The 24 Year News Cycle

It's been a very long time since I last logged into EverQuest but I'm by no means done with the game. I even have a return strategy of sorts.  

Daybreak's free to play offer usually rolls along a few expansions behind the current endgame. Currently it's at 2019's Torment of Velious, which was added last summer. This year, most likely, the F2P package will expand to include 2020's Claws of Veeshan and then in 2024 non-paying players should gain access to 2021's Terror of Luclin, the last expansion to raise the level cap. It went up by five levels to 120. Free access to that expansion would be a natural re-entry point. 

I still enjoy leveling in EQ. It's my main motivation for taking another turn around the Norrathian block, other than making new characters on new servers, which I also still enjoy once in a while. The last time I played for an extended period was when I was raising my Magician to the then-cap of 115. It was quite hard work but I had fun doing it.

Of course, I could just buy the latest expansion, which would include every previous one, but that would require both a degree of commitment and a level of impatience for playing EQ that I simply don't have any more. I don't feel that way about any mmorpg these days, I'm happy to say.  

Wilhelm recently posted his thoughts about the success or otherwise of the genre's move to a broadly free to play model and I commented that, for me at least, the change has been a complete success. One of the things I most appreciate about it has been the way it's reduced my desire to play any one particular game. I feel now that I can move comfortably from one to another at will, always knowing I can drop back in on a whim at any time. It's an approach that fits my mercurial personality a lot more comfortably than the old lock-in ever did.

I'm very happy to wait a year or three to get to content I'm interested in because I have many other options now. I also feel reasonably confident most of the games will still be there when I feel like coming back to them. The flip side of the coin we were tossing around in a recent post on the extraordinary length of time it takes to develop an mmorpg is that once the games are out finally there they tend to stick around. Mmorpgs do go dark all the time but a lot more seem to just keep on going, EverQuest being the prime example.

EverQuest will twenty-four years old this month. There are going to be some celebrations, naturally, although I don't think anyone's going to claim any special significance for the twenty-fourth anniversary. That's going to come next year, when the game turns twenty-five.

A quarter of a century in continuous operation is a real milestone. It's a given that no-one on the team that made the original game had any idea it would last this long. As I remember it, John Smedley himself only gave it three years, with an outside chance of five, which is how we came to have the sequel, EverQuest II as early as 2004. Sony Online Entertainment believed they'd need a follow-up to capitalize on the unexpected success of the original a lot sooner than actually proved to be the case.

EQII itself hits a very significant marker next year, turning twenty years old in December 2024, meaning Daybreak is going to have to celebrate two major anniversaries in one calendar year. The EverQuest Show asked Darkpaw's's Head of Studio Jenn Chan about it in an interview I read yesterday.

When it comes to anything that hasn't already been announced in the 2023 Roadmap, I think it would be fair to say that Jenn is keeping her cards very close to her chest. I've seldom heard anyone stonewall so determinedly, although she really didn't have to try too hard, given the exceptionally gentle and respectful questioning she was facing. That's not to say there was nothing of substance in the interview. On the contrary, if you're the kind of person who revels in technical detail concerning the back-end operations that keep a game built on a decades-old code base viable, there's plenty to hold your interest.

She goes into the backgrounds of both the recent switch to 64-bit, the Direct X 11 port and the upcoming re-write of the UI Engine, explaining why they were deemed necessary and how they'll improve the player experience. It's useful knowledge and as an executive who's arrived in her post via a route involving more of a technician's journey than most, her enthusiasm for revealing the mechanics of the process is plain to see.

Gently pressed to offer up some firm information on either the imminent arrival of new TLP (Time-Locked Progression) and TLE (Time-Locked Expansion) servers for EQ and EQII respectively, she's much less forthcoming. She confirms the TLE server will use a PvP ruleset, with a few tweaks: "it will be a similar experience to Tarinax on Day 1, but with the PVP writs and server specific rewards. So it will be starting from fresh, we’re going back to classic to the Shattered Lands era." Not much there we didn't already know and probably nothing to trouble most EQII players other than the PvP hardcore.

For EQ's new TLP server, due in May, there seems to be something a lot more significant yet to be revealed: "it’s going to be an experimental year. We’re trying something that we’ve never really done before, and if it works out, we may introduce some of it to live servers. But that’s all I’m going to tell you right now until we released the big article with all the details." It's an announcement of an announcement. Wake me up when we get there.

As for the plans for next year's big anniversaries, Jenn has little to offer beyond a commitment to make it worth the wait:

EQ Show: That’s a big year. Are you guys planning to celebrate this big milestone?

JCHAN:
YES.

EQ Show:
That’s all you’re going to give me?

JCHAN:
That’s all I’m going to give you for now.

EQ Show:
Is it a big plan or a little plan?

JCHAN:
There are big plans.

