Like many , I have found it difficult to maintain interest in much of anything over the last 4 years or so.
We are in a very stale period for gaming in general that lacks originality and any kind of creative flow worth taking notice of , there is simply no where to go .
I have weathered this bland chapter in gaming by spending time in EQ2 however , this obscene addition today has really left me wondering whats next.
No one , not one person over there is happy about this yet SOE continues to sabotage their own titles by doing the exact opposite of what their players want.
I expect Blizzard to do the same thing with their next MMO. Smed brainwashed the whole industry with this idea back in 05. It looks like EA/BioWare is also doing this with TOR.
If Sony are doing this you bet your life all the others will follow sooner or later .......
The same thing many people said when SOE introduced Station Exchange for EQ2 back in 2005.
But what happened? No other game did a similar Station Exchange thing, not even SOE for their other games. And why? Because it was a failure. The little money SOE made from SE did not make up the money they lost from leaving subscribers.
Same to be expected here. If you put in an item mall into a subscription based game, many players will just move on to a FTP game. Same fun, same system, just for free. Go figure. SOE is really acting hazardeously...
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against microtransactions. I just think there shouldn't be any microtransactions in a game with a substantial monthly fee.
However, if SOE soon makes EQ and EQ2 free to play (without monthly fee), then I would be quite pleased.
Am not really suprised by this move from SoE. Anyone still trusting Smedley and co deserves to get hid by this ton of bricks. They don't care about their players, they never will. They destroyed SWG, they did station exchange in EQ2 promising players they would never do it outside those two servers and yet Smedley lied again. And yet i still ignorant people in this thread being suprised SoE did this to their game.
If Sony are doing this you bet your life all the others will follow sooner or later .......
The same thing many people said when SOE introduced Station Exchange for EQ2 back in 2005.
But what happened? No other game did a similar Station Exchange thing, not even SOE for their other games. And why? Because it was a failure. The little money SOE made from SE did not make up the money they lost from leaving subscribers.
Same to be expected here. If you put in an item mall into a subscription based game, many players will just move on to a FTP game. Same fun, same system, just for free. Go figure. SOE is really acting hazardeously...
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against microtransactions. I just think there shouldn't be any microtransactions in a game with a substantial monthly fee.
However, if SOE soon makes EQ and EQ2 free to play (without monthly fee), then I would be quite pleased.
Good points Teiraa.
I can also live with itemshops/microtransactions, but I think they should be in the game from the start and not put in years after launch. And, if a game decides to put in such things, they should remove the sub.
What others games out there have both a sub of 15$ _and_ item shops?
As Teiraa said..why pay the sub, if I can go to a f2p game and get the same, just for free?
To me it is either some kind of micro payment or a sub, not both. Never both.
At this point I am preparing myself to cancel my sub for good. I am sick and tired of SoE and join the bandwagon of players that says 'Never a SoE game again'. It is simply too risky.
I still see EQ2 as a great game, but the company is driving me away. I don't think I have seen another mmo company drive away players like SoE. It can't be a good business practice, but the day SoE gets a clue will be the day Hell freezes over I guess. What a shame..good games not being played because the CeO is an idjit.
Edit: Just for the record. I'm not surprised by this, I had a gut feeling it would come. My husband and I were guessing the other day that some kind of RMT would come to all servers within a year. I guess we just had the time wrong :P
If Sony are doing this you bet your life all the others will follow sooner or later .......
The same thing many people said when SOE introduced Station Exchange for EQ2 back in 2005.
But what happened? No other game did a similar Station Exchange thing, not even SOE for their other games. And why? Because it was a failure. The little money SOE made from SE did not make up the money they lost from leaving subscribers.
Same to be expected here. If you put in an item mall into a subscription based game, many players will just move on to a FTP game. Same fun, same system, just for free. Go figure. SOE is really acting hazardeously...
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against microtransactions. I just think there shouldn't be any microtransactions in a game with a substantial monthly fee.
However, if SOE soon makes EQ and EQ2 free to play (without monthly fee), then I would be quite pleased.
I don't support microtransactions under any circumstance, but so called free to play games that utilize item shops traditionally also don't charge for the client or expansions.
I expect Blizzard to do the same thing with their next MMO. Smed brainwashed the whole industry with this idea back in 05. It looks like EA/BioWare is also doing this with TOR.
Why would Blizzard take direction from SOE? Why? I mean can you just see that board meeting?
