The old days are gone, regretfully. Any game that wants to grab 'a goodly chunk' of players is going to aim for casuals (and those of us with limited time slots). Quest will never be hardcore (really hardcore) again.
Sad to say. Also, unless there is grinding out drops/time/xp (ah for the days of the 1 drop in 5K of L2) which will kill the short-timers anything that can be done once will be posted on the internet and a good many folks will use the guides out there.
Keep in mind that if you have a dozen games ALL targeting the same group, that is a heck of a gamble that you'll get enough customers to make it worth while.. Just look at our worldwide auto industry.. Companies like Jaguar and Porsche have no intention of going after the masses.. Plus I don't think the group the OP is addressing is that small.. I think it's bigger then you might believe..
I happen to really like quest finder tools and quest hubs. I don't think they make a game less "hard" just faster to get done when my time is short. Think about this. Take a game like FFXI. It's a pretty unforgiving game and it's quests take some research to figure out how to do. I personally always just used a guide or online guides to get them done. Imagine if they had just put quest tracking in the game and showed folk where the quests are yet didn't change the actual quest itself or it's objective. Guess what? Still hard as hell to accomplish. Which means, these extra tools DON"T make the game EASIER. Really wish you "challenge" nuts would stop speaking for "most gamers" when it's not a universal desire.
Just had to pipe up on your number "5. Make it Hard again." The rest are ok I guess.
In writing, there is a concept called "Show, Don't Tell". Basically what it means is that it is preferable to show the reader something and let the reader come to his/her own conclusions, rather than tell the reader what he/she should think. "John was mad" tells the reader how John feels, but "John's face turned red and a vein pulsed on his left temple" shows John's reaction and the reader is left to interpret the meaning. This engages the reader and gets him/her involved in the story.
The same thing is true in games. If we take a quest and get a marker on our map to the quest location, we are being told where to go. We don't even need to read the quest text . Take away the quest marker and instead put clues in the quest text, now we have to use our brains a little. It doesn't need to be hard to figure out, it just needs to engage us, to make us part of the story.
So many game companies these days talk about story, but fail at some of the most basic concepts of story-telling. Readers (and gamers) aren't stupid. Don't treat us as though we are.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
The old days are gone, regretfully. Any game that wants to grab 'a goodly chunk' of players is going to aim for casuals (and those of us with limited time slots). Quest will never be hardcore (really hardcore) again.
Sad to say. Also, unless there is grinding out drops/time/xp (ah for the days of the 1 drop in 5K of L2) which will kill the short-timers anything that can be done once will be posted on the internet and a good many folks will use the guides out there.
Eh? being a casual gamer does not mean you don't want to participate in difficult tasks, some of my closest gaming friends are about as casual as it gets, but that does not mean they don't want to be challenged when they play a game.
This has just gotten worse and worse ever since wow released, while for wow it was a positive thing as it introduced a whole new generation to the genre, its become a negative impact on the genre as a whole, instead of new mmo's evolving to cater to players who become more and more experienced with the genre, the mmos coming out are more and more dumbed down for every year, in a futile attempt to recreate blizzards sucsess.
Humans in general want to be challenged wether they know it or not, whats important when making something "hard" is to not make it feel cheap, and always make sure the player feel like they achive a better understanding of the quest/battle every time they fail.
Dark Souls is a perfect example that players actually want to be challenged, and no one is asking for it to be taken to the extreme that dark souls was.
Also I see you bring up "limited time" by this I guees you mean in regards to being grindy, its not that being a casual player and having a grindy game dosnt match, if anything casuals gain as much from a mmo being grindy as everyone else.
And in reality todays mmo's have grinds aswell, they are just handled in a far worse way, instead of long journey to the end, you have a short journey to the end, where you ultimately end up fighting the same boss over, and over and over for some pieces of loot.
While if you had a mmo focused on the journey instead you would end up with a much less repetetive game experience overall, and you wouldnt be "done" with a game before the devs could even start planning the next expansion.
