Would you play an MMORPG in the spirit of classic EQ?

[DarkwingDuck]

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

^^^^^^^^^^
Yup... Pretty much!

In all seriousness, if a game like eq 1999 came out most would just toss it to the side of the road and say bad game design. Most, myself included, forgot how unforgiving learning EQ was. Hell I remember loading it up playing a shaman barb running out, getting dark, dying to a vengeful soloist, and then saying this game sucks back then!

Are you just trolling or do you really think a game like this can survive in today's culture? An old guy like me might play it, but I seriously doubt an 18 year would. Let me remind you the 18 year old is your target audience for games, since they play more and pay more. There is exceptions but for the most part this will hold true.

Pretty sure the highest amount of gamers is 30ish
And we have 100X the cash teens do

For the record I would play.. I try every MMO
With 95% of them sucking hard

[SCB]

I wouldn't want to play it unless it had instanced end-game content. Racing for boss mobs does not translate to skill in any meaningful way.

I love the idea of non-instanced or only partially-instanced dungeons (instanced ring events/boss encounters/etc) however.

Edit: Didn't know what to vote.

[Sinder]

Honestly im here because of Nostalgia and to experience content timeline that it was released. I was 13 when EQ came out and never lvl'd to the high end till later in high school. I loved the raiding scene and the thrills and wanted to experience what I always viewed as the golden age of EQ. sure i did some old world raids but they were a joke as far as difficulty was concerned and they were mostly done for people to get collectors loot, clickys, twink items and fashionquest stuff.

I have been tempted to go back to live at times just because I still have so many friends playing on there. When I logged in when they made it free to play and saw that I had to pay to use the old gear i had raided for on my Chars I sent a few /tells saying hello & goodbye again and then logged off not to log in since then.

[loramin]

Personally I'd like to see a game that's like EQ content-wise, but not UI-wise. So I'd say ...

Originally Posted by sox7d [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

-No random stat loot
-No "kill 10 <monster>" quests
-Non-linear dungeons
-No instancing
-Large, occasionally barren landscape.

Yes.

Originally Posted by sox7d [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

-No maps
-Difficult soloability
-Tradeskills mostly a commercial decision

I think there's a big range of maps possible. I'm all for no maps in certain zones, not putting every NPC on the map, not having a find feature, etc.
But I think true classic EQ was kind of silly; why bury your head in the sand when you know that leaving out in-game maps just means players will look at EQAtlas?

As for soloability, I played a Shaman in classic so I never had any issues soloing (and I thought that was a good thing). But I'm not against having some soloable classes and some group-only classes.

And while I don't think tradeskills need to be an integral part of the game, I think Velious/Luclin era got tradeskills right: they were unessential but had some in-game benefit (vs. pure classic EQ where most tradeskills were purely for role-playing).

[Zaphodd]

I believe Pantheon : Rise of the Fallen aims to do this very thing and is expected to release in 2017. It may be a worthwhile gauge for you.

Www.pantheonrotf.com

[Ishbu]

I would check it out, how long I would play cannot be guessed at this time. However, as others have stated, Im and old gamer and am not the target market for a new game. It just wouldnt hold up today.

That said, i liked what another poster said about some of the features could change. If the world is as big and dangerous as EQ, having in game maps isnt a big deal. That doesnt make finding your way through the maze any easier than looking at eqatlas was and its still a dangerous run through, not just run in a straight line back like modern games.

I do think there is a place in the game market for a hard, slowly progressing game like classic EQ, but so many of the design features(limitations?) that made it what it was, just cant exist today, so it just isnt likely to be possible to ever make a new EQ.

[Zeakus]

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

I believe Pantheon : Rise of the Fallen aims to do this very thing and is expected to release in 2017. It may be a worthwhile gauge for you.

Www.pantheonrotf.com

Haha, Brad McQuaid ...Quick someone give him 30 million dollars to create a buggy game that no one will play!

