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Is EQNext Vaporware?
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Regardless, this entire conversation is pointless and I'd much rather get back to other wasted time bickering about how cool/stupid action combat is, multi-classing being the devil, EQ is the best thing ever lets pretend we didn't quite it over 10 years ago....
At this point we have nothing to talk about of substance so lets debate intangible ambiguous concepts to make ourselves feel superior about video games.
I find that the worst thing that happened was when Smed suddenly had a H1Z1 tag on his twitter. He is known for changing games in development in favor of what's currently popular. The living world that EQN was going to have was because of guild wars 2, the hate for trinity was also from gw2, it was going to be sandbox because everyone wanted sandboxes, it was going to have moba-style combat because of LoL, he wanted it to be minecraft and he wanted the creation of content just like Neverwinter has creation of content. Then in fall 2014 he was no longer that interested in EQN and DayZ-cloning was the new thing.
I think it was a good thing that they finally got rid of Smedley because it means more stability in their game development, the worst boss is the boss that just can't stop changing direction for their current projects because it drives employees crazy. You can work on something for a month or three, in comes Smedley because his kids played something new and now Everquest Next really needs it with months of work thrown out the window. The only reason you make changes because something popular came out is because it fits your own game perfectly.
With all bad things that happened to Daybreak the only good thing is that I don't know anything about the person in charge of Daybreak. If he ends up shutting down EQ:Next its probably for the best because it was a dream they could never achieve and they will spend their resources on something that can be created and could be fun. If EQN happens, even better.
The "stupid" mobs make the traditional grind possible, and are a large part of what people fondly remember EQ for.
Super-intelligent mobs makes an entirely different game. And reduce the "fun" factor of MMO play considerably, by pushing the game too far into Survival/Nightmare mode (not for everyone).
Two different audiences.
You can pull a 'rawr macho me yam hardc0re yo' as a player, that's prototypical of egotripping, and part of MMO player's psyches.
But as a developer attempting to Sell More Stuff, to keep your game growing, intentionally limiting your audience is rarely a good idea.
The only modern game where grouping I have found is faster, is ESO. I don't count this as grouping though. One every one in the whole game is always in a group, sharing loot, exp, ect, just have to hit the mob once, and you get all that. Two no one ever talks even if you do use the group system, which is useless since every one is grouped already. Again though I never made it past the starting areas in ESO. My ESO block list is so huge, that its like a chore to block every one, bots included. Eso would be a good test for my theory below haha, since when you block some one in ESO, they totally disappear from your game. I bet if you blocked all the people I mentioned, ESO would be a tiny community.
So, maybe the community isn't large, but it makes up for it with good people. I look at it this way, if you took all the anti social, mean spirited, people who just want to ruin your day, out of those major high pop games, you would end up with a small community with who is left, and there you have Ryzom=) Out of my month and half playing, I have had to block one person. If that was one of those other games mention, my block list is so large, I cant even keep track of it any more.
I suppose though, if you didn't want to group with people you don't really have too. You can always run 2 clients, which they allow. It isn't that demanding. I run 2, and my computer isn't top end. Just a i5 and a 370, and i run them both on max, minus AA.
Daybreak said they would still support Landmark and it may even get features that they develop for EQN (if it works and makes sense for Landmark), but effectively Landmark as a project is dead. The point was about how SOE/Daybreak talks about the active development of Landmark, all the things they are going to add to it and that beta was coming "soon", but reality is the project is dead.
The logic that a topic is pointless or lacking substance can be applied to just about every post on this site. If you no longer desire to discuss the topic then don't post or read it. If you want to talk about combat, classes or other gameplay elements then go start or post in a thread about those topics.
I think there are a lot of interesting perspectives still being offered. Read Shaighs post above. I've never really looked at EQN as trying to incorporate so many marquee features from multiples games into one project. Really puts a new vantage on just how ambitious this project was.
From my experience and from what I see other fans of EQ say, the joy to the game was more about the social elements and having to be active (despite the rather static content). Not so much mindless grinding on what can be seen today as pretty crappy AI and challenge level.
You are correct though that their vision wasn't to make another traditional grind game for people to burn through and get bored of. Hence their hyped (unproven) up AI. It could scale so that there would be ongoing challenges for all player types. You can't string two thoughts together, stick to Tier 1, you've been online gaming 20 years and need a challenge, head to Tier 5 with a large skilled group. Both of which could be fun/rewarding without 5 > 1 because the devs say so.
