I am a very casual player. I have multiple subscriptions to damn near every MMO on the market (bless you sweet Station Pass) and really spend little time in them. I tend to follow the news and read forums and TALK about MMO’s more than I actually spend playing them. But that’s besides the point. After reading this post over at MMOQuests I got to wondering about the populations of EQ2 and VG and the future for both of them.
EQ2, as those who play it already know, suffers from a bit of a population problem. Some servers are better than others, with the RP servers staying above the pack. The population dips down low in between expansions and then boosts back up when an expansion releases. VG has started off with a small amount of servers not unlike EQ2, and although people say it seems like the population is just fine on most servers – I definitely see a population problem already, at least on Targonor and Flamehammer. Considering people are still in their free month and in addition the reviews and press have been basically mixed on the game in its current state – that population is only going to go down from here until some spectacular changes technically are made.
The trend that I can foresee happening is playerbase jumping back and forth between the EQ2 and VG ship. Its undoubtedly true that the release of VG took a chunk of EQ2’s subscribers, but as MMOQuests mentioned – I would bet that a good deal are going to go back for the release of Unrest. I’m sure that when people are bored or finished with Unrest, they’re going to come back to EQ2, and then retreat again when EQ2’s Kunark expansion is released. What is this evidenced by? First off – the large amount of posts on the Everquest 2 boards from people saying goodbye to go play VG. In addition – the mixed opinions over on the official EQ2 boards about both games.
What does this mean for these games? Obviously to SOE and Sigil – its not all that detrimental. I’d venture to guess that the people who will be jumping ship back and forth will probably be on the station pass, so who really cares where they spend their time? IMO, its all in the community. Vanguard is a new game that is in its crucial community-building stage. Having the advantage community-wise over games like WoW where grouping is not as necessary for progression, I think it will be hurtful to have players who are coming and going. I think its clearly obvious that Vanguard is going to be more community-oriented just like EQ2 is (in the hopefully stride toward the old EQLive days which will never be repeated.) But isn’t it going to be hard to establish relationships with people who are flaky?
Another element that I find slightly concerning is the fact that players are reluctant to try things new and generally like to be in their comfort zone. What does that mean? I forsee a lot of players wishing that VG had something that EQ2 has (and vice-versa). I think its necessary for both games to be sure to set themselves apart from each other, which is hopefully due to being different developers. Nonetheless, I worry that since the games are similar in concept and playerbase that we’ll see a lot of crossover additions. Maybe it will make two excellent games that are the best of both worlds – but really, how could two games be the best? =P
For me, Everquest 2 is more friendly for my type of gameplay. Its more casual friendly and solo friendly – which is great. I love the guild features of the game since I am a social player who thrives off the interaction with friends and guildies. I love a lot of things about Vanguard as well. I love the exploration aspect of the game, I enjoy the three classes that I have experimented with (Blood Mage, Psionicist, and Bard), I love the environment design and the music. I love how the races have very different starting areas and starting quests, and I enjoy the diplomacy and crafting. Everquest 2 has the advantage of being set in Norrath, which is a setting I’m familiar with and lore that I know inside and out.
Bottom line for me – Vanguard gives me that “Wow, I can’t wait to see what’s behind door #2″ feeling. That newness factor, the exploration and adventuring excitement. EQ2 gives me the incredible nostalgia, the waves of memories, the “grandma’s cookies fresh out of the oven” feeling. I’m worried that VG will lose its “OMG exciting” factor for me, and that EQ2 will be my main squeeze for the fact that they’re bringing back the old school (Kunark *drool*)
Thoughts?
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
With station access allowing people to play both VG and EQ2 for a low(er) price of $24.99 + extra character slots for both games with that feature, I can certainly say even myself personally will be playing the VG/EQ2 swap game.
With Unrest due out this Friday — and double adventure exp weekend in VG this weekend.. it’s not hard to see both games are going to try to draw in the players.
I was surprised at the lack of servers in VG, and the fact that the majority of their servers hover from low to medium population, within the first month. I agree completely that unless VG does something drastic to the over all feel of the game (we’re talking mechanics here, not graphics, bugs and glitches) they’re going to lose a huge player base as time goes on. The one comment everyone seems to agree with is
VG is still in Beta (since it was released early). Who wants to PAY to play a beta game.
Sure, the game IS fun. People will say that. But it’s only due to a lack of current choices and burn out from other MMO’s (EQ2’s EoF content was *barely* enough to keep any long term EQ2′er happy.. unless you started over at level 1 as a fae, you were done with the content within a month). Not sure about WoW’s staying factor but I know people hit 70 within the first four days of the expansion coming out.
I’m not a huge MMO fan, I play my three and alternate. I read a lot of other blogs about LoTR and WarHammer and various other MMO’s though, and while I DO personally enjoy Vanguard, I do not think it has the staying power required to make an MMO truly memorable to the degree that EQ1 was at least. I started playing that game 5 years after it was released, and the population was huge. Of course then EQ2 came out and it dwindled, as technology and new shinies does that, but still. Lack of competition? Sure, we can blame it on that.
Point is, I still think all of the newer MMO’s are lacking that stay factor. It’s great to have the initial push and subscriptions, but what happens after the first month is just as important. It’s be a great study to see how many people play VG with station access, and how many would continue to play if that feature were removed, to see how many “pure” subscribers there were. Also, if EQ2 had not of gotten ‘boring’ for a vast number of people, would VG still have it’s current numbers? Of course not.
How much time someone need for explore all content at Vanguard?
I guess that a casual player will need almost one year. The continents are huge. There are a lot of areas for explore. Just look at the pics that Jaye take for show some areas she saw at a gryphin event at Beta: http://www.journeyswithjaye.com/?p=570#comments
The leveling is slow, only a few ones started to explore the high level content. I can say that we will need a lot of time for leveling because one character controled by 3 (or more) players, that played by turns, need almost 3 weeks for get to level max. An extreme hardcore player, someone playing 8 hours day, will need 3 times more time than that character. Less hardcore players, someone playing 20 hours per week, will need a lot more time.
And the math above don’t consider that there are 3 spheres for advance…
Vanguard appeal to the social side of the MMO game, so the players have an incentive to stay: they have friends there.
And other thing, they have “assets” there too. Currently the house rush is just starting. The first plots are being sold. Sooner or later (one or two months, IMHO), the guilds will have money for buy the guild plots and will start to build guild houses. The first low level ships are being built.
When the player cities start to develop the crafters and diplomats will move there. Currently the crafters and diplomats moved to outposts or the main cities. Diplomats will move to the player cities because they control the city administration. The crafters will move there because they know that the crafting stations at player cities are better than the NPC crafter stations (the crafting of legendary items is possible only at player made crafting stations).
By the way, the guilds will not abandon Vanguard while they don’t explore the high level content and the raid areas. One month game and they don’t started it yet. The dungeons being mostly explored now are mid level dungeons.
Geregor Bedstone
dwarf, Florendyl
DwarvenHolt Guild
cleric 13 / armorsmith 21