I feel one very refreshing dynamic of Guild Wars 2 is the lack of static quest NPCs.

MMOs since EQ2 and WoW have been completely quest-centric in how players obtain experience, with the current mindset of players being, more often than not, one of, "If I don't have a quest to go there, I won't bother". The "old-school" dynamic of experiencing a gameworld for what it is, exploring and hunting has gone by the wayside for the current "Gimme quest or I won't go!" expectation of players, no thanks to the way MMOs are designed nowadays, especially since EQ2 and WoW.

So... here's to hoping ArenaNet breaks that cycle of developer and player expectation where experience/level advancement is extremely quest-centric. Here's to hoping players can finally get out into a gameworld again to explore and hunt--and in the midst of that, to come across ever-changing dynamic events--and not be lead around on rails by static quest NPCs.

I'm going to sing the Doom Song now!

According to this post (http://forums.station.sony.com/ps/posts/list.m?start=30&topic_id=88000026051#88000437389), this announcement will not be for Planetside Next.

05/03/2010 10:34:39     Subject: Re:Auraxian News Network - April 30, 2010
Raijinn Community Relations Joined: Mar 17, 2004 Messages: 17827 Location: Parts Unknown... Offline	Also an FYI on this since I've seen it mentioned quite a bit, we're not going to be announcing anything PlanetSide Next related at that date. Sorry!

Originally posted by MareWinds

Originally posted by Torak

Dark Age of Camelot - New Dawn

An upgrade to DAoC game engine. They used the Gamebryo engine which newer versions have been used to make games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion to name a few. Add in new music and some voice overs along with some new art and epic levl content.

This.

And in the same vein, a revamp or fully-supported sequel to Asheron's Call.

A recent announcement was made in the AC forums regarding upgrades to their textures. No, its not a new engine, but it *is* something that makes the game look a little bit better.   http://forums.ac.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=45888

Whee!! :D

From what I've researched and figured out, the $4.99 is NON-RECURRING. You only pay the $4.99 ONCE, and you get access to your account for 3 consecutive days every 30 days.

In otherwords, this is a "play-for-3-consecutive-days-every-30-days" lifetime account for a one-time payment of $4.99.

Originally posted by Laiina

Originally posted by pencilrick

Personally, I think Sony needs to stop throwing money at this game in the way of new expansions.  EQ III (Everquest Next) is in the works, and that's where they need to put their greater efforts.

 EQ3 is NOT in the works. A new game by SOE is in the works, but it will not be EQ related.

As far as "throwing money" at it, you have totally different development teams. Stopping work on EQ2 will not help the other.

Hmmm... it appears Everquest Next apparently is in the works, according to this article:

http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=19260

and this article:

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83055/page/5

I also asked him about the future of EverQuest and "EverQuest 'Next' " which was leaked out in the game's Anniversary book last year. What is "EverQuest 'Next'?"

"It’s what it sounds like," Smedley said. "We’re not going to stand still with the EverQuest franchise. We’re working with it now and we’re going to take it to the next level. We intend for it to be the game of the century – you watch."

Originally posted by hogscraper

Turn the lights on and the roaches hiss in protest.

HAHAHAHA! Absolutely brilliantly sardonic comment! What fantastic, Kafkaesquen imagery. Thanks! You made my day.

The nerfs to crafting (even worse, the undocumented stealth-nerfs) in this latest content patch has really given me pause. Turbine needs to dazzle the hell out of me Soon™ with some stellar updates and changes to their game, cuz my "Looking for Another MMO to Play" Wandering Eye was activated by this latest patch.

I believe the quest-heavy gameplay really started with EQ2 before WoW came and really ensured that expectation was set amongst many players.

Anywho, as always, a very entertaining and enjoyable read from Jennings.

Yes yes yes! Absolutely agree on the list, especially #1. I refer to that Strictly Social dynamic as "Putterability" or "Retention Gameplay"--how one can putter about and just be in the world. That is so important to keeping people involved, content and immersed within the whole of a gameworld (which directly translates to: customers retained), and that dynamic is so woefully neglected by developers.

