EverQuest II: Desert of Flames Q&A

Ten Ton Hammer has published a short Q&A with Sony Online’s Ryan Shwayder, in which the EverQuest II community manager reveals a few more details about the upcoming Desert of Flames expansion. Here’s a taste:

Q: Are there any concerns with coupling the Combat Changes and the DoF launch so closely together? Are there any mechanisms in place to prevent quality feedback from getting lost in the shuffle?

A: “The combat changes and Desert of Flames are independent of each other. That said, we decided to release the combat changes at the same time as Desert of Flames so we can get combat polished before hitting Live servers. That has the side-effect of Desert of Flames potentially feeling like a whole new game experience to some, but we don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing with how fun the combat changes are turning out.

We also have several mechanisms to ensure we see the quality feedback that comes in from Beta. We have Apprentice Designers assigned specifically to gather feedback from Beta as well as the forums. They send reports on a daily basis and get a lot of issues addressed this way.

The bug and feedback reports on Beta come directly to our email boxes on a daily basis and are great for direct scanning.

Additionally, we have specific members of our Quality Assurance staff assigned to talk to players on Beta and gather the biggest issues of the day (for both Combat Changes and general issues) in yet another daily report.

Other than the direct attention we pay ourselves, we have automated reports that tell us things like how many times a quest has been acquired and completed so we know exactly what quests might be broken.

In short (is that a valid phrase after all that?), we feel we’ve covered our bases with the launch of Live Update #13 and Desert of Flames.”