online comes out.

/CoH really does kinda suck it a lot of ways

With the last expansion, about half of the zones in it are designed for soloing (even if you aren't, persay, a solo class). I won't lie - not all classes have it equally easy. Necromancers, Conjurers rule the day, wizards and warlocks don't do a horrible job, some of the fighter classes can go 50/50. The game has been tuned and tuned and tuned a lot since launch.. though it is entirely possible to solo from level 1 to level 80. You will miss out on some cool things, but teh game is no where near as hard, difficult or time consuming as it used to be.

Katalyst: ...for about another year or so until Champions Online comes out.

We'll see. It sounds promising.

So do a lot of games.

I really don't see how they'll adapt it to online play and make it not-horrible, though.

AppleOptionEsc: Thac0isWhac0: Hell... isn't Everquest itself still up and running?

7 million active accounts strong.

No Farkin' way they have 7 million

Cosmosis: Katalyst: ...for about another year or so until Champions Online comes out.

We'll see. It sounds promising.

So do a lot of games.

I really don't see how they'll adapt it to online play and make it not-horrible, though.


I'm curious as to why you say this. Same developers who made COH/V, but this time they can (and intend to) put in everything they wanted to do with COH/V. If Champs delivers on only a fraction of what they promise, they will have my money, and COH can go screw itself.

WoW ftw

call me old school, i still play Lineage ^^ (6 years and counting)

I've never seen a company fark its relations with its customers as badly as SOE.

Although I gotta say Harmonix is getting there with their lousy DLCs for Rock Band.

I can't log onto my wow account anymore because I basically can't stand it. I'm all epic'd up and there's really nothing more to do for someone who can't really raid due to a weird schedule, so I think I'm finally done wow'ing.

And COH? Please, I played a tank to 50 and then was all, ok.. now what can he do? I found out it was nothing. Thus I don't get why either game is really all that great. Wow is generally a better game than COH as I saw it because at 70 there's still a ton of gear to get, so some playability for a while. Once you have it, it's nice to pwn noobs and stuff for a while, but I just have run out of steam with it. I really don't have anythign to do in it.

Did COV add anything that really fundamentally changed the game or offer any sort of endgame goodness?

nerdoverlord:

Did COV add anything that really fundamentally changed the game or offer any sort of endgame goodness?


They've added new recipes and new enhancements.....thats about it. The ONLY thing that might make me want to keep at it is to earn enough money to my Mind/Psi Dominator into Perma-Dom mode. But honestly. I couldn't do that if I wanted. The game is so horribly boring after you ding 50.

Katalyst: nerdoverlord:

Did COV add anything that really fundamentally changed the game or offer any sort of endgame goodness?


They've added new recipes and new enhancements.....thats about it. The ONLY thing that might make me want to keep at it is to earn enough money to GET my Mind/Psi Dominator into Perma-Dom mode. But honestly. I couldn't do that if I wanted. The game is so horribly boring after you ding 50.

This explains why eq2flames went a skew today. Been an EQ2 player for years not and Sony does a piss poor job of listening to the community. But it is still a great game and they can have my 15 a month.

Fark made my vent server asplode with hate while the site went nuts. I approve.

80th Mystic of Nagafen

AppleOptionEsc: Thac0isWhac0: Hell... isn't Everquest itself still up and running?

7 million active accounts strong.

Lol, no. Or did you mean total accounts if you count each one separately each month for the past 10 years?

Screw EQ2 man...

Kingdom of Loathing, baby.

That's the money shot