Everquest Next news

[Furniture]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/20/sony-online-entertainment-everquest-next-sandbox-mmo/



Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley took the stage at the studio’s annual SOE Live convention to talk about the scope of EverQuest Next, the working title of the next MMO in the EverQuest franchise. As part of a “blowing up” of the preliminary concept images and sketches released last year, Smedley claimed Next will be the “largest sandbox MMO” created to date, according to EQ2 Wire.

“What we’re building is something that we will be very proud to call EverQuest,” Smedley said. “It will be the largest sandbox style MMO ever designed with the same exciting content delivered in a new way. Something you’ve never seen before and the MMO world has never seen before.

“We didn’t want more ‘kill 10 rats’ quests. We didn’t want more of the same. If you look at the MMOs out there, they’re delivering the same content over and over again. So are we. We need to change that. When we released EverQuest, we changed the world. We want to do that again with a different type of game.”

Smedley also promised a playable build by next year’s convention for fans to try out and mentioned the involvement of previous EverQuest designers Dave Georgeson and Terry Michaels in Next’s formation.

[Anderdale]

so when do you think this would be released? 2014 at least?

[Rogean]

They said they will try to have playable demos at the next convention, so thats late 2013, so 2014 would be a good guess. I bet you though that the game will not be anywhere close to ready for release when those demo's are tested, however in true SoE fashion they will rush it out the door in time for christmas and end up botching the whole game.

[Anderdale]

So, another repeat of Vanguard..

I hope not! Vanguard had such potential.

[Rogean]

kind of like what happened with red99?

Not really, Red99 was released as it was because I gave disclaimers that said it didn't have particular things working nor would I have much time to work on it and the masses screamed release it anyways they didn't care. So they got what they asked for.

Aren't you suppose to be banned?

[Anderdale]

Not really, Red99 was released as it was because I gave disclaimers that said it didn't have particular things working nor would I have much time to work on it and the masses screamed release it anyways they didn't care. So they got what they asked for.

Aren't you suppose to be banned?

Rogean I was curious if you all will ever have another event similar to the kunark realease where you have a chance to loot a guise or manastone etc?

[nilzark]

What they need to create is a Classic Everquest World that is more dynamic instead of static. I am for NPC day/night cycles, factional raiding & wars, dragon rampages, the occasional new boss to kill, etc.

[Tarathiel]

in true SoE fashion they will rush it out the door in time for christmas and end up botching the whole game.

i think thats pretty much the case with all games and companies nowadays. companies know that with the internet they can usually patch any problems that may come up after launch so they will rush the game to meet some arbitrary deadline. just look at skyrim for instance, that game was released with horrendously game breaking bugs(especially on ps3) just to meet the 11/11/11 date. its been out for almost a year now and they are barely starting to work out all the bugs, and ps3 still doesnt have any of the dlc.

whoa just realized im straying off topic, but ya. im sure this game will be rushed and will most likely fall short of all of our expectations. i mean lets face it, there will only ever be one real EQ

[Rogean]

Well with the bust of 38 Studios and bad decision after bad decision by Bioware, there's still nothing that's even come close to challenging WoW. Is this the next hope? An SoE Game? Lord save us...

I can't imagine how much Blizzard is laughing their ass off at the incompetence of all these other companies trying to release a product just to even get 10% the subscribers wow has.

[Kika Maslyaka]

Aren't you suppose to be banned?

Now that is PRICELESS!!! :D
Can I take that as a signature? :cool:

[Kika Maslyaka]

Well with the bust of 38 Studios and bad decision after bad decision by Bioware, there's still nothing that's even come close to challenging WoW. Is this the next hope? An SoE Game? Lord save us...

I can't imagine how much Blizzard is laughing their ass off at the incompetence of all these other companies trying to release a product just to even get 10% the subscribers wow has.

Well I would say Guild Wars 2 is a pretty decent new concept. I don't know what their numbers are, but they moved far from a WoW clone with features like:

-open multi player quest/kill participation
-removal of Holy Trinity principle
-high awareness combat situations (specially in dungeons)
-skills sets based of weapon types.
-no subscription fee (a way better version of Diablo 3 if you ask me)

I am not saying they can possibly scratch WoW popularity with all the hype, but they are doing something relatively new and not afraid of it ;)

[Rogean]

I tried GW2, couldn't get into it. Many people I played swtor with tried it too and they all ended up back on swtor.

My expectation going in wasn't that high though, I didn't want to get sucked into yet another mmo timesink. Was only trying it because all my friends went there.

