SOE Becomes Daybreak / Russian shutdown
- Thread starter Laerazi_sl
- Start date
Nice that he's an EQ guy, but EQN's neverending development has cost the company big. Hard to imagine that mattering in the Daybreak era.
If you're not interested in EQN, then I guess you don't. The people who ARE interested in EQN though care very much that he knows where EQN comes from historically, and that it MUST be EverQuest at its core, and not simply "random game with EQ in the name".
Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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What does that even mean at this point? Follow through on ideas like storybricks?
Jimbolini
Semi-pro Monopoly player
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To me, the core of EQ is hunkering down in a zone and grinding. It helped build community, and caused great drama. Sure those days are probably long gone, but when I think of EQ, I think of asking for buffs in town because I know they will be required to kill some stuff.
If this was four years ago that would have been nice to hear. I was hyped as shit when they showed those original concept art pieces and the early screenshots of EQN waaaaay the fuck back. They were even saying the right things in regards to gameplay and class selection. Then they blew it up two or three times, voxeled the world and spun wildly out of control with their vision to the point where they were trying to hype dull as fuck parkour moves. I still stayed with varying levels of hype way longer than I should have but now it's just gone for me.
I know it's not your job to hype a small MMO forum or convince anyone it's not doom and gloom, but you're participating so I'll give some feedback. From my standpoint, nothing short of blowing it up again is going to bring it back to its core and I can't imagine a scenario where Columbus says OK to yet another reboot. The game is a bloated monster and from the sounds of it, implementing basic, fundamental systems to any MMO is an incredible challenge in EQN. The current combat system in Landmark is trash, the game looks incredibly outdated already (so much for art with longevity) and it's nowhere near completion, the Storybricks factor is removed and you guys definitely seem to be losing more talent than you are gaining it. The only updates we get are from outsourced fan work and the team is about as silent as ever.
Unless Smedley ruled with such an iron fist that he made the EQN team obey his every command, I'm not convinced the leads even want to deliver a "core" EQ experience (Shanks not included). Rumors and grains of salt here, but I hear Smedley left the state of Daybreak in worse shape than Columbus had anticipated which is jarring considering most people knew SOE was in a rough spot.
tldr: Elidroth, I want to believe but everything I see says that can't happen. Too bad your previously pitched EQ doesn't exist, that's the one I would have wanted to see.
I'd rather see an eq of this century than a remake of eq when 3d graphics cards were a new thing. Who knows what that is, but its certainly not static mob grinding for days.
16 races, 14 classes, 15 starting cities, and no hard factions. Surprisingly, this was doable in 1999, but not now...
I assume you're talking to me on this one so for clarity, I'm not saying I wanted EQN to be a replica of EQ. I admit to being a diehard old school EQ fan but my life isn't really geared in such a way that a 1:1 copy fits into my schedule (not that I'd knock someone trying it). I also think the current market is a complete sack of stagnant shit and is the result of an intense series of focus tests on who can fail the fastest copying the WoW model.
Speaking specifically on what EQN is in its current state though? It's a train wreck. Rather than being really good at one or two things, they wanted to go for the Minecraft/MOBA/Runner/UGC/Best-in-AI pipe dream that was never going to happen.
I'm not really sure what an MMO of this century looks like, but I don't think there should be a blueprint and that's why I'm so bored with it. I know the rest of modern gaming offers variety in damn near every genre so innovating and boundary pushing experiences exist in the same plane as nostalgic throwbacks, both of which I'm happy to play if the experience is quality.
Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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Yeah, it's really weird why no one wants to do 15 starting cities any more. The difference between starting cities in 2015 and 1999 is just a few million polygons, high res textures, and infinitely higher expectations for what a fully furnished and fabricated area should look like.
Maybe I'm only speaking for myself here, but just by virtue of existing EverQuest had me in awe. I was never really wow'd by starting cities though because even in 1999 the areas were bland, shitty, and uninteresting - especially compared to other games at the time (Thief, Half-Life, etc).
I can't speak to why everyone insists on doing hard factions (other than WoW does it), but the races, classes, and starting cities are easy to explain - money. You add so much overhead with each new model, game system, and area you create. Development, art, testing, etc. Don't be Dumar. This shit isn't cheap or easy.
zzeris
King Turd of Shit Hill
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Exactly. They add no true benefit. It is such a huge waste of time and effort to make stuff people will not use past a couple months at most. I remember Grobb being an empty dirthole. Paineel? Who the fuck ever spent time there? 6 months in, everyone was either out camping shit or sitting in the commonlands. 15 cities was such a huge waste. Why would anyone want a struggling company to waste even more time and money?
Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I think a big issue with EQN is a lot of us just don't know what the finial product will look like. There have been enough changes during its production to warrant someone stepping in and just reiterating what the actual vision is. Are we still going to see the storybricks type npc behavior we were originally promised? Does being done right mean he didn't agree with the games current development path and altered it?
I was ok with the design of EQN. I didn't agree with not making eq3 but I embraced this concept. What was originally promised sounded different enough to make it appealing. I just want to know if the original design decisions have been followed through on or if they were just Smed talk for Lolz.
I was ok with the design of EQN. I didn't agree with not making eq3 but I embraced this concept. What was originally promised sounded different enough to make it appealing. I just want to know if the original design decisions have been followed through on or if they were just Smed talk for Lolz.
kaid
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Jesus don't even joke about that. I am still scarred from the luclin bug on some video cards that would not display the armor. Full frontal troll female nudity = gaaaaaaaahhhhh my eeeyeeeeeeesssss.
Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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As for the starting areas, It's all about your target audience or the willingness to keep that content relevant. Some people enjoy having their racial homes. I think if you go that route, you need to keep those areas interesting with dynamic type content. EQN was actually in a position to do that with the SB tech.
radditsu
Silver Knight of the Realm
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