MMORPG.com columnist Bill Murphy has titled his latest entry into the Staff Blog "Is EQ: Next Really Necessary?" But don't misunderstand, Bill is excited about a new Everquest but the announcement of Everquest: Next has raised questions in Bill's and others' minds.

Will the Everquest brand be enough to make EQ:Next rise above the crowd and attract more players than the current juggernauts and those games which are on the horizon or will it suffer from the problem of merely cannibalizing Everquest’s own audience?  I suppose that’s part of the idea though: SOE knows that in many gamer’s eyes Everquest is still a classic intellectual property.  Maybe all it needs to rise to the top once more is a new take on the old formula.  But if that’s the case, why are the early art and details promoting a game that’s very similar to the fantasy MMOs we already have in the field vying for gamers’ attention?

Read Bill's entry in the MMORPG.com Staff Blog.