The Tattered Notebook What I Wish To See In EverQuest Next

I was going to update you positive folks on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, but SOE determined to drop a Fan Faire Dwell date on us, which kind of mucked up my nefarious plans.

Why can we care about SOE Reside? Nicely, there are multiple causes, but an important one is that as an alternative of getting to attend until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!

This news threw me for a bit of a loop, I don't mind telling you. I imply, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out guaranteed a playable EQNext demo at SOE Dwell 2013. And i knew that it is in truth 2013 already, so palms-on time with what may be the subsequent great sandbox will occur inside of a calendar year. It nonetheless seemed actually far off for some reason, though, I assume because it was just three months in the past that we had been ending up SOE Stay 2012. August 1st goes to be here before we realize it, so it is high time we begin prognosticating about EQNext, would not you agree?

Hopefully it goes without saying that I'd like to see this stuff along with the usual high-high quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and progression content material.

Heritage quests

Despite the fact that I played the original EverQuest for only a couple of month, I love love love EverQuest II's heritage lines. In a franchise that already units the standard for MMO lore, it was a genius thought to tie the two games together and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by offering up extended epic quests with EQ-centric merchandise rewards.

More like that in EQNext, please.

Housing

You already know SOE goes to place housing in EQNext, as the company does the function higher than any other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- great effort, though). The question is how can it ever be as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I don't think it could, at least not at release. Server stat It is actually a recreation-inside-the-sport that has extra in common with Minecraft than typical MMO afterthought design, so if it takes SOE a while to fit it into EQNext's framework, I am Ok with that. Server stat Whereas we're dreaming, I'd also be greater than Ok with SOE discovering a solution to do EQII's housing in an open-world surroundings.

And sure, I know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-combat choices are for Barbie lovers and casuals and no one uses them. Aside from the tens of tens of millions of players who've made the Sims franchise the most popular within the history of the non-public pc.

A crafter-pushed economic system

This is going to be difficult for SOE to drag off, notably given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is constructed on an actual player economy, though, and considered one of my frustrations with EQII is the vast, intricate, and fun crafting system that is nearly completely wasted on a recreation where a lot of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.

I do not envy the designers here as a result of in addition to the balancing challenges inherent in making and sustaining a sandbox financial system, they've also bought to deal with the psyche of the brand new-college MMO player who does not wish to be bothered with crafters and who needs to distant public sale his gear with a minimum of effort and participant interplay. At the same time, the firm has minced no words about the truth that EQNext is a player-pushed sandbox, so the way it navigates this potential minefield can be fascinating to look at.

Good guild instruments

Copy EQII's guild tools. Anything less makes Jef cry. The end.

Things I don't want to see

Earlier than I knock off for the day, let me spend a couple of paragraphs on issues I do not wish to see. Firstly, in-recreation VOIP. Look, I comprehend it makes for a great back-of-the-box (can we nonetheless have game boxes?) bullet point, however the fact is that it's a waste of growth sources even when it's shoe-horned in there by a third social gathering.

I mean, actually, what guild with a clue would not use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble nowadays? These are all free apps -- until you're the guild chief paying for the server, and even then it is often a lot cheaper than a conventional MMO sub -- and so they dwarf the functionality present in current in-game solutions. In-sport VOIP goes to be laggy, it's going to sound like crap, and the one individuals 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 related voice-appearing. This is a massively multiplayer sandbox, in spite of everything, and that i can consider at the least two recent AAA titles which have completed greater than enough to justify tossing these ideas onto the proverbial pile of MMO fail. I am most likely preaching to the choir here, as Smedley has given a number of interviews over the past few months that illustrate the company's "the gamers are the content material" motto. However, nonetheless. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please do not with the one-player savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thanks.

What's in a name?

Whew. This is not an exhaustive record in fact, and I'm quite curious to see what a few of you want to see in EQNext. Relaxation assured that we'll be revisiting this subject often as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and past.

And with that, let's deliver this week's subject of The Tattered Notebook to a detailed. Oh, that reminds me! With EQNext in our near future, MJ and i are possible going to rename the column sooner or later, both as a approach to freshen things up and to better capture the spirit of the franchise going ahead. And we would love your help! Be happy to submit your suggestions in the feedback or contact us directly via [email protected] or [email protected].

EverQuest II is so big that it takes two authors to make sense of all of it! Be part of Jef Reahard and MJ Guthrie as they explore Norrathian nooks and crannies from the Overrealm to Timorous Deep. Working every Saturday, The Tattered Notebook is your useful resource for all issues EQII and EQNext -- and catch MJ each 'EverQuest Two-sday' on Massively Tv!