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Old school EQ gamer weighs in on EQN
Kuanshu
Member Posts: 272
Hello all 
First off I would state I was one of the many who were able to login and play Everquest within 24 hours of launch day back in March 1999. I would surely give many thanks to the hearty souls who were able to take computer games to the next level as I have been unable to really enjoy single player computer games henceforth. I remember reading an article in Dragon Magazine back in the day that detailed such an experience and to play Everquest was surely its manifestation in such a persistent computer generated reality that still bring back many fond memories Literally the game took my breath away and heres hoping Everquest Next takes our breath away again...
After participating in surely what I would term my fair share of MMORPGs I will simply provide a list of notable areas which I surely hope are addressed with great care and attention to the scope and detail of EQN:
1) Player driven community; Rid us of Incessant Instancing which should bring back a more social/interactive atomosphere for a player, a party, a raid at a given time and place. Do not allow unmanned/bot farmers & auctioneers & auctions for that matter which forces the player to sell to merchants/vendors and/or occupy areas buying, selling, bartering, etc...Provide us with reasonable/sensible distances for /shout/yell/tell/say/whisper/emote begone /zone etc...Random and scheduled dynamic events are always good to bring people together. Basically anything which can improve and enchance community involvement and social interaction for the player such be primary in an MMORPG as it is its basic and foundation as a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.
2) Good god give these poor MOBs a sensible, reasonable chance as they surely have senses and a brain (which should be better then many players I have witnessed) and aren't simply hangin out entirely oblivious to the party/raid preparing to engage whilst seemingly unprepared, unattentive...yes I have felt sad on occassion watching many of the indigenous being cut down carelessly, easily, and systematically in their own lands by outsiders/intruders hell bent on aquiring L3WTZ!...Sigh! Aggro Range in accordance to level, faction, MOB type, etc...and wouldn't it be refreshing for certain Boss mobs to be informed by one of their homies O.o. What happened to Teamwork & Organization amongst certain MOBs? Get rid of absolute CROWD CONTROL...how would you like to be killed without any chance or regard whatsoever?!?
3) Please rid us of overly defined Classes/Roles; How I miss the n00b days of Everquest where we werent entirely conformed to the roles of Tank, Damage, Healer, Crowd Controller, etc...ad nauseum. Every player should have a chance to develop their character throughout their gameplay and through certain choices made along the way. I will say I liked having to raise skills by actually doing them and involving time/energy into gameplay building the skills. Sure helps in players participating and building towards PvP, FvF, PvE,RvR, etc...to be able to model their template and gameplay in accordance to their intended goals and desires and not be left WANTING 
4) Heres hoping twinking doesnt exist in Everquest Next and the same goes for allowing powerleveling/powerbuffing nor even allowing grouping of significantly different levels. Also didnt it suck having a higher level come along and killsteal or farm an area appropriate for lower level players? Who knows someday someone is going to come along and eradicate levels altogether...wouldnt that be interesting O.O One can only hope for a truly immersive setting in an MMORPG
5) Remember camping for a certain MOB? I remember camping for Raster of Guk for what used to be a traditional work work, heh....40 hours. Heard of even worse camps and also witnessed people looting bind on pickup items not intended for their classes. Oh the countless hours wasted on too numerous an occassion either camping or hoping for a certain drop. This surely is a tough one to tackle as I for one do miss being fortunate enough to happen upon a certain named mob and not having someone or a group or even (yes it happens) a guild occupying/camping a certain area and being a general overall nuiscance for a particular item/MOB.
6) Heard mention of seasons actually being dynamic and recognizeable in Everquest Next. Oh how I wish this were true. Wouldn't it also be interesting if said seasons affected players and their skills/spells, MOB type/behavior, etc...I do recall doing the tutorial when I first logged into the game and it was raining and it was also raining outside as well. Was so nice running around without a light at night and hardly being able to see or not seeing at all in certain areas. Shouldn't certain light sources bring unwarranted attention and therein provide a potential threat in certain areas?? Also heard mention of dynamic lighting and effects....this could surely go a long way...
7) Swimming, Jumping, Running, Sprinting, Climbing, Falling, Interaction with the environment; Really enjoyed swimming underwater in Everquest and missed it when I moved on to other MMORPGs. Climbing has yet to be adequately addressed to date. Falling out of Kelethin was a hoot as was training my safe fall on my monk character. No matter how high level you are and how many HP/Health shouldnt simply be able to fall a great distance without dying or being maimed somehow unless you have a spell/skill. Never really felt immersed in the game when I could outrun a MOB type which was obviously better at movement then my character was without a movement buff of some sort. Jumping would be cool if handled as a skill. My son can only hope EQN has a freerunning/parkour/acrobatic option of some sort...he can wish can't he?
8) Begone raid mobs and bosses which are easily overcome via math, H4xx0rZ, crowd control, shared strategies, or even raids wiping cuz one person didnt jump at the right time. We are talking about Bosses and Raid Mobs which should be designed to deliver a great deal of damage and not simply to a selected/aggrod target that is often the result simply because AI is so easily manipulated and overcome. Wouldnt it be nice if MOBs could actually have numerous strategies even amongst what would be considered easy and low level. I am all for getting rid of Soloing almost entirely as to how it would be in a more immersive situation. The day of HEROs is over...its time for people to truly learn dynamic interaction through social interaction and mutual cooperation as we surely live in an environment where distraction and preoccupation keeps many of us alienated/estranged in these times of times...enough said.
9) Roleplaying; Tough one to tackle huh? Either you do or you don't yet don't spoil it for those who do as you are playing a role playing game, eh. I guarentee if you design a very immersive world with superior AI where MOBs aren't easily dispatched and NPCs are highly interactive with a rich storyline of different factions, races, gods, dieties, forces, etc... and make it more then evident as to an individuals experience at any given time so it is more then apparent its something you have to deal with time and again and your gonna surely add to roleplay. Roleplay should literally affect gameplay in some manner or another or it will be entirely disregarded.
10) Everquest Next Development Team: Take your time releasing a solid finished product you know will surely take it to the next level and something you would be proud of and even if that means pushing it back to sometime in 2014 so be it. Dont rush this in any way or consider marketing strategies unless its timely for the release of this product simply because I am a great observer and I have seen many a great MMORPG flop or not do as good as it coulda simply because timing is everything and when it comes to MMORPGs and how much money is involved into development and how much of a risk undertaking the development of an MMORPG is to a company, even a big one as SOE. I've personally waited a few years for the release of more then one MMORPG only to beta test it as wonder wtf they were thinking and told them so and watch it release and flop. Well its been a while since I have participated in what I would term a good MMORPG as at this time we should be playing an MMORPG which should have eclipsed even the best out at this time. Not sure why this is the case either as of how much money, time, energy is involved in making an MMORPG. Go figure...
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