I used to be going to update you high quality folks on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, however SOE determined to drop a Fan Faire Reside date on us, which kind of mucked up my nefarious plans.
Why can we care about SOE Live? Effectively, there are a number of causes, but a very powerful one is that instead of getting to wait until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!
This information threw me for a bit of a loop, I do not mind telling you. I imply, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out guaranteed a playable EQNext demo at SOE Live 2013. And i knew that it is in reality 2013 already, so fingers-on time with what is likely to be the next nice sandbox will occur inside of a calendar yr. It nonetheless appeared really far off for some motive, though, I assume because it was simply three months ago that we were ending up SOE Reside 2012. August 1st is going to be here before we realize it, so it's high time we start prognosticating about EQNext, wouldn't you agree?
Hopefully it goes without saying that I would wish to see these items in addition to the same old high-high quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and progression content.
Heritage quests
Although I played the unique EverQuest for under a couple of month, I like love love EverQuest II's heritage strains. In a franchise that already sets the standard for MMO lore, it was a genius idea to tie the 2 games together and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by providing up extended epic quests with EQ-centric item rewards.
More like that in EQNext, please.
Housing
You already know SOE goes to place housing in EQNext, as the company does the feature better than another MMO developer (sorry Trion -- great effort, although). The query is how can it ever be nearly as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I don't assume it may, at the very least not at launch. It's literally a sport-inside-the-recreation that has more in common with Minecraft than typical MMO afterthought design, so if it takes SOE a while to suit it into EQNext's framework, I'm Ok with that. While we're dreaming, I'd even be greater than Ok with SOE discovering a approach to do EQII's housing in an open-world surroundings.
And yes, I do know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-combat options are for Barbie lovers and casuals and nobody uses them. Apart from the tens of tens of millions of gamers who've made the Sims franchise the most popular in the history of the personal laptop.
A crafter-pushed economy
This is going to be troublesome for SOE to tug off, significantly given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is built on an precise participant financial system, though, and one of my frustrations with EQII is the vast, intricate, and enjoyable crafting system that is almost totally wasted on a game the place a lot of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.
I don't envy the designers right here as a result of in addition to the balancing challenges inherent in making and sustaining a sandbox economy, they've additionally acquired to deal with the psyche of the brand new-faculty MMO participant who doesn't need to be bothered with crafters and who wants to distant public sale his gear with a minimal of effort and participant interplay. At the identical time, the agency has minced no phrases about the fact that EQNext is a participant-driven sandbox, so the way it navigates this potential minefield will probably be interesting to observe.
Good guild tools
Copy EQII's guild tools. Anything less makes Jef cry. The tip.
Things I don't want to see
Before I knock off for the day, let me spend a few paragraphs on issues I don't wish to see. Firstly, in-game VOIP. Look, go with the flow know it makes for a great again-of-the-field (can we still have recreation bins?) bullet level, but the truth is that it is a waste of growth sources even when it is shoe-horned in there by a third celebration.
I mean, actually, what guild with a clue would not use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble these days? These are all free apps -- except you're the guild leader paying for the server, and even then it's usually much cheaper than a standard MMO sub -- they usually dwarf the functionality present in current in-recreation solutions. In-sport VOIP is going to be laggy, it's going to sound like crap, and the one people who may use it for more than five minutes are the poor saps in pickup dungeon teams.
Secondly, let's not have any of that dev-generated personal story foolishness or the associated voice-appearing. This can be a massively multiplayer sandbox, in spite of everything, and i can think of at the least two recent AAA titles that have achieved more than enough to justify tossing these ideas onto the proverbial pile of MMO fail. I'm in all probability preaching to the choir here, as Smedley has given a number of interviews over the past few months that illustrate the company's "the players are the content" motto. But, nonetheless. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please do not with the only-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thanks.
What's in a reputation?
Whew. This isn't an exhaustive list after all, and I'm fairly curious to see what a few of you would like to see in EQNext. Rest assured that we'll be revisiting this subject often as SOE ramps up to its August reveal and past.
And with that, let's bring this week's concern of The Tattered Notebook to a close. Oh, that reminds me! With EQNext in our close to future, MJ and that i are seemingly going to rename the column in some unspecified time in the future, both as a strategy to freshen issues up and to better seize the spirit of the franchise going ahead. And we'd love your help! Be happy to post your suggestions within the feedback or contact us instantly through jef@massively.com or mj@massively.com.
EverQuest II is so large that it takes two authors to make sense of all of it! Join Jef Reahard and MJ Guthrie as they explore Norrathian nooks and crannies from the Overrealm to Timorous Deep. Operating every Saturday, The Tattered Notebook is your resource for all things EQII and EQNext -- and catch MJ every 'EverQuest Two-sday' on Massively Tv!