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EverQuest II: Talking with Dave Georgeson
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG's Michael Lafferty recently had the chance to chat with senior producer Dave Georgeson about the state of EverQuest II, the new expansion and what MMOs need.
Dave Georgeson took over the reins of producer for Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest II in February of 2010. The expansion of Sentinel's Fate, the sixth since EQII launched in November 2004, was a title he inherited. However, since the time that he has sat in the producer's chain, Georgeson has brought some new mechanics to EQII, including EQII Extended. When it came down to the actual game, the seventh expansion - Destiny of Velious – is all his.
Read more of Michael Lafferty's Everquest II: Talking with Dave Georgeson.
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Comments
I found this to be an interesting and suprising statement, especially coming from someone working for SOE. Gorgenson also seems to hold EVE in higher regard than WoW from some of his statements in this interview and others I have read. I have played EQII off and on for years and, while I really enjoyed the game, I found it to be......stale and a bit predictable at times. Depending on the depth of changes they make and if they live up to the quote above I may have to revist at some point. Until then I am wondering if anyone has been playing the expansion and has any thoughts thus far.
Wow, he actually learned from aNET nad Bioware, "never talk about something that isn't working yet".
I have to admit that this guy is better than the last boss. Now if the y only could fire Smed and replace him with this guy there might be some hope for EQ NEXT as well.
Can't wait to see what's on the horizon for EQII.
My problem with EQ2 is how boring combat is. A million buttons to push and yet fights are long, tedious and I rarely feel like my hits/spells connect. Could be bad sound effects or it could be long cast times, either way, if combat had more of a visceral feel to it, which games like WoW HAVE, then I could see myself playing it more. That and change the character animations. The way avatars run in the game is hilarious.
EQ2 has everything else it needs to be awesome, but if the number one activity, Combat, is boring, then all of that other stuff doesn't matter.
It sounds like he's got some good ideas. I suppose WoW is succesful in the sense that it's the most profitable game ever, but it's the only game I know that people truely hate. Even many people who are still playing. If keeping people playing after you've made the game into something they despise is the key to success than good luck. EVE, EQ, and a few others have a very loyal following, and happy following. Most people I know are looking for a game where they're not going to be doing the same thing we've been doing for 10 years. Myself included.
This mite be helped by the idea that gamers aren't just happy with playing only one game.
Mhmmm
"Two new overland zones"
I remember when they only charged like five dollars for adventure packs
Wow, it's rare that I'm taken back by the words of someone in direct control over an MMO (either good or bad). In this case, I was positively taken back by this statement:
"If you want a model to follow, and you are not Blizzard, you outta pay attention to people like CCP and EVE Online. It's the only game of its kind anywhere. Analyze what the players want," he said. What he is certain they don't want is linearity in a game. "EQ II has been largely linear in the past. That is going to change.
"There is not a lack of ideas," he said, "pick a small market, do something new. People need to get off this 'I'm going to remake WoW,' or 'I'm going to remake EverQuest' and expect different results. Players already have EverQuest and EverQuest II and WoW, so make something else. It's the publishers fault; people need to take smaller initial bites and see what works and doesn't work."
-Dave Georgeson
The Lead Designer of SWTOR should take lessons from Georgeson, this man knows what the industry is in dire need of. Now, as for EQII I can't attest to the new "future" they have planned for it. However, with this man at the helm it seems very positive.
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Are you guys serious?
This guy changed the whole core of the game with the new Expac and make it only work in the new Expac area! by dumbing down (changing) the whole stat system! With total disregard of what devastating impact it has on the lower tiers (older content) of the game!
He totally wrecked the rest of the game (lower tiers) in the process, neglects it and don't give a flying duck about it!
All gear and items from level 1 to level 85 has pretty much become totally useless! As it no longer makes sense in the new stat system!
All incentives to level up a (new) character has been killed overnight with this Expac!
This guy effectively destroyed a once great game and should be ashamed of himself!
I lol'ed.
Could you possibly expand upon this statement.
Due to having wimpy computers, I have only played WoW and Asherons Call. I am planning on getting a new box soon and was thinking of trying either Rift or Everquest II. However if what you claim is true, would I have a difficult time playing until I hit the upper levels? Doesn't seem like that would encourage new people to join the game.
