Wednesday, November 28, 2007

RoK, The Honeymoon is Over.

I think it happened over the weekend or maybe just earlier this week, but undoubtedly the honeymoon period is over with EQ2's latest expansion Rise of Kunark. Ogre among others are reporting the raid content is too easy, Kendricke claims it is the lack of story. Massively is reporting on both of these stories lending their credibility to the rumors that RoK isn't all it was last week.

This is a trend that occurs with nearly every expansion and it is something I like to think of as the "Laporte curve" based on a well known tech journalist/podcast-overlord Leo Laporte. Leo has this nasty habit of once a product is released lavishing praise upon it regardless of the documented flaws, only to later come back and say it wasn't that great, and give a negative review. This is common amongst tech journalists but Leo is a good example. The time period between when journalists write a positive impression, and later a negative review is the Laporte Curve(this is not really a curve at all, but everything great has a curve associated with it, so why not). And this Laporte curve certainly applies to MMOs. Not weeks ago I was reading rave reviews and gushing first person accounts of how awesome RoK is. So what happened in a week? Well in short people sat down with it, got in depth, and found the flaws, no big deal, it doesn't mean it is a bad expansion. Only after a few months will we really understand the full impact of RoK, but for now it seems we are having a bit of RoK hangover.

--
Cheston

(Side Note: Is it just me or does it feel like Massively is turning into the Valleywag of the MMO world?)

P.S.:
To clarify it was not my intention to paint Ogre or Kendricke as anti-RoK, just that we are now coming into the sober realities of the post-RoK game and gripes are popping up which is natural.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I wouldn't say it's a negative review so much as it is pointing out a specific flaw.

Overall, I'm still enjoying Rise of Kunark, and certainly I'll happily endorse the game to whoever will listen, but that doesn't mean the release is without its wrinkles and warts.

Unknown said...

I wouldn't say it's a negative review so much as it is pointing out a specific flaw.

Overall, I'm still enjoying Rise of Kunark, and certainly I'll happily endorse the game to whoever will listen, but that doesn't mean the release is without its wrinkles and warts.

Chestone said...

Oh I completely understand, I apologize for that mis-statement.

ogrebears said...

Well i think people still love the content, but ya as time goes by people find the flaws, and there is allways going to be flaws in everything