"Okay, we did World of Warcraft, they did Everquest 2. So should we borrow all their ideas so our next game could be as successful as Everquest 2? And look, their cash shop made them... um... about what World of Warcraft made in 10 hours."
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
Wow this looks like an excellent opportunity for a new MMO acronym. P2PPIM = Pay to play plus item mall P2PPCS = Pay to play plus cash shop P2PTPSM = Pay to play then pay some more Any others?
P2PTPSM sounds better, plus SoE might invent something else on top of the cash shop to make even more profit from the few customer remaining.
I wish the pro RMT guys would get that paying to achieve is a bad thing for a game.
It's like sitting down to a game of chess, giving the guy your playing £20, and saying "I win!". And going home. Wheres the fun? What if the other guy wanted to play a proper game for, y'know, fun of it?
If you don't play a game to achieve and be challenged, then what the hell do you play it for?
This company, the one that gave me EQ, has taken the notion of fair gameplay and stomped it into the ground, which bothers me massively right now.
I will never buy any thing off any company that actively has RMT supported progress in it's games.
It's 10$ to get 50% extra XP experience during 2 hours, lol.
You have to spend 10 dollars to have a mere 50% XP boost for a mere 2 hours? Geez. I really hope this doesn't catch, or I will not be playing MMOs.
That's correct. I just checked my EQ2 account. I hadn't even noticed the Marketplace in the command menu before. All of the items available right now do not directly affect your abilities in the world. They are all cosmetic-only armaments, house pets, non-combat pets, or potions like the above that increase experience gain for a very limited time period. It's all the kind of stuff that people get for free just by being long-term subscribers and reaching the next annual membership rewards pack. But now SOE can charge flat money for it. *sigh*
You didn't notice the command because it wasn't there before. It was slipped in during server maintenance, without any prior indication it was comming. Even for the folks who don't mind it being there, I don't see how anyone can be complacent about how it was implemented, especially so soon after the EQ and EQ2 expansions were released.
New players, and "veterans leveling up," must be thrilled that they can now give SOE more money to play the same content, do the same things.
Soon, perhaps very soon, barriers will be erected --this is the innovation from this payment scheme-- to force people to fork over more cash.
We have entered a new era. And it is ugly. It is not worth paying one cent for.
Edit: I would pay 75.00 a month for a game "worth" playing. I really would.
With my multiple accounts I play that now.
The point is that get creative, innovative with content, gameplay, features, the world, player tools, changes, etc. - not payment schemes designed to take more MMORPG consumers' money.
Reading throught a lot of posts i can see all the ones who hate this idea, and i also see those who like it, and there are a lot of them. How many of these people buy gold and other things already to get some kind of edge? It is sad mmo's are going this way but looks like they will make plenty of money with all the ones willing to buy things.
People who buy gold and other things, pay for leveling services have opened up this door and ruined things for everyone else, the companies see there is money to be made here and are willing to try it no matter the consequence. Future of MMO's looks sad at this point.
Even though people have data mined through blizzards game and found the RMT button it was said it would be used for appearence changes and such, nothing like buying items but i think blizzard will see the backlash of this and not bother with it, well i hope so anyways.
i won't hate on a company for coming up with more ways of making money, maybe they really need the extra cash to keep the games going, who know really, my main problem is how they just dropped it in on people without letting them know. Oh well, speak with your wallets people, don't keep paying for something you not happy with, no matter if you have good friends that are willing to stay or what have you, just speak with you wallets, stop playing and hope they get the hint.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand." - Lewis Thomas
They do realize that they would have gotten people to by ingame stuff for 10 dollars if it was stuff like chess-boards that you could play with with your friends and similar right?
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
they take the blaster and shoot themself in the foo (SWG NGE)
now they take the sword and stab their other foot (EQ-EQ2)
oh and they said they would not do it, that will never happen, lies all over again.
so now i have 3 boxes that i use as paperweights. EQ-EQ2-SWG
P.S. just to note, CCP (EVE-online) charges you 19,95 for a digital copy and 30 days gametime and then 15$/month AND THATS IT, they dont even charge you for patches or expansions or ANY new content they add. those are free! (GASP!) ( oh and i payed for a 3 month sub so that gets me 11,50/month) which i find a really good deal
so i got the game and 10 expansions (and any future expansion) for 20$ total.
i dont think SOE really needs the money the cash shops will bring in, thats just greed, and stupidity.
but i think the ONLY good thing SOE did was the station pass. ill give them credit for that.(BUT NOTHING ELSE)
Im not happy with them adding this, but in the big picture for me.... this does not change my game play.
