Originally posted by AwDiddums

I've never known SoE to hype up their games, it's one of their faults.

I've no doubt that Smedley is working hard to get EQNext out there asap but I just don't believe it's going to be out this year, sure you've got an engine but thats only a small part of what makes an MMO, surely the gameplay mechanics should take much longer to get in place and fully tested, plus add in the fact Smedley already tore up 2 builds, whats to say the same won't happen with build 3,4 or 5.

If EQNext has the daunting task of saving SoE I imagine that the team will only release a game that has the best chance of winning customers, not some half done product that is kicked out the door because of the competition, there will always be something else released that will clash with SoE's baby.

So I believe it will be early 2014 for EQNext to see a release.

 

 

It's more than just an engine and the engine is more than just a small part. The game has been in development for over four years. This includes all the assets and meat of the game they have developed. The sandbox systems have been in development for over a year. I definitely think they are farther along than most people think and it is perfectly reasonable to see them release it this year.

Originally posted by tom_gore
As much as I'd like to believe it, you need to keep in mind old John also first said PS2 would be launching in Q2 2010. And that's true.

Planetside 2 at the time was also meant to be an expansion for Planetside 1, not a new game, and they decided to move it to their Forge Light engine.

Planetside 2 was originally announced back in December of 2010 to be set to release in March of 2011, but was delayed to bring it to the Forge Light engine.

Smedley said, in April of 2011:

Recently (a few weeks ago actually) we made the call to update the game to a new internally developed engine. Doing that meant delaying the game, but we thought it was in the best interests of PlanetSide Next. It also means delaying releasing further info for a little while. I will let you all know more when we firm up the schedule. The likely next step is a larger scale release of information and the beta signups going up. As I've said previously current Planetside subs will be included automatically.

So it took about about a year and six months for them to move it over to the new engine and then release it.

Originally posted by ice-vortex

Originally posted by tixylix

Well SOE always rushes their games to launch, even Planetside 2 released a broken mess and now the game has lost so many players there are hardly any big fights any more, plus they need to merge servers badly. We kept telling them in beta that the meta game was broken, the balance was way off, the base design sucked, the weapons all felt the same etc etc. 

They don't listen, they never learn.

1.6 million registered users with 750,000 users logging in each week isn't by any definition 'lost so many players'. I log in regularly and always find big fights.  Also, the game isn't 'broken' by any means. Honestly, what it sounds like is that you're one of those burned Planetside 1 players that complain because it's not Planetside 1.

It's dying, I see it with my eyes, most the time the servers are low and only ever reach medium.

Look at the forums to see how broken it is, I've played it since beta until December and it's a mess of a game.

You watch by the Summer no one will be playing.

Originally posted by tixylix

Originally posted by ice-vortex

Originally posted by tixylix

Well SOE always rushes their games to launch, even Planetside 2 released a broken mess and now the game has lost so many players there are hardly any big fights any more, plus they need to merge servers badly. We kept telling them in beta that the meta game was broken, the balance was way off, the base design sucked, the weapons all felt the same etc etc. 

They don't listen, they never learn.

1.6 million registered users with 750,000 users logging in each week isn't by any definition 'lost so many players'. I log in regularly and always find big fights.  Also, the game isn't 'broken' by any means. Honestly, what it sounds like is that you're one of those burned Planetside 1 players that complain because it's not Planetside 1.

It's dying, I see it with my eyes, most the time the servers are low and only ever reach medium.

Look at the forums to see how broken it is, I've played it since beta until December and it's a mess of a game.

 

You watch by the Summer no one will be playing.

You act as if Medium is somehow bad. It is Low during off-hours which isn't exactly shocking. People who whine on forums in any game are always the loudest and those are typically the former Planetside 1 players. What I see are Planetside 1 players that have a grudge against Planetside 2 because it isn't Planetside 1.

The last time I remember reading about a game being developed in an incredibly short amount of time was vanguard. Even though it was in development for years they had almost nothing to show for it. When Sony took over, they had it out the door in 9 months and....look how that turned out.

I hope this game isn't going to follow in it's footsteps. We don't really need any more games that could of been great.

Originally posted by DamonVile

The last time I remember reading about a game being developed in an incredibly short amount of time was vanguard. Even though it was in development for years they had almost nothing to show for it. When Sony took over, they had it out the door in 9 months and....look how that turned out.

I hope this game isn't going to follow in it's footsteps. We don't really need any more games that could of been great.

Vanguard began development in 2002 and was released in 2007, it had an exceptionally long development time which is one of the reasons Microsoft dumped it. SOE became the publisher in 2006, but Sigil maintained full control of development and funding. It wasn't until about four months after the game released that SOE purchased Sigil and Vanguard with them. Brad McQuaid admitted that the game wasn't ready and that it got released based on a lack of funding, but that had absolutely nothing to do with SOE as the deal they made with SOE kept Vanguard completely independent.

