Anyone tried EQLive with its 50 expansions?

[Nune]

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

From what I read about EQN they want the game to be more of a sandbox which I think is good and include a lot of elements from the original EQ. I thought EQ2 was a good game but it was nothing at all like the original. I think there are enough players like me that are sick of how current MMO's are built for those with ADD. I want to see the high risk/high reward back in games!

I'll tell you one thing it won't be, and that's a sandbox. This was one of the driving ideas behind Vanguard to "make big zones, realistic zones" and that shit flopped. They've already rebooted the entire graphics and texturizing engines for EQNext since the last time they showed it publicly. I'm sure at this E3 the shit they show will look just a like/ similar, but when you're pushing a game into alpha and you're rebooting the art style of your game, to me, says that as usual this is 1 game being seperatly made by all the teams required to launch one, not everyone working together.

EQ has so much "feel" and character because it was 1 guys vision put to reality through a team of people who believed in it. That just won't happen anymore, you can't appease old school EQ1 people, new MMO people, and 14 year old asian kids at the same time. 3 purchasing markets, with 3 100% different desires from this game. Obviously, the bigger sect will get the larger chunk of wishes met, and that's def not us.

[Vaildez]

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

I'll tell you one thing it won't be, and that's a sandbox. This was one of the driving ideas behind Vanguard to "make big zones, realistic zones" and that shit flopped. They've already rebooted the entire graphics and texturizing engines for EQNext since the last time they showed it publicly. I'm sure at this E3 the shit they show will look just a like/ similar, but when you're pushing a game into alpha and you're rebooting the art style of your game, to me, says that as usual this is 1 game being seperatly made by all the teams required to launch one, not everyone working together.

EQ has so much "feel" and character because it was 1 guys vision put to reality through a team of people who believed in it. That just won't happen anymore, you can't appease old school EQ1 people, new MMO people, and 14 year old asian kids at the same time. 3 purchasing markets, with 3 100% different desires from this game. Obviously, the bigger sect will get the larger chunk of wishes met, and that's def not us.

This was a recent conversation about the game. In an interview the Dev discussed interacting with the environment i.e. using a fire spell to burn down a forest.

"After several months of working together with Sony Online, we can finally reveal that we are collaborating on EverQuest Next," the post reads. "EQN is 'the biggest sandbox ever designed' and we are extremely happy to be working on the most innovative MMORPG under development."

[Briscoe]

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

...I wouldn't mind seeing images of the new boss mobs and BIS gear if anyone has them readily accessible. Always good for a laugh

I was looking at the last updates from the Legacy of Steel archive, dated 2005, and you already had items that were adding 350+ points to mana and HP, with multiple effects, modifiers, etc. I don't see how modern expansion content doesn't have items adding over 1000+ at this point.

[Nirgon]

One good part of coming back was talking to CSR and hearing "Damn! When was this thing created? This one's a relic!"

[Swish]

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

The worst part of live is nobody groups and everyone is running around with a posse of multiple of their own characters... It's pretty much not the same game at all.

This, and if boxing was allowed here you'd see people leave in droves.

No idea if the EpicEmu server is still running but I couldn't bear seeing it [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[TarukShmaruk]

Devs are learning that sandbox MMOs get the best bang for buck - the long term costs of continually developing quality content like wow expansions and raids are very high.

On the other hand a good sandbox game will have player driven content, much like UO, and this becomes more profitable in the long term.

[Gadwen]

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

But it's time for an EQ3 - an EQ3 that captures the essence of EQ1 in a new engine and improves on it. Nostalgia is a very powerful sales driver - and IMO if they're smart they'll even try to recapture the cartoonish graphics from EQ1 rather than pursue the horrid plastic look they have in modern EQ and EQ2.

I mean how stoked would you be if you hopped into EQ3 and went to make an ogre/troll/dwarf/gnome/whatever and not only could you easily identify the EQ1 influence on the models, but they even had facial options that were similar to ones from EQ1?

If there ever was a game modeled after EQ they would model it after the most popular era, which unfortunately for us...was after PoP.

There are a lot more people out there who see WoW and post PoP EQ when they think of MMOs than see classic EQ.

[Thulack]

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

I've done a bit of reading and listening about EverQuest Next and... it's going to be another cup of fail I think. The very big problem is that the people making these games no longer understand what made them great in the first place. They are designing them by committee via marketing, and it's a complete cluster of second guessing and ego driven mediocrity in the end. I say this as someone in the industry who has watched it all happen up close many times - so many times I just bail at the first smell of it now. People disdained Brad McQuaid for his at times infuriating and arrogant "vision", but he had one. And it shows.

EQ got it right in all the big ways (as did UO I hear, though I never played it). WoW, while starting off great, has destroyed the entire genre for a while. WoW did some very good things, but it's just visually, narratively, mechanically, and thematically a vile and vomitous mass now. I hesitate to say it's a game for people with no taste, a bloated sense of entitlement, and no experience of much else besides cheeseburgers, straight to DVD action movies, and miles and miles of inch deep, because that's probably not true. It just feels like it's true.

What they need to do is remake the original EQ with modern tech and some UI/functionality improvements, some mechanical improvements, and maybe some new extensions on old areas, but keep the feel the same. That is a game a large niche of dedicated players would upgrade their systems just to play. SoE have already talked themselves out of that idea with EQ Next, as was inevitable because they really don't understand it, and never did IMO. I believe it's individuals who make these things great, and EQ was lost as soon as Verant sold to Sony, and then Brad inevitably quit later on.

What made EQ great was that for many of us it was our first MMORPG or atleast 2nd or behind UO. It was the thrill of something new and challenging. No one will ever make a game again that was a challenging as EQ was in 1999 because it was a whole new world and no one really had any idea what to expect. Eq players brains are wired differently then most MMORPG players because we like(d) the challenge and sense of new that EQ brought. No other game has been able to reproduce that for me and many others and none will because its not capable of being done.

[Droog007]

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

What made EQ great was that it rode you hard and put you up wet.

Today's gamers prefer to be trotted around the corral for a few minutes at a time, and indulged on apples and oats.

[kotton05]

Can only hope for EQ next. D3 showed how bad you can fail.

They just need to make it like EQ classic with graphics upgrade and very similar zones... some new ones. If they want a large player base include a few new type mechanics but keep it minimal so the old school players don't feel like wtf easy button.