Part of why EQ was so sucessful in its prime is because due to the "slow" lving they were able to finish a new expansion before players forgot or finished the current content.
One important part if you are gonna make a mmo grindy though is to allow players to do meaningful stuff even at a lower level, for example in eq you could farm rare bosses long before reaching max level, and these bosses could drop items that were compareable to some of the better items in the game, such as Flowing black silk sash in lower guk.
Or start farming stuff for your class specific "epic" long before max lvl.
Lastly, you might want to keep in mind that todays mmo's have gotten to a point where a big majority mainly just appeal to the super casual gamer, how is that not niche?
See the problem with all this is a huge problem and the main problem with MMO's these days. Players today want instant gratification, they want everything for free, they feel they are entitled to get that mount just because. Today's players will pout, cry, whine in the masses if EQN goes the "hard" way or the difficult way. And in the end they will just dumb it down for the masses.
Originally posted by bubaluba It is so simple--Do not waste money on fantasy mmo because it will fail. WOW gave everything what mmorpg on PC can offer and now is over with golden time of PC mmorpg's
Lol, yea and console MMO's are the future? Do you fail to see what people are asking for? Basically more advanced and harder mmorpgs. This doesn't mean button smashing a set combos which is the tradtitional gameplay of console games (I despise that truly). There are games which can actually be really nice on consoles like The Division which is the sole reason I have preordered a Xbox One. But the true and real mmo's on a console is a true turnoff for me.
Originally posted by cgplayer See the problem with all this is a huge problem and the main problem with MMO's these days. Players today want instant gratification, they want everything for free, they feel they are entitled to get that mount just because. Today's players will pout, cry, whine in the masses if EQN goes the "hard" way or the difficult way. And in the end they will just dumb it down for the masses.
Well the masses can enjoy the plethoria of other dumbed down games that are already available on the market. No need to make another one of those fails with EQN
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't EQ launch with PvP only being an option on PvP centric servers? If so then why I'm I hearing all these requests for open world PvP from people who played the originally Everquest?
I am absolutely against #3. I do not care to spend my time making crafting a tiresome and long experience. Gathering the mats and making the item is fine with me. The make it hard again statement fails with crafting. Rare materials aside the actual crafting does not need to take more time away from actual gameplay like it does in EQ2. Crafting in UO was just fine.
Originally posted by Widow Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't EQ launch with PvP only being an option on PvP centric servers? If so then why I'm I hearing all these requests for open world PvP from people who played the originally Everquest?
no,there were different ruleset PVP servers, the Zeks, Rallos zek, Sullon Zek, and later on more.
there was never was a server having PVP as an option on a PVP server.
if there was, it was more than 4 years after launch, or on a private server.
SOE is not going for that niche market, they haven't created a "hardcore" game in 10 years. Vanguard wasn't even their game, they bought it as a favor to Brad McQuaid to save his game. So sorry to say, but this wishlist won't be the list SOE go by. I fully expect EQ Next to cater to the mass market. We'll know soon enough.
BRING BACK THE HAIL SYSTEM!! No more question marks above head god damn!! No one reads quest text or needs to when you can just click accept ....
And hand turning in items!! There is so much room for EXTRAS and MYSTERIOUS natures ... have to pay attention....
Combination of turning in quest items manually and Hailing, rather than right click question mark, brings the game COUNTLESS amounts of mystery, extras, and rewards you for paying attention to a drunken bar conversation in qeynos that may hint a keyword to talk to some other guy half way across the world.
This game is meant to be challenging, not braindead
--------------------------- Former EQ1 Rallos Zek (PvP) Ascendant Chronei Immortal of Rallos Zek (Now @ Prexus)
Its a nice list but i think a lot of people are living in the past. Whether we like it or not, this genre has moved forward. We can write posts, complain out loud or start up that old game, but it wont matter. I think some of us need to look in the mirror and realize that we wont get old school games like this anymore. Was vanilla WoW amazing? Yes it was, but it was also 9 years ago. I bet a lot of us are in our thirties now, with families and real jobs. Who has time to grind for a skill for months. I know I don't. If I spent as much time on the comp as I used to do when i was in my twenties I would be castrated then divorced.
