This is a panel not to be missed! Join us for the EverQuest Next keynote panel. More details to come! This event is part of our livestream schedule.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
EverQuest Player Designed Missions 1
Want to know what it's like to make a mission? Come to our Mission Creation workshop and work together with a small group, led by an EverQuest developer, to design a mission for the game. Seating is limited, so come early!
2:00 PM - 6:00 PM
EverQuest Tournament
In Death, Death, Death, players will use pre-created characters for this event, and not their own in-game characters. Groups can only contain one of any specific class. This is a progression-based game where teams of six players have forty minutes to defeat as many boss mobs as possible. If a tie occurs, the tie-breaker will be determined by which team defeated their encounters in the shortest amount of time. Portions of this event are part of our livestream schedule.
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
EverQuest Next: Fiction and Lore
Join our loremasters in exploring fantastic tales set within our re-imagined Norrath. We’ll answer your questions about the fiction released to date, and hint at the direction of stories to come.
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
EverQuest Next: The Tech Evolution of the World
Come and find out some of the details of how we got to the current technology being used in both EverQuest Next!
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
The Classes of EverQuest Next
Learn about how classes will work in EverQuest Next, including how to build your class and how that will impact combat. This event is part of our livestream schedule.
SATURDAY
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
EverQuest: Q&A
Have you always wanted to ask the EverQuest developers something? Bring your questions, concerns, and comments to our Q&A panel.
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The Content of EverQuest Next
Learn more about how the team is working with Storybricks to create content in ways that will make the world of Norrath come alive in EverQuest Next.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
EverQuest: Art
From concepts to completion. Take a look at how things are built for EverQuest and get a sneak peek at some upcoming creatures and environments.
SUNDAY
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
EverQuest: Player Designed Missions 2
Want to know what it's like to make a mission? Come to our Mission Creation workshop and work together with a small group, led by an EverQuest developer, to design a mission for the game. Seating is limited, so come early!
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
EverQuest: Q&A 2
Have you always wanted to ask the EverQuest developers something? Bring your questions, concerns, and comments to our Q&A panel.
It's been a while since we've heard much from SOE on EverQuest Next. Much of the past year has been about Landmark, the building and creative cousin of EverQuest Next. For months, EQN fans have been asking "when are you going to work on EverQuest Next?" What Dave Georgeson told us on Wednesday was that they have been working on Next the whole time... and it's called Landmark.
Now before we get confused about whether or not these are two separate games, let's clear that up: Landmark and Next are still two completely separate games. But every thing that's been added and built for Landmark use, is part of what you'll find in Next. The building tools, cave systems, water, monsters, combat... it's all going to be used in Next. Every piece of the tools used for creation in Landmark, is being used to help make EQ Next. And yes, so are the creations of the players. But the big news from our presentation with Dave was the announcement of three new classes: the Cleric, the Elementalist, and the Tempest.
Learn about how classes will work in EverQuest Next, including how to build your class and how that will impact combat. This event is part of our livestream schedule.
SoE say EverQuest Next to ‘turn the MMO genre upside-side down’ Revelations about SoE’s upcoming third installment of the long-running EverQuest franchise have arisen in an interview with CVG. SoE exec Laura Naviaux has let on that the relative silence surrounding the game to date is due to the fact the game shows a marked difference to previous titles from Sony’s online division.
When questioned as to why info about EQ Next is less forthcoming when compared to SoE’s other new MMO in development H1Z1, Naviaux said: "The easy answer there is that EverQuest Next needs new technology.
"So we've spent a lot of time actually making a voxel world, and the technology and the infrastructure and the data pipeline that it requires to service a game of that magnitude, and the dynamic AI, and some of the other pieces and parts.
"Whereas with H1Z1, we were able to leverage a lot of our existing technology from PlanetSide 2 with the vehicles, Forgelight, the map, the fact that it's a shooter. So we weren't having to reinvent - and I'm not discounting H1Z1 by any means, but it's just apples and oranges, so I don't know if it's a great comparison.
"But we really are wanting to be just as open with EverQuest Next as we've been with H1Z1, we're just focused on different things right now. And H1Z1 will be an early access product, where Next probably will not.”
In the interview Naviaux was also asked if community focused development processes were better suited to titles the likes of H1Z1, her reply was: "With EverQuest Next, we're turning the MMO genre upside-down. I wouldn't disagree with your statement, and maybe it is a little bit genre-specific.
"But when you're trying to turn an entire genre upside down, it is very different than when you are able to bring a game to market so quickly and there's sort of an established path."
