Well, more specifically the company he founded. Blog entry on the move.
Why is this of interest? Well, I assume it’s interesting if you know Scott Hartsman. Or are Scott Hartsman. But beyond that, his long resume includes a stint that most observers describe in shorthand as ‘saving Everquest 2‘. Given that that is probably the best result for a live team manager possible (in an industry that really doesn’t give live teams enough respect) I’d say that he probably is trying out new headgear at the moment. Hopefully we hear from the haberdasher shortly!
#1 by We Fly Spitfires on July 10th, 2009
Scott’s impact on EQ2 has been huge. Truly huge. I totally agree that he saved EQ2 and turned it around from the edge of failure. He will be missed. Good luck to him!
#2 by geldonyetich on July 10th, 2009
He seems… optimistic.
#3 by tazelbain on July 10th, 2009
Maybe WAR can be saved!
#4 by Gx1080 on July 10th, 2009
The guy has skill. God knows that resurrecting a MMORPG from the ashes its tough for a number of reasons enough for making 2 blog posts (Basically, fighting against the inertia). And being a “miracle worker” makes you capable of asking the salary that you truly desire.
And a delicate, although full of BS, way to say it its better than the “Unreal designer goes for Xbox Dollars and flip the finger to PC users” show.
See, delicacy. Because the Internet its delicate, although enjoys to deliver shit.
#5 by Freakazoid on July 10th, 2009
It doesn’t take a genius to change EQ2 toward the things WoW did well: Soloing to cap via a plethora of quests. It probably did take a lot of work to fix it, though. Having to rescale player stats, mob stats, equipment, add more quests, ect. I am thankful that Hartsman had the foresight to do that, because I would not have tried EQ2 if it never changed from the old game.
#6 by Freakazoid on July 10th, 2009
Oh and yes, he should go save WAR. It is a game worth saving, and the only real fixes it needs is faster leveling, better quests and more complicated things to do in pvp.
#7 by Gx1080 on July 10th, 2009
Yeah, WAR needs to make a)all the clases fun b)make t4 not suck compared to t1 to 3 c)Make leveling more fun than grinding PQ or having a shopping list of quests (my opinion, less quests and more XP each) d)Make all PQs more interesting than killing low-med-high guys (If you need to reduce the number of PQs do it). In short, more meat, less potatoes.
Oh, and make animations stop feeling ankward, trophies bigger and armor look more cool.
#8 by dartwick on July 11th, 2009
Saving/turning around, WAR would require the firing of a certain British huckster as a starting point.
Its not happening.
#9 by geldonyetich on July 11th, 2009
Saving WAR would involve the removal of a certain World of Warcraft aspect to interest me in it… and that’s definitely not happening as long as EA is holding the reigns.
#10 by Gx1080 on July 11th, 2009
@geldonyetich
You got to be more specific. BGSs, quest farming for levels (not WoW exclusive), there are several.
#11 by geldonyetich on July 11th, 2009
@Gx1080
In this case, I was referring directly to the World of Warcraft flavor, the aspect that makes the game feel like World of Warcraft. It’s probably conveyed mostly through the GUI, graphical style, and quest progression mechanism.
#12 by bne on July 12th, 2009
Explore we must: "But we have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen. I regret only for the women we leave behind." Robt. F. Scott
#13 by Angelworks on July 12th, 2009
Seems like eldergame.com points to pet-topia and the live team article isn’t on there. Odd…
#14 by harl on July 13th, 2009
@geldonyetich
You’re aware that Blizzard stole the graphic style from Games Workshop right?
Warhammer predates Warcraft by 11 years.
#15 by geldonyetich on July 13th, 2009
@harl
Who stole whose style has little to do with what I’m talking about. The problem is that a player who is sick of WoW wouldn’t want to play more of it in WAR. That the games look sort of like eachother is a minor dressing concern that lends itself to the far bigger issue that the gameplay is identical enough to hold little novelty for one after you’ve bored of the other.
I’m not going to suddenly love WAR because it held the original style. That would be deluding myself. I’m still sick of both games.
#16 by Sweetmeat on July 13th, 2009
Heh I quit EQ2 after they started saving it. The nerf to crafted gear after having played DAoC( where crafted gear was easily as good as anything else in game) was unacceptable to me. Then my cousin convinced me to try it again just in time for them to nerf crafted gear a second time. Perhaps I don’t understand why a game would even include crafting, if the very best things you can craft can be outshone by relatively easily quested gear. It is called EverQUEST though so I guess I can understand it. The reversal from their position at launch that the very best crafted gear would match all but the top tier of quested gear was a huge turn off.
By the way, I decided to try uninstalling Age of Conan and re-downloading it to see if the patch would take less time and indeed, I was able to download and patch the whole thing in about 30 hours total, rather than the projected 160 hours or more from my first try. The relevance to this post is I expect the low quality of crafted gear in this game will very likely be what turns me off of Conan too.
#17 by harl on July 13th, 2009
@geldonyetich
You’ve just described the vast majority of MMPOGs. *shrug*
#18 by geldonyetich on July 13th, 2009
@harl
Don’t I know it! Would that this didn’t just underline the problem further.
The way I see it, the PC Market has been drowning in clones for years. MMORPGs are no longer all that novel, so operate under the same rules of any other game here. If this were the first time I played a streamlined Dikumud clone I’d just be annoyed, but it’s reached the point of nails on chalkboard agonizing for anyone whose been around long enough.
I’d settle for different enough instead of completely different, but in WAR vrs WoW, they didn’t quite pull that off. WARs development was heavily altered to look and play a lot like World of Warcraft, and this came back to bite it in the butt when it didn’t introduce enough novel features of its own. They had some really good stuff in there, like Public Quests, but they didn’t leverage it enough – it fell back into typical RvR and quest grinding.
So, not to read more than I originally was trying to write, WAR would have to be less-WoW-esque to get my attention again. They’d have to forge off on their own in some interesting tangent or another – at least moreso than they currently have.
#19 by Ferrel on July 14th, 2009
I’m a huge fan of Scott actually. He did a lot for EQ2 and was really honest and true to the players. It was his willingness to listen that kept me in the game longer than would normally have been possible.
I hope whatever he does next he has just as much say over. I’d be willing to take a risk on a product that he produced.
#20 by Outlawedprod on July 15th, 2009
Saving WAR? Most likely far too late. I wonder how many subs are even left cause they’re doing more server transfers.
http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=859