I see nothing to get excited about, for me anyway.
Re-imagining is a dirty word. When Smed and crew were talking, I was hearing "we're going to reuse a bunch of names and very broad strokes to attract players of a previous game to our game even though it will have virtually no resemblance to that game at all".
This most likely going to be another 72 abilities on 6 hotbars with a global cooldown, all classes play almost the same, hand-holding, easy-mode game. It might be fun. It might have some clever design in a few quests or raids, but at it's best, it will be WoW-like with EQ place names and prettier graphics. If WoW-like was what I wanted, I would still be playing WoW.
I can't wait for a company to really take a chance on a game with novel mechanics. I'm also much more interested in the next sandbox type game. I prefer real freedom of movement (fewer zones that are basically a channel or maze with pretty trees or hills for walls). I prefer having everything reachable or explorable. If there is a building, I expect it to have an interior and a way to get in it (even if it is locked or guarded by something nasty). Anyway, I could go on for way to long on this subject. Maybe I should just design my own game :-). If you're interested in funding my game, I accept PayPal.
Bottom line: I expected very little from EQNext, and even less after listening to that panel.
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