The Tattered Notebook What I Wish To See In EverQuest Subsequent

I used to be going to replace you superb folks 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 sort of mucked up my nefarious plans.

Why can we care about SOE Stay? Properly, there are a number of reasons, however the most important one is that as an alternative of having to wait until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!

This news threw me for a bit of a loop, I do not thoughts telling you. I mean, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out guaranteed a playable EQNext demo at SOE Stay 2013. And that i knew that it's in reality 2013 already, so palms-on time with what is perhaps the next great sandbox will happen inside of a calendar yr. It still appeared actually far off for some purpose, although, I suppose because it was simply three months ago that we had been finishing up SOE Dwell 2012. August 1st is going to be right here before we comprehend it, so it is excessive time we start prognosticating about EQNext, would not you agree?

Hopefully it goes without saying that I'd like to see these things along with the same old excessive-high quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and development content.

Heritage quests

Despite the fact that I played the unique 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 idea to tie the 2 video games collectively and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by offering up prolonged epic quests with EQ-centric item rewards.

More like that in EQNext, please.

Housing

You realize SOE goes to put housing in EQNext, as the corporate does the characteristic better than any other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- great effort, although). The question is how can it ever be pretty much as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I don't suppose it could possibly, at least not at launch. It is actually a sport-inside-the-recreation that has extra 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 even be more than Ok with SOE discovering a method to do EQII's housing in an open-world atmosphere.

And yes, I know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-fight choices are for Barbie lovers and casuals and nobody makes use of them. Apart from the tens of hundreds of thousands of players who have made the Sims franchise the most popular within the history of the non-public pc.

A crafter-driven economic system

This goes to be difficult for SOE to drag off, notably given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is built on an precise participant economy, though, and considered one of my frustrations with EQII is the vast, intricate, and enjoyable crafting system that is almost completely 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 economy, they've additionally bought to deal with the psyche of the new-college MMO player who does not want to be bothered with crafters and who wants to remote public sale his gear with a minimum of effort and player interplay. At the same time, the agency has minced no words about the fact that EQNext is a participant-pushed sandbox, so how it navigates this potential minefield might 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

Earlier than I knock off for the day, let me spend a couple of paragraphs on things I do not wish to see. Firstly, in-game VOIP. Look, I understand it makes for a superb back-of-the-box (will we still have recreation boxes?) bullet point, however the fact is that it is a waste of development sources even if it is shoe-horned in there by a 3rd get together.

I mean, really, what guild with a clue does not use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble lately? These are all free apps -- unless you're the guild leader paying for the server, and even then it is often a lot cheaper than a conventional MMO sub -- and so they dwarf the functionality present in present in-recreation solutions. In-recreation VOIP is going to be laggy, it should sound like crap, and the only people who might use it for more than 5 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 can be a massively multiplayer sandbox, after all, and that i can think of not less than two latest AAA titles that have carried out 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 company's "the players are the content" motto. But, still. minecraft MMORPG. Sandbox. Please do not with the single-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thanks.

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 wish to see in EQNext. Rest assured that we'll be revisiting this topic typically 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 an in depth. Oh, that reminds me! more With EQNext in our close to future, MJ and i are possible going to rename the column at some point, each as a solution to freshen issues up and to higher seize the spirit of the franchise going forward. And we would love your help! Be at liberty to post your ideas in the feedback or contact us directly through [email protected] or [email protected].

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