Lets all wake up and realize where this genre has gone and where it will likely go. We either suck it up and play or we bemoan the good old days and turn bitter with each mmo release.
You fool, we aren't asking to bring the grind back. You, sir, are the one stuck in the past if you think DIFFICULTY directly binds to GRIND.
Being difficult means challenge, not tedious nature of things.
Shoo, shoo back to your WoW
--------------------------- Former EQ1 Rallos Zek (PvP) Ascendant Chronei Immortal of Rallos Zek (Now @ Prexus)
These are the 5 things I want to see in EQN (that made EQ one of my fav MMOs):
1. YEs make the game hard again...I dont mind downtime after a fight...I dont mind having to group with others to achuieve things....No ! or ? or tutorials....Let us figure it out
2. Death penalty and corpse run...I know alot of people hate this but it makes you respect the world and learn how to play so much better...It also adds risk/reward which makes games more fun
3. factions mean something.....Yes make it so my dwarf is hated by Dark Elves, Ogres, Trolls, and many other races.....It is actually fun being KOS and going ot their cities to kill guards or sneak around.
4. Crafting needs to ahve some value....It took me awhile in EQ and most tradeskills were not very good, but I did find a couple where I made good plat when I reached a high enough level....Also make it difficult to reach these heights....Games like WoW, Rift, etc where everyone and their mother has reached max level easily in crafting ruins everything really.
5. Give my character a role to playand unique things that make them valuable to other players.....Kinda like Temp for the Cleric, KEI for Chanter, SoW, ports, etc......The great thing that EQ did in its heyday was made everyone valuable......Lets get back to role playing MMOs again.....
Now whether we actually see any of these things or not is up to debate......Too little is known about this title, and I have no idea what Smed means when he says it is going to be a sandbox......
These are the 5 things I want to see in EQN (that made EQ one of my fav MMOs):
1. YEs make the game hard again...I dont mind downtime after a fight...I dont mind having to group with others to achuieve things....No ! or ? or tutorials....Let us figure it out (mostly agree, however I wouldn't object to a tutorial in the starting cities that help ya use the UI and NPC interaction for the first few levels)
2. Death penalty and corpse run...I know alot of people hate this but it makes you respect the world and learn how to play so much better...It also adds risk/reward which makes games more fun (yes, we must have consequences for our actions, that are meaningful..)
3. factions mean something.....Yes make it so my dwarf is hated by Dark Elves, Ogres, Trolls, and many other races.....It is actually fun being KOS and going ot their cities to kill guards or sneak around. (190% agree.. every NPC should be killable with a faction hit, even if it's your own race.. factions need to mean something, other then just using it as another gear grind mechanic like WoW did)
4. Crafting needs to ahve some value....It took me awhile in EQ and most tradeskills were not very good, but I did find a couple where I made good plat when I reached a high enough level....Also make it difficult to reach these heights....Games like WoW, Rift, etc where everyone and their mother has reached max level easily in crafting ruins everything really.
5. Give my character a role to playand unique things that make them valuable to other players.....Kinda like Temp for the Cleric, KEI for Chanter, SoW, ports, etc......The great thing that EQ did in its heyday was made everyone valuable......Lets get back to role playing MMOs again..... (Bingo.. I wish every race and class had some type of defining ability or skill as you mentioned.. I still want every class to have the ability to solo equally, but I want each to have something special to bring to the group, raid or community..
Now whether we actually see any of these things or not is up to debate......Too little is known about this title, and I have no idea what Smed means when he says it is going to be a sandbox......
Agreed. Add all to my wish list .
Can we add in open world boss fights that take 30 or more people to defeat.. I really hate limited raid sizes like WoW 10/20 man content
BRING BACK THE HAIL SYSTEM!! No more question marks above head god damn!! No one reads quest text or needs to when you can just click accept ....
