I would compare EQ2's situation right now with that of what EQ was when EQ2 came out. The people who are still there (after station marketplace) will probably still be there for the next few years.

I have to agree that I think Rift feels like a bigger threat, but honestly I felt the same way with Warhammer (and kinda with AOC). EQ2 isn't going anywhere anytime soon, however I think Velious will probably not have nearly as good of a turnout as they think. I think SOE knows this, hence the vamp class purchases and money grab with some of the Velious content showing up on marketplace that normally would have been part of an expansion.

I do still enjoy the fact that I can download EQ2 tonight (it isn't even on my sys anymore) and be playing for free back in Norrath within a few hours. As much as everyone despises the marketplace, I do still like the fact a free version exists, my characters are there (aka my investment in the game) and I don't have to worry about losing them but I also don't have to worry about a $15 monthly charge and can put that into other games (Rift!). To a point marketplace has enabled me to play more than 1 MMO at a time. I could afford more, but it is just hard to justify more than 1 sub if I am focused on one title during that month.

EQ2's move to marketplace was the beginning of the end for me, I just didn't see it at the time. I haven't paid attention to Velious in the slightest other than to see what the spider picks up.

I have even tinkered with the idea of moving these forums to another domain. I want to get more people onto these forums, but I think we will have a hard time with the EQ2 moniker making people think these forums are still EQ2 centered.

I'm not seeing a big threat from Rift myself to EQ2 since it feels like the worst is over (maybe I shouldn't say that ;) ), its certainly going to suck some players in, but to me its clear that they've aimed that MMO firmly at attracting WoW players with features such as the same res sequence, a global cooldown (which sucks for adding lag inbetween each ability use - but as a WoW player myself and can definitely say the lack of it in WAR and EQ2 felt jarring for me at first, so it makes good business sense to let players get comfortable fast), etc.

There I think they've hit golden timing too, since WoW's Cataclysm to me is very much like GU57, ie a lot of content for low level players but not nearly enough for high level ones (8 dungeons, or which 2 are repopulated, and the 80-85 adventuring+tradeskilling can be completed in a week of fairly casual (by my standards :) ) play). My hardcore WoW friends there dropped it for a month to play DCUO less then a month after Cataclysm launch, that to me says something bad, still I don't see it killing WoW, and even to grab and retain a large chunk of WoW players would be an incredible achievement (that no doubt Smedley will be watching with interest! Seeing that its pretty clear that's his goal with EQNext).

As for EQ2, to me its clear looking back that ever since RoK they've been pretty starved of resources since they're been developing a ton of AAA MMO's, I wonder myself if Smedley (who to me didn't seem to be particulary fond of EQ2 when talking about it at the EQNext presentations) will ease off on the resource drain now that at least DCUO and PlanetsideNext are funding themselves (and while he's at it, can he call a vet and get "The Agency" put down humanely, that vampire like cash sucker has been running for way too long ).

(I do like a lot of what Hartsman did in EQ2, but he has something to answer for introducing percentage stats in an MMO, surely anyone can see they're going to cause problems in the future, which struck pretty much in SF, thanks to Brenlo cancelling the item degredation at the last minute, his one big mistake).

I couldn't say much about Velious since I signed the NDA, but playing it does give me a good feel, its much more innovative then SF. Overall while there are things I really don't like that Smokejumper has done (EQ2X, I detest money for power!), I still stand by my first judgement that he is an excellent games developer. One thing I would criticise many of the previous EQ2 expansions for was that they seemed to be artwork heavy, but light on gameplay (often the same thing just repeated over and over), he's demonstrated a clear focus on the gameplay which is showing.

As for the marketplace, I don't like it either, but Rage Quit Jane summed up nicely a realisation I had after visiting Vegas (which basically was that I was holidaying somewhere that would not have been built to that quality without the gamblers money, hence I was enjoying a lot for free on their expense, in much the same way as people buying mounts and appearance armour subsidises my EQ2 sub, which has been falling for years now). He joined SOE to run EQ2 heading into a low ebb with SF with at least a year to run, since then he's added staff and seems to produce more out of the team then his predecessors.



I hope they don't go overboard on it, I think the balance struck in GU58 where if its in the cash shop its also obtainable in the game was spot on, to me it seems like decisions were made last year that were more short term in nature to wring money out of the marketplace, which could indicate SOE have a cash crunch with so much development going on.

