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What one thing can give EQN the greatest chance of success?
Arclan
Member UncommonPosts: 1,550
IMO, having servers of varrying difficulty allows EQN to appeal to the broadest possible player base:
1. Regular servers
2. Difficult servers
3. Hard core servers - sign me up for this one. note, NOT permadeath lol.
What one thing do you think could have the greatest beneficial impact on EQN (besides marketing, of course)?
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Comments
Would never work.
You need all types of players to make a game work.
Hardcore players to Power through the content to stand in town and show off gear.
Lazy players who cry about the game being to hard and try to force a nerf.
Crafters who spend all their waking hours trying to amass a fortune in game.
Casuals to buy gold and then buy the gear they don't have time to farm.
Pvprs who get to grief people to feel strong for once.
Lets see your Battle Stations /r/battlestations
Battle Station
Ha ... funny but your right; while i'm not a fan of watered down games that try to appeal to everyone i'm also not a fan of exclusive games where every one has the same goal i.e. PvP focused sandbox or crafter MMOs. Fun IMO is when the population is diverse yet the game is deep which is apparently really friggen hard to do since there are really no stable not even talking successful renditions of this IMO; the closest matches I can think of are 5-10 years old at this point and its probably more a side effect of fond memories than good game design.
Really, they need to get back to letting people forge their own stories and lives through the game world. That doesn't mean there's no quests or Epic quests, but it does mean that they are in ADDITION to being able to freely play through the game world as we please. More gameplay systems, rather than contrived content. More open explorable areas. Non-combat and social gameplay. Meaningful opt-in PvP (and possible open PvP servers).
The thing is, I think they know what needs to be done, and my guess is they have gone back and learned about what was awesome with SWG and will be bringing some of those elements in. After all, if a AAA, polished and modern version of SWG with more story PvE and a real Galactic Civil War released today, I think it would do incredibly well. There's a balance to strike with a great hybrid game, and so far no one has done it.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Yeah but what if hardcore = the same exact loot/gear as super duper easy you can do it blind-folded?
Problem is, if they actually threw a real challenge out there, you'd likely quit out of frustration.
For example... intelligent AI dungeons/raids... where the trash mobs and bosses learn from you with each attempt... you try to CC the trash and focus down the boss but fail, the trash are no longer CC'able. If you think about it... there has never been a hardcore game yet... only 1% should ever succeed at hardcore, the rest should fail miserably endlessly for months on end. Right now raids/dungeons are 100% predictable... once you know the tricks, they become easy as pie because they never change their scripting. Which is why they really lack replay value... can't be hardcore if it's totally predictable.
You obviously haven't had much experience with EQ games lol.
Mechanics that enable true server communities to arise. Communities reaching far beyond that of a guild, but rather creating an atmosphere where guilds compete and cooperate in real time for various pve objectives. I am thinking of the non instanced end game pve, that required guilds to compete the spawn, where server unique communities automatically created rules for the behaviour involved, which couldnt really be bent without ruining the guilds reputation on the server. - These things have no clout in games where everything can be done in guild without any other guilds affecting your own. It has an impact however when the people in your guild, rely on others in order to do other pve things outside of raiding. - With non instanced dungeons - players from guilds that dont adhere to the social rules on the server, get trained, camped or just not invited to groups. - Its only a small part of what creates a meaningfull living social community on a server.
Also, the game needs to have character longevity beyond that of hunting end game gear. There has got to be something other than title or jumping puzzle achievements - again EQ1s very elaborate and meaningfull alternate experience system would be great. It gave a character strength and value beyond the gear they were wearing, in a real way rather than a cosmetic one.
It should take time levelling a toon. And the toon should have lots of oppertunities and almost require the need to group in order to explore their classes abilities and in order to best maximise experience gain. - I remember very fondly grouping at kunarks castle in DL in EQ1, and spent hours and hours camping mobs in groups chatting the time away while gaining exp. - It could be a revolution in mmo gaming to turn back to the era when players had time to communicate with eachother during pve. The twitch type gaming we have these days and the racing towards levels, really slim down the actual experience of socalled social gaming.
