| |
03-26-2003, 03:03 PM
| #46 (permalink) |
| Fires of Heaven Officer  Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Washington
Posts: 5,108
+17 Internets | Because there is no way in hell they would fix the horribly unoptimized models without you paying them... Yes I would sheepishly pay 15-20 dollars for an extension (ala LoY) based mostly on just that. Having EQ look decent and not run like shit is worth that pocket change to me.
__________________  |
|  |
|
03-26-2003, 03:52 PM
| #47 (permalink) | |||
| Retarded fucktard  Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,133
| What's the problem in sony making us pay for them, even if someone else's work? Simply make the person who made the models sign over owners rights or copyrights or whatever to SOE so that they became property of SOE, entitling them to $0. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be willing to undertake the task to rid everyone of the horrific shit we view daily. They could then release the non-SoE made models or whatever in a paid download/CD... Maybe packed with some other crap like assling mounts for dwarves or something... Whatever. What's from stopping them from doing that?
__________________ Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
| |||
| |
|
03-26-2003, 05:21 PM
| #48 (permalink) |
| Registered User  Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 1,783
  | Ok several reasons why I am going to predict this will never happen. A.) Money. It costs to have those modellers working on old models/animations. I recently learned a friend of the family is a modeller for them and is working on something for the next expansion though he won't tell me what so they would have to take those modellers that are busy making the next cash cow and put them on old models? Not going to happen UNLESS that is what the new expansion/extension whatever you want to call it is. B.) Everyone would bitch. Plain and simple everyone that had worked on an IA key, everyone that has been bound in PoM for the past year, everyone that has been waiting for Veksar etc.. etc.. would bitch nonstop about them fixing models and not fixing zones and class balancing etc. You're already bitching about them fixing doors and it is the same exact concept. Ooh that rock spins when you click it lets make it inanimate cause it takes 5 seconds. And then everyone bitches nonstop about it when they put it in the patch message. C.) They are not going to have a 'contest'. What is next? Name your own NPC just from a random drawing? Weekly emails being sent out with special in-game prizes for people who read the newsletter? Contests are gay in the fact that they breed other contests. You will have people begging for them and complaining about them at the same time. Think of GM events but on the website and via e-mail. You will want them to be good but they will suck and then you will whine until they finally stop. D.) Too much to support. If they make it an optional download or a non required patch then people will have problems with one and not the other. They will get phone calls about 'optional models look good on my friends PC and not mine'. Stuff like that nonstop. It either needs to be all the models or none and it has to be mandatory. If it is mandatory they can't run the risk of making people pay so they will waste all those hours paying people in point A to accomplish nothing. E.) Noone is going to quit that has played over a year because of the models. Face it anyone that spends time reading forums and chatting about such minor details of a game is hooked enough that they don't need to fix models and you will stay. Honestly do you pay attention to models when you are trying to mez 3 mobs or offtank a guard while the rest of the raid does a named? Hell no. If they slowly started making it 2D you would play it. It is all about the numbers + loot + excitement. The reason people don't play muds is because there is no draw even though they can be way more fun. Everquest is not counting on new customers as much as they are counting on you staying with them forever. How many expansions were tailored to newbies? Kunark. Hrmm can't think of any others. Velious was upper end, Luclin was upper end and had some newbie zones because of new race, PoP is upper end as well, and LoY was lower because of the new race and the fact that it was just an experiment and new toys. I know there has to be other reasons but these are blatantly obvious and if they do anything to the models in the next 6mo - year I will be highly surprised. |
|
| |
|
03-26-2003, 05:51 PM
| #49 (permalink) |
| Fires of Heaven Officer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Washington
Posts: 5,108
+17 Internets | They could easily sell an extension based almost soley on updated models. Most people paid 18 dollars for Bank Space, Guild Management Tool, and the Charm slot (which, btw, might as well not exist with the PoS charms currently in game). The frogs were also a selling point for people who like to twink. I doubt anyone gave a shit about the 5 mid level zones they added. Given that, they could easily throw in a few things similar to what people bought LoY for and have their work be mostly focused on model upgrades. And people would pay the same price as they did for LoY for it. Why? Because we're all fucking sheep and they know it.
