Everquest Next

Answering the original questions.

EQ Next is still being built within a black box. The *earliest* we are currently considering that we *might* reveal info is late this year. We're being very particular about what needs to be in the game before revealing it to folks, so until that stuff is ready, we won't be showing anything. (Screens you saw from a couple years ago are completely obsolete now and are not pertinent to the current game at all.)

There is no reason for EQ or EQII to ever fade away. EQN is not being designed to replace those games. The only way it could "kill" EQ or EQII is by being such a phenomenally better game that everyone flocks to it. Many miles to go before we sleep.

• I know this information was posted last month but I just like to keep it all together for myself.

What is your favorite SOE game title? What is your favorite thing about that game? EverQuest
II hands down. I’ve spent so much time in that world (and code) that
it feels like home. Everything from the lush green acres of Antonica to
the packet processing of EntityServer.cpp brings a smile to my face.

I’ve really loved some of the content that we’ve added over the
years. I think the Brew Day festivities and cow-tipping antics with Prew Drowers
leave a lasting impression on me because good ol’ Prew was named for an
actual developer with a penchant for homebrew. It’s fun to put little
funny things like that in the game.

Continue Reading…

Before we go over what may come of Everquest Next in the
somewhat near future, we have to look back on what has been done, what
is being done, and what will be done in the MMO world. There is very
little information about Everquest Next, so the most we can do
is only speculate. For those of you new-born Massive Multiplayer Online
Role-Playing Game gamers that have a fuzzy knowledge of the gaming
culture in the past, I have a brief history on the growing culture as
well as current ground breaking changes to the virtual world
experiences. I may not have a lot of information of Everquest Next,
in fact I will say I have barely anything, but what I do have for sure
is my thoughts. You may agree, you may disagree, or you may have a
splendid idea on what may become of such a massive title, and we would
all likely appreciate your input below in the comments. I will attempt
to give a bit of a navigation for those of you who wish to skip the
little things, and get to the questions at hand. I made this article to
base opinions on, and only wish for more input and speculation between
gamers after the article. There are so many topics to be associated
with this, but too much can be too much. I hope this suffices.

The below Titles will separate the Article:

• A Brief History.
  
• The Common Era.
  
• What is to come?
  

• 
  A Brief History.
  

I begin by asking the question, “What was the first MMORPG?” There
were some definite titles throughout the past, dating all the way back
to the early 1970′s, but what we are after is a commercial based MMORPG
(one that you paid for, like most modern games). In 1985, an online
game called Island of Kesmai was released, and housed a player
base of around 100 players on the CompuServe service. This game would
cost players a whopping $12.00 per hour just to play! The first MMO
that had a graphical user interface was Neverwinter Nights (1991-1997). Neverwinter Nights went
live on AOL and cost players $6.00 per hour to play. Online servers
weren’t as commonplace back before the time of windows 95-98 as many
people didn’t have home computers.


NeverWinter Nights was released in 1991 as the 1st graphic MMORPG and cost a whopping $6.00 per hour to play.


The Start of an Online Virtual Empire.


The current stream of MMORPG game titles are derived from three massive pioneers of the late 1990′s; Ultima Online, Everquest, and Asheron’s Call.
Considering my point at the moment will be leading through the course
of Sony Online Entertainment’s titles and innovations, I will be
focusing mainly on just one of the three — Everquest. Verant
Interactive set forth with Sony to create the game that would make the
genre quite popular in the U.S. with it’s 1999 launch. Everquest
was handled more as a venture into a new style of gaming, and less as a
massive ground breaking title when it was first released. It was a
3-dimensional open world with thousands of players per server, and a
“make your own adventure” concept that today is becoming much rarer as
time passes. I myself started playing Everquest at the age of 11, and with that I found my first REAL video game addiction (Ocarina of Time
for the N64 had me busy and all, but it didn’t hold a candle for me).
I became enthralled by this open world. There were innumerable
adventures that awaited my experiencing, and countless regions for me to
explore.




Everquest was released in 1999.


The Next Step: An Evolution





Everquest 2 was released in 2004, not long before the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.


