Scott Hartsman/Gallenite is a free agent

[Braen]

Scott Hartsman - Off the Record

He has left the ohai project and is now looking for something to design.

Smed, get this man on EQ3. NOW!

[Twobit Whore]

Would rather see him work on Copernicus.. that way we might actually find something out about the damn thing.

[Draegan]

I'd rather him make a series of Flash Games that I can play at work.

[Genjiro]

Shadowrun - get Scott and the license and make millions as I've been saying on here for years now. This game not being a mmo yet is a travesty~

[Ham n Cheese]

Scott was the best thing about EQ2 and was really nice to MW and the boards, but has he proven he's a good designer?

[Bongk]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Scott was the best thing about EQ2 and was really nice to MW and the boards, but has he proven he's a good designer?

He took a piece of garbage and made it suck less, but still suck. I guess that is something. Without a combat revamp EQ2 will forever be trash.

[Cuppycake]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Scott was the best thing about EQ2 and was really nice to MW and the boards, but has he proven he's a good designer?

I don't think you realize just how much design goes into taking a game that's not doing so hot and turning it around as the producer. His role wasn't just planning, tasking, and scheduling...he was essentially a creative director on the game. Between him and Lyndro, they really shaped the improvement of EQ2.

[Horse]

get him a webcam and a paypal acct. and he'd make a lot judging by this thread.


I KID. (not really) But someone does need to do a tech/punk/wasteland mmo correctly and the world would be a better place if he was involved.

[column]

This could turn it around for Vanguard

[Bongk]

Originally Posted by column

This could turn it around for Vanguard

but more importantly, would Kwon play?

[Ham n Cheese]

Yeah well i said he was the best thing about EQ2, it's not like I trashed the guy. Was just legitimately asking if he's proven himself as a quality designer to warrant any sort of excitement about him joining a game. And despite all those changes, EQ2 is still the worst combat system in any MMO I've ever played

[Dis]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Scott was the best thing about EQ2 and was really nice to MW and the boards, but has he proven he's a good designer?

I played before Scott and after Scott EQ2. I can say there was a marked improvement in the game. The main problem stems from the fact is all you get is a first impression with gamers.

EQ2 by default probably had hundreds of thousands of gamers who sampled EQ2 in beta and post launch several months. If you cant grab your audience then, you have pretty much garuanteed you will not get them back, ever.

I tried to get back into it after quitting WoW for the 2nd time, but playing without friends just made it get old real quick. As opposed to the when I played in beta and gold, the only reason I stuck with it for so long was because of friends. For my brief time the 2nd go around, I can honestly say the game was better.

If Gallenite was responsible for saying, "hey guys, why did we toss out all of our lore from EQ?", and started the intiative to bring back familiar sites such as Neriak, then I am all for him moving on to bigger and better things.

One day all game developers will start realizing that the statement: "This is not *insert game* with better graphics" is actually not a bad thing to strive for. The devs for Asheron's Call 2 said the same shit, and the devs for Everquest 2 said the same shit. Look where those games have ended up.

Guess what, we want Everquest with better graphics, and Asheron's Call with better graphics. Dont fucking deviate from a successful world you have created. If you want to improve certain aspects of gameplay, character creation/progression, graphics, etc. that is great. But dont fucking completely obliterate the lore and overall feel of your game, just because you want to do something new, then slap a 2 at the end of the title to try and sucker your audience into buying your crap game.

I think Gallenite realizes that, and IMO, that puts him ahead of most current devs.

[Braen]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

Yeah well i said he was the best thing about EQ2, it's not like I trashed the guy. Was just legitimately asking if he's proven himself as a quality designer to warrant any sort of excitement about him joining a game. And despite all those changes, EQ2 is still the worst combat system in any MMO I've ever played

Problem is, to fix the combat system would require making a new game. Which wasn't going to happen until EQ3. Also, the designers before him created a limited box and tools that Scott and the team made the most of. The previous creators didn't think a detailed scripting engine was need for designing zones and encounters, for example.

Do you honestly think, if they could change the combat, they wouldn't? It is the number one complaint by most former players AND current players. They know it was a block to keeping players and getting new ones and you think they just said eh.. let's keep it. It's not a big deal.

[Gecko]

Originally Posted by Bongk

He took a piece of garbage and made it suck less, but still suck. I guess that is something. Without a combat revamp EQ2 will forever be trash.

This is the simple truth.

Maybe I missed something, but I personally never got all the Hartsman love. EQ2 remains a crappy niche MMO.

Yes, they CAN change the combat system, Braen. SWG? Hello?

[Braen]

And look what happened to SWG. It basically died completely. They made it worse.