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EverQuest II: Desert of Flames E3 Preview
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
It won best expansion. Now you can find out why we were so impressed with "Desert of Flames", the first expansion to EverQuest II due out in September of this year.
;) The centerpiece of EverQuest II: Desert of Flames is the desert city of Majdul. Majdul is not a reputable place in Norrath, quite the opposite. It is dominated by a criminal element and only the bravest of travelers will venture there. All NPCs in the city can be attacked, and based on which of five factions you are aligned to they may well attack you. The sub-game is that these five factions are in a constant tug of war for control and it is up to you to ensure that your faction remains on top. Based on what players do, the city itself will change. What was a friendly kiosk yesterday may well be hostile territory tomorrow.
That said Majdul does not really relish fighting in the streets. As a result, if you pick a fight, expect to be sent to an arena to do battle. In this arena, players are given the ability although not the requirement to transform into a champion who will fight their battle for them. This led to some beautiful if a bit inexplicable visuals of fire elementals and other wonders doing battle in an underground arena. In the demo, one Halfling chose a duck as his champion and transformed into an admittedly well-modeled duck. No word on whether this will be an option in retail. The PvP aspects offer a variety of games including capture the flag, and a dedicated reward system. |
You can read our full preview if you click here!
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
Sounds like they're trying to copy Guildwars with the capture the flag.
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The halfling in the demo MUST be Mennix!
Woe to such a powerfull halfling to do so lowly actions and use a poor duck!
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Sounds like they have a winner. This should help retain what they have, and maybe bring in a few more. Lack of pvp was an issue.
When they say "500,000 people have tried" the game, that makes me wonder.... how many are playing now?
I played almost non-stop for 2-3 months. EQ2 was fun, but hardly different. Pretty graphics but it was all much the same as all the others. Playing WoW now and feeling that deja vu... it's all the same with minor differences. Expansions wont bring me back, I would have preferred a more well thought out game from the outset. The continuous stream of nerfs and vain attempts to balance gameplay just always made me feel I was paying to beta test. Yes it was fun, but they all are for awhile.
I'm quite honeslty the last person to give SOE any credit at all, they burnt my monthly paying bidge long ago with SWG and the EQ2 launch but I will say that it looks like they may actually do something right with Desert of Flames. I highly stress "MAY" here because anyone who has delt with SOE before knows that they are the undissputed kings of falling short of promisses or plain out lying through their teeth to get people to stay.
That being said, hopefully the expansion will bring some depth and fun to a stale, drawn out game, someting I feel EQ2 sorely needs to have any sort of future. Renewed optimism for EQ2 ? Absolutely not, if the past tells us anything it's that SOE will find some way to botch this up, but maybe... just maybe they can do something right, for once.
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The expansion looks and sounds really cool. I JUST canceled my EQII account too
I just wish they had more details on the cliff-scaling, and that being transported to an arena. Who knows, maybe the expansion will win me back, but EQII was just kinda cruddy from the beginning.
Type /hide_illusion and you wont change form
I used to visit this site a lot however in recent years it has become the home of negative forum posts, illogical opinions and tantrums so I visit less often.
Played or Beta'd: UO / DAOC / Horizons / EQ2 / DDO / EVE / Archlord / PirateKingsOnline / Tabula Rasa / LOTRO / AOC / Champions / Darkfall / Mortal Online / DCUO / Rift / STO / SWTOR / TSW
So, now you'll be able to climb walls. Nice, but I would have much rather seen them put in sitting animations so characters could actually use the chairs all over the place. As it is, it's stupid to see a burly barbarian kneeling with his hands in his lap like an Amish girl at a church picnic.
And new encounters? More lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! Is this fantasy or the Discovery Channel? Maybe Sony needs to stop hiring from the EQ fanbase and get some new blood with fresh ideas and imagination. This is stale
All in all, this latest money grab ranks a big "whoo-pee"
from this Day 1 player.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
They clearly all copied my elementry school playground.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
No, it sure doesn't matter that this expansion has been in development for awhile, since the team that develops expansions is a seperate team.
You people sound like a bunch of whining babies. SOE is a leader in the field of MMORPGs and will continue to be so for a long time to come.
You should avoid sentences that contain:
We all know... blah blah....,, because no.. we don't all know. You may be the only one.
You should avoid sentences that contain:
SOE lied to us.. blah blah.. because no.. They didn't lie to me.. You may be the only one..
Oh and .. Guild Wars is still beta testing.. All games are free while they are beta testing.