Funny how EQ2's boxart/ads always have lots of scantily-clad women in the artwork, but the female characters in-game look like nuns, lol.
another grind fest! EQ2 is for serious players only. Casual players are not welcome by its community.
the saddest thing is that some people actually think this way. and yet, with every expansion and update released since, the game has been trying to parrot every specific new feature WoW does. the hardcore players will deny it, but it's really pretty obvious
also it's good to see the screenshots for this new expansion shows the "new" armor literally using the same models since release (6 or 7 years ago now?). I remember when the art department told everyone they were reworking the games system so they could add more variety of equipment models, and how nothing ever came out of that. Not surprising though, since SOE is such a corrupt company, especailly with smedley in charge. doesn't matter though, i'm sure EQ2 players have gotten used to seeing the same neon green platemail model since level 20 for the past many years
The new expansion was a huge scam. Not only was it almost exclusively for level 90 players but that was never revealed, in fact beta testers were bound by a NDA so they wouldn't tell other players the expansion was pointless unless you are level 90. They also promised a flying mount if you bought the $60 collectors edition. That was a lie. It offers a 90 level quest to get a mount. Any player with a level lower than 86 would never have bought this expansion had SOE made it clear that the expansion caters exclusively to level 90 players. Hundreds if not thousands of players were duped into buying a $60 expansion that only can be used by level 90 players. I play on the Everquest II extended server and most players there are not level 90, but the exansion was hyped to us and many lower level players got conned into buying a product they can't use. There is no way to contact SOE as the support numbers can do nothing about the con and corporate headquarters has a robot phone that hangs up unless you know an extension number. WHAT A RIP-OFF, I have filed a complaint with the CA Attorney General's Office for consumer fraud.
While there is some truth to this, it really amounts to low level characters are moderately less powerful than they used to be. However, low level characters have been overpowered for years due to AAs so it really doesnt impede ones leveling, except potentially RoK for some classes (70-80). Basically in EQ2 Agility gave all classes some avoidance, and Agility has been now made to only effect scout classes as their main attribute. Several classes gained new avoidance buffs, but avoidance is lower across the table . As is overall health, as +health has been removed from gear. As a result STA was buffed to give more HPs (its true its dumb to have STA and Health, two stats that do the exact same thing) however it wasnt scaled enough for the low levels.. So classes lost some ehalth and some avoidance. Becomes an issue for some of the melee classes that struggled soloing as it is, but its really not a huge difference.
Also now gear has some useless stats, so its like what WoW players have been going through for years. Quest rewards and drops often have stats on them that do nothing (doesnt mean items still arent upgrades though).
The only real troubling thing is they have been silent on the issue. I think it makes sense to not address it immediately as there are bigger fish to fry, but they should acknowledge it and say they are looking into it (I guarantee the Mastercrafted stuff gets fixed, the EQ2 tradeskill dev is one of thetop devs in the industry for what she has done for the players)
What? Most of EQ2's community is casual players. EQ2 is a game for casual players that also has enough content to appease hardcore players.
That entire last paragraph gives me hope that something truely unique will happen in the decade. Don't want to sound pessimistic, but with nearly all recent and upcoming releases, it's hard to see mmos taking a big step anytime soon.
The woman 'thing' in the headline picture for this article looks like Lady Gaga without make-up on I reckon.
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
Wait.. This expac is 60$?
Tell me.. Did they ever fix S 3.0 with that SoF introduced? Last it looked it was " use at your own risk " type of thing.
I have had no problem's playing my low level characters since the launch of DoV. The claim that all equipment prior DoV is useless is just false. You don't really feel a difference or at least I do not and I guess most "standard" players won't either.
I'm not sure about the future of eq2. Perhaps the whole cash shop concepts which are now integrated and obviously get quite alot of attention from the developers, pours some money into it which will be used to get going on forward? Or perhaps its just the last drops they want to squeeze out of the game till it dies completely.
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Evil UO has doomed my poor soul and now I'm wandering restlessly through all MMORPG's, desperately searching for a place to rest in peace.....
How about working on the game I actually *want* to play (*cough* Vanguard *cough*).
Also, this is the 4th EverQuest article in the course of 1 month.
Hmm...
And few people in this industry know more about what doesn't work than ol Dave. Isn't that right Qix?
How does this guy still have a job?
Future of EQ2 is fine. You act like it is in some major population decline, it is not. People will point to server merges, but those merges were long over due. The current population has held relatively steady for a couple of years now.
As for the cash shop, Im sure it helps. Its not like they devote much time to it, how long does it take to make new furniture? Considering there is already an astronomical amount of similar items available in game (name a game with more housing tiems or mounts than eq2?) they are probably pretty skilled now at chruning this stuff out at a fast pace. I have yet to see one true negative to the EQ2 cash shop. I have also never used it outside of a server transfer token, but thats a normal mmo service anyway.
It is so funny to listen to a designer for EQ2 talk about not emulating another game. EQ2 has regurgitating Brad McQuaids Everquest content for the last 7 years with an unhealthy dose of world of warcraft mixed in. Great that Dave and Soe have finally figured out that emulating other games isn't going to make eq2 a success.
This is the guy who mislead his playerbase about EQ2 going free to play less than 30 days before it did. For all his talk about "making a game that is different" it isn't really shining through in his first expansion.
Less talk, more rock.