Tomorrow is a big, big day for a lot of folks: It’s the day that SOE will finally pull back the curtain and show us what EverQuest Next is all about. To say this is anticipated is understating it a tad. SOE is preparing for record attendance at SOE Live this week and folks that have gotten an advance look at the title (under NDA) report being bowled over by it.
EverQuest Next has a lot riding on it. For starters, it’s the next chapter in SOE’s flagship EverQuest franchise and the first EverQuest title in many years. EQ’s glory days of being on the top of the heap are in distant memory. In a year where WoW is declining by over 2 million subscribers and Blizzard’s next MMO hit the reset button, SOE has a good chance to swoop in and get all sorts of attention. It’s shaping up to be the best time to ramp up the hype machine and get EQ back into the gamer vernacular, is what I’m saying.
SOE hasn’t been shy about talking up how awesome this game will be, either. It’s not just the next EverQuest game, but it’s the next huge sandbox game. Smedley’s used the promise of EQN to soothe the hurts that Star Wars Galaxies’ demise caused, and I know not just a few people that are praying and hoping that EQN will be a spiritual successor of sorts to SWG. There are quite a few sandbox MMOs in development right now (ArcheAge’s move to the west comes to mind), but this could be the biggest one of them all.
So. Lots riding on this. Personally, I’m interested if not invested in what will be revealed tomorrow. I have no hatred of EverQuest, but it’s never been my gaming “home” at all. SOE as a whole hasn’t ever bowled me over with its approach or selection of titles. Maybe that will change. I’m open to it. What I’m more cautious about is the whole sandbox thing. Everyone’s got their own interpretation of what a sandbox should and shouldn’t have, but what concerns me is how much structure underlies such an experience. I’m not a fan of a complete playground where everything is shaped by players and there’s no effort on the part of the game to provide guided experiences or give me a clue what to do. That said, I think we definitely could use a good shake-up in our approach to MMOs, and I won’t be that guy who crosses his arms and grunts, “This is too different!” just because it’s not like your standard game.
Style and game personality will be an influencing factor as well. I have never liked the EQ art in either game, so EQN could either attract or repel me depending on its feel.
I know a lot of folks have pledged their loyalties to WildStar or The Elder Scrolls Online as the next big thing right now. I have a feeling that EverQuest Next will be bumped up to that same level as of tomorrow. I’m excited to see if that’s the case.
So on the eve of the EQN reveal, what are some of your thoughts on it? Hopes?
Bio Break 
time will tell for me…f2p?
If it is F2P likely SOE will have some stupid user punishing method. I’m guessing you can only login during even numbered hours without buying a subscription.
“Spiritual successor to SWG” is what sparks my interest. EQ was the first MMO that I ever played, EQ2 just didn’t really work for me though. It will be interesting to see how good a sandbox can be in the modern day of spoiled for choice with Themeparks.
Guaranteed to be F2P. SOE has already converted, launched, or announced plans to convert all of their games to F2P. That’s not a coincidence.
Beyond that, we’ll see. I’m interested in what they have to offer, but the only thing I really have to judge the game on at this point in time is a picture of some chicks cluttered desk that Smed put out on twitter and that really hideous cut & paste wallpaper that they put out on their main site. That’s not really a whole lot of info to go on.
EQ2 was my “home” for about 6 years, but has not been for about 2 or 3 years now. Since it went f2p I’ve logged in a couple of times (literally 2) and both times just kinda ran around, looked at how Freeport’s been redone, and. . . .turned it back off. No draw for me anymore. Doesn’t help that all my gear on my (formerly capped when I stopped playing) tends to be at least “legendary” and thus is “locked” and I derive no benefit from having it equipped, so I’m not exactly wanting to run out and fight anything essentially naked. I actually did resub for a month almost 2 years ago just before the expansion with the beastlords came out, but only logged in once the entire month. It just didn’t have any draw for me anymore.
So for EQN. . . . think I’m like you — Interested, but not invested. But with that said, if it can recapture some of the sandbox-y feel of SWG and do some new cool twist on the EQ/EQ2 setting, then I’ll at least play it for a while, but I have no idea if it would be for 6 years like with EQ2 either.
I’ve never been much of a fan of sandboxes or EverQuest, so it doesn’t do much for me. I feel a mild professional curiosity, at best. I’ll read up on it once it’s announced, but I don’t see it attracting me as a player unless they pull off something truly miraculous.
Finding it hard to get excited. Will be PTW, I mean FTP, and if the leaks I’ve heard are true the sandbox element is not what people are expecting at all… Hope I’m wrong though 🙂
It’ll be the usual cycle. They’ll reveal something shiny. Everyone will go ballistic and hail it as the next great thing. Leaks from beta will start, and the voices will begin trashing it. Then word will come that some minor feature has been cut, and it’ll be a sign of incompetence. It’ll go to open beta and the swell of noise will begin about how it’s nothing but ‘s crafting tacked on to ‘s combat system. The guild progression tools won’t be robust enough, and the bank’s too small because it’s a money-grubbing F2P system. It’ll launch and be slow, or too hard to get through the queues at launch, and the forums will be completely overrun with people who can’t play proclaiming the incompetence and stupidity of SOE’s entire dev team and their families, suggesting that the game would be so much better if they just handed it over to the dev’s dog – except that it’s probably a stupid dog for living with such a stupid developer.
I miss any of the major phases in there? I know that sounds cynical but, well… I’m cynical. I think it’s very hard to look at the recent run of MMO launches and be anything but.
I am a bit cautious as well. I welcome games that are more actual virtual worlds than gamey amusement parks; but SOE seems to be a company that can do some great things, but at the same time also something really stupid. No big fan of the franchise, so it is just another game to have a look at.
Started with 5 years of EQ1, then 7 of wow..i sttill have so many fond memories
from EQ and the original theme music still give me goosebumps..so EQ NEXT
Bring it on!
I’m hoping for a miracle and the game is announced with Mac and/or Xbox One support… Otherwise, The Elder Scrolls Online remains my sole option for the future.