[Megathread] Everquest Next

[Bigtimmy]

Correct.

Although primary/secondary class is used loosely. Players are not necessarily locked-in to that choice. The term is simply being used to note one might choose to use the warrior's armor & weapons as a warrior/rogue. Or the other way around.

Again, I just don't like the term "secondary class" being thrown around at all. I think this is confusing people by oversimplifying things. I'd prefer the concept of secondary abilities instead, as this is how it has been described by the developers. This is different from just having an interchangeable set of secondary abilities which are inherited wholesale from different classes in groups of 4.

To make very clear what I mean when I say your secondary abilities #5-8 are not just from one class, let's use my previous hypothetical example of the mage's secondary skill template: 2 mobility skills, 1 damage skill, and 1 pet skill. In this case, you could be playing that mage with 1 rogue mobility skill, 1 warrior mobility skill, 1 necromancer damage skill, and 1 ranger pet skill. This build would require you to have those classes unlocked, of course.

Any class you unlock has some secondary abilities which fall into specific categories. Different primary classes have different templates for what secondary abilities can be "plugged in." (You'll note that my example of the mage does not have healing or damage reducing abilities available, but other primary classes would.) As you unlock more classes, the ability to customize builds will increase quite a lot.

[Fencers]

Right. I mean "Primary" as in your current primary class which is subject to change at a whim, it seems. But, once your primary is changed, your whole weapon skill set changes, and it should be like playing a completely different class.

Right, right.

Again, I just don't like the term "secondary class" being thrown around at all. I think this is confusing people by oversimplifying things. I'd prefer the concept of secondary abilities instead, as this is how it has been described by the developers. This is different from just having an interchangeable set of secondary abilities which are inherited wholesale from different classes in groups of 4.

Well, it's your second class making it a secondary class.

Though I think you are right in that it sounds [conceptually] confusing. As primary/secondary implies that is all you can choose from. Even if the intent is that you choose from all your secondary class abilities.

Hence why I said earlier that "only having 4 skills" is a slight misunderstanding. Each class does have 4 class skills. But those skills can be combined as one sees fit against the primary archetype/character selected. Which can also be unbound.

Hm. I didn't anticipate this would be so tricky to talk about. Though I suppose multiclassing is not as wide spread as singular class design so the logical conclusions from such a system are less likely to be drawn.

[RoninaThorstone]

So... Lets say my primary class is a rogue.

I would have:
Backstab, gouge, shadowstep, and eviscerate
Then, I have the other 39 classes so I pull abilities from mage, priest, deathknight, and paladin so I end up with, for my seconday skills,
Blink, renew, chains of ice, and hammer of wrath.

Can we multiclass with 4 other classes? or it just two?

[Cyclone Jack]

From my understanding, you can use up to 4 other classes as part of your build.

[RoninaThorstone]

Dear god. That's potentially awesome.

Maybe.

o_O

[Cyclone Jack]

That's my thoughts exactly. It will open up a huge amount of freedom to make the character you enjoy playing. Couple that with how gear affects your skills, and you can really fine tune your build. My only concern is the limitation of your weapon skills. If GW2 has taught me anything its that linking half of your build to your weapons is quite limiting and, in the long run, can get quite boring. Hopefully EQN will get around this by having much more diverse classes, coupled with the ability to change your class as you please.

[Kelimbror]

I'm still getting the feeling that this system is going to provide the illusion of depth at the cost of multiple things. Namely imbalance, lack of character identity, and an overall feeling of design 'cheapness' in regards to classes. Nothing that has been explained seems like it's going to be inherently more fun than GW2, Rift, or FFXIV's class design.

Another scenario of less is more, except they put the 'less' in the wrong place and overall too much of the 'more'. I mean what's the point of even having classes in this scenario? Oh hey, learn 4 new classes so you can have 4 utility spells and be a Technomagiwarriorpriest. Oh yeah, b/c I've just dreamed of being one of those for a long time now. Oh, being one of those means I press these same 4 buttons 95% and no one even knows what class they are? Meh.

I mean it's great if people just love things being wide open, but I feel it cheapens the concept of classes and lowers the rules of gameplay. Might as well just have no classes and instead a bunch of abilities you can go quest to learn. That might have been revolutionary. This seems more...wishy washy.

[Fencers]

I find open class design a lot more enjoyable than the singular style of GW2, WoW or original EQ. I drew the comparison to GW1 earlier, and I still believe that is the most appropriate comparison.