If game balancing bothers you then maybe an MMORPG is not your cup of tea, because you know what. ALL MMORPGS BALANCE.
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It's just me, so open the door.
A few things here:
First of all Capture the Flag has been in many many other games, GW just provided this and many other PvP gameplay elements to enhance their PvP system, and no other MMO has really done this. Since GW is free and taking a large chunk of players atm, Blizzard and SOE decided to put these elements in their game to help retain their customers with their PvP additions. I've played EQ2 since it's launch, and when it launched I was very glad that PvP wasn't a part of launch because I'm not a PvP fan in MMO's (like it in GW though, but it's a lot different). All of these games have built on the idea that DAoC had though with their RvR system (especially WoW). I haven't played WoW, but thier Alliance vs Horde setup sounds almost exactly like DAoC's Realm vs Realm system. GW's system is a little similar, but not enough to really say it's the same thing at all. GW's game system is so much different than any other game out their now, it almost breaks the genre for them.
Second, all of these games copy each other, SOE is just the worst about it. They have taken so many elements from so many other games, and it's very obvious in EQ2. Mythic had a lot of innovative ideas in DAoC and I see a lot of their elements in WoW, and several SOE releases. For instance, the horses in DAoC were what led SOE to put the stables in EQOA, and WoW and EQ2 to have gryphons. SOE copied WoW's email system almost verbatim from what my guild said, and EQ2 has a lot of elements from a lot of other MMO's in it's system. The mob aggro system is so much like DAoC's it isn't funny. I could go on, but I won't because even though they copied a lot from other games, a lot of it is minor and most MMO's are doing the same thing so we can't point the finger at just SOE for it. I really don't fault any of them truthfully though, because at least they are (in most cases) are making welcome improvements to the game.
I'm by no means a flamer, and the last thing I want to do is start arguments in forums, because I hate flaming and spamming. I should say though that what you've said here is far from truth. You might want to go read about GW some more. GW is in full release now and has been for well over a month. GW is not beta testing and is never going to charge montly for it's service, all their income is going to come from software sales. GW is completely free of montly fees, it says so on the box, and they advertise it blatently in all the stores and most of the websites that sell it. I played GW's beta client back in November during their World Preview weekend, and their beta client was more stable than most MMO initial release versions I've played, and to that I give them credit. EQ2's laucnh was rough to say the least, they were riddled with problems, and I've heard lots of stories about WoW server stability. As a player of GW, I can say that they have one of, if not the most stable client out there now, the problems have been few, and the few that they've had they have very quickly and effciently fixed, and there has been no down time that I've know of yet in the game since it's launch. I still remember lots of downtime in EQ2, and that's really aggrevating, especially when you're paying $15/mo to play it.Now, as far as Desert of Flame goes, it's no where nearly enough to bring me back to the game. I held on and played EQ2 for a long time after my guild left in hopes to find another guild and friends to play with. My wife and I played practically by ourselves until we quit, and things can get hard when it's just two people and you can't get a group when you need it.
I care nothing about PvP in EQ2, because that's not the reason I wanted to play EQ2. I know there's a lot of people that want it there, but I'm not so sure that it's going to be what SOE needs to get subscriptions back (or new ones that they need) because of all the other PvP out there now. WoW has taken a LOT of EQ2's customers and since they've added some nice PvP in their game now (even if it's not original), PvP in EQ2 isn't going to bring them back from WoW. PvP is the overall biggest change in this expansion, and everything (at least to me) just feels somewhat supplemental. The new city is nice, but what I (and many others I think) were hoping for is some revealed content from old EQ history. Like maybe finding remants of Kurnark or Velious (I didn't explore the highend game, but I don't think it's there). For faithful players, I'm sure their going to love the expansion, but just from an unbiased point of view, I don't think it's enough to help SOE in their fight right now. WoW has cleaned house with them, and now they have to compete with GW's revolutionary new game, it's hurting them.
It will be very interesting to see how long GW can survive without charging a monthly fee. The band width alone costs a fortune. Developers do not work for free and are very very expensive. Software sales alone are not enough to pay salaries and all the other overhead involved.
I haven't played the game so I suppose it could be running on a web server like diablo II, but then it is not an MMORPG, since it would not be able to support multi thousands of players simultaneously. For that to happen there has to be servers running the code.
In any case it will be interesting to see how GW progresses with new content and bug fixes.
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It's just me, so open the door.
