[Megathread] Everquest Next (what we know thus far)

[Pachycrocuta]

I hope that this game sticks with being sandbox and doesn't try to be anything else.

From what I have read about it, it seems like it will be fun. And I hope that it will work better on my computer than Planetside 2 does (everything on lowest, and changed size to lowest possible (instead of 1920x1080), and I get 2 fps. So I stopped trying as I didn't want to be even more of a detriment to those around me than my horrible FPS game "skills" would do.

[thevoicefromwithin]

I hope that this game sticks with being sandbox and doesn't try to be anything else.

Me too, but I doubt it. Why keep the Everquest moniker then? It's like designing some low-fat, low-sugar health food and trying to sell it under the M&M brand name. They obviously still try to pander to the small remaining EQ crowd.

[Totori]

Me too, but I doubt it. Why keep the Everquest moniker then? It's like designing some low-fat, low-sugar health food and trying to sell it under the M&M brand name. They obviously still try to pander to the small remaining EQ crowd.

Same world different design I suppose?

[Pachycrocuta]

Me too, but I doubt it. Why keep the Everquest moniker then? It's like designing some low-fat, low-sugar health food and trying to sell it under the M&M brand name. They obviously still try to pander to the small remaining EQ crowd.

Well, they technically do with many candies (sugar-free garbarge). But as Remilia said, could be based in the same world but with a different overall design (think Warcraft 3 -> World of Warcraft). So long as they stick to pure sandbox and keep the theme-park out (unless they are marketing it as a hybrid, similar to Pathfinder Online is doing). I think it could work. So long as SOE doesn't do like they did to their last sandbox game (SWG).

[thevoicefromwithin]

Good point. Still when I read "EQ" I associate it (I played II shortly but never the first) more with a game design philosophy than with Norrath.

[Tea]

Did you lose experience or what from too many items in EQ? Idea isn't bad but these days you need to be more smart about it and have workarounds making it easy for players... like not having to run for hours to nearest vendor, easy trading between players or perhaps ways to store or carry resources in bases/stations and carriers/mount/things like that.
Friendly fire though is more interesting, getting rid of factions and perhaps have some safety like when in a guild your guild members cant kill you. I think Tera has some light version of this. Its interesting to be scared out in the world, watch your back for enemies and there should also be a possibility for a guild to make a territory theirs and the resources on it, might be special ore or other things and then also job offers like they have in Eve online where they can hire other players to watch the territory during late nights and so on. It would be interesting if you lost resources if you got killed or die by mobs or stuff, not losing gear but other kind of mats and you can rush and try get it back but other players can be fast and take it away from you. Then you can hire other players as body guards and so on. I would love a game like that, sandbox pvp in a smart and interesting way... lots of Eve but being a cute character instead of a spaceship and perhaps some rethinking about what to lose when you die and so on... make it a little casual friendly while still being a punishment so that you need to think before acting and watch your back and organize team work or work for the man in other guilds and stuff. I would love it =)

[obake1]

Did you lose experience or what from too many items in EQ? Idea isn't bad but these days you need to be more smart about it and have workarounds making it easy for players... like not having to run for hours to nearest vendor, easy trading between players or perhaps ways to store or carry resources in bases/stations and carriers/mount/things like that.
Friendly fire though is more interesting, getting rid of factions and perhaps have some safety like when in a guild your guild members cant kill you. I think Tera has some light version of this. Its interesting to be scared out in the world, watch your back for enemies and there should also be a possibility for a guild to make a territory theirs and the resources on it, might be special ore or other things and then also job offers like they have in Eve online where they can hire other players to watch the territory during late nights and so on. It would be interesting if you lost resources if you got killed or die by mobs or stuff, not losing gear but other kind of mats and you can rush and try get it back but other players can be fast and take it away from you. Then you can hire other players as body guards and so on. I would love a game like that, sandbox pvp in a smart and interesting way... lots of Eve but being a cute character instead of a spaceship and perhaps some rethinking about what to lose when you die and so on... make it a little casual friendly while still being a punishment so that you need to think before acting and watch your back and organize team work or work for the man in other guilds and stuff. I would love it =)

