Hell has frozen over - SOE launched a MMORPG without any problems

M

ManaByte

Banned
EverQuest in 1999 - Not enough servers to handle the load. They had to give free playtime to people to make up for them not being able to play at all.

Star Wars Galaxies in 2003 - Everything crashed on launch day so no one could connect to the servers or activate an account.

No one cared about EQOA or PlanetSide, so no one remembers the issues with those launches.

Something's wrong. I couldn't find the current temp in hell on any weather site, but it has to be freezing down there.

A year and a half after the nightmare of the SWG launch, EQ2 released. Everyone was screaming that it wasn't ready for launch, but everything works. The servers held the early load and they brought servers up immediately to handle more and more people jumping on (they launched with 12 yesterday and are up to 19 now). No one is running into any game-stopping bugs, and the only isses I'm seeing on the boards are some EQ2Players site things not working yet and others complaining that there's a small patch you need to download after installing (idiots - it's a MMORPG).

Oh and that stuff on EQ2Players... EVERY SINGLE MMORPG must have something like that. Mythic really kicked it off with Camelot Herald, but SOE has added some cool things. The web-chat interface to talk with your guild from anywhere (if you are say, at work) sounds pretty cool. Plus, they are giving guilds free guild sites there.
 
A testament too the amount of polish and dedication to make an awesome and immersive experience without interruption to the users.
But one server did go down and another had zoning issues yesterday.

EQ2Players guild tools are mindblowing, you can even chat with your guild at work or school with a chat client on a website.

EQ2 is purrrrfect
 
and yet SWG's Combat revamp was scrapped so they can remake the combat engine....a year and a half later. Well now that EQ2 is out the door and no problems maybe the devs will keep thier word and the new combat engine will actully come out early next year after the beta testing....oh wait beta sign ups are bugged...not a good sign.

one funny thing when they announced the combat re-tooling a verbal fight broke out between players and community leaders....hehehe my favorte quote went something like. [if you don't like SWG]"then got off and play your WoW and Everquest then you'll come back anyway"
 
Very cool to hear they pulled off a good launch after the SWG travesty. Once I get my fill of WoW, I'll definitely be trying out EQ2.

^w^
 
Great Wasabi Man said:
and yet SWG's Combat revamp was scrapped so they can remake the combat engine....a year and a half later. Well now that EQ2 is out the door and no problems maybe the devs will keep thier word and the new combat engine will actully come out early next year after the beta testing....oh wait beta sign ups are bugged...not a good sign.

one funny thing when they announced the combat re-tooling a verbal fight broke out between players and community leaders....hehehe my favorte quote went something like. [if you don't like SWG]"then got off and play your WoW and Everquest then you'll come back anyway"
Click to expand...


SWG is in no way connected to EQ2 in terms of development resources. The combat revamp was delayed due to JTL.
 
Haha, perfect launch? Don't visit them technical support forums very much do you? Lots of system crashes, systems rebooting etc..

Far from a perfect launch, SOE went as far as to fail an above average launch with EQ2. It didn't even have EQ's or SWG's magnitude, heck, it's freaking falling under the radar because of WoW.
 
Well they didn't ship enough collectors edition tins. And the people who buy that want to play the game immediately ;)
 
Every EQ2 DVD I've seen is damaged, bad presses or something. There is dust, dirt, the disc appears cloudly, etc. Every single EQ2 DVD package is being sent back for being defective. The CD based ones I have no idea about though.
 
Before I post this, let me just say I have a unique perspective on both games. I've worked for both SOE and Blizzard and have had about a year with EQ2 and about nine months with WoW so far. I think they're both great, but they are also very different and honestly do appeal to very different audiences.

Firstly EQ2. Six months ago, I wouldn't touch the game with a ten-foot pole. It was total dog shit in internal Alpha and early Beta. The game was horrible. Now, with the final retail I can't stop playing it. I'm addicted to it like I was to EQ in its early days.

If you think it's EQ with pretty graphics, you're wrong. It's actually the complete opposite from EQ live as they made the focus less from requiring 60-man raid forces to more party-focused. With a more clear focus on small adventuring parties, the character development system, and the lack of race/class combinations this is the closest thing you can get to a Dungeons and Dragons MMORPG until Turbine releases their Asheron's Call 2 skin pack titled D&D Online. IGN did a good write up at E3 about how they are going in a different direction with EQ2: http://pc.ign.com/articles/514/514349p1.html

One area where EQ2 completely destroys WoW (sorry fanboys) is its immersive world. One of the factors that draws me to a MMORPG is how well it creates a living breathing world. Honestly the full voice acting in EQ2 helps this more than I thought, although talking Froglocks are somewhat disturbing. Also, for long time EQ players it's so much fun to explore a completely destroyed version of Norrath.

The character customization is also excellent. You can actually create a character and be recognized by your face in the game by other players, it's that detailed. EQ2 gives you more freedom with your character than WoW does.

No PVP is a major drawback for some players, however.

Secondly, WoW. Right of the bat you can tell WoW's easy to get into and fun to play. It's Blizzard so you're immediately going to have a million Battle.net kiddies drooling over the chance to run around the game as xArthasx. The game is fast paced, has a good crafting system (however I think EQ2's is actually better now probably the best in any MMORPG), and has a great quest system. There's also a ton of solid content from level 1 to 60 and beyond.

