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Interview at EQHammer.com with Georgeson - customize char. huge focus on story.
Iadien
Member UncommonPosts: 638
http://eqhammer.com/interview/linda-carlson-and-dave-georgeson-defining-mmo
Dave Georgeson: I don’t like the term MMO. It’s generic and it means nothing. I actually like the older term that never caught on which is virtual world. That’s really what we’re building. We’re building a reality that’s better than reality. One where you can customize a character that you want to be, and then perfect yourself.
You have complete control over a virtual world in a way that you do not have in real life. It’s a better experience, it’s a better life experience, and it’s fun to have connections with people internationally and all that other stuff. You meet a broad class of people, and are able to be involved in situations you’re never going to become involved in here in the real world. Very heroic, bigger than life kind of things.
A virtual world is more like that, rather than just a persistent game. The persistence is important because it’s not a world if it’s not persistent, but that’s the least of the things that makes a virtual world or an MMO what it is.
http://eqhammer.com/preview/everquest-next-story-so-far
"Wait until you see spellweaving in the next EverQuest," Georgeson teased. "I've said too much but you've never played a game like it. I can promise you that.
"We have two EverQuest games we can already use as testbeds for what we plan on with the next one. While we're doing that we're putting a huge focus on storytelling over the next year. We want characters to become memorable parts of the story arcs. We want to bring back the world to virtual worlds. This is a re-imagined Norrath. Think of the EverQuest games as three separate universes--a multiverse."
Comments
Looks like they used the profits to rent a proton colider. Used the colider to create some wurm whole and cracked a hole in the space time continuum. Then of course they linked several versions of the same universe together with warp gates. So we are clearly in for something we (humans) have never seen yet.
Ethernere is a realm shared by all 3 EQs ?
from Ops same link
Mathew Chilton @TuxedoMat
TTH commentary:@DaveGeorgeson if cazic thule died in eq1....how was he at the council of the gods in eq2....?
David Georgeson @DaveGeorgeson
@TuxedoMat each Norrath is different plane. CT dead in EQ, not EQII. Reverse true for rallos zek. But all Norraths touch in Ethernere.
For those less familiar with the lore, Ethernere is a realm introduced to EverQuest II with the Chains of Eternity expansion. It’s described as “a realm never intended for living souls.” There’s been a few, um, “god and dragon incidents” since that have wrought havoc across Norrath. It’s also a testament to just how far ahead SOE was thinking about this in terms of the lore and weaving it into the project in some way. But what they’re up to, and where this is going, is anyone’s guess.
EQ2 fan sites
looks like another hint at a skill based system to me.
I remember Georgeson talking about the three everquest games connecting somehow, but he mentioned saying too much and stopped. I think it was at E3.
Edit: I found the video I was thinking of, but Georgeson mentions EQ1 and EQ2 will become more integrated, doesn't mention EQN. 29:40 http://www.twitch.tv/everquestnext/b/416159876
That depends on what you mean by "skill based" system.
If you mean free flowing "create your own class" skill system, then no, incorrect.
If you mean a wizard being able to summon a stone with one hand, melt it with fire with the other, then throw a lava-ball at a mob... then sure, sounds like it.
It sounds to me like you can mix and match your classes' spells to get different effects in combat, a sort of magic-combo system. Or you can create custom spells by mixing ones you've learned together.
But I think this says nothing about skill point based leveling system vs class system.
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I think classes will be in the game, Smedley has mentioned Druids, etc. I just meant that we may be able to customize our skills more than the other two, not just AAs, something different.
There's a panel about discussing classes for EQN at SOE live, so classes are in the game for sure. How they are implemented and which ones...we have yet to see.
Oh ya I agree. EQN is almost certainly going to have an action combat system. The thing is, with action combat systems, you can't focus on the fight, and have 50+ skills, consumables, clickies, etc etc while dodging, blocking, aiming, etc.
So they cut down on the amount of total skills your character can use at any given time to somewhere in the 15-25 ballpark, depending on the combat system.
Then the better games allow for deep character customization. Weapon type, skill load out, traits, stats, gear, abilities.... you make your character really customizable. That way you can focus on combat in an action system, and still feel like your character is unique and different.
So ya, EQN will probably have some sort of system where you can build your class in different ways. Almost certainly.
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Agree. Bioware spoke a lot about the whole 'multiple pillars making an MMO' and how they were using 'story' as another pillar. And they did good. They made 'Story' into a shiny marble pillar... Sadly they focused so much on that one pillar that the rest ended up being nothing more than a hodge-podge stack of bricks and leftovers cobbled together to look somewhat like pillars...
Hopefully SOE focuses equally on each aspect of the game and just not one feature.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
How would this work if indeed there are classes and skill raising?
If I were a Druid what possible skills would there be? Roots? Lightning? DoTs? Shapeshifting? Support?
The more I casted a certain spell the more powerful it would be? So if I used root spells alot I would gain skill which would open up more root spells( like AE roots ) and increase there power / duration? I am all for such a system. Though I do believe a skill cap would be needed.
