I used to be going to update you high-quality folk on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, however SOE decided to drop a Fan Faire Dwell date on us, which kind of mucked up my nefarious plans.
Why do we care about SOE Live? Well, there are a number of reasons, but crucial one is that as an alternative of having to attend till October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Subsequent in early August!
This information threw me for a little bit of a loop, I do not mind telling you. I mean, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out guaranteed a playable EQNext demo at SOE Stay 2013. And i knew that it is in fact 2013 already, so arms-on time with what could be the following nice sandbox will happen inside of a calendar 12 months. It still seemed actually far off for some purpose, although, I assume because it was just three months in the past that we were ending up SOE Dwell 2012. August 1st goes to be right here before we understand it, so it's excessive time we start prognosticating about EQNext, wouldn't you agree?
Hopefully it goes with out saying that I might wish to see this stuff in addition to the same old high-quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and progression content.
Heritage quests
Although I played the unique EverQuest for under about a month, I like love love EverQuest II's heritage lines. In a franchise that already sets the usual for MMO lore, it was a genius concept to tie the two games together and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by offering up prolonged epic quests with EQ-centric merchandise rewards.
More like that in EQNext, please.
Housing
You realize SOE goes to place housing in EQNext, as the company does the characteristic higher than some other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- great effort, although). The question is how can it ever be pretty much as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I do not assume it might probably, at least not at launch. It is actually a game-within-the-recreation that has extra in common with Minecraft than typical MMO afterthought design, so if it takes SOE some time to fit it into EQNext's framework, I'm Ok with that. Whereas we're dreaming, I'd even be greater than Okay with SOE finding a option to do EQII's housing in an open-world environment.
And sure, I know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-combat options are for Barbie lovers and casuals and no one uses them. Except for the tens of hundreds of thousands of gamers who've made the Sims franchise the most popular within the historical past of the private pc.
A crafter-driven economic system
This is going to be troublesome for SOE to tug off, notably given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is built on an precise player economy, although, and one in every of my frustrations with EQII is the huge, intricate, and fun crafting system that is almost completely wasted on a sport where a lot of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.
I do not envy the designers right here because in addition to the balancing challenges inherent in making and maintaining a sandbox economy, they've also acquired to deal with the psyche of the brand new-college MMO player who does not want to be bothered with crafters and who desires to remote auction his gear with a minimum of effort and player interplay. At the identical time, the agency has minced no phrases about the fact that EQNext is a participant-pushed sandbox, so how it navigates this potential minefield will be fascinating to watch.
Good guild tools
Copy EQII's guild instruments. Anything much less makes Jef cry. The tip.
Things I do not need to see
Before I knock off for the day, let me spend a couple of paragraphs on issues I do not wish to see. Firstly, in-game VOIP. Look, I comprehend it makes for a superb back-of-the-field (can we still have game containers?) bullet point, but the reality is that it is a waste of improvement assets even if it is shoe-horned in there by a 3rd occasion.
I imply, really, what guild with a clue would not use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble these days? These are all free apps -- except you are the guild leader paying for the server, and even then it is often much cheaper than a traditional MMO sub -- and so they dwarf the functionality present in current in-game options. In-sport VOIP is going to be laggy, it'll sound like crap, and the one individuals who would possibly 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 private story foolishness or the associated voice-appearing. It is a massively multiplayer sandbox, in spite of everything, and i can consider at the least two current AAA titles which have executed more than sufficient to justify tossing these ideas onto the proverbial pile of MMO fail. I am most likely preaching to the choir right here, as Smedley has given multiple interviews over the past few months that illustrate the company's "the gamers are the content material" motto. However, still. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please do not with the one-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thank Stockalicious.com .
What's in a reputation?
Whew. This isn't an exhaustive listing after all, and I'm fairly curious to see what a few of you want to see in EQNext. Relaxation assured that we'll be revisiting this matter often as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and beyond.
And with that, let's carry this week's subject of The Tattered Notebook to a close. Oh, that reminds me! With EQNext in our near future, MJ and that i are seemingly going to rename the column sooner or later, both as a technique to freshen things up and to higher seize the spirit of the franchise going forward. And we would love your assist! Be happy to publish your suggestions in the feedback or contact us immediately by way of jef@massively.com or mj@massively.com.
EverQuest II is so large that it takes two authors to make sense of it all! Join Jef Reahard and MJ Guthrie as they discover Norrathian nooks and crannies from the Overrealm to Timorous Deep. Working each Saturday, The Tattered Notebook is your resource for all things EQII and EQNext -- and catch MJ every 'EverQuest Two-sday' on Massively Tv!
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