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Compiled EQN Information, with sources
Iadien
Member UncommonPosts: 638
Here's a complied list of a few different things we have heard or read about by people involved with EQN. I'm sure I'm missing things, if anyone has something to add, post it, and I'll add it here.
F2P Also other good information in this interview, player studio being pushed much further, etc.
Factions will be a big part of EQN
Storybricks Integration | Storybricks demonstration for those unfamiliar with Storybricks.
Possibility that a character can change to any class through a quest, or some other method
Massively interview with John Smedley Largest sandbox ever created, entire game was not scrapped.
Massively: Let's start with EQ Next. When did you make the call to scrap everything? What was it that made you choose to do so?
A year and a half ago, we made that decision. I didn't get to cover this in the keynote, so I should mention it here. The engine and underlying technology has not changed. A lot of the guts and infrastructure are staying the same. What we're really changing is what the game is all about, all the design elements. We made one fundamental shift to emergent gameplay.
You mentioned last night that EQ Next will look like nothing we've ever seen. Will EQ Next still have the familiar feel to it that EQ fans are used to? How do you strike the balance between innovation and still staying true to the franchise?
In EverQuest Next, the world itself is a part of the game. What is the world in these other games? It's a simple backdrop. It's nothing. We are changing that greatly. We're changing what AI is in these games to a degree that we're going to bring life to the world. That to us is the essence of the change that we're making.
At GDC last week, you also talked about how quickly traditional MMO content is consumed and how that plays into your decision to adopt a philosophy toward emergent gameplay. The question comes up about how that affects the future of raid content -- something that takes a lot of time to design and is usually played by only a portion of the community. What are your thoughts on that?
We absolutely need to build that style of content into every game we make because players want that. We're not talking about the end of raids, the end of this incredibly high-level content. We're talking about changing the nature of the world around it so that there's a lot more to do "in between" expansions. But imagine the entire world as part of the interaction. Imagine seasons changing. Imagine if you're a Druid and you need to literally seek out reagents for your spells or worship your deity in a glade somewhere off in the wilderness, but you don't know where. Or image forests growing back after they're burned to the ground by invading forces. What we want is a dynamic world that gives all those other possibilities and doesn't just say OK, go to raid X with group composition of X, Y, Z, and kill the dragon for the 52nd time to get the tier 800 gear. It's this rinse-and-repeat gameplay that's got to change, and so we're changing it.
Polygon interview with John Smedley Players will help create the world
Our opinion is that today's MMOs, and I'd include ours in that mix, are stagnant and stuck in this model that we frankly helped create with EverQuest, where we put new content in the game, and they go through it at an incredibly fast rate because of sites like Thottbot and that kind of stuff," Smedley said.
"We need to change the way we do this," Smedley said. "We're building a sandbox and giving players the tools to help shape the world that they're in. That's the direction we're going in with EverQuest Next; trying to make a world that players create while being a living, breathing world around them. It's not just a prop for them to walk around in, which is really what all of today's MMOs are. Their worlds are nothing more than a movie set."
Zam interview with John Smedley
You’ll be able to destroy, massive, massive parts of this world, almost all of it. You can light the forest on fire; we have ambition with this thing. We want it to be something where the world you log into, might not be the world you log into in five days. What you saw in WoW’s Cataclysm could take place because someone cast a spell that is powerful enough to do something major. We want it to be meaningful. And that’s what we’re building. It’s actually what we’ve built, because we’ve got this now. It just isn’t quite at the level where we’re OK [to reveal it to the public]. We have a story that we want to tell for the announcement of it, we want it that you’re seeing every aspect of the gameplay, we’re one aspect short of that until we’re ready to show, so we’re close now.
It is “emergent gameplay” — allowing players true freedom and encouraging them to build their own experiences — that will define the next generation of successful MMO games, he said.
“We need to add emergent gameplay to our games if they’re going to last,” he told the company’s biggest fans at the October festival. “So we are. SOE has committed itself to a focus on emergent and sandbox-style play.”
Games that allow players the opportunity to drive their own destiny spread more quickly via social networking and word-of-mouth, as gamers excitedly relate tales of their unique adventures to their friends.
Comments
They've also said that the combat will be more 'dynamic', what we don't know if it's more like Guild Wars 2 or TERA.
The source for this is also on the SOE 2010 EQN Panel, which you have linked to youtube already.
God I hope its not GW2. That was some of the worst combat I've ever experience. The only nice thing is moving while casting, but it usually doesn't matter because you take the damage if you were in range when it started channeling.
I would LOVE to see some Tera combat. But f2p I think is going to kill this game.
I don't count this. SoE scrapped the design twice before finally deciding which direction to take the game, and we haven't heard anything about the combat since. Who knows what the combat is like right now.
Yeah, I don't want to post any information without sources, and I really don't want to dig through twitter messages. =p
Everything sounds promising, but it's all just theory. Is there any info as far as when they will even show a controlled gameplay viewing if not actual gameplay? Has anyone seen anything?
There Is Always Hope!
The factions comment was a tweet, iirc. Living breathing world crap is from a polygon interview, who knows what that means.
So, he said there will be raiding. Beautiful. Can't wait.
all I need to know:
Sandbox
Smed likes EvE
No WoWclone
-> epic win
Here's a complied list of a few different things we have heard or read about by people involved with EQN. I'm sure I'm missing things, I'll look some more tomorrow, and if anyone has something to add, post it, and I'll add it here.
Official EQN website
F2P Also other good information in this interview, player studio being pushed much further, etc.
Seamless World this video was an important watch because the game will sue the same engine as PS2.I played PS2 and it was awful,the graphics looked awful.The reason i mention this is because although a game engine can do stuff the developer still has to do the work,the engine doesn't make the graphics.
He talks about physx ,but then doesn't come back top the question of turning PC's into a crawl.
Also when talking about the facial,it is a STILL shot,not an animation to prove what he is talking about.Again you can utilize a physx engine but if the developer doesn't use it,it doesn't matter.All the NVIDIA guy did was advertise his product,he did npot solidify anything with EQ:Next.He also made sure to use the words "down the road" which tells me SOE is not using that part of physx.
You see there is just so much misleading stuff,they choose their words carefully,to tell you what a game engine can do and what physx can do but not really saying it will be a staple part of NEXT.
I don't doubt it is all possibly in the game,but for now it sounds more like careful PR talk than anything factual.That still picture was the main reason why,they couldn't even show animation,so they are definitely being careful not to give us false advertising that might come back on them later.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Added