All of which can still use cash shops and other means to drain people of their money.
Overall the concept for EQN could be pretty massive, unfortunately I doubt they have the team or tech to pull it off on the level needed.
Smed has always been a fan of PVP oriented games, never shy about that from what I could see. However, I really didn't see his hand or involvement in EQN beyond it is an EQ game so he would talk about it in interviews before getting into H1Z1 or PS2 or whatever he cared to talk about. Not sad to see him go either way.
As far as EQN copying other games and what not, I think it is a great idea if the sum of the individual parts make for a better overall experience.
While it is easy to see where they got inspiration from, very little of the EQN concept is direct copying of any other game. Overall the genre is moving in a similar direction be it focused more on particular features depending on the game.
According to ElementalFiend (no clue who this dev is really) Landmark has it's own team and is being developed. I'm assuming that means some what independently of EQN, not just working on bugs. Although major missing features like AI and DM tools most likely will be made for EQN first or together before they make it into Landmark. Either way I have little interest in LM's future.
My assumption is that they agreed with what many EQN fans said from the start and now that Dave and others are gone, LM shouldn't be the priority. Would of a been a fun post-EQN launch modder game, but the amount of time/money thrown at it that wasn't EQN related was a waste in my eyes.
You are totally correct about that logic. But I would go further and apply it to life in general
Despite my belief, clearly I'm still giving my 20 cents as I have time to waste and am not playing any other mmos currently to keep me entertained.
I'd much rather discuss actual game features/concepts, unfortunately we've talked to death pretty much everything they've revealed and nothing new has been dropped for quite some time, hence threads and discussions like this one. As I said, I'd rather discuss those things, doesn't mean I am/will because those things aren't relevant at the moment thanks to lack of info.
Doesn't change my opinion or the fact that discussions like these go no where. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is right and wrong. Eventually people just stop and a new thread picks up the conversation.
As I've pointed out, you joined the conversation long after we had already talked about the game itself and really haven't seen you discuss it directly but rather SOE's history, The Agency, and your views on what that means for EQN's current and future state. While I get the relevance to you, it is off-topic to me. But without threads and folks like you, there really wouldn't be any discussion going on here at all. Except for Nanfoodle and his Workshops...
The similarities that Shaigh talked about were gone over long ago. GW2 in general which people jumped all over because GW2 was newish at the time and people were still fuming about how it wasn't the hyped game they had in their minds. Although there is very little in common between the two and even the EQN devs stated as much.
My interest in EQN stems from them taking several bullet points on my ideal game list, most of which were from games I've played. So many games fall short yet still have a few features that folks hang on to and continue to play just for them. I would very much enjoy a game that takes those features, combines and polishes them, and makes for a total overall package instead of one great feature and a bunch of crap ones. EQN basic design is that to me, if they can do it is the mystery.
Why keep doing that if there's no hope?
The emergent AI and the concept of a truly living world that misses you when you aren't online is really something that appeals to me. I truly am pulling for this title.
The EQ world was amazing and one of the best parts about the game. Ever since EQ2 came out I have been saying that EQ3 should just do mostly a remake of EQ1 with the same essential game world but with newer graphics and some modern MMO elements that were obviously not present back then. They could change certain things or have it be prior to the events of EQ1 if necessary but I think many would love to revisit EQ with modern visuals and I know many people who didn't experience EQ the first time that would also get to (in a way) experience it for the first time. I would also be in favor of them just doing a complete remake with updated engine and features and even release the same expansion remakes in the same order. That would be amazing.
When I heard EQN was releasing and would be a "re-imagining" of EQ1 I got super excited but then realized they meant something else by "re-imagining". They meant changing EQ into something it never was and trying to capitalize on the popularity of WoW (or something). Most of the other details I have heard about EQN since then has only made me more bummed to the point of not really caring anymore. I think if EQN ever gets beyond being vaporware it will likely just be another forgettable MMO that is all hype and tries to prey on people with a cash shop and little else. I would love to be wrong.
I totally agree , that EQ3 should have been EQ1 clone but with obviously better graphics .
Instead they were trying to re-imagine EQ3 into a Disney Sandbox Minecraft game .