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Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video)
We had a fun time trying Sony's SOEmote expression capture tech at E3; now everyone can try it. As of today, most EverQuest II players with a webcam can map their facial behavior to their virtual personas while they play, whether it's to catch the nuances of conversation or drive home an exaggerated game face. Voice masking also lets RPG fans stay as much in (or out of) character as they'd like. About the only question left for those willing to brave the uncanny valley is when other games will get the SOEmote treatment. Catch our video look after the break if you need a refresher.
SOEmote brings your facial expressions to EverQuest II, lets fellow gamers know when you stub your toe
So, you love you some EverQuest II, but how much of you is really in that Ogre character of yours? Sony Online Entertainment has unveiled a new way let players put a bit more of their own personal stamp on the game, in the form of the SOEmote. The new feature, unveiled a few days ahead of E3, uses a computer camera to track facial movements, bringing player expressions to the characters themselves. Also new are voice fonts, allowing players to tailor the timbre of their speech, so your character can sound a bit more like the killer in Scream, just as you've always imagined.
The Tattered Notebook: A 'Top Gear' look at mounts
Previously, I've been writing about the weighty topic of free-to-play vs. live subscription servers in EverQuest II. This week, I'd like to switch gears, both figuratively and literally, to talk about speed. I've recently become a fan of the show Top Gear, a British program(me) that is completely devoted to the love of cars. I don't know why -- I'm not really into cars, and my Volkswagon Passat Wagon hardly qualifies as a car with a soul. But I was watching a recent episode, the one in which Jeremy was driving an Aston Martin across country, and I thought about how far EQII's mount selection has grown. Gone are the days when your choices ranged from a horse with brown spots to a horse with white spots to the really impressive horse with brown and white spots. The only unique mounts back then were the Paladin and Shadow Knight "fun" mounts. Today, there are dozens of different types of mounts that run, leap, glide, and fly. And they're not all just marketplace quick hits; several are easily attained from simple quests or live events. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I'll look at a few of my favorite mounts with an ode to Top Gear.
The Tattered Notebook: EverQuest II's year in review
EverQuest II may be the ripe old age of six, but it certainly isn't showing signs of slowing down. With 2010 coming to a close, it's time to look back on the past year, which was marked with several major changes to the game. Read on for The Tattered Notebook's year in review, and then share your memories of the past year in EverQuest II.
The Tattered Notebook: What EverQuest II deserves this Frostfell
Santa Glug is prepping his bags and getting ready to deliver the goods this Frostfell! While some of us, mainly Gnomes, will end up with a sack of coal to place in our homes, most of us have been well-deserving of the treats we're sure to receive. EverQuest II has had an extremely eventful year, and despite a few bumps in the road here and there, it's a game that deserves some festive holiday gifts this Frostfell. Read more to see what I'd like Santa Glug to deliver to EverQuest II this season.
The Daily Grind: How useful are your favorite forums?
We here at Massively spend a lot of time on game forums. Whether we're researching an article for a game like The Old Republic, taking the pulse of the community over in Paragon City, or even looking for info to tweak our EQII characters, it's a given that a certain portion of our week will be spent poring over endless walls of flam... er, threads. For my part, I've often wondered how many of my fellow MMORPG players spend much (or any) time on the forums. Inevitably during the course of a particularly polarizing discussion, someone will chime in to the effect of "only the hardcores even read these forums, 90% of the players are happily, you know, playing!" While there is a kernel of truth in such statements, they are impossible to actually prove, much less quantify. That said, I'm interested in your opinions, Massively readers. Are you a regular reader (or contributor) to the discussion boards of your primary game, and if so, what is your gut feeling regarding the percentage of your fellow players who do likewise?
EQII's Xelgad reads forums, talks class balance
If you've wondered whether the developers on your favorite game ever read their own forums, you're not alone. Often it seems as if MMORPG tweaks happen in a vacuum, with little to no player input taken into consideration. Happily, EQ2Wire has released an interview with EverQuest II class lead Mike "Xelgad" Ganz that debunks this particular theory (at least for one game). Ganz uses the interview session to talk about his typical day, changes to the Fury, Warden, and Enchanter classes, and the importance of forum feedback. "I read and consider all feedback that gets posted on the forums. The forums are a good place for players to express their feelings about their classes and I can evaluate changes based on that feedback along with the data we collect from other sources," Ganz says. Head over to EQ2Wire for the full interview.