I wish the game luck but he doesn't have the any cred after the debacle of Vanguard. What a disaster that was, although it did have a few players that enjoyed it after they fixed the game years after launch. Although he was apart of the original EQ team, so who knows maybe he can strike it big on this one.

Like many other old school MMO gamers, every MMO launch typically garners a great deal of skepticism after 15 years of shitty MMO launches so don't take it as bashing the game. I'm just glad someone is trying to do something different than copy / paste the WoW gameplay.

[Treefall]

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

Haha, Brad McQuaid ...Quick someone give him 30 million dollars to create a buggy game that no one will play!

I wish the game luck but he doesn't have the any cred after the debacle of Vanguard. What a disaster that was, although it did have a few players that enjoyed it after they fixed the game years after launch. Although he was apart of the original EQ team, so who knows maybe he can strike it big on this one.

Like many other old school MMO gamers, every MMO launch typically garners a great deal of skepticism after 15 years of shitty MMO launches so don't take it as bashing the game. I'm just glad someone is trying to do something different than copy / paste the WoW gameplay.

I won't deny that Vanguard was a huge letdown.

However, I think the core of the issue for that game, and many other MMOs on release today, is that they are trying to put way too much content in at release to "compete" with seasoned MMOs that have been on the market for years.

It leads to a sub-par, buggy product that launches with 1/2 the expected features and those features that do make it are lackluster because so much development time was spent on features that never made it into the game.

An MMO in the spirit of EQ really only needs the following at release, but done VERY WELL.
-Tank, Healer, CC, melee DPS, ranged DPS (1 or 2)
-3 to 4 races
-Two well-designed major cities, and a few smaller cities to meet various needs
-A meaningful level cap with xp paced out to make sure content stays meaningful for days of playtime, not hours (in terms of leveling)
-Outdoor Zones: just 2 for each leveling bracket, but designed well with clear areas for various levels and group sizes in their respective bracket.
-Dungeons Same as outdoor zones, 2 for each leveling bracket but designed well with clear areas for various levels and group sizes in their respective bracket.

Honestly, have that ready out the door. Raiding at first could easily be strategically spawning mobs among all the zones created for the leveling experience. We don't need amazing, complex raid zones right out of the door, just throw raiding into the world to keep every zone meaningful. Heck, how bad ass would it be for certain raid mobs to spawn in the major cities or out lying cities even, with real consequences occurring when they aren't killed.

Then every year patch in a race and class until you feel content that all bases are covered. Instead of working directly on raid content, every year add in a new leveling zone for each bracket that's well designed, with new raid mobs designed to live among it (expanding where people can level and raid).

Then I feel when all bases are eventually covered, as you started the game with a great core and just added onto that core, then it's time to focus on zones for level cap. Maybe at that point expand levels by 10, then really focus on raids and high level content.

Just my 2 cents.

I feel like too many new MMOs come out trying to have massive leveling experiences, massive numbers of classes, massive numbers of races to choose from, beautiful cities that take a lot of time to design but are deserted because there are 14,000 other cities, etc. etc. Just design a core and add to it people, dang it.

[Nuggie]

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

I believe Pantheon : Rise of the Fallen aims to do this very thing and is expected to release in 2017. It may be a worthwhile gauge for you.

Www.pantheonrotf.com

Glad someone beat me to it.

[iruinedyourday]

I play EQ cus its the closest thing to playing d&d on my own that there is.. the art reminds me of the old books I used to read, all crappy, the gameplay is hard to figure out, the world is just big enough to seem huge but not big enough that nearly every corner of it is relevent.. just reminds me of old D&D so.. if there was an mmo that gave me those feels I would be into it!

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

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

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

believe it or not guys, those ARNT screenshots from EQ! :P

I mean come on, EQ's got BARDS! that takes balls, to make a game and put bards in it... even a franchise as big as lord of the rings knew that they couldnt put Tom Bambadil in it.. EQ would be like, Tom? that mo fo's gona be a class all his own!

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

love it.