Which leads to; Unique classes ftlog. - Dont give us the same abilities, or abilities that have different graphics but basically do the same thing. Dont create classes around what might be easy to balance pvp around. Create them for what might give a new experience and contribute unigue things in group settings, regardless of the class you play. Also, I would like very much to see a toon that basially only does buffing and crowd controll. And I'd like healers who cant spec away to dps solo exp. And tanks who cant do dmg like a dmg dealer. - Bring back the social aspects, and expect to force it with the class designs untill people learn or remember why the oldschool games are still so vivid in our minds.
I have to have the choice to become "king" or in other words, to rule/own the server or at least significant portion of it by myself.
In Ultima Online:
I could with my PvP skills, destroying multiple gankers solo and looting their corpse for more power.
In Star Wars Galaxies:
I could raid the Empire Capital at Naboo alone with my light jedi knight pre-cu and show who owns the city, while every overt and their coverts as well as bounties keep coming at me and chasing me all over the place cuz I worthed a lot cuz I had high prize tag on the mission terminal.
In real life:
I could govern a state/country and command an army for foreign and domestic policies or set laws and taxes I see fit for personal gains.
Bottom line is if Everquest Next intends to claim itself as a true sandbox it has to allow me to have the freedom to impact their server with my actions and the community around it.
The game will be F2P, there is no stopping that. Whether it has a cash shop where you can get in-game power like items or stat increases is debatable. EQ2 has a lot of cosmetic things, but also has lots of potions. They have not gone the route of PWE with the dreaded lockboxes and I don't think they will go this far.
If you want to see what EQ Next's business plan will be take a loot at Dragon's Prophet, and maybe scale pack the cash stuff a bit.
The big question is this. Will EQ Next have a subscription. That alone will determine the outcome of the game. If it does not, you can write this game off like Neverwinter because they will have to design it specifically to NOT have a subscription. Price any and every thing in the game. Want another bag, 40 bucks. Want a different mount, 40 bucks. Want to unlock a class or a set of skills, another 40 bucks. You will end up paying a lot more than 15 dollars a month if you add everything up.
Success = a HUGE sandbox to play in!
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
It MUST a quest or raid system that requires players to work together like EQ1.
It MUST have 10-15 class system that requires classes to work together.
It MUST NOT have a cash shop!
....Being Banned from MMORPG's forums since 2010, for Trolling the Trolls!!!
I can't go by what others' opinions of success are, as it really differs from player to player. Obviously, a successful game makes tons of money and has tons of subs; that's not what I'm interested in, either.
For EQN to truly be successful to me, it has to be true to MY idea of a sandbox game, and implement all the necessary tools a true sandbox should have. What are those tools, one may ask? I don't really know, honestly. If implemented correctly, I'll have a blast using those tools, and I won't think twice about what was left out or should be added next. Pre-scripted quests? Don't need 'em in MY sandbox. Now, if another player was to gain the ability to make a quest and provide rewards for said quest, then maybe...
I sincerely hope this game lives up to what I think it could be, but I stopped holding my breath on such notions a long time ago. Good thing, too. Breathing is good.
LOL nah not much. Started in 1998 played beta for about 4 months before release. Played and beat ALL CONTENT up through GoD Expansion(almost 7 yrs). Was in the GM/Guide program from almost 5yrs. Man I miss Sunset Home.
So your right.. not much experience in EQ at all.
Lets see your Battle Stations /r/battlestations
Battle Station
The upside is ps2s f2p system is one of the fairest going.
What I think they need to do to be a success - really really really good crafting / building / terraforming. Bring in the minecraft / terraria / don't starve crowd instead of just relying on the mmo fanbase.
I think there are a few things EQNext will do that can make it take back the crown from WoW and a few other things it will do that may keep the crown in Blizzard's playground. These are all my opinions from my perspective, so treat them as such and not the end-all be-all.
