The fast travel enigma is very interesting indeed. It can easily be implemented in a way to satisfy both camps if done correctly, as was done in Ultima Online. There they made it part of the spell casting skill. If you had the skill you could fast travel. At that point it's on a slider really. You can make the teleport spell simple to achieve or make it high up in the 'arch mage' area of magic where few have access to it.

Even better the 'arch mage' could be the one to provide a 'group teleport' instead of single, much like what was done in EQ1. At that point people will stand around town and 'sell' their portal services. It's really an ingenious way to handle fast travel.

Originally posted by Mystais

So EQNext will also have a "Foundry".  That, by itself,  makes it no more of a sandbox than Neverwinter or Star Trek Online.  It's nice but hopefully SOE is not tagging EQNext as a sandbox based only on this because they'd be very wrong.

Player created content is created by players via ingame interaction made possible by a sandbox environment, not by a quest making tool.  

 

I'm getting the feeling SOE is being misleading and trying to hype this as a sandbox when it actually is not.  I have yet to hear of a single actual sandbox feature to be included in EQNext.  All I keep hearing is the word sandbox, nothing more.

True... I haven't really heard about anything sandboxy...

And as another poster said look how they underperformed with PS2. It could have been FKING AMAZING yet it's actually not as good as the original. lol It has LESS features. lol

Originally posted by Hrimnir

People who never got to experience EverQuest at or near release, and up through the first few expansions, just won't get it.  They'll never understand what true community is.  What a real sandbox PVE game can be. 

Had to stop right there. EQ1 has never been a sandbox. It's a themepark.

Edit* As not to be a total punkass, yes EQ1 did a lot of things right. One of them being so much group oriented gameplay.

Originally posted by bingbongbros

Originally posted by nethervoid

Originally posted by Iselin

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Iselin

Yes. If all the rumors about non-static NPCs with sophisticated AI and lives as well as  the ability to truly play in a non-combat role are true, it will do well.

 

I can see the qq-ing now. People complains they cannot find the NPC they need for a quest, or a vendor, and everyone is yelling over the chat channel about where NPC X has gone.

LOL, you may be right. But that's the one "sandbox" feature I've been looking forward to in an MMO for years. NPCs that behave at least something like the ones in Dwarf Fortress. What bores me about MMOs is how everyone gets to see the exact same thing every time and the same npc needs the 10 pig snouts from all 10 million of us constantly.

A bit more randomness and uniqueness would go a long way toward revitalizing the genre. I'd be more than willing to put-up with finding out that the NPC  I'm looking for got married, moved to a different town and no longer needs pig snouts... I'll find something or someone else. As long as they've provided equally fun things to do elsewhere, of course.

EQ1 had mobile NPC quest turn in guys. All they have to do is add some pathing. It's pretty basic.

Yeah I remember some of the NPC's wandered around.  I'd go to talk to them and be like WHERE THE HELL?! and spend a few minutes running around the streets of Freeport to find them.  Was a lot of fun because it was unexpected.

Yep! Hell I remember logging onto my ranger to track an NPC at night for hours to get a quest drop. While that seems tedious and boring, I actually don't recall it being sucky. After I got the item I was pretty proud of how I used my ranger to track down a guy for a paladin quest. hehe

Originally posted by Iselin

Originally posted by nariusseldon

Originally posted by Iselin

Yes. If all the rumors about non-static NPCs with sophisticated AI and lives as well as  the ability to truly play in a non-combat role are true, it will do well.

 

I can see the qq-ing now. People complains they cannot find the NPC they need for a quest, or a vendor, and everyone is yelling over the chat channel about where NPC X has gone.

LOL, you may be right. But that's the one "sandbox" feature I've been looking forward to in an MMO for years. NPCs that behave at least something like the ones in Dwarf Fortress. What bores me about MMOs is how everyone gets to see the exact same thing every time and the same npc needs the 10 pig snouts from all 10 million of us constantly.

A bit more randomness and uniqueness would go a long way toward revitalizing the genre. I'd be more than willing to put-up with finding out that the NPC  I'm looking for got married, moved to a different town and no longer needs pig snouts... I'll find something or someone else. As long as they've provided equally fun things to do elsewhere, of course.

EQ1 had mobile NPC quest turn in guys. All they have to do is add some pathing. It's pretty basic.

Originally posted by bingbongbros

Originally posted by hockeyplayr
some nice models. I wonder how graphically intensive they are going to make it since it is coming out for ps4 as well.  Thought they'd try to take the blizz approach and get it on as many machines as possible

Stop saying its coming out on ps4!!! Nowhere has that been said or verified!

It's been leaked http://bit.ly/186vye7

I hope EQNext will be the next gen sandbox I've been waiting for since... UO or so, but I'm not holding my breath, especially now that I know it will be on the PS4. I feel like they might have to compromise too much of the sandboxy MMO aspects to appeal to console users.

In this day and age of MMOs, it's best to be cynical, because 85% of released titles fall short IMO.

Originally posted by Muke

Originally posted by nethervoid
Cool another SWTOR.

SWTOR was cool!

 

If only they had a decent engine that could handle >20 players fighting it out in 1 place, or that the game felt less instanced and with less invisible walls, less MMO on rails.........

 

oh damn..

That's what I call a one-two punch. ;) /highfive

Originally posted by Dahkoht

Can someone point me to a link that says EQ Next is confirmed or coming to the PS4 ?

I see nothing about that from Sony at all.

I could see DC and PS2 , but not EQ Next.

It's leaked info.