Originally posted by Fusion
No, as i recall reading that they scrapped the whole 'blackbox' version and started over with the PS2 engine.

nope...the engine PS2 run on were made for EQ3...not to say they will be exact the same, but it looked like they thought they could release PS2 faster than EQ3, so finsihed PS2 first.

we heard of EQ3 and that they were making a new engine before PS2 were mentioned at all

Originally posted by Phry
Not quite sure where i read it, but hasnt SOE now stated that EQ next is now planned for a 2014 release ?

No.

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Originally posted by tixylix

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Originally posted by ice-vortex

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Originally posted by tixylix Well SOE always rushes their games to launch, even Planetside 2 released a broken mess and now the game has lost so many players there are hardly any big fights any more, plus they need to merge servers badly. We kept telling them in beta that the meta game was broken, the balance was way off, the base design sucked, the weapons all felt the same etc etc.  They don't listen, they never learn.

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1.6 million registered users with 750,000 users logging in each week isn't by any definition 'lost so many players'. I log in regularly and always find big fights.  Also, the game isn't 'broken' by any means. Honestly, what it sounds like is that you're one of those burned Planetside 1 players that complain because it's not Planetside 1.

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It's dying, I see it with my eyes, most the time the servers are low and only ever reach medium. Look at the forums to see how broken it is, I've played it since beta until December and it's a mess of a game.   You watch by the Summer no one will be playing.

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It's a free to play shooter game, I never expected it to do as well as a succesdful mmo.

Great news

Originally posted by ice-vortex

Originally posted by tom_gore
As much as I'd like to believe it, you need to keep in mind old John also first said PS2 would be launching in Q2 2010. And that's true.

Planetside 2 at the time was also meant to be an expansion for Planetside 1, not a new game, and they decided to move it to their Forge Light engine.

Your feeding the notion then that EQNext could easily be a 2014 or later release, if Planetside 2 was a project that was slated for a 2010 release yet it was taken back to the drawing board on multiple occassions to ensure a much fuller gaming experience then the same could be true for EQNext.

I'd love EQNext to come out this year, and a part of me is hoping it will, but we all know how these things slip, we even have things happen that can see a game get canned when it's about to get out of the door, I still remember UO2 and how pissed off I was when after all those years of following it it suddenly got cancelled with EA telling us all they where going to concentrate on their original IP instead, the same could easily happen here and the tech they've been using implemented into a new EQ1/2 expansion, now that would be a kick in the balls.

There are plenty of high calibre games coming out to keep us all occupied while Smedley does his thing, I'm happy and patient enough to wait for him to do his work.

all information have been able to get my hands on seems to indicate that there is no release date for 2013, but that by the end of 2013 it should be possible to at least pre-order it..  to be honest, their being very cagey by the looks of things, are are refusing to commit to a 2013 release date, maybe in a few months SOE will release a bit more information.

As my first real MMO was EQ and i played it for years, i really hope they do the things they are promising to do, even the facial controls being webcam driven, sounds pretty cool tbh.. 

The problem with John Smedley is that he has not learned the fundamental lesson of WoW.  That is, if you make a really good game, people will line up to spend money on it.  You won't have to scheme and plot to pick the players' pockets. They will gladly give you money.  Even today, with all the F2P games, millions and millions of people are still willing to pay a monthly subscription to play WoW.

John doesn't get that.  To him, the first goal of every game is to figure out how he is going to squeeze a nickel here and a dime there.  The game is secondary.  He recklessly chases every trend, every niche, like a kid with a butterfly net.  

Everquest is a powerful IP.  Lots of people like it.  Hell people are STILL playing it.  If John cared about the franchise, and if he understood WHY people like it, he could make a new version of it that would sell like hotcakes. 

But he is so wrapped up in how he is going to get people to pay for a game they haven't even seen yet that this is going to be another fiasco.  

I ALWAYS believed if they just updated EQ with better graphics and upgraded systems it would be a hit.  To this day there is no game like EQ.  Content. Exploration.  Immersion.  Nothing.  Of course thats MY personal opinion, ymmv ;-) but you get my point.

I was surprised when I read this as well.  I agree it can be done and can be done well especially with the long lead time they have had.

My thought is if the game is more "player-generated" (however SOE defines that) it could let the release come early since no (major) developer-generated content would be needed.

I can imagine they just launch  a new updated 'Norrath'.  A bunch of inter-dependent systems.  And let the players loose in it.  It'd be up to us to make things happen.   Could piss some players off but I actually like an idea like that.

Lets see what you got Smed...