__________________ |
|
| |
|
03-26-2003, 05:59 PM
| #50 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 1,783
| They could sell an extension easily but it would HAVE to be mandatory was my point and I doubt they would make a move like that. You make multiple different game altering things like that and make it optional you are begging for incompatibilities and much more needed support. You make it mandatory and the kiddies will leave cause mom and pop won't fork over the $14 or whatever it will cost. There is no pluses for them in fixing models and a whole lot of negatives. Come up with one way fixing models/animations would help them as a company trying to make money and not just the game. It would make the game look better no questions asked. It however will help them make no more money then they already do. a.) You make them pay for an extension. Some people leave because they thinkg it is either bullshit to pay for something so stupid or they don't have the money and it is mandatory so you break even on what you pay your modellers MAYBE. b.) You leave it the same. Noone leaves and people still try for the month and pay for all the expansions then decide they don't like it and leave for Asherons Call 2 and then find out it may look better but the gameplay sucks so they come back to Everquest. I think they like option b. a whole hell of a lot more. |
|
| |
|
03-26-2003, 06:19 PM
| #51 (permalink) | |
| 100% Pure Soy Monk Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Posts: 6,176
+19 Internets | Quote:
| |
|
| |
|
03-26-2003, 08:38 PM
| #52 (permalink) | |||
| Retarded fucktard Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,133
| OMFG Heaven forfuckingbid SoE gets mass e-mails! o nos we're getting spammed whaddowe dos? Seriously, give me a fucking break. We pay them huge amounts of money, I think they can answer some e-mails. Maybe holding a contest isn't the best idea, but it is a way for SoE to get free and talented modellers to work for them and produce something that could really add life to the dying game. Don't tell me that introducing new models as an expansion to the game, while leaving the old ones intact, would destroy the game. Sure there were problems with them at first, but people still use both the Luclin and Old World models don't they?
__________________ Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
| |||
|
| |
|
03-27-2003, 02:04 AM
| #53 (permalink) | |
| Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: SoCal
Posts: 368
| Quote:
Much of this is crap, in that SOE can afford to eat the costs of making new models and animations. EQ makes money. Yes, much of the $13/mo goes for bandwidth, hardware maintainence, and tech support, but there is profit for them in there. The expansions? The pay for themselves easily becasue there isn't much to them (as opposed to complete game), plus there is the absouletly huge fact that they know, within a few tens of thousands, how many they are going to sell. What is EQ's current subscriber base? Over 500,000? If they only average 300,000 per expansion (which are huge numbers compared to how many units the average video game sells), that's 9 million per, and they probably get maybe 3 million to their pockets to cover development costs and profit. Just for giggles, 3 million will get you 40 people working at 75K for one year, so I can't see how expansions don't cover their costs easily. Now look at all the easy money they make through name changes and player transfers. Hell, they'd make money on those paying somebody $20 an hour to do it in the most manual way possible, so those services provide a nice revenue stream when coupled with some automated admin tools they probably created to do it. You have a recent server launch that pratically paid for itself in transfers. And remember that hardware costs are always going down while perfomance is going up, so new servers can handle larger loads for much cheaper than what the original servers did. They get economies of scale too - they might have paid some guy 75k/yr to admin a server, but that same guy can admin 2 or 10 just as easily. Data center staff can remain rougly at the same number while they add more and more servers, and the same can be said for most networking issues. And last but not least, the $3/mo increase amounts to an extra 1.5 million/mo at 500k subscribers, so if they were breaking even at $10/mo before (which I highly doubt, they were making some profit), they are making 18 million/yr just in monthlies now. They are making money, which I've got no problem with. They probably have another expansion or two planned, and EQ will probably still be one of the largest, if not thee largest, MMORPG 2 years from now. If they ever need to consolodate servers, the ones taken out of service will either be old and in need of upgrades (that they no longer need to buy) or capable of being used in EQ2 or Planetside or whatever. "Behind-the-scenes" issues like admin/ts tools, payroll, and general learning curve issues they went through making a MMORPG should be applicable to EQ2 and other games they are working on, so if something cost X during EQ, it should cost less than X for EQ2 (granted, EQ2 