The Tattered Notebook: What I Need To See In EverQuest Subsequent

I was going to update you tremendous 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 Live date on us, which form of mucked up my nefarious plans.

Why will we care about SOE Reside? Effectively, there are a number of causes, but a very powerful one is that as a substitute of getting to attend until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!

This news threw me for a little bit of a loop, I do not mind telling you. I mean, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out assured a playable EQNext demo at SOE Live 2013. And that i knew that it's in reality 2013 already, so palms-on time with what may be the following great sandbox will happen inside of a calendar year. It nonetheless seemed really far off for some purpose, though, I suppose as a result of it was just three months in the past that we have been finishing up SOE Stay 2012. August 1st is going to be right here before we comprehend it, so it is high time we start prognosticating about EQNext, would not you agree?

Hopefully it goes with out saying that I'd prefer to see these items along with the standard high-quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and development content material.

Heritage quests

Though I played the unique EverQuest for under about a month, I love love love EverQuest II's heritage strains. In a franchise that already sets the usual for MMO lore, it was a genius thought to tie the two games together 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 goes to place housing in EQNext, as the company does the characteristic higher than every other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- great effort, although). The query is how can it ever be nearly as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I do not think it may, at the least not at release. 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 suit it into EQNext's framework, I am Okay with that. While we're dreaming, I would also be more than Ok with SOE finding a option to do EQII's housing in an open-world environment.

And sure, I know, Mr. Minecraft Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-fight options are for Barbie lovers and casuals and nobody uses them. Aside from the tens of thousands and thousands of players who have made the Sims franchise the most well-liked in the history of the non-public laptop.

A crafter-driven financial system

This goes to be troublesome for SOE to drag off, particularly given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is constructed on an actual player financial system, although, and one in all my frustrations with EQII is the huge, intricate, and fun crafting system that is sort of totally wasted on a recreation where a lot of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.

I don't envy the designers here as a result of in addition to the balancing challenges inherent in making and maintaining a sandbox financial system, they've additionally got to deal with the psyche of the new-college MMO player who does not wish to be bothered with crafters and who needs to distant auction his gear with a minimum of effort and player interplay. At the identical time, the firm has minced no words about the truth that EQNext is a player-driven sandbox, so the way it navigates this potential minefield will likely be interesting to observe.

Good guild tools

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

Issues I do not need to see

Before I knock off for the day, let me spend a few paragraphs on issues I do not need to see. Firstly, in-game VOIP. Look, I understand it makes for an excellent again-of-the-field (will we nonetheless have sport containers?) bullet point, however the reality is that it's a waste of growth sources even when it is shoe-horned in there by a third get together.

I imply, actually, what guild with a clue would not use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble nowadays? These are all free apps -- unless you're the guild leader paying for the server, and even then it is often much cheaper than a conventional MMO sub -- and so they dwarf the performance found in present in-game solutions. In-game VOIP is going to be laggy, it's going to sound like crap, and the one people who may 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-acting. This is a massively multiplayer sandbox, in any case, and that i can consider at the least two current AAA titles which have finished more than sufficient to justify tossing these ideas onto the proverbial pile of MMO fail. I am probably preaching to the choir right here, as Smedley has given multiple interviews over the previous few months that illustrate the corporate's "the players are the content" motto. However, nonetheless. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please do not with the one-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thanks.

What's in a reputation?

Whew. This isn't an exhaustive record in fact, and I am fairly curious to see what some of you want to see in EQNext. Rest assured that we'll be revisiting this subject often as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and beyond.

And with that, let's bring this week's subject of The Tattered Notebook to a close. Oh, that jogs my memory! With EQNext in our close to future, MJ and i are likely going to rename the column sooner or later, each as a technique to freshen things up and to raised seize the spirit of the franchise going ahead. And we might love your assist! Be happy to publish your suggestions within the comments or contact us straight by way of jef@massively.com or mj@massively.com.

EverQuest II is so big that it takes two authors to make sense of it all! Join 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 resource for all issues EQII and EQNext -- and catch MJ every 'EverQuest Two-sday' on Massively Television!