EQ Never

Eh, I wouldn't say that the IP means nothing. I just want to get the idea that today's market doesn't have a whole lot of fucks to give for IPs of yesteryear. Which is effectively what EQ is. Had EQ1 required WoW style players, more than 50% of my "endgame" raiding guild would have been left in the dust before we ever got the term endgame attached to our shit. Standing in fire circles et al. That is a fairly hefty number, and I'm sure most other guilds were of a similar nature.

Also, I do not like being referenced, I just want a better genre. Pretending that the best way is a decade old with zero innovation is a terrible stance to take and I am abhorrent to it. I like the EQ IP a lot (enough so that I know most of the ingame lore) and don't want to see it squandered. But the majority of people posting about how awesome EQ1 was compared to today's MMOs have a serious case of the rose tinted goggles. Shit was cumbersome vs. actually being difficult, and in most cases was simple math added to fights to make them harder. That is lazy design, and I would actively support a more Dark Souls/Demons Souls style gameplay that didn't tank instantly like TERA.

Don't think for one second that I want an "easy" game. I am just posting what I feel the current market allows and a retard fest of epic proportions is not something that current market supports. You gotta ease that shit in.

The only point Im trying to make is that while IP may garner a large initial surge of players, it will taper off it the gameplay doesnt cut it. Nothing is better advertising than consumer word of mouth. Ill cite Warhammer, Star Wars, and Conan as my examples.

If EQN comes out and its holy-shit-this-is-the-best-game-Ive-ever-played (99% it wont be) than the IP wont matter because the people playing it will spread the word and it will get huge.

Also, I think the idea of Dark Souls combat in an MMO would be awesome. Punishing combat and an unforgiving world? Awesome. Maybe that mixed with some kind of minecraft world altering type stuff would be neat IMO. Do I have an idea how the hell this would be implemented and pulled off? Hell naw. But I do think the idea is neat.

We can speculate all we want right now about what EQN will/will not be, but without any evidence given by SOE other than word of mouth, its essentially useless.

In the words of George RR Martin: Words are wind. The real fun of this thread will begin when the "revamped new build" screenshots, and trailers for EQN pop up.

Agreed. When information starts to flow, this thread will go right into bonkersland. I look forward to that day.

Personally I think the speculation is fun. It lets you decide what is the best path without having any concept of what is occurring so you can properly shit on things that don't follow the best path. My best path is not tad10's best path is not Convo's best path is not Dumar's best path. The pregame guesswork is fun to wrap your brain around and is a great mental exercise.

Hopefully in EQN:

-Smooth, elaborate animations take precedence over high poly models.
-Crowd control and pulling are once again art forms.
-Dungeons are elaborate, sprawling, death traps.
-Amount of classes is 1:1 to of energy/resource mechanics.

This is going to directly compete with Titan in the google+ exclusive android market.

If they make progression continually meaningful and not a giant reset button every 6 months like WoW, I could see maybe tackling an EQ1-esque game with my 2 nights and a some weekend time each week. Beyond that and having to be up to camp something at 3 am or some shit like a few buddies did in college, I'd be hard pressed to commit anymore.

I'm not entirely convinced Titan isn't going to be a piece of crap full of shit like pokemon and farmville with a graphical access interface. I don't think it'll come after WoW's "game" at all. Then again, I told some friends I've wondered if Blizz would try to JJ Abrams the shit at lvl 100 or something in WoW and boom we pop out sometime around the original horde invasion or something and do it all over again with Sargeras playing the role of Nero Timeline Fucker Upper. That's Titan - a Titan-caused re-imagining of WoW with updated graphics and whatever "next-gen" gameplay Blizz has up their sleeves to steal and improve.

I'm coming to get you motherfuckers. I'm going to make your lives a living hell in EQ Next.

Rezz casts Fear. Go away plz.

I love the idea of a sandbox, but I abhor the idea that games need to be uninstanced to be viable. You can have both easily without requiring one or the other. Raid content is instanced, non-raid c
ontent is not. Voila. Kick that shit up to 11 and call it a day.

To extrapolate:


I -love- the idea of public dungeons. I hate the idea of content that is strictly available to those with the highest playtime. Shit like that does not set well with me. Combine those concepts and we have a win. Make public dungeons the baseline, but provide reasons for people to do the instanced version. I had a whole spiel consigned to this thought in the other thread, but I will re-iterate it here.

Let instances happen, but tie those instances to the uninstanced game world in ways that provide benefits for both. Enough people run the instanced version of content... People in the uninstanced version reap the rewards via higher droprates. Make this a global deal and you will have people clamoring for the uinstanced version of content and the same waiting lists that existed during early EQ. That shit will happen and you'll still have a path for those that group primarily. Win/Win.

Xeldar_sl said:

Amount of classes is 1:1 to of energy/resource mechanics.

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I don't think this is completely necessary, some mechanics are interesting when you can see how different classes use them in very different ways.

My hope actually is they are making Everquest: Vanguard II. For all the issues Vanguard had that game had some really good shit in it so merging the two games would be fairly natural. Throw in some fast GW2 type combat with active dodge and Im in.

