This comment from Smed has to be one of the most ironic things I've ever heard in my life:
"To this day, we're really very careful that game balance is the first priority - while it's to make money, sure, we can't ruin the game in the process."
No, no John, you'd never completely ruin a game in a desperate attempt to draw in a larger target audience and more money. Lol, who do does this guy think he's kidding?
This comment also has me scratching my head:
"Eurogamer: How profitable has Free Realms turned out to be?
John Smedley: As you'd expect, we don't discuss numbers, but I assure you we're very happy with the results; pleasantly surprised, in fact."
Really John? Is that why you just changed the business model in Free Realms? I think the latest announcement said that it's shifting to a fee model beginning at level 5. Only the first few levels will be free to play, more like a free trial than a free to play game. If the business model was bringing in so much revenue, why are you suddenly changing it?
Usually comments about an upcoming title have me feeling a mixture of curiosity and anticipation. Comments like Smed's, along with SOE's track record, leave me feeling more a mixture of dread and indifference. Dread because of what they might unleash next. Indifference because I don't see myself playing it.
Shame we keep seeing replies like this every time something is said about Smed or SOE.
Anyway as a gamer I look forward to seeing more and new games and I don't care who is making them aslong they turn out to be fun (which can be a reason to play) or perhaps don't turn out to be fun (which would be normaly be a reason for a gamer to not play) is all that matters.
Shame that after all these years all we keep seeing is the same old same old SOE bashing, if SOE or Smed where even half the things people say on forums like this SOE or Smed would not longer excist or have a job. But geuss what Smed is still where he has been for years, must be saying someting regardless our feelings.
But I geuss aslong people are not able to be honost they will indeed feel other people are not honst aswell.
"Smedley" and "MMO" should NEVER be uttered in the same sentence. EVER.
*Nods Head In Agreement*
Does anyone really care what soe does anymore ? Aside from the obvious, "Yeah I care that they don't come within a continent's distance of the games I care about."
Soe has always had a tradition of telling their subscribers what they should be playing, i.e. the customer is NEVER right and we at soe KNOW what you should be playing.
I'm just saddened that they're involved with DC online. Sigh, another game that I was looking forward to which I'm not gonna touch now since it will most likely (a) require that I buy a computer identical to that used by the NASA in order to power the graphics, or (2) they will tell me again that auto attacks are impossible to code, or (3) require that I pay for an expansion pack every time I want to log into the game or (4) they will change my Green Arrow toon to a Superman toon without telling me when or why.
It won't be EQ3. In fact they said making EQ2 was a mistake. They said MMO's don't need sequels, the whole nature of the genre and the games is that they continue to grow and evolve through patches and expansion packs. We know they are working on planetside 2, which has not been officially announced.
Who said that, and when? Because 'EverQuest Next' (just Google the phrase) is something they have at least in conceptual stages along with 'PlanetSide Next'. In both cases, the hints coming out of SOE point to a console MMO push. Unfortunately.
My console hate aside, they're letting out all this rhetoric that suggests they want to seriously reboot the way they approach MMOs, which sounds great, except for the fact that what they mean by it is probably just going more pop culture. Broad appeal makes sense, but I'd rather see it achieved via a broad selection of precisely targeted games, not a few games that try to take in everybody.
Favorites: EQ, EVE | Playing: None. Mostly VR and strategy | Anticipating: CU, Pantheon
Were you there when EQ was still under VI ? Were you there after soe took over ? Did you spend so much time and effort trying to provide soe with constructive solutions to potential fixes to the game (fixes mind you and not what you get these days with whiners proposing 1-shot powers/spells) for 5 freaking years ? And after all that, they send you an email from their lawyers stating that they would sue you since those suggestions could only come about if you had hacked into their game. Were you there when someone wrote a small 3rd party app to fix the auto-attack on archery and just about everyone who used the app got a legal letter from soe saying that we had broken their EULA and using the app was considered as a hack - all this while their own GM's were caught using macroquest and other apps in order to make a quick buck. Were you there when they released an expansion pack practically once every 2-3 months while not fixing the bugs thrown out with the last few expansions and had no itention of even considering fixing them ?
