The Tattered Notebook What I Need To See In EverQuest Next

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

Why do we care about SOE Stay? Nicely, there are multiple causes, but a very powerful one is that as an alternative of getting to wait until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!

This information threw me for a little bit of a loop, I don't thoughts telling you. I imply, I knew that SOE's John Smedley flat-out guaranteed a playable EQNext demo at SOE Stay 2013. And i knew that it's the truth is 2013 already, so arms-on time with what might be the subsequent great sandbox will happen inside of a calendar yr. It nonetheless seemed really far off for some reason, though, I suppose because it was just three months in the past that we were ending up SOE Live 2012. beware of greeks bearing gifts August 1st is going to be right here earlier than we know it, so it is high time we begin prognosticating about EQNext, wouldn't you agree?

Hopefully it goes with out saying that I would prefer to see these things in addition to the same old high-high quality PvE questing, dungeon, raid, and progression content.

Heritage quests

Though I played the unique EverQuest for less than a couple of month, I love love love EverQuest II's heritage traces. In a franchise that already sets the standard for MMO lore, it was a genius concept to tie the two video games collectively and throw EQ vets a nostalgia-drenched bone by providing up extended epic quests with EQ-centric item rewards.

Extra like that in EQNext, please.

Housing

You understand SOE goes to put housing in EQNext, as the corporate does the function better than every other MMO developer (sorry Trion -- great effort, although). The question is how can it ever be as good as EQII's implementation. Realistically I do not suppose it might probably, no less than not at launch. It is literally a sport-inside-the-game that has more in common with Minecraft than typical MMO afterthought design, so if it takes SOE some time to suit it into EQNext's framework, I am Okay with that. Whereas we're dreaming, I might also be greater than Okay with SOE discovering a method to do EQII's housing in an open-world surroundings.

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. Apart from the tens of millions of players who've made the Sims franchise the most well-liked within the historical past of the personal computer.

A crafter-pushed financial system

This is going to be tough for SOE to pull off, notably 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 considered one of my frustrations with EQII is the huge, intricate, and enjoyable crafting system that is almost completely wasted on a recreation the place a lot of the gear is mob-dropped and bind-on-equip.

I don't envy the designers here as a result of in addition to the balancing challenges inherent in making and maintaining a sandbox financial system, they've also got to deal with the psyche of the brand new-school MMO participant who does not need to be bothered with crafters and who needs to distant auction his gear with a minimal of effort and player interplay. At the identical time, the firm has minced no words about the fact that EQNext is a participant-pushed sandbox, so how it navigates this potential minefield can be interesting to watch.

Good guild instruments

Copy EQII's guild tools. Anything much less makes Jef cry. The tip.

Things I do not wish to see

Earlier than I knock off for the day, let me spend a couple of paragraphs on issues I don't need to see. Firstly, in-recreation VOIP. Look, I understand it makes for a superb back-of-the-field (do we nonetheless have game containers?) bullet point, however the truth is that it is a waste of improvement sources even when it's shoe-horned in there by a 3rd get together.

I mean, actually, what guild with a clue doesn't use Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or Mumble today? These are all free apps -- unless you're the guild chief paying for the server, and even then it's normally a lot cheaper than a conventional MMO sub -- and so they dwarf the functionality present in current in-sport solutions. In-recreation VOIP is going to be laggy, it'll sound like crap, and the one people who may use it for greater than five minutes are the poor saps in pickup dungeon groups.

Secondly, let's not have any of that dev-generated private story foolishness or the related voice-appearing. It is a massively multiplayer sandbox, in spite of everything, and that i can consider at the very least two latest AAA titles which have finished greater than sufficient to justify tossing these ideas 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 company's "the players are the content" motto. However, nonetheless. MMORPG. Sandbox. Please don't with the only-participant savior-of-the-cosmos nonsense. Thanks.

What's in a reputation?

Whew. This is not an exhaustive listing of course, and I am fairly curious to see what a few of you wish to see in EQNext. Rest assured that we'll be revisiting this subject usually as SOE ramps as much as its August reveal and past.

And with that, let's bring this week's concern of The Tattered Notebook to a close. Oh, that jogs my memory! With EQNext in our near future, MJ and i are probably going to rename the column sooner or later, each as a way to freshen things up and to better capture the spirit of the franchise going ahead. And we might love your help! Feel free to post your recommendations within the comments or contact us directly through [email protected] or [email protected].

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