I haven't commented for a while, just been digesting everything. I watched the Friday reveal and it seems Comcast was blocking me from accessing this website because once I finally loaded it there were like 100+ pages to get through. I slowly caught up but damn this thread moves fast.
Anyway.......... My initial impressions were: "WTF is this etch-a-sketch shit" and then finally to "Wow, this is going to be awesome".
Yes, once they finally got around to actually showing the game and their intentions, I was blown away and this is the first MMO I will truly be looking forward to since like... forever. I know there are a lot of jaded fucks around here, but whatever, I personally did not see this coming with EQNext, I had extreme doubts that the MMO space could even be innovated anymore. We've been spoon-fed the same ole shit for over a decade now.
The biggest shocker for me is the fact the world will be procedurally generated and comprised of voxels. This is amazing and revolutionary. You guys have seen me in the Minecraft threads since that game was first released and we all know that's been a pretty awesome and successful concept in itself, though it isn't a voxel world, it's created a new genre of gaming. Then we see cubeworld just came out and it IS a voxel world but looks kinda silly imo (I havent played it) and I was confused why it is all blocky if you can't actually build stuff in it, still to me Cubeworld is taking the Voxel concept a bit farther and seemed kinda cool anyway.
But now seeing an actual voxel world that looks pretty, and realizing the immense challenges behind creating a voxel world, it is damn impressive. I wish I could read a whole article on just how hard accomplishing this task was. I know there are little quips here & there about it being so hard to animate and other shit. But now that SOE has somehow found a way, I only expect the future of MMOs (and games in general) to enter a whole new "voxel era". Begone are the archaic polygon worlds we've come to know. Just like how EQ brought us a 3D world, now we can experience a Voxel world. That alone has me really excited. I think a lot of you don't comprehend the flexibility this will offer.. It's not just about digging or constructing like in Minecraft (which isn't a voxel world, as I said), but just everything: collision detection, terraforming by NPC or player, seeing real permanent changes to the world, just so much cool stuff that I'm sure more creative brains could come up with.
Having procedurally generated content is nice, too, but not necessary. I do enjoy hand-crafted dungeons & content so I hope there is plenty of that, which there should be seeing as how SOE wants the players to help handcraft as much as possible. But, the procedural stuff will be nice, it will bring in the Minecraft crowd. Minecraft does a decent job with procedural generated content, seeing it prettier in a world with nostalgic lore should be pretty cool.
I'm excited to using EQN Landmark and designing some of the old-school dungeons & cities we've all come to love, I hope some of my other Minecraft FoH brethren will also pitch in, like we've done so many times already in Minecraft. We never really had a goal since Minas Tirith, and most recently the Cathedral but using EQ as a template there will be plenty of things we could build. Some on my list would be: Guk, ToV, VP, Sebilis, Kelethin, PoHate, etc.. We should come up with some ideas & blueprints for where to begin.
With regard to multiclassing: I am also an avid LoL player so if they are using LoL as a template, I think it *could* be awesome and a great way to go. Basically in LoL every champion has a kit, which it seems is how EQN is going: every Class has a Kit. LoL has supports but supporting is done in many ways, heals are including, and I truly expect some of the classes in EQN will have heals, but most of the supports in LoL have CC. I hope EQN takes this approach. I always thought the true fun of EQ was having tons of different CC. Mezzes, stuns, roots, slows, charms & more. I feel like no game has come close to having a "CC meta" like original EQ. The most fun grouping experiences in EQ were when we had 4+ mobs in camp non-stop and would just excel at keeping the adds on lockdown. Made for chaotic & fun times.