Were you there when they released Vanguard and everyone who bought the game suddenly realised that they couldn't play the game unless they had a computer that could basically calculate the trajectory for a pea to orbit the entire solar system in under a second. They could barely play it on lowest settings as advised.
Were you there when they single-handedly overnight destroyed SWG for half their subscriber base with their upgrades/enhancements ?
Soe couldn't care less about you and what you think. All they want is what's in your wallet, or your bank account. They do not care about game balance, they do not care about game design, and from personal experience, they certainly do not care about making any of their games a better experience for their customers. They want your money period.
If you want to go ahead and give them your money to be treated worse than cow poo, then by all means please proceed. I, on the other hand refuse to do so. Smedley and soe can do whatever they want but I can guarantee you that I will not even look at the reviews for any products that they are involved with.
Rant Off.
I apologise for going ballistic but my personal past experience with soe tends to make me go off the handle whenever I see anyone trying to kiss up to soe.
I'm betting it's a "Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew" mmo. Edit: By the way, Smedley is fat and bald now. Use updated photos. Or use stock photos of Uncle Fester, they're interchangeable.
Oh man. That is utter genius. I laughed out loud
Hey, thats not a nice comparision! Uncle Fester isn't as bad as Smedley!!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I'm betting it's a "Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew" mmo. Edit: By the way, Smedley is fat and bald now. Use updated photos. Or use stock photos of Uncle Fester, they're interchangeable.
Oh man. That is utter genius. I laughed out loud
Hey, thats not a nice comparision! Uncle Fester isn't as bad as Smedley!!
What surprises me is noone noticed Smed's "Mini-Me" standing on the other side of the city official. Maybe he's a "Smed-in-training".
Yes It probably will be total crap whatever it is they are making. I have not seen anything impresive from them in quite some time.
I receintly went back to eq2 just to finish out what I had started years before. It was great for a while, running all the new content that had been added. It will be interesting to see what the give us in february.
However all the stuff they have done in recent years. Pirates what a joke. The card games like LON, and stargate uggg, yea they made a lot of crud lately. This after destroying a couple of good games in the process.
All I can say is it its for console, good for them as I will not be getting it.
As a gamer I find SoE's games mediocre at best. As a consumer I don't care much for the way they run their business. Part of me is interested in what their unannounced MMO is but personal experience has taught me to approach SoE with apprehension.
Perhaps one day I'll be more optimistic with regard to anything SoE does but for now I don't think that will happen with Smed in charge.
I'm betting it's a "Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew" mmo. Edit: By the way, Smedley is fat and bald now. Use updated photos. Or use stock photos of Uncle Fester, they're interchangeable.
Oh man. That is utter genius. I laughed out loud
Hey, thats not a nice comparision! Uncle Fester isn't as bad as Smedley!!
What surprises me is noone noticed Smed's "Mini-Me" standing on the other side of the city official. Maybe he's a "Smed-in-training".
ROFl good eye..
AM I the only one who hates people who wear suit jackets with jeans?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I'm sorry but in reply to the post a few above... Rant On : Were you there when EQ was still under VI ? Were you there after soe took over ? Did you spend so much time and effort trying to provide soe with constructive solutions to potential fixes to the game (fixes mind you and not what you get these days with whiners proposing 1-shot powers/spells) for 5 freaking years ? And after all that, they send you an email from their lawyers stating that they would sue you since those suggestions could only come about if you had hacked into their game. Were you there when someone wrote a small 3rd party app to fix the auto-attack on archery and just about everyone who used the app got a legal letter from soe saying that we had broken their EULA and using the app was considered as a hack - all this while their own GM's were caught using macroquest and other apps in order to make a quick buck. Were you there when they released an expansion pack practically once every 2-3 months while not fixing the bugs thrown out with the last few expansions and had no itention of even considering fixing them ? Were you there when they released Vanguard and everyone who bought the game suddenly realised that they couldn't play the game unless they had a computer that could basically calculate the trajectory for a pea to orbit the entire solar system in under a second. They could barely play it on lowest settings as advised. Were you there when they single-handedly overnight destroyed SWG for half their subscriber base with their upgrades/enhancements ? Soe couldn't care less about you and what you think. All they want is what's in your wallet, or your bank account. They do not care about game balance, they do not care about game design, and from personal experience, they certainly do not care about making any of their games a better experience for their customers. They want your money period. If you want to go ahead and give them your money to be treated worse than cow poo, then by all means please proceed. I, on the other hand refuse to do so. Smedley and soe can do whatever they want but I can guarantee you that I will not even look at the reviews for any products that they are involved with. Rant Off. I apologise for going ballistic but my personal past experience with soe tends to make me go off the handle whenever I see anyone trying to kiss up to soe.