Things that EQNext will do that are exciting:
1. Implementation of player toolset which can be used to craft original stories, NPCs, sagas, and add free value to the MMO without any needed development(besides implementation of tools by SOE and upkeep) from the Developer.
2. Established universe known by the most hardcore MMO players across the globe with the added lessons SOE has learned over the years from their own products and watching other products develop.
3. Proprietary engine that is capable of gorgeous visuals and seamless worlds(Planetside 2's engine).
4. Over a decade of experience in the MMO field launching, fixing, tweaking their games. This doesn't come as a surprise to anyone, but in my opinion it's invaluable. EQ1 is still running strong over a decade later. EQ2 still has a strong following.
5. The MOST important thing EQNext has going for it is...wait for it...JOHN SMEDLEY'S FULL SUPPORT. Smedley is just a man and CEO, but he is also known for his flip flopping on things. I once heard Scott Hartsman say that Smedley can either be 100% on board with something one day, and against it the next. Whenever I read something about him related to EQNext I get the excitement he has for this product and that's a good sign. They are betting big on it and aren't going to let it flounder like EQ2 did against WoW in 2004.
6. SOE says it's going to be the biggest sandbox style MMO ever created. Enough said.
Things that EQNext will do that are...less than exciting:
1. It's coming out at a time when MMOs are undergoing a paradigm shift from all the EQ1 and WoW clones of the past 9 years. There's a lot of high quality MMOs that are being released as either B2P(buy the box, no sub) or F2P(free, with convenience or P2W store for real money). They have to release something that appeals to a wide audience of players in order to be successful. To me, this means hardcore PVE content, PVE content for the non-hardcore, PVP content that begs for competition, and PVP content that casuals can do. Pretty much, a lot of things. It can't be considered successful if it's a Guild Wars 2 clone(no offense, I love GW2, but it's not the MMO I can call home). Gamers expect this to be the NEXT AAA MMO if it launches this year or close after in early 2014. Wildstar is expected to compete, but I doubt it will be as good as EQNext.
2. While the graphics engine will be a plus, it will also be a negative in its own right. Why? Adoption rate. Back when EQ2 launched it tauted its graphics while WoW looked childish and kiddy. We see who won that battle. Sure, there are other things that contributed to its less than stellar launch and sub numbers, but when I was at a store looking at required specs I saw WoW as the only thing I could run, even at minimal settings. If we want younger audiences that can't yet afford an eight hundred dollar computer to player your game, as well as the more mature audiences that aren't technically savvy, you can't have the ability to even play it a hindrance.
That's all I can think of for the negatives. I hope this discussion doesn't devolve into your typical LOL UR RONG U SUX NEWBZ. Because this is a game I'm looking forward to and can't wait to see covered this August.
Go back to their roots.
aka Everquest.
A deep well thought out political system.
Well thought out social systems like bounty systems ingeneral.
This! The devs already said we would be able to create content because they can't keep up with the rate at which we consume it. I expect to see a crazy level of building capability, maybe somethign like Minecraft where you build stuff one block at a time. But they also said you will be able to destroy large portions of the world. So I want to see open world conflict where my army can go wipe out a small village. And my small village can build fortifications and defences to keep that army away.
For me, the best part of EQ1 (and what all new MMOs are missing) is variety; leveling up a Barbarian was a radically different experience from leveling up a Dark Elf, even if they were the same class.
And it's not about specialization; a Dark Elf rogue wasn't any better or worse than a Barbarian rogue. You just didn't even run into each other until level 30, maybe, because you were on opposite sides of the continent.
That's the secret: places matter. Most new games either make it simple to move around, assuming that there's even much of a "world" to move around in; many games are set up more like theme parks, and you just show up with your group at the door/ship/magical portal to whatever quest you feel like embarking on.
These days, you pick your race and class and show up at the starter area, then into the same quest arc that everyone else is playing. In EQ1, each race (and to some extent, class) had its own quest arc that you could follow at least until level 25 or so. This made for a different experience each time you rolled a new character.
Just thinking about this makes me want to go back and play....