SOE purchased and becomes Daybreak Game Company

oh - That I did not know - thanks for clarifying :-)

Also I don’t think anyone has mentioned it but PR rep Linda “Brasse” has confirmed that they are skipping fan faire (aka SOE live) this year. So no vegas pool party. Bummer, I havent missed one in last 7 years. On the plus side I picked the right year to -skip- fan faire and go to Alaska. So this works out great for me. =)

I logged into EQ1 the other day. So lost.

Which MMOs are you playing, Kadath?

It’s going to be hilarious when EQ1 turns up in the classic game club.

I must admit I totally considered it especially since you can start from Level 1 and go through all of the classic zones and even well into your 60s on the free version they have. Somewhere along the line they changed the mana regen rates and it plays fairly fast now and you can level much faster than in the old days. My wife and I played last year again and went back and completed her original wizard epic alone with just us 2 (me running a second char on 2nd computer) and all 3 with the new mercs that function surprisingly well as healers and tanks. You would probably want the pay version of these once you get into your 70s and higher, but up to level 60 you can function just fine with the free version.

I know the game well enough I was planning to take folks through the old classic zones and quests and see the sights that folks experienced in those early days. I still think that could be quite fun to do sometime.

No joke. I think that would actually be pretty interesting. I haven’t played it in years and it might be fun to timewarp through some classic MMO action.

At the very least, it would remind me of the stuff newer MMO designs made better.

EQ1 on Bristlebane, in a 3rd place raiding guild called Sol Invictus. I just barely made 103, struggling to reach 105. Still enjoying the raid game but the group content in this expansion suuuuuuuuuuucks. Worst expansion in 16 years.

I consider Destiny an MMO as well and I am playing the hell out of that instead of EQ.

Ah.

I’m on Bertoxx. Used to be Saryrn.

What are the good guides/rotations sites for getting back into EQ1?

Boy I couldnt tell you. I don’t read any fan sites any more, closest I come to that is following devs on Twitter and Facebook. Hell you can buy a pack that lets you skip from 1-90 for like $15 these days! It’s nuts. But levelling 1-100 is very easy no matter the route you take as long as you are willing to do it solo, molo, or have friends to help. 100-105 is fucking painful tho because the new zones suck so bad and if you don’t have a solid group to help you through the missions to get exp (as opposed to killing for exp) it will take forever.

But I’m happy to help anyone who needs it, if you make a character on Bristle. Can even get ya a couple K gold to get you all your spells and stuff.

Incredible statement.

Just my opinion. Others may vary. I’ve played a wizard in a family raiding guild for 13 years and when that finally couldn’t go any further I finally gave in and joined my guildmates who jumped ship to a ‘real’ raiding guild and liked it better than I imagined I would. But my heart is in the day to day camaraderie of the grouping game, and that’s all but disappeared. I have an excellent reputation for building groups that shouldn’t work and winning missions and events and even I can sit for 4 hours trying to LFG or build a group with no success cause there simply isnt anyone taking LFGs outside of their own guilds and cliques these days.

Trash mobs have so much HP that it takes 2 minutes plus each to kill them.

Zone design is so horrible with cramped low visibility caves (Caverns Zone), unwalkable steps (Degmar) and wide open boring rehashes (Katta)

Experience from kills is nonexistent. Mission rewards have improved but suuuuuucked for a long time after release, by then most had already burned out on them cause they were boring, rehashed old models and missions, and just took forever.

There is no relatable story in this expansion. Who the fuck knows what you are trying to accomplish other than getting to Arx to fight Lanys for the 100000x fucking time.

THERE IS ZERO NEW IDEAS here. Nothing. There is nothing you can point to and say "you know what, addning XXXX in TDS was a GREAT addition to this game’.

TDS = TeDiouS, coincidence? I think not.

YMMV.

I play a necro. He’s 85 (I boosted him from 58-85 with one of the free boosts).

I’d love to get back into EQ, but I stopped after PoP. I literally have no idea how to get to any of the new zones and what not. The thought of expending the effort to learn makes me just want to play one of my other MMOs.

A friend might come back in a few months so I’ll play with him if he comes back.

To be clear, Kadath, I don’t have an opinion either way. It’s just amazing to have someone refer to 16 years worth of expansion content for any game.

I was in similar situation a while ago. Best thing to do, is start a new character and go through the tutorial zone, and the crescent reach starting zone. That will get you to level 20, and by that time you’ll have a decent idea of what’s going on. Everything is relatively easy to get to now, as Plane Of Knowledge has ports to everywhere. The current gear that drops and is sold is also better than PoP raid gear. Heck, you get better gear in the starting zone. That makes the under level 70 game pretty much a breeze.

I started over from scratch, and ended up 3 boxing within a month. It’s been incredibly fun, both from a nostalgia perspective, and also just a pure gaming one. I find multi boxing to be really really fun, and EQ takes nothing to run, so it works just fine with 3 instance of the program open. You don’t even need any special software, just start another .exe on a new account.

You can get to 60 in a day now, at most 2. EQ is still the best MMO to me, even though it’s changed quite a bit. It’s worth taking the time in that game, just to sight see all the various zones. They did such a great job of creating really different environments, with a limited pixel count.

That’s the thing, if you enjoy the game inevitably you are going to be tempted to multi box to survive. I have three boxes myself but that just burned me out even faster. If you enjoy it, great, not for me an anathema to why I play MMOs…

Nightgaunt: understood.

Again all just like one guys opinion, man…

Multiboxing is actually hella-fun. I played around with it in WoW for a bit, doing RAF leveling. It’s an interesting challenge.

Agreed and I have done it a lot. But it’s completely antisocial, hence not why I mmo

Kotaku is reporting a large number of layoffs coming to Daybreak today.

Dave Georgeson is out, Stick a fork in EQ franchise, it is done.

Official statement:

As part of a strategic decision to rationalize the business, Daybreak Game Company announced today that it will eliminate positions in both its San Diego and Austin studios. This alignment of resources better positions the newly independent studio for future growth opportunities and developments, including delivering on its legacy of making top online games and establishing a solid foundation for future multi-platform success. These reductions will not affect the operation of current games and the company will continue on its mission to partner with its player community to drive the future and push the boundaries of online gaming.

Linda “Brasse” Carlson, Global Community Relations Lead, is one of the jobless.

Good morning, my friends. Almost exactly six years ago today, I had just lost my job, I posted then, “So, if anyone needs a proper Dwarf…” and my adventure with SOE began.

Today I post again… so, if anyone needs a proper Dwarf…

I have been released from the best and most challenging job I have ever had. I thank you all for being part of that incredible experience. Too many people to thank personally, but know that I am extraordinarily grateful and very curious where life takes me now.