This is a cool compromise. The expense of the other makes it a ridiculous request, in any game. People forget that this is a game, created for profit. Expansions are made to further that end. They make games for our enjoyment and we play them. Compromises like this really make me appreciate the service.

Fair points, but it's still not what the community wanted, and while it's nice to talk about the business cases, I want to talk about good games, and EQ used to be one. What they have now is a compromise, while that's nice, it's not really what folks were looking to recapture from EQ.

These new changes do nothing for a new player, they don't help anyone approaching EQ from new to give it a shot. It's confusing, beguiling, an people do like to have the sense of growth. What they have done is to make experienced players replay some of the old content, which really dictates where EQ is right now, it's in subscriber retention mode, rather than trying new things to reinvigorate this once wonderful franchise.

SOE missed the boat in spectacular fashion by reworking EQ into a browser based free to play MMO with RMT. Given the depth, the design and the community, this would have been a huge hit for people who were outside the tween market they are hell bent on solely focusing on, but alas, it's all fairy wings and race car games now at SOE. It's a pity really, as EQ doesn't deserve to be left hanging like this, and content wise it really does compete with WoW, it just doesn't look as nice and has some archaic game play mechanisms that need a overhaul.

There might be a EQ3 in the wings, but SOE need to take a tip from Blizz on this one and evolve their games, not just pump out xpac after xpac hoping that more people don't leave. The major failing was reinvestment in their own technology, unfortunately the scope of MMO's was not realized at that time, so SOE can't be directly blamed for this oversight many years ago.

"...SOE need to take a tip from Blizz on this one and evolve their games, not just pump out xpac after xpac hoping that more people don't leave...."

Please explain to me how WoW has evolved and EQ has not, given a comprable timeframe (ie 5 years after launch)?

I played EQ from Kunark through Gates of Discord. Each expansion up until that point really evolved the game...moreso than WoW has with its expansions. Kunark really defined what the end game/raid would be for not just EverQuest, but MMOs in general. Velious introduced new ways to acquire raid gear and made a variable faction system important to everyone, not to mention put evil and good races on the same ground. Luclin added the Alternate avancement point system and did a major graphical overhaul. Lost Dungeons of Norrath introduced instancing for the first time in a MMO, a key element of almost all modern MMOs.

And what has WoW done? Flying mounts? Arena system? Alternate specs? All of those seem pretty mundane compared to what EQ accomplished in its first 4-5 years. WoW is a fun game which keeps on delivering for many, but to say they are more evolutionary than EQ is ridiculous.

Lately, sure EQ has been all 'xpac after xpac', because that's really because the game isn't worth messing with...SOE has so many other titles, they are just milking EQ for what it's worth until it dies. Nothing lasts forever...there will come a time when WoW just gets milked for cash with expansions, too.

OK, I've taken time to respond to you, but I don't usually respond "on demand", your demeanor isn't really ideal when encouraging others to engage in discussion, none the less, I hope this sets you straight.

You've taken one part of what I've said, and used it as the basis of your rant against Blizzard Entertainment, this is not what we are talking about. You want to write up a compelling argument for WoW vs EQ, go for it, it's not the discussion I want to have, and I didn't incorporate this into my response other than to talk about a hugely successful company who have continued to reinvest in their game, beyond the initial years of production.

If you reread carefully, I referenced Blizzard in the same paragraph as I was talking about reinvestment in technology, the major failing.

EQ is stuck with an outdated engine which hide the quality of game itself, Blizzard have made changes to scale their technology to newer machine and to attempt to keep pace (even though they appreciate it's evolution rather than revolution) by adding such enhancements as cross server protocols to aid with grouping. I also feel you've downplayed some of the features unfairly, but again, not here to talk about WoW per se, so I'll leave that for you to uncover in greater detail if you really see fit.

Like I said, if SOE had continued to evolve, the EQ franchise would be vastly larger than it already is, their failure to reinvest in their technology now means they have outdated platforms to push expansion after expansion and no room left to innovate. I also mentioned this was not wholly their fault, because the genre was immature and they at the time were one of the first out there amongst very few worthy competitors.

They instead decided to rewrite their game from the ground up, and write a 'sequel' cannibalizing their own player base, rather than broadening it's potential to the market by making similar changes to the content heavy and lush Everquest game. The fact that EQ trumps EQ2 to this day, demonstrates that was an unwise decision. A failure to reinvest, the willingness to start over. This is what I'm talking about, evolution, not starting over.

In summary, their innovated at the start of EQ, the first mass market MMO without doubt, definitely, but they lost pace, they didn't keep up, and as a result their IP didn't grow to it's true potential, they diluted their own appeal and didn't reach the mass market, just the basement dwelling PC aficionado, which is a given for this type of technology.

I trust this restates my position regarding the technology, I should have known the words 'Blizzard Entertainment' are a red rag to some ;)

You took the time to respond because you're just like me, an opinionated geek who refuses to lose an argument with a complete stranger on the Internet :-) Don't be shy, admit it.

I had no beef with Blizzard, I had a beef with you claiming that the WoW team evolved the game more than the EQ team did...I just didn't think that was a fair statement.

Reinvesting in 'technology' is good, if that technology is worth reinvesting in (I really think that's a bad word choice on your part but I can't think of a better one at the moment so whatever). As you mentioned, EQ had the trouble of being in a very new genre. They really didn't have much idea of what to expect. Their initial plans were for a game that might last three years and see something like 90k subscribers. They had to improvise much more than any other MMO that came after it. And as it gets older, the only way to evolve the game is to change major core aspects. Which is extremely risky...you have a lot of people playing the game because they like it as-is...change it the wrong way and they will bail, and who knows if you will attract enough new subscribers to keep it afloat. (SWG much?)

WoW had the advantage of seeing EQ strong after five years, so they had a much longer game plan for the growth of the game. Being a Blizzard title, they also had a huge following just waiting for them, because Blizzard is freaking awesome and does not release bad games, period. Basically Blizzard has the advantage of planning for a much longer run, and massive resources. Really if you compare MMOs, I would bet Blizzard's % contribution back into development is smaller than most. They are pouring that cash into D3, SC2, and the Unknown MMO. (Which isn't unreasonable, as that smaller % is still probably a ridiculous sum of money).

I guess my overall point is that 989/Verant/SOE did the best anyone could with what they had, up until the point they decided it was past its prime and moved on. They didn't stop investing in it because they were a bad company who made bad decisions, they stopped because it was not worth the risk of losing subscribers. WoW continues to invest in it, because that is what the planned on doing 7+ years ago when they conceived the title.