In the old days of EQ, things never came easy. There were no in game maps, but only coordinates to guide you. Certain zones you had to go through to reach where you wanted to exp, but some adjacent zones were extremely dangerous or way above your level. Time also mattered in EQ for certain zones, as a few zones, you don't want to be out wandering at night or you'd very likely die from mobs that spawned only then. Traveling around was a big deal as only the rich had mounts and you'd have to bum a movement speed/levitate buff from someone if you didn't have it yourself. A lot of places were really dangerous without being invis'ed. I remember I'd reach certain zones and I wouldn't leave it until I out leveled it because it was really risky to get to. Dying meant you had to run back to your corpse naked and you definitely did not want to die alone without anyone around or you would have some serious problems if your body was in a bad zone. If you couldn't get to it yourself, you paid a necro to summon your body at the zone line or your gear rots if you don't recover it within 7 days. If all of these things were prevalent in today's MMOs, I suspect it'd turn a lot of people off, as a majority of people are used to just easy access to everything and not suffer any extreme consequences due to reckless play or whatever.

Factions were one of the biggest time sinks in EQ though. Some of the factions I grinded solo, then tanked it due to killing raid bosses, then grinded back up again to do quests were quite painful to do. I honestly never wanted to grind anything again after those experiences, which is why I never grinded Insane in WoW, even though that doesn't compare to some of the factions I did in EQ. That is one thing I hope they never bring back...is grinding factions for insane amount of hours. That is not fun in any way to sit in one spot and kill mobs for months.

[Fencers]

I often would sell resurrections to make end's meet in EQ.

What a glorious game. Few MMOs actually were firm in, "stand together or die alone" like EQ1 and FF11. These were true MMOs.

[Pachycrocuta]

I often would sell resurrections to make end's meet in EQ.

What a glorious game. Few MMOs actually were firm in, "stand together or die alone" like EQ1 and FF11. These were true MMOs.

I think it would be nice if you needed to group up in order to advance. Really wish they would add more RPG elements into MMORPGs other than grouping to do instances. That way, if someone wants to only heal, they wouldn't have to change to dps or kill something after 5+ minutes of fighting. The "Stand together or die alone" would be a welcome readdition to MMORPGs in my opinion. If that kept out a lot of the "gamers" I wouldn't mind at all. Keep out as much solo-friendly stuff as possible, and promote group creation and social connections, which is sadly all but absent nowadays.

[thevoicefromwithin]

Blergh. If developers think forced grouping is the way to go, be honest and straightforward about it. Don't just use it in "end-game", make people gather 40 close friends to go from level 1 to 2. Heck sell the game only 40 units at a time; it's all about the social experience and we can't start early enough with that drek, can we?

Btw I play multiplayer online since the days when you were sitting in front of a university computer and your char, other players and mobs were all represented by ascii symbols, so anybody spare me the shit about "true" MMOs and the only correct "Way It's Meant to Be Played".

[Dezerte]

I don't agree with forcing group-play, unless it's auto-grouping/shared loot and no instances.

[Axehandle]

I read the posts complaining about grouping and I think "aren't Mmorpg's supposed to be about the social experience and not solo play."

[Totori]

I read the posts complaining about grouping and I think "aren't Mmorpg's supposed to be about the social experience and not solo play."

Well it is more or less true.
What's the point of a multiplayer game if it's not multiplayer.

I don't mind a mix of each. Have some stuff you can do solo, some stuff that you do with a group, however I don't think grouping should just be the 'pure end game' type of thing. Should encompass more than dungeons and such.

[Pachycrocuta]

I read the posts complaining about grouping and I think "aren't Mmorpg's supposed to be about the social experience and not solo play."

Yep. May as well just play a single-player game instead. Grouping should be more than just for "end game" raids and pvp. Aka, more than just for instanced things. While yes, there should be things you can do solo, it shouldn't be EVERYTHING. Because then you are just playing a single-player game with a chat room, and breeds the anti-social atmosphere we have in many of the MMORPGs we have out (with wow being the biggest example).

[Orlong]

I hope EQNext won't go the road of EverQuest 2. Main factor which made EQ2 less popular than WoW (they were both released less or more same time), is that EQ2 was much more system demanding. MMO should be accessible in what concerns hardware demands.

Doubtfully it will have it and if it will have it, it will be done generously (not like in UO or games where it was implemented). I can't actually remember encumbrance/weight limitation in any game after UO.

Id love for it to look beautiful and be graphically designed for higher end systems. Im tired of companies making games for the cheapasses or kids with no money that refuse to upgrade their rigs.

