Lots of people are in the OP's boat to be honest. One foot out the door etc. But perhaps due to other reasons.
Honestly, these days, if you quit or go MIA, its easier to NOT come back. People dont miss it. Ive heard that quite a few times over the past two or so years. Its mainly because of the direction that the game is going (or lack thereof) - The only thing keeping a large majority of people around that continue playing, are friends or their guild (or both) - Take away one (or both) and these people would quit and not even think twice about it. Loyalty to friends and a huge sense of obligation to their respective guilds are what keeps these folks around, period. They dont play because the game itself is fun, far from it. There are more people than you know that are like this. I bet we have some users on this very forum that feel this way. In fact, I guarantee you that we do.
And before anyone says "if you dont like EQ1, then stop playing?" - Well, thats easier said than done when you have developed close friendships for a decade or so and are a huge part of your guild. These people play for their friends and their guild. They dont play for the love of the game anymore. This is why they'd quit if those things were taken away and not even blink.
And if you ask some of these people, they want a forced retirement. They cant walk away on their own due to the reasons that I mentioned. They want SOE to shut down the servers forever tomorrow. This is a huge reason why you see so much spit and venom on the EQLive forums these days. Its doom and gloom central over there right now because lots of people are disgruntled/disenchanted with the game and want to quit, but they wont because of what I mentioned above. Post after post is nothing but doomsday shit. Anything from server stability being complete ass, or the lack of content and direction that we have been getting and seeing. Among many other things. Not to mention, posters are having their forum account(s) banned and suspended right and left over there.
Also, I have the impression that the devs have been entirely removed from the decision-making loop regarding EQ1.
I refuse to believe the crap being shoved out recently, along with some changes, is precisely what the front line developers want to give us.
The vast majority of revenues from EQ1 is being religiously siphoned off to EQL/N. Meanwhile, EQ1 is suffering badly because of it and its showing. However, it seems as though there are still plenty of resources available to deploy the latest greatest cash grab schemes for EQ1 to help fund their EQL/N project.
Skeleton dev crew is an understatement these days too. Its clear as day that EQ1 has minimal dev resources and this wont be changing any time soon.
I'd really like to see the state of this game in two years. I bet it wont be good at all. Hell, even this time next year.........
What I find extremely funny, is that even the staunchest SOE/EQ1 apologists are having a hard time wrapping their heads around what is going on these days. I know quite a few people in game who were prior positive attitude folks when it came to EQ1. I know a few of them have went to the negative Nancy dark side with the doom and gloom crowd.
I mean, its hard to NOT be negative about the game right now. Its hard to be excited and positive about the game these days.
