Updates: Bane or Blessing?

by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

<!-- if (!document.phpAds_used) document.phpAds_used = ','; phpAds_random = new String (Math.random()); phpAds_random = phpAds_random.substring(2,11); document.write ("<" + "script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript' src='"); document.write ("http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adjs.php?n=" + phpAds_random); document.write ("&amp;what=zone:25"); document.write ("&amp;exclude=" + document.phpAds_used); if (document.referrer) document.write ("&amp;referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); document.write ("'><" + "/script>"); //-->

Very few people will attempt to deny it, but the experienced MMO players realize everything changes. Content and mechanics are as fluid as Jet Li in a fight scene, and what you remember six months ago, bears little resemblance to how things are now. EverQuest 2 in particular has gone through massive changes over the past year, but did these changes really help the game? Did the 25 massive updates make the game better, or damage it for the worse? I think you can see the best examples of changes in EQ2 by looking at it's 2 most famous Updates and the most recent update. Live Update #13, Live Update #19, and Game Update #25. Why is the last one called "Game" update instead of "Live?" PM Blackguard and he'll tell you the entire story.

Live Update #13, was a bane to many, and I'm sure you probably cringed even at the mention of it. What did it change? LU#13 touched the combat abilities and spells of every single class. Healers for example, were no longer able to stack most heals, making the Templars less god-like and spread around the healing love. Group cures, they were also famous for (especially the poison one) were spread out amongst the other healers, still annoying at least one player I know. We're getting her therapy though, and I think she's going to make it. Guardians were hit pretty hard as well, and with a serious reduction in their ability to take damage, were cast aside like Christams fruitcake.

Reading through the hundreds of threads on the official forums, once you got past the "OMG WTH?" it all boiled to why? Why make such sweeping changes? Did it make our game better? Was there something just that wrong with EverQuest 2? The answer was simply? Yeah there was. Some imbalances had been put in the game unintenionally at launch, and the developers had let them go for some time. These imbalances however, were causing them to have to design content based around them, which logically as much as I didn't like the changes, I had to give to them. You shouldn't have to build special content based on the abilities of one or two classes. Did it work? Oh yeah. Completely broke the Templars (yes I keep mentioning them because it's what I'm most familiar with) in terms of soloing and many Guardians quit altogether. Updates were made later on that gave a little love back to those two classes, but there were a few months, that it was just painful to play either.

LU #13 was an example of a necessary but very negative update that brought weeping and gnashing of teeth to the masses, but what about a positive update? LU#19 brought forth the elimination of subclasses. What did that mean? Let's say I wanted to play a Shadowknight. First, I would start out as a fighter, then do a quest to become a crusader, then finally a quest to become a Shadowknight at level 20. What this means, is that if I wanted to play 4 different fighter classes in Qeynos, I would do the exact same quest 4 times.

Why change the way classes more than a year after it's release? It's SOE's opinion that the subclasses were Repetative and unneccessary. They felt if you want to play a Shadowknight, you should start as one. Losing rights of passage like this disappointed me, but I found it very difficult to argue with their logic. I can't think a single other MMO with that type of class structure. The feedback on these changes were for the most part very positive, but of course you did have one or two pitchfork/torch wielding villagers on the forums.

Game Update #25 is the most recent update and is still fresh in the minds and hearts of all Norrathians, or is it? This "mini-update" didn't really seem to change all that much. Sure, we had some tailored clothing added which Kiara squeaked in glee over. There were also special boxes that could now be crafted which would allow players to sell more items on the broker. What did this update really do?

The clothing being added is SOE's attempt to add some variation to the game. I don't want to be player #24601 running around with a Cuirass of Protection. While the women had some nice dresses, I have to be honest, the outfit I bought for my dwarf made him look like he was about to go golfing. Alot of that kind of stuff is personal preference though, so don't take my word for it.

The broker boxes, to many didn't seem to make sense. These boxes which would hold a large quantity of a specific item type (like armor, food, etc..) were another addition to the sweeping changes for offline sales. I've seen a number of unhappy campers regarding offline sales, but what most of them aren't realizing is that vault sales were the key to all the dupe bugs which plagued the game. This was a necessary evil.

Whether you like updates or not, they are a part of the EverQuest 2 world. Some are good, some are bad, and some make you go "huh?" Whether it's taking away a group cure, adding clothing, or dropping a new zone in the game, you can be sure SOE will constantly be tweaking things, and making them better for our enjoyment. So next time you are begging a developer not to nerf you, make sure to remember, they are probably going to do it anyways, because you're out DPSing my Templar.