I know this is ultimately about Everquest Next, but to
understand what may come of the future title, we must first look into
the growth of it’s predecessors. SOE continued to grow during the
success of Everquest, and eventually released an Everquest II. The
title in which the lore takes place 500 years after the adventures
within the first game took on more life-like character models and a much
more advanced combat and loot system. Many innovations were born
within the creation of this game, and newer titles still use some of
these, although somewhat altered, and others just aren’t considered. An
interactive crafting system (determines item quality), player and guild
housing (this was done flawlessly in my opinion), and narrated quests
were just a few of the additions to the Everquest experience.
The lore did take a beating as all of the races of Norrath were forced
to live in two human cities: Qeynos and Freeport, and the world became
much smaller at the original release. That is not to say that
expansions didn’t open it up more, but players took that hit pretty bad.
One of the biggest problems faced with SOE’s 2nd in the series is that
the game was built a little too advanced for many systems of the time,
and some buggy frame-rate and lag was experienced by many players. With
this in the way, SOE still made a champion among MMORPGs of the time.




World of Warcraft was based on the popular RTS series Warcraft I, II, and III.





A Competitor Arises: A Blizzard sets in




Not long after SOE released it’s 2nd Everquest title, the creators of the popular RTS game Warcraft III released its own MMORPG, World of Warcraft. WoW, as many decide to call it, was released not even a month after Everquest II. As the lore of Warcraft was
well known to many because of the previous games over the years, it
kicked off with a pretty great start. It ended up siphoning many of
SOE’s loyal players, and created a new generation of online gamers.
What was once known as Ever-crack, had been damaged by the MMO junkie’s
War-crack. I won’t say that WoW wasn’t a good game, because it was a
GREAT game, and for many people it still is.

• 
  The Common Era.
  

The New Norm




Many MMORPG titles have been released over the past years. Each one
has their own story and style, but many of it’s characteristics (User
interface, combat targeting, adventure, raiding, etc) have been
influenced by their predecessors. World of Warcraft is
credited with most of the MMO features commonly used today, but what we
have to remember is that WoW wasn’t the first MMORPG. I’m talking to
those of you who troll new MMORPGs. Targeting systems, player’s target
of target, and macros for healing and damage rotations have been quite
the talk in the gaming community for some time now. Such features have
been widely accepted, and any sort of deviation from them sometimes
results in being defined as “lacking” certain content.



Cracking the Foundations: Developers Breaking Away from Bound Traditions




It’s somewhat clear where the future of MMOs are heading now. With the release of Tera Online, the upcoming release of Guild Wars 2, and speculation of Everquest Next, many things seem to be changing (Quickly at that). Tera Online
broke what is possibly the number one rule of massive multiplayer
online role-playing games — click target, select ability, and watch your
character swing their weapon or cast a spell. Instead of following the
traditional targeting and hotkey system of MMOs prior to them, it was
decided that there would be a real-time action system with an “attack
the target in front of you, or attack nothing” way of doing things.
Gone is the way of percentage chance of dodging, blocking, and hit or
miss. You either move out of the way, block an impending attack, or hit
the target with your abilities yourself. This is a great change of
pace for many, but not for all. Guild Wars 2 took another approach of
doing the same thing. There is targeting in the game, but it isn’t a
requirement to do damage to your opponent(s). If you are a range, then
you can target an enemy and cast spells on them, but at the same time
any opponent in the path can likely be hit with some abilities. Splash
damage would probably be the most appropriate term. Melee attack a
target they face, but also any opponent caught in their path. Healing
has become a second hand feature in GW2 as well, seeing that there are
no dedicated healers or any friendly targeting for combative purposes
(at least not that I have noticed).



Free-To-Play Revolution: Business Models, or Gamer Love?




It seems there is a new trend going on. Over the past few years,
small developers have been making MMOs right under many of our noses.
The difference for them is that many of the titles are free. Many of
these free to play games involve an innovative, although sometimes sly,
way of making money without requiring the game to be purchased. It
blows minds! Why would a company make a game, give it away for free,
and only require SOME content or vanity gifts to be purchased? There is
money to be made. When you play a game demo, you try to make a
decision whether to ignore the game, rent it, or purchase it at retail
price. What better way of giving a community a way to sample your hard
work than letting them play a demo that exceeds the limits of what an
actual demo is. Some bigger companies have started applying this
concept to their games — SOE being one culprit. Some developers like
Perfect World Entertainment seem to have always accepted the F2P (Free
to Play) model for their games, but others have been catching on to the
idea. Some reasoning behind SOE making many, if not all, of their games
F2P is the drop in player base. If you lose players, then you want to
find a way to get them back, or to get new players to play the game.
F2P has offered the loyal players, as well as new ones, to do a
subscription much like the common style started by those few descendants
from long ago, or a more supplemental plan. You can buy what features
you want to unlock and leave the rest untouched. This gives way to
players either playing for free with limited content/characters, playing
with a subscription and leaving it at that, or paying amounts of money
as they want, which often leads to paying more than the minimum for some
content. That balances out a lot of the income probabilities that may
occur with a rise, or fall, of player base.

