Omens Release Moved to Late August

SOE has announced that they are pushing the release of Omens of War back from July to late August in order to free up development resources to fix some of the problems in gates of Discord. Maybe Woody of Gucomics has more influence than he realizes. Here's the whole letter from John Smedley, which was posted on the EQLive site. --------------- Hello Norrath! I wanted to announce that we've decided to push Omens of War back to Late August in order to give the EQ team time to respond to important issues that the EverQuest community is raising (specifically including the issues with Gates of Discord). We've heard some concerns from within the community that we feel are important enough to push back our next expansion and spend time fixing the problems you have brought to our attention. At the end of the day, we work for you and it's important for us to demonstrate that we both understand and appreciate that. We're also inviting many members of the community to join us here at SOE for a day to have a direct dialog with the development team about issues that are important to the EverQuest community as a whole. We've already sent out the invitations and are making all the arrangements. In addition, our EQ community managers will be coming up with a list of issues raised on the message boards so that we can come back to you with a specific list of things we're going to address. I'm sorry if you feel we haven't been listening and reacting appropriately. We do our best to balance all of the needs and concerns you raise along with expanding Norrath and giving you new and wonderful things to do in EverQuest, but we do make mistakes. We've heard you loud and clear. We have many things planned for EverQuest over the upcoming years, and our goal is to keep you happily playing EverQuest for a long time to come. The best way for us to do that is by first and foremost is by listening to you. John Smedley President, Sony Online Entertainment

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bugs in EQ never fixed
# Jun 16 2004 at 9:08 AM Rating: Default
does anyone know of a better game to play of the sort of EQ-ish RPG without the THE DANG BUGS ???? i m sick and tired of bugs locking up pc, i can't go 1st person view without things going black etc. etc. etc. ??? pleas let me know thank you Very Much EQ get me addicted then put out TRASH that is has been this way since GOD wsa releaseed. Which i only bought cuase i accidently clcked on it.
whining
# May 30 2004 at 3:11 PM Rating: Decent
Someone said it in here and I'll repeat...whining dont help..if you dont like it so much..play something else.
HA HA HA
# May 28 2004 at 9:40 PM Rating: Decent
********* **************** sorry I had to sneeze there.
Love these kind of messages from any company. They realize they have made a mistake and are covering their collective paychecks by making it look like they are trying to do something for you.
Tonight after I did the latest download I received a message that said Thank You for pre-ordering the Omens of War Expansion for Everquest.
I did not pre-order OoW and I had no intention of doing that. Now to save my money I have to go in a cancel that pre-order.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Over all EQ is a good GAME and I still enjoy playing it but, why fix something in a new expansion or add new stuff, autobank,etc., until they have the problems that are visible with the older expansions fixed.
RE: HA HA HA (all the way to the bank. MY bank)
# May 29 2004 at 8:40 AM Rating: Decent
<<Tonight after I did the latest download I <<received a message that said Thank You for pre-<<ordering the Omens of War Expansion for <<Everquest.
<<I did not pre-order OoW and I had no intention <<of doing that. Now to save my money I have to <<go in a cancel that pre-order.

<<Has this happened to anyone else? >>

Had EXACTLY the same thing happen. I was slightly distracted while logging in and assumed I had accidently "ordered" it while clikking through the login process. When I call them Monday to cancel this "Pre-Order" that was "FORCED" upon me I will mention that to them.

I have, as mentioned in another post or two, "fired" my company! I will not waste another penny on a game that is too busy pushing new Expan$ions out as fast as they can while ignoring existing issues that HAVE existed since BETA!
Better than Verants support
# May 28 2004 at 3:55 PM Rating: Decent
All I can say is SOE is doing a better job then when Verant called the shots. The little fixes that have been initiated have improved the quality of gameplay. As for the bugs, think about it from a programers point of view. There must be Miles of code to look at and try to find 1 misplaced word. They are getting it fixed, and as for now it's still one of the best mmorpg's out there.

Just My Humble Opinion.


Edited, Fri May 28 16:55:25 2004
RE: Better than Verants support
# Jun 01 2004 at 4:41 AM Rating: Decent
I can't say about Verant, but I agree completely about the idea of code. You have the equivalent of 7-8 games worth of code,a nd think about how dynamic the code has to be. This isn't like and FPS where there's computer and human to keep track of, or even multiplayer with many people, but a small map.

