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Unfortunately, I know what you are talking about Monty. Although I’ve never played EQ or other MMORPG’s, (didn’t have the finances :)) the same sort of thing happened with Diablo 2 for me. I was part of a long time group of players, and as Blizzard slowly left battle.net to deteriorate, we drifted off to other games. In the end, it comes down to profit, EQ wasnt making enough, so they jacked the price up, Diablo 2 wasn’t selling any more copies, Blizzard left battle.net to the hackers. It’s unfortunate, but it’s what happens with multiplayer online games.

Still, as long as it was fun while it lasted, that makes it worthwhile, though the time that many spent on characters, like you yourself, only to have the game stuffed up on them is annoying, and i can see your viewpoint.

Ah well, we will all miss your bard, good game Monty :)

After playing D2 to death on bnet for almost 1 and 1/2 years with a few friends in hardcore private games we all decided to give eq a run after reading some of monty’s chronicles. 2 of us quit 2 weeks ago because of all the bugs and certain game mechanics which only caused 5 mins of fun 5 hours of frustration. We had made it into the 50’s and the highend game was pathetic. The last member of our 3 man outfit hang in there still with hopes of it one day being worth the mone, apparently he quit today because of the price hike and the announcement of the new addon while the last is still an online version of starship troopers. None of us will be returning to mmorpg’s until WoW finally appears.

On another note the comment about D2 I feel was a little harsh, it never cost anything after the initial outlay and had 3-4 times the number of users online at a time than eq has total users. I remember peak hours on asia 2 alone having 800k people on that single realm. The cheating thing is a mute point aswell, you can cheat in everquest if you can use a debugger like softice. You could buy high end no drop eq from people who could hack it so they could trade no drop items, someone in ec actually had the item in the trade window and I could right click it etc but didn’t have the money he was requesting. Cheating in eq just seems to be kept alot more hush hush is all. Bring on dungeon siege and warcraft 3 is all I got to say.

Very telling comments from the GDC. Gaming reeks like the music biz.

It’s Time we all moved to Indie games development, Monty.

;)

So you cancelled your account in favor of a game that was already charging what Verant raised their prices to? If there is a gas staion charging $1.25 across the street from one charging $1.50, and the owners see that people still pay for the the $1.50 gas, then who can blame the first station for adjusting their prices to mirror the second?

I really don’t have a problem with it. I pay that much for my DAoC account, and it’s only 24 dollars a year extra. It’s not that big of an increasel, and if you pay for your subscription in advance, it’s not even that much. I think they have done a lot to keep up with the other MMORPG games lately (even though there are some things that were promised and never delivered), and have lost some subscribers. But they have also gained a lot of new ones. Camelot is a good game. In some ways, better than EQ. But not enough. Gameplay is a tad easier, and graphically it is a lot more system-friendly. It lacks the immersiveness of EQ, and overall I consider it to not live up to the standard of EQ. Thereofre, I can’t comprehend your choice to quit EQ based on a rate hike, when the very game you quit FOR has been charging that much all along. To me, that doesn’t make much of a statement.

Can you think of anything that costs the same as it did 3 years ago? It’s a fantasy game, but the world in which we play the game is not fantasy -cable rates, utility rates, phone rates have all gone up. And in California, electricity rates have gone through the roof - which is where Verant’s headquarters are. With all their computers, servers, and offices, that has to be astronomical. EQ is a business first and foremost. The reality of the situation is they did not create the game for the gratification of players worldwide. They created it because it was sure to make money. When profitablility goes down, you come up with ways to bring it back up. I think one small rate hike in 3 years is perfectly acceptable, and I am surprised that there haven’t been more. If it is going to give them the resources to work on EQ 2, then I am all for it. It will make little difference in my overall standard of living. Of course, if it was a perfect world, the game would be free and we would all be playing on 2gig systems with Geforce 4 cards. But not all of us can.. we have to make decisions about what we can afford to pay for, and what we want to pay for. If 2 dollars a month is going to cripple you, then you probably shouldn’t be forking out the other 10.95 for the subscription anyways. But if you eat fast food one less day a month, it is paid for. Eat fast food 2 or 3 less days a month, and your entire account is paid for. I’m pretty sure McDonalds raises their prices once in a while, but the quality of their food has been the same for the last 30 years - much like the complaint I have heard that VI is raising prices but not improving gameplay. I beg to differ… every patch is intended to improve gameplay, as every expansion is.

The cost of living rises whether we want it to or not.

Not going to happen, not soon at least. All games run out of steam eventually, but EQ still has a lot of momentum going for it.

I tried DAOC, I played, and still have a character that is 44th level there. I canceled my account on EQ. Then I found that the DAOC content just wasn’t there. Yes, they will add content, but the game wasn’t much fun after you got past 40th level and entered the real treadmill. I got my EQ account started back up, and have been playing that a lot more now.

DAOC beats EQ in technology, but EQ beats DAOC in game content. Mystic put too much faith in the RVR game holding players interest. I did a lot of RVR, and it gets boring very fast. I can play Tribes 2 or RtCW for PVP. I will maintain both accounts for awhile, but my general feeling is that I will go back to EQ full time, and cancel the DAOC account if they don’t add some real content soon.

I know MANY other players who tried DAOC and have gone back to EQ for this very reason.

Verant knew they would drive some of the most unhappy people away with this price increase. I suspect they won’t be sorry to see some of those folks leave. Many will leave, many will say they are leaving, but the vast majority will be playing EQ next month after the price increase. And Verant IS getting new subscribers every day.

Everquest isn’t dead, it’s not even wounded.

