OK so let's take that number backwards. $1010 over 3 yrs divided by 36 months = $28.06 per month. Now, how many hours a week do you play EQ (total on both accts)? I'm a VERY casual gamer, and I probably put in 8 or so, so let's be conservative and say 10. That's about 40 per month, so you'd have paid an average of a WHOPPING... 70 cents an hour. So, ... what's the problem again?

Hehe, funny you should mention that. We've been having problems with our Kunark shuttle service on Tholuxe Paells for quite a few days now (ever since the new patch actually). To be blunt it just doesn't work. GMs and guides have been very nice about it though and there has been a GM/Guide on watch at least 6 hours/day (when I'm on) ready to port those that need to get back to BB or need to get to FV.

I don't know about this solution. I can see the point you are brining across but you have to consider a few factors. First of all the way the system works is different from what most people think. Verant doesn't have a server for every "realm" (Karana "server" for instance is not one server). Instead they have a collection of servers for every named realm (I call them realms because it's just easier to follow my point).

They split zones onto different servers depending on the load. So one very heavy load zone could have one dedicated server, while other zones that aren't used much at all (say Najena, Lavastorm, and Toxx) are all grouped onto one server. This is why when they need to reset a zone or make a change with several mobs in a zone they don't have to take down the whole "server" but instead just those zones.

Now that I've explained that process (very simplified I'm sure) I'll go on to the issue at hand. Imagine the lag you experience when going into a zone that is almost always heavily populated, say ToV, Oasis, Lake of Ill Omen, Gfay, or EC. Now, knowing how the server system generally works imagine the extra load the one or two servers would have to take if all of a sudden two realms of 3000 people were merged together. My guess is if they do that not only would our game performance be hurt, but to compensate for the extra load they would have to upgrade the equipment or get more servers to support the extra load brought about by the servers.

So while in theory the realm merge sounds like a great idea, really I can't see it being a (cheap) reality. Then again you can make the point that you can just use the extra servers from the now non-existent realm to load more zones on one server, instead of 3 or 4 on one server. But again that brings up the problems of the already populated zones that are running on one server as it is. I don't know the technical details enough to speculate whether or not that would work.

The second point would be people, more specifically overcrowding. This is now less of an issue with the expansions but it's still a problem with some of the servers. More people means more higher level guilds competing for one mob, more farmers, more KSers, more people brining items into the EQ economy of the newly made server (hence drives value down), and more people overcrowding the already popular zones (OT, Lake, DL). It also means LESS: opportunities to camp a rare, chances for smaller guilds (at bigger raids), value to items that would saturate the market, and less of a chance to group in an overcrowded zone.

To keep in style with my format it could also mean more opportunities for general grouping (see below), greater chances to meet more people, and bigger guilds (this could also be a curse however). Also because the market becomes saturated with items it also becomes a buyers' market and items are cheaper (though this again is a double edged sword). As for the general grouping mentioned above, this would only work in those zones that aren't populated already (and there are reasons people don't hunt in those zones). So a newbie goes into EC/N Ro and all of a sudden is stuck in the classic LFG for hours because of the "DL overcrowding problem."

So from the two points above it seems that merging realms together could be a good idea but the logistics of it would probably bring SO much trouble for both the player and the company that $3/month more sounds a bit more logical. Not flaming, just stating some points that should be considered when looking at this problem from this angle.

NOTE *EDIT*:

Also, I would like to add that I do not think it is about them not making money as it is about the cost of living increase (staff salaries, cost of maintenance/running, facilities, and such). Three years have gone by and whether we think of EQ as a game or not it is really a business service (entertainment). To that point as the cost of living increases so do the fees. It is a very simple model to understand that most other industries use.

However, I would also like to add that as a business service their customer support could be better. I can surely understand the point of those people that are questioning why the fees are being raised when customer service seems to remain at the same level. If you make that point to me then I will agree that there is definitely room for improvement.

Tramaus Voronadil
45th Paladin of Truth - Order of Marr

Edited, Tue Mar 26 12:07:28 2002

ohh another thing hehehe if you guys think eq is full of bugs and you guys dont like the game and yiou think you are not getting your money worth then there is only one thing you can do quit giving you money to veratn and stop playing the game i mean if i go to a restaurant and i dont like the food and the way they treat me there hum i dont go back if i go to a supermarket and the food i buy is bad hum i dont buy from there no more so why you still play eq if you cant handle the bugs and problems? quit already and stop crying lol or do you need somebody to cry for you to ?

ROFL... classic

LOL , I still buy 2-3 new games a month and get bored of them very fast (ok , Ghost Recon is the exception)Even though it will go up to $12.95 a month, It is still a great value for the money . Maybe they will actually start putting in more real time Gm events( ok , So now im going a bit far )

/agree
as it stand the level of CS I have gotten from VI has been about none. Doesn't help them making Legends and giving those people the things we all should be getting, now they go and raise our rates.. are we going to get anything more for this $3. I;d be happy with more free zones like they did with warren and stonebrunt (though they are lame) but we need something to show for it

3 bucks a month is probably making EQ profitable again. Nonprofitable segments, no matter how popular they are with the general public, are very easy targets for a company when they look to make cuts.

I don't think any of us have a brand loyalty to Sony because of EQs relation to SOE. There's no fiscal reason for Sony to keep EQ around, especially when increasing prices will bring in more money.

My guess is that EQ already is or is coming very close to earning negative profits. Sure they take in many many millions (billions?) of income a month, but they also have three years of development costs, employees, developers, CSR reps, advertisements, and the like to pay.

I have heard GMs get paid crap as it is, even if they don't hire anymore I hope that some of them get a raise.