SOE releases Fan Faire attendee list
Thinking about heading to Sony Online Entertainment's annual Fan Faire gala, but not sure if your favorite developer or community liaison will be in attendance? Fear not, as Ashlanne has posted an exhaustive list of attendees on the official Station community forums. This year's event, scheduled to take place August 5th - 8th in Las Vegas, will feature a veritable who's who of SOE talent, including developers from EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, Pox Nora, and The Agency Covert Ops. You can visit the official Fan Faire website for more information and the official Station forums for the full guest list.
EQII's Dave Georgeson talks battlegrounds, starter cities
Now that this year's E3 is safely in the rear-view mirror, more MMO-centric news from the show is slowly filtering out of outlets around the web as writers are able to collect their interview notes and put fingers to keyboards. One such piece features EverQuest II's Dave Georgeson, the new producer on the long-running fantasy MMORPG, who sat down with Ten Ton Hammer to chat about changes coming soon to the world of Norrath. Georgeson indicates that the updates will be revealed at this year's SOE Fan Faire. In the meantime, he mentions tweaks to the beloved cities of Freeport and Qeynos, recently removed as starter city options to the chagrin of many veteran players. "I think the business as usual model needs to change. It would be so much better if we can put back some of the richness into the game so we don't have the empty world syndrome. We're going to be offering some new things here in the future that are really going to shake things up a bit," Georgeson says. He also touches on the problems inherent in the new Battlegrounds system, as well as hints at plans to address it eventually. "I think that people who are just casually going in are getting worked by people who have a lot of PvP gear and because of that we are seeing that people aren't going in without a full board commitment. Because not a lot of new people are going in we basically have the same set of people playing over and over again. Battlegrounds is a really good feature and we will continue to support it, we like it a lot; it's just under performing for the amount of effort we put into it," he says.
Alan "Brenlo" Crosby steps down from EverQuest 2 and Sony Online Entertainment
Yes, you read that correctly. Alan "Brenlo" Crosby is no longer with Sony Online Entertainment. This is the latest in a string of significant staff changes in the gaming industry for April, so what happened this time? Well, the official word from Sony Online Entertainment is "After many years of service with SOE, Alan "Brenlo" Crosby has moved on to other opportunities. And while it is sad to see him leave, we wish him the best of luck in his new endeavors. At this time, we'd like to take a moment to announce EverQuest II's new producer, Dave "Avatar" Georgenson. Dave is excited to join the EQII Team and will be posting an introduction in the near future." We spoke to Alan as well, and he told us "Yeah after working together for 10 years, it was my time to move on. Was a great ride and I am going to miss my SOE family." We at Massively wish Alan the best of luck!
The Tattered Notebook: Mail time
Ah ha! Finally! Freedom from the human reporter, Seraphina! She is going to PAX East, leaving me to my own devices! Now, finally, I can enact the plan I've been waiting so long to do! ...answer one of your e-mails. Muhahahahahahaha! Ok, ok darlings. I know that perhaps this is not quite the same as world domination or the destruction of Qeynos, but it's special for me, yes? Usually I have to be somewhat pleasant in these weekly scribblings. But, with my oversight gone, I can let you experience the wrath of a true Tier'dal! ...with helpful advice along the way, of course.
Indiana University studies economic interplay via Everquest II
It's no secret that MMOs have been embraced by researchers for a variety of purposes, with everything from social dynamics to the spread of diseases being modeled within the contained environment of a video game. A group of researchers over at Indiana University were attracted for just that reason, and began studying the ways that virtual economies mirror real-world economies on Everquest II. The full story can be found here, with some discussion regarding the relationship between the playerbase and the way it affects the real-world economic concerns of these games.Certainly it's an interesting field of study, but it brings to mind one of the major ways in which an MMO economy doesn't have the ability to mirror a real-world economy: the fact that the stream of money going in to players is essentially unlimited, since there will always be roaming enemies to kill and ways to make money. It's also surprising that the study would be focused on EQII instead of the darling child of MMO economies, EVE, of which there could be and have been entire publications written solely about its economy. However, the interplay between the real economy and the virtual one isn't likely to go away, especially with the rise of free-to-play games in prominence.[ via GamePolitics ]
Anti-Aliased: Who decided brown was such an awesome color?
Pet peeve time, ladies and gentlemen. I despise the realism movement in video games. Sure, I love seeing more accurate graphics and more realistic environments -- that's the nice part. I get to use my nice computer to explore amazing landscapes and take part in some beautiful interactions.But, whoever wrote the equation "Brown + Grass + Bland Colors = Realism" needs to have their head checked. With all of this amazing technology, we've seemed to have forgotten the magic of what games stand for. But what really gets me is the culture that's springing around this phenomenon. Apparently "toony" games aren't welcome here anymore. So I need to ask the question: "Who decided brown was an awesome color?"