• 
  What Is To Come?
  

Undetermined Countdown: A Savory Unknown Release




It seems appropriate that because we have caught up to the current
times, we should commence speaking of what may come in the future. As
you know, Everquest has an already well-based lore and a
community that would feed from it. This doesn’t satisfy SOE according
to what has been heard from devs. They want to take the original game
and change the world! Think of it as an alternative universe. That
would allow for new content as well as old, and to expand on the already
massive world of Norrath. ”But what would happen to those characters
we love and remember?” some may ask, “Will they change from good to bad,
or wicked to righteous?” Time can only tell.




Concept art from Everquest Next, detailing a classic race of humanoid.




One thing to consider about the release of Everquest Next
(possibly next year), is of what business model they will use. Yes, it
will affect the game directly. As SOE has been turning more and more
towards the F2P model, players of multiple MMORPGs ask the question,
“Will the lack of subscription based income affect what content is
released, and how much? What level of support will they have for
players and their servers? How can we know if the game we purchase will
be the same game (only improved) after the first few months of play?”
These all are questions, and not everyone has real answers. The F2P
model gives wriggle room for SOE to get their game out into the open for
the masses to try out, but then again it could go more toward the GW2
route. Upon release the game will be required a standard one time fee
to purchase the game, and anything bought after that would be purely
aesthetic items and features in game. If they keep the player housing
and guild housing, there would be a ton of room for SOE to make money
off of special (purchase only) items for decorating an individual’s
space. Maybe they will do more than go toward the old style of Everquest lore
wise, and instead also go with the traditional subscription based
business model to offer a very stable income for the devs to continue
upkeep on the game and releasing well-refined content. It’s hard to
tell with SOE at the moment, seeing as they have released very little
information about their work in progress. We can expect some real
updates late in the year (I’m gunning for November/December honestly).



What we do know, is that SOE is looking to do something a little
different from what other big MMO’s (including their own) have done in
the past. They are looking to add a physics engine to a
MASSIVE-MULTIPLAYER game. How they will pull that off? We can only
wonder. They’re also trying to make the game as graphically flexible as
they can. That means that older computers and newer ones can play
alongside each other without much of a breaking in gameplay. Advanced
machines? Celebrate! It sounds like it will be a beautiful game.
Older machines? Rejoice, for you can still play it. Below is a video
of part of the Q’s and A’s that SOE’s dev team for EQ Next did to get
their word out.

Everquest Next Graphics Engine

Feel free to comment below and add your thoughts on SOE’s future and development of Everquest Next, I’m sure we would all like anything to read about at this time of little information.

If you haven't heard about Sony Online Entertainment's new SOEmote,
you're missing out. This new bit of tech may not be aimed to change the
way people play games but it certainly promises to add a fun new
dimension to online worlds.



EverQuest franchise Executive Producer demonstrating SOEmote (with a silly face)



What is SOEmote? Partnered with Image Metrics for facial recognition
and Vivox for voice fonts, SOEmote is integrated software that scans
your face using your PC camera and translates your facial actions to
your character in-game. Turning your head, raising your eyebrows, even
moving your eyes and speaking in front of your camera animates your game
character with the same movements. Best of all: the technology is going
to be introduced to EverQuest II within a month and SOE has even bigger plans for SOEmote with later games, including the upcoming 3rd EverQuest game (as of yet unnamed, but codenamed EverQuest 'Next' by the gaming community).


We spoke with EverQuest Executive Producer Dave Georgeson about the science behind the device and how SOE plans to not necessarily change how we play games, but certainly how we experience
them. Having come from a roleplaying background himself, it is no
surprise Georgeson expressed excitement for video-game roleplayers.


