A new article written around what was an interview with Smedley brought an interesting piece of information on the Everquest Next release.
EverQuest Next was a black box project for years - and it was only last month that Smedley and the team showed it to the EverQuest and EverQuest 2 teams. Smedley says he was so nervous the night before the presentation that he couldn't sleep - but that both teams received it enthusiastically.
Players will have to wait a bit longer to try it themselves, but maybe not as long as you'd expect. "Players will get their hands on an actual release version of what we're doing late [this] year - and I don't mean a beta," says Smedley.
Comments
I noticed the interesting choice of his words as well. I am quite excited and hopeful.
*Note* Before the naysayers get in and say that it cant be done that fast. The assets have been in development since 2009, the engine is in place, which are the two time consuming and money intensive items in development cycles. The game went back to the drawing board on the design level not on the art direction or engine used, thus it is very possible that the game will be launching this year.
WoW, good news. I hope it ends up be a sand box like he's been promising and hope its good too.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
I did battle with ignorance today, and ignorance won.
To exercise power costs effort and demands courage. That is why so many fail to assert rights to which they are perfectly entitled - because a right is a kind of power but they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise it. The virtues which cloak these faults are called patience and forbearance.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
My feeling is that it will go into Beta in July or August and will launch in Nov or Dec. Which with an effective Beta Schedule ~4 months should be adequate for bug squashing. I could be wrong, but this is my prophecy for the future!
Edit: LOL Ice-Vortex, we had the same thought.
SoE has had it in development for some time already (map, world, art, items/equipment, interface, engine etc likely complete / near complete), as noted, so I would not be surprised to see it on shelves this Christmas. Also EQNext is going up against ArcheAge, both of which are sandbox-style (hybrid) games.
Any AAA sandboxy game coming out ahead of the other will potentially have a significant advantage. So marketing comes into play .. maybe even if EQNext isn't exactly ready, it very well could still be released this year.
The Repopulation fits in too as well, although more sci-fi.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
Thing is, if that is the case, I would expect more of that hypetrain to be built by now. They would have revealed more than just a small press release. Doing a reveal with a full on trailer rather than just "hey guys, we makin a new EQ!" would do much more.
I did battle with ignorance today, and ignorance won.
To exercise power costs effort and demands courage. That is why so many fail to assert rights to which they are perfectly entitled - because a right is a kind of power but they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise it. The virtues which cloak these faults are called patience and forbearance.
It would but at the same time we have seen the hypetrain fail games completely as well. Planetside 2 didnt have a huge hypetrain going for it til closer to release, and perhaps playing it that way is the better way?
SOE hasn't been big on the hype train for awhile now. Their latest Everquest 2 expansion was announced two months before it was released.
They've stated previously that they didn't want to reveal EQ:Next until it was completely ready to be revealed. Smedley said back in November or December it was almost ready to be revealed, but they had one more thing they wanted complete before they show it off and that thing was almost completed itself. I have a feeling they don't want people to ripoff their ideas before they can release the game itself.
I did battle with ignorance today, and ignorance won.
To exercise power costs effort and demands courage. That is why so many fail to assert rights to which they are perfectly entitled - because a right is a kind of power but they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise it. The virtues which cloak these faults are called patience and forbearance.
Developers are under NDA. They can talk if they want fired.
Would be surprised given how quiet they've been about the game. Guess we'll see.
I really really hope they don't rush it into a garbage release though.
Would love to know more about it and it would be great if it is this year if the game is actually ready. From what I heard previously it was an extremely small team working on it.
On another note when is mmorpg.com going to actually give us forums for it.......
It is almost like they are anti SOE(understandable) and pro Bioware/SWTOR
If you read the rest of the article, you see where Smedley said they are betting the future of their company on EQ:Next. So I hope for their sake it isn't garbage. However, I am not completely against them releasing a smaller scaled game that slowly expands. The idea that a game needs every ride is a themepark concept. Sandbox and sandpark games are much more flexible as their primary features are the systems themselves that let the players entertain themselves.
Even being under NDA have you never seen the dev parties from confrences/expos/shows? No studio was surprised when Trion released that Rift was based heavily on dynamic content to the public. While I am sure that absolute facts have not been passed around whatever the gimmick mechanic of the game is has already been discussed if only as a hypothetical to guage what the other developers think about it.
I did battle with ignorance today, and ignorance won.
To exercise power costs effort and demands courage. That is why so many fail to assert rights to which they are perfectly entitled - because a right is a kind of power but they are too lazy or too cowardly to exercise it. The virtues which cloak these faults are called patience and forbearance.
I would say early 2014...!
Coincidentally, I have a hunch that EQNext, will bring back the premium subscription format.. as EQNext will be a premium adult game, geared for people who are willing to pay for a Role-playing, open sandbox-style game.
It will also need a hefty computer to push it, so knowing who Smed's chasing... those peeps have no prob upgrading their system, not for these Veteran MMORPG'ers (40 & up crowd), who also has no prob dropping $20/month on a game.. you have to have...! (thats less the the cost of a decent cigar)
My hope^ anyways... (though i hear things)
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
-Nariusseldon
Did you even read the article I linked?
Exciting news, if it sucks, its free and oh well, but hoping it is great. Just wish it was a sub model, I hate the idea of p2w, hopefully if it stays f2p, then they make it so it is not p2w.