And hand turning in items!! There is so much room for EXTRAS and MYSTERIOUS natures ... have to pay attention....
Combination of turning in quest items manually and Hailing, rather than right click question mark, brings the game COUNTLESS amounts of mystery, extras, and rewards you for paying attention to a drunken bar conversation in qeynos that may hint a keyword to talk to some other guy half way across the world.
This game is meant to be challenging, not braindead
Originally posted by Widow Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't EQ launch with PvP only being an option on PvP centric servers? If so then why I'm I hearing all these requests for open world PvP from people who played the originally Everquest?
no,there were different ruleset PVP servers, the Zeks, Rallos zek, Sullon Zek, and later on more.
there was never was a server having PVP as an option on a PVP server.
if there was, it was more than 4 years after launch, or on a private server.
In the beginning, you could also permanently flag for pvp on any server through hailing the Priest of Discord.
The problem I see with this, ist Smedley believing F2P is the future of MMOs. You can't do all this niche staff and hope für F2Pers to come in masses to pay the bills. Won't happen. Making a niche game needs paying happy gamers. Anything less than mainstream (easy themepark questhubs, solo all easy, level up in minutes, guided tour through the game) won't attract the masses. SOE is near to be broke. Can they afford another niche?
For me EQ2 is the best MMO ever, while currently playing GW2. I like this article, but nobody needs good old days. The are just that: good memorys of the past. Nobody needs to grind, most player hate it these days. Getting help to fetch the old corpse is great. I don't mind a game being tricky. Make people think before they act. Great. But don't let them grind 50, 100, 300 times the same stuff to reach a goal. That is the past, that is work, not playing.
Everquest is ever... questing. Cool. Give us lots, let us find them. There is enough guidance in all the other games. Good crafting is great as well. Give us a craft sandbox like EvE Online, where players get all resources and craft all stuff not found in dungeons and raids. And don't do open PvP, sandbox or not. EQ is PvE, there are enough PvP games out there anyway...
Originally posted by achesoma I'm not going to lie. I want SWG 2.0 in an EQ skin. Just without all the bugs, exploits, balancing and performance issues. More than anything, I want the SWG style profession trees and large, non-instanced areas to explore. Though I'm doubtful that's what we'll get.
I am on board with this, SWG in an EQ skin would be fantastic. Hell at this point SWG 2.0 in any skin would be great!
This game will be a major flop because any kind of frustrated and nostalgic player out there is believing this is their game. The so called old gamer's cannot agreed among themselves which is what they want, the ideas are all over the place.
If I know SOE they will sell boxes over the hype to make the game f2p later on, just to make money on game dreamers.
Originally posted by Kuviski My wish number one would be: make it subscription only and not F2P. Maybe then I'd even play this game.
Why? How does the pricing model influence the game? I spent about 1500 on classic EQ and when I left in 2005 I had literally nothing to show for it...It wasnt until EQ went f2p that I got to enjoy my characters again......You arent getting a better p[roduct because you pay 15 dollars.....It must make people feel like they are though because there are still a few that insist on paying all the time.
* Complex crafting system where crafters build everything in the game, aka real economy. Part of this would hopefully allow crafters to build their own shops (and shop signage) wherever they want. Loved running my own designer boutique in SWG, plus loved that my clothing colours could be chosen by me (allows for more unique creations).
* For the game to be released on PC not just PS4, and for it to not be dumbed down kiddie console style like what EAware did to Dragon Age 2.
* For the game to include non-combat social classes/specializations like Entertainers/Dancers that provide combat/crafting/speed buffs to passersby in exchange for tips. In SWG, Entertainers did makeovers and buffed players anywhere they decided to dance/perform. It was a nice way to bring about friendly community interactions, plus it was super fun to construct dance choreography (modern/exotic/jazz/balletic styles were used) and also mega fun to select the right costume for different kinds of entertainer (from funky to sexy etc).