I have no use for any of this fluff. I guess the only diff here is that instead of paying some random dude for a LoN game fluff card you are paying SOE..... either way you are paying.
As for the ppl would love this fuff and dont like the idea of having to pay for it......
yeah that does suck
Also its not uncommon for companies to change direction when the times call for it.
As an EQ2 player who does enjoy the game, this new update made me go "Oh what the- ", especially since they never said "We're going to add Station Cash, is this awesome? [Y/N]" I will not be surprised if you can buy super-swords-of-awesome-leet later on, though. If/when it does happen, I'm out of there.
Currently playing: EverQuest II
Tried: EVE Online (will return someday), Final Fantasy XI (didn't like, sorry)
This is what SoE said to the EQ players a few months before this when they were getting worried:
"We have no plans what so ever to do actual sales of in game items, and I'm personally very opposed to the idea for EverQuest. I think microtransations can be a valid business model if planned from the ground up for a game, but it would be very very bad for EQ." I really dispise them now lol. They just ignored their players and went ahead with it anyway after many objections.
Hey, you know, if anyone bought extended subscription time based on this statement (which is now false), you should ask for a refund, and copy your state attorney general. That's how some SWG players told me they got their sub fees back when SOE promised one thing, but then delivered the exact opposite.
SOE seems to think that they can tell customers one thing, take their money, and then do the opposite. There are laws against that they seem to ignore.
Someone will probably tell me, "it's their game, they can do what they want." Yup, you're right, AND that's not what I'm talking about, at all. What they can't do is tell their customers one thing, and then do the opposite. They need to honour their statements, especially if people make purchasing decisions based on them.
Lets hope SOE isn't going to be a trend starter here. If this takes off then theres a good chance other companies will follow them based on the way these companies/developers take little ideas from each other. The only thing we can do is make an impact with our credit card. If you don't like this cancel your account.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
Comments
Hmm, they make sweeping changes to two of their games right after they push out an expansion pack huh?
Where have I heard this scenario beforee?
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
Like many , I have found it difficult to maintain interest in much of anything over the last 4 years or so.
We are in a very stale period for gaming in general that lacks originality and any kind of creative flow worth taking notice of , there is simply no where to go .
I have weathered this bland chapter in gaming by spending time in EQ2 however , this obscene addition today has really left me wondering whats next.
No one , not one person over there is happy about this yet SOE continues to sabotage their own titles by doing the exact opposite of what their players want.
The EQ2 boards pretty much say it all.
Last one to leave turn out the lights.
I expect Blizzard to do the same thing with their next MMO. Smed brainwashed the whole industry with this idea back in 05. It looks like EA/BioWare is also doing this with TOR.
The same thing many people said when SOE introduced Station Exchange for EQ2 back in 2005.
But what happened? No other game did a similar Station Exchange thing, not even SOE for their other games. And why? Because it was a failure. The little money SOE made from SE did not make up the money they lost from leaving subscribers.
Same to be expected here. If you put in an item mall into a subscription based game, many players will just move on to a FTP game. Same fun, same system, just for free. Go figure. SOE is really acting hazardeously...
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against microtransactions. I just think there shouldn't be any microtransactions in a game with a substantial monthly fee.
However, if SOE soon makes EQ and EQ2 free to play (without monthly fee), then I would be quite pleased.
Am not really suprised by this move from SoE. Anyone still trusting Smedley and co deserves to get hid by this ton of bricks. They don't care about their players, they never will. They destroyed SWG, they did station exchange in EQ2 promising players they would never do it outside those two servers and yet Smedley lied again. And yet i still ignorant people in this thread being suprised SoE did this to their game.
The same thing many people said when SOE introduced Station Exchange for EQ2 back in 2005.
But what happened? No other game did a similar Station Exchange thing, not even SOE for their other games. And why? Because it was a failure. The little money SOE made from SE did not make up the money they lost from leaving subscribers.
Same to be expected here. If you put in an item mall into a subscription based game, many players will just move on to a FTP game. Same fun, same system, just for free. Go figure. SOE is really acting hazardeously...
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against microtransactions. I just think there shouldn't be any microtransactions in a game with a substantial monthly fee.
However, if SOE soon makes EQ and EQ2 free to play (without monthly fee), then I would be quite pleased.