Think about Aggro and damage calcualtions ALONE, and all the factors, rolls, randoms, chances, focus effects, trigger effects, procs, etc, etc, etc.

Cut the poor guys a break.
Tongue in cheek
# May 28 2004 at 11:23 AM Rating: Excellent
What the message is really saying:

Tech 1: Doh! There is no way we are going to hit the July deadline with the next expansion.

Tech 2: We have to or we are in big trouble! We already announced it!

PR guy: No problem. We'll just tell the EQ players the reason we are pushing back the expansion is so we can fix current bugs.

Tech 1: But haven't we told them that we have 2 crews? One for expansions and one for bug fixes?

Tech 2: Yeah, won't they figure that out?

PR guy: Nah, they'll be to excited thinking that we listen to their concerns.

Edited, Fri May 28 16:06:35 2004
RE: Tongue in cheek
# Jun 03 2004 at 11:06 AM Rating: Decent
***
1,117 posts
Just to play Devil's advocate, (and ok, maybe I am spoiling some humor to), they probably pulled people from the expansion crew to help with the bug fix crew, which would effect the release date.
Simple Answer
# May 28 2004 at 11:07 AM Rating: Default
It's real simple folks, Everquest is a service. You the consumer desire entertainment. Sony provides a service to you in exchange for a fee. If you do not feel that the level or quality of service meets your expectations then the solution is simple. Do not pay for the service.

Certainly you can send e-mail requests, call them or send in feedback reports but in the end if you don't like the service then don't pay for it. If I hire a landscaping company to maintain my lawn, then I am paying for a service. If they do not do their job well (even after I point out the problems) then I should fire them and hire a different landscaping company.

What good will it do to stand around with my friends and complain about it day after day? It seems as though some people seem to want to complain over and over again. I'm not questioning the veracity or validity of your complaints. I only wish to point out that constantly complaining will not lead to the solution to the problem (though it may make you feel better).

So just remember, Everquest is a service. If you don't like it, then play another game.

Darrwick - You Are Wrong
# May 28 2004 at 10:41 AM Rating: Decent
SOE does NOT do their job.

They do NOT unit test their code.
They do NOT have a Q/A team that properly tests code.
They do NOT listen to their customers.
They do NOT serve their customers' in game complaints.
They do NOT help their customers over the phone.
They do NOT help their customers via email.

The reason they have lame customer service is because they don't have to have good customer service.

The game is so cheap to run, they could still make decent money off of 200k subscribers - Which they are over twice that.

There is no money in customer service so they don't give a hoot.

Flat out - If in 30 days the game has not been patched and happily usable with bare minimal lockups/graphics siliness the fact is I'm going to organize a player Strike. Wherein I will call upon everyone I can to suspend their accounts until EQ has been fixed. You can suspend your own account for up to 90 days and your character data is guaranteed to be in tact. Thus.. people won't lose anything but play time and it will kick SOE where it hurts, the pocketbook.

Sitting back and accepting what they are throwing at you and making excuses for them is not only naive, it's plain old fashioned Stupid. "So what if my power goes out once a week, it's not like I can't live without it, maybe I'll get out of the house some", "So what if my cable stops working three or four times a night I shouldn't be watching TV anyway".

The reality is Humans don't need much to survive and make it in this world. And everything beyond air, water and food is pretty much just a bonus. So don't go throwing some BS around that it's 'just a game' because frankly, Life is a game.

Excuses are for wussies.

Stop sucking SOE.
I read all these posts...
# May 28 2004 at 12:25 AM Rating: Default
I see all these posts about ******** and complaining about this god for saken game... do some not have anything better to do in your spare time? or do you have any? I can understand how fustrating it must be... but get up out of your chair and relax! SOE tries and yes sometimes they do not fix it correctly or miss something... they could sit and eat Krispy Kreams and watch the game fall apart but they do work and they do over look things from time to time, and its bound to happen. but give them some credit, they do their job, just as we do (or most of at least given the majority population) and they are slowly gonna catch up on long awaited fix's... SOE has some big decisions ahead...