Azareal is right, for a few years SOE new they were the only big game in town and had a dreadfully obviouse absince of respect for its subscribers. It wasnt until I got into DAoC that I understood thier arrogance. This arrogance kept me from trying Star Wars Galaxies and thank the force for that!!!!!!
What if the new MMO they havent announced yet is, in fact, EverQuest and Planetside combined. They said they were looking towards new things, putting EQ thousands of years into the future with guns, magic and tanks would do just that. Idk, just something I thought about.
this caught my eye, but not the microtransactions part.
" I would say we're continuing to invest in the free-to-play and micro-transaction-funded MMORPG field withsome unannounced products that we'll be announcing sometime next year."
maybe more than one new unannounced mmo? Though it could be a new card game for some other game already out.
Shame we keep seeing replies like this every time something is said about Smed or SOE.
Anyway as a gamer I look forward to seeing more and new games and I don't care who is making them aslong they turn out to be fun (which can be a reason to play) or perhaps don't turn out to be fun (which would be normaly be a reason for a gamer to not play) is all that matters. Shame that after all these years all we keep seeing is the same old same old SOE bashing, if SOE or Smed where even half the things people say on forums like this SOE or Smed would not longer excist or have a job. But geuss what Smed is still where he has been for years, must be saying someting regardless our feelings. But I geuss aslong people are not able to be honost they will indeed feel other people are not honst aswell.
If Smed wasn't shoveling from the same old manure pile in his interviews, and if SOE had stopped with controversial changes to their live games I would strongly agree with you.
However, since the unbelievable comments (quoted in my first comment, right above yours, post #27) continue, and since the game changes to live games continue (RMT, loot lotteries, Free Realms no longer F2P after level 5 etc.), I'm quite sure people are going to have negative things to say. Smed keeps providing new material. He could do things differently afterall, and give us all something nice to say. Imo, the comments fit the behaviour. If you want the comments to change, SOE is going to have to change the way they do business.
It won't be EQ3. In fact they said making EQ2 was a mistake. They said MMO's don't need sequels, the whole nature of the genre and the games is that they continue to grow and evolve through patches and expansion packs. We know they are working on planetside 2, which has not been officially announced.
Well once they kick this guy out of SOE and revive the games to the days without all this BS I will be more then happy to play SOE games again till then I'm against them.
Comments
This comment from Smed has to be one of the most ironic things I've ever heard in my life:
"To this day, we're really very careful that game balance is the first priority - while it's to make money, sure, we can't ruin the game in the process."
No, no John, you'd never completely ruin a game in a desperate attempt to draw in a larger target audience and more money. Lol, who do does this guy think he's kidding?
This comment also has me scratching my head:
"Eurogamer: How profitable has Free Realms turned out to be?
John Smedley: As you'd expect, we don't discuss numbers, but I assure you we're very happy with the results; pleasantly surprised, in fact."
Really John? Is that why you just changed the business model in Free Realms? I think the latest announcement said that it's shifting to a fee model beginning at level 5. Only the first few levels will be free to play, more like a free trial than a free to play game. If the business model was bringing in so much revenue, why are you suddenly changing it?