After that, it's the usual retrenchment into praise for what the franchise is really all about (Spoiler - it's "The Community". It's always "The Community" with some people, isn't it?) and some stuff about the long-delayed EQII Swag Store, of all things. I'm guessing that's a community thing too. It's certainly nothing I've ever given a moment's thought.

Finally, Fading, the EverQuest Show's interviewer, gets around to asking Chan the question we've all been waiting for; the question everyone wants a real answer to but which no-one ever gets: “What are the plans to expand the franchise?” Do we get a meaningful answer for once?

Do we hell. 

CHAN:
So we’re definitely always talking about expanding the franchise, expanding the IP. But we’re just not ready to announce anything just yet. But definitely some serious conversations going on right now.

I guess it's better than no conversations going on right now, eh? Or frivolous ones about things that are never going to happen in a million years. It's not like that's ever happened before, right?

Anyway, there's the interview, for what it's worth. I confess I only read the transcript. I didn't watch the video. I don't have time for that. I'm not Tobold, ffs! So if anything's revealed in the nuances of conversation, I'll have missed it.

The whole thing did have one effect on me, other than to create a sense of generalized, non-specific anticipation; it made feel like logging into EverQuest again.I guess we can chalk that up as another win for Jenn Chan. She may not tell us much but what she does, she sells better than most.

Gift Horse: EverQuest, EQII

When I went to log into EverQuest II last night I noticed a new prompt on the launcher pointing to A Note From Jenn Chan. I clicked through to read it while the game was loading.

It's more like an essay than a note. It goes into considerable detail about some recent trials and tribulations, apologizing rather fulsomely and confirming something I'd already noticed since the transition of leadership, that the new Darkpaw is "trying to be much more transparent".

There's a different version of the apology on the EverQuest forums, giving more information about similar problems affecting the older game. It's clear that part of the issue there is the increased population, which is a nice problem to have, although not if you can't get it under control.

Both notes make for interesting reading, as do the responses. Even Feldon turns up with something nice to say! It's amazing how players respond so positively to an apology that both sounds genuine and which treats them as intelligent adults.

Oh, wait, no it's not! What's amazing is how so many game companies avoid this kind of open engagement with their customers in favor of silence or passive-aggressive self-justification. It's not that Jenn Chan's note is partiularly revealing, let alone indiscreet. It's mostly the absence of corporate doublespeak and the presence of what sounds like someone's natural voice.

While I was personally quite happy with Holly Windstalker Longdale's tenure, during which there were many notable improvements to the game and its prospects, I do think Jenn Chan comes across as warmer and more... well, more of a geek and more of a gamer. That, too, goes a long way.

The main reason I'm posting about all this, though, isn't to analyse any change in corporate style but to mention by way of a public service announcement that both apologies come with gifts.

EverQuest players get a 25% experience bonus, which isn't particularly exciting but is always welcome. I checked this morning and it applies both to free to play accounts and to xp from Overseer missions, which is good for me. My Magician is closing in fast on level 99 and every little helps in her drive to 100.

For EQII players there's a free mount and it's a very nice one. The appearance is taken from the Chaos Descending Collector's Edition, I believe, and it looks great. The stats, while they aren't anything that will excite raiders, are a very decent upgrade to the best mount I have... which happens to be the last one they gave away!

Best of all the mount, Samenda Honorhoof, is available to all accounts, not just to members. It's also Heirloom so you can move it about to whoever needs it. Characters do need to be level 110 or above to get the benefit of the stat buffs but it's very much worth grabbing even if you don't have a character that high yet. It's fast, it looks amazing and you can slap it in the mount appearance slot and keep the stats of whatever you normally fly.

I'll be logging all my accounts in to grab it before the offer expires in a couple of weeks on June 24th. One or two of them might even ride it, some day.

On With The Show

Last year The EverQuest Show ran a story about a visit to Daybreak Games' San Diego offices, where they interviewed then franchise producer Holly Windstalker Longdale and other members of the teams behind both games.

The lengthy interview with Holly was posted back in October but since then we haven't heard a lot from The EQ Show and I was beginning to wonder if the whole project had gone the way of so many others, into oblivion. Happily that turns out not to be the case.

Episode 8, just released, features interviews with the new producer of the EQ games, Jennifer Chan, as well as several members of the EQII team.

It's a highly professional production, better than some promotional videos from studios themselves. Fading, who put it together, apologizes for the long delay between episodes, saying "they do take a lot of time to edit because I like to have the quality there". It's there, no worries about that.

There are no great revelations in the thirteen minute video but there are a couple of very strong data points on that perennial topic, "how well are the games doing?". Fading mentions in passing that the EQII team is smaller than the EverQuest crew, which shouldn't be a surprise but kind of is anyway.

I know there are delusional EQII players who believe it's their game that carries not only the new Darkpaw division but the whole company. You see them chime in on the forums now and then, questioning who would want to play an ancient game like EverQuest.

