The Tattered Notebook What I Wish To See In EverQuest Subsequent

I was going to update you high quality people on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, however SOE determined to drop a Fan Faire Reside date on us, which form of mucked up my nefarious plans.

Why can we care about SOE Live? Nicely, there are a number of reasons, but crucial one is that instead of getting to attend until October, we now get to see (and contact!) EverQuest Next in early August!

This information threw me for a bit of a loop, I do not mind telling you. I imply, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out assured a playable EQNext demo at SOE Stay 2013. And i knew that it's in fact 2013 already, so arms-on time with what is likely to be the subsequent great sandbox will occur inside of a calendar year. It nonetheless appeared actually far off for some motive, although, I suppose as a result of it was simply three months in the past that we have been finishing up SOE Stay 2012. August 1st goes to be right here before we realize it, so it is high time we start prognosticating about EQNext, wouldn't you agree?

Hopefully it goes with out saying that I would like to see these things in addition to the same old excessive-high quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and progression content material.

Heritage quests

Even though I played the original EverQuest for under a couple of month, I like love love EverQuest II's heritage lines. In a franchise that already sets the usual for MMO lore, it was a genius thought to tie the two video games collectively and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by providing up prolonged epic quests with EQ-centric item rewards.

More like that in EQNext, please.

Housing

You already know SOE is going to place housing in EQNext, as the corporate does the function better than every other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- nice effort, though). The question is how can it ever be nearly as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I don't assume it may, not less than not at launch. It's literally a game-inside-the-recreation that has more in widespread with Minecraft than typical MMO afterthought design, so if it takes SOE a while to fit it into EQNext's framework, I am Okay with that. While we're dreaming, I might even be greater than Okay with SOE discovering a approach to do EQII's housing in an open-world atmosphere.

And yes, I know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-combat choices are for Barbie lovers and casuals and no one uses them. Apart from the tens of thousands and thousands of gamers who have made the Sims franchise the preferred in the history of the private laptop.

A crafter-driven economic system

This is going to be troublesome for SOE to pull off, particularly given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is built on an actual participant economic system, though, and one in all my frustrations with EQII is the vast, intricate, and fun crafting system that is nearly totally wasted on a recreation where most of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.

I don't envy the designers right here because along with the balancing challenges inherent in making and maintaining a sandbox economic system, they've additionally obtained to deal with the psyche of the new-college MMO player who does not need to be bothered with crafters and who desires to remote public sale his gear with a minimum of effort and player interplay. At the identical time, the firm has minced no phrases about the truth that EQNext is a player-driven sandbox, so the way it navigates this potential minefield might be fascinating to observe.

Good guild instruments

Copy EQII's guild tools. Something much less makes Jef cry. The tip.

Issues I do not wish to see

Earlier than I knock off for the day, let me spend a few paragraphs on things I do not wish to see. Firstly, in-recreation VOIP. Look, I understand it makes for a very good back-of-the-field (can we still have sport boxes?) bullet level, however the reality is that it's a waste of improvement sources even when it is shoe-horned in there by a 3rd get together.

I imply, actually, what guild with a clue doesn't use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble as of late? These are all free apps -- unless you are the guild leader paying for the server, and even then it is often much cheaper than a traditional MMO sub -- and they dwarf the performance found in current in-recreation options. In-game VOIP goes to be laggy, it'll sound like crap, and the one individuals who might use it for greater than five minutes are the poor saps in pickup dungeon groups.

Secondly, let's not have any of that dev-generated private story foolishness or the associated voice-performing. This is a massively multiplayer sandbox, in spite of everything, and that i can consider at least two latest AAA titles which have carried out more than sufficient 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 previous few months that illustrate the company's "the gamers are the content material" motto. Minecraft server list But, still. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please don't with the only-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thanks.

What's in a name?

Whew. This is not an exhaustive record of course, and I'm fairly curious to see what a few of you would like to see in EQNext. Relaxation assured that we'll be revisiting this topic typically as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and past.

And with that, let's carry this week's problem of The Tattered Notebook to a close. Oh, that reminds me! With EQNext in our near future, MJ and i are likely going to rename the column sooner or later, both as a solution to freshen issues up and to better seize the spirit of the franchise going forward. And we'd love your help! Feel free to put up your strategies within the comments or contact us straight by way of [email protected] or [email protected].

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