They're saying classes but it could be a SWG-esque system as well where you can mix and match. Basically in SWG you picked a starting profession but where you ended up was completely up to you, quite a few people started with the medic profession and in the end their build was pure combat (having dropped the medic bits completely). Hopefully a 2.0 version of that gets used in EQN.
I doubt if it would be that open.. If there are skills I would expect them to be tied to classes.
I hope the story they are talking about is the one we forge ourselves and not some half-assed Deviantart-esque fan fiction ala SWTOR that holds our hands down an incredibly linear path.
Just give us the tools to make our own adventures and stories and all will be good.
Interdependence and cooperation are what make a world.
Spellweaving = multiple casters each throwing a part of the spell to make one huge spell. The Druid roots + Mage conjures a rain of blades + Wizard sets the blades on fire and makes the roots ropes of flame. I like it.
I'm liking the mention "Virtual World" .. and it's the thing i've been waiting for, for quite some time now.
But remains to be seen whether they can deliver it to my tastes or not
Well if you don't like it, you can always play all the other really good sandbox MMORPGs on the martket.
Oh wait.
LOL.
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I rarely use this word but focusing on story in a mmorpg is _retarded_.
MMORPGs are all about keeping players hooked so that they log in every day and experience something bit different than the day before.
Story is fun for the first time around for some but not for the majority of mmorpg players who tend skip all the dialoque.
2nd time when the player already knows the story it has no value whatsoever and most certainly doesn't keep the player logging in daily.
Looking at everything the EQNext team has put out, it seems they have no idea of the requirements of the current mmorpg market and instead are making just a sequel to their own game. In some parts that's probably a good thing, but I don't expect anything huge from it.
That wouldn't be something we haven't seen. Brad tried this in Vanguard not sure if it made release, but during the beta classes were able to cast a larger spell if they followed the chain so 3 classes would create one huge spell. The issue was it kept crashing the zone/cluster they were in so it was nerfed.
My guess would be an elder scrolls version where you can cast 2 different spells one from each hand and get a more powerful spell.
I disagree. Stories and lore are really important to an MMORPG. Lots of MMORPGs are devolved into just doing pointless tasks or have really shallow stories with near zero lore.
I think games like EQ and TES shine because of the stories, the lore, the past and present, and how you fit into the picture. It's nice to know why* you're killing a boss mob, or the history of the orc fort you're raiding.
I think game play, challenge, character customization, progression, crafting, economies, politics and all those other things play a huge part as well...
But the stories and lore of a game give the world life and put meaning into your actions, so it's just as important as the other aspects.
I personally can't wait to see how they make story telling more cinematic.
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Cinematic? This isn't a movie. This is a video game, an MMORPG. It is supposed to be involved and carried by our decision. A cinematic is something you sit back and watch without any real effort. I don't really want that, and I will say most EQ1 and 2 fans dont want that either.
Lore is great and extremely important. However, that is not what makes the MMO. Game design and community make an MMO. Providing us with a one-and-done story that makes everyone the hero will not provide us with a game design that keeps us coming back. Let us create the stories through social interaction and community adventures, not some pre-destined questing tree that ultimately makes you some unique butterfly in the land of Norrath.
Allow the lore to be discovered by exploring or raiding dungeons, defending cities from raids, travelling the lands, taking dynamic quests from storybricks NPCs, completing epic quests, and making your own personal decision to investigate the lore. This is how you provide the story. The last thing we need is hand-held instanced storylines.
Actually, this is the best quote of the interview.
"When I made the first PlanetSide, effectively what I did was I made a game where we only had one type of player. We had a rough time with our persistence because of that. It was people that liked to twitch shoot. I had tried to solve it at the time, because I had done Tribes 2 before that. So there were lots of different roles that you could do within that action, but it’s pretty much just the action. Lesson learned.
So now when we’re making the games we know we need a bigger variety of people in that mix so that the community hangs together."
What he says is that a MMO/virtual words in order to succeed needs different type of player that mix together
The Adventurer/explorer
The Fighter
The Socialite
The Crafter
The Leader
Games like WoW offer features for all those categories, but those features are just too generic.
What Georgeson is saying is that the features in EQNext will be more specific to the playstyles of those different categories, so to create a virtual world where everyone aim to become good at their favorite playstyle while indirectly contributing to build an healthy community (interdependance)
I think these are the basics of a real MMO, and SoE is on the right path....................... finally.
True there are many ways to tell a story. Granted, mmo-players have short attention spans and clips and sorts are very often just ignored or skipped. Regardless, I would very much like to see a story in EQN told via randomly placed discovered books, revelations or memories or other forms. I'm no fan of movie clips, but in certain situations they too serve some purpose. I guess they help to deliver the story to those with little patience or interest. Or language skills. A common mistake I believe is to always tie the story to some questline. EQN definitely could use some exploration options that are not documented/tracked/guided automatically.
There is also the type of player community created story. It takes a long time to develop and with today's tools to share it, it's questionable if it will work. However, if the devs do provide some tools and the impact of the actions is really there, it might beat a precreated lore. Imo both are needed in a virtual world.