Posted
on August 30, 2010, 10:07 pm,
by
Gordon,
under
Everquest 2.
Smed Draper
I’m starting to read some reports of folks trying out Everquest 2 Extended and, pretty much unanimously, everyone is really enjoying it. I’m not surprised at all by this because (as I’ve often said), EQ2 is a rather awesome game and certainly one of the top MMORPGs out there. The curious thing though is that given the reaction to EQ2X, one is led to imagine that a completely new and shiny game has somehow suddenly and miraculously appeared out of thin air. It’s as if the “old” Everquest 2 never existed, funny to me as EQ2X is exactly the same as EQ2 Live except with a few minor tweaks. It’s amazing what a little market and PR can do, isn’t it?
Even though I’m still sulking over SOE’s deceptive and greedy price plans for EQ2X, I am happy to see new life getting breathed into the game. MMOs revolve around their communities and it’s important to the health of the these games that they maintain an active and vibrant one plus it’s also a heck of a lot more fun for a player to roam around busy and populated worlds than empty ghost towns inhabited only by ancient veterans. In fact, the allure of a decently populated server seems to be so strong that some players are happy to pay the $35 fee to move high level characters across from Live to Extended. It irks me quite a lot but kudos to SOE for managing to create a system that is actually charging their playerbase to move away from the dying servers.
As we all know though value is a very subjective thing and we shouldn’t underestimate the role that marketing and advertising plays in it. For instance, people are signing up to the Gold membership plan and buying race packs ($7.50 for 3 races) and still facing a level cap and content restrictions when they could just buy the full game on Amazon, get 30 days free play, and completely unrestricted access to everything on the Live servers for less money. Frankly, this has got to be greatest advertising trick any MMO company has ever pulled. Maybe SOE have got Don Draper working for them?
The strangest thing of all is though is why SOE never did more marketing or PR in the past. It’s baffling because it’s obvious what benefits a little bit of re-branding and repackaging can do for a product and heaven knows it’s old hat for almost every other consumer item imaginable. Maybe the odd TV advert or a little more energy behind the marketing of expansions might have revitalised Everquest 2 years ago and avoided this whole scenario.
Still, I suppose it’s better late than never even though I find the whole moment very bittersweet. I’m glad that one of my favourite MMORPGs is getting the attention and recognition it deserves but I’m also deeply unhappy that in order to partake in it (and it is tempting) I’d have to open my wallet and fork out even more cash than ever before. As a loyal 3+ year veteran who played from day 0 this doesn’t fill me with happy thoughts.
-Gordon
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I knew a kid with three fingers once who had tried this trick on a pit bull.
Gee-whiz and gee-willikers, another week has pasted us by, this time with plenty of juicy MMORPG and gaming related tid-bits being thrown around for discussion by the blogosphere like a pack of hungry Dobermans would a piece of raw meat. I’ve had the odd time when my articles have been in that situation and, unless you’re Australian and blessed with the racial ability to tame wild animals a lá Crocodile Dundee, there isn’t much you can do about it. Fortunately this time much of the controversy stemmed from Penny Arcade and not yours truly. Time to kick back and get the popcorn.
-Gordon
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Star Trek Tip #1: Standing with your hands behind your back makes you look very captainy
I never got the Star Trek universe. The entire thing just seems so illogical, unrealistic and silly to me. Giant space ships manned by altruistic species, filled to the brim with innocent civilians and recklessly flying into danger all in the name of the greater good? It makes no sense. If Star Trek was “real”, the Federation would be run by an army of a thousand obedient Datas, the original having been cloned in a transporter “accident” not long after being discovered, whilst every human spends their entire life within the confines of the holodeck, acting out the dirtiest and most deprived fantasies they could possibly imagine. They wouldn’t need to eat or drink or even leave to use the bathroom because some clever Starfleet scientist would’ve no doubt discovered how to beam food directly into their stomachs and excrement directly out of their bowels. That is the world of Stark Trek. And let me tell you now, the MMORPG is nothing like it.
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There is nothing on this Earth more geeky than a World of Warcraft headset. I must have one.
Not long after I first starting playing Everquest 2 I began afresh on the European PvP server Darathar and met a lovely bunch of blood thirsty bastards. We formed a guild together (all of my buddies from Splitpaw and their’s from whatever game they were last banned from) called The Mutineers and embarked on a hand-holding, tune-whistling, flower skipping journey of scandalous PvP havoc and hell raising. It was also the first time I ever used voice chat.
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Expect to see this box on the shelves of game stores as soon as 2011
I’ve been getting frustrated with Cataclysm lately. Not with the actual gameplay (because I’m not in the beta and haven’t even tried the darn thing yet) but because I’m being constantly teased with information about it and having it’s pixelated bosom waved in front of my face at every opportunity. It feels like the game is wearing some sort of virtual chastity belt, inviting us to look but not touch. Highly infuriating.
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Close but not the pirates I'm talking about
Another interesting week in the MMORPG blogosphere has flown past. This time we got to see Blizzard crush some dastardly pirates (score one for capitalism), some controversial information revealed about Warhammer 40K (Space Marines from the start? Yes? No? Who knows!), and APB hitting the headlines for, well, sucking and dying after squandering loads of cash. The MMO industry may be many things but it’s definitely always interesting.
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Posted
on August 21, 2010, 11:07 pm,
by
Gordon,
under
Warhammer 40K.
Shoulder pads FTW
We kinda guessed it when we saw the first trailers but now more rumours are springing up suggesting that the Warhammer 40K MMO is going to be a twitch based shooter just like the beloved, and now quite thoroughly dead and dusted, Tabula Rasa. Some of you kids probably don’t even remember that game (I heard the Interwebs like totally destroys attention spans) which is fair enough cause it was kinda forgettable anyway. OK, I suppose that’s a little harsh considering it was the brainchild of the guy who’s other brainchild was the grandfather of the whole MMO industry and it did try to do something new and break away from the traditional MMORPG formula even though that still wasn’t enough to save it from low subscription doom. I guess the world just wasn’t ready for MMOFPS hybrids back in 2007.
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