Living Legacy: What it does and what it doesn't
Long-time players of Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest will likely recall the name Loral Ciriclight. A fixture in the EQ community, he's written for years about the game at the Mobhunter site. Of late, the site has been dark. The Evil Agendas have been kept in the drawer, the thoughts on expansion cycles have been explained offline. In response to the recent hoopla around the Living Legacy event Ciriclight felt the need to offer his views on the initiative.
From the commentator's point of view, the drive just doesn't address the real issues behind EverQuest's decline. While the toys are neat and free playtime is always welcome, Ciriclight notes that the many problems that persist throughout the game's design are still there. Players left EverQuest for a reason. It might have been the mandatory grouping, or the large raid size. Or something else entirely. Whatever they left the game for - it's probably still there. The Mobhunter offers a few ideas of how they could attract the attention of wayward players and make them stick, but ultimately he doesn't seem too hopeful.
Says Ciriclight, "Without establishing new character baselines or changing the way the game is played, players are likely to leave for the same reason they left in the first place. At this time, other games are just more fun."