I like the sound of the expansion. Im kind of leery of the pvp balancing though, but then again, when i want pvp, I dont play SOE games. I log onto WoW or Daoc or what ill be doing soon and thats playing EQ2 (fantasy fix) and Battlefield 2 (pvp fix). Best of both worlds for me.
Having adventure/quest seek you out is intriguing as well. I imagine ill buy it.
Huh??
PvP IMO is the biggist news for EQ2. Why no info on how its going to work? Bad interview/report by mmorpg.com.
On another note to "dshadow07". SOE is NOT a "copy cat". There is only so much "new" ideas you can put into a mmo. Thats like saying BMW is copying Ford for using weels on there cars...
When a good idea occurs naturally others will follow. And thats good imo. Pushed the development.
I think a lot of you are underestemating the EQ line. i mean. basically all of us played EQ1 at some point, got hooked and loved it for a few years..but just like ANY game, it gets boring. i just quit WoW for the same resons...i outplayed myself. it takes a true mind to create a game that holds people for more then 5 years, and EQ1 did manage to do that.
EQ2 in its launch, yes did blow. but hey, there trying to make it better, this new Expasion lookes like a awsome acomplishment on behalf of SoE. they added PVP wich was a huge problem, they added some depth and reality behind the game instead of just 2 citys and a lot of skeletons. EQ1 wasent very popular in its release either, after a year or so and an expansion or 2 it was the most popular thing out there. give EQ2 a shot and i think it very well could be on the top. WoW is loosing its touch since Blizz failed to release enough game content. and Guild Wars is a pure PVP game once you get to the end. yes it will remain fun and many many players will play because its FREE. EQ2 has Great potential as a game, and now there refining thoes aspects.
well i play EQ from the begining of eq1 and now eq2... and one thing in common:
IF YOU PLAY EQ2 you will lose a LOT OF MONEY !!!!...
additional content like adventure pack..they charge ..etc... i see what SOE trying is to get as maximum as profit as possible and dont care about the players... this game have very bad costumer support.. they trying to make alot of profit because they cant win the number of subscriber to WOW, guild war or Lineage 2..with over million subscriber.
so if you want to drain your cash... you can play this EQ2
i hope you wernt born in america because your enligh is TERRIBLE!.
SoE has proven to have some of the best customer support of any game...GW bearly has any, Blizz will ban people from WoW because of the other persons stupidity and noobs complaining a lot. and i dunno about Lineage2. WoW is falling down, it doesent have enough content and they dont plan on adding any new content for months to come, SoE has kept up with the demand and has continued to add content even before new content is needed. Aventure packs were acually a nice idea even though they should be free but oh well. and finally a new Expansion that looks awsome, Blizz wont be adding expansions to WoW, they add little bits and pieces and call it new content. besides there silly little Bit torrent rip off client sucks...it takes 2 houres to download and install a 40mb patch.
besides in games like WoW noobs are always complaining for imba classes and nerfs. EQ2 dident need nerfs from the start, soe has enough experience with MMO's to be able to put out a good stable game from the beginning and they have not let me down in its content. i quit EQ2 in the beginning yes because it wasent that great. but i gave it time like i gave WoW time...Blizz proved imcompetent and failed to deliver, while SoE has updated and created a much better game through listening to its costomer demands
@ dabutt
you are completely 100% wrong
do u have lvl 50 in eq2? i dont think so.. my char mostly lvl 70 at eq1 and lvl 50 eq2..
you will understand me when u get there.
costumer service ..SOE ?? lol ,, when u online try to do it now .... you will understand me.
EQ2 a LOTS of NERFS... a lot of COMBAT bug. skill or spell broken... try to see what is their official forum.. you will feel you are playing in beta but you have to pay for it..
they down everyday... and the latest patch they do is FONT LOL...... what happen to combat/spell broken... they never fix it until now... while this game still need a lot of fix they launch another adv pack splitpaw and new expansion... a JOKE...
and now they falling down of subscriber... lots of pple quiting.. after the guildwar hit on shelves.
if u dont believe me..check the mmorpg chart at www.mmogchart.com
they fall from 350k subsc. to 250k ish. in very short time.
well.. its up to you... that game EQ2 need new management... now their management is too business or money minded.... will try to find way to drain your cash
dude, i dont know how long its been since youve played, i havent seen a down time in 3 weeks and have herd zero complaints about bugs.
im talking about SoE costomer service in comparison to the other MMORPG's, like WoW's service is just gay, whenever you petition they just send u a Mail telling u to Email this or this place and that email doesent even work. GW cant afford Customer service since its free.