The problem with WoW, something people don’t like to hear about, is that it a pretty shallow MMORPG that's super super super polished. If you have City of Heroes on one end as the simplest MMORPG and stuff like SWG or EQ2 on the other end as the deepest, WoW is towards the middle (although leaning in the SWG direction).

For some people, there just isn't enough variety among WoW characters. I was running around with my Paladin the other day and I saw 5 other Human Paladins that looked exactly like me. Skills wise, even with racial traits and talents, there still isn't enough difference from character to character to keep things interesting. The racial-specific Priest spells that went in with this last patch is a step in the right direction.

For the casual gamer who just wants to jump in the game and kill stuff, WoW is perfect.

I still have my collector's edition of WoW pre-ordered. I'll see how these next couple weeks of EQ2 goes, and then I'll decide if I'm going to dive into the final WoW.


Malakhov said:
Haha, perfect launch? Don't visit them technical support forums very much do you? Lots of system crashes, systems rebooting etc..

Far from a perfect launch, SOE went as far as to fail an above average launch with EQ2. It didn't even have EQ's or SWG's magnitude, heck, it's freaking falling under the radar because of WoW.
Click to expand...

It's not SOE's fault that you have a shit computer that can't handle their game. On their side (servers, registration, up/downtime) it's been a nearly flawless launch.

Kweh said:
I heard you can talk in game from EQ2 to SWG characters, is that true?
Click to expand...

I haven't heard that, but I doubt you can talk to SWG players as the two use different chat systems. However it may be possible to chat with EQ1 players, but I haven't tested that.

Every EQ2 DVD I've seen is damaged, bad presses or something. There is dust, dirt, the disc appears cloudly, etc. Every single EQ2 DVD package is being sent back for being defective. The CD based ones I have no idea about though.
Click to expand...

I have the collector's edition and my DVDs were fine.
 
ManaByte said:
It's not SOE's fault that you have a shit computer that can't handle their game. On their side (servers, registration, up/downtime) it's been a nearly flawless launch.
Click to expand...
Haha, man, I never thought I'd meet a SOE fanboy but here I am.
 
Malakhov said:
That's ok though, I used to be one with EQ ;)
Click to expand...

Again, you didn't even read my post. I used to work for SOE. I worked there from the launch fo SWG until the start of WoW beta (when I left to go to Blizzard).
 
i must also say nice work sony.. signing up and logging in were a breeze, and the server seems stable (at least compared to their POS swg servers) even at heavy load. I got the DVD version and it worked fine out of the box for me, but eq2 is only going to be a minor detour before i go whole hog into WoW
 
golem said:
i must also say nice work sony.. signing up and logging in were a breeze, and the server seems stable (at least compared to their POS swg servers) even at heavy load. I got the DVD version and it worked fine out of the box for me, but eq2 is only going to be a minor detour before i go whole hog into WoW
Click to expand...

True. However some of my friends are playing EQ2 and another will be starting up soon, so it'll depend where they go if I stay or jump over to WoW.
 
I read your post, what you say could go either way, though, I guess it goes with personal taste but saying that EQ2's launch is flawless is stretching it a bit too far.

I was hoping EQ2 would be more like EQ hence why I'm terribly disapointed with EQ2. It feels as if questing is taking way too much space in the game and the questing in WoW is better, at least I enjoy it far more.

They should of used the EQ2 character system but with EQ's progression imo.
 
ManaByte said:
True. However some of my friends are playing EQ2 and another will be starting up soon, so it'll depend where they go if I stay or jump over to WoW.
Click to expand...

actually same here, i have groups of friends that are going to be on both games... but for me pvp is just too fun to pass up..
 
The EQ2 servers are probably stable because most people are playing WoW.

Seriously, I'm very curious to see how many subscribers EQ2 has after the first month. I know it'll be a moderately big success, but I doubt it will come close to the originals userbase.
 
Bristow said:
The EQ2 servers are probably stable because most people are playing WoW.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that must be it. The servers are so empty and not overloaded that they have to bring up a new server every day. The just brought up a 2nd Roleplaying server because the first one was packed (EQ1 only ever had 1, Firiona Vie where I played) which is the 20th server for the game. They launched with 12 on Monday.
 
I seriously regret not taking up one of those MY EQ2 Fer UR WOw offers that were springing up a few weeks ago. The item system (so far) and same class differentiation really bites. Hoping the problem is solved by some vague, ambitious Hero system doesn't excite me either. That said, I'm not at all certain my system can handle EQ2, and I've fallen so deeply in love with PvP I couldn't imagine giving it up completely.
 
ManaByte said:
Yeah, that must be it. The servers are so empty and not overloaded that they have to bring up a new server every day. The just brought up a 2nd Roleplaying server because the first one was packed (EQ1 only ever had 1, Firiona Vie where I played) which is the 20th server for the game. They launched with 12 on Monday.
Click to expand...

WoW has like 30+ servers just for Open Beta. I'm not saying EQ2 isn't an enjoyable game for some people, but SOE have really rubbed alot of people the wrong way and I don't see it being nearly as popular as the original.
 
well, I broke down and bought it yesterday. As long as the game continues to support solo players, i'm there.. now I have to decide between it and WoW, I don't want to be paying 2 fees a month :(

I'll buy both, play both for one month and decide.. crap!
 
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