In GW1, players collected thousands of skills for their 2 classes. Which they could switch around if the occasion struck them. EQN is basically the same thing, only you are collecting classes that have a preset bundle of skills.

Was quite happy when they revealed the class design concepts for EQN. Until they told us it was an action game. Then I lost interest.

[Loaf Lord]

New question up on the roundtable. It's about fast traveling. Looks like people are in favor of traveling to the destination first before being able to fast travel to it.

[Arrowstormen]

I find open class design a lot more enjoyable than the singular style of GW2, WoW or original EQ. I drew the comparison to GW1 earlier, and I still believe that is the most appropriate comparison.

In GW1, players collected thousands of skills for their 2 classes. Which they could switch around if the occasion struck them. EQN is basically the same thing, only you are collecting classes that have a preset bundle of skills.

Was quite happy when they revealed the class design concepts for EQN. Until they told us it was an action game. Then I lost interest.

Yet you're still around to discuss something you lost interest in?

[Fencers]

Yet you're still around to discuss something you lost interest in?

Sure. Why not?

From the perspective of personal entertainment, I don't have much interest in the game. However, I am still highly interested in it's development, design, marketing, sales and operation.

Truthfully, I am not interested in most video games for entertainment. The business and design of video games is where most of my interest in the medium exist.

[ro9ue]

Truthfully, I am not interested in most video games for entertainment. The business and design of video games is where most of my interest in the medium exist.

Yeah it's a strange thing, but I find myself in the same boat. I don't have much time to play games, but I'm super interested in 'game design', particularly where MMOs are headed.

I still pick up games from time to time with intent to play them, but they usually end up collecting dust. Skyrim - bought at release, still unplayed. :/

[Loaf Lord]

New round table response is up. They actually explain what they meant by contested content this time.

- - - Updated - - -



Also a new timelapse video of a subterranean lava chamber.

[Recondition]

I'm pretty interested to see a MMO come out with a dungeon with different groups competing for spawns. That time lapse video looks great! Can't wait for players to get let loose on landmark.

[Al Gorefiend]

Until we have a crisper, more detailed explanation on the combat system I'm remaining unhyped. I like what I see so far, except I have no idea how many abilities each class has.

If I choose mage, what abilities do I get to choose from? I know I can only have 4 active but how many potential abilities does each class bring to the table? I'm hoping for a ton of flavorful, entertaining spells to pick from to really customize my character, instead of a static 4-10 abilities everyone has to use.

If a mages only offensive skill is Fireball, and 40 classes each have a single offensive skill, we have 40 offensive skills to choose from amongst millions of other players? I'm out.

[Fencers]

Until we have a crisper, more detailed explanation on the combat system I'm remaining unhyped. I like what I see so far, except I have no idea how many abilities each class has.

If I choose mage, what abilities do I get to choose from? I know I can only have 4 active but how many potential abilities does each class bring to the table? I'm hoping for a ton of flavorful, entertaining spells to pick from to really customize my character, instead of a static 4-10 abilities everyone has to use.

If a mages only offensive skill is Fireball, and 40 classes each have a single offensive skill, we have 40 offensive skills to choose from amongst millions of other players? I'm out.

EQN is going to be an action game with modular classes. Classes will likely not have 40 skills a piece to choose from. That's not even feasible given the proposed gameplay.

You seem to still be thinking about the game in singular terms w/r/t classes. It doesn't matter that you are a Mage or Warrior. All they represent is a skill package.

[jearle]

I'm pretty interested to see a MMO come out with a dungeon with different groups competing for spawns. That time lapse video looks great! Can't wait for players to get let loose on landmark.

I agree, would bring back memories of EQ farming lower Guk Frenzy spawn for my rogues FBSS. Ah the good ole days.

[Recondition]

There's a new roundtable poll up!
This time it's over people's opinions on holidays within Everquest Next.
https://www.everquestnext.com/round-table
Personally I'd like to see a lot more holidays than the ones celebrated in mainstream western culture, and perhaps completely new ones. The problem I feel with holiday content is that it's either too much to do over too little time to do it all or not enough to do spread over far too long. I'd be happy with decent sized chunks every 3 weeks or so, with the opportunity to catch up on what I missed the previous year.

[Achaman]

I'm pretty interested to see a MMO come out with a dungeon with different groups competing for spawns. That time lapse video looks great! Can't wait for players to get let loose on landmark.

sounds like a killstealing hell

[Edge-]

sounds like a killstealing hell

That's exactly how EQ1 worked. You had large open dungeons with rare spawns that groups would fight over. Would be a nice nod to the more oldschool development and put some serious competition in the game.