Anyone know the actual costs of running an MMO?

… you’ve missed the point of my post. The price hike was just the final insult on top of a littany of money-minded decisions by Verant. If Verant were genuinely interested in the experience of their players and the world offered by their game, I would still be playing EQ. The game was already dull to me at level 54 as a result of some of those decisions, though there were many things I still wanted to see and do.

However, Verant is only interested in keeping me (and you) playing as long as possible in order to get as many monthly subscriptions as possible. For my argument on that, read my original EQ Chronicle post. And for a counterpoint to Verant’s ugly mercenary capitalism, take a look at the attitude of the makers of Meridian 59 which predates EQ by years. That’s what I’m talking about. If you don’t understand the difference, that’s okay too. I’m an old school gamer. I care about the medium and the community, and the integrity of both.

And I disagree that EQ was originally made to make money. I think it’s obvious it was originally made because those making it wanted to make the game they wanted to play (they are on record as saying that). Yes it was and is a business. But great games are not conceived because someone wants to make money. There are much better, more focussed ways to do that. The business grows up around games, but the business is second - or should be. With EQ now, this isn’t the case.

If you are okay with the way Verant double-speaks to its customers while it makes singular grabs for money, good for you. If you don’t mind you are being fed gameplay slop for the sole purpose of them taking your money (and it shows in the recent soul-less content), great. Me, I’d prefer they just lifted Aus$20 out of my wallet every month and didn’t create such intricate subterfuge to disguise what they were doing.

Yes, I think DAoC and it’s makers - Mythic - are different. I think that’s obvious if you read any of the forums and Mythic’s treatment of their players. I also think it’s reflected in the style and content of the game. But we’ll see :)

Ack, wrong link. Here is the correct link to Meridian 59.

Newbie mistake, sorry about that.

I tried DAoC and went back to EQ. I still have an active DAoC account although I should probably cancel it. I quit it with the intent of revisiting it after a few months when it had got over the teething period and started to actually implement half the content that had been promised.

Whilst that has probably now happened I’m happily enjoying EQ with my L51 Ranger who is gaining experience so slow it’s silly but he is having FUN! There are endless zones, quests, and storys for him to explore compared to the VERY limited selection that there was (and probably still is) in DAoC.

I regularly group with guildmates and hang out just to have a chat or to help others (or have them help me) go after a quest item or some such. For me EQ is about getting together with some friends and having a good time.

If I dwelt on the fact I still don’t have Ivy Etched Gloves because the quest has needed revamping since Kunark came out, or that the super easy to get Strength of Grodan (2hs axe) is not useable by Rangers like much of the nicer melee equipment out there I’d probably have quit too.

EQ sucks IF you get drawn in to the “my class sucks because…” arguments and all the “uber loot” arguments. Like any MMORPG it is STILL evolving and the post 50 content is VERY much an issue for that. I’ve been playing it on and off now since it first came out here.

I think personally the best move I made in EQ was to join a small guild that’s part of a larger Alliance of guilds. The guild is small enough to be friendly but the Alliance has the power to go after those “uber” items and take down the high end mobs.

To me the slight increase in cost is something I won’t even think twice about and to be honest I imagine if they hadn’t told me wouldn’t even have noticed when it came to my next charge appearing on my Visa bill. The fluctuation of our dollar vs the US dollar probably has more effect on what I’m paying then this price increase.

If you SERIOUSLY believe Mythic are ANY different you’ve got another thing coming. I was naive enough to think so but within a month of playing DAoC and participating on the forums could see that they were simply trying hard to appear to be different to Verant to draw in those who were fed up with Verant.

Who can blame them. The cold harsh reality is that it’s all about the bottom line and always will be.

Enjoy DAoC, I have two friends that still play it and didn’t return to EQ and another who dabbles in both. Personally I’ll stick with EQ till I don’t look forward to logging on to enjoy another adventure with my friends.

Oh and as for it being the end of EQ. It has recently hit a new record for the number of active subscribers. A slight price increase and a few disgruntled players leaving now rather then in a few months time really isn’t going to break them.

I understand your point… and I am not saying that you are wrong. Sony/Verant are raising prices . . . but the recent changes they have made are new offerings, and the expanded content of three expansions and one on the way cannot be considered ‘nothing.’ You are overlooking the fact that they have held the same price in place for three years, and nothing costs the same as it did three years ago. Granted, there are still some things that have been promised and not delivered, but the very same thing can be said for DAoC.

I will admit that Mythic is, at the very least, trying to give the impression that they care about their customers… they take steps to alert everyone to changes that are forthcoming, they listen to players when making gameplay change decisions, but the fact remains that they charged MORE than Sony did, and for an inferior product. Visually, the game is better, and it runs smoother, but the fact that there is no depth to the game leaves most people wondering why they put so much effort into levelling their characters. What’s the point? RvR? Big deal. It’s not enough to interest me in playing any longer. All it does is make me excited about EQ2 - when they are able to employ some technological changes. But if I have to choose between content or cosmetics, I choose the content of EQ over the cosmetics of DAoC.

And if you think that game producers don’t make games because they think it will make money, then you are naive. Developers develop games because they want to see them created, but software companies are not going to produce a game simply because someone says ‘I want to make this game.’ If they don’t think it will make money, then they won’t produce the game. The reason they are in business is to make money. If they just wanted to make games, then they would be distrbuting the games freeware. But the bottom line is that they want to make money, not to satisfy the whims of gamers and developers.

I am cancelling my DAoC account and happily no longer splitting time between it and EQ. DAoC had enough to keep me interested for about a month, and EQ has kept me interested for over a year.