* Enormous open world exploration with the ability to build a home/settlement wherever we like, including stuff like farms and home/settlement barricades/walls/defenses. Goes without saying that home/settlement building implies that carpenters would be amazing home decorators. Wonder if EQNext will include Player Studio, so that players can create brand new in game items/decor.
* The inclusion of pet/mount breeding with a very small chance of breeding a pet/mount mutation (this feature was part of the Star Wars Galaxies game). Pet breeders would be able to build breeding kennels out in the world, that potential customers could visit.
Fin
Bonus wishes:
* I like Ratongas, hope those go into the game one day.
* Hoping the microtransaction store doesn't feel greedy (Star Wars Tor cartel market was the worst with all it's randomized packs etc). Eventually people will burn out if they feel gouged.
* Eve style, for the world to be single server. Hopefully regions could range in safety from ultra safe PVE, through regions that become progressively less safe, all the way up to huge all out PvP regions where people can fight for permanent control of huge areas of land/resources and run their own empires/build settlements/cities etc.
* Also like in Eve, would be great if guilds could form alliances in times of PvP war.
* In PvP regions, total loss of possessions/controlled assets/territory should be part of the picture.
I definitely hope EQN is NOT EQ1 with updated graphics. I'm so tired of hearing people say that we need to return to the days of EQ1. I really wonder if most of those people ever played the game.
I agree there needs to be more challenge and the leveling curve needs to be reasonably difficult to achive, but EQ1 difficult? Not unless you want to see the game fail utterly after launch, and I sure don't.
Most of us who REALLY played EQ1 do NOT want another endless grind fest that was nothing more than having a second job. We want challenge, we want lore, we want vast open environments with great depth of story and gameplay integrated into that vast world. We want dungeons with challenging encounters (but NOT boatloads of trash), we want plenty of raiding content.
What we want is a combination of EQ1 and EQ2 with a few things:
1. A vastly improved graphics engine and real quality art design. This goes without saying.
2. Improved combat engine but reminiscent of EQ2.
3. We want a modifiable UI to customize the game to our tastes.
4. We want all manner of quests, short, long and epic in scale. We want a return of the 10 Ring quests!
5. We don't want to spend days travelling.
In essence distill the best of both EQs, add a variety of new next gen tech and gameplay creations, keep out the frustration, and you'll have a winning game.
Comments
Keep in mind that if you have a dozen games ALL targeting the same group, that is a heck of a gamble that you'll get enough customers to make it worth while.. Just look at our worldwide auto industry.. Companies like Jaguar and Porsche have no intention of going after the masses.. Plus I don't think the group the OP is addressing is that small.. I think it's bigger then you might believe..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBhR4QcBtE
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Eh? being a casual gamer does not mean you don't want to participate in difficult tasks, some of my closest gaming friends are about as casual as it gets, but that does not mean they don't want to be challenged when they play a game.
This has just gotten worse and worse ever since wow released, while for wow it was a positive thing as it introduced a whole new generation to the genre, its become a negative impact on the genre as a whole, instead of new mmo's evolving to cater to players who become more and more experienced with the genre, the mmos coming out are more and more dumbed down for every year, in a futile attempt to recreate blizzards sucsess.
Humans in general want to be challenged wether they know it or not, whats important when making something "hard" is to not make it feel cheap, and always make sure the player feel like they achive a better understanding of the quest/battle every time they fail.
Dark Souls is a perfect example that players actually want to be challenged, and no one is asking for it to be taken to the extreme that dark souls was.
Also I see you bring up "limited time" by this I guees you mean in regards to being grindy, its not that being a casual player and having a grindy game dosnt match, if anything casuals gain as much from a mmo being grindy as everyone else.
And in reality todays mmo's have grinds aswell, they are just handled in a far worse way, instead of long journey to the end, you have a short journey to the end, where you ultimately end up fighting the same boss over, and over and over for some pieces of loot.
While if you had a mmo focused on the journey instead you would end up with a much less repetetive game experience overall, and you wouldnt be "done" with a game before the devs could even start planning the next expansion.
