Saturday, August 3, 2013

EverQuest Next Thoughts





So now that I've had time to process what we've seen thus far of EverQuest Next, I figured I'd just briefly give my initial impression. We really don't have much information yet. I'm still left with many questions, wondering a lot of things. I'm also pretty excited by what we've seen.

First off, the game looks great, gorgeous characters and armor, what we have seen is impressive but the first thing that came to mind was that they looked so 'Disney'. Very, very cartoonish, not a bad thing but not exactly what I was expecting. Overall they look lovely, the details on the armor were fantastic. When I saw the armor on the characters shown, I really was impressed, it is truly awesome. I was wondering what other types of armor we will be able to obtain! Would I play one of these? Yeah, I like them.

A world which you can break apart, where you can dig and one you can destroy. While this is really interesting, the first thing that came to mind was griefing! It could be annoying if someone really wanted to use it to bother another player. We'll have to see how this works and what limitations are included before anyone can really say. I also like this, think of all the neat things that could go along with this mechanic. Hunting for treasure?!

Love the music, I mean could you really find anyone better to do a killer MMORPG soundtrack? Looking forward to hearing more music from the game.

No split factions, as in no good/evil split between the sides. This is a good thing, good for a robust and healthy community (not sure how servers will work). When you split a community in half, it really makes the game feel smaller. I can't play with ALL my friends in WoW because they are on different sides, unless I change characters, but even so it is always an issue. I hate it. I detest it.

I'm very much wanting to see combat. Thus far what has been explained seems very similar to Guild Wars. And then the progression path. No levels? That is a hard one to adjust to, I really hope they can pull it off. TSW really turned me off with this, so we'll see. I don't like levels sometimes but you really need to feel as if you're progressing. Call it whatever you want but a player needs to really feel this part of the game.

Collecting classes? Not sure how I feel about that. When I pick up a game I usually want to play a certain class, usually it is one that suits me. Thus I don't want to play as something else to unlock it, I'd probably get a bit bored and lose interest if I can't be what I want to be. Neat idea, might be better for maybe expanding classes, then again that also depends on just how long it takes to obtain the play style you might be after.

Direction. EverQuest 2 got the addition of SOEmote not too long ago. Which basically causes your character to emote your facial expressions. Which is neat but I hardly see anyone when I play, much less look closely at their faces. Not really interesting to me, even if I group I'm not zooming in to see some dude's character's face to see what he may be feeling. Fun? Sure. Very frivolous and I wonder if it was more of a test in EQ2 for EQN. I would rather pick an emote (like SWTOR) and have it cycle through expressions. Yes, I like fluffy useless things but this crosses the line in my opinion. I want to see features that add to the world that I play in, spice up my character, not resources being spent on something most people won't bother using.

I think EQN will be a big contender for a new hit. But it also depends on how well it is updated and if the development team stays on the ball. I have hopes for it to do well and really shine. I just hope in trying to achieve this we don't forget the foundation that EverQuest started out with. I know a lot of people have been (mainly older EverQuest players) hoping for old style raids but I think this game is a very different game. Personally I hope this game pulls us away from the constant 'instance' game, as I thought Guild Wars would. If you're going all out, trying to break the mold, go big, take chances, really change things. Most of what I hope to see carried over is lore, a general feel of EverQuest, and the wonderful feeling these communities have always had.

Those are my initial impressions, I really hope we hear more, get a window on the release date and get to see the rest of the race and class line up- Soon! Until then I suppose we have enough to spark our imaginations as we wait. I wait patiently, I'll wait as long as I have to, I was born into the genre with EverQuest, so this is something that really hits home to me. I will always be an EverQuest girl  <3 i="">






9 comments:

  1. I don't think there was ever much chance that either current EQ or EQ2 players would move en masse to EQNext and I think SOE know that. EQNext seems aimed squarely at an entirely new audience, one that has either rejected or not even noticed the previous EQ games.

    It looks like GW3 to me :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. From the initial videos that I've seen, I'm very excited about this game. So much so, that I've gotten the itch to go back into EQ2 again and dust-off my old characters!

    But alas, with my new Alienware laptop with Windows 7 (Winblows 8 is total trash)I've not been able to solve the problem of way the station launcher crashes at the log-in screen, but I digress!

    I understand that SOE will basically revamp the entire class/character line while also keeping the history/lore of the game in mind!

    I've signed up for the beta and keeping my fingers crossed that Everquest Next fills my need for the MMO I miss playing lately!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Bhagpuss- I couldn't have said it better. I think it will draw in some but I don't think it will pull those that like the other two for what they are. It seems a totally different setting/world.

    @Boon- Eww, Windows 8, not a fan of that either, lol! Have you tried checking the forums for similar problems? I've had launcher issues in the past, sometimes took a few days of research, such a pain when you're eager to get back in! Good luck with that and the beta too, I'm crossing my fingers for beta!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Combed the EQ forums completely for a solution to my log-in problems...

    Turn off all firewalls, anti-virus, reset network router and internet options, partitioned hard drive, downloaded in a different directory instead of the default, NOTHING!!!
    It's just frustrating since I no beginner to this type of thing, built my last three desk tops just for gaming before converting over to laptops a couple of years back!
    Oh well, last resort is to replace power supply in my old desk top PC and fire it up! LOL
    One of the reasons I bought my new laptop!

    Good luck to you too on the beta! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think I had a very similar problem when my computer was new, the launcher would not work, for the life of me I cannot remember what the fix was. Pulled my hair out over it, lol. Wondering if I posted about it, lol, can't seem to find one if I did. Are you trying this launcher here?= https://launch.soe.com/eq2/ There are a few old outdated links out there still, is why I asked. Same thing for me, none of the usual listed fixes worked. Keep me posted on the progress!


    I think last time I used- https://www.everquest2.com/ but the other one worked as well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah....I have that link!

    Not going to give-up just yet! Dang thing has pissed me off and now I'll make it a point to find a solution! :)

    Thx!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Maybe try calling support? Or perhaps put up a request in the support forums, maybe some other players might have encountered a similar problem and can give some input as well, or just pick their brains for ideas.

    I feel for you, Boon! I wish I could do more to help! Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like, maybe I can help you try to get it solved, I've had more than my share of launcher problems over the last decade XD

    ReplyDelete
  8. Problem solved....can you believe there is a hidden firewall in Windows, in the Control Panel\Windows Firewall\Home or Work Networks\Public Network.

    The "Public Profile" in the public network had the firewall option set to on! Even though all other firewalls on my router, anti-virus and Window settings were off!

    Once I set that option to off the launch pad downloaded!

    BTW...once I got in the game, I was totally lost! LOL The game has changed abit since the last time I was logged in!
    But I'll get the hang of it again!

    Thanks for all your encouragement! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. So glad to hear you got it sorted, Boon! It can be a bit overwhelming to get back into the feel of the game, I found the expansion with mercs helped a lot, grabbed that one and didn't feel as overwhelmed. As a healer, it made a huge dif soloing, lol! Finding an active, friendly guild can make a huge difference too.

    Hope you have fun, I'm Nyomi on Crushbone, not sure what server you are on though!

    ReplyDelete

Search

Blogroll

Blog Archive