Roleplaying Heaven


"We're starting with just a small portion of what we'll eventually be
able to do," Georgeson told us. "Right now the camera can read up to 30
degrees and be able to read movements up to 10 feet away. We will be
able to open that to 60 degrees. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
We want to expand this to be able to track hand and body movement. It
will be like you have your own private motion capture studio where you
can save your own emotes. Roleplaying heaven!" Georgeson also indicated
that it's not outside the realm of possibility to use this software to
"implant" your own face and features onto your in-game character,
bringing a whole new dimension to character creation.


"Body language breaks down walls you didn't know were there,"
Georgeson continued. "Once you have the ability to convey your body
language and facial expressions into a game you open up a whole new
level of interaction... Every roleplaying game needs to have this
feature... and they will!" he predicted.


The Tech


Adding an extra few degrees of depth to roleplaying and social
interaction isn't the only potential application of SOEmote. Georgeson
went on to explain that this technology could even be used to monitor a
player's pupil dilation. This kind of involuntary feedback could
eventually change the very way games are built.


SOEmote uses minimal bandwidth and can be configured with a single
click. The software has the ability to scan up to 5000 points on the
human face and selectively transmit far fewer for purposes of speed.
During the demo even though the entire face was being scanned only the
eyebrows, eyes and mouth movements were transferred to the game.


Although SOEmote doesn't require expensive hardware Georgeson did
point out that some cameras work better than others. At time of launch
SOE will have a list of recommended cameras. And although the camera
will scan the face, no likeness of a person is transmitted
anywhere--it's simply a stream of data containing facial points, or
dots, so the privacy risk is minimal.




Screenshot of EQ 'Next' as seen at SOE Fan Faire 2010






And Onto EverQuest 'Next'



Our minds began to wander as we started thinking about different ways
SOEmote could be used. We thought about entire new breeds of machinima
and the potential of "virtual celebrities" (those who excelled at acting
via proxy), and then onto how motion capture could be used to even cast
spells if applied.


"Wait until you see spellweaving in the next EverQuest," Georgeson teased. "I've said too much but you've never played a game like it. I can promise you that.


"We have two EverQuest games we can already use as
testbeds for what we plan on with the next one. While we're doing that
we're putting a huge focus on storytelling over the next year. We want
characters to become memorable parts of the story arcs. We want to bring
back the world to virtual worlds. This is a re-imagined Norrath. Think of the EverQuest games as three separate universes--a multiverse."


As of yet relatively little is known about the next EverQuest,
but now that we knew SOE is planning on integrating SOEmote and
focusing their energies on making the new game a breathing world as
opposed to the standard online games we see in many of today's MMOs we
asked Georgeson when they were planning on revealing more.


"We need to finish up with the Destiny of Velious stuff in EverQuest II
first," he responded. "We have a very specific plan for the reveal and
until the vision can be realized we won't reveal much more about it. We
have four pillars to overcome. We've just gotten over one and a half
now. But expect more next year. " Georgeson then smiled mischievously
and laughed, pulling back a bit. "I just can't wait to show you guys."


The first taste of SOEmote will be introduced to EverQuest II by July. EverQuest III,
or EQ 'Next' will have to wait. In the meantime, grab a camera and get
ready to put your game face on... or 'in' as the case may be.

John
Smedley, CEO of Sony Online Entertainment (developers of Everquest, SWG
and Planetside, for those of you living under a rock) revealed himself
earlier this year as a Fanfest-attending Eve player, in addition to
being heavily involved in the design of an upcoming game which just
about everyone is frothing about. I ask him a few questions about his
Eve experience, PS2, and the shape of the gaming industry itself.


You’re not just the CEO of SOE, you’re an Eve player
currently residing somewhere in the HBC bloc. What can you tell us about
your Eve experiences (without giving away so much detail that the
upstanding citizens of New Eden hunt you down)? When did you begin
playing, what do enjoy most about New Eden, and what do you consider to
be the most problematic aspect of Eve gameplay at the moment?

My Eve experiences have been some of the most amazing of my gaming
life. I am a true PVP'er at heart and I'm not a big fan of rules. Eve
provides the perfect environment for a person like me. I created my
character with Piracy in mind and after paying a few ransoms in my
newbie life I realized that's harder than it looks. I began playing a
few years ago. I tried 6 times to get into Eve and on the 7th it took.
And I credit Eve University with that. As soon as I got in there things
just clicked. The most problematic aspect of Eve Gameplay at the moment -
honestly I'd have a hard time pinning it down. 6 months ago I would
have said the newbie experience but they are working hard to improve it.