Part of why EQ was so sucessful in its prime is because due to the "slow" lving they were able to finish a new expansion before players forgot or finished the current content.
One important part if you are gonna make a mmo grindy though is to allow players to do meaningful stuff even at a lower level, for example in eq you could farm rare bosses long before reaching max level, and these bosses could drop items that were compareable to some of the better items in the game, such as Flowing black silk sash in lower guk.
Or start farming stuff for your class specific "epic" long before max lvl.
Lastly, you might want to keep in mind that todays mmo's have gotten to a point where a big majority mainly just appeal to the super casual gamer, how is that not niche?
Lol, yea and console MMO's are the future? Do you fail to see what people are asking for? Basically more advanced and harder mmorpgs. This doesn't mean button smashing a set combos which is the tradtitional gameplay of console games (I despise that truly). There are games which can actually be really nice on consoles like The Division which is the sole reason I have preordered a Xbox One. But the true and real mmo's on a console is a true turnoff for me.
Well the masses can enjoy the plethoria of other dumbed down games that are already available on the market. No need to make another one of those fails with EQN
Hard? Yea good luck with that. SOE cares about one thing and one thing only, $$$
and sadly blizzard had to find out the hard way that challenging content != $$$
no,there were different ruleset PVP servers, the Zeks, Rallos zek, Sullon Zek, and later on more.
there was never was a server having PVP as an option on a PVP server.
if there was, it was more than 4 years after launch, or on a private server.
over 20 years of mmorpg's and counting...
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
BRING BACK THE HAIL SYSTEM!! No more question marks above head god damn!! No one reads quest text or needs to when you can just click accept ....
And hand turning in items!! There is so much room for EXTRAS and MYSTERIOUS natures ... have to pay attention....
Combination of turning in quest items manually and Hailing, rather than right click question mark, brings the game COUNTLESS amounts of mystery, extras, and rewards you for paying attention to a drunken bar conversation in qeynos that may hint a keyword to talk to some other guy half way across the world.
This game is meant to be challenging, not braindead
---------------------------
Former EQ1 Rallos Zek (PvP)
Ascendant Chronei Immortal of Rallos Zek
(Now @ Prexus)
You fool, we aren't asking to bring the grind back. You, sir, are the one stuck in the past if you think DIFFICULTY directly binds to GRIND.
Being difficult means challenge, not tedious nature of things.
Shoo, shoo back to your WoW
---------------------------
Former EQ1 Rallos Zek (PvP)
Ascendant Chronei Immortal of Rallos Zek
(Now @ Prexus)
Agreed. Add all to my wish list .
why cant there be hardcore and casual servers?if players want to be spoonfed they can play on a casual server ....
hardcore servers could have harder bosses, require cc in dungeons, no x realms etc you get the picture.
casual servers well they can be like wow ..........
Can we add in open world boss fights that take 30 or more people to defeat.. I really hate limited raid sizes like WoW 10/20 man content
+1
In the beginning, you could also permanently flag for pvp on any server through hailing the Priest of Discord.
The problem I see with this, ist Smedley believing F2P is the future of MMOs. You can't do all this niche staff and hope für F2Pers to come in masses to pay the bills. Won't happen. Making a niche game needs paying happy gamers. Anything less than mainstream (easy themepark questhubs, solo all easy, level up in minutes, guided tour through the game) won't attract the masses. SOE is near to be broke. Can they afford another niche?
For me EQ2 is the best MMO ever, while currently playing GW2. I like this article, but nobody needs good old days. The are just that: good memorys of the past. Nobody needs to grind, most player hate it these days. Getting help to fetch the old corpse is great. I don't mind a game being tricky. Make people think before they act. Great. But don't let them grind 50, 100, 300 times the same stuff to reach a goal. That is the past, that is work, not playing.
Everquest is ever... questing. Cool. Give us lots, let us find them. There is enough guidance in all the other games. Good crafting is great as well. Give us a craft sandbox like EvE Online, where players get all resources and craft all stuff not found in dungeons and raids. And don't do open PvP, sandbox or not. EQ is PvE, there are enough PvP games out there anyway...
