The Tattered Notebook What I Wish To See In EverQuest Subsequent

I used to be going to replace you tremendous folk on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, however SOE decided to drop a Fan Faire Live date on us, which sort of mucked up my nefarious plans.

Why do we care about SOE Reside? Effectively, there are multiple reasons, however an important one is that as an alternative of having to attend until October, we now get to see (and contact!) EverQuest Subsequent in early August!

This information threw me for a little bit of a loop, I don't thoughts 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 is the truth is 2013 already, so palms-on time with what might be the next nice sandbox will happen inside of a calendar year. It still appeared actually far off for some cause, though, I suppose as a result of it was simply three months ago that we have been finishing up SOE Reside 2012. August 1st goes to be right here earlier than we understand it, so it's excessive time we start prognosticating about EQNext, wouldn't you agree?

Hopefully it goes without saying that I would wish to see these items along with the usual high-quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and progression content.

Heritage quests

Regardless that I performed the original EverQuest for under about a month, I like love love EverQuest II's heritage lines. In a franchise that already units the standard for MMO lore, it was a genius thought to tie the two video games together and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by providing up prolonged epic quests with EQ-centric merchandise rewards. Minecraft server lists

More like that in EQNext, please.

Housing

You understand SOE goes to place housing in EQNext, as the corporate does the characteristic 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 suppose it will possibly, not less than not at launch. It's literally a recreation-within-the-sport that has more in common 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 might even be more than Okay with SOE discovering a strategy to do EQII's housing in an open-world setting.

And sure, I do know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-combat options are for Barbie lovers and casuals and no one makes use of them. Aside from the tens of thousands and thousands of players who've made the Sims franchise the most well-liked within the history of the private computer.

A crafter-pushed financial system

This is going to be difficult for SOE to tug off, significantly given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is built on an precise participant economy, although, and one of my frustrations with EQII is the vast, intricate, and enjoyable crafting system that is sort of totally wasted on a sport where most of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.

I do not envy the designers here because along with the balancing challenges inherent in making and sustaining a sandbox financial system, they've also obtained to deal with the psyche of the brand new-faculty MMO player who would not need to be bothered with crafters and who desires to distant auction his gear with a minimal of effort and player interaction. At the identical time, the firm has minced no phrases about the fact that EQNext is a player-pushed sandbox, so the way it navigates this potential minefield will likely be interesting to look at.

Good guild tools

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

Issues I do not need to see

Before I knock off for the day, let me spend a couple of paragraphs on issues I don't want to see. Firstly, in-game VOIP. Look, I understand it makes for a great again-of-the-field (can we nonetheless have recreation boxes?) bullet level, however the reality is that it's a waste of improvement assets even if it's shoe-horned in there by a 3rd celebration.

I mean, really, what guild with a clue doesn't use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble these days? These are all free apps -- until you're the guild chief paying for the server, and even then it's usually a lot cheaper than a conventional MMO sub -- they usually dwarf the functionality present in present in-recreation options. In-recreation VOIP goes to be laggy, it may sound like crap, and the one people who would possibly use it for more than five minutes are the poor saps in pickup dungeon teams.

Secondly, let's not have any of that dev-generated private story foolishness or the associated voice-appearing. This is a massively multiplayer sandbox, after all, and i can think of a minimum of two current AAA titles that have accomplished greater than enough to justify tossing these ideas onto the proverbial pile of MMO fail. I'm most likely preaching to the choir right here, as Smedley has given multiple interviews over the past few months that illustrate the corporate's "the gamers are the content" motto. However, still. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please do not with the only-player savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thank you.

What's in a reputation?

Whew. This is not an exhaustive checklist after all, and I'm quite curious to see what a few of you would like to see in EQNext. Relaxation assured that we'll be revisiting this subject usually as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and beyond.

And with that, let's carry this week's issue of The Tattered Notebook to a close. Oh, that reminds me! With EQNext in our close to future, MJ and that i are doubtless going to rename the column sooner or later, both as a solution to freshen things up and to raised capture the spirit of the franchise going ahead. And we might love your help! Be happy to post your options in the feedback or contact us instantly via [email protected] or [email protected].

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