Interview with the original EverQuest team

[Mardur]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10...-te/#continued

[Diggles]

Wow. Good read.

[Diggles]

"6 months. Please let it run 6 months."

here we are 12 years later.

[Kika Maslyaka]

This is btw is the source of all the inherited EQ flaws - when they made the game they never expected an average player to pass level 30, and did expected that game will die out in 6 months. That how we ended up with just 3 raid targets for entire game world...

[SoulLeech]

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

This is btw is the source of all the inherited EQ flaws - when they made the game they never expected an average player to pass level 30, and did expected that game will die out in 6 months. That how we ended up with just 3 raid targets for entire game world...

Every MMO inherits flaws that would be better left behind. It's the law of these open-ended treadmill games that only ever die by attrition.

Think of any great standalone work or even trilogy in entertainment. Would they have been nearly as great or memorable if the creator and been afraid to allow any of his characters to grow, change or die? If he had simply kept writing until his words became unintelligible and no one cared to read them.

That's the story of every MMO.

I'd love to see a full-fledged MMO come along with the guts to have a finite scope, a beginning and an end.

Perhaps there could be some linkage between iterations or titles from the developer to retain "invested" players but nothing that would lock in 6 month, much less 5 or 10 year old design decisions.

I understand that a such a game could never find success with the millions who are completely satisfied with the rote experiences offered today.

[Felwithemagi]

Awesome indeed, glad I was there and here. They don't mention the downsides, all the hurdles and challenges we (them and us) faced, so some of their comments are half-truths to outright lies, fyi. But it was a learning experience for sure. Ah the memories live on...

[Kevlar]

I can't believe they thought it was cool that they fucked over their players bad enough to cause mass protests.

[Mardur]

The monk nerf was warranted though.

A ranger protest I could understand, but they began addressing that in Luclin.

[Galacticus]

So true:


"But the amazing thing to me -- and I've been making games for 22 years -- is that this is the one and only game that I've ever seen that actually resembles the design doc. And it was still to this day a pretty amazing feat to me."

[mwatt]

What amazes me is that some of these guys still don't get it - even though they created it. Corpse runs, death penalities, having to camp rewarding mobs - being ABLE to camp rewarding mobs... these are GOOD things, even though some aspect of them could be deemed bad. When you pull out all the trials, tribulations and dangers you are left with something flat and meaningless - which means there is little drive to play.