Obligatory fluff question: What’s your favorite ship to fly in Eve, and why?

My favorite ship - so far it's the Drake. Because I can get into
almost any fleet with it and because it's cheap enough that if I lose it
I don't care. I will say the Rifter is a close second because it's fun
as hell to get into small engagements.
Has your experience as an Eve player impacted your design philosophy as it relates to Planetside 2, and if so, how?

My experiences as an Eve Player have had a huge impact on Planetside
2. The concept of Cert Points and the notion of gaining them offline
came straight from there, although our system gives you points that are
flexible and we also give you more experience when you're online than
off. Also our resource system started out very similar to Starcraft but
it's evolved a lot into something more akin to what Eve has. Right now
it's not going to get as much use as it will in the future when we allow
player owned bases that require rare resources that players fight over.
Right now we don't have a market but that will come over time. I like
to give credit where credit is due and it's fair to say that Eve greatly
influenced my thinking as an online gamer and as someone running an
online gaming company.

CCP’s Dust 514 is doing something that’s ‘never been done
before’ by linking a MMOFPS to a MMORPG; Trion’s Defiance is doing
something that’s ‘never been done before’ by linking a MMOFPS to a TV
show. Similar language was used to describe the release of Eve’s Incarna
expansion, but CCP CEO Hilmar later referred to Incarna as a ‘Jesus
Feature’. What do you think about this trend - is it a consequence of
companies trying to distinguish their products in an ever-more-crowded
field as the industry matures?

In making games we try new things that we hope will become the next
big "it" thing. call it the Jesus feature.. call it whatever.. but I
think it's just trying to make something cool. You get an idea in your
head and you think everyone around you will love it. I'll admit I bought
in and still fully buy in to CCP's vision for the Eve Universe
co-existing with Dust. That Vision movie they made is fricking awesome
and I hope they keep going there. I realize players were upset with the
Incarna expansion because the perception was that it didn't deliver
enough red meat. I love CCP and think they listened to their playerbase
(hell they made a damn monument in game) and understand that you have to
go a little slower.. but I LOVE where they are aimed.
Ever since Dust 514 was announced to be a PS3 exclusive,
some in the Eve playerbase have been worried about a Sony takeover of
CCP - especially now that CCP is making IPO noises in the run-up to the Dust 514 release. Care to comment on or debunk these rumors?

Folks - there is NO truth whatsoever to the rumor that Sony is buying
CCP. I went to Fan[fest] as a player. Ask my corp mates. I did the pub
crawl. I hung out. I ate that shitty nasty shark whateverthehell it is
thing. It's as simple as that. In the online gaming industry there are
really very few companies. I know most of their CEOs and really like
most of them a lot and play their games. Hilmar was kind enough to give
us an office tour and extend some wonderful Icelandic hospitality. There
it is. Nothing more.

You’ve mentioned a desire for more sandbox MMOs in your
Reddit AMA, and sandboxes are obviously a major draw for Eve players. Do
you have plans for adding sandbox elements to PS2, and if so, would you
like to discuss them? If there really is an untapped market for sandbox
MMOs, why haven’t we seen more of them, besides Eve and SWG?

Sandbox elements - SOE is redefining itself as a creator of
emergent gameplay experiences. That's our future. You can call it
sandbox but it's so much more than that. A good example is Player owned
bases in Planetside 2. That's coming. We're going to make huge
continents that are empty and have vast resources on them and players
can fight it out and put down their own bases there and other players
can come and obliterate them. Sound familiar Eve Players? Actually we
had something like this in Star Wars Galaxies too. THAT is content. At
some point as an industry we need to realize that we have already lost
the race to outpace players in making content. I personally thought
SWTOR was a great game. I loved Diablo III. The problem is you get to
the endgame and as game makers it's not just expensive. it's impossible
to stay ahead of the curve.

Think about this statement - If WoW had come out yesterday.. at
what point would people be "done" with the content. We need to focus on
game systems that are perpetual and give players a lot more control over
what they can do rather than JUST putting yet another dragon in front
of them with scripted content. We need to be doing both in order to be
successful. And that's our plan.

Thanks for your time!

(Editor's Note: Hello there, internet. You can follow us on twitter at @TheMittani if you like.)