EverQuest II - All Around Norrath: What do you Think of the Devs?
Adele Caelia continues her All Around Norrath column today, this time asking players what they think of the development team behind the game.
The Everquest II developers are constantly taking a verbal beating, and quite often posts are tossed up in the forums stating the neglect by the developers, and their inability to listen to the community is always true. I have to ask myself if this is the consensus among the general population, or is it a small few that love to plague the forums and chat channels with their opinions?
Personally, I have had a very good experience with the Everquest II development team. Those that I have spoken with are normal people the same as you and me. They are not some type of game god hidden behind a world of pixels waiting to ruin our lives every chance they get. They do not cackle in glee each time they see a post from an unhappy player. The developers are hard workers who put their heart into what they do, and quite honestly they want us to enjoy the game, and enjoy their work as most artists do.
Community managers such as Craig Dalrymple, otherwise known as Grimwell, and Aaron Bisnett, also known as Gnobrin have always been very polite and helpful when I have had the pleasure of working with them. From the posts they make on the forums I think this is true for their work within the community as well. They are what we see up front, but I think they are just the icing on the cake, and only part of a great development team that really cares for the game.
Some may say that my opinion could be a little skewed being that they may treat me differently since I am press, so this being said I decided that I would go out among the population and find out what they players really think about the Everquest II development team. Here is what they had to say:
Kithicor
Megadyen- The developers I don’t have a problem with. One of the reasons that none of Sony’s games out there have near the subscriptions as some of the other games out there is because of their management. The management needs to get a clue.
Stardreamer- I think the developers are great guys and gals and they do a wonderful job. They are very creative and the new expansion is the best one yet. Their use of humor and pop culture references in game is some of the best writing in a MMORPG. The new expansion strikes just the right note of nostalgia and exciting new content.
Ssinistraud- I think they do a great job really. They need to work on pet design, but other than that everything is fine.
Jarrith - They did a super job. I love the different looks of gear now. The quests are great and give great rewards. I feel mobs hit harder than they should, but other than that I don’t’ really have a problem.
Shianne- The developers do a decent job, however they need to listen more to the community prior to releasing patches and updates. They also need to give more attention to the rewards vs. risk prior to release. Example: Many treasured quest rewards and at the least one fabled reward are being nerfed. They were deemed to be better than much of the fabled raid gear or overpowered. How can they not realize that prior to allowing these things to go mainstream?
Crushbone
Spoott- Hmm- Tough question. I like ROK and all the quests. I think they did a great job. The Sarnak are cool looking although looks like females are bigger than males and I’m partial to smaller races. I have no huge complaints about the developers. I like most of the things they do and if I don’t like it I deal with it. I am pretty easy to please and hard to disappoint. Only thing that bothers me is the 20 min of zoning, but that isn’t the developer’s fault. I love what they did to the Wastes in ROK. Love the zone. I like the jungle too, but I get lost even with maps.? Very scattered brained.
Permafrost
Emonace- I feel they do a pretty good job.
Guk
Shackle Grandmaster Xandrot- ROK was a great effort by the developers. The zones and instances are a treat. We have been enjoying the new challenges in each of the heroic instances so far. Overall I’m pleased with the end results. If I could have been on the development team I might have worked harder on the T8 legendary armor. I was hoping to gear up with new armor a bit sooner and not have to wait for fabled items to get improvements from the T7 class gear. I would like to take this moment to thank the developers. I am enjoying my time in the expansion and cannot wait to start the raid zones this week.
Anonymous - Yes I do believe the developers really honestly work diligently and passionately on the game. I believe that often behind the scenes many of the things we players have issues with are managerial decisions that occur beyond the developer’s control. For example: Kunark being released while incomplete. I believe management should have postponed the release. I don’t blame the developers for too little testing, or pushing out content too early. I blame management. I think players rush to blame the developers because they are the only targets remotely in our grasp, but honestly it’s not their fault, and they do work hard for players.
Najena
Zingg- They should slap the crybaby noobs. Go back to needing four things to craft a sword and make it so you still have to retrieve your body. The developers are doing a good job to bring people to the game and make people with little skill in reasoning happy, but seriously the game was more fun before they gave into the crybaby noobs who want it easy like WOW. Yeah, so I have issues with new players, the ones the developers given into. They are too soft and are destroying what made the game so good to begin with.
Musette- One thing I will say is that I am disappointed that the new expansion has so much solo play. I would’ve thought there’d be more instances in the early zones for peeps to level up. But I think as in expansions past the zones are beautiful. The developers are always creative in layout. There were always the typical problems with the expansion but all in all I am usually amazed at the creative intelligence that goes into this game.