Welp MMORPG has confirmed it. PS2 and EQNext will be on the PS4.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/loadNews/27777/Sony-Announces-MMOs-Headed-to-PS4

Originally posted by steelwind
What doesn't make sense to me is that EQN is supposed to be a sandbox title. I just don't see the average console player interested in a sandbox MMO. I could understand if it was a themepark but I really don't think the console crowd is the right audience for a sandbox MMO.

Agree. I think what we think in our heads when we hear them say 'sandbox' and what they're making as 'sandbox' are two totally different things. lol This is like a bait and switch.

Originally posted by lizardbones

 

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Originally posted by maplestone

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Originally posted by nethervoid Global chat and global market has ruined a lot of the player interaction in modern MMOs. The price of convenience I guess. lol

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The problem was that players started setting up 3rd party IM clients, chat channels and auction sites that were creating those features anyway.  The drive for efficiency was breaking the original model no matter what devs did.

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This would make me wonder how great the original models were in the first place. If enough people were bypassing the model that the developers felt the need to implement the bypasses into the games, then the original models don't seem to have been that good to begin with. Not for a large number of people anyway.

 

What you guys are not reading in my post is that you can only set those up with people you know in the game. If you want to meet new people or buy something etc, you had to go to the bank. It was a great way to get people talking together. If people want to IM out of the game sweet, but adding in the global chat was a real break in immersion and socializing in the game.

*Edit - And by socializing I mean socializing with people you don't already know.

Originally posted by Sciva

Originally posted by nethervoid
If EQNext is going to be on PS4, I'm now 99% sure it will be a game I won't want to play. They're going to have to cater to the desires of FPS players. Great. More instant gratification.

Uh, i'm pretty sure they would shoot themselves in the foot if they marketed an online RPG for FPS players (who would be playing an FPS on the PC or 360 instead). Just because somthing can use a controller doesn't create lesser gameplay.

If history has anything to say, usually console games have lesser gameplay than PC games.

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by ReallyNow10

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by ReallyNow10

Originally posted by jpnz
Wonder what's stopping people from socializing in an mmo nowadays? Do you get a debuff or something?
Why blame something when it didn't cause it in the first place?

People tend to follow a path of least resistance in gaming, whether it in enjoyable or not; they strive for the end goal.  If you can solo or re-run an instance for the zillionth time in group finder, there is little or no need to talk, and folks often will not.

Creating an in-game need for interaction will foster community.  Without it, you have a bunch of solo gamers in their own little worlds.

What was the in-game need for the socializing in UO?

Is the problem really that we don't have enough stuck elevator moments or is it that most MMOs now are combat-only experiences where the level disparity is such that stopping to talk just puts you that much further behind the rest of your team?

I think that is true, you need a few "stuck elevator" moments or "help me fix my flat tire" or "escort me through this dangerous area" moments to encourage strangers to parley.

Now, didn't play too much U.O., but have heard from others it was a fantastic gaming experience. I suppose, because U.O. had the PVP going on, that players were encouraged to team up or band together for mutual protection, hence talking was encouraged.

PVP had little to do with the majority of socializing, player events, roleplaying, and player venues in that game. I know that interaction without duress, penalty or punishment is foreign to EQers, but in UO, Puzzle Pirates, AC and most of the other pre-WOW MMOs we hung out together because we wanted to, not because some terrible thing would happen if we didn't. 

 

Believe it or not most of the socializing and meeting at the Britain bank in UO to trade, meet people, set off for dungeons etc was because there was no global chat in that game. If you wanted to talk to people who you couldn't IM, you had to go to the bank of a major city and mingle. People would hawk their wares there etc. It was really awesome.

Global chat and global market has ruined a lot of the player interaction in modern MMOs. The price of convenience I guess. lol

I haven't logged into an MMO every night since the launch of SWTOR. Currently super casually playing LOTRO, but it's pretty boring. Was thinking about firing up EVE or UO again...

For the future I think at this point only EQNext is something I'd consider, depending on it's features, which TBH I can almost guarantee will be a huge let down. It seems there's a giant disconnect currently between game creators and game consumers. Everything releasing lately is just garbage right out of the gate. Wildstar could be fun for a month or two. TESO is going to suck balls. Beautiful world filled with the same features we have seen for the past 5 years at least.

Originally posted by Raph

As a big "simulated world" guy, my take is that there's still quite a viable market for it, but not at the kinds of insane budget levels that MMOs have reached. It would essentially be an MMO that catered towards the MMO aficionado, rather than the more casual player, and it would be premised on the notion that the game would be unpredictable.

That means that it would have to be built for way less money than MMORPGs tend to cost today, and you the players would have to be accepting of a way lower graphical and content bar than what you are currently used to (since that is what the budget buys you).

I am unsure that you (the generic you, the group of all MMO players) is actually willing to make that compromise right now. Like, some have suggested that I Kickstarter a spiritual sequel to UO and SWG. But to do those to today's standards would involve raising tens of millions of dollars.

Sim-based worlds are cheaper to make than content-heavy sandboxes, I think, by quite a lot. But they also usually call for custom graphics and server engines, because the stuff that is out there is entirely based around the idea of static data. So there's a sizable barrier to entry right off the bat.

 

Raph I think if you took the minecraft concept and morphed it into an MMO you'd have a rather huge potential market. I don't know a lot about other industries, but as far as youtube minecraft videos have the lions share of searches per month. Last I checked minecraft was searched 16 million times per month while COD was only searched 7 million (COD being I think the runner up on that list).