Originally posted by Gdemami

 

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Originally posted by silkakc
Ewww! That's tacky putting a link to Eve at the end of that article with the hyperlink being," It could be a very compelling game".
Very classless and unprofessional. It nullified the entire article.

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Yeah, I was wondering about the same but I was puting blame on my English for not understanding what it is supposed to mean.

Or perhaps y'all just don't know about the illustrious infamy of Lum the Mad from 'way back when'. Hehehe.

Wasn't there an early inception of this music system implemented years ago in Acheron's Call 2?

Anyways, there is a separate volume adjustment slider for Player Music in the Audio control panel under Options.

Unless someone is honking out "The Final Countdown" on bagpipes, I usually have the player music volume up so I can hear folks playing their music--for the vast majority, listening to player music has been surprisingly pleasant. 

Devs have stated that they are offering fewer skills than what is available in GW1--their reasoning is there is a lot of redundancy with a number of skills currently in GW1 and they want to eliminate that issue with GW2.

As stated here:

The skill system will be modified. There will be fewer skills than the original, with the aim for quality rather than quantity. Skill animations and graphics should provide a clearer indication of the range and effect of a skill as it is used. As in Guild Wars, characters will have access to only a limited number of skills at a time.

Head of studio Mike O'Brien:

"In the original we had over 1.200 skills, which made the game unpractical. Now we've realised that for Guild Wars 2, it's not quantity but quality that matters. So less skills, but more diversity."

"In Guild Wars 2, we will be focusing on the quality of skills and a way to make these skills deeper."

Actually, it sounds like Dawntide (http://www.dawntide.net/) would fit that description pretty well.

Originally posted by chrisel  

Game developers have started to to understand this, eventually, and we will see it all be handed more & more to us soloers, as we are definately the biggest force of money outthere.

A working example of this happening in a game would be roughly 24 hours from now in LOTRO when the Siege of Mirkwood expansion pack launches and the Skirmish System (specifically the Skirmish rewards) goes live.

Developer Diary outlining the Skirmish Reward system:

http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/514-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-rewards 

One paragraph of that developer diary entry states:

Solo VS. Group

Ah, the age old MMO debate. I'd prefer not to spend too much time here, as it can strike up a war as brutal as Vi vs. Emacs. With Skirmishes, we have decided to make all rewards in the entire system available to all fellowship play sizes. However, the costs of rewards will be different based on what play size you participate in. This difference is regulated by the level/size tokens mentioned above. A particular Legendary Item blank may require a token that can be only found in 6 and 12-man Skirmishes. However, the Curiosities vendor has the ability to upgrade small group Marks into large group Marks. This upgrade will cost a chunk of SM, but means that any player can eventually purchase any reward in the system.

There seems to be a higher potential for 'puttering along in the journey' in Lord of the Rings Online than some other MMOs out there. While some players do 'rush to the end', there are a good number of folks who choose to amble their way there--because the game itself seems to allow for that to be a more viable (dare I say, "acceptable") choice than some other MMOs.

Originally posted by qombi

What is said they are releasing soldiers for all players to play along with them. The game is already easily to level solo,  I have no idea they are adding this stupid idea.

No, no no.

Turbine is not "releasing soldiers for all players to play along with them".

Soldiers are *ONLY* available within the Skirmish Instances--the gameplay in the Skirmish Instances is designed for the inclusion of these soldiers--and these Skirmish Instances are only available to players from level 30-65.

Here's a Developer's Diary to explain all of this to you:

http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/508-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-skirmish-soldiers

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

But now we have a brought to you by ad sticker over the pictures on the latest features section? That's beyond overkill and really takes away from the images.

Yeah, my immediate reaction to that ad sticker was a very negative one--enough to quickly scan the current forum activity section to see if there was an active thread regarding that ad sticker... and lo' and behold there was. 

Please make that sticker ad go away. All the other ads on this site are fairly non-invasive--but that sticker ad really is absurd.

Guild Wars 2