I admit I've barely played EQ1. A little more than I did EQ2 at least, so I guess I'm having higher hopes for this just as something new to me. Someone mentioned crowd control and kiting though, god yes. I miss Crowd Control in games that was used for anything other than PvP.

Rezz_sl said:

Rezz casts Fear. Go away plz.

I love the idea of a sandbox, but I abhor the idea that games need to be uninstanced to be viable. You can have both easily without requiring one or the other. Raid content is instanced, non-raid c
ontent is not. Voila. Kick that shit up to 11 and call it a day.

To extrapolate:


I -love- the idea of public dungeons. I hate the idea of content that is strictly available to those with the highest playtime. Shit like that does not set well with me. Combine those concepts and we have a win. Make public dungeons the baseline, but provide reasons for people to do the instanced version. I had a whole spiel consigned to this thought in the other thread, but I will re-iterate it here.

Let instances happen, but tie those instances to the uninstanced game world in ways that provide benefits for both. Enough people run the instanced version of content... People in the uninstanced version reap the rewards via higher droprates. Make this a global deal and you will have people clamoring for the uinstanced version of content and the same waiting lists that existed during early EQ. That shit will happen and you'll still have a path for those that group primarily. Win/Win.

Click to expand...

Ideally, you would have instances for getting experience and some gear, and non-instances for better gear. I like the idea of contested, rare bosses for sweet loot (Lodizal, Azuregos, etc.). What instances should give is the option to have a 100% guaranteed grief-free, uncontested, productive gaming session. The absence of that will eventually wear on most players and lead to them quitting your game. These games are not kept alive by l337 gamer dudes.

xzi_sl said:

I admit I've barely played EQ1. A little more than I did EQ2 at least, so I guess I'm having higher hopes for this just as something new to me. Someone mentioned crowd control and kiting though, god yes. I miss Crowd Control in games that was used for anything other than PvP.

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EQ1 had so much more possible strategies for solo PvE gameplay than anything else that has come after. Reverse charm kiting, regular kiting, fear kiting, swarming kiting for bards. If you were good at these methods it paid off big time, often giving you better experience gains than grinding in a full dungeon group.

Smed did an AMA for planetside 2 on reddit a few months back...IIRC correctly he said the future of gaming is emergent gameplay and that emergent gameplay will be the main focus of EQNext. Also we shoudl get a lot more info about EQN in 2013.

I barely played EQ1 myself. I popped my MMO cherry on EQOA for the PS2. I enjoyed the hell out of that game grinding and all. The lack of map and wide open world, navigating thru zones with deep red con mobs that could one shot you. That game had its flaws but it still did some things right until this day.

Being able to assign my stat points where I liked. I believe EQ1 did this too. If I wanna build a character that is unique, gimp or whatever then that's my business. The class mastery system that allowed you to specialize your class was similar to the AA system. The difference is really in the play style. I could be a spellbinder (master charmer) or an animator (got to summon suits of armor pets that were mini pallys). I could also choose a racial master class if I wanted. I like the choices that I had. These days we're so boxed in its not funny.

The enchanters job in EQOA wasn't to CC a mob it was to be a mana battery for the group like a healer does with healing. Except we had to do it blind with no mana bar. It was very skill based and you could tell when you had a good one vs a bad one. Yes I realize some of this is nostalgia. I am still not blind to the mountain of faults EQOA had either. I yearn for a game that incorporates the design elements I loved and fixes the stuff I like. I don't want EQOA with a new engine and same game. I want a new game that's better. There is nothing wrong with making some things easier (forming groups, selling items etc). But making everything so faceroll easy cheapens the game and lessens the accomplishments that players work for. Even a non EQ1 player can see that or should be able to.

But as Rezz has stated, being cockblocked by kids with high play times is no fun either. So there has to be a balance and there is room for instanced content. Raids can be instanced. That's fine with me. The contested mobs that used to spawn in EQ2 were a joke. If 1 guild can have all the world spawn mobs on lockdown, that's not competition. That's just so you can have epeen on your server. Most servers had only 1 guild that could kill the mobs anyways. And every time these new "superguilds" formed, they never chose a server with another good guild that would give them competition. They moved to the weakest server possible to have no competition. It's kinda funny and ironic.

crateandbarrel_sl said:

Smed did an AMA for planetside 2 on reddit a few months back...IIRC correctly he said the future of gaming is emergent gameplay and that emergent gameplay will be the main focus of EQNext. Also we shoudl get a lot more info about EQN in 2013.

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Yes but what does he mean by emergent game play? That is the million dollar question. SOE has boggled my mind with the complete and utter ability to fuck everything they touch up. Their stupidity doesn't seem to have limits. I am honestly amazed Smed still has a job at this point. The mishandled EQ1, EQOA, EQ2, SWG etc. They've left a sour taste in almost every serious gamers mouth at one point or another. I am holding off my excitement until I see it this time. They no longer get the benefit of doubt from me.

Xeldar_sl said:

Hopefully in EQN:

-Crowd control and pulling are once again art forms.

Click to expand...

PLEASE!