MEGA QUOTE POST
Played EQ1 for a lot of years, will be glad to get back into Norrath.
Jira/Ashodin, I mean no disrespect but I think you two are putting some heavy assumption on what is going to be revealed with EQNext.
We simply don't know for certain how sandbox this is going to be. My opinion is that sandbox for EQN will be related more towards altering the landscape of the world moreso than not having classes or defined roles. I'm hoping for something closer to the original EQ than to WoW but I think it would be a mistake for them to completely ignore any advances that WoW made to the industry over the years. There is plenty to learn from the trails Blizzard blazed.
I can tell you guys really want this to be nearer to EVE/UO than WoW but I have not seen anything claiming that we aren't getting classes and will be relegated to skills similar to how UO or Asheron's Call worked. Not trying to start an argument with you guys or be a jerk. I just think it's a bit premature to claim that the game won't be remotely close to WoW when it has been so tightly under wraps. All of the info we have on it has been taken from interviews and tweets that involve Smedley (or one of a couple other SOE fellows) being extremely vague.
Here's a specific quote from Smedley:
I also said in there that it will still be very familiar to you, but what I meant by that statement is that we're changing what an MMO is. MMO means something now, and it means the same thing to everybody because it's the same game. EverQuest, WoW, SWTOR all use the same core loot gameplay, which is kill stuff, get reward, get loot, level up. Very few games have broken out of that mold. One or two have. EVE Online is a great example; it's not standard level-based gameplay, although I'm not saying we're going to a big skill-based system. You're still going to recognize the roleplaying game heritage in it. In EverQuest Next, the world itself is a part of the game. What is the world in these other games? It's a simple backdrop. It's nothing. We are changing that greatly. We're changing what AI is in these games to a degree that we're going to bring life to the world. That to us is the essence of the change that we're making.
If that doesn't make it sound far away from those types of games, you're ignoring the text. Conversely, there's been no messages from Smedley or Georgeson saying they're going to "ape" other MMOs. Everything they've said is clearly going in a different direction for an MMO.
Maybe, maybe not.
A physical release probably isn't happening. I hope I'm wrong though.
Here's a good site that keeps track EQN news from all over:
http://eqnexthub.com/
Awesome! But it looks all pinterest-y.
Gonna be frank, by what they call "sandbox," I expect no major paradigm shift from original EQ. The only expectation I'm bringing into this reveal is a Pre-Luclin EQ philosophy with Planetside 2 tech. If I get more, I'll be pleasantly surprised, if not, I won't be disappointed.
From what it sounds like, it's going to be genuinely different than EQ 1 or 2.
Here's another quote:
A good example, but a very narrow example, is battlegrounds in WoW or EQII, where players get bored doing it over and over again. But imagine the entire world as part of the interaction. Imagine seasons changing. Imagine if you're a Druid and you need to literally seek out reagents for your spells or worship your deity in a glade somewhere off in the wilderness, but you don't know where. Or image forests growing back after they're burned to the ground by invading forces. What we want is a dynamic world that gives all those other possibilities and doesn't just say OK, go to raid X with group composition of X, Y, Z, and kill the dragon for the 52nd time to get the tier 800 gear. It's this rinse-and-repeat gameplay that's got to change, and so we're changing it.
Bingo. That's what I am expecting as well.
Things I'm expecting:
- Unique questing and NPC interactions(Storybricks)
- The concept of a timesink returned to an MMO.
- Large, changing world. One thing that EQ had that other MMO's shrank was the scale of the world. Look back at EQ1's building size compared to your character size.
- No implementation of some recent MMO features like quest finders, flying mounts and fast travel. I'm not sure if they'll include a dungeon finder or not. I'm hoping not.
- Dungeons possibly having traps and/or alternate/non-linear routes.
- Races/Classes similar to EQ1.
I'm not even sure questing as we know it will exist in EQN. The timesink will be there, yeah, and the large world for sure (I want REALLY big). I also don't want those features either, as it takes people out of the game.
I'm hoping dungeons are randomized and spontaneous. That's a tall order to be sure, but a man can dream.
Its good that they focus on f2p (if thats true) from the start. So they can build up on that
P2P would just have it ruined early on
I agree. P2P would have just shown they aren't forward-thinking with the MMO community.
Whoa. This is the type of stuff I'm talking about!
I have fond memories of playing EQ1 and EQ2, but those days are long gone. I'm cautiously optimistic that EQ Next might turn out to be decent, but nothing SOE has done in the last 5 years says that this will be a new chapter in MMO design. It will more likely be some amalgamation of existing MMO design concepts.
Having this as F2P on both PC and PS4 would be a good move by Sony.
Seems like they want to head in that direction for F2P. In terms of the game being different, check out the first quote I posted up there. Sounds crazily different.
HYPE
SOE hasn't defined what it is they mean when they use the term sandbox. They could be using it to describe the game as a whole (which is great), or they could be using it to describe just one of the games features (not so great).
We'll find out soon enough, but I'm not ready to believe this game is going to be Everquest meets Eve. They've already said they're determined to make sure there's no way you can grief in the game, and in doing so you're not entirely building a sandbox game in my opinion. Sandbox means freedom, constraining a players actions isn't freedom.
I'm excited for this game and hope its everything thats being promised, but I'm not getting hyped until I see the receipts. There's too many niggling things - they've said they're building the game for emergent gameplay, but you can't design for that! Emergent gameplay is what happens when a player finds a solution to a problem the developers didn't intend or forsee happening. So I'm interested to see exactly how SOE are defining the terms sandbox and emergent.
I disagree - you can design the tools needed for players and emergent gameplay to happen, and then just let things happen naturally. It's all about making sure the tools are there, really.
There are only a few true sandbox games that exist. I expect EQN to have some sandbox features, but not be a true sandbox. The only true sandbox game I've ever played (I know there's Eve, etc.) is
Wurm Online
I personally don't want EQN to be a true sandbox.
I'm not sure what you mean, but I think they're shooting for a pure form of sandbox. Not sure if that's what you want or not (or even if it's what I want).
I actually always felt the opposite. I thought first-person was the better choice for immersion while third-person felt odd when you have everyone in WoW PVP zooming out a mile into the air so they can see everyone coming from a great distance
Edit:
I agree. I don't want EQN to be a total sandbox either. I was mostly hearkening back to my earlier post. I sincerely do NOT want EQN to end up like EVE. I'm sorry to the EVE players here, but that game is not fun to me.
Actually, I'm curious to know why it wasn't fun for you.
Dammit i never played a EQ game before but played the crap outta WoW for 5 or so years.
Yall got me all hyped for mmos again.
Get hype!
You're in for a treat then, or it may be your worst nightmare. Take WoW, then strip away all the hand holding; quest hubs, quest tracker, mini-map, consuming food and drink just for bonuses, knowing what direction you're always running in without looking at the sun or dropping a weapon on the ground, banks, portals, instancing, dungeon/raid finder, structured PvP, arenas, battlegrounds, auction house, swimming like an olympian from level 1, etc...
I'm excited for what conveniences may go away.
If ANY of this is true, holy shit
MMORPG Minecraft, please.
Also valid. It's what I'm getting vibes about the game.