Everquest Next

[Nefertiti]

This information was just released yesterday. I thought I would never play a Sony game again after quitting EverQuest about 10+ years ago, but this one just may suck me in! >.<

EverQuest Next Debut

The video is pretty long, fast forward until you start seeing screenshots if you want to jump into what it looks like at this present time. There are game play videos that look awesome as well. They are attempting to incorporate so many things that worked well for other games.


Beta sign up here: EQ Next website

[Zeli]

I saw the info/demo yesterday. My reaction was something like this:

[Nefertiti]

Ha!

[Vejuz]

SOE has hurt me before. I'm not sure I'm ready to stop villainizing them and actually like what they make.

If ANY other company were doing this, I'd be off-the-walls bonkers excited. So instead I'm cautiously excited. These ideas have so much potential for awesome but they're also heading into unknown territory. Crashing and burning is a possibility.

I love this game on paper. I hope they don't screw it up.

[Pazzolupo]

I've been hurt by SOE, but never by EQ. So I'm closer to Zeli's reaction. I applied for the beta and just hope for the best. I'll happily play beta to see what its like, and hopefully catch some bugs to help improve it.

[Barose]

Its the free to play that scares me.

[Vejuz]

Landmark looks really neat too. Also free to play, coming this winter. Kind of a Minecraft type game, but with more precise tools. I can't wait to play around in that. The fact that the game will have a shifting layer of subterranean content excites me too.

FTP would be great if they'd do it like GW2, but SOE has a history of introducing iffy microtransactions to their games. However, their games that are built from the ground up for microtransactions are usually okay. SOE loves to sell you boosts.

[trapsinger]

When I played EQ I loved it, I only really quit when WoW came out, and I never played EQ2. I'd be happy to explore Norrath again, but yes I've seen sony really mess some things up, so I'll wait and be cautiously optimistic.

As far as F2P models, I really like games like STO, NW, and Rift. Where it's possible to play the whole game without spending money, but where there are still interesting things to buy in the store, and where it's possible to earn the paid features with a *ton* of play time, rather than spending real money on it. That way I can play with friends if I don't choose to spend money, but the idea of earning the rewards by playing a lot keeps me coming back. Traditionally SOE doesn't do this, they give you the initial game mostly for free, but then they charge you for all the new content areas, and you can't earn credits with them by playing. To me that isn't a "free" model, it's more like a drug dealer telling you that only the first hit is free.

[Vejuz]

So I was curious what kinds of microtransactions EQ2 had, to give us an idea of what SOE is willing to do in an RPG. I loaded up my old account and noted the following:

- Once per log-in pestering to upgrade my account level
- The game launches with the store window open (annoying)
- Item appearances made by players (pretty neat!)
- Appearance items including armor, clothes, cloaks, pets, wings shields and weapons. No stats, just special looks. Like GW2 skins.
- Special extra-large bags
- Tokens needed for certain accounts to place things on the AH (WTF?)
- Keys that allow you to progress your spells (Definitely buying power)
- Expansion content: $40 an expansion. Seems kinda high.
- Race and class unlocks for accounts who can't normally access them due to account level (Account level past silver is basically a sub)
- Mounts (They don't seem better than what you can normally get)
- Additional character slots
- Name changes, race changes and gender change. These are insanely over priced. It's 14 bucks for a race change and 7.50 for a gender change. 9.50 for a name change. O.o
- holiday items

While there's definitely some power buying here, the real problem is how damn expensive everything is. Appearance items range from 3 bucks to 20 bucks! Everything is almost twice the cost I think it should be. It doesn't really inspire any confidence in EQN's potential monetization strategies. I hope they come to their senses for the sequel.