EQ2: 350,000 and growing...and NO waiting queues!!

[Twiz]

Edited to add URL to the article:

http://eq2players.station.sony.com/e...ge=FreeContent

EverQuest II continues to grow at an amazing rate, not just in the number of players that have fallen in love with the game's rich, entertaining content, but also in the physical size of the world. We've got over 350,000 people logging in to our servers every week, with no delays or wait times and the game they are playing is only getting better.

Below are a few reasons why we believe that if you aren't currently playing EverQuest II, you should be. We are committed to our player base and are very passionate about making EverQuest II the best MMO game.

Open Communication
Sony Online has an amazing community relations team that listens to players' feedback, and let them know what is going on with EverQuest II. Our development team and even our president, John Smedley, often respond personally to players, so players can rest assured that SOE is listening (and reading) and we do care what our subscribers think. Many of the changes that have already been made to EverQuest II (i.e. more solo content, new interfaces, and even quest content) have been a direct result of community feedback.

350,000 Players, No Waiting -- SOE Subscribers Can Play the Game They're Paying to Play, When They Want To
We believe strongly in ensuring that the players can get into EverQuest II whenever they want. Understandably, all MMO games have downtime for maintenance and patching, but we don't believe in making our players wait to play our games. Players are paying a monthly subscription to play a game and our job is to work hard to let them play it as much as, and when, they choose.

Tons of Content Added Since Launch
Since launch, an enormous amount of free content has been added to EverQuest II. In addition to changes that made the game more fun for soloists and group players alike, more than 1100 quests have been added to the game since launch on November 8th. We've added more than 1200 new items to the game, including more craftable items for tradeskillers, and more loot around the world. Almost 400 new spells have been added and we've worked diligently to make sure our spell effects are as eye-catching as they are powerful. Recently, we added 8 new areas to the world, so there are now well over 100 zones in the world of EverQuest II to explore.

That's not all. We have a very long list of new features, additions, and gameplay enhancements that make EverQuest II even more fun to play, including:

Greatly increased solo and small group experience rewards
Lots of new armor looks
Two new dungeons available for level 25 to 30 groups
A dozen new level 50 epic raid zones have been added, including the Draconic quests
Eight new instanced dungeons for both soloers and groups
More encounters added for soloers and small groups, including advanced solo encounters
Tons of new quests, many for solo players
Sabotage quests that allow you to strike at your rival city
Training spells added as yet another way to personalize your character
New examine information added to explain the benefits of spells, arts, food, drink, poisons, and potions
Brawlers get built-in shields
Guild followers can now spend the status they earn at city merchants
Easier to equip rings, wrist items, and weapons
Maps now show your current heading
Lots of UI tweaks and enhancements
Revamped Heroic Opportunities, making them more fun and visually dynamic
Vitality indicator added to your XP bar
Tabbed chat windows have been added to organize your conversations
See what your target is attacking with the new Implied Target window
More precise, informative AC values
New heritage quests, including Golden Efreeti Boots and the Crown of King Tranix
A new con system that allows you to see important information on enemies before you attack
Longer durations for short-term group buffs and single-target buffs
Less fizzles on spells meaning more damage more often
Shorter timers and fewer restrictions on instanced zones
House pet naming
All tradeskill classes can now refine their own materials and components
Wizards and Warlocks go nuke happy with more damage
Tanks now tank better with increased mitigation
Easier search abilities so you can find potions, poisons, activated items, and food
Even more voiceover available for optional download
Unmatched Customer Service
Our customer service team is working around the clock to ensure the best possible play experience for all of our players. As EverQuest II continues to grow, our CSRs and Game Masters continue to hone their skills at addressing our players' needs. New help solutions are constantly being created and implemented as well, allowing our players to maximize their enjoyment of the game rather than our hold music.

All of this new content has given players a reason to come back to our world again and again, and we're continuing to make gameplay improvements every month.

Today, Sony Online Entertainment would like to invite players from any game that may be experiencing lines to log in to their servers, a lack of customer service attention, or a lack of new, free game content, to play the EverQuest II Trial of the Isle demo -- We think they'll agree that EverQuest II is a fun, engaging experience that players have to see to believe.

[Ripperjack]

Yes but...



... 'nuff said!

