EverQuest Next - Initial Thoughts

All right, so it's been a while and life just kinda got in the way - but I'm back again, this time with a focus on lots of writing, even if it's crappy. I'll get better! I promise!

Today I want to talk a little bit about EverQuest Next (EQN), the big announcement from this weekend's Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) Fan Faire Live event. There's a ton to talk about, but I want to start with some of the biggest announcements during the reveal on Friday. OH! And let's talk a bit about that intro, shall we?


Intro
I can not believe they sat down the SOE community folks, the marketing and PR people, the development team and creative people - and everyone said "OMG THIS IS HOW WE SHOULD INTRO OUR GAME!" if they did, fire them now. Seriously.

I was confused throughout the entire thing which, by the way, was incredibly long! Was I supposed to be able to tell what races they were giving us (besides elves)? I got the point of dragons. Let's face it, the EverQuest franchise is the "killing internet dragons" game.

I didn't recognize the backgrounds, the battles, the music, or the idea as anything EverQuest. Then I lost interest and went back to leveling in World of Warcraft (WOW) while I waited for it to end. It seemed to go on for about 20 minutes....and that's estimating on the low side.

Multi-Classing
This just seems so un-EQ for me, that it's hard to be excited about it. I enjoy different types of classes and non-class systems though, so I'm willing to wait and see what implementation brings. It just didn't wow me with that "I have to play this!" kind of wow.

Destructibility
This seems.....weird. I guess it all depends on how it works its way into the game. If I'm fighting a mob all happy and such and suddenly knock myself into an underground cavern, I will be one unhappy adventurer. But if you know how to open portals and where to open them, I think that would be cool.

On the other side, they need to turn down the dust effects when you destroy these "voxels" the world is made of. As opposed to building their world in polygons, SOE chose voxels. We'll talk about that some other day, but it's cool!

Permanent Changes
This one is both jaw dropping, and once again, depends on implementation. But the possibilities of how it will change playing in an online world are truly endless.

Speaking as someone who has caused permanent changes in a static MMO world, it's a great pleasure and a true imprint of yourself to take part in. To allow that on a grander scale can be an amazing way for guilds, groups, friends, and random server-mates to really have a goal you all work towards and look on with pride. However, I am worried that with the destructibility mentioned above, this won't really mean anything in the long term, because it will just be torn down. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Emergent Artificial Intelligence (AI)
NPCs that set up shop based on player tendencies and their own built in tendencies in a living world where things change is exciting news. A road rarely traveled, and orcs may set up shop. Once they get beaten often enough, more travelers start using the road, or guards come and uproot them - they'll move to another road that fits their requirements. *THIS* is amazing!

I admit, I was slightly looking forward to both wandering aggro and static spawns, because few games do that anymore, and it was always a great way to meet people and do some quick groups, but apparently it's not to be.

Consequences
They didn't talk about the stuff I *wanted* to hear - guards being attackable, factions where you can become friendly with people your race/class normally doesn't, and self policing options for communities to black list jerk wads. Instead, they talked about the game remembering things you've done before and delivering content based on those decisions. All in all it's an interesting start but we've heard all of these things before and implementation simply failed. So we'll have to see how it's done.

Final Thoughts?
 There's a lot of competition coming in this environment like Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, Pathfinder Online, Camelot Unchained, and a few others that could bring quite a bit of competition into the world. That's always a good thing!

I am cautiously optimistic for the release of EQN. What I saw this weekend piqued my interest but I feel no connection to the game other than that they're taking the same land mass of Norrath and putting a whole new game there.

I am certainly not cancelling my WOW subscription, nor will I stop browsing the Founders Forums for Camelot Unchained (yes I caved and joined the Kickstarter). But I will continue to keep an eye on this iteration of Norrath, with cautious excitement mixed with excited skepticism. It's a crazy combination to be sure.