[Widow Maker]

So basically next year we'll know a shit ton more about it? Sounds good. How long has it been in production for?

I never played the original EQ or EQ2. My first mmo was WoW back before naxx came out. I've been searching for an MMO that would grab me as WoW did when I first started playing...socially, immersion, everything. I've heard very awesome things about EQ, even though I haven't played it, so this sounds promising. Most MMOs I've tried have disappointed me so...lets see what happens here.

[Axehandle]

So basically next year we'll know a shit ton more about it? Sounds good. How long has it been in production for?

I never played the original EQ or EQ2. My first mmo was WoW back before naxx came out. I've been searching for an MMO that would grab me as WoW did when I first started playing...socially, immersion, everything. I've heard very awesome things about EQ, even though I haven't played it, so this sounds promising. Most MMOs I've tried have disappointed me so...lets see what happens here.

Like I try to tell everyone this game (if smed is to be believed) will be nothing like wow if that's the gaming experience you're looking for EQ Next probably won't be it because it's a different type of mmorpg. If you want a themepark this is not the game for you. However, if you desire the largest sandbox ever this is the place to be.

[Widow Maker]

Like I try to tell everyone this game (if smed is to be believed) will be nothing like wow if that's the gaming experience you're looking for EQ Next probably won't be it because it's a different type of mmorpg. If you want a themepark this is not the game for you. However, if you desire the largest sandbox ever this is the place to be.

I never said I wanted a WoW2. If I wanted that I would play Rift. It was quite clear from what has been released that this wasn't going to be it. I'm pretty tired of the standard MMOs, as I've mentioned many times in other threads. I'm looking for something new that can grab me SIMILAR to how WoW did when I first played it. Fully immersed into the world and game. That's all I meant by mentioning it.

[Enitzu]

In terms of PvP on EQ, all I remember was when you ran with a bard, you were invincible. The most dangerous and fun part of PvPing in EQ was not the actual PvP fighting, but the fact that when you raided an outdoor world boss, a group/guild can come along and gank you mid encounter.

I really loved the PvE in EQ. Most of the early expansions were very punishing. I remember waking up at very early hours in the morning so our guild could get started farming armor in East ToV. A cleric I knew camped Ragefire for 94 hours to finish his rez stick. I camped one mob for 55 hours over a week's time span for one piece of the Vex Thal key. There were very unforgiving raids. So many great memories. I remember I dozed off in the middle Vex Thal trash and woke up as mobs respawned behind me and I accidentally trained the raid and that ended our raid week because we had no mages setup for CoH. Rathe Council took us 6 hours from the initial pull to the boss death. Uqua was by far the most unforgiving raid I've done in EQ as one person dying in the instance at any time usually caused a chain reaction of deaths due to the add that spawns for every one death. Dying late instance meant your raid was finished until the next reset because the temporary AoE blocking items disappeared. So many raids with unique mechanics is what I enjoyed the most.

Leveling was very hard and there were hell levels at 51, 55, and 59 I believe where you'd need twice the amount of exp to level (at least it definitely felt like that). Coupled with the fact that it was difficult to find groups, high level zones that were dangerous to reach, loss of exp on death...you had to play carefully.

I have really high hopes that EQN will bring back the excitement of MMOs like EQ1 did for me.

+10!

EQ1 made me love the MMO genre. It made every piece of gear you had an accomplishment because either through your epic weapon quests or simply camping the VT keys for days/weeks just to get your entire raid in, it was very time consuming and overall a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.

And my personal favorite thing from EQ1 ... being forced to group with your community! If you sucked at your class you weren't making it past 30-40. Nowadays with WoWs easy mode systems you have lvl 90s decked out in full epic raid gear that can't out dps me as a tank. Bring back having to actually put work into getting the best gear in the game and not handing it out!

[stellvia]

I think it's become apparent we're going to see a shift in the industry towards sandbox MMOs over the next 5 years. The continual failure of most formulaic MMOs because of the market being oversaturated is part of it. The "MMO Generation" growing up, getting tired of the same gameplay, wanting a more well-rounded experience and/or something they can take more at their own pace with the responsibilities of life cropping up regularly or randomly, etc.

I fully expect Blizzard's Titan MMO to feature a lot of sandbox elements to it as well. (Unless it's COD Online ... which I also wouldn't be surprised with Bobby Kotick at the helm...)