Usually comments about an upcoming title have me feeling a mixture of curiosity and anticipation. Comments like Smed's, along with SOE's track record, leave me feeling more a mixture of dread and indifference. Dread because of what they might unleash next. Indifference because I don't see myself playing it.
Shame we keep seeing replies like this every time something is said about Smed or SOE.
Anyway as a gamer I look forward to seeing more and new games and I don't care who is making them aslong they turn out to be fun (which can be a reason to play) or perhaps don't turn out to be fun (which would be normaly be a reason for a gamer to not play) is all that matters.
Shame that after all these years all we keep seeing is the same old same old SOE bashing, if SOE or Smed where even half the things people say on forums like this SOE or Smed would not longer excist or have a job. But geuss what Smed is still where he has been for years, must be saying someting regardless our feelings.
But I geuss aslong people are not able to be honost they will indeed feel other people are not honst aswell.
*Nods Head In Agreement*
Does anyone really care what soe does anymore ? Aside from the obvious, "Yeah I care that they don't come within a continent's distance of the games I care about."
Soe has always had a tradition of telling their subscribers what they should be playing, i.e. the customer is NEVER right and we at soe KNOW what you should be playing.
I'm just saddened that they're involved with DC online. Sigh, another game that I was looking forward to which I'm not gonna touch now since it will most likely (a) require that I buy a computer identical to that used by the NASA in order to power the graphics, or (2) they will tell me again that auto attacks are impossible to code, or (3) require that I pay for an expansion pack every time I want to log into the game or (4) they will change my Green Arrow toon to a Superman toon without telling me when or why.
Who cares what soe does !
Who said that, and when? Because 'EverQuest Next' (just Google the phrase) is something they have at least in conceptual stages along with 'PlanetSide Next'. In both cases, the hints coming out of SOE point to a console MMO push. Unfortunately.
My console hate aside, they're letting out all this rhetoric that suggests they want to seriously reboot the way they approach MMOs, which sounds great, except for the fact that what they mean by it is probably just going more pop culture. Broad appeal makes sense, but I'd rather see it achieved via a broad selection of precisely targeted games, not a few games that try to take in everybody.
I'm sorry but in reply to the post a few above...
Rant On :
Were you there when EQ was still under VI ? Were you there after soe took over ? Did you spend so much time and effort trying to provide soe with constructive solutions to potential fixes to the game (fixes mind you and not what you get these days with whiners proposing 1-shot powers/spells) for 5 freaking years ? And after all that, they send you an email from their lawyers stating that they would sue you since those suggestions could only come about if you had hacked into their game. Were you there when someone wrote a small 3rd party app to fix the auto-attack on archery and just about everyone who used the app got a legal letter from soe saying that we had broken their EULA and using the app was considered as a hack - all this while their own GM's were caught using macroquest and other apps in order to make a quick buck. Were you there when they released an expansion pack practically once every 2-3 months while not fixing the bugs thrown out with the last few expansions and had no itention of even considering fixing them ?
Were you there when they released Vanguard and everyone who bought the game suddenly realised that they couldn't play the game unless they had a computer that could basically calculate the trajectory for a pea to orbit the entire solar system in under a second. They could barely play it on lowest settings as advised.
Were you there when they single-handedly overnight destroyed SWG for half their subscriber base with their upgrades/enhancements ?
Soe couldn't care less about you and what you think. All they want is what's in your wallet, or your bank account. They do not care about game balance, they do not care about game design, and from personal experience, they certainly do not care about making any of their games a better experience for their customers. They want your money period.
If you want to go ahead and give them your money to be treated worse than cow poo, then by all means please proceed. I, on the other hand refuse to do so. Smedley and soe can do whatever they want but I can guarantee you that I will not even look at the reviews for any products that they are involved with.
Rant Off.
I apologise for going ballistic but my personal past experience with soe tends to make me go off the handle whenever I see anyone trying to kiss up to soe.
Oh man. That is utter genius. I laughed out loud
Hey, thats not a nice comparision! Uncle Fester isn't as bad as Smedley!!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Oh man. That is utter genius. I laughed out loud
Hey, thats not a nice comparision! Uncle Fester isn't as bad as Smedley!!
