Cameron Sorden

Please. It's not like it would be that hard to pad out their development team.

They don't need to have one huge, unwieldy team. They could whip out a series of small, tightly-focused teams with specific content goals and a management crew that understands the overall vision and continuity.

Communication can be hard but you can't tell me that Blizzard doesn't have the resources to make it work.

Personally, I prefer Vanguard (of the two), but there are lots of people who would vehemently disagree with me.

The choice depends on a number of factors, but you'd honestly have to play them both to decide for yourself.

I wish NWN2 had a similar combat and movement system to DDO, but it's just a little too slow for my taste. DDO > NWN, in my opinion.

Except then you have to deal with permadeath... that's pretty hardcore.

Seems like that's the best way to do it, which is why it's just not quite there at the $15 mark.

There are quite a few differences, but the really big one which springs to mind is that NWN2 has bulky and cumbersome control scheme, while DDO does not.

I far prefer the fluid dungeons and combat of DDO to the NWN2 system.

Plus, I've never had much luck with the NWN2 multiplayer. It's just kind of clunky, imo.

If it's got to be a monthly fee, I probably wouldn't pay it, honestly. As much as I like DDO, the group-oriented nature of the gameplay combined with the fact that people who know the dungeons ruin the experience mean that I can only really enjoy it when playing in a consistent group of people who have run only the same dungeons I have.

I don't have a lot of friends willing to keep a (second) monthly fee up for a once-per-week gaming session of just a few hours.

Unless they switch to a Guild Wars style pricing model, I just don't see myself giving it a lot of play time in the future.

It's really great that SOE is offering a program like this. I'm thrilled about it just because I think it's such a great way to get people playing EQ and EQII again and see how much fun those games are.

That said, I understand exactly what those bloggers are saying. SOE has taken everyone that ever played either of those games and given them a boatload of cool stuff to try to entice them back. If you logged into EverQuest II one time, hated it, and never came back, you suddenly get all kinds of cool little pets and perks that aren't available to people who've been playing and paying all along. Those people are most likely the ones that have stuck with the game through good times and bad and been evangelizing it to their friends all through the years---not just when it's free to play for two months.

They might get perks "all the time since they pay and play more" as someone said, but why shouldn't they also get the same perks that everyone else does? It seems silly to punish the people who are your biggest fans, just because they've stood by you. Veteran rewards are minor at best, and I think they might be tied to the account date for EQ2 anyway---so people who bought it at launch and come back may have them all (can anyone confirm or deny?).

I've always thought the parable of the prodigal son was stupid. It's great to reward people who are coming back and celebrate their returned presence in Norrath, but there are enough rewards to go around. Everyone, including current players, should at least be getting the claim perks and expansions offered to returning players.

Even though it causes MUDflation, I really enjoy passing down twink items to my alts. That used to be one of my favorite parts of EverQuest in the Kunark and Velious era: twinking out a newbie in level 50ish gear and kicking the crap out of lowbie dungeons with my brother.

Ambulation does sound really cool. I got to talk to some CCP folks about it at PAX last year when I was covering it for Ten Ton Hammer, and if they can deliver on the vision it will be pretty neat. I may have to give it another go then.