[Kika Maslyaka]

well good thing about GW2 - you don't need to keep paying for an account - you buy it once like any casual game and you can just log in to run around and kill things whenever you feel like it, once a week or once month. I think of it as a BETTER version of Diablo 3 (which completely failed on me)

[Diggles]

Smedley has been playing the shit out of EVE (He was in Goonswarm, I did a few fleets w/ him before we split up for goodfites). The man loves the game, and I wouldn't be surprised if he took a few pages from EVE as far as sandboxiness goes.

[Diggles]

Well I would say Guild Wars 2 is a pretty decent new concept. I don't know what their numbers are, but they moved far from a WoW clone with features like:

-open multi player quest/kill participation
-removal of Holy Trinity principle
-high awareness combat situations (specially in dungeons)
-skills sets based of weapon types.
-no subscription fee (a way better version of Diablo 3 if you ask me)

I am not saying they can possibly scratch WoW popularity with all the hype, but they are doing something relatively new and not afraid of it ;)
GW1 started the no sub rule and it's because the game isn't designed to be a full time mmo, just something you pick up once in a while like BF3.

The multi-player questing was ripped straight from Warhammer's public quest system.

[Aegnarion]

The multi-player questing was ripped straight from Warhammer's public quest system.

Agreed, but personally I think they nailed it on the head 100 times better than WAR. Still not all that great tho..

[nilzark]

What do they mean by a "sandbox" game?

[Hailto]

Give me a game that feels like Classic EQ with updated graphics and content. Is that so hard?

[Rogean]

Sandbox = SWG. SWG was great. I hope they use some stuff from that game.

[Zereh]

What do they mean by a "sandbox" game?

It basically means that there are very few limitations and that the players are free to go and do pretty much as they wish.

[Hailto]

Yeah, if they made EQ next like SWG, it would be pretty much perfect.

[Knightt]

im excited no matter what it is im a long time SoE fan ive played and lvled up max chars in all of the games buts its gonna take alot to get me away from this little piece of heaven i like to call Project1999 thanks again rogean

[OngorDrakan]

I imagine it will be similar to what a few of you have said. SWG, EVE, EQ...SWG/EVE being putting real time into skills to raise them. In EQ you practice, but it wasn't like SWG or EVE. If they are taking pages from EVE, EQNext should be interesting. Probably a still brutal death system. If they don't make a brutal death system, it's a WoW clone and it will be a piece of shit. Players need challenge, WoW was too easy. Every game has so much handholding these days. Give us adults a real game already.

[Rogean]

There's some good things they could possibly take from swtor as well, such as the physics system, possibly some aspects of the graphics.. the scenery in that game did look astonishing.

Just for god sakes whatever they do, do NOT take the stun and resolve system from swtor.. worst I've ever seen.

[Knightt]

so rogean why cant ya give us a time window for velious you know how many people would sleep so good if we just had a hint

[Rogean]

so rogean why cant ya give us a time window for velious you know how many people would sleep so good if we just had a hint

Well for starters I wouldn't even know? Dunno how many times I have to explain that velious is a content release. I'm a programmer. There's a distinct difference.

Content is nilbog's department.

[HeallunRumblebelly]

There's some good things they could possibly take from swtor as well, such as the physics system, possibly some aspects of the graphics.. the scenery in that game did look astonishing.

Just for god sakes whatever they do, do NOT take the stun and resolve system from swtor.. worst I've ever seen.

noobs stun you 6 times when you grab the ball -> juggernaut swagger it across the line, 0 fucks given.

edit: also, you should ask nilbog to address the people about velious one of these days

[Hasbinlulz]

the bust of 38 Studios
I literally cried.

[Hasbinlulz]

Amalur is such an amazing game :(

[Hasbinlulz]

Sandbox = Darkfall. Darkfall was great but had the world's worst release. I hope they use some stuff from that game.

[Diggles]

i'd like to see a nullsec system established in EQnext, have frontier zones like kunark and such where it's player controlled, maybe even have a system where when new continents (kunark, velious) are discovered, players have to establish a foothold before npcs move in.

natives of course will be settled in, but like, have an event where the dark races have to fight to take control of the overthere from the sarnak for their landing or w/e

[azeth]

natives of course will be settled in, but like, have an event where the dark races have to fight to take control of the overthere from the sarnak for their landing or w/e

Perhaps in this environment FV had the possibility of becomming an evil city had the evil playerbase dominated the event?