Anti-Aliased: Who decided brown was such an awesome color? pt. 2
BrownQuest 2 ended up proving that too much of something was bad -- horribly, horribly bad. BrownQuest 2 could barely run on most systems because no one could handle the "extremely, super cool, melt your face" graphics and ended up sitting on the shelves that holiday season. The new rationale about the game was that it had future-proofed itself, lying in wait for computers to exist to run it at its graphical peak.That peak came, and no one rushed to buy the game. People came in and people left, and the game didn't turn out to be the huge blockbuster it was anticipated to be. And now, 4 years later, I turn on my computer and run BrownQuest 2 at maximum graphics easily, and I'm just not fully impressed. Are they good graphics? Sure they are. Are they so amazing that they make me run around my room screaming so loud that I can drown out Lewis Black? (NSFW) No, not really.So, with all of that in mind, let's turn to something more relevant. Let's turn to World of Warcraft. Say what you will about the game, but I think we can all agree that the game design of WoW is solid. It's not the holy grail, but it's certainly good enough to make 11 million people play it. Now ask yourself the question: "Would WoW be as popular and as good if it sported the extreme graphics EverQuest 2 did?"If you're hijacking my brainwaves, you know the answer already. Of course WoW wouldn't be popular if the graphic requirements were through the roof. Even if it was an amazing game, no one would be playing it because no one would be able to run it. In these times, we can't afford to go running off and upgrading our video cards just because we want to play that one game, *cough*Crysis*cough*.And is World of Warcraft a beautiful game? Of course it is! The vistas, the sunsets, the snow, the shattered landscapes. And for being so "cartoony" it can still pull off some really imposing places, like Blackrock Mountain, Hellfire Peninsula, Netherstorm, Icecrown Glacier, and many others. Certainly, the graphics have improved in the latest expansion, but the other areas of the game just don't scream "I'm dated" as loudly as "realistic" games can.Say what you want about graphics that don't push the edge of technology, use bright colors, and attempt to engage us in veritable water-colored landscapes. The truth is these things make sure that the game still looks good and appealing to us years down the line, they let the tone and aristry of the game shine through in ways that realistic graphics cannot, and they make sure that you can still play with your friends without spending wads of cash to upgrade your rig.Because, in the end, isn't that what a massively multiplayer game is about? Playing and enjoying the world with other people at your side? Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who believes games need to grasp the imagination, not your video card. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's over running Epic Loot For All! with his insane roommates. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com.
SOE launches Station Cash microtransaction system in EQ and EQII
Sony has announced that Station Cash is now available in EverQuest and EverQuest II. Station Cash is the SOE microtransaction platform allowing players to purchase in-game items from the virtual marketplace for real currency. More information on how to use the marketplace in EQ and EQII is available from the Station Cash website. There's also an extensive FAQ for those looking to partake in these markets.Items shown on the site include the Seafury Buccaneer Armor Crate and Flask of Achievements. US players can access this feature today and Europe should have it tomorrow. For information on how to fill your wallet, purchase items from the marketplace, and much more, visit the Station knowledge base. Our Station Cash walkthrough>> %Gallery-38919%
Bristlebane's Day told in pictures
It's Bristlebane's Day in Everquest II until April 2!The god of tricks and pranks has a special job for someone (maybe you!). Look for Blat Berisen outside the gates of your home city... The gods are sending evil thoughts into his brain, and only you can retrieve the tinfoil cap he needs to block them out. Will you accept the challenge? Check out our exclusive gallery for hints to help the quest along -- including amazing shots of the tin cap itself!%Gallery-19394%
The Daily Grind: What's the rush?
Somebody always does it. Shortly after any expansion launches you can expect someone to plow through all those levels and reach the maximum cap in less than a few days. This recently happened again in Rise of Kunark, 36 hours after the EverQuest 2 expansion hit desktops, Monk Taucher from the guild Second Dawn leveled from 70-80 netting a 100 dollar prize and their claim to short-lived leveling fame. I can understand the achievement aspect of wanting to level as fast as possible, reach the end and be done with it, but even so in an expansion hardcore players who raid won't be able to raid until their guild catches up. Doesn't this defeat the whole purpose of relishing content instead of whining about how there is nothing to do on the forums? Or the all-to-common argument amongst the core hardcores that their guild is slow because they slack and can't play 12 hours a day? I know we all enjoy different things about a MMOG, but leveling up and waiting for your guild to catch-up isn't very enjoyable -- I've been there myself. At least it took more than a few people to achieve this goal when World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade launched. Gullerbone, a mage leveled from 60 to 70 in a matter of 28 hours with the help of some friends using area effect spells to grind out the levels faster. I'm a firm believer that everyone should enjoy the game how they see fit as long as they aren't breaking the rules (dupes, gold-farming, etc.) but I still think leveling this fast is a bit over the top. I think at some point we all power-level and wish we would reach a certain level already. That's understandable, but as soon as an expansion launches? If you could, would you skip to the end after an expansion launched or do you prefer to take it in small chunks and get there when you get there?