As for EQ2X longterm they're going to have to do whatever earns them the most money, I feel that not finding a way to merge the servers is the biggest problem with EQ2 right now as it hurts their biggest cash base in live. E.g. they could have a EQ2X server with its "robust marketplace" but less limited F2P in much the same way as an exchange server, but then have a much more limited F2P (endless trial) on the live servers.

But then again I just don't get how people can spend so much in a cash shop and I feel that F2P is still too much of a fad (although two friends in WoW spent each more then my yearly EQ2 sub in the first week of Cataclysm, so who am I to know ;) ).

Regarding the resources pulled away, its a mixture of pure guess work, a couple of confirmed messages about devs on the forums (one dev was outright confirmed, another Imago-Quem was pulled away to a different "project"), and some information Feldon has picked up from his "contacts", so unfortunately its mostly heresay and unverifiable, sorry if I gave a impression it was news, but then again they'd not announce anything officially that put EQ1/EQ2 in a bad light if they could help it.

But its looking back at the past, its normal for a software house to have 1-2 projects on the go, instead with SOE they have had

CloneWars (released late last year)
DC Universe online (released Jan 2011)
Planetside Next (launching Mid 2011)
EQNext (ongoing)
Some facebook games (launching through the year)
The Agency (lol)

That's a lot of money to cover, I personally think SOE bit off too much there and have been riding their cash cows of EQ1 and EQ2 pretty hard. They've made decisions like the character slots for $10, the EQ2 Live to EQ2X for $35 dollars which all seem like a one off cash burst, but longterm they're not going to add revenue. Maybe though I'm being too conservative with how I'd sell things.

I'm not feeling like Smokejumper is suddenly going to be given 30 more devs, but I'd hope that we get the couple of experience devs back from DCUO, and that they put a bigger cut of the revenue back into the game, reading between the lines it sounds like promises were made to Smokejumper about advertising and new equipment were not delivered on due to "SOE having a lot of irons in the fire right now" as he once said.



That's the first I've heard about a bad reception for DC Universe (although I admit I'd actually not looked around outside of the usual sites, I see a lot of 7/10's, not bad, but not inspiring), but I'd hope anything less then complete flop and it should be feeding money back into SOE rather then just a endless drain like the Agency.

(the BFF report on it, the first one was especially cruel, he couldn't play it properly during beta and did a whole report on that, they got him to (Smedley was on the call) re-review it on launch where it was better, in the review they did mention 10 people worldwide had the same problem as he had which they had not been able to reproduce inhouse....I guess we have to take their word on it, but it seemed sincere).

Personally playing it myself it did reinforce the feeling that EQ2's been lacking this sort of polish since TSO, especially the voice acting all through it (my WoW playing friends were impressed too). Admitedly it had bugs, a lot of them on the first week although I expect that from an MMO, the idea of an action MMO though was very refreshing, the whole game was to me very well done after a months play.

It has its downsides though, the chat is clunky as hell, some of the combat especially earlier was a bit spammy (although I actually got my arse kicked in later missions, something I like to see happen in a MMO!). I'll have to look elsewhere to see how its doing, I've not paid any attention at all to the PS3 reviews, maybe its getting a really bad rep there?

I don't have any inside information but to me it seems like EQ2 developer resources are being shifted towards developing marketplace items. You can't go to eq2players.com or log in game without seeing some ad for a new item for sale on the marketplace. It's very much in your face and if that's not your cup of tea it tends to rub you the wrong way - at least it does for me. I understand it from a business perspective but at the same time you get the feeling that they are putting just enough content (Velious) out there to keep people playing so people will keep buying marketplace items. I don't see any real long term vision to grow and sustain the game. Wasn't EQ2X supposed to get a big marketing push? I haven't seen it.

Didn't Smed get quoted recently saying something like "paying sub fees entitles you to new content releases on a frequent basis." Where has that been in EQ2? As for the expansion, I've heard a number of folks are disappointed. SOE has announced flying mounts, public quests (ring war) and more instances / raids. I just don't see the innovation or the commitment to be honest. Hell, they are breaking up Velious into two parts. That by itself tells you they don't have the resources to do it right.

I do believe SOE shifts around developers between projects. There are usually a few key devs who stay focused on one game but overall they seem to move all over the place working on the "next big thing." I don't see any real additional investment going back to EQ2 unless it's more time to code station cash items. That may be a cynical view, but it's my view until proven wrong. Hell, SOE hasn't even made one official announcement or update on the state of Vanguard in over a year. If anyone can explain that business strategy to me, I'd love to hear it.