This is why Pantheon will fail. I feel Joppa's passion for this game. He wants to run the ball. Someone needs to make a cash handoff. I always felt that secretly EG7 is backing the game as well as M&M like Microsoft keeps Linux afloat.
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Once EQ gets off their high horse and makes the new game. We will be surrounded by mediocrity. Imitation is the best form of flattery.
On the other hand, I think MMOs in general are dead as fuck. Everyone is in maintenance mode with their toons. For example, when covid hit how many numbers of games ballooned because new people came back to do something to stay safe from the public interaction? The same thing happened in 1999 when the internet exploded in popularity and a wave of people now had high-speed connections. High video card prices kept everything stable. internet cafes were the rage.