Good points Teiraa.
I can also live with itemshops/microtransactions, but I think they should be in the game from the start and not put in years after launch. And, if a game decides to put in such things, they should remove the sub.
What others games out there have both a sub of 15$ _and_ item shops?
As Teiraa said..why pay the sub, if I can go to a f2p game and get the same, just for free?
To me it is either some kind of micro payment or a sub, not both. Never both.
At this point I am preparing myself to cancel my sub for good. I am sick and tired of SoE and join the bandwagon of players that says 'Never a SoE game again'. It is simply too risky.
I still see EQ2 as a great game, but the company is driving me away. I don't think I have seen another mmo company drive away players like SoE. It can't be a good business practice, but the day SoE gets a clue will be the day Hell freezes over I guess. What a shame..good games not being played because the CeO is an idjit.
Edit: Just for the record. I'm not surprised by this, I had a gut feeling it would come. My husband and I were guessing the other day that some kind of RMT would come to all servers within a year. I guess we just had the time wrong :P
Why of course SOE did. Their ever changing EULA is a remarkable thing.
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flame SOE all you want. They know there is a market for this stuff and they are simply stealing that market away from the sweatshops.
People may think its unehtical for devs to do this but look at the bigger picture , especially if you ever bought currency online.
The same thing many people said when SOE introduced Station Exchange for EQ2 back in 2005.
But what happened? No other game did a similar Station Exchange thing, not even SOE for their other games. And why? Because it was a failure. The little money SOE made from SE did not make up the money they lost from leaving subscribers.
Same to be expected here. If you put in an item mall into a subscription based game, many players will just move on to a FTP game. Same fun, same system, just for free. Go figure. SOE is really acting hazardeously...
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against microtransactions. I just think there shouldn't be any microtransactions in a game with a substantial monthly fee.
However, if SOE soon makes EQ and EQ2 free to play (without monthly fee), then I would be quite pleased.
I don't support microtransactions under any circumstance, but so called free to play games that utilize item shops traditionally also don't charge for the client or expansions.
Why would Blizzard take direction from SOE? Why? I mean can you just see that board meeting?
"Okay, we did World of Warcraft, they did Everquest 2. So should we borrow all their ideas so our next game could be as successful as Everquest 2? And look, their cash shop made them... um... about what World of Warcraft made in 10 hours."
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson
Once SOE was on top with EQ1, a small revolution at the time.
Then they went downhill all the way, with all their games.This time the journey is over, they hit the bottom.
Well hopefully they'll never climb back : Treating customers as braindead sheeps is not the way forward ^^
Soe, u might get lucky with console players. Hmm you already thought about it ?
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Playing : Uncharted Waters Online
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Wow this looks like an excellent opportunity for a new MMO acronym.
P2PPIM = Pay to play plus item mall
P2PPCS = Pay to play plus cash shop
P2PTPSM = Pay to play then pay some more
Any others?
P2PTPSM sounds better, plus SoE might invent something else on top of the cash shop to make even more profit from the few customer remaining.
I wish the pro RMT guys would get that paying to achieve is a bad thing for a game.
It's like sitting down to a game of chess, giving the guy your playing £20, and saying "I win!". And going home. Wheres the fun? What if the other guy wanted to play a proper game for, y'know, fun of it?
If you don't play a game to achieve and be challenged, then what the hell do you play it for?
This company, the one that gave me EQ, has taken the notion of fair gameplay and stomped it into the ground, which bothers me massively right now.
I will never buy any thing off any company that actively has RMT supported progress in it's games.
Me and SOE are no longer friends.
You have to spend 10 dollars to have a mere 50% XP boost for a mere 2 hours? Geez. I really hope this doesn't catch, or I will not be playing MMOs.
That's correct. I just checked my EQ2 account. I hadn't even noticed the Marketplace in the command menu before. All of the items available right now do not directly affect your abilities in the world. They are all cosmetic-only armaments, house pets, non-combat pets, or potions like the above that increase experience gain for a very limited time period. It's all the kind of stuff that people get for free just by being long-term subscribers and reaching the next annual membership rewards pack. But now SOE can charge flat money for it. *sigh*
You didn't notice the command because it wasn't there before. It was slipped in during server maintenance, without any prior indication it was comming. Even for the folks who don't mind it being there, I don't see how anyone can be complacent about how it was implemented, especially so soon after the EQ and EQ2 expansions were released.
