SOE rises the bar

Yes, but of the prices of their games. Heh.

Yesterday the announcement of an increase of 3$ for the Station Pass, bringing it to 25$. It is starting to feel rather pricey, even more so if you consider that european players have to pay taxes on that. Which brings the price to 30$. Not a small amount to pay monthly. Plus original games and expansions that you have to purchase separately.

Now, I've written in the past that I'm all for rising the monthly fees. No, I'm not crazy. Behind this statement there's a development plan. I believe that expanding a game through expansions finishes to hurt the game because instead of working uniformly on every part, as a choesive project (like Eve-Online is doing), you are forced to develop "optional" parts and never address core issues that would improve the game significantly. Basically you are bound to an horizontal development that brings directly to the mudflation and a game world that ages awfully.

The idea to increase the monthly fee came with that premise: we up the monthly fee, but to keep a serious, radical ongoing development that replaces the expansions. That is part of the monthly fee. As long you are subscribed you can experience all the game has to offer without any barrier or divisions.

Here SOE not only upped the price of the Station Pass, this would be negligible and I glided on the news, but they are also going to rise significantly the prices of the upcoming expansions.

Today the announce of the new EQ2 expansion, slated for November and named, as anticipated, "Echoes of Faydwer". The very first thing I noticed in the press release wasn't the features list, but the retail price going up to 40$ and approaching that of a stand-alone game. It reminds me Guild Wars, but in this case NOT stand-alone and WITH the monthly fee. I guess that's what they meant when they said they were going to slow down the release of the expansion packs to improve the quality. This surely wasn't planned as a gift.

I have a suspect. There have been rumors that the upcoming WoW's expansion will be rather pricey. I think SOE with this press release wanted to send Blizzard a clear sign. *nudge-nudge* Let's rise the prices together.

With the difference that WoW isn't that pricey. This November you will probably have to buy the expansion and the basic game if you want to open a new account. It's not a small price, but still less than what you'd have to pay for a "full" EQ2. Three expansion packs plus three adventure packs. For european players you still have to apply taxes at least for the adventure packs and monthly fee, something that doesn't apply to Blizzard. Game boxes and monthly fees.

There's also another relevant difference that should determine a completely different marketing strategy between the two. Blizzard is betting on returning subscribers with this new expansion, they have a huge pool of players to draw from. Instead I think SOE should aim at luring in new players. This would require a completely different and aggressive approach, instead of moving along with Blizzard as a parallel line. They need to collide, not to cooperate.

The "price of admission" to EQ2 is significantly higher, and if you count the expansion, adventure packs and station player services, Station Pass and RMTs, SOE resembles more like a sponge for money.

This June the third adventure pack will be released, "The Fallen Dynasty" (7.99$), about which we know three relevant traits: high-end content, asian-themed and outsourced.

Developed in conjunction with SOE's Taiwan studio, The Fallen Dynasty Adventure Pack promises to deliver the same downloadable story-rich content seen in the previously released The Bloodline Chronicles and The Splitpaw Saga, but this time with Asian influenced adventure zones, weapons, tradeskill rewards, as well as all new quests.

A few more words from another preview:

Veteran players will get to explore seven new areas, visit a new village, explore a new dungeon – there’s even talk of a forsaken city. We do mean veterans, though – only level 55 to 70 need apply –

The few screenshot on the newly opened page look pretty. But not as pretty as the asian-themed Guild Wars and, in particular, I seriously doubt it will move at the same framerate.

But lets even look at the feature list of that massive expansion coming out for EQ2:

Echoes of Faydwer is the third expansion pack for EverQuest II, and introduces a new playable race, The Fae. An enchanted race of winged creatures, the Fae dwell on the continent of Faydwer, in the arboreal city of Kelethin, the new starting city being added to this latest chapter in the EQII saga. Echoes of Faydwer includes over 350 new quests, a new selection of profession hats, cloaks, armor, and new horse mounts available to players of all levels. EQII players will encounter over 40 new types of creatures to face, more than 20 new zones and adventure areas, and will be able to compete against other players for new PvP (Player vs. Player) rewards, plus all-new items, equipment, spells and tradeskill recipes. The Achievement system introduced in the Kingdom of Sky expansion has been enhanced to include additional sub-class abilities, allowing players to further customize their characters' abilities.

Which all amounts to the usual: Nothing New.

There isn't really any new idea or significant development. Not a single new feature. Zones, monsters, quests, items, skills, spells. But nothing adding a different flavor if not as an overstretched, bloated "More Of The Same".

Looking at the official site there are a few more details but not so encouraging. There is a bland copy of WoW's jewelcrafting system with the addition of "adornments" that can be applied to armors and weapons to gain a few bonuses and a "Belief System" which sounds like a faction with some prizes to get.

Both Guild Wars and Final Fantasy XI have tried to explore new and innovative gameplay modes with the recent expansion. On this perspective EQ Classic is experimenting a lot more and developing new systems and types of interaction even if it's also plagued by its incredibly dispersive and inaccessible scope. EQ2 here risks to borrow the worst. Just the overstretched development without any significant progress for the game. "More content", but nothing that stands out or brings something new to the game.

I've recently written about the entrance of new players in the game. I even discussed various strategies to add new content at the low levels without fragmenting and dispersing the community, while still enriching the game. Here SOE seems to dismiss every valid consideration to just reuse a mindless approach: more zones, more quests.

I think EQ2 deserves more ambition and should develop a more aggressive marketing strategy. Instead of reconfirming a stereotype.

The prices go up, the ambition goes down.