[RedMan]

ROFLMAO

If you have the link though twiz throw it up for those that'll want it.

For awhile there I though you had written it.

[Jero]

Angst Technology is on of my favourite cartoons, located here:

www.inktank.com

[Sloffe]

Actually I'm interested in trying out the EQ2 demo but
a) It only seems to be available through gamespy/fileplanet and my computers refuse to work with either, and
b) with only a 128k ISDN connection a 1.64gig d/l is gonna take a while to download.
Are there any other options available in obtaining it? Even a bittorrent download would be preferable.
BTW this must set a new record for the biggest demo. 8O

[Bayle]

maybe the biggest shortest demo, you can only play on newbie isle, which is good, but offers very little in replay value, i am guessing if you were to put your mind to it, you might be able to max out at newbie isle in about 3 - 4 hours with one character, if youre a old pro, less time than that.

[Twiz]

Originally Posted by RedMan

ROFLMAO

If you have the link though twiz throw it up for those that'll want it.

For awhile there I though you had written it.

Hmmmm good point...they couldn't pay me enough to be a "real" SoE PR rep...

[Twiz]

Originally Posted by Ripperjack

Yes but...



... 'nuff said!

LoL Ripper...bwahhhhh...I WANT my TIE fighter for those long journeys to the Commonlands...

[cakewench]

Bonus points for the Goonies ref.

[Handa]

I guess I'd have to ask what "350,000 players" means. All to often in the MMORPG market, numbers are manipulated to put the most favorable spin on a developers project. I certainly understand the motive for that but the consumer needs to take such pronouncements with a grain of salt until numbers are defined. I suspect that there are FAR fewer then 350,000 simultaneous users in EQ2. In fact, data supports that EQ2 is under-preforming as a heavyweight mmorpg title. This link, http://www.mmorpgchart.com/ is for the current definative measurement of mmorpg market share developed by Bruce Woodcock. His research is largely based on pronouncements made by publishers and corporate "suits" so self-serving numbers are possible.

Excerpted from Woodcocks analysis: "Firstly, I rely on the companies and employees themselves to provide the bulk of the data. The numbers they give could be completely made up, and as Enron taught us, even financial reports could be misleading. However, given that none of claims seem highly outrageous, and that all companies are equally capable of lying, it would seem that the numbers given are pretty close to the truth. There is probably some minor fudging involved when a company wants to claim a major milestone, rounding up to the nearest 5K or 10K increment. But at the very least, the relative comparison between MMOGs is retained, even if individual data points may be off 10% or more.

Secondly, there’s no universal consensus on what constitutes an active subscriber. Some companies may count players currently on their traditional first “free month” as a current subscriber, whereas others might not start counting them until after that period and the customer actually chooses to subscribe. Although the accounts that don’t subscribe get “subtracted’ a month later, such accounting could create a continuous effect of inflating the overall subscription total. Most MMOGs probably do this, but some may not, and this may make them appear slightly larger than they actually are. Still, after the initial launch of a game or an expansion, the actual monthly effect of such accounts should be relatively minor… perhaps on the order of 10%.

Finally, a “subscriber” is generally counted as an individually numbered account currently in a company’s billing system. In some instances, one person may maintain multiple accounts, and thus be double or even triple-counted. Some MMOGs may even encourage this behavior more than others. There isn’t much I can do about this fact; again, the effect is probably minor compared to the overall population of a given MMOG, and in any case it’s certainly valid to count such multiple subscriptions if your goal is to evaluate the relative market share of each MMOG."

There seems to be the attempt to sell based upon a negative in the statement from SOE as if attacking WOW (by implication) somehow makes EQ2 a more attractive game. SOE's statement could be "spun" as...."all servers have a maximum capacity. We would have liked to have maxed that capacity, but because we didn't, its no problem logging in." To me, it is amazing the reaction exhibited by fans of a particular game....especially if they perceive their game to be "bested" by a competitor. In fact, the success of multiple games can only be a positive for the mmorpg genre in whole. As more and more games succeed, other developers will be enticed into the genre. Some of what they produce will be trash or vaporware but the genre's consumers will at least get further diversity from which to choose. And to be successful, many of these developers will bring further innovation into the online game world.

edit: corrected dead link