A lot of people, apparently. We already knew from comments Holly Longdale made last year that EQ's population has been growing over the last few years. Now we learn that EQII's has as well.

In general the game is "doing great". In fact "we're doing better than we were years ago". There are a couple of references to the current server populations in EQII in which we learn they are "pretty strong" on every server, even "a little overpopulated" on some of the special rulesets.

It wasn't always that way. Several comments from the EQII team make it clear they went through some dark days not too long ago, when they thought they might not be able to keep on making expansions simply because they didn't have the resources. They also acknowledge the dispiriting effect of multiple rounds of layoffs.

Their claim that the smaller team is more effective may sound like wishful thinking or making the best of a difficult situation but it's entirely borne out by my experience as a player. I know there have been issues with testing and quality control and some players aren't happy with certain design decisions but my feeling is that recent expansions have been some of the best for many years.

It was also very surprising to learn that all of the music in EQII for the last few expansions has been done by one developer, unpaid and working in his spare time. They lost the budget for production of new music so Mark McBride began composing and recording it himself, together with input from the whole team, as a "passion project".

Which would be very sweet and rather sad if it wasn't for the plain fact that the music in EQII has improved almost out of recognition! I love the whole, new gothic style he's brought to the soundscape of the game and particularly the performing NPC bands and orchestras that pop up in the hub cities. You might want to try experimenting with a major chord once in a while, Mark, but other than that - good job!

I recommend the EQ Show video. It's a very interesting - and reassuring - watch for anyone who plays or follows the franchise.

My other public service announcement today is an in-game tip. Everyone probably already knows this but it was news to me.

I was puzzled when I got my free flying horse recently and found it had gone directly into the Mount tab of the character who'd opened the pack. I was sure it had been flagged Heirloom, meaning any character on the account could use it, but I couldn't see how that could happen if it was just an icon on a list belonging to a single character.

So I asked in general chat and someone said I should be able to pull it out and put it in the shared bank. You can turn any mount into a house item, they said. It's the same as that.

And so you can. I'd forgotten all about mounts being convertible to house items. I don't believe I've ever done it.

Having sorted that out, I happened to look at my currency tab, which once again is individualized for every character. I wondered if the same trick would work there, too, and it does.

You can drag and drop currency stacks from the tab into your bags to transfer them between characters. No more having to do the same holiday content twice because you're working on a different character, even though you have a stack of the currency left over on the first one.

I thought I'd share because although this is probably old news to most players, the very fact that I've gone fifteen years without noticing suggests it's quite easy to miss. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

And if anyone has any more tips on similar obscurities, don't be shy - share with the group!

The Letter : EverQuest, EQII

Jennifer Chan, the newly-appointed Head of Studio at Darkpaw Games, posted  "Community Letters" to the EverQuest and EverQuest II forums yesterday. I found them to be both positive and reassuring. Such was not the general reaction.

I have often alluded here to the unceasing miasma of negativity that pervades the official forums of both games. It always has, going all the way back to when I first started playing EverQuest around the turn of the milennium. It's a very good reason to avoid the forums altogether yet I persist. Here and there, now and then, nuggets of value can occasionally be glimpsed, gleaming among the dross.

Mostly, though, reading the forums is like poking yourself with a stick. I try to avoid getting involved but occasionally I get so annoyed I can't help myself. This was one of those times.

Rather than just complain about the complainers - never a good look - and in a forlorn effort to raise the positivity levels, I decided to try to explain a little of why I approve of the current direction the game is taking.  Under the current team I feel we've seen, at the very least, a considerable improvement on what we've had to put up with at other times. (In EQII, that is - I don't really play EQ any more so I have no personal experience or opinion how things are there).

Here's my comment in full:

 I already said "Hi" at the top of the thread but reading all the negative comments on the state of the game I felt I had to pop back and say a couple of things. I've been a subscriber to EQ without a single break since 1999 and an All Access subber since it was invented. I've played EQII since late beta in September 2004, again without a break. For the last few years, and for all of the Daybreak ownership, I've played solo with EQ2 as my second MMORPG (usually behind Guild Wars 2).

In my opinion, the game was at its lowest ebb in the last few years of the SOE period. After a shaky start it began to improve under DBG and it has continued to do so. Blood of Luclin is my favorite expansion since Sentinel's Fate ten years ago. It's so good, in fact, that since it launched EQII has once again become my main MMORPG and I've played it almost exclusively for the last three months.

As someone who has always both crafted and adventured I find the changes to crafting very much in my favor. Whereas in recent expansions I've gone most of the year using Journeyman skills until I could upgrade via the time-gated system, in BoL I can make Adepts for myself and buy them at a reasonable price. I have also been able to make a lot of Experts at very reasonable cost because the rares are far more obtainable than they have been for years. Whereas I have previously always maintained two crafters (Sage and Weaponsmith) at max level, in BoL, largely thanks to the very welcome accelerated levelling speed and the knowledge that, once levelled, my crafters would be able to make things I needed, I have expanded my crafting team to four. I now have a max level Carpenter and Alchemist too.