I am on board with this, SWG in an EQ skin would be fantastic. Hell at this point SWG 2.0 in any skin would be great!
This game will be a major flop because any kind of frustrated and nostalgic player out there is believing this is their game. The so called old gamer's cannot agreed among themselves which is what they want, the ideas are all over the place.
If I know SOE they will sell boxes over the hype to make the game f2p later on, just to make money on game dreamers.
Why? How does the pricing model influence the game? I spent about 1500 on classic EQ and when I left in 2005 I had literally nothing to show for it...It wasnt until EQ went f2p that I got to enjoy my characters again......You arent getting a better p[roduct because you pay 15 dollars.....It must make people feel like they are though because there are still a few that insist on paying all the time.
My Top Five Wishlist:
* Complex crafting system where crafters build everything in the game, aka real economy. Part of this would hopefully allow crafters to build their own shops (and shop signage) wherever they want. Loved running my own designer boutique in SWG, plus loved that my clothing colours could be chosen by me (allows for more unique creations).
* For the game to be released on PC not just PS4, and for it to not be dumbed down kiddie console style like what EAware did to Dragon Age 2.
* For the game to include non-combat social classes/specializations like Entertainers/Dancers that provide combat/crafting/speed buffs to passersby in exchange for tips. In SWG, Entertainers did makeovers and buffed players anywhere they decided to dance/perform. It was a nice way to bring about friendly community interactions, plus it was super fun to construct dance choreography (modern/exotic/jazz/balletic styles were used) and also mega fun to select the right costume for different kinds of entertainer (from funky to sexy etc).
* Enormous open world exploration with the ability to build a home/settlement wherever we like, including stuff like farms and home/settlement barricades/walls/defenses. Goes without saying that home/settlement building implies that carpenters would be amazing home decorators. Wonder if EQNext will include Player Studio, so that players can create brand new in game items/decor.
* The inclusion of pet/mount breeding with a very small chance of breeding a pet/mount mutation (this feature was part of the Star Wars Galaxies game). Pet breeders would be able to build breeding kennels out in the world, that potential customers could visit.
Fin
Bonus wishes:
* I like Ratongas, hope those go into the game one day.
* Hoping the microtransaction store doesn't feel greedy (Star Wars Tor cartel market was the worst with all it's randomized packs etc). Eventually people will burn out if they feel gouged.
* Eve style, for the world to be single server. Hopefully regions could range in safety from ultra safe PVE, through regions that become progressively less safe, all the way up to huge all out PvP regions where people can fight for permanent control of huge areas of land/resources and run their own empires/build settlements/cities etc.
* Also like in Eve, would be great if guilds could form alliances in times of PvP war.
* In PvP regions, total loss of possessions/controlled assets/territory should be part of the picture.
I definitely hope EQN is NOT EQ1 with updated graphics. I'm so tired of hearing people say that we need to return to the days of EQ1. I really wonder if most of those people ever played the game.
I agree there needs to be more challenge and the leveling curve needs to be reasonably difficult to achive, but EQ1 difficult? Not unless you want to see the game fail utterly after launch, and I sure don't.
Most of us who REALLY played EQ1 do NOT want another endless grind fest that was nothing more than having a second job. We want challenge, we want lore, we want vast open environments with great depth of story and gameplay integrated into that vast world. We want dungeons with challenging encounters (but NOT boatloads of trash), we want plenty of raiding content.
What we want is a combination of EQ1 and EQ2 with a few things:
1. A vastly improved graphics engine and real quality art design. This goes without saying.
2. Improved combat engine but reminiscent of EQ2.
3. We want a modifiable UI to customize the game to our tastes.
4. We want all manner of quests, short, long and epic in scale. We want a return of the 10 Ring quests!
5. We don't want to spend days travelling.
In essence distill the best of both EQs, add a variety of new next gen tech and gameplay creations, keep out the frustration, and you'll have a winning game.