I feel they should not even bring in another expansion till they work out some major issue's, that being only my opionion however, it may stop some from wanting to vent that they do other things like create new stuff and not fixing whats needed to be fixed. but my 2-cents are only 2 cents worth but it is also a realistic view, and that only...

I say SOE has done a decent job and they are to be commended!

Darrwick
55th Cleric
FV server

"there can't be a crisis this week...my schedule is already booked"
ummmmmmm
# May 27 2004 at 9:44 PM Rating: Decent
they didnt say they were fixing the pok freezing issues and getting stuck............they said they were fixing the GOD expansion.


they need to hear ALL of us, not just the high end players.

going into pok is a gamble at best.
There goes 70
# May 27 2004 at 9:30 PM Rating: Default
shucks, and I wanted to make it to 70 this summer... Rats.. oh well, I can just wait til then..
hmmm
# May 27 2004 at 4:47 PM Rating: Excellent
im guessing when they realized that membership was dropping they decided ooops we had better listen too all the peeps playing so we dont lose any more accounts. just my 2 cents worth.
RE: hmmm
# May 27 2004 at 6:49 PM Rating: Default
Yes, well that is how buiness works. Isn't it?
Great
# May 27 2004 at 2:29 PM Rating: Decent
It's really great that John and Sony Online Entertainment is looking to really improve EverQuest significantly. While it is a great game, it is littered with a plethora of bugs. Hopefully they will be able to fix things, balance things without creating some catastrophic event. This can only mean good things when a huge development company is actually listening instead of giving a cold shoulder.
*cough* BS
# May 27 2004 at 1:37 PM Rating: Decent
gotta respect em ?!?! WHAT ?!?! for suddenly after putting out 3 expansions full of errors, attempting to apply half-baked patches for weeks, the highest downtime % in nearly 3 years, an absolute deterioration of customer service, heck the only way I can get a GM response in game is to leave game and fill out an email request form, which is directly contrary to the adertised IN-GAME SUPPORT. In the last year I have ONLY actually had a GM respond directly to an ingame petition ONCE and that was after nearly 4 hours of being stuck IN a tree. I love the EQ game, but SoE is REALLY CLUELESS as to what makes a better game or how to deal with the players, they just throw more crap at the people complaining and continue to inflate the world, while not addressing the underlying issues. As an almost part time player anymore, my guild shares numerous accounts, I've become totally appathetic about EQ these days, and am finding City of Heroes to be shallow but entertaining in a light don't need to commit 8 hours way, while everything in EQ gets overly complicated and becomes a massive raid that the bloody game and systems won't support. What's the point of elemental raids if you need 100 people, it takes 4 hours to organize and half the people go LD during zone-in, and 25 % of the remaining go LD during the height of the battle due to the REALLY POOR NET CODE. I run on a T1 at my house, and work for a TIER1 ISP that just happens to support a certain game company in San Diego. I have a fluke device set-up to monitor my the other servers bandwidth, and I can 'see' the traffic right up to SoE in San Diego, I KNOW it is their internal configuration. Not only will SoE deny that they will tell me it is my net connection while I am logged it at work going DOWN STREAM TO THEM.
Awesome
# May 27 2004 at 11:52 AM Rating: Excellent
Glad to hear that SoE is going to fix some of the problems we have all been experiencing. I know i would really like to not get stuck in trees as often and such things like that. Plus i wasnt ready for a new lvl cap ... im still a few lvls from the one now :P

Thanx to SoE for pulling the ear plugs out and losing money to fix some shiz.

Hunter Faddas Lazybum
Saryrn Server
http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=1026442
Bite.
# May 27 2004 at 10:21 AM Rating: Good
You gotta respect them for biting their lip and admitting they haven't fixed everything yet. Who knows SOE could fix everything pretty soon. I think they can tell people are becoming unhappy. I gope the changes help out a great deal.
Interesting
# May 27 2004 at 9:20 AM Rating: Decent
Maybe SOE is listening . . . hopefully this will be a move that benefits every class in one way or another.

At least it shows they are making an attempt. I'd like to see what else from SWG they are importing into EQ.
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