Rofl... EQN is dead, and Pantheon is alive?

[Ranndom]

Originally Posted by Adolphus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The world is upside down. Looking more and more like Quaid and his team is actually producing something good, somehow. http://www.pantheonmmo.com/

Meanwhile, Smedley's Disney-World-Minecraft-Everquest is dead as a door nail. Good riddance to that garbage.

Color me more than a little surprised at this twist of fate. Smedley destroyed, McQuaid potentially victorious? I put this is on the same level as Bruce Jenner turning out to be a woman inside.

EQN died the second it was announced so long ago.

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by Adolphus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The world is upside down. Looking more and more like Quaid and his team is actually producing something good, somehow. http://www.pantheonmmo.com/

Meanwhile, Smedley's Disney-World-Minecraft-Everquest is dead as a door nail. Good riddance to that garbage.

Color me more than a little surprised at this twist of fate. Smedley destroyed, McQuaid potentially victorious? I put this is on the same level as Bruce Jenner turning out to be a woman inside.

It's not done deal. These things can die easy. Don't get your hopes up. Mine are low. Remember Vanguard? Didn't do so well. Odds are this one will be dead out of the water. Even if it survives, it'll probably be half dead.

I watch from a distance. I admit, I only care because I was one of the first players on live in march 99. If I'd never picked up the Everquest box in the store I would probably be watching Camelot Unchained and Richard Garriot. I did pick up the UO: Second Age box, but that was long after McQuaid had stolen my soul. Garriot--for his sake--has a solid grip on me anyway.

I've always wondered if my attraction to Everquest gameplay is rooted in nostalgia or some kind of hardened attachment. You know how old people are attached to old things and can't readily adopt new things? Like that.

But I think a lot of hte people following Pantheon will be disappointed when they find out it's not Everquest or Vanguard. It might have some similar traits, but it'll be much more modern. They will have to adjust. I of course have witnessed changes in MMO's since I first played EQ, so I EXPECT it. I think me knowing this actually makes it easier for me to accept whatever Pantheon becomes. And yet I also know this is McQuaid and he won't be making Hello Kitties. So to some extent expectations are appropriate. When McQuaid says he wants to make for a Core or Hardcore audience, he generally means it, even if it's a slippy slope in those parts and things will trend towards Casual like water goes downhill...

Here's a thing by Bartle from 2004:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...orlds_are_.php

What Dickens was actually saying is that, so long as you don't lose more than you gain, things are good. In our particular case, we're not talking olde English money, we're talking newbies, although ultimately, the two amount to one and the same thing.

Now I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news, people, but here goes anyway: even for the most compelling of virtual worlds, players will eventually leave. Don't blame me, I didn't invent reality.

If oldbies leave, newbies are needed to replace them. The newbies must arrive at the same rate (or better) that the oldbies leave; otherwise, the population of the virtual world will decline until eventually no-one will be left to play it.

Point #1: Virtual worlds live or die by their ability to attract newbies

Point #2: Newbies won't play a virtual world that has a major feature they don't like.

Point #3: Players judge all virtual worlds as a reflection of the one they first got into.

Point #4: Many players will think some poor design choices are good.

Conclusion

Virtual worlds are under evolutionary pressure to promote design features that, while not exactly bad, are nevertheless poor. Each succeeding generation absorbs these into the virtual world paradigm, and introduces new poor features for the next generation to take on board. The result is that virtual world design follows a downward path of not-quite-good-enough, leading ultimately to an erosion of what virtual worlds are.

Fortunately, there are a number of processes at work that have the potential to arrest this descent. Thus, although the future of virtual worlds may look disappointing, it's not completely bleak.

Besides, for the purist there will always be text MUDs.

[Dullah]

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

But I think a lot of hte people following Pantheon will be disappointed when they find out it's not Everquest or Vanguard. It might have some similar traits, but it'll be much more modern. They will have to adjust. I of course have witnessed changes in MMO's since I first played EQ, so I EXPECT it. I think me knowing this actually makes it easier for me to accept whatever Pantheon becomes. And yet I also know this is McQuaid and he won't be making Hello Kitties. So to some extent expectations are appropriate. When McQuaid says he wants to make for a Core or Hardcore audience, he generally means it, even if it's a slippy slope in those parts and things will trend towards Casual like water goes downhill...

I actually think it will be more like EQ than most people expect. EQ was by far the more successful of Brad's games, and what the vast majority of oldschool fans are calling for. While I'm sure experience and ideas from Vanguard will be present, everything they are saying makes it sound like they've literally recreated EverQuest as the foundation with new lore and backstory.

Just look at what Brad said over on mmorpg.com a couple days ago.
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/...ntheon-news/p2

He continually refers to having built the "foundation" or "core mechanics" based on oldschool games (EQ by name), upon which they will place the new ideas for Pantheon.

I think if they're smart they will try to recreate EQ as closely as possible. At least on a foundational level. While some of the important features and mechanics are obvious, its hard to say what ingredients exactly made the game so compelling.

[Rec]

It will be more EQ than next pretends to be

[wts]

Originally Posted by Secrets [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

http://eqbrowser.com/

pras.

[Swish]

Originally Posted by Rec [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It will be more EQ than next pretends to be

I don't think EQ Next will release before being outdated or replaced with a better version of the same game by a different company.

[AzzarTheGod]

Originally Posted by Swish [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't think EQ Next will release before being outdated or replaced with a better version of the same game by a different company.

This. SOE has always been very slow developmentally, one of the slowest AAA houses in fact.

Other studios like Bethesda and any studio under EA really can take the best ideas and burn a game within 8 months. Many indie houses with the new Unity tools and other engine kits that are coming out can bring an MMO to market in 2 years or less.

Vaporware is vaporware. SOE specializes in vaporware.

Pantheon will see a launch. EQN is in the process of being dismantled and rebuilt for the 3rd or 4th time in 8 years.

EQN has already had a solid 7 year design cycle with no end in sight. They bullshitted their parent company Sony until they got kicked to the curb for having only 2 or 3 products in 15 years.

[Pyrion]

Sure it's possible to make the next standard MMO in a relatively short time. But an MMO where the whole world is destructible voxels? That's a novelty and nobody would do that fast.

I am not saying that eq next will definately launch. But it's clear that such an MMO would need a lot more time than others.