Like that?

[Kraftwerk]

Like Black & White meets EQ in MMO form, decisions permanently affect environment. Would be cool.

[Diggles]

Perhaps in this environment FV had the possibility of becomming an evil city had the evil playerbase dominated the event?

Like that?

Yeah, exactly, and maybe have opportunities to retake it for the good races as well, like every month have an offensive launched against it.

might be too much pvp for some but sandbox has that side effect.

[Diggles]

I don't think sides should be a one time decision, though. One of the charms of EQ is that with enough work you could be an evil race that lived with the goodies, stuff like that. Maybe the game could select what "side" you were on based on how many friendly factions you had on each side. You could break into neutral territory and not participate in pvp wars or whatever over cities if you wanted, and just use them regardless of who holds control.

[Diggles]

Of course some things would have to be changed, the iksar hated with everyone trait might not work out for starting if you implemented this faction type system, I would say have two different factions of iksar that side with good or evil and have players start off from that, they can eventually swap sides later on, but grinding standings straight from level 1 so you can leave field of bone would be rough.

I'm also not sure how much that would work in lore since Iksar kind of despise all outsiders but meh.

[Hasbinlulz]

Yeah, exactly, and maybe have opportunities to retake it for the good races as well, like every month have an offensive launched against it.

might be too much pvp for some but sandbox has that side effect.
You would have liked darkfall.

[Diggles]

yeah, heard a lot of alliance chatter about darkfall and seems like it would have been fun to play.

[Tecmos Deception]

Smed loves Eve?

Dear God. I've been praying for a fantasy version of Eve for years now.

[Diggles]

Smed loves Eve?

Dear God. I've been praying for a fantasy version of Eve for years now.

He's in goonswarm and he's tweeted to the #tweetfleet once in a while.

[Enroth]

There's some good things they could possibly take from swtor as well, such as the physics system, possibly some aspects of the graphics.. the scenery in that game did look astonishing.

Just for god sakes whatever they do, do NOT take the stun and resolve system from swtor.. worst I've ever seen.

Agreed to both, but I hope they can take the scenery and graphics without feeling like the world is a static backdrop. It felt really sterile to me.

[Kika Maslyaka]

I don't think sides should be a one time decision, though. One of the charms of EQ is that with enough work you could be an evil race that lived with the goodies, stuff like that. Maybe the game could select what "side" you were on based on how many friendly factions you had on each side. You could break into neutral territory and not participate in pvp wars or whatever over cities if you wanted, and just use them regardless of who holds control.

This somehow reminded me of soemthign from EQ2.

In Freeport, Dark Elf district, there was this DE npc by the bank who kept commenting on any player who would visit the bank. If player would be a Dark Elf, the npc would praise the player on his gear, or level etc. If player was any other race, then the npc would go out of his way to make fun you or even insult you ;)

So one day I am digging in my vault, when I saw a High Elf Necromancer walk into a BANK! (To get a High Elf necromancer you would need to start a High Elf Magician in Qeynos, level to level 20, and then do a long ass Betrayal quest to switch to evil faction in Freeport, after which you become converted to a necromancer)
So when this DE npc who is commenting on everyone, detects this player he goes like this:

"A High Elf necromancer? Oh THANK YOU INNORUK! We've won!"

I burst into laughing when I saw that :D
Some of designers sure put a lot of thought into "what if" and even bothered to code it in :D

[Smedy]

Feels like i heard this hype before, same talk everytime yet all new games feature all the shit we all hate, such as instances.

[Cyph]

I'm hoping EQ Next is more like EQ1 than anything else on the market. Unfortunately, it depends whether they're going for the masses or for a stable, smaller community. On the subject of GW2; I'm already burnt out. Reached 80 and had no interested on grinding those ridiculous and unrewarding dungeons, classes play much like each other and ultimately, I found little satisfaction in the game.

[Dragonzord]

tldr but someone suggested dragon rampage. not entirely sure what that means but if its a dragon going nutz on random zones/towns killing anyone in his path I am all for it! about time these dumbass dragons actually kick ass instead of sit in a lair waiting for a raid force to take them out. eq npcs are dumb as hell.


edit: diggles why did you join the goon/reddit faggots?

[Ephirith]

The days of pc-games as we know them are probably numbered anyway. People are going to make shit that has some kind of smartphone/tablet functionality, or console accessibility at the very least. Hell, even a blockbuster pc release like Skyrim felt like a console port-- with a controller-navigatable menu that jut felt like a big wheelchair ramp for my mouse/keys.