Rumor Mill: EverQuest 2's Senior Producer quits, Scott Hartsman leaving SOE
A surprising rumor regarding EQ2's Senior Producer, Scott Hartsman aka Gallenite, is spreading across various MMOG forums claiming that he has parted ways with SOE. What makes this rumor noteworthy and more than likely veritable is that it originates from the administrator who runs EQ2 Flames, one of the more popular EQ2 fan forums. According to Scott Hartsman's bio on his personal blog he has been with Sony Online Entertainment for over six years and his first SOE credit is EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin. If Scott Hartsman is leaving to pursue other interests we here at Massively wish him the best of luck, but I don't think he needs it! If this rumor turns out to be true it would be a huge blow to the EverQuest 2 development team and the EverQuest 2 community. Scott Hartsman is a class act, and is one of the best in his field at what he does. Whoever steps in to try and fill his shoes will have a hell of a time as Hartsman has not only set the bar high when it comes to running the show, but his superb ability to manage community relationships and wax philosophic with the players. During his tenure as on EverQuest 2's, Senior Producer, Hartsman has established a remarkable reputation not only amongst his peers, but also among the more tight-knit MMOG forum goers, which by any means is no easy feat. I'm a bit shocked, especially to see this coming so shortly after Rise of Kunark's launch, and various recent interviews conducted with Hartsman about the expansion, including our own with Michael Zenke regarding grouping concerns in Rise of Kunark. What do you guys think about all this? I wonder if Hartsman will go on to work on another MMOG. If the rumor turns out to be true is EverQuest 2 screwed or is this rumor unfounded, and shouldn't have been reported by Massively? Let us know in the comments.
The "punctuated equilibrium" of WoW content
Relmstein has posted a quick analysis of what he calls the "punctuated equilibrium" of WoW content patches. In evolutionary biology, there's a theory that species change not gradually over time, but in quick bursts of dynamic change. And Relmstein applies this idea to WoW's own population changes-- the playerbase seems to grow in quick leaps when brand new content is introduced, but slows down and even falls off when standard bugs are being fixed, or not much content is being patched.What's really interesting, however, is that Relmstein then compares WoW's changes to the effects that content schedule has on other MMO releases. Lord of the Rings Online and Guild Wars (which are WoW's two worthy opponents) both released during downtime (after Burning Crusade and after the vanilla release, respectively). And on the other side of the spectrum, both Vanguard and Everquest 2 tried to go directly up against new WoW content, and, as Relmstein says, got steamrolled.So looking towards the future, it's not hard to see what might happen. Wrath of the Lich King will make a big splash for sure, both bringing lots of players back, and maybe even bringing new players (who played Warcraft III and want to see Arthas) into the fold. Games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online may try to go up against it, but it wouldn't be a good idea-- they'd be better off waiting until about a month after the expansion, when many players have reached 80, seen what they can see in Northrend, and Blizzard is confined to bugfixes and small content updates. Of course, a WoW content break isn't all these games need-- they still need to be good games by themselves. But placing themselves in this downtime between new content will give them a much better chance to woo more players away from Azeroth.
Interview with a farmer
No, not a farmer in World of Warcraft gold farmer, but an Everquest 2 plat farmer. When EQ2 player Ogrebear received a tell from someone trying to sell him plat, he responded how he usually did -- with a threat. However, this particular plat seller actually responded to Ogrebear's tell, resulting in an interesting conversation that gives us a bit of insight into the industry.So what does this farmer make? About $100 a month for seven hours work a day. (Ogrebear notes that that's 71 cents an hour if he only works five days a week.)How many characters does this farmer go through in a week? Seven. But apparently it's profitable enough to keep at it.What's this mean to those of us playing World of Warcraft? It means that Blizzard has an uphill battle ahead of them -- the farmers are making enough money to keep at this, despite bannings. And I've got to wonder if they can ever ban enough of them. Perhaps this explains Blizzard's recent push to resolve this issue via legal methods.[Via PlayNoEvil]