EverQuest Next was initially announced last year with some very promising new features that have huge potential to move the MMORPG genre into new pastures. The game is set to include more realistic AI, that for instance will cause mobs to move location if they are attacked frequently. The EQ Next world will also be built around fully destructible environments which players can interact with Minecraft-style, revealing previously unknown dungeons. Plotlines will also be more open-ended and reactive to player actions and a new progression system will be brought in that intends to do away with conventional levelling mechanics.
A spin-off game for EQ Next, entitle Landmark is currently underway, giving players the chance to build and profit from making their own in-game creations.
A due date for EverQuest Next hasn’t yet been provided but it has been announced the game will be coming to PS4.
While there was certainly a focus on combat at SOELive 2014 when it comes to EverQuest Next and Landmark - a huge undertone in all the presentations was: story. Not just about the lore, but really in how the lore and the story of the game are getting infused into the all the core systems. The development team set aside an entire panel talking about Storybricks AI, and then another panel for the Lore of EQNext. Curious yet?
Content Delivery of EverQuest Next I want to make something clear right away. EverQuest Next will be an entirely different experience, for tons of reasons; but one of the biggest differences between Next and other MMOs is how content gets delivered to the player. This really doesn't get as much attention as it should. Everyone's looking at combat, and multi-classing, and the exclusion of a traditional leveling system and age-old trinity. When really, they should be looking at how the story is getting fused into every system of the game.
Storybricks AI System The developers at SOELive jokingly said that Storybricks would use their AI technology in the crafting system, if the team would allow it. They want to make everything smarter. Now I won't be getting into the deep details of Storybricks AI, but seeing how that technology is shaping the entire content system is important. Really, this new AI system is not only going to completely change the way players experience content in the game - but also the way the developers add new content, updates, and progress this new version of Norrath forward in time.
In the exclusive demo we saw during the Storybricks panel, we got to watch events unfold in the world on an accelerated rate. It was almost like a giant game of risk, with Dryads and Dark Elves, and other beings all playing different colors. You see, this new AI system attributes actual goals, desires, and motivations to different factions within the game. This system actually empowers the NPCs to be active participants in the world, allies and enemies alike.
Changing the face of Norrath can potentially be as simple as adding a new important resource to an area or changing some deep motivation of a particular race or faction (from some major lore story arc). And what makes it really crazy is that most of this stuff will be fairly automated. The NPCs are being built from the ground up in such a way that making a tweak to their goals on the fly can cause a rippling chain reaction of effects throughout the world.
Premium on Player Choice All of the above being said, nobody will be more active in this new Norrath than we the players. In the same way the developers are able to change, tweak, and adjust NPC factions (or individuals) to accomplish certain goals or initiate large-scale events... we the players can do the same by just playing the game. Our choices will be remembered and any actions we take will have some weight and will influence the world around us.
Essentially, we will be our own content delivery specialists. Players populating any given server are going to choose their own content. At SOE Live I got the opportunity to talk with Jeff Butler (Creative Director of EverQuest Next) and he proposed an example to help illustrate how this concept can become a reality in the game world by going into detail about
Rallying Calls. Rallying Call Scenario Example Imagine the first few weeks of the game. We've all landed in Qeynos and have been strengthening the city and expanding it. Eventually it gets to the point where all of the races that banded together to resettle Amaril begin having issues with each other (or maybe start pursuing other goals after their initial ones are complete). A few prominent NPCs strike out on their own to go found different cities for their respective races. Now the players get to choose (individually, and collectively) which of these races they're going to help first.
Perhaps most players decide to aid one particular race (maybe to unlock a new playable race, or maybe for some other reasons). Most likely, the server population will choose to split between all the different options we're being given. Can we do that? Yes, it just means that if there are four locations, they are all going to progress at 25% the speed that they potentially could if everyone focused on just one particular "Rallying Call".
The most interesting part about it all, is that the developers aren't wasting time and resources by some content not getting played. Each server will be unique in how their worlds unfold and which choices all of its players are making. So the content is going to get experienced on at least some of them without any developer intervention.