You don't have to look long on the internet to hear a chorus of very loud, very dedicated pc players demanding the same kinds of things out of a game, the same shit we've read a thousand times before every time somebody bashes WoW or any of its clones. The fact that publishers and developers haven't responded to this... I think that indicates they just don't feel like it makes market sense. Meanwhile people like Notch shit out a game like Minecraft in their spare time and we gobble it up because we're desperate for something fun that hasn't been bent over and raped, sterilized, and ported to consoles by a boardroom full of MBA's.

[Diggles]

edit: diggles why did you join the goon/reddit faggots?
reddit/goon faggots are better than russian faggots or elitepvp faggots.

[Dragonzord]

reddit/goon faggots are better than russian faggots or elitepvp faggots.

maybe... haha all a bunch of faggots. some goons got owned in gallente faction warfare system, they were kinda mad. promised bat phone was called but after an hour of waiting noone came :(

[Diggles]

probably not real goons because faction warfare is just babbys first sov war.

[Dragonzord]

ya at least they make eve fun and forums interesting

unrelated but i find this video hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2KMZ_bxxr0
wish i could edit shit like that

[Gwence]

just make a game where there is noticeable difference in gear from the high end to the casual

aka no retarded warzones or battlegrounds where you can get gear that rivals or equals top end raid gear just by fucking running 80 of these a day like a fag.

don't make tier levels of gear, go back to basics and make that shit 100% random drops rates of 100% unique loot tables.

This is one of the major reasons why EQ has always blown every other MMO out of the water.

[Sarkhan]

What has me thinking that EQnext won't have the awesomeness that EQ1 had is this part
"On the issues of religion, all the original deity selections will be on offer and one can chose any."
(read that at http://everquestnext.net/?cat=6 )

If that means what i think it means, that any race can pick any religion, it has me thinking that race/diety doesn't matter and factions won't be as much of an issue... Unless they mean to have Cabilis evil and Chardok as a good city or something?
I would love for EQnext to be amazing, but I feel it won't be.

[Dragonzord]

What has me thinking that EQnext won't have the awesomeness that EQ1 had is this part
"On the issues of religion, all the original deity selections will be on offer and one can chose any."
(read that at http://everquestnext.net/?cat=6 )

If that means what i think it means, that any race can pick any religion, it has me thinking that race/diety doesn't matter and factions won't be as much of an issue... Unless they mean to have Cabilis evil and Chardok as a good city or something?
I would love for EQnext to be amazing, but I feel it won't be.

or it wont live up to eq1 because we arent kids/young adults anymore and we've done seen and done it all :(

[Diggles]

At this point, no, they can't make something that can capture that feel, especially considering it's supposed to be a remake of the world, but if they pull off the sandbox, EVE/SWG style gameplay, that would make it better than the original. Player ran cities, player controlled guarding of territories and such, all would be amazing.

Which makes me think, if they implemented the kind of versus system with evil and good races like I've been saying, Enchanters would be the perfect spies. Let em change their name when they go undercover and no one would be the wiser.

[Autotune]

At this point, no, they can't make something that can capture that feel, especially considering it's supposed to be a remake of the world, but if they pull off the sandbox, EVE/SWG style gameplay, that would make it better than the original. Player ran cities, player controlled guarding of territories and such, all would be amazing.

Which makes me think, if they implemented the kind of versus system with evil and good races like I've been saying, Enchanters would be the perfect spies. Let em change their name when they go undercover and no one would be the wiser.

just have illusions grant randomized temporary names that are in line with the race they are showing.

[Cyph]

It's likely that EQ Next will share a lot in common with the original EQ and judging by Brad's fondness of Eve, a lot in common with that. Changing direction after 1.5 years says something about what they are thinking.

[dragonfists]

looks promising so far

[Diggles]

It's likely that EQ Next will share a lot in common with the original EQ and judging by Brad's fondness of Eve, a lot in common with that. Changing direction after 1.5 years says something about what they are thinking.

Smed's*

Brad doesn't play EVE IIRC. Just Smed, because he was getting a feel for what link DUST would have with EVE and got sucked in.

[Autumnbow]

Has anything been said about PvP in this new game?

[Diggles]

Not to my knowledge, but sandbox kind of implies pvp, especially if they take it in the EVE direction.

[Emilly]

This somehow reminded me of soemthign from EQ2.