development costs may be more). So, what's my point? The EQ subscriber base is largely a loyal one. The playerbase puts up with bugs and broken implementations that would ruin most other games. There is huge potential in the existing playerbase to sell EQ2, while developers of other MMORPGs are wondering if anyone is going to subscribe to their games. There is competition coming at them from all angles, none of which is dealing a fatal blow, but all of which are nibbling away. SOE, fix the Luclin models and animations. Do it for free. Do it for the playerbase that has spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on EQ, its expansions, and monthly service fees that many of us have been paying for over 4 years now. EQ's financial success has opened up opportunities to extend the franchise with a PS2 version, a sequel, and numerous merchandising deals. Fix the Luclin models and animations and earn some tremendous goodwill amongst your playerbase. It doesn't have to be all at once either, you could just release a fixed model and animation set for one race every month.* -Jovec *Yes, I know that due to technical limitations they might have to release the fixes for certain races at the same time. | |
|
| |
|
03-27-2003, 08:15 AM
| #54 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 119
| like 99% of the EQ population, I had never visited a single LoY zone. until last night. and you know what? the godamn trolls over there dont have the retarded "one shoulder up in the air" stance that the PC trolls do. thats the best. "Hi customers, we are capable of fixing the models and making them look decent, see? |
|
| |
|
03-27-2003, 10:38 AM
| #55 (permalink) |
| Time to play the game!  Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: In your mind
Posts: 159
 | Does it even matter anymore on a game that is getting a sequel? Heck while you're all at it why not visit a UO board and start the same thread there asking for better graphics on UO? considering the new ones they added 2 expansions ago aren't that great either? Games are made and released and then die, EQ is is no different so why bother updating the animations? Does it really bother you guy's all that much if you run like a stick figure or like Carl Lewis? In a game. Are you all affraid a uber mob will see you running and say "LMAO that woodelf druid runs like a damn fag" And besides if they were to fix the animation, why should WE the CUSTOMERS pay for another extension on something they fucked up on? Get real... 'fess up and fix your mistakes free not charge us because you're greedy bitches. It's the sheep that keep the shepard employed & wealthy. Pffft.. Vanity check!
__________________ Looking for the MMO promised land. |
|
| |
|
03-27-2003, 04:12 PM
| #56 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 187
| >>Does it even matter anymore on a game that is getting a sequel? Yes, it does. Many people that play EQ will continue to play EQ. Screw EQ2. >>Heck while you're all at it why not visit a UO board and start the same thread there asking for better graphics on UO? For people still playing and paying for UO, why shouldn't they? >>Games are made and released and then die, EQ is is no different so why bother updating the animations? Because the lifespan. MMOGs, well done ones, have a considerably longer life span than other games. The time invested in building characters makes it different. Combine that with social connnections and you have an even more loyal audience. EQ has been around for 4 years. Not many games have that lifespan. EQ isn't near finished it. It'll be years still before it falls below a profit level and winds up dieing. |
|
| |
|
03-27-2003, 04:53 PM
| #57 (permalink) |
| Pride Never Die  Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Near Chicago, IL
Posts: 1,928
| quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I quit EQ because of those models thats how bad I hate them heh. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- im gonna argue for the sake of argueing... no you didnt. your 65, models were introduced a year and a half before you could have got 65, so unless your retarded and notice stuff really slow, your a liar =/ __________________ ^_^ Yes, I did assclown. It's called quiting when SOL came out, coming back to see POP then quiting again.
__________________ Currently Playing: WoW: Nuklear - Tanaris PSN: Araxen http://www.fightthesmears.com http://therealmccain.com/ |
|
| |
|
03-27-2003, 05:59 PM
| #60 (permalink) |
| Registered User  Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Butt Hugging Moose Jockey
Posts: 4,968
| Dude, unless they cleaned up the Luclin models...you have to ask yourself the question: Do you honestly want those wankers making new models for you again? I haven't seen a Frog, so maybe they got better at models....eh. In any case maybe you could run 3 of them at the same time in the C&C room for the armed forces. =P Of course, my computer was barely up to min specs for Luclin. I was lucky to be able to survive the Kerrans shredding me... |
|
| |
 |
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
| Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|  | |
Linear Mode
