A big part of the problem is that they are trying to do too much with not enough resources both in labor and time. As a result they are letting originality and QA suffer. And even worst they are wasting precious time and labor resources trying to fix things that were not broken, never were broken, and the player community liked. Many of the "so called fixes" end up as introduced bugs to the game. Finally, although they do have a thread on their form for feedback, they don't read it until the issue Bravo India Tango Charlie Hotel slaps them in the face.

Not necessarily connected thoughts:

-downtimes are annoying, but short duration ones are tolerable.

-The Broken Mirror is a small expac, which probably doesn't get addressed (by adding more zones) but I think there is a craftiness to it that isn't getting due credit:

1. Dev team is the smallest it has ever been. They reused a bunch of zone geometry and used the story of the expac to justify it. Would they rather have made 100% shiny new zones... probably.

2. Revised Plane of Hate and Fear (having not seen them and only done database entry on them) actually sound really interesting as it isn't just all the exact same NPC from an ancient version, nor is it all new NPC. So there is a slight hint of story development there at least.

-EQ is stuck in some old thinking that wastes dev time. We get less variety in armors and weapons because they are spending time on augmentations. Why can't tradeskills be made useful all the way up when skilling? Why is spell acquisition level tiered behind different drops when it's almost random which spell is early vs. late in an expansion's 5 level range. Why is pet focus still in the game? (they code twice as many pets due to this artificial barrier...). Others could list many more ways they could revamp their approach and not lose the best parts of EQ.

-repetition and lack of creativity are inexcusable, but then the official forums go nuts when they do get progressive on something:
1. revamped Castle Mistmoore was a good idea. The fix that was needed was the proper factions on the NPC not reverting the zone.
2. revamped Freeport gets too much hate... it's one of the only cities that actually feels like a city in EQ (and I am not a fan of the layout, but look at the work put into it)
3. They finally upgrade the Coldain Prayer Shawl quest and people are upset that they have to do tradeskills. [meanwhile they should have been adding stages to most quests all the way along... think how deep the game would be now?]

OK, I try not to be a downer and complainer. But seriously, I've played EQ since launch, and watched a game (no, much more than just a game) I cherish go from something special to something that's been horribly eroded. I'm sure the rest of the original/longtime players will agree with me...if not outright, then at least to some degree.

We're almost at SEVENTEEN years now that this game has existed. A patch still can't be handled correctly? You haven't sorted these things out on the TEST server before making them live?

I wouldn't be so bitter if DBG actually gave a damn about their player base, many of who pump a LOT of money into this game to keep it going. If we had a new class, a new race, new mercenary type, something other than (mostly) the same old regurgitated stuff with every expansion, this wouldn't be an issue.

Admittedly, I'll still keep supporting the game (though less than I used to), but I'm obviously far from happy. It seems to me that the only choices left for EQ are have it continue with mediocrity, or have it shut down. I wish it wasn't this way, but that's the sad reality, I guess. RIP Verant.

*scowls at Daybreak, ready to attack*