In Freeport, Dark Elf district, there was this DE npc by the bank who kept commenting on any player who would visit the bank. If player would be a Dark Elf, the npc would praise the player on his gear, or level etc. If player was any other race, then the npc would go out of his way to make fun you or even insult you ;)

So one day I am digging in my vault, when I saw a High Elf Necromancer walk into a BANK! (To get a High Elf necromancer you would need to start a High Elf Magician in Qeynos, level to level 20, and then do a long ass Betrayal quest to switch to evil faction in Freeport, after which you become converted to a necromancer)
So when this DE npc who is commenting on everyone, detects this player he goes like this:

"A High Elf necromancer? Oh THANK YOU INNORUK! We've won!"

Lol, that happens with my High Elf Inquisitor. Funny as hell =D

[Dragonzord]

sandbox eq, hot diggity dog

player run cities like swg would be badass

[Hollywood]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/20/sony-online-entertainment-everquest-next-sandbox-mmo/



Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley took the stage at the studio’s annual SOE Live convention to talk about the scope of EverQuest Next, the working title of the next MMO in the EverQuest franchise. As part of a “blowing up” of the preliminary concept images and sketches released last year, Smedley claimed Next will be the “largest sandbox MMO” created to date, according to EQ2 Wire.

“What we’re building is something that we will be very proud to call EverQuest,” Smedley said. “It will be the largest sandbox style MMO ever designed with the same exciting content delivered in a new way. Something you’ve never seen before and the MMO world has never seen before.

“We didn’t want more ‘kill 10 rats’ quests. We didn’t want more of the same. If you look at the MMOs out there, they’re delivering the same content over and over again. So are we. We need to change that. When we released EverQuest, we changed the world. We want to do that again with a different type of game.”

Smedley also promised a playable build by next year’s convention for fans to try out and mentioned the involvement of previous EverQuest designers Dave Georgeson and Terry Michaels in Next’s formation.

But does it play like Elder Scrolls?

MMO will never evolve until they get a proper and active defense system, as well as offensive obviously.

So curious to see what they are actually proposing

[stormlord]

Not interested. I'm resigned with the knowledge that the mainstream cannot do extreme or hardcore gaming well enough to satisfy. The mainstream makes games for the mainstream and that's just the way it's. However, I think a MMO that takes from Minecraft and WoW could be a hit success in the mainstream.

This might have interested me 12 years ago. Too much time has passed. I'm not the same. The mainstream doesn't understand me. I can enjoy an old game like Project 1999, but a game with mechanics like this would never ever ever float in the mainstream. This is the problem. Even if you upgraded Project 1999 it'd die as a mainstream product without an immense mechanics overhaul. By mechanics, I mean things like corpse returns and train-aggroing and kiting and lack of an in-game map. And yet many of those mechanics are the things I like. Not always, but often times! I don't like to compromise. Besides, I'm happy playing old or indie games.

Playing Wurm Online right now. Gog.com is a nice site if you like old games.

There're tons of indie MMO's. It's easier and easier to make them.

I wish those in the mainstream good luck and entertainment. Drinks all around, as Jack Sparrow said. I don't scorn you. I don't like football either, but I have no reason to dislike people who do. People just have different tastes and tolerances. Why fight about it? Play what you like and live in peace.

[Sturgeon]

Personally EQ2 was good enough, but no matter what game SOE makes next it won't be popular with the mmo crowd because if it has any difficulty to it it'll flop.

[Arclyte]

Personally EQ2 was good enough, but no matter what game SOE makes next it won't be popular with the mmo crowd because if it has any difficulty to it it'll flop.

Irrelevant. EVE online is a very unforgiving game and it is very successful.

There may be a vocal minority that clamors to make everything easier, but they are just that. Look at this emu. It's a 12 year old version of EverQuest that has moments equivalent to putting your dick in a vice, and yet it's popular.

[Kevynne]

Lol, that happens with my High Elf Inquisitor. Funny as hell =D

Lols hard

[Estolcles]

EQ mixed with EVE is like mixing Peanut BUtter and Chocolate: It'd be as close to perfection as one could get.

But knowing how SOE works, the likliness of bad system issues is high.

[Kevynne]

EQ mixed with EVE is like mixing Peanut BUtter and Chocolate: It'd be as close to perfection as one could get.

But knowing how SOE works, the likliness of bad system issues is high.

I'm beginning to believe that eq was just a derp moment.
And that derp moment was well received and liked.


Vanguard had so much promise tho.
Was a shame to see it roflfail. I want my high elf inquisitor back god damn it. And my raki Druid.