The art style is fine, it's not what I expected from an EQ game tbh, but the Pixar look is fine and I am really glad it is not a hyper-realistic approach again, they never work out. Personally I was hoping for more of an EQ style which is like a comic-book style imo, not cartoony but not realistic, either. I dislike the Firiona Vie model, too, not very epic for an important character. I think it is smart of them to exaggerate the eyes & lips so we can truly see character expressions, might actually add more life to the game, I will wait & see how it turns out but my complaint with past MMOs is that you have 1000 different sliders & buttons to customize your face but once in game you could never actually see any of the detail like eye color, always seemed like a waste of programming time, maybe the issue will be the same, who knows? I expect smaller races will have an even tougher time showing off their expressions still, but I think it is a step in the right direction anyway. I personally won't be using the SOEmote but whatever, I've always enjoyed spamming the canned emotes in-game for whatever reason.
I dislike Ratongas and they better have all the original races from EQ: Gnomes, Halflings, Dwarves, Half-Elves, Erudites, High-Elves, Wood-Elves, Dark Elves, Ogres, Trolls, Humans, Barbarians & Dwarves. If they are adding Ratongas & Kerrans then they better have Frogloks & Iksars too. I would even prefer the Fae class before Ratonga. Fuck ratongas.
My main concern is items. For a level-less game they need to have items that mean something. GW2 failed from lack of carrots. Sure, many will say GW2 failed from lack of trinity but IMO it was because there were no carrots. Item progression better be alive and well in EQN. The fact there won't be "camps" means acquiring items will lack importance. They better figure out a way to not randomize everything. It is VERY important that items be acquired from relevant targets. All the EQ items we've come to know & love are important due to where they were acquired: Cloak of Flames from Nagafen, Yaks from Ghoul Lord, BoC from AoW and so forth.
Another concern is raids: I hope there aren't any raid caps. EQ died for me when raid caps & instancing ruled everything. Just throw raid mobs in the world and let players figure it out. I'd love to see Gorenaire rampaging around again. I hope this is something they support heavily, along with non-instanced dungeons. I have my doubts here, though, from what others have said.
PvP has a time & place, I hope it is in the game somehow, would be cool if it was like EVE, which seems doable with a procedurally generated world (handcrafted world could be PvE only, procedural areas -the wilderness - could be PvP, would be kinda cool and fixes the problem we've all had with trying to mimic EVE in an overworld MMO, since trying to handcraft such large amounts of terrain would be near impossible when compared with the large "space" in EVE). I can also see how they could easily build resource control into the game making territories ripe for PvP. Simply put a lot of the more desired materials in a procedurally generated "wilderness" and make the players fight it out. Perhaps structures can be built with the resources to protect your lands - anything is possible due to the voxel world.
I've seen many complain that this should be a totally different IP and not EQ... Well, here are my thoughts:
Hardcore EQ Raid game: Play EQ
Better graphics, more casual EQ game: Play EQII
EQCraft of Legends: EQ Next
If they just re-did EQ then they would have to shut down original EQ, which it seems like they are not doing anytime soon. It only makes sense that they create a *new* game. If they seriously just rebooted EQ then I'm sure a bunch would play it, but not for very long, the novelty would wear off VERY fast. We've already been down that road... 10 years ago. I played EQ for 5 years of my life, why the fuck do I want to do it all over. This new game has so many new possibilities that I can't wait to explore EQ all over again. I really do hope the game is challenging like EQ but that doesn't mean they can't have the voxel world, cartoon graphics & multiclassing.
And to state the obvious: Branding it as EQ will make it immediately successful whereas a new IP would be tougher to get off the ground. Having all that pre-built lore from the 1st games helps tremendously with creating a nostalgic world. I think you guys underrate the value of nostalgia and lore. Just because it is presented a different way doesn't mean it isn't "EverQuest".
Like there are many flavors of ice cream, this is just another flavor of EQ.
Anyway, a quick TL;DR:
Pros: Voxels (revolutionary), graphic style (pixar style is fine, will stand the test of time), EQNL (<3 Minecraft)
Cons: Raids (probably capped and wont be memorable), Item acquisition (probably randomized and won't be special), Ratongas
Neutral: Class system (too early to judge, will <3 if like LoL), PvP (too early to judge - huge potential)