What surprises me is noone noticed Smed's "Mini-Me" standing on the other side of the city official.
Maybe he's a "Smed-in-training".
It's going to be shit what ever it is.
It's one of those things were you are allowed to shoot it down even before you know what it is.
In fact it's encouraged.
Yes It probably will be total crap whatever it is they are making. I have not seen anything impresive from them in quite some time.
I receintly went back to eq2 just to finish out what I had started years before. It was great for a while, running all the new content that had been added. It will be interesting to see what the give us in february.
However all the stuff they have done in recent years. Pirates what a joke. The card games like LON, and stargate uggg, yea they made a lot of crud lately. This after destroying a couple of good games in the process.
All I can say is it its for console, good for them as I will not be getting it.
As a gamer I find SoE's games mediocre at best. As a consumer I don't care much for the way they run their business. Part of me is interested in what their unannounced MMO is but personal experience has taught me to approach SoE with apprehension.
Perhaps one day I'll be more optimistic with regard to anything SoE does but for now I don't think that will happen with Smed in charge.
Oh man. That is utter genius. I laughed out loud
Hey, thats not a nice comparision! Uncle Fester isn't as bad as Smedley!!
What surprises me is noone noticed Smed's "Mini-Me" standing on the other side of the city official.
Maybe he's a "Smed-in-training".
ROFl good eye..
AM I the only one who hates people who wear suit jackets with jeans?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
The entertainment industry does have it's B movies and spaghetti western producers...where SEO rules as King!
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~Ernest Gaines
I hope their unannounced MMO gonna be Ramayan 3392
In the land of Predators,the lion does not fear the jackals...
SOE aka the company that ruined two good MMOS
EQ and SWG
Azareal is right, for a few years SOE new they were the only big game in town and had a dreadfully obviouse absince of respect for its subscribers. It wasnt until I got into DAoC that I understood thier arrogance. This arrogance kept me from trying Star Wars Galaxies and thank the force for that!!!!!!
I was thinking that or the next EQ series. Whatever it is it will most likely be PC and PS3 capable as well.
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
What if the new MMO they havent announced yet is, in fact, EverQuest and Planetside combined. They said they were looking towards new things, putting EQ thousands of years into the future with guns, magic and tanks would do just that. Idk, just something I thought about.
this caught my eye, but not the microtransactions part.
" I would say we're continuing to invest in the free-to-play and micro-transaction-funded MMORPG field with some unannounced products that we'll be announcing sometime next year."
maybe more than one new unannounced mmo? Though it could be a new card game for some other game already out.
If Smed wasn't shoveling from the same old manure pile in his interviews, and if SOE had stopped with controversial changes to their live games I would strongly agree with you.
However, since the unbelievable comments (quoted in my first comment, right above yours, post #27) continue, and since the game changes to live games continue (RMT, loot lotteries, Free Realms no longer F2P after level 5 etc.), I'm quite sure people are going to have negative things to say. Smed keeps providing new material. He could do things differently afterall, and give us all something nice to say. Imo, the comments fit the behaviour. If you want the comments to change, SOE is going to have to change the way they do business.
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=19260
"But Frankly..most of them Suck"
What a mature guy, considering he has made multiple MMO's suck.
I play all ghame
The guy already has 1 foot he doesn't need to loose the other one
I truly despise when smedly has done wtih the eq franchise.
I am finally soe free after over 10 years as a solid client.
Well once they kick this guy out of SOE and revive the games to the days without all this BS I will be more then happy to play SOE games again till then I'm against them.
*Sigh* SOE Soe soe
What can I say?
What can I say?...
Faranthil Tanathalos
EverQuest 1 - Ranger
Star Wars Galaxies - Master Ranger
Everquest2 - Ranger WarhammerOnline - Shadow Warrior
WOW - Hunter
That's right I like bows and arrows.
I want to join the angry mob but there's no pitchforks or torches left.
.....
Oh well, you guys go on without me.