Will 1999 ever happen again?

[Feanol]

I was reading through this thread and trying to pinpoint the real reasons why modern games have such a hard time bottling the lightning that was Everquest and I came to a few conclusions.

First, these other games aren't Everquest and this isn't 1999. We're all just going to have to deal with that as best we can I suppose.


Second put bluntly is fast-travel. Bear with me here.

For me, a lot of modern MMORPGs began to lose their sparkle once game developers decided they were pissing everyone off by making them walk everywhere and introduced instantaneous player transmission.

I find the games I enjoy these days all have a firm limit to how fast and far the player may move in a given time. Adventure is had by walking the roads and paths and meeting other travelers doing the same. These encounters are unscripted and emergent unlike the formulaic "missions" or "raids" or whatever predescribed encounters apply.

Worlds that were designed with massive landscapes and geographical regions became reduced to a genre variation on "open map" and "click". Sure you could go off into the countryside and travel by foot but there was nothing to compel you to do this. For most players this was simply a waste of time when they knew their peers were clicking between locations moving instantly.

Everquest has Druids, Wizards, and a host of items that teleport you to be sure. I would argue that none of these methods are 100% reliable all of the time and that is the key point. We each have to run from place to place and that's what gives the "in-between" zones their life and the world a sense of scope. Without that scale the whole landscape is reduced to "Town A" "Dungeon B" "Tradehouse C".

[Tann]

Originally Posted by Man0warr [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What classic EQ really has over WoW and other modern MMOs is community.

Thanks to no cross-server auto party builders, instancing, etc. You can play WoW these days and never leave the city - just queue for everything - other people on your server don't matter.

The people I know who still play WoW only do so because of the community. AKA their guild and friends, though it is true if you're a social degenerate its quite easy to raid/dungeon/pvp all sitting by yourself in the bowels of Orgrimmar.

[Man0warr]

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

The people I know who still play WoW only do so because of the community. AKA their guild and friends, though it is true if you're a social degenerate its quite easy to raid/dungeon/pvp all sitting by yourself in the bowels of Orgrimmar.

Well sure, that's the only reason to play most MMOs - including P99. At least P99 forces those degenerates to interact to level or buy/sell items (or leave the server, which is fine too).

[Jigawatts]

Well there is this floating out there, time will tell if it ever gets released or not. It looks and sounds like exactly what all of us want, but I will be waiting until post-release to see if that comes to pass.

https://www.pantheonmmo.com/

[bloodmuffin]

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

Well there is this floating out there, time will tell if it ever gets released or not. It looks and sounds like exactly what all of us want, but I will be waiting until post-release to see if that comes to pass.

https://www.pantheonmmo.com/

Haha, fuck no. That pantheon guy took the money that this server and streamers generated and ran off with 40k of it for "personal expenses" within weeks of generating that profit.

It's a cash grab, nothing more.

[Jigawatts]

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

Haha, fuck no. That pantheon guy took the money that this server and streamers generated and ran off with 40k of it for "personal expenses" within weeks of generating that profit.

It's a cash grab, nothing more.

Yeah, hence my stating I will not touch it until after its released, though if the game does eventually get released and is decently reviewed I will likely play it, as its exactly the type of game I'm looking for.

As shitty as McQuaid handled things, there was actually a recent article by the Pantheon people that somewhat impressed me.

http://massivelyop.com/2015/11/24/in...launch-window/

[Danth]

Everquest strikes me as occupying a similar position as the Oldsmobile Curved Dash or Ford Trimotor: It wasn't the first, but it validated a concept. Successors--the Model T Ford, the DC-3, World of Warcraft--later moved a proven concept mainstream. There are railroad men who'd rather operate noisy, bucking steam locomotives than modern, comfortable diesels. There are pilots who'd rather fly wood and fabric biplanes than strong, fast jets. And then there's us--a bunch of gamers who'd rather stick it out in Everquest than join the modern gaming world. That's alright. 1999 doesn't have to happen again. It doesn't need to. I'm content enough with Project1999 while the rest of the gaming world has moves on as it must.

Danth

[douglas1999]

Sigh I wish daybreak would just remake EQ1 verbatim, mechanics-wise, with a fancy modern engine, maybe flesh out the continents a little more with some zones that were on the original cloth map but not in-game, and call it a day. I bet that would be much more successful than whatever insane high-concept terrible pile of shit they end up releasing (if they ever do). Or maybe it'll just be a wow clone.. (probably). [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Ivory]

Guild Wars 1 had a pretty good feel (even if you were alone a lot). But the feeling you got of being in a village as you advanced and meeting other people doing the same stuff....pretty good. Also GW1 skill system was AWESOME.

City of Heroes - Pretty fun. More casual, but tons of creative freedom. It wasn't all about the game systems, but more about giving you the ability to really have fun creating a unique hero and theme and playing pretend.

Dungeons and Dragons Online - Super great feeling! Dungeon crawling with more classic D&D rules....sure they were instanced dungeons, but it felt more like a mini adventure (and one that if you failed, it was over).

[Landael]

Pantheon:-----------WARNING SUBTITLE DETECTED! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]