If they over at SOE want cash, I have advice:
Produce a game worth paying money for.
New players, and "veterans leveling up," must be thrilled that they can now give SOE more money to play the same content, do the same things.
Soon, perhaps very soon, barriers will be erected --this is the innovation from this payment scheme-- to force people to fork over more cash.
We have entered a new era. And it is ugly. It is not worth paying one cent for.
Edit: I would pay 75.00 a month for a game "worth" playing. I really would.
With my multiple accounts I play that now.
The point is that get creative, innovative with content, gameplay, features, the world, player tools, changes, etc. - not payment schemes designed to take more MMORPG consumers' money.
Reading throught a lot of posts i can see all the ones who hate this idea, and i also see those who like it, and there are a lot of them. How many of these people buy gold and other things already to get some kind of edge? It is sad mmo's are going this way but looks like they will make plenty of money with all the ones willing to buy things.
People who buy gold and other things, pay for leveling services have opened up this door and ruined things for everyone else, the companies see there is money to be made here and are willing to try it no matter the consequence. Future of MMO's looks sad at this point.
Even though people have data mined through blizzards game and found the RMT button it was said it would be used for appearence changes and such, nothing like buying items but i think blizzard will see the backlash of this and not bother with it, well i hope so anyways.
i won't hate on a company for coming up with more ways of making money, maybe they really need the extra cash to keep the games going, who know really, my main problem is how they just dropped it in on people without letting them know. Oh well, speak with your wallets people, don't keep paying for something you not happy with, no matter if you have good friends that are willing to stay or what have you, just speak with you wallets, stop playing and hope they get the hint.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Was bound to happen. Casual Gamers need a chance to be 1337 too ya know and since Casual Gamer = Employed Gamer its a win.
They do realize that they would have gotten people to by ingame stuff for 10 dollars if it was stuff like chess-boards that you could play with with your friends and similar right?
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
they take the blaster and shoot themself in the foo (SWG NGE)
now they take the sword and stab their other foot (EQ-EQ2)
oh and they said they would not do it, that will never happen, lies all over again.
so now i have 3 boxes that i use as paperweights. EQ-EQ2-SWG
P.S. just to note, CCP (EVE-online) charges you 19,95 for a digital copy and 30 days gametime and then 15$/month AND THATS IT, they dont even charge you for patches or expansions or ANY new content they add. those are free! (GASP!) ( oh and i payed for a 3 month sub so that gets me 11,50/month) which i find a really good deal
so i got the game and 10 expansions (and any future expansion) for 20$ total.
i dont think SOE really needs the money the cash shops will bring in, thats just greed, and stupidity.
but i think the ONLY good thing SOE did was the station pass. ill give them credit for that.(BUT NOTHING ELSE)
Im not happy with them adding this, but in the big picture for me.... this does not change my game play.
I have no use for any of this fluff. I guess the only diff here is that instead of paying some random dude for a LoN game fluff card you are paying SOE..... either way you are paying.
As for the ppl would love this fuff and dont like the idea of having to pay for it......
yeah that does suck
Also its not uncommon for companies to change direction when the times call for it.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
We all knew this was coming. Smedley has always made it perfectly clear this is his vision for MMO gaming in the future.
Tecmo Bowl.
As an EQ2 player who does enjoy the game, this new update made me go "Oh what the-
", especially since they never said "We're going to add Station Cash, is this awesome? [Y/N]" I will not be surprised if you can buy super-swords-of-awesome-leet later on, though. If/when it does happen, I'm out of there.
Currently playing: EverQuest II
Tried: EVE Online (will return someday), Final Fantasy XI (didn't like, sorry)
Hey, you know, if anyone bought extended subscription time based on this statement (which is now false), you should ask for a refund, and copy your state attorney general. That's how some SWG players told me they got their sub fees back when SOE promised one thing, but then delivered the exact opposite.
SOE seems to think that they can tell customers one thing, take their money, and then do the opposite. There are laws against that they seem to ignore.
Someone will probably tell me, "it's their game, they can do what they want." Yup, you're right, AND that's not what I'm talking about, at all. What they can't do is tell their customers one thing, and then do the opposite. They need to honour their statements, especially if people make purchasing decisions based on them.
Lets hope SOE isn't going to be a trend starter here. If this takes off then theres a good chance other companies will follow them based on the way these companies/developers take little ideas from each other. The only thing we can do is make an impact with our credit card. If you don't like this cancel your account.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!