What caused the decline of EQ as the #1 MMO?

[eqdruid76]

In light of all these "Let's think of all the different ways we can sabotage and ruin Project 1999" threads that are popping up, here's a counter-thread. What were the changs, nerfs, new game mechanics, graphics upgrades etc that happend on live that you NEVER want to see happen on Project1999?

[Rogean]

What caused the decline of EQ was WoW pretty much.

[Olorin]

Originally Posted by Rogean [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What caused the decline of EQ was WoW pretty much.

Eq2 which released around the same time had an effect as well -- Sure, WoW grabbed more, but EQ2 at release was difficult as well, the amount of soloable content was well, not much.

[mitic]

on pvp-servers it was PoP ruining it

controlling zones (on sz it was like neuts velious, goodies oldworld, evils kunark) went to hell with those books. added to that the high resist armor started to make casters almost obsolete in pvp

[Taxi]

Originally Posted by Olorin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Eq2 which released around the same time had an effect as well -- Sure, WoW grabbed more, but EQ2 at release was difficult as well, the amount of soloable content was well, not much.

Stopped playing EQ1 when Luclin came out cuz my comp wasnt handling it too well, and Luclin left me meh.

I bought EQ2 and then quit after the free month after i realized you needed 2 accounts to use the auction house, i couldnt heal anyone unless i was in their groups, i could pwn myself in the face and lose hours of combat xp while crafting, etc etc..

I guess new games coming out and (im guessing here based on the feedback i hear) the subsequent expansions after Luclin were less than stellar is probably what caused the decline. Played SWG in 2003 and WoW in 2005 myself.

[nosto]

I think the issues started happening with the inception of the bazaar and translocators. Immediately separating the community from its roots. I also heard a lot of complaints about luclin being too sci-fi for the fantasy genre and a lot of people were turned off (this wasn't the case with me). The only thing I was torn on but really seemed to start killing EQ was when they went to the LDON expansion, where the content was all instanced etc. etc.

Anyway that was just my on the crapper input response.

[stormlord]

Top reasons:
1) GoD was the worst expansion ever made - even Smedly agrees. Horribly way to make an impression.
2) Lack of advertising and WoW, the result is most everyone goes to WoW (as evidence I only need to point to a young friend. this person is playing wow and has never even heard of everquest 2)
3) Everquest 2 development and advertising took the rest along with other MMOs in the market

It's really not hard if you just look at what history says. And even if EQ had had hte advertising, without the resources it never would have got far. Bottom line, sony gave up on it.

Even I have to admit that if this was 2005 I would put my money on EQ2.

[Kimm Barely]

For me, things went exponentially downhill with Luclin... especially with WoW on the Horizon. Then PoP came out and confirmed EQ was finished.

Vanilla WoW was where it was at. Didn't bite into Burning Crusade after a year break and when I finally checked it out, it reminded me of the Luclin decline.

EZ mode plus alien planets in my fantasy MMORPG - yeah, ok.

When's Project 2004 Vanilla WoW coming out?

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[Shadey]

Originally Posted by Rogean [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What caused the decline of EQ was WoW pretty much.

Totally agree. The downfall of the modern mmo was WoW. Ezmode instant gratification.

[Nazgull2k1]

Originally Posted by Rogean [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What caused the decline of EQ was WoW pretty much.

I really have to disagree with this statement.

First, EQ/SoE had a LOOONG standing history of, for lack of a better term, pissing all over the subscribers faces. They didnt care if we were happy, they had our money, they had no competition.

WoW, UO, Earth & Beyond.. it wouldnt have mattered. SOE killed themselves with outstandingly shitty customer relations. They catered to the top 1% of EVERY server, they released a new "exspansion" every 6 months, without fail, for years.. most of them with massively broken content, buggy gameplay, and a rushed feel like they were literally TRYING to run it into the ground.

They NEVER fixed broken quests, bugs etc, because they had no reason to do so. I forgot the exact name of the quest, but I know one of the major Kunark quests went unfixed for FOUR YEARS.

John Smedly was the death knell of EQ. His "Vision" is what killed the game. His GREED is what killed the game.

The servers were in decline LOONG before WoW showed up. That much I remember quite clearly. I remember Gates of Discord, I remember playing it.. I remember going "WTF Is this shit".. then I remember cancelling, uninstalling, and never looking back. It wasnt a month later they were announcing the NEXT fucking exspansion.. while simultaniously spouting apologies of GoD being a broken piece of trash.

As far as *when* for me.. it would have to be a draw between Luclin and Planes of Power. Luclin made porting less needed, but still functional.. PoP completely killed it.

Luclin had Paludal Caverns, hands down the best leveling zone ever created, Vah Shir (A fun race!) and BST (a great solo class)

PoP had a great raid progression system, perhaps a little TOO restricted for the casual players tastes.

All said and done..

WoW had nothing to do with the demise of EQ.. WoW, if anything, was the wakeup call SOE needed to start trying to save thier game, listen to thier playerbase.. too little, too late..