EQNext Discussion

[Anderdale]

Originally Posted by maker [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Sony will listen to our input guys, post on the EQN Forums!

Are those even the right forums? What are the main eqnext forums?

[Pringles]

You cant tell me you didnt see this coming..... EQ / EQ2 / PS2 all have this.

[maker]

Sony doesn't have a forum for EQN yet, this is the main forum people use.

[fastboy21]

Originally Posted by Genedin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Here's what I know:
Races and factions - like EQ1 there will be race/class restrictions. Barbarians for example can be the usual classes (Warrior, Bezerkers (or whatever they call the melee DPS class, Shaman). Different starting stats per race and racial abilities (no clue if the racials are meaningful). If that Barbarian chooses and wants to become an Enchanter, he can go raise his faction with a race that has that class. It won't be an easy ordeal and will take effort. At the time of my info, factions could be individually raised. So a high elf could raise their faction and eventually be accepted by the dark elves but at the cost of their own city/race faction.
The classes I've had confirmed are Warrior, Cleric, Shaman, Wizard, Enchanter, Ranger, Druid, Rogue. There are more, but that was all I know of at this moment.
The playable races I had confirmed are Human, High Elf, Dark Elf, Kerran, Kobold, Ogre, Troll. Again there are more than those playable those are just what I know is playable. I tried to get Ratonga and Iksar confirmation but don't have that yet.
Norrath - the world is gigantic. No zones. The world is seamless. There will be instances in respect to some raids and dungeons but a lot of open dungeons a la EQ1. The extent to which we can damage the environment is still unknown. That's under wraps pretty tight so I'd imagine its damageable to a good extent.
Spells - no more spell trainers. Abilities are granted passively and the big ones have quests and trials attached to them. Enchanters will have to seek out people around the world to learn and study with. Wizards will have to find various tomes to study to learn to weave the strongest spells. Not sure on the spell weaving mechanic but they seemed to indicate the ability to create and discover new spells. So not every wizards spell book will be the same.
Combat - there will be hotbars. It will NOT be like EQ2s combat abortion. That's about all I know on that. I've pressed for details but that info is locked down tight. Tad could well be right here I concede but if I had to guess, it'll be action based combat with a limited skill set load out.
Crafting - it is in the game, it is interdependent and its supposedly more meaning than they've ever made it. Players will be able to make useful and sought after gear and stuff at all levels. Raid/Dungeon crafting drops confirmed but no mechanics specifics.
Misc - this game will be FTP. It will have a cash shop. SOE will make the world, dungeons, raids as usual. Their version of emergent gameplay is us creating content via their dungeon maker/player studio. Player made PVP battlegrounds. This player created content is all instanced not part of the persistent world. So is housing. Guild housing will be in from the get go as well.
Beta - it's already in friends and family alpha/beta. After SOE live, beta will begin early Aug/late Sept. they are trying to launch Nov/Dec. the latest this game will launch is Feb/March time frame. They are much farther along then they let on and that's part of their surprise.
Minus a detail here or there, that's all I got. Take it for what it's worth to you.

Very unreliable information. Post your sources please, much of what you said directly contradicts or adds to the information released by the devs at SOE Live.

[liveitup1216]

For anybody who's interested or hasn't looked for themselves yet, this is from Storybricks over a year ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tYBHo8F4gQ

If they accomplished this much as a kickstarter 1.5 years ago, imagine what they're doing now that Sony is pumping money into them.

I have a strengthened resolve in their claims to this AI system. What a beast of a job to build an entire world using this system.

[Rust1d?]

I want to beta test this before I pass judgement but some of the ideas are kinda cool, some not so much.

- I like that I can start as a DE mage and gain faction with, say the dwarves. I always thought that EQ1 lacked the ability to "switch sides" and be able to complete quests in towns where I would be KOS.

- Multi-classing seems like a good idea, but I think they should have stuck to traditional roles. Multi-classing will create OP classes, gimped/never played classes etc. Lots of balance issues too. If I am playing a wizard, I am playing it because that is my play style. If I wanted to be a wizard who can heal, I would just be a cleric...

- Destructible environments seems cool ala minecraft. Say you are raiding naggy and want to prevent another guild from showing up, you simply destroy a few bridges etc. Although, if you can find different areas like you do in minecraft, people will just start digging random holes all over the place.

- Graphics look too cartoony and WoW like. The Kerran looked like shit.

- Combat looked like a mess, but will reserve judgement when beta opens.

- Oversized weapons and shoulders looks too WoW/Diablo 3 like. They need to get away from that.

[Kika Maslyaka]

some of my views you probably don't care about but still:

-Multiclassicing - utterly ruins my thematic enjoyment of game. Clerics bestow holy blessings, druids protect nature, Mages control elements, necromancer raise the dead. When I see a char who can do everything at once (even if in limited power) I don't want to be in that theme world anymore. I liked how Rift looked (generally), but I cannot stand a thought that you can be necromancer/paladin. It just doesn't make sense. Yes you can come up with any lore you like to justify that, but its not something that is acceptable to me.

