Changes and Improvements

Is there anything else the game needs?

by: Paul "SLiDE" Shortt

Change: The process of making something different for better or worse. They always seem to say that change is a good thing even though it’s not something that is rarely looked forward to. People, in general, tend to dig themselves into a rut or routine. It’s a comfortable place to be. This is the exact reason why players regularly get upset at the developers of their chosen MMOG. Massively multiplayer online games need to change to survive and need to change in order to keep their content fresh so that subscribers will stay with them. It all seems confusing. Why would a company make people upset in an attempt to get them to stay? Well, in the large scheme of things, the ratio of new subscribers to angry “I hate you SOE, I’m leaving you” subscribers are high enough. This holds true if changes are made in good form and fashion that I think Sony has gambled with a time or two.

EverQuest 2 is not the king of the MMORPG hill in regards to subscriber numbers. World of Warcraft holds that title and judging from the rough numbers floating around, they will keep it for quite a while. Just so you know, this isn’t meant to be a EQ2 vs. WoW debate, although you’re free to do so in your favorite forum or at your local coffee shop sipping on a mochafrappachinolattecaramelcaffination with whipped cream.

I still stick around to play EverQuest 2. Honestly I haven’t even tried World of Warcraft, which means I won’t be comparing the two. So, what keeps me playing EQ2 anyway? I have friends in game that I enjoy grouping with. I like the way the game looks and plays, although I don’t have much to compare it to. Maybe EverQuest2 is part of my routine.

I started my EQ2 career as a swashbuckler and languidly leveled him up to level 20-ish picking up every quest I could find. It was difficult though. I joined a guild, but was a bit too far behind my guildmates to join them on their quests. I found myself soloing most of the time which proved difficult for this particular scout class. After a bit of angst caused by frustrating rogue, I decided to roll a warlock to try something different. I was hooked to the game all over again and this became my main character. Everything was great until that pesky live update #13 reared its ugly head. Change! Curse its evilness!
I’ll freely admit that I was angry. It’s a game, and games are supposed to be fun, but somehow I wanted to throw my keyboard through a window.

After a short time I built up my patience and learned how the game was supposed to be played all over again. The fun returned to me, but in more than one way. Not only was I enjoying the Warlock in the “new Norrath” I went back and played my old scout to see what had become of him. Whatever had been done, had made the swashbuckler fun to play. I couldn’t stop there, I rolled an Ogre and turned him into an illusionist, then a berserker. Thus was born an ALToholic. Since this game changing update, I’ve learned to embrace the new updates and content, without much fuss knowing that adaptation is actually part of the fun of playing a constantly adjusting game.

So what’s next? What is the next thing that could be done to make the game more enjoyable? What could be improved? Upon asking these questions I can already hear the howls of displeased players shouting their specific answers at their computer screens. I’m not trying to dilute the severity of these problems, because I’m sure they cause enough heart burn where they matter, but I think there’s a more general approach. Let’s try this by category.

Questing and Zoning:

Questing in EverQuest 2 has always been a bit of a sore spot for me. Don’t get me wrong; I think they are well written despite the known fact that most players are going to skip over the unnecessary NPC dialog. Quest experience was even bumped up to encourage questing over the typical MMO grind. The problem in my mind is the commitment that is expected of a player to take on a quest from beginning to end. The amount of bouncing around one needs to perform from zone to zone could be shortened. I cringe every time a quest giver sends me on part “b” or “c” or even “d” before giving me that darned ring reward that I was just going to sell for a small amount of cash anyway. With the merge of servers in an attempt to raise the population, while a good idea, makes zoning a pain. You can’t deny that there has been an increase in lag since these merges. I want to zone as little as possible to keep the game play uninterrupted. Heritage quests I understand, but I think the length of many regular quests could be shortened.

Help System:

Usually I don’t need to use the in-game help system, but decided it was necessary when I saw a name that needed petitioning. I had never petitioned a name before so I opened up the help window and did a search to find out how. It took over 10 minutes and multiple searches before I finally understood what I needed to do. I’ve always been more of a visual learner, but still… It shouldn’t have been that difficult. Even now I’m not sure I could remember how to do it, nor am I gung ho to return to the help system. Actually, for the sake of being fair, I’m returning to the help menu as I type this to find out where the difficulty was. Ah, there it is. The problem I had was understanding that a “petition” is the same thing as a CS ticket. I could not for the life of me put these two together. If the rest of the help system is like this then there is a problem, but it looks pretty well organized on the surface.

Armor and clothing:

There have been many additions and color changes to much of what Norrathians wear, but still the call for diversity remains strong. Many players would love to see the ability to tint their armor for better personalization. Is it necessary? No, probably not, and I certainly would cringe at the hot pink burlap pantaloons. Maybe if dying were allowed in moderation.

Sitting down for an ale at the pub:

I’ve heard this mentioned before, and it might be redundant, but adding a gathering spot, like a pub or alehouse would definitely add to the role-play feel of a role-playing game. Of course Sony would have to add some kind of sitting mechanic to our characters. Thank god for chain mail kneepads otherwise I would have already worn my skin clear through to the kneecaps. I know there are tons of ways players can communicate and sure I could rally up a bunch of people to come hang out at my tiny one room apartment where we could all stand around wearing “Hi, My name is” name tags. It’s not the point though. If there is a place that is meant for gathering, people will gather. Yep, that’s right. If you build it, they will come. Oh and my knees would reeeeeally appreciate a sitting mechanic.

Overall:

I’ll tell ya what. If I were writing this a couple of months ago I would have had a lot more to add. I feel like I’ve had to stretch out my list as it is. Sony has really put a lot of effort in to their last few live updates to change a lot of what needed work. Maybe certain things made parts of the game over simplified, but I won’t complain the least bit.

Crafting now shows pop up windows for what components are needed to complete an item and also shows what the player has crafted in the past. Quests now show you what the reward is before being sucked in. The mentor system now scales spells and combat arts automagically instead of forcing the user to create a brand new hotbar with old spells. Each class now starts off with its own identity making it easier to learn how to play. SOE has even added All these changes and tons more have made it to the game. I could keep going, but all of this has already been covered on the EverQuest 2 website. The good news about all of this means that Sony does actually listen to its players ideas and problems to make the game we play more enjoyable in a wide spectrum.

I’m sure you’re chomping at the bit to tell me that I didn’t add everything I should have. Feel free to hit up our forums here and post about it. I’ll be watching.