The other option the developers have is creating new incentives to start leading us towards that unplayed-content we never originally bothered with. Suddenly "new" content comes to the world months after other servers have unlocked it and played through it. Not only can they give us direct incentives, but they can insert new goals and desires within different factions to make the NPCs themselves start showing interest in a particular area... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The "Rohsong" Journal We're also going to each have our own personal record of important events that we've participated in (and also of which side we aided). It's going to be our pseudo "guide" to progression, as it continues to lead us on with information picked up via NPC interactions. It will help lead us towards other active rallying calls, important NPCs, new locations, worlds, and a myriad of smaller events and actions. The Rohsong, as it is called, will take the place of the "quest journal" that we're all familiar with from other games, except it won't be static in nature and it definitely won't be referring us to static NPCs.
The entire world will be moving and changing, and I fully expect our Rohsong journals to be changing right along with it. As NPCs change (or better yet as we change and influence them), our journals will also change. Our "stories" will be written over time as the world progresses forward in time and Norrath continues to evolve around us.
The major conceptual difference of to the dynamic of "questing" in this next-gen MMO will be that our Rohsong journal won't be a list of things we need to do. Instead it's going to be a list of things that we have done. While that wouldn't amount to squat in most MMOs today (that's basically what today's games call "acheivements"), in EverQuest Next our past choices and actions have influence and weight. It means that by looking back at what we have done, we can see where we need... or rather want... to go next.
Final Thoughts No more grocery lists, odd-jobs, or silly errands that usually have zero impact on the greater story of the world. No more sitting on our thumbs while we wait for developers to create new content that is going to get gobbled up hurriedly in a mad dash for the next step of gear & level power-creep. Levels won't exist anymore. Huge, world-changing content updates won't exist in the same way anymore. Quests, as you know them, won't exist anymore.
Honestly, we really need to toss out almost all of those preconceptions when it comes to EverQuest Next. This game is, and will be, radically different. It's being built from the ground up with a totally different mindset and developer toolset. The core systems being created for this game are entirely unique, and the way we consume all content will be completely different than any MMO ever made.
So if you're still trying to understand EQNext in terms of MMOs currently on the market, don't be surprised if you find yourself very, very confused.
Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed taking a look at the big picture of EverQuest Next's content and how its systems are shaping up to be something refreshing and unique. Of course, leave us your own thoughts, opinions and ideas in the comment section below!
A year ago, or just about, I sat in a large banquet hall in Las Vegas as Dave Georgeson outlined the next big project for Sony Online Entertainment. The speech centered on a list of “Holy Grails” in MMO development, and how their EverQuest Next team would be reaching to achieve those lofty benchmarks.
Terrain destruction and the ability to affect permanent change on the game world were two that I’ve been hoping to see for years, and with their voxel-based terrain, it’s something that seemed well within their reach. As expected, SOE demonstrated almost immediate success with both when they rolled out Landmark. There was another goal that I reserved judgment on, however. That was their stated intent to create an emergent AI system.
This year at SOE Live, the AI for EverQuest Next was highlighted by the developers, and once again they were way ahead of where you might have expected them to be. For all of John Smedley’s talk about being open with their development, SOE still knows the importance of showmanship with the big reveal and how to employ it regularly.
It Looks Good
I just have to say that I’m really impressed with where SOE is with their AI development. They demonstrated a number of scenarios this year in Las Vegas, and had more problems getting videos to play than they did getting the AI to behave appropriately. That says a lot about the development and its progress. ...
No. This is not a fat-joke about how financially heavy the creation of EverQuest Next has become - although that's a valid point. When you consider how they scrapped years of development on versions of "EQ3" that will never see the light of day, and how much sheer R&D is going into all these new core systems (Storybricks, Voxel Farm, etc), the game is probably getting very heavy indeed. However, I do believe it will all pay off in the end.
Why?
Because of the philosophical change that's taking place behind the closed doors of Sony Online Entertainment. It's just something that no studio has ever done before, for a combination of reasons. Lack of sheer funding, lack of suitable technology, and most importantly - the cost of failure. All that aside, the real reason I chose the title for this article is the fact that the majority of it will be talking about scaling from a meta-perspective - and most importantly, how EverQuest Next may be ditching it as an overarching mechanic. ...
Anyone knows some new stuff about this? I only know the landmark thingy were you can pay to build the game so the real game devs can do something else ^^ On a more serious note, this game does look kind of awesome. Anyone here that has played alpha/beta yet? any thoughts?
Anyone knows some new stuff about this? I only know the landmark thingy were you can pay to build the game so the real game devs can do something else ^^ On a more serious note, this game does look kind of awesome. Anyone here that has played alpha/beta yet? any thoughts?
Haven't heard anything since the big announce a while ago. Whole game is voxels or some such.
EPT![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/AHBRb8s.jpg)
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