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"EverQuest II" to debut in 2003
Parsa writes "This story
at Cnet says; A new version of the popular computer game "EverQuest"
will make its debut late next year, Sony Online Entertainment said Thursday.
Sony Online Entertainment says the next version of the popular computer
game will feature a new 3D engine and a tradesman class for "nonconfrontational"
character advancement.
"
There will be a tradesman class, so after work people can go home and exist in a fantasy world where they... work...
screw the mideval crap.
I want to fly around in my own ship and blast at bad guys with the latest tech.
Eve-online here I come baby.
They expect to go closed beta this month too!!
There is also an article over at Game Spy.
I think the next year is shaping up to turn out some great new MMORPG games.
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
I swear to god someday somebody's going to go too far with this. Just wait until they do a 'cyberpunk' version of Everquest with the character class 'office clerk' who needs to 'update databases and spreadsheets' for a 'software institute'.
Next thing you know people will be paying for the privilege of being the office administrator for real-life companies and not knowing it. The upside being that there'll be lots of skrlp7 kldd33 t4Lk on the memos...
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Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
One example that comes to mind is healing classes. I started a cleric last week, and from a role-playing perspective, I wanted him to be a pacifist. No can-do, there. You've gotta kill countless small animals to get your first heal spell.
Wouldn't it make sense for classes like clerics to get some kind of experience for what they really do, like healing people?
The following is an excerpt from the first draft of the official press release from Sony Online Entertainment about Everquest II. As far as I can, the only differences between this excerpt and the original is that some 'fine print' information was deleted.
Key features and improvements include:
* A brand new 3D engine which takes full advantage of a wide variety of recent technological advances in 3D hardware/software such as per pixel lighting, dynamic environment mapping, and a fully programmable surface shader system
(Note: This new engine will not significantly improve load times, frame-rate induced lag, or this sense of 'immersion' that some players seem to think they're entitled to. 'Uber' players are encouraged to purchase dual-processor computer systems with professional grade GeForce 5, 6, or 7 graphics adapters. Support requests from players who do not meet 'reccommended system requirements' will not be addressed.
* More intuitive gameplay features appeal to both new and seasoned players
(Note: Our answer to all player problems will still be 'Get a group'.)
* New branching class structure that players define as they advance through the game
(Note: DOAC was kicking our asses.)
* Vast world of Norrath revisits familiar locations and introduces a variety of newly discovered areas in the Age of Destiny, a time period in the future of the original EverQuest.
(Note: The new graphics engine would not support older zones, so we're ditching the zones we don't like, and releasing later zones in 'expansions' that you already bought in order to play Everquest I)
* Increased character customization capabilities allow players to customize characters' faces, hair, and body types to create truly unique avatars
(Note: All female characters will come complete with 38DD sized breasts, just like you've grown to expect from SOE and Verant.)
* Deeper character development offering pacing options that cater to game players new to the role-playing genre as well as experienced role-players
(Note: Prepare to be ganked and r0xxor3d by l33t players who don't have time for role-playing. Role-playing will be strictly verboten in the 'high-end' game, just like in Everquest I)
* Non-confrontational means of character advancement that including a completely new tradesman character class
(Note: Just because you can craft decent trade items doesn't mean that the best items won't be available to anyone but the largest, most uber guilds.)
* Rideable mounts and vehicles to own and control, including horses and boats, make traversing the massive world of Norrath faster than before.
(Note: Horses will still suck. Boats will still be dangerous. They'll just suck more and be more dangerous than ever before to give you an authentic role-playing experience. Carts will carry a bonus of +5 suck and +5 danger for all players.)
* Norrathian real estate for players to call their own
(Note: We want to make sure that the uber guilds can monopolize all the best zones in the game because they're the players we really care about. Therefore, we're going to go ahead and make it possible for them to 'wall off' the best zones and dungeons from non-l33t players, just like in other games that allow houses.)
* All-new tradeskill/crafting system
(Note: See note about tradesmen class...)
* Completely new and tactically rich combat, spell and skill systems
(Note: Of course more of the combat will be centered around 'Holy Trinity' or 'Main-Tank' strategy which we like so much, so don't bother rolling anything but a Warrior, Cleric, or Wizard.)
* A completely revised and enhanced quest system
(Note: More broken quests, more ultra-rare spawns, and longer spawn times for even the lowest-level quest!)
* Dynamic world environment shaped by player events
(Note: Players will cast shadows on the world. They may also train mobs to new locations. Professional-grade Geforce 5, 6, or 7 graphics adapters are required for players to experience the full benefits of the 'player shaped world'.)
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Like Blizzard and Diablo, pretty much the entire original design team of the game has already left, and this version will be designed and balanced by the people that did such an excellent job on the last two expansions.
/year to produce third rate high-poly models that bog down the highest end system any time you get more then 5 of them on the screen.
Background : The newest expansion was released in December last year. The two big selling points, the special Trade Zone, and the new user interface *still* haven't been added to the game after 5 months, yet they have already announced the next expansion due this December, along with EQ2, EQ for Playstation and the special $40/month "Legends" servers.
The entire live development team was layed off, leaving zones from the expansion before that one still screwed up - the "Plane of Mischief" and "Sleepers Tomb" which have been written off by Verant and won't have any further resources devoted to them, despite long and detailed archives of what is wrong with then
Apart from the Interface and the Bazaar zone, high end guilds are finding that the content in this game is designed for you to spend 2 months equipping 80+ members of your guild with special weapons so you can attack one mob to get one item, which you then use to spend 2 months getting 10 more components to get a key so you can enter the *NEXT* zone, where the cycle will begin again.
Meanwhile, the people who wrote EQ1 have formed their own company and are busy hiring all the talent from Verant, who never signed non-compete clauses.
So Verant is left with under-talented artists who (due to contracts sorted out at the peak of their success) are on $80,000 - $120,000
Meanwhile, their design team is designing encounters that need *70 to 90* people to work in precise co-ordination for 30 minutes, and then act suprised when people start complaining.
To top all this off, they announced that any existing customer from EQ1 who wants to join EQ2 will have to start all over from scratch, and the end result of this is a widespread "Well, when EQ2 comes out, I guess I can finally quit and get this damn monkey off my back"
The sad thing is, they'll probably still sell about 200,000 copies.
Your $10-15 per month covers not only the fees for the servers and bandwidth, but for monthly additions in the form of new items, new areas to explore, new monsters, etc. At least that's how Anarchy Online and Asheron's Call justify their monthly subscription. That means that the companies have to pay artists, 3D modelers, programmers, story writers, etc. each month to keep your interest in the game. EverQuest, OTOH, charges you the same for a monthly fee and makes you pay extra for upgrade packs. $10-15 sounds like a lot, but considering before I got into MMORPGs, I used to spend a lot more than $170 ($10 x 12 months + $50 game) per year on game software because I would get bored with it so quickly, the $10 charge now seems pretty cheap.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
MU*s still do all this for free. Servers and bandwidth are dirt cheap when the game is text-only, so the game's "owner" often pays for it out of his pocket, and all the additions are gladly contributed by the players themselves out of simple love for the game world.
Like the guy said, all Everquest and its ilk bring to the party is pretty graphics.