-Destructible environments - utterly pointless in the grand matter of things. Its an MMO, not a minecraft/terraria. I won't be mining 50000000 tons of ore and making your own mushroom gardens everywhere. The point of the fantasy theme MMO is to seek out monsters and slay them - not to dig in the mud. Not to mention you WON"T b able to do any major destruction like - destroying the only bridge that grants access to a unique raid mob - since that would be causing grief to others and most likely count as banneable offense. (not to mention that 90% of all group/raid content WILL BE instanced)

- Graphics = Disneyland. Can you say that SOE is desperate? EQ1 was eclipsed by WoW within a few months, and EQ2 failed to stand up to WoW subscription base after a year, and since NUMBERS is what brings cash in - SOE will naturally try to copy any feature they deem successful in order to draw customers their way. I think that EQ2 was a good project in the beginning. The graphics were solid, it offered solo gameplay to casuals, and grouping/raiding to hard core, and it HAD an awesome crafting system. But then SOE started their desperate run to catch up with WoW, dumbing things down, simplifying crafting system, but in the end it didn't matter. And yet again - they didn't learn their lesson. The market doesn't need ANOTHER casual cartoonish MMO - its already has one that is pretty stable and known world-wide. Yet SOE willing to burn 100-200mln on this project in hope to steal just a little bit more of potential players. SOE doesn't try to offer something revolutionary new to get noticed like they did with EQ1, and like Blizz did with WoW, instead they trying to copy every popular feature from other games and serve them on the same plate not putting in any thought if those features even fit together. I can tell you right now what they will gain out of it - EQN will get its moment, draw in some old schoolers, draw in some people who on the break from WoW/other MMOs, start releasing expansion packs twice a year, and as the novelty dies down, it will settle somewhere 100k-200k player base and once again be left in the shadow of WoW.

SOE had their chance if not be successful, to at least be different with EQ2, offering realistic graphics, darker theme and greater shift towards grouping/raiding, but in desperate attempt to catch-up with WoW hype they run their creation into the ground.
EQN will follow the same fate.

[t0lkien]

Originally Posted by Messie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I was actually thinking, the snow in this sig should be a gif and it would be the perfect sig. but that would be hard

Got it finally. That was not easy.

[Fawqueue]

Originally Posted by Rust1d? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I want to beta test this before I pass judgement but some of the ideas are kinda cool, some not so much.

- I like that I can start as a DE mage and gain faction with, say the dwarves. I always thought that EQ1 lacked the ability to "switch sides" and be able to complete quests in towns where I would be KOS.

I'm down with this, although I hope they still include racial prejudice into the faction equation so that it requires more work for a Dark Elf to be welcome than a Gnome.

Originally Posted by Rust1d? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

- Multi-classing seems like a good idea, but I think they should have stuck to traditional roles. Multi-classing will create OP classes, gimped/never played classes etc. Lots of balance issues too. If I am playing a wizard, I am playing it because that is my play style. If I wanted to be a wizard who can heal, I would just be a cleric...

I couldn't agree more. I think the evolution of classes in MMOs is much like everything else: Remove punishing choices. Although it may not be my preference, I'd understand if they built a system where you could unlock each class on a single character and choose and change when desired. However, this multi-classing thing is going to make class choices become more like those boring talent trees found in modern MMOs. Optimal builds will be discovered and that's what the large majority will run with.

Originally Posted by Rust1d? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

- Destructible environments seems cool ala minecraft. Say you are raiding naggy and want to prevent another guild from showing up, you simply destroy a few bridges etc. Although, if you can find different areas like you do in minecraft, people will just start digging random holes all over the place.

Since this is a cornerstone of what they are trying to sell, I'm interested to see how it actually plays out. And while the ability to affect raid competition through clever environmental changes would be great, I'm willing to bet a nut that the entire raid scene will be instanced. Since we know instancing is confirmed, and everything else revealed so far suggests an easy experience rather than a hardcore challenge, I can't see them suddenly alienating the casual, new-timer MMOers that are going to be the core demographic by suddenly making raiding 'challenging'. You know, by having to coordinate more than "Everyone be online at 7 and bring your potions".

Originally Posted by Rust1d? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

- Graphics look too cartoony and WoW like. The Kerran looked like shit.

- Combat looked like a mess, but will reserve judgement when beta opens.

- Oversized weapons and shoulders looks too WoW/Diablo 3 like. They need to get away from that.

Yup. I'll hate all of that, but my 12-year old will cream his pants for the first time upon entering the game.

[fastboy21]

Originally Posted by t0lkien [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Got it finally. That was not easy.

Very cool sig. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]