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Sony halts EverQuest for Mac development

updated 08:20 am EDT, Wed May 19, 2004

Mac EverQuest halted

Sony Online Entertainment has reportedly axed further development of the game about a year later.

by MacNN Staff

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phillymjs
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2000

0

05/19, 08:59am | report spam | close Reply |
Reaping what they sow

They took years to get the Mac version out and then fenced off Mac users in their own separate ghetto, server-wise, and they're surprised that people rejected the game?

ronjamin
Baninated

Joined: May 2002

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05/19, 09:25am | report spam | close Reply |
Sony Drops The Ball

I coudnt agree more with Phillymis. Back in the day, Sony balked that EQ couldnt be ported over because of graphic incompatabilities. Then, they hired the good folks at http://www.westlakeinteractive.com/ to port EQ over. They ported the game and all of the expansions in about a year, pretty good. Then they released the Mac version into its own segregated area. I have a junk PC which I play EQ on, and I wanted to move to my G4, but couldnt because Sony wouldnt let Mac users on PC servers. The reason this is a problem is because ALL of my friends that Ive made were on the PC servers. All of my experience, all of my characters. What simpletons.

ronjamin
Baninated

Joined: May 2002

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05/19, 09:28am | report spam | close Reply |
Then they Cancel EQ

Then the decide to stop development. What nincompoops. Why dont they just move the Mac version to the other servers and have Westlake continue to update the program? Anyone whos played EQ knows how addictive it is. Mac users are not immune to this phenomenon. I suggest deluging them with email supporting a true unified EQ.

adashiel
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Joined: Dec 2000

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05/19, 09:55am | report spam | close Reply |
So, is Shadowbane...

...the only MMORPG out there available for the Mac, then? I play and enjoy it, but it's hardcore PvP, and I know that doesn't appeal to much of the audience. I guess Worlds of Warcraft will make it two, assuming Blizzard sticks with its track record of simultaneous release.

ciphun
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2000

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05/19, 09:58am | report spam | close Reply |
For the reasons above...

is exactly why I never played the game. Separate server for mac users and such was just a stupid position to take, no matter the justification they made for doing so, it was just stupid.

dwishbone
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: May 2002

0

05/19, 10:33am | report spam | close Reply |
bring on FF 11

never got into EQ...but this doesnt surprise me. i know of the segregation that mac users had to deal with...i was like f that. someone just get on the ball and get Square-Enix to let someone port Final Fantasy XI to the mac. LucasArts could port Galaxies over and I wouldn't be too terribly upset either :-)

illovich
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Joined: Apr 1999

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05/19, 11:02am | report spam | close Reply |
All I can do is agree

I played EQ for 3 years, and even tough my mac was better I balked at switching when the mac version came out because a) all of my EQ friends played on a PC server, b) I had no desire to start my 55 druid or 51 monk or 50 necro over again and c) I had little faith that new expansions would be released for the mac.

What's sad is that Sony's decision to release Star Wars Galaxies and/or EQ2 for the mac rode on the success of the mac version of EQ.

Since they didn't commit to the platform though, the platform didn't commit to them (surprise). Now they think the mac market is no good, so it looks like I'll be keeping my dual box office for quite a while (since I'm now addicted to Star Wars Galaxies)

gbafan
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Aug 2002

0

05/19, 12:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
No surprise

I really did try and like MacEQ but I just couldn't get into it due to the lack of other players. Before I got into the WoW beta I started playing FFXI on my PS2 and I'm completely addicted to it now. If you're looking for a MMOG and only have a Mac, buy yourself a PS2 and an HDD (total cost: $249) because FFXI excellent.

CambAngst
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2003

0

05/19, 12:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
good heavens!

Whatever shall the Mac community do with all the hours they will save by not becoming addicted to EverCrack?

diskgolfking
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2004

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05/19, 01:43pm | report spam | close Reply |
Outdated

I didn't try it because by the time Mac EQ came out the graphics were really dated. It wasn't worth the time to get into a new game when an incredible game like WoW was right around the corner (ok, a year and a half out probably at the time but still!)

Mapache
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Joined: Jan 2003

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05/19, 02:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
EverQuest has a horrid UI

I was in the beta for the Mac version, and it was really pretty bad. Not in a Mac-specific sort of way, but the whole user interface was just terrible. It was hard to interact with things, and NPCs were a pain in the a**. You had to play out-guess the parser just to get info from them. Half the time the highlighted keywords they spoke did not elicit a response when you used them unless they were used in some obscure phrase. The graphics were not that hot, and there were serious collision-detection issues, especially with monsters being able to run through trees. I got bored with it within a week, and stopped playing.

cdaveb
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

05/19, 02:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
Mac MMORPGs

With MacEQ out of the picture, there are 3 MMORPGs available for the Mac market that I know of:
- Shadowbane
- Lineage
- ClanLord (Mac only)

When World of Warcraft is released then there'll be a 4th.

I play both Shadowbane and ClanLord myself. Shadowbane is pretty cool but their Mac support is horrendous and in general the game still has far too many bugs for a game over a year past release. I've played ClanLord for over 4 years and I always enjoyed it, but it's a very small community with very few developers. I never considered trying MacEQ because of the segregation of the Mac users from the other servers, it seems like it had the expected effect.

Maclectic
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2002

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05/19, 09:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
Looking forward to WoW...

I play Shadowbane now, but will probably quit in a month or two. Shadowbane content is the worst, but since you get to play with PC users it makes it more interesting. I've been playing it since I was in the Beta. The PC users are actually pretty cool about Mac folks. The seiges are cool, but overall the game is boring and dying. In the last few months they must have closed down at least 4 servers.

Shadowbane is a great example of what not to do in an MMORPG except for how they did the cross-platform stuff. Lite on content, strictly PvP, level-treadmilling, no quests really, and lots of bugs. It does pass the time and being in guilds adds a community that makes up for lots of stuff.

I'm really looking forward to WoW. Blizzard treats the Mac on near equal footing (although, I'm almost positive that they're skimping on the Beta access; I've never heard a Beta WoW report from a Mac user). The graphics look superb and the content seems impressive at Beta. We'll see how they handle high levels and the end-game.

- Maclectic

ronjamin
Baninated

Joined: May 2002

0

05/27, 03:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
EQ Mac isnt a Mac program

Its no wonder EQ for Mac failed. First, they introduce it as a full fledged program. I was a beta tester for EQ Mac, and they decided that it should have segregated servers (most likely because of the frequency of PC patches). Then, they refuse to make the Mac version more Mac-like now that it is on a segregated server. Strange. Its no secet that MS is going to G5 for the XBox, so why didn't Sony pump up the graphics and user experience to take advantage of the Mac instead of just cloning the PC experience without having the PC servers available. Its obvious the people at Sony didn't think this through. Poor planning, poor strategies. But I do thank them for doing it, maybe we can convince them to Mac-ify the interface now that its totally being abandoned in PC world?

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