I enjoy the 30 second timer on the Shadow Staff and the two hour cooldown. It changes what would otherwise have been another background system into a foreground one. I look forward to the staff becoming available and the hunt for a good spot with multiple shadow nodes. It's far more engaging than simply moving endlessly around clearing node spawns in the traditional manner.

I love the Overseer system. It has become the first thing I do each day when I switch my PC on and the first thing i do when I get home from work. I find it interesting, amusing and very rewarding. I very much welcome any expansion or extension of the system. The holiday Overseer quests are a great addition to the game.

On the concept of "Pay to Win", I understand that for people at the cutting edge of the game feel they have to spend money to keep up but at my engagement level there is absolutely no need to spend anything beyond the subscription. I have never paid a penny to accelerate progress of any kind - I don't even remember to use the free accelerators that drop most of the time. Content for solo/molo is tuned in such a way that it's accessible without any of that. That has not always been the case in EQII's history and I prefer it the way it is now.

I just wanted to put a point of view that doesn't often get expressed on these forums and I go into so much detail just to give a perspective on why someone who has played EQII for a long time might not agree with the idea that everything is on a downward spiral. There have been plenty of times in the past when the direction of the game has felt alienating to me and I understand how changes that appeal to one player may almost break the game for another. I just wanted to say that for me the game is going in just the direction I would hope and has been for a while now.

That said, there is always room for further improvement. A dedicated crafting dev is essential. Mob drops could be made more interesting. Overall, though, for me it's very much a case of "keep up the good work" and I very much look forward to what the next year brings.

I know it's too long for a forum comment. Who's going to read it all the way through? I know I skim-read comments this long, if I don't skip them altogether.

Even so, it only touches the surface of why I feel my own play experience in EQII is not reflected in most of what I read on the forums. The game is far from perfect but then so are all the other MMORPGs I play. When I got to the paragraph at the end, where I set myself up to say what I think could be better, I couldn't really think of a lot I'd want to change.

Here I am, prepping for a pick-up raid. That would never have happened pre-DBG. Okay, so I died eight times because my good solo gear is laughably bad for even the lowest-level Heroic content but so what? I had fun and we got the job done - eventually.

Some of us in this part of the blogosphere like to play that game where we guess how well a game might be doing. It's a very inexact science. We'd probably be better off sacrificing a chicken and reading the entrails.

Still, there is some value in comparing known markers over time and on that basis, judging by the observable activity in game at the hours I play and by watching the Daybreak Game Server Status page, my impression is that things have been busier in the three months since Blood of Luclin launched than they were before. Quite a bit busier.

From the current Brewday Overseer questline.

That's the exact opposite of what most forum posters suggest. There's a constant theme of "people are leaving", often accompanied by threats to join the exodus if things don't change. I suspect it may even be true. By most accounts, life as at the Heroic and Raid end of the game is far from rosy. I wouldn't be at all surprised if subscriber numbers among that demographic are dropping. Hardcore crafters, too, are very unhappy right now, so it seems.

What we don't know is how many players there are like me or Wilhelm or Telwyn or Kaozz, pottering along at their own pace, solo or duo or trio, doing the regular content that the core players don't really see as relevant. Or how much those players spend.

You pretty much have to have a subscription to play these days but at the levels I enjoy myself you very definitely don't need to spend in the Cash Shop. Ironically, it seems to be the players who are least happy with the way things are going who also feel the need to spend the most.

How sustainable the current direction might be is impossible to derive from the information available to us. I would tend to assume that if pandering to the hardcore made more money for DBG that's exactly what they'd be doing. That they've chosen to move away from doing so suggests the money wasn't there when they did.

A metaphor for the state of the game?
Or just an indication that DBG needs to spend more on QA?

The hardcore in any long-lasting MMORPG does have the merit of predictability and consistency,
though. Give them what they crave and they will stay with you. Make them feel they're being ignored and they might, eventually, if you keep it up long enough, make good on their endless threats to take their business elsewhere.

I can live with whatever direction the game takes. Probably. I've stuck it out through the hardcore-stroking years of late-period SOE, the "what did we just buy?" confusion of early DBG and the drive to turn the game into something barely recognizeable as EQII in the last three or four expansions.

In my uninformed opinion, whatever changes are being made to the way the games play are part of the process of bringing them to market. I fully expect to see another change of ownership in the next year or two. Only after that will we be able to assess where the games will go next.

In the meantime, I plan on enjoying the happy collision of Darkpaw's intent and my personal taste in gameplay. I'm sure it will be my turn to complain soon enough.