The Tattered Notebook What I Need To See In EverQuest Next

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I used to be going to update you tremendous folks on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, however SOE decided to drop a Fan Faire Dwell date on us, which type of mucked up my nefarious plans.



Why can we care about SOE Stay? Nicely, there are a number of reasons, but crucial one is that as a substitute of getting to attend until October, we now get to see (and contact!) EverQuest Next in early August!



This news threw me for a bit of a loop, I don't thoughts telling you. I mean, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out guaranteed a playable EQNext demo at SOE Live 2013. And i knew that it's in fact 2013 already, so fingers-on time with what could be the following nice sandbox will happen inside of a calendar 12 months. It still seemed actually far off for some motive, although, I assume because it was simply three months in the past that we were finishing up SOE Dwell 2012. August 1st is going to be right here earlier than we know it, so it's high time we start prognosticating about EQNext, wouldn't you agree?



Hopefully it goes without saying that I'd prefer to see these items along with the standard high-high quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and development content material.



Heritage quests



Even though I performed the original EverQuest for less than a few month, I really like love love EverQuest II's heritage strains. In a franchise that already units the usual for MMO lore, it was a genius idea to tie the 2 games together and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by offering up prolonged epic quests with EQ-centric merchandise rewards.



More like that in EQNext, please.



Housing



You recognize SOE goes to put housing in EQNext, as the corporate does the characteristic higher than every other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- nice effort, though). The question is how can it ever be as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I do not think it could possibly, not less than not at release. It's actually a sport-inside-the-sport that has more in frequent with Minecraft than typical MMO afterthought design, so if it takes SOE a while to suit it into EQNext's framework, I am Ok with that. Whereas we're dreaming, I might also be greater than Ok with SOE finding a solution to do EQII's housing in an open-world environment.



And sure, I do know, Mr. Hardcore Gamer, housing and non-fight options are for Barbie lovers and casuals and nobody makes use of them. MY GAMING BLOG Except for the tens of millions of gamers who've made the Sims franchise the most well-liked within the historical past of the private computer.



A crafter-driven economy



This is going to be tough for SOE to drag off, significantly given the loot-drop legacy of themeparks like EQ and EQII. My definition of sandbox is built on an actual participant financial system, though, and one among my frustrations with EQII is the vast, intricate, and fun crafting system that is nearly totally wasted on a sport where most of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.



I do not envy the designers right here because in addition to the balancing challenges inherent in making and sustaining a sandbox economy, they've also got to deal with the psyche of the brand new-college MMO participant who would not wish to be bothered with crafters and who needs to distant public sale his gear with a minimum of effort and participant interaction. At the identical time, the agency has minced no phrases about the truth that EQNext is a participant-driven sandbox, so the way it navigates this potential minefield can be interesting to look at.



Good guild tools



Copy EQII's guild tools. Something much less makes Jef cry. The end.



Things I don't want to see



Earlier than I knock off for the day, let me spend a couple of paragraphs on things I do not want to see. Firstly, in-game VOIP. Look, I understand it makes for a very good back-of-the-box (will we nonetheless have sport boxes?) bullet point, but the truth is that it is a waste of growth resources even if it is shoe-horned in there by a third celebration.



I mean, really, what guild with a clue doesn't use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble these days? These are all free apps -- except you're the guild leader paying for the server, and even then it is usually much cheaper than a conventional MMO sub -- they usually dwarf the functionality present in present in-sport solutions. In-game VOIP is going to be laggy, it's going to sound like crap, and the only people who may use it for more than five minutes are the poor saps in pickup dungeon teams.



Secondly, let's not have any of that dev-generated private story foolishness or the related voice-performing. It is a massively multiplayer sandbox, in spite of everything, and that i can think of at the least two latest AAA titles which have carried out greater than sufficient to justify tossing these concepts onto the proverbial pile of MMO fail. I am most likely preaching to the choir here, as Smedley has given a number of interviews over the past few months that illustrate the corporate's "the gamers are the content" motto. But, still. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please don't with the only-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thank you.



What's in a reputation?



Whew. This is not an exhaustive checklist of course, and I'm fairly curious to see what a few of you wish to see in EQNext. Relaxation assured that we'll be revisiting this subject often as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and beyond.



And with that, let's convey this week's situation of The Tattered Notebook to an in depth. Oh, that jogs my memory! With EQNext in our near future, MJ and that i are likely going to rename the column at some point, both as a solution to freshen things up and to raised seize the spirit of the franchise going ahead. And we might love your help! Be at liberty to post your solutions within the comments or contact us directly via [email protected] or [email protected].



EverQuest II is so huge that it takes two authors to make sense of it all! Be part of Jef Reahard and MJ Guthrie as they explore Norrathian nooks and crannies from the Overrealm to Timorous Deep. Operating every Saturday, The Tattered Notebook is your resource for all issues EQII and EQNext -- and catch MJ each 'EverQuest Two-sday' on Massively Tv!